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We here at TKB are handling loose powders all the time and I want to take a moment to remind everyone that constantly inhaling powders is not good for your health. If you have suddenly found yourself in the business of making cosmetics, please take a moment to remind yourself of the following: There are people in this world who are particularly sensitive to dust or who have lung disorders which limit lung capacity. It is therefore a good idea to remind your customers that loose powder cosmetics are an inhalation irritant. Become serious about what you are doing to protect your health, and the health of those around you. Most of the powders we sell are not particularly hazardous, however any regular exposure to loose powder is simply a bad idea. Please: Wear a respirator. We offer "casual" dust masks for casual use, but you need something more industrial grade if you are handling powder on a regular basis. Wear latex or rubber gloves. This serves the dual purpose of kee...

OK, I am going to "Pay It Forward" and tell you about one of the neatest free online tools I've ever run across. If you are working on your website yourself, and you are on a budget, I highly recommend the free Website Development Training Center founded by J. Walker. She offers online courses in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), as well as other things such as marking, website development, digital photography . . . She'll put you through your paces and you'll need to make a time commitment to get through it, but you'll learn stuff for sure. It is absolutely 100% free, and there are no "catches" whatsoever. I took a couple of the classes and I was never inundated with anything but useful information. No sales pitches, no junk mail, no nothing. She really is the real deal. Like me! Kaila Westerman TKB Trading, LLC If you enjoyed this post and you also have need for pigments, cosmetic and craft supplies, visit our company online at www.tkbtrading....

If you have an online business, you may be considering what is called " Pay Per Click " (PPC) advertising. All the big search engines offer them: Google, Yahoo, Ask . . . A couple of years ago, I signed up tkbtrading.com for a pay-per-click program with Google. I gave it a monthly budget that I felt was reasonable, set up my keywords, and . . . several years and several thousand dollars later . . . Does it work? Does it not work? Like many, many other harried small business owners: I really only have a vague idea. I know that it could work, but I'm not sure if it is paying for itself or not. I recently read two articles written by Ilana DeBare in the San Francisco Chronicle which made me sit up and take notice. The one that most caught my eye is hyperlinked here . The companion article is here . Here's the summary: Ilana compares two owners of gourmet chocolate businesses. Both sign up for PPC advertising with completely different results. One company spent $3,000 o...

TKB Trading has been in business for long enough to go through different cycles of growth and change. I started in 1994 in my basement with a couple of old back-to-the-land articles from dusty magazines from the 1970's (I was trying to learn soapmaking) and permission from my family to start a business of my own. Up through 2001, my company experienced amazing growth. This growth was directly tied to the internet revolution (dot-com explosion). We eventually took on about 4,000 square feet of space and I had several people working for me. Because the internet was still somewhat in its infancy, my customers tended to call on the phone a lot. We commonly received 100 phone calls a day, and we were shipping like crazy. On the face of it, my business could have been written up in one of those entrepreneur magazines because our sales growth was mind-blowing and we were doing lots of creative and interesting things (books, tv shows, trade shows, etc). But there was a problem: I wa...