In business, sometimes you get lost and cannot find your way. I have always looked for the Northern Star to guide me home. By this I mean finding the things that matter most to your company, your aspirations or even the dreaded mission statement. We have a stated aspiration about caring for the Planet, Nature and You.
So when the tough questions come up we need to look at our aspirations:
1) How can we make our products have a minimum affect the planet?
2) How can we make our products have a minimum affect on nature?
3) How can our product provide the best performance and safety?
All that said, we are trying to work within a matrix where all decisions need to be measured:
1) The product must work!
2) We want to follow the precautionary principle where we do not use any ingredients that may be considered harmful to the consumer. We have eliminated all known ingredients that may be hazardous to your health by not using ingredients like SLS, parabens or phthalates. We continue to monitor third party consumer groups like the Environmental Working Group to increase our knowledge.
3) We want to ensure 100% transparency in our labels by showing all ingredients in our products even when we are not required to do so. We want each label on ever bottle to factually represent what is in the bottle.
4) We want to fully disclose all known allergens in our products, even at the risk of losing some potential consumers.
5) We always want to use natural ingredients that are “plant based.” We will not and cannot use animal bi-products. We are committed to comply with PETA guidelines that include no animal testing in our finished products or in ingredients that we use.
6) We create products with the least amount of packaging possible. Less material is better when it comes to packaging.
7) We want to use as much recycled material in our finished products as possible and create packaging that is easy to recycle. We want to create packaging that uses single source material whereby all components of the bottle are made of the same material, which will aid and simplify recycling.
8.) We want to develop methods for reducing our carbon footprint from the sourcing, manufacturing and logistics of our products throughout the supply chain to our consumers.
9) We want to use green chemistry to continue making step changes in manufacturing the most natural product in our the natural body care industry that delivers on the promises that consumers have come to expect from traditional body care sold in mass retailers.
10) We want to have the pride and confidence that we gave done the best job possible in making our products so that just like a master craftsman or an artist, we can sign our finished work with our signature.
These are the aspirations that have guided us along our journey. I know if we follow these aspirations we are confident that we will never get lost.
Mike
