Hello from business class aboard Delta Airlines as I return from Maker Mastermind Live at the lovely Kimpton Hotel Monaco Portland hotel in Portland, Oregon. This event was sponsored in part by Essential Wholesale, one of IBN's longtime members. Hotel Monaco Portland is a lovely and intimate boutique hotel in the heart of the city, and it was perfect for our intimate masterminding event.
Along with a presentation by Diane Humke, Essential Wholesale's amazingly brilliant CEO, a full day of entrepreneurial training and facilitated peer inspired masterminding helped attendees propel themselves to the next stage of their success in both life and business.
The picture above is of us enjoying a cocktail hour after a private tour of Essential Wholesale's manufacturing facility, where hundreds of varieties of naturally derived and organic cosmetics bases are made. We had an amazingly awesome time enjoying a behind-the-scenes, top secret view of how a successful private label manufacturing program works.
Essential Wholesale's formulas are used in products that are sold all over the world, and we got a quick but informative front row view. We were not exposed to any confidential information during our tour, and as an added precaution, we were prohibited from taking photographs while there.
The collage below includes pictures of some of Essential Wholesale's products, and me with Diane, the Chair of Essential Wholesale. (I felt smart just standing next to her. When I tell you this lady is one of the smartest entrepreneurs I know, I mean it.)
The Presentations
Diane delivered an remarkably informative presentation entitled Journey Towards Riches – Attaining Knowledge for Your Business. Here are the core topics she covered:
- Are you building a hobby or a business?
- Dreams vs. goals
- How to prioritize what products to market first
- Staying up to date on regulatory issues in your industry
- the importance of delegating and relinquishing control
- Maintain the altitude in your attitude as you grow your business
Diane Humke, Chair, Essential Wholesale
We followed Diane's presentation with an information-packed panel discussion featuring Laura Craig Badcock, Essential Wholesale's Senior Vice President and Chief Formulator, Alex Badcock, Vice President IT and Design and the artist behind so many of Essential Wholesale's original client product labels and marketing collateral, and Val Sanford, Essential Wholesale's Vice President of Sales & Marketing. The panel was expertly moderated by Essential Wholesale's Teeneke Barisi.
After a delicious lunch, we were treated to a Shimmy Shake Break, led by our member, Vanessa Nixon Klein of Herbs of Grace. In addition to making extraordinary mineral makeup, Vanessa is a belly dancer. With her help, we enjoyed getting our bodies moving before rolling up our sleeves for a full afternoon.
Our afternoon presentation, delivered by Laura Craig, was How to Influence More Spas and Retail Stores to Stock your Products. This was an excellent presentation by an experienced master esthetician/spa manager/product formulator. After Laura's presentation, everyone slid right into the Sales Role Playing Exercise, followed by peer inspired and structured masterminding.
We spent the afternoon engaged in comprehensive masterminding. Everyone set and shared a big goal, and we all pitched in to provide our best ideas and strategies to make it happen. Here are some of us as we wrapped up the day.
What a gorgeous group, yes?
This is the last Maker Mastermind of 2015. Stay tuned to know where we will host in 2016. We have our eyes on San Francisco and Washington, DC, and I'll have an announcement soon! Meanwhile, you can request that your city be added to the tour schedule at this link.
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