The Story of Mama

I've been putting myself "out there" more and more over the last year and have consequently been fielding lots of questions relating to the origin of my company. I've had this company in some form or another for over 8 years now, so Mama has a long and varied history with many components that make up the whole. I get a lot of questions about how I started, which I think is great. Authenticity is a big buzzword these days, so I suppose it's only natural that people would want to know how I got started in the business making natural products. I am an authentic person, and it's hard to stand out in the midst of so much unauthentic marketing, so I really try to give them the goods.



I always thought that the seed for Mama was sown on a fateful late night sitting in the Los Angeles airport, waiting to board a red eye to Atlanta to produce a music video that was giving me hives. I was on a career path that had made me miserable. I looked around at a lot of happy people (this was in early 2001, when travel used to be a happy occasion) and wondered what they did in life. And then I thought "body products make me happy. Maybe I could make them." And thus began the long journey that landed where I am today. I thought that was the beginning of my story. But then I remembered another layer.



This other layer is not quite as romantic as the "I hated my life so I made a new one" story. Yes, that is part of my story, and it's a common thread that keeps popping up in the bios of many an entrepreneur, because it's a concept appeals to a whole lot of people these days. But if I really think about it, another part of Mama's story happened prior to my airport epiphany and involves a failed attempt at multi-level marketing. It was not my first. There have been many failed efforts in general and my first (of two) multi-level marketing attempts was in college, when I decided that I should sell knives. I think I maybe sold a set to my parents and grandparents - didn't even cover the cost of my demo set. But I can still cut a penny with scissors.



So the next time around, I was a freelancer in the film industry in Los Angeles. I was admittedly not a master networker, and there were only so many jobs available to a larger work pool, so I didn't feel like I had much control over my career. I was a hard worker and I was tired of not having enough opportunities (read: money.) So I was always keeping an ear to the ground for other ways to line my wallet. A friend and film ex-pat came to me with an "exciting new opportunity" which shortly revealed itself to be a multi-level company that sold "natural" cleaning and body products. (I say "natural" because I'm not really sure that they actually were.) It's funny, because I had recently completed work on a film that had an entire part of the script dedicated to poking fun at multi-level product companies. To top this off, at the time I was working for the writer of said script. (he was lovely, but not a proponent of multi-level marketing). I knew that this type of selling hadn't worked for me in the past, and that most of my friends would probably give me hell, but that shows you how badly I was looking for new opportunities (read: money.) So I signed up. Predictably, I sucked at it. I don't think I even sold enough to cover my demo set. To let you know where my head was, when my friend initially showed me the company's catalog (no website - remember people, this was pre-21st Century) I didn't understand what it was and I started pitching her ideas that I had for redesigning their packaging. I was obviously missing the concept. She looked at me like I had a third eye.



But here's the thing that I got out all of this: I learned about the existence of natural products. This company's specialty was cleaning products that came in concentrated form and you added water. Truthfully, the products (and the packaging) weren't memorable. The only thing I really remember is that they lasted a long time and I couldn't keep up with the monthly required minimum purchase because I had a tiny apartment that I rarely cleaned. But I do distinctly remember going to the orientation where they were talking about the cleaning products aisle at grocery stores. Lots of expounding on the chemicals that most of these products contained, and explanations of why they were bad for our environment, our home, our water, etc. This information is in the forefront now, but remember, this was over a decade ago. They told us to take a trip down the cleaning product section of the grocery store aisle and notice the smell. That the smell is called "seepage" and it occurs because the plastic can't contain the chemicals it holds. Their instructions were to go home, gather up all of our chemical laden cleaning supplies, put them in a box and set them out at the curb. This was, not so obviously at the time, to make way for the starter kit of their cleaning supplies that was on it's way, but I bought into it and I did it. And let me tell you, I have never used another bottle of Pledge or Windex again. And I still can't stand to walk down the cleaning products aisle of any grocery store. The point is, this is a very important part of my story, because if not for this experience, none of this information would have even been in my consciousness. I was passionate about the message, but I couldn't sell the company because I didn't believe in it. I have worked so hard to make Mama a company whose products I do believe in, and I can vouch for them because I make them myself. This year, I plan to write more about all of this and natural products in general. I hope that you'll enjoy the journey with me.

Mea Culpa

In light of an upset comment about a recent post, I decided to take the post down. The offending post dealt with a small segment of the population that I run into periodically at festivals, people WHO ARE NOT representative of my customers. I grouped these people into intentionally generalized stereotypes and attempted to write humorous anecdotes. My intention was to write a funny, if not a bit irreverent post - think David Sedaris. My commenter obviously thought Ann Coulter, because she handed me my ass. The post wasn't intended to be mean-spirited. Snarky, yes. I was blowing off some steam. Humorous definitely. But mean-spirited, no. I struggled with whether or not to take it down. After all, it's my blog and I can snark if I want to. But this situation has really gotten me thinking about what I want to put out there, and what I'm trying to achieve with my blog. I want to connect with people who care to read what I have to say. Mission not accomplished. My fault.

I'm still finding my voice on this blog, and I announced to my husband a couple of weeks ago that I've decided it was important to "be myself". To be honest about what I was feeling, and really give people the real inside scoop on running a small business, the good, the bad and the ugly. Today, after I read him the comment, he said, "so how's that working out for ya?" Honestly, I wasn't even sure anyone read the damn thing, so I was terribly surprised to discover that my readers aren't necessarily my friends who know me and think my brand of humor is funny. Lesson #1: know your audience. Snarky and irreverent certainly has its well-worn place in the blogosphere, but if I'm alienating customers, I've obviously missed my mark. It would be one thing if I was trying to inspire controversy or even a spirited and intelligent debate. But I don't want that. I want to give people who are interested an honest look at the engine of a small business, from my perspective. That still means the good and the bad, but hopefully no more ugly.

This incident has gotten me thinking a lot about the Internet in general. I've never been the biggest fan of blog comments. The anonymity of communicating through cyberspace seems to give a lot of angry people a license to wound. I've read a lot of comments on other blogs that were intended to sear, and I always wonder how people are capable of such cruelty when they would never say it to someone's face. I'm not referring to my commenter - I obviously offended her and I feel really badly about that. I take full responsibility for the situation, and I replied in my comments with a genuine apology. But she said she wouldn't be back on my site, so I have no way of reaching her to give her my apology. She may not be willing to accept it, but at least I would be able to try. I'm also not referring to my post. I'm not anonymous - you know how to find me if you want to give me the what for in person. But the one-sided communication of commenting on the Internet really bothers me. I find myself longing for the days of telephone and good ole US Mail, where a return address is required.

So my new mission statement for my blog is to be provocative in a way that makes you want to know more, not in a way that puts you off. And if you stop reading my blog, I hope that it's because I bore you to tears with my verbosity and not because I've pissed you off. But hopefully you'll still want to patronize my business. Because I truly am so thankful for my customers and I value your business and your support more than words can say.

A turning point

Before I made Mama my full-time venture, it was more of an idea. It was something that I put out there sporadically and only when time allowed, so there was never any consistency or any real progress. At least not financially. I just did the math and realized that I am in my 7th year of business. Mama will be 5 in September, and I started out with a different product line before Mama. In that 7 years, I primarily focused on developing products and branding, but didn't really spend much time on sales. I get so excited by ideas, and I was constantly coming up with tens of hundreds of them. If time wasn't a factor, I would have a very diverse company. But you can't build a company solely on ideas, particularly if you're not getting them out to the masses. So when I decided to make a go of it full-time, I pared down to the essentials, focused on what I had and started selling. The response has been amazing and it's given me such pleasure on so many fronts. But my glamourous life as a small business owner consists of working 7 days a week, as many hours a day as I can keep my eyes open. Let me be clear - I am SO not complaining. I remember many times within the last 7 years when I was slaving away at a job I didn't particularly like, visions of Mama dancing in my head, when I heard about small business owners who were working round the clock and dared to complain of a lack of sleep because of their mad success. I would have given my right arm! So now I am figuratively armless, because I have joined those masses of sleepy entrepreneurs. And I am delighted to be one of them.

But I'm realizing that I can't keep going at the rate I have been for any sustained period of time. The hectic pace is largely dictated by the various facets of the business that are commanding my attention. I'm doing a little bit of everything - retail store, festivals and markets, wholesale, private label, internet sales, and the list goes on. I'm jumping at all of the opportunities and there have been many, which is the most incredible feeling. There were a few months of sleepless nights in the beginning of the year, and now I sleep like a baby. Mostly because I'm so tired, but I'll take that over insomnia any day. However, the multiple paths have begun to leave me feeling like a jack of all trades and the master of none. I'm a person who benefits from some focus, but I find myself running around like a crazy person all day responding to the various opportunities. It's a dream for a person who is relying on their business to grow, but it's also somewhat of a conundrum in the grand scheme of things. I want to keep everyone happy, but if I'm overcommitted, no one will be happy. You know what I'm talking about.

I know that I'm exactly where I should be, but it's making me take a hard look at where I'm going. "Work smarter, not harder" has been running through my head lately, but I'm not even sure where to start working smarter. Actually, that's not true. It's that the concept of working smarter involves spending more money, which is also hard. Either spending money on people to help me, or spending money on services that I currently perform. For example: I design, print, cut and apply all of my own labels. It takes longer than you can even imagine. Probably about as much time as making the actual products when all is said and done. I could either hire someone to help cut and apply the labels, or I could outsource the printing. And then I could still use someone to clean the containers and apply the labels, because it's a time-consuming job. It's a tough call, because both are additional expenses that come with their own risks. Label printers require large minimums per label, and without counting, I probably have at least 20 different labels for all of my different products. That's a pretty large investment out of the gate. Products and information evolve as I discover more about my business, so I tend to alter my labels at least once a year. I don't sell as many products per year as I would have to buy labels for, so I'm stuck with labels that I won't even use. So maybe I suck it up and use all of the labels, but that's unlikely. OK, so maybe I hire someone. There's the liability of putting someone in contact with the sharp blade of my paper cutter (though the worst I have ever done is slice a hole in my shirt, I'm sure worker's comp wouldn't see it that way), plus there's the need to find someone with the precision necessary to get the job done. It's not rocket science, but it does take a certain amount of skill to get the labels lined up and make clean, accurate cuts. I've been doing it for 7 years, so it's second nature. I need another me. This is just one example of the many things that I'm constantly assessing. The same considerations go for web design, bookkeeping, manufacturing, and selling, all of which I do myself. Granted the latter four don't risk losing a finger, but hopefully you get where I'm going with this. Growth requires people to help, and that terrifies me. It wouldn't terrify me if I had the right people, but finding the right people is either pure luck or a lot of trial and error. The latter part is what inspires fear. I learned to manage people in my former career, and I've been told that I'm a good person to work for. But I don't really have any skills in hiring people. Film work was job to job, so if a person wasn't right, I just toughed it out and didn't hire them again. Didn't have to have the tough conversation about why they weren't right. There was always the out that I had my "usual" people. Call me a chicken, but it's no fun to look someone in the eye and tell them they're not "a good fit for your company" (i.e. not good at their job), and you're letting them go. So growth is scary because it involves other people and all of the stuff that comes with.

The next phase of my business in my mind has always been wholesale. This means selling my products to retailers who sell them at their stores. And it's the obvious next step for a business who wants to grow substantially. Which means cold calling retailers if you're a masochist, or a trade show if you want the easier, but more costly path to the masses. Trade shows are EXPENSIVE. And there's no guarantee that you will recoup your investment. Because it's not just the expense of the trade show itself, you're also selling your products for half of your retail price. The whole purpose is to sell volume. Volume mandates growth. Buying more stuff to make your products, hiring more people to make it. This traditionally is an action item in the business plan of a business like mine, so it's where my mind has been. Truth be told, it's not something I'm terribly excited about. I'd much rather have a retail store, which I do, but retail stores have their own financial risks. There is a lot involved to owning a successful retail store. "If you build it, they will come," is not a realistic marketing plan. Just so ya know.

The long and the short of this is, it's all a risk. You just have to decide which risk you want to take. And up to this point, I haven't been able to choose one. I go back and forth on a weekly basis, and have my finger in all of the possible pots, in the smallest of ways. But you get to a point where you need to stop trying things out and pick a direction. And so...

I had a meeting today about a new opportunity that has gotten me really excited, and in a curious way, has gotten me mentally on track. It won't necessarily lessen my workload, but will streamline my focus, and it offers growth without the hugest investment. It involves entering into a niche that comes with no guarantees, but makes a lot of sense when I take a hard look at my business and who my customers are. And it involves me putting my tradeshow/wholesale plan on hold, because I know I have to stop trying to do so many things at once. Which is a huge relief, to say the least. It's happening fast because I'm hopping on a train that is already moving, but it's made me think that I can grow my business for the time being while still staying small, which makes sense for my life where it is right now. It allows for other life things to happen, without the pressure of managing a business that is growing exponentially. It also allows for other ideas I've had in the past 7 years to come into play. Ideas that I loved at the time, but put on hold because I didn't have the means to move them forward at the time. I know I'm being vague, but I want to share the new direction once I have my head around it. I assure you, it doesn't change any of the work that I'm doing now. Rather, it complements it and allows me to grow at a pace and in a direction that I'm more comfortable with.

More exciting details coming soon!

Kirkwood update

So I woke up this morning at 6am with the forecast looking the exact same as when I went to bed. I talked to my friend who was going to be in the booth next to me - she had done a risk vs reward assessment and decided not to go. I turned on the weather channel and mulled it over for about an hour. I called another friend who was already there and said there were a lot of vendors setting up. I decided that I would be uptight all day if I didn't go and at least give it a shot, so I got in my car and headed over. The morning was nice, albeit humid, so I was feeling hopeful. I was next to some friends who were keeping up with the forecast throughout the morning, and got the news that storms were rolling in around 1 and were supposed to last all afternoon. They started to break down around noon. Still uncertain, I took a few extraneous things to my car and kept up the mental debate. Around 1:30 the dark clouds rolled in, the skies opened up, and within 10 minutes I had a 3 foot wide river running through the back of my booth, which was jammed full of people trying to wait out the downpour. My gut said to cut my losses and go, so I started making very wet trips to my car. I got soaked, but my products did not, which was what was important to me. It had lightened up a bit as I took the last load, but was still drizzling when I got home. I again looked at the forecast, which had 80 to 100% chance of thunderstorms throughout the rest day. It stopped drizzling around 3 and... IT DIDN'T RAIN ANOTHER DROP ALL DAY. It actually cooled off, and the afternoon turned out to be a lovely one with the sun occasionally peeking out. I heard a lot of people showed up at the festival. I keep telling myself that I made the best decision I could with the information I had, but I'm still feeling a little remorseful. I actually had a pretty good morning sales-wise, even though there weren't that many people out. It was indicative that if it had been a nice day, I probably would have had a really good day. And if I had I stuck it out, it may have been a good day after all. Sigh.

I realize that I'm not a great candidate for festivals. I don't like the unpredictability, and the extreme weather wreaks havoc on my products. I didn't intend for festivals and markets to become the mainstay of my business plan, but they are the low hanging fruit so to speak, so I've crammed my calendar full of them for this year. I thought that I would be able to focus on promoting the retail store and making wholesale contacts in between, (as well as keeping my site updated and sending more marketing emails, blogging more, sending out press releases, etc etc.) but I am a one person shop and I've found that getting ready for festivals is taking up the majority of my long hours. That being said, I've noticed a considerable jump in foot traffic at the store since Inman Park, and I've made some wholesale contacts as well. Most of the festivals and markets I've participated in this year have been wonderfully profitable, but I have had a couple of bad weather days where I came home determined to about-face to a business model that mandates I conduct all of my business in a controlled climate. Immediately. But I made the decision to bootstrap my business for the time being, so I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing. Except for today.

I'm not one for regret, so I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience. This whole thing has gotten me thinking about my process and business in general. I'm usually pretty decisive, and I usually make good decisions. So when I don't, I have the tendency to beat myself up. I need to work on this, because all we have is our intuition and our knowledge of past events, and there's no way to accurately predict the outcome of something. This is the ultimate truth for running a business in general. Most people who do festivals for a living have a "you win some, you lose some" mentality, and I can't say after 6 years of doing this that I've ever been able to get my head around that. And the more I've thought about it, I realized I don't really have that attitude in regards to my business in general either. Not to say making a wrong move should be taken casually, but I know small business owners who accept their mistakes or bad judgment calls with humility and without a lot of mental anguish, and they seem to have happier lives as small business owners. That being said, I have to remind myself that I'm transitioning out of an industry that wasn't very forgiving about bad judgment calls, so I made it a point not to make them. I am realizing now that this was an awfully rigid way to live and doesn't give you much of an opportunity for personal growth. So I'm having some growing pains, but at least I finally feel that I'm going in the right direction. I'm screwing up all over the place, and I'm weathering the storm.

To show or not to show?

That is the question, indeed. I've spent all week gearing up for the Kirkwood Festival, and the inaugural East Lake Farmer's Market, which are both happening tomorrow. This is what weather.com has for me:


Not pretty. So now comes the conundrum, do I go to the show? I've decided to definitely do the market because it's in the morning, when things look a little less sinister. The Kirkwood festival is open for set up at 7 and goes from 10 to 7pm. That is a long day of sitting in off and on thunderstorms. And honestly, who wants to be trapped in a 10 x 10 metal tent when there's the possibility of lightning? My in the know husband, Chuck, explained that the percentage of the chance of storms isn't really a prediction, and is actually based on the last 100 days that had comparable conditions. Right now the percentages are 30 to 50%. Not high enough to make the call tonight, but enough to keep me up worrying about it all night. The deal with festivals is once you're in, you're in, so there's no breaking down until the bitter end unless you want to carry everything out by hand. And that's usually frowned upon.

I really hate not honoring my commitments, so I've been stressing about this all day. But I also know that I have to do what is best for me and my business. I don't want a big sudsy lump of freshly made soap or soggy labels and ruined products. I slaved away this week, working long hours to make everything. I really don't like the thought of losing money, but I loathe the thought of wasting time and losing money. I have orders to fill and 100 other things to do (like update my website with all of my new stuff), and that will be hanging over my surly head while I'm sitting in my soggy booth. I told Chuck I feel like a farmer. I don't like having my finances so dependent on mother nature, and this has made it glaringly obvious that it's time to make the time to expand my business plan so I'm not so reliant on festivals for income.

In the meantime, I've decided to wait and see what the morning brings. I've packed up my car, but I pared down my booth from the usual mini-store that I set up for festivals to my single table farmer's market booth. That way if I have to bail out in a hurry, it won't be a 1 hour + breakdown. I wish I had a crystal ball.

How this horrible economic crisis could actually benefit my business

Let me start by saying I am NOT a Pollyanna. The original title of this post was "Trying to stay positive and focused when the world is falling apart." These are scary times. I am doing my best to stay positive. It doesn't really help when this is the front page of CNN:



I've spent the majority of January catching up from December, getting really really organized, and having a lot of talks with myself. I made the long overdue decision in December to quit my job and focus on Mama full-time. I have no regrets, but I have had some reservations. Granted, I am not like the majority of these unfortunate people who are getting laid off left and right. But I am now completely responsible for my financial situation. Freedom has a price, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

I do have some background in an economic crisis of my own personal kind. When I started out a little over 6 years ago, I did the credit card thing (different time, different place, different product line) and I messed up royally. It cost me thousands of dollars in credit card interest and took me three years and a good deal of ingenuity, but I made it out without defaulting on a single credit card or declaring bankruptcy. If you're thinking "she only did what a responsible person should so she should quit congratulating herself," you're absolutely right, but look at the mess around us due to people that have bailed on their debts. So I guess what I should say is that I'm proud that I didn't contribute to the problem. I choose to look at it as having earned my masters in business from the School of Life. I learned a lot, and I'm ready to go round 2. It's pretty scary, but I feel so much more prepared, and ready to face the challenges. And I feel like my excitement and passion will go a long way in helping me get there.

My business is such a microcosm right now, that I have nowhere to go but up. And I'm optimistically thinking that I will be able to grow my business, even in these uncertain times. Maybe not as fast as I would like, but upwards nonetheless. The guy from Clif Bar started his business during a recession. Granted it wasn't this recession, and he lived in a garage and rode his bike to work. Or something like that. Actually, maybe it was Method. Whatever.

My point is, what this financial crisis has done is forced me to look at how I grow my business, which could really do me a favor in the long run. Because there aren't funds readily available to borrow, I will be forced to sell products before I can buy new ingredients, and I will have to use existing capital to grow. This will take longer, but I'm in it for the long haul, which I have to keep reminding myself. This will also help me weed out what is working and what isn't as I go, versus becoming heavily invested in some idea or product that turns out to be a big flop. My conclusion about using credit cards to run your business is this: racking up credit card debt might be an option if you're the type of business that stands to attract a big investor, or better yet, stands to be bought straight out for a huge sum of money. Then that 6 digit credit card balance might worth the risk - I didn't owe that much, but I've read about people who have. But I want to keep my business small and privately owned. I have no desire for human resources or overseas outsourcing to be items in my business plan. I know it takes money to make money, but unless Kiehl's comes knocking (which I'm not counting on), it's really not a good idea for me, or businesses comparable to mine, to borrow big. Like I said, I learned that the hard way.

So rather than writing a 5 year business plan, because frankly I have no idea what this year will bring, I'm writing a 1 year action plan. My goal is to take this year to figure out what is working and what is not, on a very small scale. I probably won't get to half of the things on my list, but I hope to be able to prioritize the ones that keep me moving forward and upward. In regards to borrowing, I am looking at applying for microloans as a means to help cover myself if I were to have the opportunity grow more quickly than I could afford. For example if I got a big order that I had to fill, and needed some capital to buy the ingredients or get a bigger piece of equipment, etc. But I fully plan to let the means dictate the end. Or is it the ends that dictate the means? I guess it's whichever one that doesn't involve using my credit cards. And it's going to mean working my ass off.

Another thing our stressed economy has done is helped me really start to pay attention to how I spend my money. On the rare occasion that I treat myself to a latte, I now make a point to steer clear of The Corporate Giant and head over to my neighborhood coffee shop. I'm not particularly impressed with how a lot of big business are running their businesses these days, and while I know they make a bigger impact on our economy and create a lot of jobs, I feel like it's my responsibility to help support the little guys. Because they're also creating jobs and paying taxes, just on a much smaller scale. And because I'm the littlest of little guys. I also buy as much local food as possible. Not only does it taste better and fresher, but I have done a ton of reading on farming and food distribution, and have learned that a big part of the world food crisis is a result of huge corporate farms who grow single crops - using pesticides which ruin the land and have other major consequences. Their existence has put many community farmers out of business, whereas increasing the number of community farms, who grow multiple and varied crops and serve smaller communities, could actually solve the food crisis. This is greatly simplifying a complex topic and I don't want to stray too far from my original point. Which is that as a result, I make it a point to spend as many of my grocery dollars as possible at local farmers markets. As well as avidly supporting other local food makers, crafters and artisans.

So, to sum up my long winded post, perhaps some good will come out of this big mess. Maybe it will create a new generation of more responsible consumers, small business owners and (gasp) corporations. My hope is that those of us who are trying to make a go of it on our own will be able to weather the storm and keep moving forward. And of course I really hope that jobs will be created for the staggering number of people who have lost theirs. And if not, maybe they'll join the growing ranks of small business owners and start one of their own. Yes we can.

Email Marketing and Product Updates - An informational rant

I've been working hard on getting my site updated for the past couple of weeks, so I could do a marketing email. I just looked at my Constant Contact account and saw that I haven't sent a marketing email since February of 2007. So THAT must be why people aren't coming to my site. Which means I spent all of that money for an email sign up box on my website that no one uses because they don't go to my website because I don't send any marketing emails reminding them that I exist. I mean, who can be bothered with marketing, right? I'm a creative person! Business lesson #4832. Remind customers you exist. Check.

A quick note about this. I have about 600+ people on my email list. Some of them are friends who I added to bulk up my list before I had any customers, but most of them are legitimate customers or people who expressed interest in becoming a customer. People who have bought my products and raved about Mama, only to never be heard from again. This goes to show, no matter how good your product or service is, you have to keep reminding people that you're around. There's a lot of competition and people are busy. I always wondered why Coke advertised, because everybody knows about them. But I suppose that could be because they're everywhere, so you can't forget. (especially if you live in Atlanta). Yes, this all seems like a no-brainer. But when you do everything in your company and you have X hours a day to do it, you tend to focus on the tasks that you like. Like the making products, creating new ones, designing packaging, coming up with new scents, etc. The fun stuff.

So it occurred to me, as I send my first marketing email in 19 months, Mama has evolved quite a bit since then, and it might be good to do a product line update for all of my (hopefully) returning customers, who I pledge not to lose touch with again!

1. The most notable change is that I've switched my lotion preservative to a non-paraben preservative called Optiphen, which just recently became available to companies of my size. Preservatives are a controversial subject that I have been researching for years, so at some point soon I will do a post with my research. Until then, just know that parabens are no longer desirable preservatives and we don't use them anymore. For more info about why we use preservatives in our lotion, go to the product info section on our site.

2. Speaking of lotions. My first couple of years in business were a little dicey with the lotion formula. The consistent feedback I got was that it was too hard to get out of the bottle. You were heard, valued customers, and I worked hard to come up with a new formulation that has received rave reviews. I also changed the bottles to one that is a little more squeezy, so if you're willing to go round 2 with the lotion, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

3. I've discontinued using Fragrance oils, which meant saying goodbye to Green Tea and Vanilla. When I started this company, I wrote in my mission that I wanted to offer the purest, safest, most effective products to my customers. So that means sticking with essential oils, which are plant based and 100% natural. I did decide to make one exception for the holidays - Cranberry was very popular last year, so I'm bringing it back as a limited edition holiday scent just for this holiday season. I'm working on coming up with an essential oil blend next year that will be a suitable replacement.

4. Scrubs - I've replaced my salt scrubs with sugar scrubs. They have become my best sellers, and I don't think any former salt scrub lovers will be the least bit disappointed. Sugar is a very effective and more gentle exfoliant than salt. And the coconut, almond oil, and shea butter base stays nicely emulsified and leaves your skin soft without the heavy oil feeling that the salt scrubs left.

5. New sizes - I've added more sizes to the products I carry. Body lotions come in 4 and 8 oz bottles, sugar scrubs in 10 and 20 oz jars.

6. Gifts - my vendor discontinued my snap trays! Such a bummer. I started using chinese takeout containers while I was trying to find a suitable replacement, and these have been so popular, I decided to stick with them! So that's that.

7. Soap! Mama finally has soap! Most body product companies usually start with soap. I tend to do things backwards. My husband Chuck decided to come on board as my soap maker, and his soap is great! Richly scented with a nice creamy lather. I highly recommend!

And there ya go! Head over to our site and check it out!

If I Rent It, Will They Come?

I saw what is to become my new workshop today for the first time, and it got me really excited! The biggest draw of the space for me is that it has a full kitchen, which I will be spending a lot of time in. Of course I forgot to take pictures, but that's OK because it is currently under construction, and I would rather post pics of the finished space. Mama isn't exactly in a financial place where taking on another monthly bill is the best idea, so this is a big leap of faith. Which is more than a little scary in our unsteady economy. However, I really do feel that having a space where customers can come see me work and interact with me is a big part of the sales process for an independent designer. One of the hardest parts about working at home is that I feel completely disconnected from the people who use my products. I'd like my customers to understand the work that goes into making everything. A $15 lotion isn't cheap, and people should understand what they're paying for. Plus, having their feedback about what is working and what isn't, is invaluable for making my line the best it can be. Mary has been kind enough to let me get started with a 6 month lease, and since we're approaching the holiday season, which is the busiest time for Mama, I'm hopeful that I can at least cover my investment. Of course I'm striving to go way beyond that.

I have a multi-prong plan to try to get Mama out to more of the masses, and when I look at all there is to do to make this happen, I kind of want to crawl into bed and put the covers over my head. I'm pretty good at big picture planning and making tons of lists with action items, but I have a terribly hard time prioritizing these lists, and I tend to get overwhelmed and anxious about how much there is to do, which can be paralyzing. I've been looking for ways to combat this unproductive behavior, and I recently read something helpful about how athletes approach a race. When running a marathon, you don't start off thinking about making it to the finish line. You set a smaller milestone for yourself, and focus on achieving that, and then do it again and again until you reach your goal. It seems like a no-brainer, but I've been creating anxiety inducing lists for years, so it's going to require some undoing of these unhelpful habits. And like many creative people, I have a considerable amount of ADD that I'm constantly trying to keep in check. Another technique I've been trying out lately is visualization. My mom sent me a great article that was written for people in her field, but can easily be applied to anyone trying to achieve a goal. It talked about visualization being a key component of achieving success, and that simply setting a goal wasn't enough. So whenever I get overwhelmed, or start to succumb to the inner demon of self-doubt, I close my eyes and picture myself in my new workspace, with 5 mixers going at once, and hundreds of empty bottles lined up on the counter waiting to fill a throng of orders.

I move into my space July 15th, so I have a lot to do to get ready! One thing at a time...