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The Beauty Biz Bliss Community: Be a Boss Bella!

It’s 1:00 PM here in Manila and I am in my “Game-On” mode. It’s been weeks since we launched our Beauty Biz Bliss Community, and admittedly, I have had not time to write this announcement. It’s not because I’ve been slacking off, but on the contrary, I’ve been making things happen. I wanted to spread the news about this community at the proper time. And I think, now is the perfect time, since we will be launching one of our projects (the website) in a few weeks.

We have received questions on what Beauty Biz Bliss is and what’s it all about. Apparently, one of the buzz words in this day and age, is COMMUNITY. By definition, this is what a community means.

A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values, or that is situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a village or town).

Why has this become something that is so talked-about, when it has been there since time immemorial? I think it’s because of the fact that with the advent of technology, sharing of ideas and common values can now be communicated and shared faster. You can now more efficiently connect with people, in our case, ladies with the same beliefs and values. Before, these people gathered in a certain geographical area, but with the advent of the internet, we can just gather online — in a Facebook group, in a platform like Meetup.com or create a circle in Leanin.org, etc. We can even just chat using Viber, Whatsapp, etc.

As a testimony to this, the core idea of establishing Beauty Biz Bliss started when Martine of MakeitBlissful.com, Frances of topazhorizon.com and yours truly, was formulated in Facebook messenger several nights in the past when we talked about our own issues as women. We then realized that we could grow this community and give the same support (support that we were getting from each other, thus, becoming more successful in the things that we get into) to other women. This was when we finally decided to create Beauty Biz Bliss. We then sought the help of our ever reliable Project Manager, RJ Dancel to join us make things happen.

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Frances, Ginger and Martine with RJ!

What is Beauty Biz Bliss?

Our mission for Beauty Biz Bliss is to empower women to love themselves, pursue their dreams, and to build a blissful community of like-minded women that can act as a support group for each other. We know that there are women out there, of all ages, stature and who come from different walks of life, who would want a solid community who understands their needs and who would be willing to work with them to achieve their goal. We all ourselves #bossbellas and #happyrebels because we have succeeded in pursuing our unique passions and earning well from our endeavours—even though we were told this can’t be done, and we know there are so many talented Boss Bellas and Happy Rebels out there. We want to find these ladies!

What our community does?

To fulfill this goal, we set up different Beauty Biz Bliss projects, which will help women learn more about and appreciate themselves, give them knowledge and confidence to hone their craft, and connect with other women who will be their support group. We will do this in an environment that inspires creativity and casual but empowering conversations. Everything will be beautiful and blissful!

BeautyBizBliss.com Website: In this site, ladies of all ages can engage with different members of the community and look for potential collaborations. They are free to create personal messages, create group discussions or start forum topics. We will have a free access and a premium membership access, where we will give more perks like free tickets to events that we create and access to different materials, tools and tips! Those who are premium members will also be featured in a portion our page as the Boss Bella of the month.

Beauty Biz Bliss Gatherings: We will create beautiful and inspiring gatherings and in those gatherings, we will tackle topics on beauty, business and bliss. We will invite women experts who are also part of the community to do that talks. We will also invite brands who support women to be part of the event by giving out fabulous freebies and tools that these women can use to achieve your personal and professional goals.

We definitely have more in-store for the women in this community. Our goal is to build this community and have women not only from the Philippines, but from different parts of the world, gather, share share stories and lend support to each other.

What happened during the BBB’s first gathering?

Okay, just to share with you what we do during gatherings, I will share with you what happened during the first ever Beauty Biz Bliss Gathering. Well, first of all, prior to the launch, I had a great time coming up and collating the wonderful Beauty Biz Bliss Kit that was given to all the attendees. The kit was made up of items that Martine, Frances and I use.

The Beauty Biz Bliss Kits!

The Beauty Biz Bliss Kits!

Inside (and outside since the items could not fit inside the box anymore) the Beauty Biz Bliss are items that we love and use!

Inside (and outside since the items could not fit inside the box anymore) the Beauty Biz Bliss are items that we love and use!

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The Boss Bellas were all given a mini 3-tiered cake from La Dolce Vita (https://www.facebook.com/ladolcevitaph/)

The Boss Bellas were all given a mini 3-tiered cake from La Dolce Vita (https://www.facebook.com/ladolcevitaph/)

We also had products from A Vanilla Story (https://www.facebook.com/avanillastory)

We also had products from A Vanilla Story (https://www.facebook.com/avanillastory)

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Emergency kits from Oleia (https://www.facebook.com/oleia.ph/?fref=ts)

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We also had boxes of Ready Coffee from BTL (http://brewyourbestyear.com)

We had the gathering at Co.Lab. We knew that this was the perfect venue for an event that exuded both power and grace. And not to mention, the Co.Lab team is also made up of powerful women!

Thank you Co.Lab for hosting our first BBB gathering!

Thank you Co.Lab for hosting our first BBB gathering!

The styling was care of Hey Holiday. Let me tell you just how amazing Alessa of HeyHoliday is! She really understood the vision and executed it well. The venue was inspiring, motivating and comforting! 🙂

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This is how the beautiful and powerful the place was!

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The tables were send for the journaling activity that we had. Thank you Gourdo’s for the materials (http://www.gourdos.com/)

Speaking of activities, we had two activities during that afternoon! Well, four, if you count eating and networking! BTW, thank you Bobby of the Cuisinero for the yummy food and Bayani Brew for our drinks! Thank you, Ron, for supporting this event!

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We started the afternoon by introducing Beauty Biz Bliss and what we stand for. We also introduced what was in store for all the ladies in the community. Then, each one introduced themselves to everyone else. It was such a nice feeling getting to finally know and meet people whom you normally would just follow online or read about online. There was a lot of “oh! So it’s you!” reactions from the ladies. The mix of women was just perfect — we had creative entrepreneurs, bloggers, women in tech, women in traditional businesses, coaches, authors, women in beauty and fashion, women community heads, leaders in the corporate world, startup founders, and other fields. I loved the diversity and this is what we really want to achieve for each gathering.

*Photo from RJ of TheMillenialPanda.com :)

*Photo from RJ of TheMillenialPanda.com 🙂

After introductions were done, we moved on to an activity that was sponsored by Moleskine! We all created the first pages of our journals. We had materials also from Gourdo’s that we could use.

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The 3 winners got books from author and Boss Bella Marianne Mencias. The book was What’s Your Life’s Masterpiece? 🙂 I have  a copy and it is a very inspiring book!

The next activity was to design our own shoes! The shoes were lovingly customized for the BBB gathering by Boss Bella Elayne from Spring Manila.

Customized BBB Shoes from Spring Manila

Customized BBB Shoes from Spring Manila (https://www.facebook.com/springmanila1/?fref=ts)

We also invited Boss Bella Jeng of Sucker for Succulents to teach us how to decorate our shoe!

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Thank you, Jeng and Elayne, for all the support!

Thank you, Jeng and Elayne, for all the support!

The contest of designing their shoes is still ongoing and the prize are totebags from Brownroots Creatives! Each one also went home with a GC that they could use to have a customized Boss Bella or Happy Rebel Shirt made!

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We had such a great time during the launch. The ladies are so thankful to these brands for all the support that was given! We appreciate all the help to inspire all these women in our country!

Thank you again to:

Moleskine / Biogenic Alcohol / Oleia / Bayani Brew / Hey Holiday / Co.Lab / Spring Manila / Design Hatch / The Cuisinero / The Little Whisk / Cusina Home / Gourdo’s / The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf / Aloe Cure / A Vanilla Story / Carlos and Veronica / Girlstuff / La Dolce Vita / Aloe Derma / Jolly / Physiogel / Alfox Printing Services / Brownroots / Biscoff

 

BBB Sponsors

We are thankful for the support that these brands have given!

So, are you excited to be a Boss Bella? A Happy Rebel? Support us by subscribing to our newsletter at http://beautybizbliss.com 🙂 We will be announcing a lot of things and developments really really soon!

Be a #BossBella!

Love,

Mommy Ginger

 

 

 

 

PS: Would you like to partner with us? 

Beauty Biz Bliss will be a strong brand and will do so much in helping partner brands build brand awareness and engagement with our audience. If you think you have something to share or contribute or if you are a brand who wants to tap our community, please contact rj@beautybizbliss.com

PPS: We have a circle in Leanin.org. Please visit http://leanincircles.org/circle/beauty-biz-bliss and join us!

PPPS: The #OleiaMoments contest is still ongoing! Post a picture of your Oleia Moment and use #OleiaMoments and #BossBellas #BeautyBizBliss and get a chance to win a Php 1000 GC from Charles and Keith! We will announce the winner on July 15! Post away on Facebook!

 

 

Freelance Insider: Let’s Pick the Brains of Amazing Pinoy Freelancers

I just came from a business strategy meeting with Chuck, one of my business partners for a tech startup company and we were talking about efficiency in operational processes. One of the things that we all need to think about as business owners is coming up with the best processes where we increase our revenues even with limited resources. As a startup founder, I have oftentimes been asked how have I kept my business running for three years. 2016 will actually be our 4th year in business. A lot of it was really done through proper planning and utilizing the right people for certain jobs.

We have the best talents in the Philippines, and it’s so easy to find people who can actually help grow your organization. A lot of these talented people are in different online freelance platforms. It’s so funny that our default response in thinking of a task associated to our businesses is either to hire a full time employee or to do the task ourselves. We oftentimes neglect the option of hiring freelancers.

Marv and I have decided to show you how amazing freelancing is through interviewing the best minds in the freelancing industry. These freelancers have professionalized their craft and are now managing these “hobbies” as their own businesses.

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The first two of the brilliant people that we will be interviewing are Martine De Luna and Fitz Villafuerte. These two lovely, lovely people have been friends of mine for years already. I always enjoy hanging out with them since I get to learn a lot from what they do. Learn with me as we talk to them on how they grew their freelance business!

I have placed the links to the sign-up form for the webinar. Each webinar is just at an affordable rate of Php 250 each.

FIW1- Martine de Luna

SIGN UP LINK: http://manilaworkshops.com/fiw1

FIW2- Fitz Villafuerte-2

SIGN UP LINK: http://manilaworkshops.com/fiw2

Beauty Biz Bliss: We are Here for You!

You only get one chance to live, so live it to the fullest.

As cliché as it may sound, I just had to start my article with that statement. I still see that we all don’t FULLY get it. I know this for a fact, because I don’t FULLY live my life to the fullest. I had my birthday yesterday and I know that I haven’t really lived my day to the fullest yesterday. I woke up in the morning and my husband and little cutie of a daughter came and woke me up with flowers. I was grateful, of course, but after waking up, I went straight to my computer and worked. Then I went to the bank with my loving husband who wanted to be with me the entire day. Yes, my entire morning was spend doing bank errands. Yes, I know. I’m weird that way.

The rest of the day was better than how the morning went. I eventually, let go and dropped my laptop and did the minimum amount of work that I could do from my phone. What can I say? I admitted that during Martine, Frances and my talk at the Work at Home Expo 2015 that I’m a workaholic. But digging deeper into how I felt and who I was, I have always felt that I wasn’t good enough for anything. And my birthday was not an exception. I felt like I did not have the right to celebrate. I have always felt that my birthdays are just like other day. I don’t understand why people need to celebrate my birthday when I haven’t even done something significant.

So there, that’s how I felt. But waking up this morning and upon talking to my friends, Frances and Martine over Facebook Messenger, I again realized that I am VALUABLE enough to celebrate my birthday. We, three, have so many plans for helping other women achieve outer and inner beauty, succeed in achieving the dreams that they are so passionate about and achieve a life of bliss that they have always wanted. I realized that my feeling of insecurity is just normal and a lot of women feel the same way.

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This is the reason why Frances of MommyTopaz.com, Martine De Luna of MakeitBlissful.com and yours truly of this blog, MommyGinger.com decided to come together to start a lifestyle brand that would ignite change, inspire and empower women to live their lives to the fullest. This brand is Beauty Biz Bliss or BBB. BBB’s credo is collaboration over competition! We aim for the inclusive growth of all women no matter what age, stature or race. We want to help women achieve their full potential and help them build the dreams that they have always wanted for themselves.

BBB Logo

Beauty Biz Bliss will have several components. We will have intimate social gatherings so that people will get to know other like-minded women. We will have workshops that will tackle three components in our brand. We will also work with brands who believe in the same cause and see how they can fully help the community of women and vice versa.

We would love to meet all of you! Let’s change the world, Ladies, one step at the time by achieving our dreams! We will make it happen. We are here for you!

Frances, Martine and I are very excited for this. Get to know more about us and about BBB at facebook.com/beautybizbliss. For brands that want to work with us, please email me at ginger@mommyginger(dot)com.

An Interview with Mompreneur Martine de Luna of MakeitBlissful.com

How can we oftentimes forget the one’s closest to us? I’ve been interviewing a lot of amazing women entrepreneurs and who do I forget to interview? I forget to share the story of my amazing partner-in-crime (and when I say crime, I actually mean business. Lol!), Martine De Luna.

Mompreneur Martine De Luna of Make it Blissful

Mompreneur Martine De Luna of Make it Blissful

Martine and Family

Okay, let me tell you more about Martine, for those who don’t know her (which is quite impossible, since she’s practically a celebrity to moms). Martine de Luna is a lifestyle design advocate, student of life, a WAHMderful woman; wife to Ton for six years, and mom to Vito for four. An old soul with a love for long walks, books, quiet days on holiday, and a passion for visual storytelling, Martine loves being a “sociable introvert,” a blogger, a writer, and an amateur photographer (mostly on Instagram). Oh, by the way, she ‘says’ she’s an amateur, but I consider her a Pro because she create these amazing photos especially on Instagram (I hate her for this! All of my pictures on Instagram look crappy! haha!). Before becoming a full-time freelancing WAHM — mostly doing online coaching, copywriting and community management — Martine used to be an English teacher, a youth counselor, a magazine staff writer and editorial assistant. Her goal in life? To live each day joyfully despite all odds, and to find “bliss” in the ordinary everyday of being a wife, mom, and student of life.

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Interview with Mompreneur Martine de Luna of MakeitBlissful.com

Ginger: Oh my geee! How could I forget you! Good morning, Marts! It’s nice to have you here at MommyGinger.com! I’m really excited to have learn from your experiences and I’m sure other people would love to hear your stories, too and how you made it to where you are now. So, can you tell us more about your brand/business? What is it about and how long have you been in business?

Martine: My brand, Make it Blissful, is really a statement, a collective and a mindset. I started it on my blog, which was formerly called “Dainty Mom.” Through the blog, I offer blog-related events, like blogging and writing workshops. I also offer collaborations, either with other blogs, or with brands that I feel “click” with the Make it Blissful way of thinking.

I also offer freelance digital media-related services, on my professional site, Martinedeluna.com. I launched this about a year ago, when I wanted to step up my freelancing game and go into offering services on a full-time basis. In the past year, I’ve worked with women-run businesses, like wedding blogs, style/fashion blogs and businesses, creative businesses, advocacies, and personal bloggers, mostly through blog consulting, branding, and copywriting.

Make It Blissful Website

Make It Blissful Website

Ginger: With all of these services, who is your primary market?

Martine: Women who have great ideas and need help in putting them into an online platform that will help them in their businesses.

Ginger: I’m just curious, how did you come up with this idea?

Martine: These services I offer — blog coaching, copywriting, developing website experiences, even personal brands for women — they were all based on skills I’d learned as a creative social media manager in a U.S. based business that I used to work for (offshore). During my stint there, I learned how to blog beyond just lifestyle blogging; I learned branding, social media basics, some online marketing, that sort of thing. I was also exposed to brands and businesses abroad, because these were the clients we worked with. A lot of the blogging and social media practices I learned were so different from the local blogging and social media culture. I thought, why not teach these tactics to individuals, so that they could build up their online platforms (websites and blogs) in a way that felt professional, like “DIY PR” or “do it yourself branding.” I called my initial offering “blog coaching,” because I began doing one-on-one freelance coaching with people who wanted to launch a serious, long-term blog.

I also saw that there was a need for busy business owner-women to manage their blogs and social media accounts more effectively. These powerful women often don’t have time to manage these platforms; they are busy building up their businesses. I started offer “web & blog management” for these women, so that I could manage running content, editorial, photography, and make sure their blogs and websites regularly came out with quality content. I likewise complimented this on social media by being their community managers, too.

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Workshops

Ginger: Amazing! Knowing that this mission would really be hard work, were there any obstacles that you faced when you decided to pursue becoming a Mompreneur?

Martine: Well, I’m only breaking into the local coaching scene. It’s picked up over the last few months. I feel the challenge is in balancing it all: your personal/family life, excelling and improving in your coaching and services, finding time for continuing education, etc. Because I work now on a “per project” or retainer basis, I have to make sure I’m constantly marketing myself and putting myself out there in front of potential clients.

Ginger: What are three traits that you think a Mompreneur should have when starting their own business?

Martine: I think going solo — whether as a freelancer or mompreneur — takes gumption. You have to be willing to take risks so that you can discover where you can really thrive. Of course, you should plan financially and prepare your reserves before going into solopreneurship, into mompreneurship. You also have to learn how to organize your life according to your priorities. You’re your own boss when you become a freelancer, a mompreneur, and that can be both a blessing and a burden! I think mompreneurs and solopreneurs should also have a solid community of like-minded people that they can connect with on a regular basis, especially on days when things get challenging. For instance, I began a community called the WAHMderful Life, in partnership with Manila Workshops. These women are all work-at-home moms, and they find support, encouragement, even work, when they connect in our exclusive Facebook community group, set up especially for them. You can’t be a mompreneur and “be an island.” Find your tribe; grow with a community. They can help you keep going, even during your down and low days!

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Ginger: That’s good advice! That’s true. A lot of the support that I got was also through that network. Marting, how about sharing with us any unforgettable moments or lessons that you learned as a Mompreneur?

Martine: I’ll share just one lesson: You have to design your life and be humble about learning how to do things better. Having an outlook of lifelong learning and “life hacking” can take you through your most trying times as a mompreneur.

Ginger: What advice can you give to other Mompreneurs?
Martine: Stay humble. Never stop learning how to do things better. Hire a mentor or a coach to be your constant sounding board. (I owe much of my success to the training and mentorship of business coaches and blog mentors.) Live out your mompreneurship like you’re at the top of your empire: delegate, hire the help you need, create systems so that you can focus on your priorities: family, marriage, and the bigger picture of your business.

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Ginger: What are tech tools that you use for your business?
Martine: I can’t live without WordPress! Every business — whether online or offline — needs to have it and leverage it towards their brand, their sales efforts, their lead generation. It’s not just for blogging. With WordPress, you can literally run your business from anywhere in the world.

Ginger: Thank you Martine for sharing with us your insights on being a momprenuer and for sharing your experiences. We wish you more success in all of your endeavors!

For Martine’s contact details, you can see it listed below. Thank you for reading this interview and watch out for more interviews with inspiring mompreneurs!

Contact information of Martine De Luna:
Website www.makeitblissful.com (blog) | www.martinedeluna.com (professional)
Email address info@martinedeluna.com
Mobile Number 0917-8591126
Facebook Page facebook.com/makeitblissfulblog | facebook.com/martinedelunasolutions
Instagram account: martinedeluna
Pinterest: martinedeluna
Twitter: martinedeluna