Handmade Beauty Connection
October 23, 2006
A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 7, Issue 44
To subscribe, click here
-- Sponsor --
1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New and Renewing Members!
2. Lifestyle CEO Report: Little Cash, Big Marketing .. Mega Results!
3. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: win something wonderful!
4. Feature Article: The Bubble Roome
5. Here & There: Calendar of Upcoming Events
Handmade Beauty Recipe of the Week: Coffee and Mocha Facial Mask
1. IBN Member Update: Welcome New and Renewing Members!
Just
In Case You Missed It ...
After months of searching and negotiating, I am pleased to announce IBN's Products Liability Insurance Program, which allows IBN to include $1,000,000 OR MORE! of products liability insurance when you join IBN! You still get all the other great member benefits too! If you'd like more information about it, visit our FAQ page. If you already know you want the package, just click here to get it and join IBN at the same time!!
Welcome Renewing Members!
Ladies
Blend.com | Penie Mills | Florida
* Member
since January 2005; Natural
and Organic beauty & body care products for health, wellness, special
pampering and everyday enjoyment.
Welcome New Members!
Salt and Butter Body
Company | Melissa Thompson | Colorado
* Quality hand made Shea Butter
products at reasonable pricing.
Loli Spa | Lisa Watts |
California
* Personalized spa products.
Black Pearl Botanicals |
Jill Gibbs | New Mexico
*
Founded in 2001 offering natural perfume, skin care and home spa products.
All of the products are handcrafted with 100% natural ingredients. The
product line includes: solid perfume, jojoba based perfume oil, nail and
cuticle oil, facial elixir, smoking cessation oil, foot balm, pregnancy
belly balm, bar soap, vanilla lip balm, botanical milk bath, aromatherapy
bath salts, salt scrub, foot soak, organic tropical body oils, massage, bath
and personal care accessories. Retail/Wholesale.
IBN Members On The Move!
IBN member Pennie Mills of Ladies Blend.com is pleased to announce the launch of her new website and the introduction of several new products with organic ingredients. Congrats Pennie!
Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through IBN's Online Member Directory, now with 4 ways to search: (1) by state/country; (2) by member business name; (3) by keyword search; or (4) using our new alphabetical listings.
2. Lifestyle CEO Report: Little Cash, Big Marketing ... Mega Results!!
\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.
3. Handmade Beauty Trivia Question: the winner of last week's contest was Callie Lee of Cincinnati, Ohio. Callie won a bar of soap, courtesy of BloomWorks Natural Soap Co., an IBN member since January 2006!
Last Week's Question: A substance produced by bees, in combination with the sticky buds and leaves they come into contact with, is used in hives to seal holes and cracks. This substance, also known as "bee glue" is said to have a variety of helpful applications in skin care as well as when taken internally. It is also added to incense for its warm, honey-like fragrance. What is it?
Last Week's Answer: propolis
This Week's Question: Along with my partner Jack Canfield, I have devised a series of books that Time Magazine has called "the publishing phenomenon of the decade." Through my books, which feature real life inspirational stories from around the globe, I have positively impacted millions of people. My story is a testimony to the power of persistence. I was turned down by over 100 publishers before finding a small company that believed in my idea that real life stories could sell. My series has sold 90 million copies around the US, allowing me and my wife and two daughters to live comfortably in southern California with our chickens, pigeons, cats, dogs, rabbits, fish, horses, peacock, hamster and an organic garden complete with fruit, vegetables, herbs and is full of hummingbirds, butterflies and wonderfully fragrant flowers. Who am I and what is the name of my series of books?
Be the first to answer and win something delicious!
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!
4. Feature Article: The Bubble Roome
When
he was 7 years old, David Johnston completed a science project studying the
popping characteristics of different types of corn. It was a great plan for a
kid to get to eat lots of popcorn for a few weeks with his parents blessing.
David had fun with the project, which helped him discover something he's known
ever since. David always felt comfortable in a chef's hat. Perhaps
that's why he has been so successful in his Brooklyn kitchen for the past 3
years.
David, age 42, owns The Bubble Roome, a business born out of the desire to overcome the sadness following 9/11 and the necessity to have more control over his professional life. Before launching The Bubble Roome in 2003, David had lived on the west coast, mainly in Portland and San Francisco. He was a successful graphics designer for a natural goods company, specializing in creating packaging and advertising projects. In the late 90's, he decided to take a friend up on an offer to spend some time in New York learning the art of Web design. David thought this was a great opportunity to add a new talent to his design portfolio and, without much thought, he quit his job and the natural goods company and headed east.
Upon arriving in New York in 1999, he learned Web design and began offering himself out as a freelance Web designer and graphics artist. Things were great. He loved his new home. What better place is there in the world to be a designer than the design powerhouse of the universe? And then 9/11 happened. And David couldn't get a gig to save his life. So he decided to change his life. David took to the museums, book stores and libraries of New York City and looked for inspiration. He found it in some soap making books at the book store. Long on time and short on money, David spent hours at one of them taking copious notes on how to make cold process soap. His first projects making gifts for friends were well received, and it soon occurred to him that he might have found a way to stay in New York and earn a living doing something he loved.
"I wanted to control my income situation so I decided to use what little money I had to hone my skills," says David. "Instead of looking for jobs all the time, sitting in my apartment sending out resumes all the time, I wanted more control in my life. I lived across the street from a firehouse that lost most of its firefighters in 9/11. There were "missing" posters everywhere. I knew that life was too short to do something you hated."
It took David about 6 months to gather enough information from books to really launch his business. By 2003, he had 16 varieties of soap. Says David with a laugh, "I made a bunch of soap, made it look pretty and asked the owner of a store in Brooklyn (called Tarragon) if she wanted to buy some to sell in her store. She bought nearly the entire inventory and David knew his "plan" could work. He quickly created a website, gave the venture a name and added sugar scrubs to the line of soaps.
Victorian Muse
When
it came time to settle on a brand name, David had little trouble choosing
The Bubble Roome. "I just always liked the way it sounded," he
says. The trouble was that bubbleroom.com was owned by a Florida restaurant,
so he had to go with Plan B. "I decided to add en "e" to the
end to give the company a kind of Victorian feel. There are so many bath and
body lines out there and I knew I would need a specific brand identity
anyway. I felt that Victorian was a good feel and style to have."
David says that the company muse is his great grandmother Adelaide Marie Madeleine Stark, who was born in Baden-Baden, Germany in 1868 and who died in Paris in 1925.
Eventually, by process of elimination and using customer feedback, David whittled down the line to 10 soaps, divided between moisturizing and exfoliating varieties. Some of the most popular are Fennel & Anise (exfoliating with ground fennel and anise seed), Tangerine & Lemongrass and Lavender & Geranium (both moisturizing with shea and cocoa butters). All are made with 100% essential oils. He matched sugar scrubs and body butters with the scent combinations. "I never sat down for long and thought about product lines. I read aromatherapy books and learned about using essential oils, put together some combinations and got the products out there. In addition to gobs of Internet research, one of the most helpful resources I've found is The Soap Maker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch," David recalls. I also used Aromatherapy For Dummies by Kathi Keville.
The
Bubble Roome offers a growing array of goodies. David recently added bubble
bath and matching Clay & Salt Scrub products made with Dead Sea salt and
jojoba beads. Each is made with pure essential oils (not fragrance oils here!)
and natural ingredients. The unique scents were designed by David:
Ponder
- soothing with jasmine and sandalwood
Pluck - revitalizing with ylang ylang, myrrh and sweet orange
Snooze - relaxing with chamomile and lavender
Sparkle
- invigorating with ginger, peppermint and orange
The Bubble Roome, Really
The real bubble roome is David's kitchen. "My kitchen is my manufacturing facility. I never eat at home -- always out. A true New Yorker ...," David laughs. David says his whole apartment is a bubble roome. He scouted for manufacturing space but says that New York prices are way out of his range right now. He looks forward to growing the wholesale end of the business so he can have his living space back. For now though, he's happy to run his own business, taking control of his financial destiny. "I work 3 days a week designing graphics for another company, and 4 days a week at The Bubble Roome," he says.
On Entrepreneurship
"Being an entrepreneur is one of those things that is amazingly difficult, yet exciting and fun at the same time. I constantly battle with myself since I am the only one holding me back. I could work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the Bubble Roome and still have more stuff to do. The only motivation for product development is me. I'm the only one who is going to tell me to do it. And frankly, sometimes I just want to watch The Oprah Show. Sometimes, I don't have the energy to work. Other times I just don't want to. But I do it anyway."
Downtime
"Downtime is precious and I don't get much of it. I like to compose modern electronic music for relaxation. I used to perform with a band when I lived in San Francisco." (You can enjoy some of David's original music here.) " I also like to go to the Metropolitan Museum. Inspiration comes from anywhere. I could be looking at Egyptian mummies and get an idea for a new product. Visiting the museum keeps me open to new ideas that positively influence my bath and body line."
Inspiration
Lisa Price of IBN member Carol's Daughter was a huge inspiration for David. "I became aware of her because she has a store in Brooklyn. I also enjoyed her book which tells the story of her company. It conveys the idea of keeping yourself focuses on your goals. It's so easy as an entrepreneur to become defeated. I still wonder why my line of bath and body is so different from the others out there? Because of Lisa's story, I can remain focused on doing what I like."
Media Is Key
"I have learned that media attention is a key to success in any business. When my products were featured at People.com, my website traffic and sales shot up 500% almost immediately. My products have also been featured in several other magazines which has increased sales and brand visibility, including Look Magazine and Lucky Magazine. Having access to the media is one of the great things about living in New York."
Helpful Business Books
"Right now, I'm reading Business Plan In A Day by Rhonda Abrams. It's taking me more than a day. I also like the books by Michael Gerber under the 'E-Myth' brand. In one of them, he uses the example of a woman who likes making pies. All she does all day is make pies, so eventually, she begins to hate making pies. The idea is to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive by structuring your business so you don't have to be the only one sitting there making pies all day. I have to right now, but as I grow, I want to make less pies and more money by accumulating more wholesale accounts. And I want my kitchen back ..."
Lessons Learned
"Stay positive and focused. For me, it's so easy to be defeated by people who are bigger and better. There are so many bath lines out there! I like doing what I do, and there's value in that, so I hope others will find value as well. Just remain on your mission and the rewards will come."
Greatest Challenge
"Learning the power of money. I design all of my packaging myself so I save there, but there's still never enough. It's hard to manage money when you have to spend so much and you don't really have any. I'm on a constant quest to learn more about the value of money and how it should and should not flow within the framework of a business."
What's On The Horizon
"I'm looking forward to expanding and continuing to gain more wholesale accounts. In the near term, I'm launching my first fragrance in November. It's called Black Rose and is composed of Bulgarian rose, Egyptian geranium, black currant and other secret aromatic goodies. I am also on the verge of launching a new chocolate line with a body whip, body milk, body wash and spray."
You can get some goodies for your own bubble roome (your cozy bath!) at David's website.
5. Here & There: Calendar of Upcoming Events
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!
| Date | Event | Location & Registration |
| November 18, 2006 | Introduction to Essential Oils at Aromahead Institute. Check our Events Calendar for all of Aromahead's upcoming aromatherapy education classes! | Aromahead Institute, Sarasota, FL |
| December 5, 2006 | How to Make Organic Body Care Products with The Organic Beauty Expert, Andrea Kane! Check our Events Calendar for all of Andrea's upcoming classes! | The Learning Annex, San Diego, CA |
| December 9, 2006 | How to Start a Body Care Product Line with The Organic Beauty Expert, Andrea Kane! Check our Events Calendar for all of Andrea's upcoming classes! | The Learning Annex, San Diego, CA |
| November 16-7, 2006 | Therapeutic Uses of Essential Oils at Aromahead Institute. Check our Events Calendar for all of Aromahead's upcoming aromatherapy education classes! | Aromahead Institute, Sarasota, FL |
| Spring 2007 | The Lifestyle CEO & Handmade Beauty Network Conference (pictures from 2006 conference) | Charlotte, North Carolina registration to be announced |
Best & Success!!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Handmade Beauty Connection
The Indie Beauty Network | www.handmadebeauty.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2006 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 The Handmade Beauty Connection (HBC) 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 the HBC 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, HBC 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.
