Monday, February 6, 2012

Friday, February 3, 2012

Beauty Kitchen OPEN | have a taste

Here is the first luk Beautifood Kitchen news letter that went out last Sunday to 50 luk beautifood subscribers. If you'd like to view the live version, here is the link.  VIEW

If you'd like to subscribe to email updates then please click here: sign up  ENJOY and be fabulous in the skin you're in. Cindy :)




luk beautifood kitchen |a tool to build e-subscribers & prospects

www.beautykitchen.com.au 
My absence from blogging has a lot to do with building 'inhouse' my beauty kitchen blog | a place to learn and be inspired on how to Cook for Beauty so you can LOOK. FEEL.DO and 'be fabulous in the skin you are in'. The purpose of the beautifood kitchen blog is to build potential customers and pre-sales on the lippy range. It fits with my philosophy of 'the essence of a beautiful woman is beauti-ful food'.

As you know I have had a love | hate relationship with Wordpress, everyone says how simple it is to use and only take a few hrs, not for me and I thought I was was pretty techie. Well maybe my vision was too ambitious but I got so far down the 'homemade' path I just had to keep going and it took time, & time I really enjoyed. But I have time because my lipstick packaging got delayed yet again (I gave in and brought on board a luxury packaging/industrial designer to solve my issues) and launch is NOW mid year (the purchase order is in (LY) and project milestones are being met so it is all GO) I have also had my interns helping across their summer break, it has been a huge learning curve for all of us.

The good news is I'll be able to get a couple more sites up pretty quickly now because my knowledge level is high. I will transfer this blog to my domain Cindy Luken on a Wordpresss site + I will transfer the dedicated luk beautifood makeup site too rather than the path I was going down before using webeden. It is all just part of my need to keep everything streamlined to operate, use leading & connected operating systems etc that are easy to integrate and outsource content writing etc.

Are you interested in knowing how I pulled the site together? If so, comment below and I could do a blog on that subject.

tx - have a great weekend. :)

home page of www.beautykitchen.com.au 





Woohoo: 10,000 views and building

Oh the magic moment passed without me seeing it. I've had 10,041 views of this little blog in a year so thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. The 3 key things I have learnt about this online world are
 - you must be regular and consistent in your posting and sharing
 - takes time to build a loyal following
 - content takes a lot of time to create and does not fit into my 15 hrs pw work mantra

I know I have not shared much lately but it is for the good of it! :)

10 tips for building a successful business


Now that my Beauty Kitchen is open (softly, softly) I am in the middle of reviewing what I have learnt and achieved in my first year of getting back in the biz saddle. In doing so I found these notes I had written over 10 years ago. They still stand true even tho market dynamics have changed so much. It also made me think that when you are in a solo biz it is very easy to get lost in the washing machine instead of hanging on the line with a breeze blowing and the sun shining! 
a Recipe for Success

1. Clear Vision
Simple and motivating. Well communicated. Never assume anything.

2. Business Model & Strategy
Fundamental to develop the 'perfect & profitable' company and operating structure.

3. Core attributes and Competitive advantage
A business must know what it is good at &
 protect its space in the market.
What differentiates it, is it sustainable?

4. Management & Communication.
A strong boss leads & builds a strong team (internal &/or external) 
and together they make it happen.
Build and use uniform and agreed methodology, processes and reporting systems.
Have the right people doing the right job – incentivise team.
Ensure the team think and act like business people.

5. Resources
Good set-up and management of time, cash, people.
Eg Centralise critical departments at source ie finance but
outsource non core activities to provide agility / simplicity / expertise
It is not always about resources …focus and prioritisation is fundamental to getting the right job done on time and on budget.

6. Innovation
Whether it be products, services, technology.
Continually develop the businesses innovation capability.
Be first to market and ensure it can be funded continually.

7. Market Knowledge
Know your stuff so you can easily make decisions.
Competitors. Sales History. Players. Customer/Channel/Market needs. Market Segments. Consumer needs. Drivers.
Have mechanism/system for continual update and sharing info.

8. Reference Sites / Credibility (+ now, Social Media)
Build upon successes (yours or others) to create a strong brand image.
Knowledge, customer wins, awards, PR, referrals.
Give better service than your competitors.
Guarantee your products unconditionally.

9. Strong sales and market potential
A market exists for you to generate revenue objectives
and has room to expand without sacrificing profit.

10. Sustainable Growth
Core proposition has good profit profile and
margin structure from day one.
Business has access to goods and services with minimal stock holding.