My Naive Thoughts Starting my Business

Hey Beauties,

Today I'm really living up to the tag line of this blog "A Day in The Life of a Beauty Entrepreneur". I'm in the process of re-branding and I wanted to share my journey with you.

Five years ago after successfully creating products for friends, family & a few coworkers I was inspired to turn my passion for whipping up these products into a full time business. Only thing was like many entrepreneurs starting out for the first time. I had no clue what I was doing. I knew nothing about building a brand. In my naive mind I thought a company name, logo & website were all I needed. OK, you all can stop rolling on the floor with laughter, I get it. I now realize that's just the starter kit. It takes so much more to build a brand. For starters I never considered cost. I never considered the cost of labels & packaging, cost to design a logo & website, the cost to have photos taken by a professional photographer (Some Indies take fab product pics, unfortunately I can't) or the cost of purchasing raw materials needed to make my products in bulk. I guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that I did not have a business plan. Truthfully, I had no plan at all and that's the first mistake I made. It took eight long & costly months for me to realize I needed a plan...duuuuhh!!

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. I’ll be posting more about my journey over the next few weeks. Don't forget to leave your feedback we would love to hear your thoughts.

We're Expanding!!....What Took So Long?

This weekend, while helping me prep for two events, I was ranting to a friend of mine about how excited I was to finally add new products to our current line and then my friend asked the Million dollar question. "What took you so long"? I wanted to say "what do you mean what took me so long"???!!!

I had at least five core answers to run off the top of my head. But, the truth is in the past three and a half years that Nidasii has been on the web I've had a daytime job. Actually, it's a deamanding, full time career in Clinical Research for a Major Pharmaceutical company. Although I have wanted to resign many times I never did because I was paid extremely well and it was my source of funding for Nidasii. Here are a few of the things that delayed my product expansion over the years.

Looking back to 2004 when I decided to form a business I now realize I had no clue of how challenging it would be to get the business off the ground. I spent hundreds of dollars ordering ingredients, bottles/jars, oils, butters and fragrances that ninety percent of the time went to waste because I would think of a formulation,try it out, then tweak a few things to make it right. That left me with countless supplies that were half or barely used. I soon found my home drowned in an abundance of supplies that I had no room for. That's when I realized I needed to focus. I needed to implement the tactics I used on a daily basis to run clinical trials into my business.

Fast forward two years to 2006, I am working feverishly as both a Clinical Researcher and CEO of Nidasii. I finally got focused and decided to start off the line with two types of product in three core fragrances. So Sugar Rush, our three in one bath scrub and our tropically scented Body Butters became the face of Nidasii. I had a logo designed (that's a story for another post), professional photographs taken and a website designed. Then the site launched in 2006. That's when the real work began!!

So now the site is up, remember I warned you all that I was clueless, I thought that people would somehow find my site and begin visiting and purchasing product. I quickly found out this is sooooo not how it goes!! After almost two years of working and running the business I decided I needed to re-evaluate the way I ran the business and devised an exit plan to one day leave my day job/career. I jokingly referred to it as "Project Exit the Office" to my friends. A huge part of it was mainly taking stock of my finances. I had to figure out how much I needed to cover my monthly living expenses, the amount I needed to contribute to the business and where I needed to be as far as savings.

"Project Exit The Office" went into effect in September 2007 and experienced it's first road block by mid January 2008. If you haven't done the math that's three and half months later. You see January 2008 the company I work for announced they were being bought by another pharmaceutical company. I'm sure your well aware of the workings of Corporate America. At a time when many of my co-workers were nervous about being laid off especially when the state of the economy is currently not at its best I actually was not worried about losing my job because I had a plan. Then I realized I had more than a plan. I have my OWN business!! Since then I have scaled back my work at the office to focus on my new plans for Nidasii. And in six to eight weeks I will have to make a decision or a decision will be made for me. I will keep you posted!!

Rolling with the Punches

I posted a tweet about a half hour ago stating "September has been a real beast". It seems with every great opportunity that has come our way this month we have encountered an equally great challenge or minor set back. But, hey, that's the life of an entrepreneur, especially a small business entreprener. The important thing is that we were able to roll with the punches, stayed focus and made it through. As for me, I'm starting my days much earlier.

How do you roll with punches when challenges or adversity come your way?

Why Nina?

Since yesterday I have received quite a few direct messages and texts after Donna Maria, founder of the Indie Beauty Network, tweeted that I named my iphone "Nina". Well those of you that are familiar with my wonderful family and friends will not be surprised to hear most of them had jokes for days while the other half felt the same as me , lost, when they realize they left it home or have forgotten it somewhere. So, to answer your questions of why I #1 chose to give it a name and 2nd why Nina? Here's your answer.

Honestly, I decided to give it a name because it's always by my side and secondly whenever someone asked me a question (like directions, temperature, time, translations...you name it) and I did not have the answer I always said let me ask my assistant (referring to the iphone & me being funny of course). So I got tired of saying "let me ask my assistant". Now, if anyone asks me a question and I do not have the answer I now say "Let me ask my assistant Nina"...LOL. I must say it's truly an instrument I use to conduct business on a daily basis. Especially as a "Small Business" owner it helps me tremendously when I am able to stay connected to all forms of social media like Facebook and Twitter when I'm in front of my laptop.

When I decided to give it a name Nina was the first name that came to mind without much thought. I then, remembered a verse in a song where they say "I keep my Nina by my side" and decided that pretty much summarized how I felt about my iphone

I'm also happy Apple finally addressed one of my biggest wishes and finally created a device that allows you to record video. Here's an excerpt from one of my previous blog posts.

"As with any product there is always room for improvement. So I feel the iphone should be upgraded to record video".

I hope you enjoyed this post! Do you have an iphone? Does it help you run your business or manage your time efficiently? What are your thoughts?

Happy to be Indie

We are currently living in uncertain economic times and globally we are all beginning to feel the effects. Many have been suffering for some time now, unable to purchase things once taken for granted like gas and food staples such as milk and rice. Financial experts have said we are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the great depression.

Despite all the depressing news I read and hear every day about our economy, I am happy to be an indie that owns her own company doing exactly what I love and have a passion for. I know some of you may be thinking how can she be happy to be an indie when small businesses are also being hit hard by this financial crisis?

Although, its true small businesses are being hit hard. Costs of natural resources and shipping have increased significantly, it does not knock us out of the game if we are willing to work a hundred times harder. Indies are passionate about what they do. We are willing to push ourselves to endless limits because our passion motivates us and our motivation fuels us to do more. As with anything else in life having a great support system behind us will almost ensure our survival.

Are you an Indie? Have you considered leaving your current job/career to become an Indie? Let me know how you feel about indies or being an indie.

You can visit hundreds more indies at Indiebeautynetwork.com.

My Iphone Saves the Day

Yes I have an Iphone and it has saved the day for my business on more than one occasion. Three years ago I purchased a mac computer after becoming extremely disgusted with my PC always failing at the worst possible times. So after much investigation I bit the bullet and purchased an apple laptop. Although, I love the performance and outstanding customer service I receive from this product, I must admit the downside was that my laptop was not compatible with multimedia media phones like the Blackberry that function off of the windows program. So, sometime in late July I broke down and finally purchased an Iphone.

I must admit when I first purchased this phone I was not as enthusiastic about it then as I am now. It was nice to have a product that would make my bag a few ponds pounds lighter by eliminating the need for me to carry around my ipod, camera and phone. My bag normally weighs about 13 pounds. I know its insane, but what is a beauty entrepreneur to do? Once I familiarized myself with the functions of the phone and apple made some much needed updates to enhance it functionality, it has quickly become one of those products I “must have” when I am away from my business and laptop.

Here are 5 ways the Iphone has saved the day for me and my business

1. One day while standing in line, for twenty minutes, at the Post Office I was able to draft an article for one of my blog posts.
2. On many occasions I was able to instantaneously respond to critical emails.
3. While on the go I can always take pictures for the blog or newsletter that are just as clear as my digital camera.
4. Oneday while out meeting with prospective retailers I received a call from my accountant informing me there was a document I needed to sign ASAP. I was able to map directions directly to his office from where I was.
5. When I am away from the business I can always be reached for urgent issues and respond to critical emails in real time.

As with any product there is always room for improvement. So I feel the iphone should be upgraded to record video. Do you or anyone you know have an Iphone? Do you love it or hate it ? Let me know.