The Company I Keep

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for enduring another one of my writings. I hope your September has started out well. In the U.S. we are on our way to fall. I know here in the midwest some folks are looking forward to it. I'm a Texan who was born in August and I like the warm weather. So I'm not really not looking forward to the cooler season. I like the warm weather, but every season has it's purpose.

Speaking of seasons, there was one season or point in my life where I started to notice labels. Labels on food, and personal items. I'm a curious person. I like to know how things work and what things are made of down to the little particle. I'm not a Scientist but I do admire them. In fact I'm often excited to see a friend of mine who is a Scientist post online. She's brilliant. Any how, no I'm not one but I admire them. I'm a curious person as I said above. So I turn things over to see where they are made, and what it's made of. I also like things as natural as I can get it. I'm not fully organic in every way but I'd like to be. As I was turning labels, I noticed a lot of very long names in my products. What are these things? Ingredients use to intimidate me. I felt dumb because I couldn't pronounce the name without saying it slow or I didn't know what it was without looking it up. So I bought thing great book called the Green Beauty Guide. It helped me to know more about ingredients. So I learned, and I decided I would try a few things. I'm a brown lady with kinky curly hair. I would shop for hair products in the "ethnic" section of stores. I noticed most of the products contained long words and the first ingredient was water. Well that's all great- sometimes- but what if I wanted something that wasn't mostly water? I got water from the tap and the shower! I could add that very essential ingredient for less than what I was paying for in certain products. So I decided to try to mix my own butters and oils together. I found that it's a fairly concentrated product that lasted a while. I found that I couldn't use this like I used other products because it would be too much. So I blended an all natural product that goes a long way and I could use it on my skin and hair! I talked about it a bit and asked my husband if he thinks I could sell it. He thought so. So I sent a few friends some samples of it. The first ones were sent in jars of baby food with handwritten labels! They loved it. I asked for honesty, brutal honesty and all said they loved it! I was excited that no one told me it was useless! I sent it to my mother and sister who don't hold back on telling me things, and they liked it. So I started selling it online. I call it Pure Natural Blends. I decided to give people an option of making their own blends too. It's all natural. A little fun fact is they are actually edible. My little ones have gotten into the things I mix up for us, and you know everything goes into the little ones mouths! Neither one of them have ever gotten sick. Well it's because the ingredients are all simple. I include a glossary of ingredients on the website too. I hope to have a growing company from this! The Pure Natural Blends products are dual usage which means you can use them on both skin and hair. When you visit the site you might notice the names of the products. Well I like feel good things. So I name all my products from affirmations, words that uplift and encourage. :) Oh and please order something!

My other passion is graphic design. I got a degree Liberal Arts degree from UMSL with the concentration of Graphic Design and Art History. Well since I am a stay at home mother who homeschools her kids, I didn't feel drawn to the agency life just yet. I decided to freelance. I started with Tsmiles.com, then DesignVirtue.com, now it's just Creativelytawanna.com. I'm not doing a lot of freelance due to my awful non marketing habits. Most of my work comes word of mouth. I like what I do. I'm drawn into a certain simplistic style that makes me feel good. I also have a love for photography. If I was to go back to school for photography I would go back for Photo Journalism. Right now my life consists of being home. I photograph life as it happens here... the now... this very moment of my life. My subjects are usually my children and home surroundings. My husband bought me this awesome DLSR for Christmas years ago. I love it, but for convenience I have opted for my iPhone. I know it's crazy and insulting to the professional photographer to lose all that quality, but it works for now and I'm not a pro. I will pick that DSLR up when I can focus better, and my shots are no longer of my amusing toddler's quick antics around the house.

See a bit of iPhone and instagram and there I go! Well let me justify it further why I do this, I have family in far places that want to see photos, this way allows me to post photos to different sites for them to see. I have yet to order my wireless SD card for my DLSR. Priorities! Anyhow I'm a freelance graphic designer. I have worked for churches, small businesses and individuals. If you will, browse my portfolio!

So those are my two companies. I want to start another one, in fact one is in the works now but we shall see how it goes! What are your companies, business online, home business or both? When did you start your own business? Any advice for a newbie?

Have a peaceful sleep. I'm off to bed and Good morning!