As an entrepreneur sometimes it feels like a constant race. When I look at what we’ve done in a single day or even week it sometimes seems insignificant, but looking at an entire year its easy to see the accomplishments, the growth and feel grateful for what we’ve done as a team.
Here are some of our accomplishments:
We introduced several new products this year. These are:
Clear Creek Hand and Body Wash in Lavender or Citrus Scent to match our Mountain Mist Hand and Body Lotion.
Yarrow Oil Facial Cleanser and Makeup Remover, unscented.
Red Rocks Beard Oil Vetiver scent
Allure Lip Conditioner unscented.
Our products were mentioned over 30 times online in reviews.
We participated in weekly farmers markets in Longmont and biweekly farmers markets in Boulder as well as the Boulder County Farmers Market Winter Market which is the Holiday show. This is something we hope to continue doing next year. We participated in several other shows including the Rocky Mountain Gift Show, The American Herbalist Conference, The Boulder County Facial Hair Group, the Junior League of Colorado Holiday Market, the Lavender Festival by the Lavender Association of Western Colorado and the National Aesthetic Spa Network (NASN) Colorado Event.
Colorado Aromatics farm was one of the local farms featured in the Firehouse Art Gallery’s Farm to Gallery Event. For this event we were paired with 3 artists; 2 painters (Sara Brown and Sarah Hanson) and one poet (Jack Greene) who all produced incredible art that was shown at the gallery. This culminated in a fundraiser for the gallery.
In late summer we had our first farm tour and will do more in the next growing season.
We participated in Runner Box as a promotional.
We donated money the American Institute for Cancer Research for Giving Tuesday. Earlier in the year we participated in fund raising for a Boston Marathon Runner as we also contributed to several local charities, churches and schools.
I (Cindy Jonnes) was featured by Indie Business in Makers on Main Street as well as a Q & A Coaching Call with Christine Laureano. I participated in our local Start Up Longmont Week by being part of a panel of women entrepreneurs. Sagescript Institute and Colorado Aromatics were nominated for a Cornerstone award by the Longmont Area Economic Council. I gave a local talk on winter skin care and was part of the Cut The Pill Telesummit with Toni Crabtree. I was also interviewed several times and quoted in various publications regarding skin care.
I wrote what seems like endless blogs whose links go up on Twitter and Facebook. Besides this blog I write at Sagescript. This was the first blog that I started in 2007 where I write more about farming, herbs, business and personal accounts. We also started using Instagram regularly this year which has been fun. You can follow us there at Coloradoaromatics.
The other half of our business, Sagescript Institute, where we do consulting, educating and formulating for small cosmetics businesses has also grown. We’ve gained new clients and our current clients have grown.
Our sales have increased, including online, in store, wholesale and farmers markets. Feeling more comfortable financially, we have also invested more towards the end of the year in advertising. Let us know if you see an ad somewhere! We have some amazing customers who drive far to get our products and who are relentless about telling their friends and giving our products as gifts. If you are one of our customers, Thank You. If you are not one of our customers, its not too late.
Now its off to plan the next great year.