The Indie Experience
January 19, 2009
A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 10, Issue 2
To subscribe, click here
-- Media Partner --
1. A Note From dM: Forging Ahead in Uncertain Times
2. Featured Indie: Kelly Bloom of Bloomworks Holdings in
Hampton, Virginia
3. Pick & Click: Choose your fun!
Make It Yourself!!: Don't Hate Me Travel Spritz
1. A Note From dM: Forging Ahead In Uncertain Times
When I look back over my life, it is the times of uncertainty and turmoil that have proven to be the most beneficial. The 1998 murder of my best friend. The suicide a few years later of a close confidant. The extended illness of my husband following a layoff when our children were just babies. The death of my father in 2006. While extremely painful, these difficulties and others like them have done the most to shape my life and give it depth, texture and dimension.
As Indie Business owners, we are acutely aware of the difficult economic times we now live in. My family and I have made adjustments in response to the current crisis, but we are not stymied by it. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to continue to fulfill my mission of serving Indie Beauty Network members nationwide even as the global economy seems to spin further and further out of control.
And speaking of forging ahead in uncertain times, this week's Featured Indie, Kelly Bloom from Hampton, Virginia, will encourage and inspire you to do just that. Not only has the current economic doom and gloom not stymied her, it has actually caused her to move forward with even more zeal and enthusiasm. Despite what you'll learn is an extraordinarily busy schedule, Kelly took a few minutes to sit down and share some of her story. I hope it encourages you to look beyond the present, and stare straight into the face of exciting opportunities that are yours for the taking.
As always, if you have suggestions, feedback or questions about how I might serve you better, please do not hesitate to send me an email message to donnamaria @ carolina dot rr dot com.
Thank you for having me again this week. I hope you have a fantastic week as you also enjoy your life, build your business and have your way!
-- Media Partner --
2. Featured Indie: Kelly Bloom of Southern Soapers in Hampton, Virginia
I met Kelly Bloom of BloomWorks Holdings, LLC, in Hampton, Virginia when
she joined the Indie Beauty Network in 2007. At that time, she had been
managing a successful
soap business for a few years and was getting Southern
Soapers, a fragrance oil supply company, into full swing. As busy as she
was with just those two lines of business, this 49-year old wife and mother
of five children ranging in age from 28 to 7, is not resting on her laurels.
Never quite fully satisfied with the status quo, even
during these challenging economic times, Kelly is forging ahead to open a
retail store. She sat down to tell me a bit about what led up to this bold
and exciting move, and offer tips and insights into how you can press
forward in any economy. She also shares some valuable insights into what
it's like to run a business as a wife and mom in a military family.
How did you start your business and what was the inspiration for it?
I was a military wife, a civil service brat, and an ex-soldier. I had traveled many places and loved to cook with the flavors of the places I had lived. While living in San Diego California, I had found a fabulous store called Pannikin. Pannikin back in the 80's sold spices,
herbs, teas and coffees. I knew that no matter where the Army shipped me, I could get the flavors I needed by mail order from Pannikin
via mail order.
In 1995, when I was living in Spokane, Washington, Pannikin stopped selling
spices. But to my delight my guy I had been ordering them from gave me the
name of his spice source so I could purchase my own directly. I quickly started accumulating 5 lbs of curry, 5 lbs of anise, etc. and began sharing with friends and family with wild abandon. I used many of my spices to create the first colors in my soapmaking, as up to this point my soap was strictly white bars that cleaned your body. The seed was planted that I should sell my excess spices in 1995, and the domain www.caravanspice.com was purchased at the then domain cost of $200 (domains can be purchased today for as little as $2.95!).
By 1997 I was selling herbs, spices, and essential oils on a new platform
(new back then anyway!) called Ebay as well as my website. My third daughter
then coaxed me into adding my herbal soaps to my online Ebay spice store. I poo poo'd her, thinking who would possibly want my soap, of all things. Amazingly, the Ebay spice store sales quickly reversed from 6 spices + 1 upsell soap bar to 6 bars of soap and 1 upsell of spice.
We then divided everything up into three Ebay divisions: Caravan Spice (selling teas and spices), BloomWorks (selling fragrance oils, fragranced soaps and toiletries) and Natural Botanika (selling herbs, essential oils and pure herbal (no fragrance oil) soaps. We eventually combined the goods of Natural Botanika into BloomWorks when we were faced with a trademark infringement notice from Garden Botanika in 2004/2005. I stopped selling on Ebay in 2004/2005 when our fees reached $17,000 a year. I felt that I could get better advertising value in venues that would be less costly in time and money.
How did your professional background help prepare you for launching your own venture?
I was born and raised in the Vallejo/Napa California region and later moved to Subic Bay, Philippines when I was a teen. Prior to joining the military I
was a funds transfer agent in San Diego, California at the San Diego Savings & Trust Bank.
Divorce was the impetus for my joining the Army. Among other numerous
positions, I served as an Intel soldier, trained as a Signal Security Specialist at Fort Devens, MA and was stationed in Seoul Korea.
My job was mainly to monitor telephone usage by soldiers on the military installation using post Watergate monitoring regulations.
When I discharged from the military, I went back to school and got a BS in Middle Grade Education with a major in Science Education and a secondary concentration in Social Studies Education. I met and married my current husband, and have had several relocations to and from Fort Bragg, NC since.
I earned an MBA, concentrating on Management Information Studies. In 1999 I turned down a position with Merrill Lynch to pursue my own business more aggressively and to concentrate on having a last child.
My background has taught me to carefully analyze situations, to look at them for opportunities, weaknesses, threats, and strengths. I observed my mother working the San Francisco stock exchange (turning stock price numbers ala Vana White style back in the 60's), using determination and courage to make ends meet no matter how tough it got. She used to prolong the life of her high heel spike shoes (part of the number turning girl uniform) with newspaper wrapped tuna can lids. She had more love than money at that time, but her self sufficiency and tenacity made a huge impression on my entire outlook on life.
What are some of the things you did in advance of starting your business that have helped make it successful?
Research, study, and testing of the various ingredients, supplies, and product formulations I wanted to use in my soap division and sell in my supply division. Networking with manufactures, getting to know how ingredients function and the science behind why they function as they do. I also made sure I conserved money and resources in advance so I could capitalize the business when it launched.
Who are some of the people who help you make your business be successful?
Heritage Web Solutions and PixClinic have been instrumental in creating the backbone for my websites at Southern Soapers and Bloomworks. I plan a Soapalooza website eventually so that classes can be scheduled and events publicized. In addition to web support I would have to say that my biggest support is my family in the form of my husband of 15 years. My daughter also pitches in on part-time basis both learning the business and helping to keep the warehouse shelves stocked. Lastly, this business would not function without the fantastic support from UPS and their Worldship program, my Intellectual Property attorney Larry Coats of Coats & Bennett and my business accountant.
What is your niche? What makes your products special?
What makes our products special is the heavy and intensive testing that goes into them, our fragrances and ingredients that are sold through Southern Soapers online supply division or the Soapalooza! retail store division are the exact same ingredients and supplies that we ourselves use to create our own wholesale and retail products sold by BloomWorks Natural Soap. If we will not use it, we will not sell it. My niche for BloomWorks Natural Soap is vegan Cold Process soap with a luxurious aspect, yet affordable for all. Likewise, for Southern Soapers supply division, cold process soap making is the primary focus for our fragrances and products that we sell to other soapmakers. The Soapalooza! retail store division will concentrate on teaching soapmaking, both CP/HP and M&P as well as other aspects of creating a fulfilling soapmaking hobby or a soapmaking business.
How do you market your products?
Internet, Google and Yahoo advertising, Industry trade publications, some tradeshows, forums, blogs, print advertising, and various other advertising vehicles.
What is your most popular product and why do customers tell you they
like it?
For the BloomWorks Natural Soap division, the Morning Myst soap bar, it is a mango butter bar of soap with a light hint of scent, using our Southern Soapers Inishmoor fragrance. For the Southern Soapers supply division, our most popular product is our Honey Bee fragrance oil. Customers claim they love this honey fragrance more than others they have tried.
What's new and exciting with your business these days?
We opened our Soapalooza! retail store on January 5 so that's the biggest
news for now!
It's pretty busy around here. The warehouse is the home for the Southern Soapers online fulfillment for soap supply orders and also the manufacturing facilities for BloomWorks Natural Soap Company. Local Southern Soapers customers can now order online and come by 48 hours later to pick up their orders
at Soapalooza! While there, they can also shop and grab additional supplies that may not even be on the online store website. They can also sign up and attend local soap making, lotion making, toiletries, candle crafting, and cosmetic labeling classes, etc. BloomWorks Holdings, LLC is the parent entity that has the 13,500 sq foot warehouse with a 2500 sq foot retail store attached, providing the facilities for Southern Soapers, BloomWorks Natural Soap, and Soapalooza! to operate from. Everything is contained at one location with a high degree of synchronicity benefiting all three business divisions.
I have been planning this venture for about 12 years. It has taken a lot of patience,
as my husband, Brad, had to retire from the Army before we could commit to a lease and invest in the infrastructure upgrades internally in a warehouse to make this possible. I spent 2 years searching our local area after we came to the Hampton Roads, VA are in 2006. I knew that when the time was right, that things would fall into place.
Brad retired officially on Oct 12, 2008 and he is the person who found
our this building for the business also. He just happened to notice it one day driving to get something. We have taken photos each step of the way,
and you can enjoy them at my blog and on my Flicker
page. during the move and while setting up the warehouse for the Southern Soapers supply division, the soapmaking facilities for BloomWorks, and the retail store for
Soapalooza!
I am also excited to be speaking at the soap guild conference. I am looking forward to sharing some of the issues I have encountered and overcome during my time in business, as related to the topic I am speaking on. I will be speaking on some aspects of Branding, Marketing, & Trademarking as a three prong tool, not from the legal angle (I am not an attorney), but from a practical and cost investment perspective.
What forms of social media do you enjoy using?
I do, I find that while voice and face inflections can not often be conveyed as well through social media, that social media is what has reduced the interstitial spaces and created porous connections in our world communications. In short, social media, to include email, has brought the entire world into our backyard, providing unlimited market growth potentials. Since 1995 the internet has expanded the minds and the reach for all of our voices. Social Media is another element that levels the playing field in business and helps us to separate our voice from the cacophony competing for our prospective clients attention. I use Ping to help access many social media at one time, to include My Space, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, saving posting valuable time.
You can connect with me here:
Connect
with Kelly on Twitter
I also have the Southern Soapers blog, which chronicles all the work that
went into getting our retail store ready for prime time!
What book have you used that has helped you start your business off on the right foot?
The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I know that sounds scary, but this is an ancient book and it is a valuable treatise on strategy, not just in a military situation, but also in business, and life in general. Sun Tzu saw the incredible value of strategic positioning before the word meant anything in the business realm. This book has been translated to be easily digested and is broken down into thirteen valuable chapters much like a business plan of attack. Even with all the great business books out on the market, I still hold this Sun Tzu masterpiece as my cornerstone business bible.
What do you think are the best things about being Indie?
One of the many things I like about being self-employed is that I don't have to ask permission to try new things, or try to convince someone else that I can do something. If I think I can do it, it's up to me to make it happen. There's such freedom in that!
How did you discover the Indie Beauty Network, and do you enjoy your
membership?
Would you recommend to others? What do you like about being Indie – self-employed? I love being an Indie! I love the nimble footed ability that a small business has over larger businesses. We have such an advantage! We can control the direction our business takes, making small corrections with immediate impact. We can move faster and with far more targeted focus than leviathan businesses. I found IBN several years ago, but I honestly can not remember how I found it. I think IBN is great resource for those seeking to network with other small indies, both on a B2B level as well as a support system for each other. I benefit, as I always learn something new from the indies I work with and deal with. I both recommend and support the Indie Beauty Network also, our Southern Soapers supply division offers a $20 Southern Soapers Gift Certificate Rebate to all new and renewing members of the Indie Beauty Network. The details of the program are here.
What other tips do you have for others starting a business?
Have goals, know where you are going and why you want/need to get there. Have a plan. Be willing to invest sweat equity and sacrifice. Know your competition and what they sell as thoroughly as you do your own products. Invest in your client base, as this helps them vest in themselves and their businesses, creating a perfect circle.
What has been your biggest Indie Business challenge so far, and how are you overcoming it?
Up until 2008 my biggest challenge was keeping my business growth paced at a rate that I could manage and handle, and yet still pack up and move at a moments notice. In 2006 it was obvious from the two LTL truck loads of just my business from NC to VA that I had exceeded the ability to continue to do this. My husband and I had to make that final hard (for him, not for me) choice for retirement. Retirement in the military is not the 60+ year old retirement we usually associate with retirement. Service members often retire from the military in their late 30's to early 40's, leaving a whole new career path open for them.
The challenge the last 6 months of 2008 was finding a balance for my business and my husband's brand new consulting partnership. We have had to juggle the prospect of moving to Wash DC, Moyock NC, and Virginia Beach VA. We tried on the idea of the family remaining in Yorktown, VA while my husband worked for Corporate America in Washington DC, coming home only on weekends. The challenge was waiting for him to make the decision that he could live with, and yet still let me have my opportunity to finally let my business soar also. In the end I knew that when my husband said he had found me the perfect business site that his final decisions on what he would be doing had been made. He currently partners with three ex-Army colleagues running their own business from their home offices, each in a different state, meeting up one week each month in Tampa, Fl. My husband stays home three weeks of the month, and I leave for the 9 - 5 workday, with him handling the home details of our son getting to school and arriving home after school.
The challenge is still there sometimes as we both are assuming new roles, but it an adventure! I am incredibly grateful that I do not have to move anymore, assume the burden of creating a new "home" every 2 years, and that my 7 year old son will get to have the same friends in 7th grade as he had in 1st grade. I am grateful for this amazing warehouse building that is not only zoned for industrial warehousing but also zoned for both manufacturing and retail sales.
What are you doing when you're not working in your business?
Not working? You must be kidding. I am never working. I am having the time of my life and it is all fun. Seriously, my work is my life and my life is my work. I don't tire of this. I do have to create some demarcation lines for my family's sake, but for me it just all runs together. And I love it. My dad once told me that the best thing in life is to find someone to pay you for something you love so much you would do for free. I have found that, and I am content.
What do you think of the FDA Globalization Act of 2008?
I am hoping that the new administration reassesses the current proposed legislation and amends it so that it is fair to all businesses in this industry. I hope that during the proposed barriers to entry will be adjusted so that we have a safe industry as well as one that is still vibrant and easily accessible by creative entrepreneurs.
3. Indie Happenings: Connect, collaborate and have fun!
Indie Business Radio Show: Today's guest was Rieva Lesonski, former publisher at Entrepreneur Magazine. Rieva talked about the changes in the magazine publishing industry over the past few years, and offered tips for how Indies can launch magazines of their own -- either print or digital. If you missed today's show, it will be available for stream and download in a few days. I also want to let you know that there is now a live chat with the show, and it airs live at the Indie Beauty site. (Registration is required, but it's free -- join us!)
Indie Cafe: We'll continue the conversation started on the radio show on Monday night at the Indie Cafe, where Indie Business owners meet to let their hair down and have fun sharing tips and information to help us successfully manage home and business. From new media to how to juggle home and business, we cover it at the Indie Cafe. Join us tonight at 10:00pm EST for an hour of encouragement and uplift at Indie Live.TV.
Indie Shopping TV: The last Indie Shopping TV show was tons of fun! I presented Roberta Perry and the wonderful sugar scrubs of her New York-based company, Scrubz Body Scrub. Like all other Indie Shopping TV shows, there was be a live chat and dozens of Indie Shoppers had fun chatting it up with each other during the show. You can enjoy the edited version of Indie Shopping TV with Featured Indie Roberta Perry at my blog.
Meet Me In Atlanta Later This Month! Hey, if you're in the ATL area, I'll be speaking at Morehouse College's Entrepreneurship Conference on January 28-29 at the Marriott Atlanta Airport. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to reach out to empower and encourage young people to become excited about the new age of entrepreneurial opportunities that await them. Won't you join me?? The conference is for people of all ages, so if you or someone you know would benefit from the energy and excitement of GenYers, come on out and join us!
If you enjoyed this issue, please feel free to share the link with others! See you next week. In the meantime:
Enjoy your life, build your business and have your way!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Indie Experience
The Indie Beauty Network | www.indiebeauty.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2009 by The Indie Beauty Network (IBN) and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. IBN does not necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in this newsletter or on IBN's website. All information is provided on an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given. Any use of the information contained in this newsletter or on IBN's web site, including recipes, is solely at your own risk. IBN and Donna Maria disclaim any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed and other information. Except for sponsorships, this newsletter refuses compensation from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do not represent the views of IBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or any other person or company.
