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Blog Entry 2 of 5 Herbs, Beads and Kittens
Starting a business is a big deal -- scary, complicated, and actually pretty fun at times. Here's where I'll chronicle the joys and travails of doing business in Colorado (and probably talk about my kitten a lot too).

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~OmShantiHandcrafts

A Dirty Secret

Contributed by: Kate Jones   on 7/24/2008

I've just returned from spending a weekend camping with my kitten. I will freely admit it: This was an insane action (I did, however, get a vet OK first). It all went very well and he had a wonderful time and now I am home and exhausted.

So far I have:

-- bathed with Long Day Working Bath Salts
-- sprayed my face and shoulders with Ease the Burn Sunburn Spray (since, alas, I forgot about sunscreen)
-- coated my feet with Minty Footy Salve
-- put Scratch & Dent Salve on all the kitten scratches (he gets up much earlier than I do, and got bored in the tent)
-- put Bite, Sting & Rash Salve on a spot between my toes where I think there might be a splinter, but I'm not flexible enough to find out
-- sprayed basically the rest of my body with Minty Footy Spray just on general principle

And you know what? The stuff works.

I hear you saying 'Of course it does; that's why we buy it from you.'.

I'm going to tell you a dirty little secret.

I don't really believe that anything I make is going to work.

--

Okay, that's overstating the case some. And simplifying things. But fundamentally, it's also true.

I do the research -- on the internet to start, I'll admit, because it's easier and quicker to Google than to dig through the indices of a dozen books looking for something, but I'll verify what I find online in at least two of my books before I actually add it to a recipe. I check prices at several vendors whose products I trust -- I want to put the best ingredients available in my products, but I also want to keep them affordable. I mix and remix and take notes and compare scents and test everything on myself and on anyone else who'll stand still.

I sell them, and people buy them, and they rave. I've gotten passels of good reviews and testimonials and feedback. I had several people come up to me this weekend and tell me how much my sunburn spray helped (I wasn't the only one fool enough to fail the sunscreen test, alas).

And still there's a little voice in the back of my head telling me I'm a hack.

The only reason my stuff helps people, it tells me, is the placebo effect. Or perhaps they're just being nice. My Aunt Ann is hardly going to say she doesn't like my chai lip balm and that the scratch & dent salve she got from me doesn't work, is she?

...yeah.

Then I use something on myself, and likely as not the next words out of my mouth will be along the lines of 'holy $%*^, this stuff works!'. Promptly followed by either blank stares or laughter depending on who's around. (Tim laughs at me.)

Really, Jenna over at Balmbastic isn't gonna say nice things about anything she doesn't really like. I've seen her. She's perfectly willing to say your stuff is awful if it is. She'll say it nicely, but she'll say it.

The many soon-to-be-brides who've bought custom lip balms have no reason to sugarcoat their opinions, either. I shan't say anything about the pickiness of brides as they've all been wonderful to work with, but still, one wants everything to be just right for one's special day.

And the people in my camp, who used (and praised) my sunburn spray, would have been in too much pain to say nice things if they didn't mean them -- judging by the varied shades of red involved.

So it's got to work. And in fact, when I try it on myself, it does work (I'd be in a lot more pain right now otherwise).

...so why am I always so surprised?


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Kate Jones

Longmont , CO

Kate Jones has posted 5 blog entries and 4 comments since joining on 7/24/2008. Kate Jones 's average blog rating is 0.
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