The Indie Experience
April 27, 2009
A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 10, Issue 12
To subscribe, click here
-- Check out our new Apprentice Program for Startups! --
1. Lifestyle CEO Note From dM: Creative freebies!
2. Featured Indies: Brian and Edie Himmel :: Crazy
Rumors :: Florida
3. Pick & Click: Choose your fun!
Make It Yourself!: Lemon Furniture Polish
1. Lifestyle CEO Note: Creative freebies!
At
last week's
#indiechat, there was an interesting discussion featuring tips
and ideas on how to do your own public relations outreach. Here's the
summary. Our guest was Premium Indie Beauty Sabrian Bouyahi of
Push The Envelope
PR. Sabrina and I just launched a new
PR program for Premium members and
she delivered a great member teleseminars earlier this year, so I invited
her to join us for the public chat. (To enjoy Sabrina's PR tips exclusively
for Indies,
click here and scroll to the seminars for 2/5/2009 and 3/31/2009. These
links are for Premium Indie Beauty members only so you will need to enter
your email address and password for exclusive access. If you have trouble
doing that email me at donnamaria @ indiebeauty dot com.)
Sabrina and others shared great tips on how to earn favorable media attention for your business. As often happens in chats, other topics came up naturally. Last week, that topic was what sorts of "free gifts with purchase" Indies offer. There was such a lively discussion that I posted a summary of one Indie's ideas at my blog and lots of people have weighed in with what works and what doesn't work for them. Check it out, and share your own ideas and experiences.
This week's #indiechat will focus on how to leverage your branded blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to expand business opportunities. Everyone is invited to share their thoughts and experiences. #indiechat is Wednesday night at 9:00pm EST. Here's how to join!
And speaking of free gifts with purchase, check out the great door knob hanger I got with my box full of Joyful Bath Company bath salts last week. Rochel Roland, the brains behind the newly launched company, was featured in last week's newsletter. Her door knob hanger is a great way to remind you of the importance of taking out special and uninterrupted time for a bath. I love it for that reminder, and from the perspective of a business person, I love it because it's, well, genius. No matter whose bath products I'm using, I'll still be bathing with Joyful Bath Company's products because this door knob hanger is on the outside of the my bathroom What a fantastic way to ensure that customers don't forget your brand, even when they're bathing with someone else's. Now that's what I call smart and fun!
And since I'm mentioning fun, our
Facebook page
is having a lot of it these days. My latest addition is a whole bunch of
photo albums!
A recent album features the photographs from the
2006
Lifestyle CEO Conference. How behind can one get? Oh well, better late than
never. Check out all of the product photos, event albums, conversations and
upcoming Indie Business Breakfasts
here.
Finally, I want to invite you to join me for today's Indie Business Radio when my guest will be Ramit Sethi (pictured), author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich," where Ramit shares a 6-week system to help you optimize your money and become what he calls a "financial grown up." Sign me up for that! That's today on Indie Business Radio at 1:00pm EST. To listen to the show, just click here. If you also want to join the live chat during the show, click here. (It's free but login is required.)
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 Indies: Brian and Edie Himmel :: Crazy Rumors :: Florida
When the
Crazy Rumors Premium Indie Beauty membership application came
across my desk last year, I was intrigued. After all, it's not every day
that a beauty company has such an unusual name. In fact, when I first saw
it, I remember thinking that there may have been a mistake. I made it a
point to visit their website quickly just in case.
When I got there, I saw lip balm and lots of it, in all kinds of flavors that made we want to run right then and there to the closest coffee shop. Then, when I found out that the owners of the company were a married couple, I was over the moon. Brian and Edie have been together for over 10 years, and have been married for 7 months. They live in Boca Raton with 4 cats and lots of coffee and tea inspired fragrance oils.
Since my husband and I are in business together, I
have a special passion for encouraging couples in business. Brian and Edie
are focused and having fun. I'm so excited to share some of their story with
you.
dM: When did you start your business and what is the inspiration
for it?
Brian: The idea of starting a business began back in Nov 2003 but Crazy Rumors didn't officially become a reality until our first sale in Jan 2005. We spent all of 2004 doing R&D and working on creating the world's best lip balm :) We would spend a lot of our spare time hanging out at a local coffee & tea lounge which is where the initial inspiration for our product lines (Perk & Brew) came from.
dM: How did you choose the interesting name, "Crazy Rumors?"
Brian: It was sort of fate. The very day that we decided to start a company I came across a posting online where someone said something pretty random and the response to that was "That's just a Crazy Rumor". The posting immediately after that said "Crazy Rumor...What a fine name for a company" I couldn't believe how perfect it was. This was the exact day that we said we needed a great company name. We wanted something different and intriguing and this was it. A quick check showed the name was available as well as the website www.crazyrumors.com so I jumped on it. People really seemed to love the name and to this day we get compliments all the time.
dM: How did your professional background help you launch your venture?
Brian: Neither of us had
any real professional training in business or marketing. I went to school
for Music Industry and worked in advertising for a record label. Edie went
to school for Science and worked in the medical field. We started a small
bartending business on the side that did quite well but as far as Crazy
Rumors goes, everything we learned was purely from experience. We did what
we felt was right, went with our instincts and learned from our mistakes.
Our personal backgrounds are different. Edie has always been passionate
about using natural products and I've always been hands on and really enjoy
making things. The collaboration of the two set the foundation for Crazy
Rumors. Since I love a great challenge, this made formulating products a bit
easier and lot of fun since it was something that I looked forward to doing.
Edie loves to write and was able to use her skills for something she is
truly passionate about. I've always been interested in design so I purchased
a few art programs, learned them on my own and with that was able to design
our packaging, original website, catalog...etc.
dM: What are some of the things you did in advance to get you started on the right foot?
Brian: I spent hours upon hours, day and night for months on end researching the best ingredients and their benefits, all while working on creating a recipe that I loved. Since I had no real background in formulation or manufacturing, it was all trial and error. I also participated in a Soap Group message board, where the members were extremely kind and didn't mind putting up with all of my questions :) I definitely have to give them a lot of thanks for helping me out in the beginning. Living in NYC at the time, we were lucky to have access to all of the industry related trade shows. We would attend these show and walk the floor, talk to other business owners and try to gain a better understanding of how the business worked. We would take home their catalogs, order forms and model all of our marketing literature and forms based on what we were given. This helped us better understand wholesale pricing, packaging and the sales side of business in the beginning.
dM: What's your niche?
Brian: Crazy Rumors is a natural personal care and cosmetic company specializing in all natural and vegan products with a fun side. We make products that offer the exceptional benefits of naturally derived ingredients fused with fun, fresh and unique concepts. Seeing how so many product lines leaned one way or the other: simple and ordinary with the same basic aromas or wild and over the top but made of purely synthetic ingredients, we set out to make products that were the best of both worlds, hence our slogan - Naturally Fun Products!
dM: How do you market your products?
Brian: This has been the most difficult area
for us. Since we're still a small company, we're limited in the amount of
funds we have to spend on marketing. The majority of our success comes from
free press and word of mouth.
We have been extremely fortunate to have received quite a bit of press over
the years in major magazine such as Vogue, Elle and this month's April issue
of Seventeen. This has definitely been helpful in getting the name out there
but I would say overall our success has been due to word of mouth from our
loyal customers and retailers.
We're truly lucky to have such amazing and loyal fans who believe in us and
our products and who have stood by our side since the beginning. We receive
emails from our customers quite often showing us how supportive they truly
are. They tell us how they spread the word to family and friends by
blogging, posting on message boards, chat groups and social networking sites
which has truly helped make us who and what we are today.
In addition, we do our best to participate in and donate to as many worthy
events when possible.
dM: What is your most popular product?
Brian: I would say the full Brew line - Tea inspired lip balms followed by our new A La Mode - Ice Cream inspired lip balms.
dM: What forms of social media do you enjoy using and why?
Brian: As of just yesterday, based on dM's suggestion, we launched on Twitter! We also use Facebook and have a link on our homepage but haven't completely taken advantage of all it's features. We hope to spend a little more time with this in the near future.
Who helps your business be successful?
Brian: As mentioned above, our customers and our loyal fans are the real success story behind Crazy Rumors. Without them we truly couldn't be where we are today! Of course, our suppliers contribute to our success as well. They make some of the best ingredients that help make up our products.
dM What are some of the challenges you have encountered and how have you overcome them?
Brian: It sounds crazy but I would say the hardest challenge so far has been sticking it out! Running a small business is definitely not the easiest thing to do. Especially since we're a small company, we are forced to take on all of the roles. There have been times where we felt that it was too difficult and even questioned whether or not it's worth it to go on. These are the times that we've relied on each other for support and pep talks! Rather then focusing on the negative, we try to concentrate on the positive things. We focus on how much we have already achieved and overcome, and remember why we started Crazy Rumors to begin with. We visualize where we see things going and remind ourselves of the joy and rewards of being in business for yourself. Once you have that vision in your head, it's like a fresh start. You'd be amazed at how quickly a positive attitude can turn things around!
dM: What is new and exciting with your business these days?
Brian: On the
business side, we are pending distribution with one of the largest natural
products distributors and just signed on to work with a reputable brokerage
company that just adores Crazy Rumors along with our ideas and concepts.
We're also in talks with another reputable brokerage company with a great
sales team who cover a fairly large territory, which is very exciting!
On the product side, we just released our first line of lip colors in 6
gorgeous shades called HibisKiss, which is made with natural Red Hibiscus
flavor (hence the name HibisKiss) This is very exciting since this has been
requested by tons of our customer over the years and allows us to be a part
of the cosmetic side as well! These were just launched about a month ago and
have already become a huge hit for us.
Last but not least, we also are in the process of developing a new and fun
line of lip glosses and a much anticipated line of perfumes with a brand new
theme all together!
dM: What is it like to work a business with your spouse?
Brian: Most times, it's absolutely wonderful
because you get to spend the majority of your time with the one person who
you truly love and respect. Of course, there will be times when you do step
on each other's toes, which can be true with anyone you work with, so be
sure to know the difference between business and personal matters. Be sure
to leave work at the office and never bring home any business related
issues.
The best tip that I can offer is to be sure know your specific role in the
business early on and not to impede on each other's work. This will avoid
tons of petty nonsense arguments :)
dM: What do you think are the best things about being Indie?
Brian: We're real people behind the brand with true values and beliefs. We're not a giant corporation that is looking to take over everything! Our products aren't cloned in factory and are a true labor of love. We love living our dream, and the vision of taking our idea and creativity and making it a reality, and succeeding at it!
dM: How did you find the Indie Beauty Network and what do you think of your membership?
Brian: IThe Indie Beauty Network came highly recommended from the many people I met in the industry. I think the membership benefits are fantastic and offer a world of useful information, suppliers and services right at our fingertips. I love how we are updated on all the new happenings in the industry. It's also great to see other companies succeed at doing what they love! It's a very liberating thing to experience!
dM: What are your future plans for Crazy Rumors?
Brian: We are currently working on expanding
our existing lines with some new products as well as developing some new and
exciting themes. When we first started Crazy Rumors, we jotted down all of
our ideas, designs and concepts in a marble notebook. This book has been
with us since day one and we constantly look back to it for inspiration.
With so many great things written in there, we would love nothing more than
to see all of our visions come to life!
Our overall plans are to bloom into a bigger, more successful business and
to create a work environment that we can truly look forward to going to
everyday! As we grow, we would love to create jobs that are fun, creative,
and inspiring!
We're very excited to see what the future brings and we look forward to
sharing our products and ideas with the world!
dM: What are you doing when you're not working on your business?
Brian: In our spare time, we still enjoy a good competitive challenge. We both enjoy playing poker and socializing with friends & family. I personally enjoy playing guitar, the occasional video game and anything to help unwind and relax. Edie loves baking and collecting owls :) Overall, we enjoy the simple things in life!
dM: What do you think of the FDA Globalization Act?Brian: I think this is completely and absolutely unnecessary and could potentially destroy what all the indies have built. With the economy and unemployment rate the way it is, many are turning their hobby of crafting into a business, and potentially a successful business! With the fees that all of us indies would potentially have to pay, it would take the dream of doing something we love away from us!
Brian and Edie's Crazy Rumors story is inspiring on so many levels. Starting with the name of their company and the logical flow of the different brands and flavors of lip balm they offer, everything is unique and memorable. Brian and Edie started with a small line of lip balms -- Perk and Brew -- and the success of early flavors has allowed them to expand and add new ones. It's such a great example for new companies that think they have to start out offering dozens of products. Start small and grow from there!
3. Pick & Click: Choose your fun!
|
New Discussions: New Blog Posts: |
New Groups: Upcoming Events: |
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.
