What's New

We recently worked with a tech person to help set up our Big Pour (an event where we invite local people to come in and shop in our warehouse), and he pointed out that even though we are an internet based company, most of our operations function "off the grid". The way we handle our purchase orders, our accounting, our inventory, our payroll. Plenty of these things are done a very old fashioned pen-on-paper way. While this worked for a long time, we are pulling up our big girl boots and trying out new ways of doing things. One of our areas of weakness is inventory control. So far, we have relied on Van's amazing memory, but that's not really working any more. In figuring out how we can improve, I stumbled on this very helpful, easy-to-read primer on the basics of inventory control. Check it out! www.clearlyinventory.com/education/inventory-management.html The advice here is forehead-slapping simple.

Even the SBA likes to spread the rumor: Most startup businesses "fail" within the first five years . You've heard that, right? From the web, from your well-meaning friends, from your family. This oft-repeated platitude has no doubt discouraged 1,000's of hopeful entreprenuers from making the leap towards self-employment and for this reason I consider it a bit evil. The nay-sayers tell you that it is a lack of experience, money or sales that shut down 50% off all start-ups in the first five years. Umm. Yeah. That's kind of like advising a new bike-rider to stay in their seat and keep their feet on the pedals. We all kind of know that, don't we? No experience, no money, no sales = poor likelihood of success. I haven't seen a lot of failures in my 15 years of entrepreneurship. What I have seen is my competitiors and business asssociates closing shop (not "failing"), and mostly due to personal reasons. Typically health (a sudden illness in the famil...

I'm not going to say our "Big Pour" event was particularly easy to host -- it was a huge distraction from our usual daily routine and I've got lots of catching up to do. I'm also not going to boast that it was a lucrative & smart business move -- prices were pretty low and in some cases flat out loss leaders. Next time around I'll need to shop smarter. What I am going to say is that after 12 years of standing toe-to-toe 50 hours a week pulling, packing, and generally running an online business with no public face, Van and I got to see 100 folks walk into our warehouse with smiles on their faces and stories to tell. It was a juicy, most welcome buzz. We're doing it again, for sure. First Saturday in November. I'll blog more on what we learned from this event. I've got lots of thoughts about how we can continue to connect with local people in a way which energizes all of us to be more successful and creative. For now, I get an afternoon of relax...

Even though our company has been in Oakland for nearly 15 years, we've never really opened our doors to the local community, instead we have been "online". Lack of room and lack of English language skills amongst our staff were two big reasons for this, but there was also the comfort of the "we are an online business" cocoon. It's a warm, easy place to hide where your best foot forward can be shod in a fuzzy bedroom slipper because no one is looking. Living in that cocoon has two major unintended pitfalls: When you sell online, you tend to source your inventory and supplies online, which means you tend to not support your local economy ; Those online transactions you send out and bring in are all shipped, which impacts the environment both in terms of packaging and freight costs. (In fact, last year my freight and shipping costs were double what I paid to all my employees combined). Early this year, I made a commitment to change. My first pass was to hire a...

I returned last night from a 24-hour whirl to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the kind of America's heartland I had never much expected to find myself, but when your nephew marries the daughter of a windmill farmer it's also pretty much where you end up when you attend his wedding. Exactly one week earlier I had been in Los Angeles, at the IMATS (international Makeup Artists Trade Show) and I had been feeling the conflict of commerce versus cause (see prior blog post). At that show, I rode the rapids of thousands of young Californian women clamouring for discounted color cosmetics and their accouterments . Here in South Dakota, on my way to the early morning farmer's market to grab a coffee before the wedding, I was standing near the natural water rapids which give Sioux Falls its name. A dynamic water way which has been running in this same location for more than 10,000 years, before their was an American heartland, before the Lakota camped at its shores, wh...

This year has been my tipping point. It is the year that I have gone from sleeping well at night to tossing and turning. The year that my jaw began to clench. I have my eye on a couple culprits: My iPhone. I can pick it up at 2:00 a.m. and do a quick check of the emails or read up on the forum or check a twitter feed. I no longer come home at night and shut the door on the day's activities. Social media. Social media is a game changer when it comes to running a small business, and the changes are largely positive. But it also keeps me awake at night as I try to unravel the consequences of social behaviors that I was never very good at to begin with. In my private universe, social media is confirmation that the cool kids and the cheerleaders won the nerd war. I no longer feel confident in my relationships with my customers. The warehouse. Not only does paying rent on a physical space "up the ante" with regard to responsibilities, it also becomes space that need...

Recently, there have been videos on Youtube where concern is expressed regarding the safe use of pigments as cosmetics. When things get confusing like this I always suggest people go to the "source" which in the case of the USA would be the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) which regulates cosmetics. The FDA is actually quite approachable by phone. Their phone number is 1-888-723-3366. When you call, ask to speak to someone in the cosmetics division (it defaults to food safety). While this blog post attempts to answer some of the questions raised on Youtube , I encourage interested parties to contact the FDA directly if they are confused or concerned. If you would like to make corrections or clarifications, please feel free to post. One pigment which people have been expressing concern over is Ultramarine Blue. Ultramarine Blue is a pigment approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics, including eye shadows but not include lip products. Here is the specific lang...

I attended the 2010 International Makeup Artists Trade Show (IMATS) in Los Angeles a little over a week ago. While I have wandered many a trade show, this was my first time at the IMATS and I had heard a lot of good things about it. Primarily, I was told that there would be lots of color cosmetics and special effects companies plying their wares at deeply discounted prices. And ... they were right. There was lots of creative Hollywood-style special effects to observe (the designer for Avatar was on hand, and I got to see the the transformation of Hell Boy). But the bulk of the show seemed to be women in their 20's and 30's purchasing their favorite MAC and similar cosmetics at discounted pricing. And when I say "bulk" I mean it. The place was so swarming it was difficult to move through the aisles! My last moments at the show were spent watching a makeup artist demo how to switch your daytime look to evening in just a few strokes. The demo was taking place in...

Here are two tips. 1) Set up a schedule: Monday = What's New, Tuesday = Recipe, Wednesday = Tip or Trick, and so forth. If you have a specific schedule like this, then it is kind of a no-brainer. You simply look at the calendar, see, Oh, it's Monday, and then ask yourself what you could talk about that is new. I used this tip for a few weeks and it really helped me with daily blogging. Having said this, daily blogging is really just generating lots of words on a page. If your purpose is to drive traffic to your blog or your company, I think you get more bang for your buck if you write about things which have a lot of buzz. For example, my post on the natural colorants used in cosmetics by 100% Pure, I get a lot of traffic off of that, compared to other posts. And I've seen a lot of comments as well. I suspect this post is the perfect storm of topical, controversial, and intriguing. So, how does one find more topics like this? Recently I discovered Google Alerts ...

This past week, Oprah's Dr. Oz tried to increase his ratings by bashing Mineral Makeup as one of the most dangerous forms of color cosmetics. His basic concern was the inhalation hazard. Umm. OK. I'm going to set that one to the side for now and ask, "Hey, Dr. Oz, how about taking a look at the newest trend on QVC, which is color cosmetics made with fruit and vegetable pigments?" Can we say "not-FDA approved and at risk for bacterial growth"? Loose powder mineral makeup is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but the use of fruits and vegetables to pigment cosmetics sure ain't. The FDA strictly regulates color additives and their approved uses in cosmetics. Per the FDA, the definition of a color additive is a follows (source: Sec 201 ) (t)(1) The term "color additive" means a material which— (A) is a dye, pigment, or other substance made by a process of synthesis or similar artifice, or extracted, isolated, or otherwise ...

I am determined to drill this one down, because our customers would love to start using botanical additives for color cosmetics. The fear is that the FDA would act against them if they did. The FDA strictly regulates color additives and their approved uses in cosmetics. Per the FDA, the definition of a color additive is a follows (source: Sec 201 ) (t)(1) The term "color additive" means a material which— (A) is a dye, pigment, or other substance made by a process of synthesis or similar artifice, or extracted, isolated, or otherwise derived, with or without intermediate or final change of identity, from a vegetable, animal, mineral, or other source, and (B) when added or applied to a food, drug, or cosmetic, or to the human body or any part thereof, is capable (alone or through reaction with other substance) of imparting color thereto; except that such term does not include any material which the Secretary, by regulation, determines is used (or intended to be used) solely f...

I have been following the growth and changes at 100% Pure and I received some interesting responses . You can revisit that post and those responses here: http://tkbtrading.blogspot.com/search/label/100%25%20pure Long Story Short: This Berkeley-based company makes natural cosmetics and has a patent pending on using fruit and flower pigments to color them. Yesterday the broker who sold TKB the building we are currently in came to visit. We purchased the building about a year and a half ago and he was checking in to see if we were ready to expand. He said that 100% Pure had just signed on for a new, 75,000 square foot space (about two years ago, they had just moved from their 10,000 square foot space to a 30,000 square foot space). So obviously, Home Shopping Network is working for them. In other news of the month, Leslie Blodgett , founder of San Francisco-based Bare Escentuals (sales of $556 million in 2008) sold her business to the Japanese Cosmetic firm Shiseido for $1.7 Billio...

For those who have been following TKB's steps towards community participation, we are happy to announce our first community-based class coming this Thursday. I was approached by teacher Kate Sugarman of Arise High School to do some kind of presentation for her class "Money Really Does Grow on Trees". Here is a description of the class: Since the beginning of time, people have been making household products from things found in nature. In this class, you will learn how you too can develop a business based on natural, organic products. We will forage for fruit and flowers, make essential oils , paper, soap, candles and edible treats. We will also be building the ARISE greenhouse to propagate and grow our own seedlings. Along the way, we will visit various Bay Area merchants to interview people about running a successful, natural business. At Exhibition Night, our products will go on sale. Interested students can keep their businesses going throughout the yea...