Essential U Blog

What's Your Story?

Tell It, with Essential Wholesale, Bella PR and You

love my PR company. I’ve been working with Bella PR for several years and they have never failed to impress me. Meredith Morville-Reilly is in communication with me daily. When I send her an email, I have an answer as fast as email can travel (sometimes faster). Logic tells me that I am not her only client but the level of customer service that I get from Meredith makes me feel like I am her top priority. When I asked Meredith to help us spread the word about the FDA Globalization Act of 2008, she got right on it. She developed a press release this week that quickly got picked up by many news organizations. I asked her if she was open to trying something a little untraditional to increase the effectiveness of the indie cosmetic industries campaign against this act she was all for it.

The idea behind the Essential Wholesale, Bella PR and You media campaign is that, if we join together our resources, contacts and voices we will be stronger. Bella PR in their representation of me is willing to be the credibility source of our media blitz. And you and I together will be the stories that make this media outreach program came alive.

A Patch of Blue

Find Your Patch of Blue --- It's Out There

hen I graduated from high school, I literally walked out of the ceremony, posed for pictures and walked away from everything and everyone that was related to my two years of high school in San Antonio. I went to college at Lewis & Clark and never looked back. When I left for Oregon, I thought I would never step foot in San Antonio again. I had struggled through two very difficult years (but that’s a different story) there and was counting on my parents being transferred overseas before my winter break. That fall, when I got the news that the transfer wasn’t going to happen, in time I was devastated.

      

I didn’t want to go back to a place that was full of difficult memories. I had run away and mentally burned all bridges that led to San Antonio. I remember walking back to my dorm reading the letter from my parents totally crushed. I ran into my friend Van (who was by the way the happiest person on earth) along the way. I told him how desperately I never wanted to return to San Antonio even if it was only for a six week winter break.

A Cedar By Any Other Name ...

Just Because It's Called Cedar, Doesn't Mean It's So

ne of Steven's and my favorite essential oils is cedar wood. And I mean real cedar wood oil, which is the only kind Essential Wholesale uses. I asked Steven to share his insight as our buyer to give you the inside scoop.  True cedar wood oil is distilled from Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), or Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus libani), or Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica). But there are many essential oils called “cedar," which aren’t really from cedars at all. So be sure the oil you are using is the cedar you intend to use.

      

One so-called “cedar” is Virginian Cedar, also called Texas Cedar and Pencil Cedar. Virginian Cedar is a juniper (Juniperus virginiana), which is a member of the Cypress family. Comparing Virginian Cedar Wood oil to pencils is perfect, because the essential oil really does smell like freshly sharpened pencils! It’s a very pleasing scent, but it just won’t do as a substitute for true, sweet and resinous cedar wood oil.

The Salad Dressing Legacy

ast month at the Inc. 500 Conference, we had the honor of hearing A.E. Hotchner, the close friend and business partner of Paul Newman, just days after what would become his last visit with his dear friend. Hotchner spoke of Paul Newman with great affection, admiration and brotherly love. He told the story of how they started Newman’s Own. What I enjoyed learning was how these men dedicated their lives to giving, and in return received much more than they could have imagined. There's more to the story, so keep reading, but first, enjoy this video. Get a few tissues first ...

As Hotchner told the story of how Paul Newman didn't like any salad dressing but his own homemade concoction. When he ate out, he would always assemble his own dressing at the table. According to Hotchner, at restaurants, Newman went to the rest room to rinse any lettuce that might have been accidentally "contaminated" with any salad dressing other than his own.

A Tree Grows -- Wherever You Are!

hrive right where you are! There is nothing more important than to realize that it is your responsibility to thrive exactly where you are today. There are a thousand and one reasons for us all to worry, fret, give up, quit or be depressed. It only takes one reason to hold you back, which ever one it is that we chose to hang onto and use as an anchor. The economy, the bailout, the FDA Globalization Act, and a dozen other personal reasons anyone could add too the list.

But the reality is that many businesses will thrive during this economy. Those that get frightened and pull back will start go backwards. But those that move forward, push through the trials and tackle their fears will grow.  I keep hearing all the doom and gloom on the news, but it doesn’t translate to reality for my customers. I have more customers growing and thriving than ones going out of business. All I keep hearing on Twitter and from my customers is about new orders, more orders, big orders and promising growth. But with the FDA Globalization Act looming ahead of us, I know some people have chosen not to get into the beauty industry and others have given up on their dreams before the fight ever began.

Reformulated Sugar Scrubs Are Here!

Change Is Good

here's a lot of talk going on tonight about change. Well, we've got some of our own changes to squawk about! Before I get to that, I have to first say that our changes are not just any old changes. The fact is that, when it comes to reformulating products, we have been known to drag our heels a bit. We don’t want to upset customers who have been using the product for years with no problems. But sometimes we just have to make the leap because the issues outweigh the good values of the product.

      
That is the case with the reformulation of the Dead Sea Scrub, Turbinado Sugar Scrub and Coffee Salt Scrub. The old formula is lovely and beautiful, but has always caused leaking problems in retail and wholesale packaging. We worked on the new product in the lab about a year ago but never released it because we were concerned about the customers that depended on the old formula.

Ryan Madder - Employee of the Month!

ur very first "Employee of the Month" is Ryan Madder. Ryan has only been with us three months but he has been a stand out employee from day one. Ryan was hired as a compounder but during the interview process I knew he would excel as a formulator as well. When we had an opening in the Research & Development department it was an easy choice to move Ryan. Ryan has just as good of an attitude at the beginning of a day as he does at the end of the day

             

Even when Ryan doesn't know anyone is watching he goes the extra mile.  The first week he was here I was in the mezzanine and noticed Ryan jogging across the warehouse hustling to do his job. It looked like he noticed a stray paper towel on the floor and jogged off of his path, picked it up and tossed it into the garbage.  Not a huge task.  But it wasn't his job, he didn't drop it, it was completely out of his way, he was in a hurry and yet he went out of his way to take care of something that was out of place.  He could have just kept walking, but I don't think that it is in his nature.

Four Industries. One Bad Law

ave you been wondering exactly about exactly what the discussion draft of the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2008 is and what it means? Judging from the amount of email inquiries I'm getting on the topic, the answer is "yes." This post provides an overview of some of my thoughts and predictions.

       

The FDA Globalization Act of 2008 was triggered by several food catastrophes that have occurred over the past few years. Congress is not happy about these issues, so it is seeking to stem the tide by amending the FDA's regulatory framework. Since the FDA regulates cosmetics as well as food (and also drugs and drug devices), Congress seems to have decided that a one-size-fits-all approach is best. It has drafted a law that would regulate four separate industries in exactly the same way.

Four Industries. One Bad Law.

Opportunity Disguised as Crisis

y friend Jamila White of j.blossom recently mentioned on Twitter that she was going through "an opportunity for business and personal growth disguised as a crisis." After I got myself off the ground from laughing, because I just love that kind of attitude, it really got me thinking about the importance of one’s outlook on life. So often we see our current situation as a hopeless predicament rather than the incredible growing and learning experience that it can be. The painful experience generally is going to happen no matter what you attitude is regarding the situation. And with the wrong mind-set it sometimes takes much longer to find the solution.

I found that sometimes in the midst of calamity the obvious answers and solutions could be sitting right in front of you and part of your own knowledge base but missed because of the distraction of the emergency at hand. The reality of this came crashing down on me some 14 years ago when Keegan was just a toddler. I was a single mother for many years and living in a constant state of crisis. Life simply isn’t easy for a single mother because you must to juggle all the responsibilities of a household, childrearing and bring in the sole income. Because I am a fanatical reader and believe in learning everything about any topic I am faced with I had read every book on childrearing. But nothing could have prepared me for the first years of Keegan’s life.

Business and Family Friendly

t Essential Wholesale, we value our employees. Each one is like a member of our family -- well, each one really is a member of our family. To celebrate the contribution our employees make to our success, we provide a complete and generous compensation package. Like any good relatives, we are always on the lookout for new ideas and innovative ways to take care of our family members.

Our current program includes a variety of standard benefits along with some untraditional ones. Some of our more traditional benefits include:

• 401 (k) Savings Plan with Company Match
• Bereavement Leave
• Maternity & Paternity Leave
• Educational Financial Assistance
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Alternative Care Insurance
• PTO (Paid Time Off) (2 - 5 weeks per year)
• Paid Holidays
• Cafeteria Plan (Think AFLAC)
• Employee Discounts on most EW Products

Some of more progressive benefits we offer include:

• Tri-Met Bus Passes
• Certified Childcare Reimbursement
• Bike Riding Reimbursement
• Various Business Training Courses
• Company Savings Plan
• Pizza Parties and Company Lunches
• Massage Therapy (related to approved overtime)
• Quarterly Family Fun Events (Examples: Portland to Coast Relay Race, Bowling Party, Christmas Party, etc.)
• Sabbatical (a 3-week paid sabbatical for every 7 years of full-time employment to include a $3,000 credit toward any expenses planned during the sabbatical)
• Company Gym
• Break Room with cable TV, Wii Fit, X-Box 360 & PS3
• Summer Every Friday Company Bar-B-Q
• Spur of the moment company wide Cin-a-meeting (translation: occasional two hour break for company sponsored trip to the movies)
• NEW! Employee of the Month with a special parking space, public praise, lunch with the owners and a cash bonus.

We are always looking for new and innovative ideas. Do you have any ideas you can share with us?