A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 26
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1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New & Renewing IBN Members!
2. Handmade Beauty Business Magazine: What's Your Soap Story?
3. Lifestyle CEO Report: Writing and Distributing Press Releases For Maximum Media Attention
4. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
5. Feature Article: The Lowly Label
6. Handmade Beauty Product Review: Lemon Geranium Soap
7. Here & There: Calendar of Upcoming Events

Handmade Beauty Recipe of the Week: Sugar Honey Hair Remover

I wish we had room here for all the feedback. Here's what one member said about the new issue!

"Thank you for the article, "Beauty Business Blast Off" in Q1-2006 edition of Handmade Beauty Business. My husband and I are both chemists. I worked in personal care for one year in R&D as formulator. He worked in personal care for 10 years - in the QA lab in the plant and in R&D as formulator. We are in start up phase and want to do things the right way from the start. It has made us a bit slower in starting but we feel more comfortable this way. We are setting up to keep good records and retains. I downloaded the "Cosmetic Good manufacturing Practice Guidelines" from the FDA website (thanks for the link!). The article is a good summary of the guidelines. I can use both as checklists." Janet Erio, Tuple, Inc., Joliet, IL

Our magazine is sent to all IBN members as a benefit of membership! To join and get yours, click here. If you'd like to subscribe as a non-member, you can do so here!

Work is underway on the 2Q issue -- The Soap Issue -- due out early this summer! As we speak, the photographer is setting up to photograph dozens of soaps for the cover. If you haven't discovered soaps made on a small scale -- mainly handmade cold processed soap -- you're in for a treat. Look forward to Handmade Beauty On Display as only IBN can do it!

Do you have a soap story? The upcoming issue will feature your most hilarious soap experiences. Has anyone ever taken a bite out of your soap, thinking it's cheese? How about not believing that you actually made it? Have you ever added the wrong ingredients and still had the soap come out right? Or not!? How about some funny comments from customers and family members about your UGLY soap? Email your soap story to me and you and your business could be featured!

\Life.Style CEO\n. A person who owns and manages a business, not solely for financial gain, but also to enjoy the personal rewards of entrepreneurship, independence, flexibility and fun.

And visit the Lifestyle CEO website book page to get the scoop on my newly released book featuring several members of the Indie Beauty Network who are the ultimate examples of successful Lifestyle CEOS!

Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the subject line or your answer will not be considered. While time does not permit me to respond personally to all entrants, the winner's name will be announced in the next newsletter!

Lemon Geranium Handmade Soap
4.5 oz. | $6.00

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I had a conversation with a small business owner the other day. She had sent me a lovely jar of facial cream, wrapped in a box with an insert containing the product details. There was also a nice tri-fold brochure enclosed with even more details about the product and her entire line of goodies. All of the information in the box was great, but I want to focus on the actual product itself for purposes of this article. On  the top of the jar was a silver lid with a round label bearing the company name, logo and the identity of the product. Notice anything missing?

A few things could have been added to the labeling. Of course the FDA requires other information to be on the label, or if not on the label on an insert packaged with the product. That was the case here, since the product inserts contained all of the information required. But still, notice anything missing?

How about a way to get in touch with the manufacturer if I wanted to order more? Of course as IBN's founder and president, I'll remember the product, the company, the logo and the label. I even know exactly where to go to buy more, without having to look it up. But what if I had ordered it as a gift for a friend? She would have most likely torn into the box with excitement, pulled out the product, opened, sniffed and tried a little of it. This would have been followed by "oohs" and "aaahs" about how wonderful it is. Then she probably would have taken a few minutes to look at the inserts and then put them back in the box, or set them down somewhere to read later. The cream on the other hand, would find a special place in her bathroom.

But what would happen in a friend asked her where she got it from? "Hmmmm, dM gave it to me as a gift. Let me look at the label. Well, it doesn't say where it came from. There's a company name, but no phone number or website address. I know I have a brochure around here somewhere. I'll try to find it for you. ... Well, I can't find it. It's really great cream though. Maybe if we put the company name on a search engine, it will show up. Yeah, let's try that sometime."

See what I mean? The lowly label fixes this problem by making it easy for people to re-order your product and tell their friends where to go to get some. Phone number, email, website address -- these are vital details that don't take up a lot of space. My friend James Mundell over at IncredibleLabels.com tells me that his website combines the power of two larger printing houses to provide custom color labels for small manufacturers. They can even die cut in special shapes. The prices are great and you can get labels in quantities as small as a single sheet. Gone are the days when you need to get 10,000 labels printed for each product. Don't let the fear of price deter you anymore from getting custom labels for your products! And when you do, don't forget to comply with FDA labeling regulations and include your own marketing and promotional copy designed to help make the product more attractive to your customers! Suddenly, labels aren't so "lowly" anymore!

Once your product labels are done, you have to get some shipping labels to put on your boxes. Sure, you can run out to the local office supply store and get a box of brand name labels. That's what I used to do. My brand name mailing labels, 6 to a sheet (so I had room for return address and addressee) cost $43.27 for a box of 100. I found IBN member OnlineLabels.com and got the same labels for just $10.45. I added $5.00 for shipping and handling, and I had my labels in 3 days. Compare $15.45 with $43.27! Matt Hamilton of Online Labels tells me that his company has helped lots of small businesses save a lot of money on labels. You can easily search for the labels you want using their graphic representations of labels in various shapes: square, rectangular, oval, round -- even labels for CDs and other types of media!

I think it's amazing how large companies are figuring out ways to serve small businesses. Just five short years ago, these types of services were unheard of. Those of you have have been making your cosmetics for several years know that just a decade ago, it was nearly impossible to get a gallon of shea butter unless you paid top dollar for it on account of the many middle persons it had to go through first. Today, that's just no longer the case. If you can afford to buy in quantity, you can get anything at a reasonable price. Just grab of a cup of tea, log onto a good search engine (starting with MangoButter.com) if you're in the handmade beauty industry!) and start searching.

For more information on ordering labels, check out OnlineLabels.com (blank labels for your printer) and IncredibleLabels.com (color and custom die cut labels).

As always, there's a lot going on at IBN, and our members are very busy. I'll be including this chart in upcoming issues so everyone can stay abreast of the happening here at IBN!