The Indie Beauty Network

IBN Home > Newsletter > Archives > 2009

The Indie Experience
March 30, 2009

A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 10, Issue 9
To subscribe, click here

-- Media Partner --

1. A Note From dM: Put a Little Magic in Your Kingdom
2. Featured Indie Tip: You Never Know Who's Watching!
3. Pick & Click: Choose your fun!

Make It Yourself!: Lemon Drop Facial Mask

1. A Note From dM: Put a Little Magic in Your Kingdom

Mickey Mouse In case you missed it, there's a great story in my blog this week about how Melanie Notkin of New York found her way to the business deal of the her businesses' young life when she collaborated with Walt Disney Company to Tweet about the Pinocchio DVD in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money. If you're in need of some inspiration, make sure you don't miss reading it and incorporating some of the principles Melanie shares into your business life.

My conversation with Melanie reminded me of something I read a while back about how Disney does business. A few years before the economy started tanking, MSNBC reported that Disney began firing high level executives in charge of labor intensive projects that did not result in lucrative licensing deals. Riding high on the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise at the time, Disney cut the fat to focus on what was really making the money. At the time, that was not new stuff. It was old stuff, spruced up and repackaged in new ways.

These moves show that the power of one good project can far outweigh the benefits of many mediocre ones. Check out the Pirate Goodie Store, where you can buy back packs, tee shirts, watches, lamps, sheets, snow globes and about anything else you can stick a skull and crossbones on.

Tired of being trying to be all things to all people? If so, take a tip from Mickey Mouse and put a little magic in your kingdom. Next time you consider adding a new product to your line, think first about whether simply expanding the power of an existing one might be a better strategy. (Note: if you'd like to read the amazing history of the Walt Disney Company, you'll find it at this link. The drawing of Mickey is shown per the one-site Term of Use policy at the Disney site.)

More money.
Less work.
More family time.

Isn't that what you're in business for in the first place?

Thank you for having me again this week. I hope you have a fantastic day as you also enjoy your life, build your business and have your way!

-- Media Partner --

2. Featured Indie Tip: You Never Know Who's Watching!

Last week, I shared 10 Indie Beauty Network member tips for building a profitable business. One of the members featured was Valerie Reed of Valana Minerals. If you missed the article, you can read it here.

A few days after last week's newsletter was published, I received in the mail the April 2009 issue of More Magazine, and who do I see featured there? Valerie! I have to admit I was not altogether surprised since I was interviewed by the editor on the story for background information, but it was still just as exciting to see Valerie's photo in living color and read the nice feature on her all-natural vegan mineral makeup for women of color. In case you're not familiar with it, More Magazine is designed for women over 40 and boasts 1,526,000 affluent female readers nationwide.

Valerie said her phone has not stopped ringing since the feature was published, and she graciously made some time for me to answer a few questions so I could share the story of how this great feature came about. Here's a bit of what she told me.

dM: How did this exciting feature come about?

Valerie: It's been a long time coming. Believe it or not, More Magazine called we me well over a year ago. I remember it well because it was right after my 40th birthday, which was on January 25. I was ecstatic, and even more so because I knew my chances of being featured in the publication increased several-fold because I was over 40. The woman who called told me that they were doing a feature on women over 40 who own eco-friendly companies, and it was slated for the April 2008 issue. She asked me a few questions and when we were done, I remember sending her a polite follow up note to say thanks. She never called me back.

So I called her. Every six weeks. For months. I was continually told that I had a great story to tell, but the feature kept being held up for one reason or another. I always sent a follow up note and always, like clock work almost, called again if I had not heard anything in about six weeks.

Finally, I was told that the story was assigned to an editor and that they loved my story but it was taking longer than expected to pull together a group of entrepreneurs who were qualified enough to be featured in their magazine. They told me they needed to interview me again for about an hour. The interview took at least two hours, then they told me they needed to come out and do a photo shoot. Once again, I heard nothing back. For weeks. So I called again. Still no publication date.

Then, out of the blue, I got a call one Wednesday from the photo editor. She said that the photo deadline for the piece was that Friday and that since there was not time to coordinate it, they needed me to send them a high resolution photo of myself right away. I did, and the next call I got was from a fact checker, who also called dM to get more background on my company and the credibility of my products. And finally, it's here!

dM: How did More find out about you in the first place?

Valerie: It was sort of a culmination of several things, but the bottom line is that they found me just by doing online searches! That's the short story. Here's the real deal.

One of the things I've learned from dM and also from Andrea Kane, the Organic Beauty Expert, it the importance of making sure you do at least two things: tell your story and position yourself as a person who is capable of delivering a good interview. When I was a guest on Andrea's Girlfriend's Lounge show, I posted the video at my website. It shows me interacting with my products and with people, and I know that any media representative that sees it will know immediately what I'm about and that I am articulate and confident about and comfortable with about my products.

By the time More Magazine called me, I had already been pre-screened for the story and I did not even know it!

dM: What other media tips can you share?

Valerie: Well, this is a simple one. Just show up! For example, a while back, I signed up to be a vendor at the Los Angeles African Marketplace, a 3-weekend long event. Just like I always do, I arrived early in the morning on the first day of the first weekend to set up my booth. I also had a few friends come and be my models, so I was applying makeup and talking about the products to attract people to come and find out more.

While I was there, one of my friends saw a tall, attractive black woman walking around the booth areas. My friend thought she looked like she must be important somehow, maybe even a media rep, so she went over and introduced herself. Believe it or not, the woman was none other than Gail Anderson, a popular morning reporter for the morning show at KTLA television show. Gail came over to my booth to poke around and she liked what she saw so much that she returned the next weekend to do not one but two, segments on my products.

At one point, Gail told me that she had called a few people she knew were going to have booths at the show and asked them to come early in the morning so she could feature them. They told her that her show was too early in the morning for them, or some other such reason why they couldn't be there. So I totally lucked out. Can you imagine?! All I had to do was show up and be prepared and I got the gold! For the rest of the morning, people came to my booth saying they had seen me on the show and literally put down their breakfast spoons, scooped up the kids and came over to buy some of my makeup. I even got calls that morning on my cell phone from people in other cities who watch KTLA on satellite television. I was astounded!

Another tip is to always send thank you notes to people who feature you. I do that all the time, sometimes even sending flowers if I really want to make a statement.

dM: Were you nervous being featured on KTLA?

Valerie: Yes! I was emotionally ready of course, but I was shaking visibly. My friends has to pull me aside a few times to calm me down and tell me that everything was going to be OK. More features came after that though, including WWD and World Bride Magazine where I my products were named a 2008 Editorial Pick.

dM: You must be exhausted, maintaining your full-time job and running a busy business, yes?

Valerie: Between Valana and my job as a Professor of Sociology and the head of the Sociology Department at San Jacinto Community College, I put in about 70 working hours every week. I have help though. Also to me, none of it is "work" anyway. My motivation with this company is to offer a product that is healthier than the alternatives, and to offer it to people who do not have a lot of alternatives. (See some of the lovely Valana Minerals eye shadow colors pictured above.) I am a good planner, doing lots of things in advance. I try to make sure that whatever I can use for one thing is something I can also use for something else. This helps me streamline things a little bit. My parents are wonderful helpers as well. I use email when I can so I do not have to make as many phone calls. Having said that, I love connecting with my customers so even if I cannot call, I tailor my email responses specifically to each one.

Please join me in congratulating Valerie. You can email here here. You can check out the videos of Valerie's appearance on The Girlfriend's Lounge and the video from Gail Anderson's interviews at Valerie's website here, where you can also read the whole More feature. You can also check out her Branded Page at the Indie Beauty site -- Valerie uses that as sort of an online media kit. Like she says, you never know who's watching!!

3. Indie Happenings: Connect, collaborate and have fun!

New @ Indie Beauty: Our new social site now has nearly 1,800 people, all of thirsty to connect with people who make and sell natural, handmade, artisan, Indie products. Here are some of the latest activities, discussions and fun things to do at the site:

Fun Stuff to Do, See and Learn about our vibrant Social Networking Site!

Indie Business Radio Show: Monday's guest will be Sophfronia Scott, author of Doing Business By The Book. Sophfronia's going to show us how to write the right book for our business and how to tell the stories that will lead customers to your door! Join us live at 1:00pm EST Monday, April 6. You can listen to the show live at my radio show site, but if you really want to have fun, you can listen and chat at the same time at this link. (It's free of course, but login is required.)

Indie Cafe: Debbie Chialtas of Soapylove will guest host the next Indie Cafe on Monday, April 6 at 10:00pm EST!! This event is for Premium IBN members only. Click here to read more and RSVP!

#indiechat: We had a great time last night on #indiechat on Twitter. Our charity of the night was charity:water. Our guest speaker was Jonathan of @plagiarismtoday.com. Jonathan Bailey answered questions and share tips, links and insights to help you protect our intellectual property online. If you missed it, you can read the chat stream and grab the helpful links here. Next week, our guest will be Internet marketing guru Mia Jackson of @DoroMarketing. Mia will answer questions to bring us up the speed on some of the latest online marketing trends. To find out more about #indiechat and how it works, read this blog post.

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.