We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Hamilton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
I believe my optimism comes directly from hope. Having hope sets my mind on something much greater than myself and my general day to day optimism comes from that. We all have the power to decide how we react in any circumstance; by being mindfully aware, we can go back to thinking about what matters most to us when circumstances are hard. I challenge myself by replacing negative self-talk and pessimistic thoughts with positive ones. I also make an effort to slow down and enjoy all of the milestones and achievements along the way. And surrounding myself with generally positive people is also important to me and helps me to succeed.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am the founder and owner of Dandelion Naturals. We are a small team of 5 women that produce all natural soap and body care products in our SE Minnesota Farm Studio. Everything we make is 100% natural and made my hand. We take “all-natural” seriously. All Natural is not a regulated term and can mean a lot of different things. We promise to never add any artificial fragrance, colorants, or harmful ingredients to our products; our products are safe for the whole family to use. We use nourishing fats like Shea Butter, Tallow, Coconut Oil, Avocado, Oil. Olive Oil and Castor Oil. We do not use any seed oils in our products. We are a plastic free company; we do not use any plastic in our products, packaging, or shipping material. We currently wholesale with over 70 retail stores in the United States. We are always looking for new retail partners. We recently started offering private label products and we also take custom orders. We attend markets throughout the year and our event schedule may be found on our website at dandelionnaturals.com
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Expect to fail and have the ability to overcome your failures in order to move forward and succeed.
Be prepared to give yourself a lot of grace when you are learning and doing something new. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and find a business mentor as soon as possible.
Be prepared to give 110% in the beginning of any new business adventure. It takes a lot of sacrifice of your time and resources. Having some sort of plan sketched out in the beginning will help guide you when you are making minor and big decisions and be a compass for you. It’s easy to get off track so it’s important to have a plan and don’t be afraid to dream big!
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Work Space! Our current work studio is approx. 1,000 square feet and we are maxed out on space. We are 18 months into our business and we are located in the basement of our 3 story farmhouse in SE Minnesota. We are currently looking at commercial property as well as looking at options of building on our property. To grow our business, we need to have space where we can accommodate more equipment to make the soap making process more efficient and we need more storage space for supplies.
Contact Info:
- Website: dandelionnaturals.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dandelion.naturals/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dandelionnaturals
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-hamilton-546454266/
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@dandelionaturals
