Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

One of the reasons I am in the natural skincare business is because I am passionate about offering people safe products. I feel good knowing that I am providing families products that are free from harmful chemical additives including synthetic preservatives.
Daisy Blue Naturals has signed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics along with 600 other companies. By signing this these companies "pledge to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve." (from website)

I would like to comment on some things you may be saying to yourself right now:
"I purchase and use products from well known companies"
"(skincare company) is a natural/botanical skincare company."
"(skincare company) is very active in women's health and well being, they would not use harmful ingredients"

I have said every one of these things in the past! I have also been completely surprised and dumbfounded by what I found when I read my labels. I have been saddened to find out that a company I represented as 'safe' and 'beneficial' and 'good for you' was using parabens as a preservative in their products among other questionable ingredients.

We can't change the past. We can change the future! I was so excited to find a company that was 'truly' dedicated to producing toxin free, Natural products that are healthy for both their customers and the environment! To find a company that is in line with your personal beliefs and morals is such a good feeling that you can't help but want to share it with others!

However, let me say here that I am not saying that we are the only company that is dedicated to this. The main purpose of this article is to say that not all Natural Skincare companies are free from toxic chemicals I urge you to visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website and see who has and who has refused to sign the compact. If your current skincare/haircare/home product companies have not or will not sign this campaign - ask them why?

The main reason we hear is that "our products are in-line with current EU guidelines". To this I urge you to ask questions. Testing of skincare products are geared towards one product and are to test for skin irritaion and allergic reaction - not longterm use of a combination of products containing these ingredients. For instance the EU deems parabens safe for use at a .05% level. However that is for one product. What if you are using 10 products that contain .05% paraben levels every day for 10 years? There is no test for that. There is no test for long term use of ingredients shown to be toxic. There is only testing to see what levels these toxic chemicals are safe to use without irritating your skin at application.

Now you should ask "Why?" again. Why even use these ingredients if you do not have to? They may not tell you - but the answer is - they are cost effective. They are cheaper to use then the natural alternatives. Period.

From the website:

Personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, after shave, lotion and makeup are not regulated by the FDA or any other government agency. It is perfectly legal and very common for companies to use ingredients that are known or suspected to be carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins in the their products. Consumers buy these products at drug stores, grocery stores, online or in salons, usually without questioning the product’s safety.

We are asking cosmetics and personal care products companies to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics (also known as the Compact for the Global Production of Safer Health and Beauty Products), a pledge to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve. As of August 2007, 600 companies have signed the Compact -- and that number increases every day!

In closing, I am not trying to scare into using Daisy Blue Naturals! I am urging you to take the same precautions when choosing your skincare as you would when choosing your food! I am urging you to visit the Campaign website and choose companies who have chosen to act responsibly when it comes to their customers wellbeing.

Motivation - The Direct Selling Woman

So who is a woman of the direct selling profession?
She is many things. She is North American, Australian and Asian. She's Latin and European. She comes in all shapes and sizes: large and small and short and tall. Her hair is black and brown and blond - and silver. She comes from every walk of life: From family farms and average, ordinary towns to big, sophisticated cities.


The typical direct selling professional is a married woman, a wife who loves
her husband and children. She's also a divorced mom determined to work at home and raise her kids. She's a grandmother, toned, tanned, tuned in and out to win the second half of her life. And in very sad situations, she's a mistreated woman seeking to escape an abusive relationship. She's a no-nonsense corporate career woman who hit her head on the "glass ceiling" one too many times - and a sensible, single woman who's decided that rather than "marry a millionaire" she'll just become one. She is a Ph.D., a high school dropout and everything in between.


But no matter her nationality, shape or size, no matter her education, race
or religion she is the feminine face of free enterprise. She's business in blue
jeans; wholesale in high heels; an entrepreneur in an evening gown. Her
energies drive the world's economy. Her efforts mesh the gears of international commerce. Her time and talent puts food in the fridge, clothes in the closet and cars in the garage.
She keeps factories functioning, freight cars filled, and trucks trucking. In
fact, if all the multiplied millions of women in direct selling stopped work
for one week, the world's economy would stumble to a standstill.


She is a strong woman. Part angel, actress and acrobat, she is a multi-tasking miracle - she can fold laundry, repair a bike, prepare a dinner, change a baby, change a tire and host a conference call - all at the same time.


A fusion of model, missionary and magician, she can wrench ninety minutes
from an hour, squeeze eight days out of a week and 40 days from a month. She can meet a month end production deadline dead center - and although she may not feel it, she's drop dead gorgeous.


She is a strong woman.


She can be found anywhere: From a concourse to a convention center. You'll find her on a laptop in a coffee shop, hosting an in home presentation, up front training or sitting in a seminar listening and learning. But mostly you'll find her at home because that's probably why she chose direct selling in the first place. She really wants to work from home.


An independent sales representative, she is the CEO of her own corporation.
Her corner office commands a sweeping view of her back yard and her kids at play. In the beginning her desk may be a folding card table with a milk crate credenza but it's a real office just the same - the nerve center of the greatest operation on earth.


This lady of direct selling is courage, character and consistency,
leadership, loyalty and love. She loves God. She loves her family. She loves her company. She loves her products. She loves people.


This direct selling dynamo never meets a stranger. She simply has no time to be timid. From grocery checkouts to waiting rooms to county fairs she is the world's most effective and natural networker. She is prospecting and presentations; recruitment and retention. She is
on-line enrollment and education, bookings and benefits, motivation and more. She's a team builder, cheerleader and star player all in one. As a consultant, counselor and coach she is persistence, patience and profit and a little prayer.


She's a strong woman.


In a world where clarity is a rarity, she knows what she wants. Instead of
taking care she's taking charge . While protecting the present she is planning the future. While others wish, she works. While others are making excuses, she is making money. The very reasons why some women say they can't succeed are the compelling reasons why she must.


She is a strong woman.


She is a tough-minded optimist. Pleasantly persistent she moves from
rejection to rejection without losing enthusiasm. She knows that her sales are in direct proportion to the number of times she is willing to open herself up to being let down. She doesn't enjoy it any more than anyone else but has come to terms with rejection and refuses to let it stop her from pursuing her goals.


She is a strong woman.

Success Principles - #3 Face what isn't Working

Okay - here we go again!!!
We left off at Principle #2 - Cleaning up the Incompletes. I must say that is a lot of work! I have been working at my incompletes and have realized that it is much larger than a weekend project for me! Since my last article on this I have:

Caught up with 2 years worth of taxes
Cleaned out my office and started filing a years worth of paper! Cleaned out the 'file box' (Toss it/File it) and just have to purchase storage file boxes to put 06 and 07 in.
Did my Spring Cleaning
Cleaned out my closet

Ongoing Incompletes that I am currently working on:

Mailing Tamisha her chocolate molds!!!
Cleaning out old photo galleries at Studio13
Cleaning out my Inbox weekly.
Mailing photo submissions to Mexico agencies

I must admit, it does feel really good to finish incomplete projects. As I do I realize that there actually is a place in my brain that all this incomplete stuff resides and as I finish it - I have more room to take on new things. Anyone else notice this? How are you guys doing on your "Incompletes"?

Anyway - on to the next chapter! Facing what isn't working. This was a very short chapter but some things don't need a lot of explaining. This is one of them. Jack Canfield explains the situations most of us are guilty of, denying things aren't working by excusing them away.
We do this because by facing the truth, we are also going to have to do something that is uncomfortable for us. We fear that facing the facts and fixing the situation may lead to a worse circumstance. Fear, once again holds us back.
Oddly enough, a situation in my personal life fits right into this! I was paying my credit card bills today and was so happy to announce to my husband that our balances were going down. I made the comment to him "As soon as we have this one paid down, you can get your Lasik, and when these are paid down you can get the Xbox 360 (he's a big kid)". He just shook his head. I said "What?"
Mike's reply was this "The idea is to pay all these cards off and not use them unless it's an emergency. If we can't pay cash for it, then we don't need it."
I was in shock! Imagine no credit cards?! My rebuttal was "When are we going to be able to pay $2000 cash for Lasik? We can't do that, but we can pay $50 a month on a credit card."
Again he shook his head, "Kim, this is how we get into these debt situations, $50 a month here, $30 a month there and pretty soon we are paying $400-$500 a month for things we want on top of paying for the things we need like our mortgage and car payment." He went on to explain that he would rather go without some things then live with the stress of all the bills we face each month, especially when business slows down and income is low.
It hit me like a ton of bricks! What he was saying was basically "this isn't working" and I have been ignoring or living in denial of our real financial abilities. I needed to face the fact that true situation and adjust my spending habits! And believe me, for me, that is extremely uncomfortable!
I have such plans! Painting, Building 2 decks, Updating my wardrobe, going on vacation and others - all things I planned on going in debt for. Now my partner in life wants me to pay 'cash'?! I have always been a pay now - find the money later kind of person.
The new way of approaching things is going to be a bit difficult for me - but I realize that he definitely has a point. My way is not working for us. So I am going give this 'cash' thing a try!
Obviously, some things still need to be done with credit where our businesses are concerned - but our personal lives are going on cash - only diet! Ugh....
This was such an epiphany, that I am going to take a deep breath and see where else I have living in denial. I am going to try to "face what else in my life isn't working?"
In the workbook the Author points out the "Yellow Alerts" we discussed in Principle #1 (E+R=O). The subtle alerts that we sometimes overlook. Pay attentions to warning signs that things may not be working. Don't ignore them, pretend not to notice them, or excuse them away. It's very hard to face these things and probably harder to change them; however, this is what we must do. This is what successful people do; find what is not working and fix it.
Jack Canfield explains that these could be bad situations at work, in a relationship (especially an abusive one), with your health or weight and so on. He lists the following excuses we often use and I will list them here, because many of us really don't realize that we are excusing them away - this is why it is so important for us to truly and honestly look at our lives and our situations. It took my husband to put the truth right in front of me for me to realize what I was doing. So here are some common excuses listed in the book:

It's just what guys do. (ignoring bad relationships)
It's none of my business. (bad work environment, relationship, etc)
I don't want to rock the boat.
There's nothing I can do about it. (the 'worst' excuse!!! I could write an entire essay on the damage to your psyche that this statement makes!)
Credit card debt like this is normal. (*kim raises her hand* "guilty!")
That doesn't happen to people like us. (ignoring problem teens, marital situations etc - my mother's personal favorite! I can't tell you how many times I heard this growing up.)
I'll get Fired
She's just at that age
I need these/this/that to help me relax
I have to work these long hours to get ahead
We just have to wait it out
I'm sure he/she will pay me back
He/she's just venting his frustrations
He/she didn't really mean it

Do you recognize any of these? Good luck with this principle - it's another tough one. Like they say, hard work pays off!
See you all next month for the next principle of success.

Healthy You - Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar
My friend Rene and I always have interesting discussions about natural healthcare and the other day she mentioned that she drinks apple cider vinegar everyday. My response was "Yuk!!! why would you do that!" After she was finished laughing she began to explain all the benefits of apple cider vinegar and that she mixes hers with honey and it's actually not bad. She gave me a jar to take home an try. Folks, I've got to admit - It's actually really good and after just one week, I can really feel a difference - especially in my energy levels! My recipe is:
In a coffee cup:
2-3 TBSP honey
2 TBSP ACV
Splash of Lime Juice.
Add hot water and stir until honey is dissovled!
It's actually pretty good! I am going to pick up some fresh mint at the market and try adding that as well. I think it would be good over ice.
I did some further research on EarthClinic.com and found that there are folk remedies using apple cider vinegar for everything from sore throat to gout!
Click here for very detailed information and some great user feedback!
Try it ~ you'll like it!
If you do - leave a comment!
Leave comments if you have other websites or information on Apple Cider Vinegar.

New Blog!!!

As I promised in my April newsletter, I have started my new Blog!
The Dream Coaching and Success Coaching will be located here with a link in the newsletter.
I will also write short articles on natural health, our herbal ingredients, and hints/tips/recipes for our products.
I will also post short informational posts each month on one of the women in business that I have listed on my newsletter and here on this blog. I am a strong believer in Supporting Women in Business!
And last but not least you will find essays on other causes I believe in.

I hope you all enjoy the new blog. Please leave comments when the mood strikes!

Success Principles - #2

We are now in Chapter 2 of the Success Principles Workbook. In this chapter, we will look at cleaning up incomplete and messes. By doing so we make space for something new - this fits perfectly with the coming of Spring doesn't it?
At the bottom of this article is a chart that outlines the steps necessary to get a desired result - to reach success. Many great ideas or plans will fall apart somewhere on this wheel - they don't get started, or even don't make it through the planning phase!
So lets take a quick trip around this wheel. Once you actually 'decide' to do something, your mind and your energy are now free to start planning and executing your plan.
A lot of projects fail in the planning stage because people expect everything to fall right into place or to be 'perfect'. Your plan does not have to be perfect! This is the beginning of the circle! It is very rare in life that anything is perfect right from the start! You must be able to give yourself permission to make mistakes along the way, to experience failures. This is how you learn! We make mistakes, make adjustments and move on. There is a quote by Marshall Turber - "You can't learn less!" He's a world renowned entrepreneur, and should really know a thing or two about achieving success.
So, go ahead and START! You may not be able to see the road clearly right now, but one thing is for sure: you'll never get anywhere if you don't start!
Next we must CONTINUE! When you make mistakes, when things don't go exactly you planned, you must pull yourself together, stretch beyond what you think your limits are and go on. Many people quit when the situation gets uncomfortable - the workbook states :"If you're not a little uncomfortable everyday, your not stretching yourself enough."
Next, we actually have to finish! Sounds easy, but you wouldn't believe how many people don't finish a project because it is a way to escape failure. A personal example, I am a photographer and for years I avoided finishing the project of selling my work commercially. I had the idea in place, I had a plan for greeting cards and art prints, but I never took the final steps. Why? Because if I never put my work out to the public - they could never reject it! I could never fail. Now of course I see the silliness in the thought, because I could never succeed either, I would be forever in this limbo. So, you must FINISH!!!
Next we have COMPLETION, we must actually complete something in order to make space for something new. We all have incompletes in our lives. Bills unpaid, promises unfulfilled, little unfinished businesses that need tending to. Each time you make an agreement to do something, it goes into your present memory bank . The workbook titles the space each of encompass as an Attention Unit. For every, undone project or incomplete item in your life there is an Attention Unit,and as these build up you have fewer and fewer attention units available to you. With me? If you have twenty projects sitting around undone, you have very little room to bring new activities and abundance into your life.
Take the time now, to complete those undone things. How? The four D's - most of us have heard them: Do it, Delegate it, Delay it, or Dump it! This can apply to everything in your life from your email to a job, all the way to current relationships!
When you complete items, you make room for new things - you can begin the wheel again!
When you begin to look at everything you have that needs completion, it can be a bit overwhelming - I know it was for me! So don't think you have to and certainly don't try to take on everything at once! Set small goals for yourself, try to complete a few small things in a weekend. Set bigger projects bigger timelines etc. The important thing is that you DO complete them and then, give yourself a pat on the back!
If you keep this pattern of completing things, soon you will have room for abundance in your life!!! What are you waiting for? Get moving!!!circle

Last month we did some work determining what our dreams were. This month we are going to explore some ways to be successful in achieving those dreams!
These tips come from:
The Success Principles
Your 30 day journey from where you are to where you want to be.
~ Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer

The first chapter is titled:
Take Responsibility for Your Life with E+R=O

Bob Resnick taught this formula and it basically states the every Outcome we experience in life is a direct result of how we Respond to an individual Event that occurs.

You can use this formula as your primary rule for guiding you towards your successful life. How? By taking responsibility and changing our response to events that happen in our life.

Example:

Event:
You come into some extra money, say $500.

Response 1: You go out and spend it
Outcome 1: You are broke

Response 2: You pay down a credit card
Outcome 2: Your credit rating goes up, your monthly bill goes down and you still have your $500.

Response 3: You invest it in your retirement fund
Outcome 3: You get a tax advantage, your net worth just went up, hopefully you will earn even more on your money.

You see, the event in your life has stayed the same, however based on your response, you have changed the outcome of the situation. Your response and your response alone to random events will give you either advancement towards your goals or regret over what could have been.

How many times have you reacted in fear or "I can't" when opportunity came knocking on your door? Or failed to recognise the opportunity disguised within a negative situation? Successful people look for ways to transform that negative situation into an opportunity for success - they respond differently. How do I get better at this? I want to turn coal into diamonds! Read on...

First, you have to stop blaming the Event on the Outcome. These are the "if onlys..." You know you've done it "If only traffic weren't so bad", "If only so and so had done this or that....", "If only we had a better economy". Stop blaming and complaining!!!

You are only complaining because you know there is something better. Think about it, people who stay in bad situations rarely complain - they don't know anything better.
But people who complain know there are better situations out there than the one they are in. Why do they stay? It's easier and less risky to just stay where they are and complain about it than to actually do something about it.

To get out of any situation, to improve your life you must take 100% responsibility and do something different. Most of the time we know in advance when something isn't right or a negative event is about to occur. We receive tell tale signs, hear comments from others, have gut feelings or just use plain old instinct. We can't change negative events, but we can respond differently to them. Successful people don't wait for disaster and then blame something or someone else for the outcome. They respond in time, keep things from going too far. You can do this too - by facing the facts squarely, accepting them for what they are "facts", doing the uncomfortable and taking steps to change the outcome.
Take responsibility. "You alone have the responsibility to make something happen in your life, whether you actively create it or passively allow it to happen or continue. This goes for outcomes that are both good and bad" (Success Principles Workbook pg10)

Once you start recognizing and responding decisively to signals, warnings and events as they occur, you will begin to feel more in control and less hopeless. You start to realize that you ARE in control of your destiny.

See you next month with more....