Crunching the numbers

I am in the heat of itemizing my cost of doing business. It is tiring! Currently, I am working on a spreadsheet of operating expenses, supplies, start-up costs, and so forth. This part is very important but very tedious. I should be done by the end of the week and ready to move on to my next step in preparing for my "All-natural in 90 Days" campaign. I found out you cannot use kickstarter.com for anything related to cosmetics or bath and body products. I've moved on to gofundme.com.

I have an idea to help me launch a couple of my new products. I have to order enough supplies to demo my entire line before I start fundraising. This is gonna cost some serious dollars! So...I though I'd start out simple with my shampoo and conditioner. I am going to attempt to get 20 people to contribute $10 ea. to buying all the necessary supplies. Everyone will get an 8 oz. bottle of shampoo and conditioner at cost. This way, I'll have an audience to interview about the product and get to test out its success! I've already started to gather participants. I'll probably take this even further and work on the same concept with the rest of the product line. Everyone benefits. I get to buy my supplies, test my products, participants get products at cost, and I have another segment to add to my fundraising video!

I'm really going to take the plunge once to fundraising is live. I've decided to go with the 30 day campaign. These are said to be more successful because campaign participants take your project seriously if you also take it seriously. Can I build enough momentum in 30 days? With planning, I hope to do just that. This is why I'm not launching the campaign for at least another 2-3 weeks. Planning is everything. I've got lots of contacts to make:

• Coordinate pledge parties
• Make posters/flyers
• Schedule meet-ups
• Coordinate with local newspapers, TV, radio
• Promote with blogs, online media
• Create excellent and reasonable rewards for campaign contributors

and so much more! I'm a little frantic but I work extremely well under pressure. Not to mention, I am so excited about what I'm doing. I'm accomplishing something new with my business everyday. I've only been doing this since late February and I'm about to get my first copy of a model wearing my makeup in a makeup shoot!  I'm making lasting relationships with photographers, designers, and getting ready to coordinate my first custom-makeup with a bride! I'm not really profitable yet, but I can feel it. I will be a success. I just cannot give up.

Right now, I have to focus on the big picture. I need funding. My potential customers want to see a whole product line. The one consignment store I am selling at is getting the complain that I don't have enough variety. This fundraiser will fix all of that. I will have so much variety! My suppliers are amazing and affordable. I have all-natural products that aren't expensive. My packaging is going to be awesome and beautiful.

I've found opportunities for a couple large vendor fairs coming up. I'm debating on starting a riverfront market. I was attending our local vendor market but the traffic and location wasn't suitable for my market. I need to reach out to bridal shops, locally-owned retailers, building my local base, and really work on my online marketing. I'm still trying to find my niche. I am keeping an open mind. I do have a custom-design drawn out for an amazing compact to hold my mineral makeup. I won't go into detail only to save the possibility that someone steals my design!

I need to start my e-book. That will generate revenue. I've got an outline to start. This e-book is going to expose the ingredients of nasty cosmetics in plain English, it will offer solutions to all-natural makeovers under $100, it will offer a challenge to rid consumer households of national brands who lie to our faces about their ingredients. Then, I'll take my readers shopping!

Something like that...

Love,

Jenny