Customer Reviews

Creating an Herbal Bodycare Business (Making a Living Naturally)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

What do you do when the founder of a $1.25m turnover business tells you that `being in business is truly an experiential adventure in holistic self-education'? You listen. Carefully. This isn't your average "how-to" business book. (Maine states it's a `how-can' book). What we have here, couched in the gentle, flowery phrases of New Age terminology, is a Woman with A Mission, bound and determined to transform consumer culture - and making a very convincing case for so doing. Beginning with the concept of `business as a garden' and using examples from her own business and those of successful others in the herbal bodycare industry, Maine evidences a strong belief in the Unverse as Provider, in the style of `Field of Dreams'. Despite its poetical atmosphere, the book contains much good, solid reference material in the `Important Lessons' of business owners. Take the Biz Quiz, to find out if you are fortune 500 material or a wealthy philanthropist in the making. From formulating a business plan through developing products that sell - and marketing them successfully - to maintaining and sustaining your growing business, along with some upbeat hopes for the future, Maine talks of delegating, risk-taking and planning for success alongside generosity, tithing and turning competitiors into comrades. Amazingly, it fits into a very neat little package. The average MBA might have conniptions at the phraseology, but the basic structural information is all there to help you get started profitably in your business.

This book begins, and ends, on a hopeful note. Its message is a positive one. There is considerable truth in what Ms. Maine says. Many people believe that big is good, but big is often bloated, and not long after, bankrupt. For some people, small can be both beautiful and happy.

From the start, I do not believe Ms. Maine intended to write a business book based on the standard boiler plate model for such books. She has endeavored to put something of herself, and her outlook on life into the text, and it shows. Granted, on first pass, the New Age references and more than a few statements are a bit off-putting, especially if you, like me, are skeptical by nature, but if the book is read very closely, you will find that all the basic ingredients of a Start Your Own Business Book are there.

For example, she makes these and other questionable claims throughout the book such as: society and the planet are going to hell in a hand-basket. What is the solution, you ask? Start an herbal bodycare business! Or, my personal favorite: the natural food and bodycare market is experiencing an annual growth rate of 15 percent. With that kind of growth rate, given the anemic 1 to 3 percent growth rates in mature general retail categories like food and cosmetics, it will not be long before those godless multinationals pick up the scent. In fact, it turns out they have picked up the scent, and are closing in these 'alternative' categories.

However, this is not to say that there is no value or credibility in the text- far from it. The real value of this text resides in the stories of those folks, like Ms. Maine, who set up their own successful herbal bodycare business, and Ms. Maine's insistence that you think and plan about your herbal bodycare business. This last bit is most important, as it seems everyone and her mother is involved in this area nowadays (in fact, that is LITERALLY the case) so it pays to think of how you can be different and unique, yet still offer value.

Moreover, Ms. Maine did it the right way, that is, the smart way: she got the business right BEFORE she went into business. That means getting a clear idea of the business (what you offer versus what customers really want and will pay for), putting some flesh to the concept, and laying down a well-reasoned plan. It also means examining various scenarios WITHOUT numbers and prepping yourself for mis-haps, as nothing will EVER go exactly as planned. Ms. Maine, as well as the people she profiles, all started small, worked in and around the herbal bodycare business for a few years before going out on their own, and all of them got their businesses off the ground with five thousand dollars or less, thus demonstrating that it can be done on the literal 'shoestring budget'. As Liz Claiborne once said, 'Start with a low overhead and be willing to everything yourself.'

My somewhat jaded advice to anyone thinking about going into this or any other business is this: Before you go into business, it is all about thinking, reasoning and planning. Once you go into business, it is all about execution. When you go into business with a flawed concept, even the most mundane annoyances can morph into major and insurmountable problems, and will ultimately kill your business. Get the concept right, and execute flawlessly. That ways lies blockbuster success. Money may be an initial barrier, but you creative types should be able to cobble together what you need from the odd bits and pieces here and there and wow the customer with your presentation and artistic flair. Remember this one lesson from the internet company boom: a lot of money behind a flawed concept equals a fantastic and bankrupt failure. Start simple, start small, and work within a limited budget. That will force you to unleash your creativity. More often than not, the more money we have, the less carefully we think, and the dumber the ideas that come to the fore.

The target audience for this book is not highly accomplished over-achievers with a bent for numbers and order. Rather, this is a book for those free-spirited, creative, chaotic, artsy types who often go by the moniker of 'Right-Brain Person'. There is a definite bias in the text towards the burned-out female company employee working for a god-less, soul-less corporation, and as such, the book is open to the charge of pandering to an escapist fantasy- one that more than a few of us, male or female, in the same bind share.

I can also say with certainty that the book is more of an exercise in building the reader's self-confidence about starting such a business, and less of a guide to the inner workings of an herbal bodycare business. That, however, is most likely the intended objective- giving those who may not have the confidence to start such a venture a few ideas and a little prodding. Ms. Maine is planting a seed, I think, in a certain type of person, preferably young, single and female but a little unsure of herself. Although I did not get much out of the book (thus three stars), this person I believe will derive the most out of the book.

I found this book to be very helpful both practically and motivationally. There was a lot of good advice to be found, and it is easy to use. I especially like the section on the Art of Management. Although the book as a whole doesn't go into too much depth, it does cover most of the basics and lets you know what it truly takes to start your own herbal bodycare business. I recommend it for anyone thinking about undertaking the process.

I found this book to contain general information on starting any type of business, such as licensing information and advice on running a business. If you're looking for information and help specifically for starting an herbal bodycare business, you won't find it in this book.

This book didn't stay in my library for long. I'm glad that I read it and I did glean some good ideas but it wasn't at all what I expected based on the title. I appreciate many of Ms. Maine's points but the book is not really about the Herbal Body Care Business. It's about creating a philosophy of business, really your Mission Statement, and the goals that produces. The philosophy is blatantly New Age and so, not for everyone. The best part is the many stories of other soap makers.

Ms. Maine is one of my favorite soapmaking book authors. She is the owner of one of the largest businesses of it's kind. She has shared her knowledge over the years with others who would like to make soap via her many books on the market. Those books are the how-to's. This one, by the author's own admission is a "how-can".

It was interesting but not an essential book for either the hobby or professional soap maker's library.

Definately worth reading! This book offers alot of valuable insight from someone who has worked her way through all aspects of this business. Offers lots of inspiring ideas to help you get your business off the ground. It helped me!

I was a bit disappointed at first, as I was looking for more of a 1-2-3 approach. But I picked the book up again a couple of days later, and found lots of useful information in it. It still wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but well written and informative nonetheless.

Rather than receiving some solid business advice throughout the entire book about how to set up and start an herbal body care business, the entire first half of the book is nothing more than the author's peace, love and granola story of reflection and how she started her business and ran it with no phone or modern technology. Then there are a variety of stories from other business owners of how they did their businesses. Very little is said about the actual business side of things. The book is very self serving and seems more like an autobiography than anything.

This book had a ton of potential. A few of the personal success authors that told their stories I have done business with and also with off-shoots of their company. I enjoyed reading their stories of success and appreciated the advice that had to offer. However, the feel good you can do it New Age pep talk from the author was at some points discouraging and adverse in its affect. I am what one would coin a "New Age" person and even this was too much for me to handle. Most of the people that are looking to read this book already have the mind set of what they want to do. I am already empowered and have a strong mind set, I don't need an author "helping" me discover my worth and place in the world. I'm already keen on the facts. What I deeply wanted from this author (she is extremely successful and I look up to her and her business) were the arrows to point me in directions that DIRECTLY pertain to opening an Herbal Bodycare Business. Really the ONLY (and I mean ONLY) part that had anything to do with it was an EXCERPT taken from ANOTHER authors book about FDA standards.... I really wanted to love this book!! I only found a few snip-its of information that I found really valuable (these are more along the lines of integrity of the business, helping others through your business and manifesting changes that could help the world around you while running your dream business). If you are looking for information on FDA standards, legal procedure pertaining to cosmetics, sanitary and health precautions/violations then this is NOT the book for you. If you need a pep talk and inspiration then you'll probably like this. Granted she did a few pages on a business plan but I wasn't looking for that, one could easily Google "How to write a business plan". Depending on what you need this could either be a great source of inspiration or a great waste of time.

I thought this was supposed to be a book about starting a body care business? It has virtually NO constructive information about the craft and how to see your ideas come fruition. I would lump this into the hundreds of other general how-to books on small business.