Why I Quit Facebook

According to many marketing experts I have essentially committed business suicide by leaving Facebook (FB), because FB is the fastest growing social network with the ability to reach millions and millions of people world wide.

That being said here is why I decided to leave:
1) They changed their algorithms so that businesses are less likely to appear in people's news feeds unless businesses pay for advertising.
2) When businesses pay for advertising it will most likely result in some extra page likes but most likely not customer conversions.  That is up to page owners to publish ongoing page content that results in conversions (which makes sense).
3) Mixing up posts and not just 'selling' to people is what people want to see (makes sense), yet even with mixing up posts with tips, funnies, facts, videos, product information etc. it was rare to get any engagement no matter how varied the posts were.  Comments were rare, post likes were rare, page reach varied anywhere from 25 to hundreds.  This is happening with many business pages on FB leaving many business owners feeling a tad dejected, unloved and unappreciated, and like they're talking to themselves.

These two posts were a couple of JOLI's most popular posts with amazing reach yet they didn't convert to new customers (and it takes time to put images like this together).  Sadly it's a lot of effort for little return.

quality & natural doesn't have to mean expensive

Animal testing, don' support it!

4) While I've been able to hang out with some AWESOME customers and people, most of my customer base is not on FB, or if they are they don't interact via FB.
5) Sometimes people would only make purchases while interaction / friendships were maintained on FB, unfriend someone and they'd stop purchasing.  This is not the customer base I'm looking for.  I want people who are looking for genuine natural products, who have found that in JOLI and want to maintain that healthy skin care choice (FB or no FB).
6) Before FB, before the internet, businesses were successful.  There is no reason why businesses can't still be successful by other means aside from social media.  I'm going to invest in other avenues and see what momentum I can gather from that.
7) From a personal perspective friendships were ignored because FB kept everyone up to date.  No one needed to make actual contact with actual get-togethers because they felt they were keeping in touch (via FB).  Since exiting FB genuine friends are getting back in touch and actually planning catch-ups. Yay!
Not to mention I've escape the shiny happy (fake) people on FB who only ever talk about how rainbows and sunshine their life is.  When things aren't going well, and friends aren't keeping in touch, fake perfect lives can be hard to stomach.  I don't have to worry about that anymore because I'm seeing real friends in real life and keeping it real ;o)

Customers are still messaging me via email (because they have direct access to me once they become customers) and I get to talk to them there, answer their queries and share information.  They can also read the latest news and find out about current specials via the monthly Indulgence (newsletter*).  Or leave comments on the website blog and this JOLI blogspot (where I share recipes, DIY, chemical information, reviews etc. A veritable wealth of information!!).

*Sign up for our newsletter and receive your FREE Essential Natural Beauty Guide ebook.

Look forward to seeing you around and hearing from you via other methods aside from FB xo 
  

Independant JOLI Reviews

JOLI Natural Skin Care excellent quality at affordable prices

It is difficult when you stumble across a website with products / brands you've never tried before. You wonder if the products are any good, value for money, live up to their claims etc.

The last thing you want is to invest your hard earned money in a product only to try it out and find it doesn't do what it says it will. 

JOLI have been fortunate enough to have their products reviewed by independent reviewers and here is what they have to say:

 ~ All Her Pretty Little Things ~

<<Here is what Sarah had to say>>

As you can see from her review the results Sarah is getting and the naturalness of the products are genuine.   It's great to hear from someone about their experience with using JOLI Natural Skin Care.

~ Liv It, Do It ~

<<Here is what Cass had to say>>

"They smell smell just beautiful and they make your skin feel amazing!"

~ Living Safe ~

<<Here is what Nicole had to say>>

Nicole is loving her eye cream and says she has become a little addicted to Fluffy Lime Eye Cream, and why wouldn't she... It is an amazing product :o)

~ Blanky4me ~

<<Here is what Rose-Leah had to say>>

"The lip balm is incredible.  I got to choose my own combination - so I chose a Pink colour and Lolly Musk flavour - yum."

*   *   *

These are not a paid presentations.  JOLI gave the products knowing that anything could and would be said about them/us while also knowing that our products are highly beneficial and those who use JOLI love their goodies.

<<You can see JOLI's full product range here>>
  

Chemical Toxins in Our Skin Care

don't buy into animal testing and chemical filled products

Propylene glycol, parabens, phthalates (pronounced thy-lates), sodium lauryl (SLS) or laureth (SLES) sulphates… These names do no easily roll off the tongue; however they do roll of the ingredients list on the back of our skin care, makeup and bath products (as well as our cleaning products).

These synthetic scientist made chemicals are cheap and have excellent stabilising properties.  Which means when added to skin care, beauty and cleaning products they have the power to keep the products preserved for a great length of time.  Majority of these chemicals came into play around the 1940’s, left over from the war.  Once it was discovered what these chemicals could do they were added to mainstream products and used to stabilise and revolutionise the cosmetic and beauty industry.  Now products such as soap, cold creams and lipsticks could be shipped out world wide, in hot or cold weather, and still be in ‘good’ condition upon arrival.

Before the use of these chemicals skin care was rustic and pure, it was made in relatively small batches in a ‘supply on demand’, ‘made to order’ fashion.  It was not made in exponentially vast quantities in a ‘consume more’ fashion and shipped world wide, sitting on supermarket shelves for long periods of time, as it is done today. 

Aside from how the use of these and many many other chemicals, have revolutionised the cosmetic industry, their use has a number of down sides. 

1. Numerous chemicals have hormone disrupting properties causing young girls who are exposed to the chemicals to reach puberty at a younger age.  Hormones found in hair care products have strong hormone disrupting symptoms and have been found to cause young girls to develop breast buds… that disappear when they cease use of the product.  Some chemicals cause immune deficiencies.

2. Studies of blood in adults and teens as well as blood of newborn baby’s shows that these chemicals are building up in our systems.  Newborn babies are being found to have parabens and other fetal-developmental toxins in their blood streams, before they have ever been near any skin care product. 

3. Cancerous tissues has been tested and found to contain parabens.  It is not yet know if the parabens cause the cancer or if they are merely drawn to the cancerous tissue, however it does show parabens are definitely building up in our systems.  Keep in mind, these chemicals are hazardous and are designed to kill (bacteria and so forth).

4. One of the more sadder parts to this chemical warfare… the thousands of animals that have been tested on over the years so that scientists can try to determine at what ‘safe’ levels these chemicals can be added to our skin care, beauty and cleaning products (cleaning products have higher levels of the chemicals). 

5. People who clean a LOT and do not use gloves are developing dangerous levels of toxins in their bodies.  More and more of the population are suffering from over-exposure to the constant chemical bombardment in our daily lives. It is no wonder that eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis are all on the rise. 

All this seems a bit ‘doom and gloom’, but rest assured there are organisations and companies working towards cleaning up our skin care, beauty and cleaning products.  One such organisation, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (www.safecosmetics.org) has set up a database where companies are ask to sign a pledge to eliminate the use of chemicals in their products.  There ARE safe alternatives to synthetic preservatives!  Companies on the database have their products listed with safety/hazard ratings so consumers can make informed choices about their skin care and it notes whether companies Do or Do Not conduct animal testing.  

This is the driving force behind the company Joli Natual Skin Care (www.jolinatural.com.au). To get ‘back to basics’ when it comes to skin care, and being dedicated to making fresh ‘supply on demand’, ‘made to order’ quality skin care.  A company which does NOT test on animals and is dedicated to not using ingredients that require animals testing.  Joli Natural was started by a mother of three boys, all of whom have had severe skin reactions when using mainstream products (in particular the products handed out in the gift bags given out by hospitals during pregnancy for use when baby is born).  Upon learning about chemicals in skin care Joli Natural set about creating natural skin care for body, beauty, bath and baby that is safe, gentle and effective. 

For further reading and for more information on chemicals in skin care the book Not Just a Pretty Face gives reference to action being taken and the types of things the public can do, such as contacting companies who use these chemicals and demanding they STOP!  As well as moving away from companies who continue to use chemicals in their products and move towards companies who are dedicated to supplying chemical free skin care.

Written by Jodi, founder of Joli Natural Skin Care for Natural Parenting.
  

Poachers & Wanna Be Entrepreneurs

Businesses all over the world get copied, ideas stolen and poached and it's even worse for niche businesses who offer something specialised and limited.  From KFC to Coke there are always going to be those who try to steal golden recipes and use them for their own gain.

In all the years JOLI have been operating we've had three people contact us wanting to know the exact ingredients of our products.  Even though it states on our website that we do not share this information readily (only our lucky customers know exactly what's in the products they've purchased).

One enquiry came from a lady who works with and sells essential oils.  Another came from a lady who ran a small gift shop in a quaint county town.  In each circumstance none of those queries resulted in them doing business with us even though they can see from JOLI's ingredients list that our skin care is one of the most natural brands on the market.

The most recent enquiry was interesting.   It came soon after we were approached by a one time customer wanting us to sell our base products to them in bulk for them to repackage and sell as their own.  This particular customer was always starting new business ventures and kept in contact with JOLI wanting us to support their endeavors (even though they only placed one small order with us years and years ago).  Sometimes we gave support, other times we didn't.

It just so happened that this customer made her queries over the weekend when JOLI are not open for business.  By the time we logged on, on Monday morning, she was irate, telling us not to worry about selling to her in bulk, she'd found someone else to supply her with base products.

Within days of this contact another (questionable) lady contacted us wanting to know the full ingredients for a handful of our most popular products.  She was told that information wasn't given out but this didn't stop her from contacting us again and again.  She was quick to reply to all emails after asking for more information.  Various bits of basic information were given while secret ingredients and product adaptions were omitted.  The reason information was given was purely out of curiosity to see what would happen.  Would she then place an order when the naturalness of JOLI products had been proven?  Or was she asking for other dubious reasons?

As soon as she had the information she required she stopped replying to follow up emails asking if she required any more assistance.  No surprise there.

When the second lady (Molly Staey [sic]) made her query I assumed it was related to the customer, D, wanting to place bulk orders.  Perhaps the supplier whom she'd found was now contacting us wanting to know our ingredients to see how her own base products stacked up?  Perhaps it was D pretending to be someone else because she really hadn't found anyone with base products comparable to JOLI's?

[Upon some slight investigation thereafter it was found that Molley Stacey looked remarkably the same as D (FB profiles).  Curious... ?!]

So this makes me wonder... why make the enquiry with no follow through?  Did she have her own agenda?  Maybe plan to try and replicate JOLI's awesome products?  Who knows?  She can give it her best shot, however with only base formulations given with key adaptions missing from the formulations, the attempt will never be as good as the real deal.

I can understand other people's desire to try and poach because JOLI are one of the few companies who make their own products from scratch without additional toxic preservatives.  We do not purchase bulk ready-made skin care to repackage and sell as our own.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not what we do; and also we've not found any base products that are as natural as we want.  JOLI purchased exclusive rights to their product formulations from a manufacturer with 50 years experience in the natural skin care industry.  There are literately hundreds of formulations for us to drawn from (on file) yet we currently only use a dozen or so of those formulations ~ which have been adapted and altered to suit our customer's needs and desires.

Even if someone tried to poach our base formulations they don't have our product adaptions, quantities, essential oil blends, technical skill set etc.  Not only that getting the company started was intensive with years of training, in depth learning about essential oils, blends and medicinal properties, correct cooking temperatures and amalgamations, safety regulations, liability insurance (a compulsory part of any retail business - which Donna admitted she wasn't going to get), labels, design and so forth.

The fact that we have our own private formulations, that no-one else has access to, without the use of additional toxic preservatives, plus product adaptions to suit individual needs - sets JOLI apart from the others.   No matter who tries to poach and pinch our awesome formulations they'll never rival what JOLI have created in the 10 plus years we've been in the industry.
  

Nail Art Tutorial no.1

Purple varnish with while mandala dots.

Step 1: paint purple varnish onto nails over clear base coat

Step 2: using a wooden skewer dip end into white acrylic paint then press onto nail to form a large central dot

Step 3: using pointy end of skewer dip end into white acrylic paint and form four small dots around central dot

Step 4: add for more dots in between previous dots

Step 5: add four dots N, S, E & W of pattern

Step 6: create two dots in between each N, S, E & W

By now you should have a nice circular pattern of white dots

Step 7: place four more dots N, S, E & W of pattern

Step 8: allow to dry before painting over with clear top coat

(You can choose different colours - colours shown for demo purposes)

  

Blanky4me Review: we love our blankys!

It started off with one blanky, a large family blanky from Blanky4me.com...  A lovely large red blanky with cheetah print on the underside.  So warm, soft and cuddly.  We'd huddle under the blanky and watch some telly together or read or talk.  Mostly I hogged the blanky because it's so comfortable and big and cozy.

Which then lead to more blankys!!!!

Another read and yellow blanky for one son and a blue and yellow blanky for the other... and we couldn't leave our fluffy white dog out.  He got a dark chocolate blanky with cheetah print underside (that's him - the white furry thing - at the bottom of the photo).

What I love about the blankys is they're well made and don't come apart at the seems, and my boys can be pretty rough with their stuff, plus they can be washed easily.  Not to mention they're personalised blankys and you get to choose your colours (top and bottom), font and text colour.  They make a great gift that will last a long time and can be cherished.

We've had our blankys for a while now and still love them as much as they day we got them.  Mine (the family blanky) pretty much follows me from room to room... as do my boy's blankys (we might be slightly obsessed with our blankys)... and they're still in excellent condition.

If you or your children are blanky lovers, or you've got friends who are or someone with a newborn baby on the way... pop on over to Blanky4me for your personalised blankys.
  

Master Print Solutions Review

This is an independent review on Master Print Solutions based on my dealings with them.

February 2017 I purchased a cyan printer cartridge from Master Print Solutions after answering an unsolicited call.  While I cannot fault the printer cartridge and like the idea of supporting another small business, I have a number of concerns.

During my initial contact with MPS the salesman I spoke, who was friendly and courteous, was going to offer me his direct line but stopped talking part way through his sentence, odd!  He then said he would send a follow up email to confirm our conversation and attach his contact details.   No email was sent.

I researched the company and could find no customer reviews.  Upon seeing their Facebook page I noticed they only have 12 likes and no feedback / interaction on their page… Somewhat concerning.  I thought maybe they're a new company yet their Facebook page was opened in 2014 (only 12 likes in 4 years?)

I tried phoning MPS several times on the phone number supplied on their website and kept getting the message: There is a problem with the service you are trying to call. Please contact your service provider for more information.

I sent an email to MPS via website ‘contact us’ regarding the issue of not being able to phone. No reply was received.

The salesman rang again some weeks later to see if I required additional printer cartridges - they phoned regularly even though I had already explained I do not go through printer cartridges that quickly.  I raised the above issues with him.  Again I was told I would receive an email with contact details.   No email was sent.

Mid July 2017 I receive a bogus invoice for over $500 from MPS for goods I never ordered and never received.  A letter was sent to MPS outlining these dealings saying:

I understand the concept of MPS sending a bogus invoice hoping it will be paid (then maybe the goods are shipped?), because MPS have no doubt been calling and calling and only ever reaching JOLI's answering-service* and not leaving messages…

Yet I’m not really sure why MPS feel this is a suitable way to operate? Of course I have no intention of paying the invoice… and still debating if I even want to consider supporting MPS at this stage.

*[ALL incoming calls are directed to our answering service because we get FAR too many unsolicited calls and answering them takes up valuable work time].

Four days after my letter of complaint is sent to MPS (around one week after their bogus invoice was sent) they send $500 worth of printer cartridges - WHICH I NEVER ORDERED!!!!

Can you imagine if all business operated this way?  Sending invoices and goods you never ordered and requesting payment anyway!

As soon as the courier delivered the printer cartridges I KNEW I would not be dealing with MPS again - their tactics are not ethical.  Now I have to figure out a way return the goods which is an inconvenience at best. Returning to sending via the courier they've used means I either pay for postage or try and get the company to agree to pay the return postage - and with a company operating in this manner who knows if they'll be agreeable to paying return postage.

At this point in time I would not recommend dealing with Master  Print Solutions.

*    *    *

Have a review of your own to share?  Leave a comment.

How To Delete Hotmail Account

Have you ever tried to delete your hotmail email account?  There are a number of posts out there outlining how you can do this.

Let me begin by saying the email address I want to delete has been inactive for YEARS!  Microsoft claim that inactive email accounts are automatically closed (after 200 days I believe it is).  However, when I logged onto the email account it still let me access the account so it isn't deleted at all.

To delete the account I tried following the blog post above and this is what happened. 

1) Firstly I get a message 'Call us overprotective...' (Ok I will!!!!), asking me to choose an email to send a security code to.
I click 'I can't verifying my account' and 'next'.



 


2) Another screen pops up prompting me to offer a mobile number they can phone or text a code to.  I don't want to give them my mobile number so I click on Account and I'm taken to a home page.

[They give the option, in a drop down menu, to choose another email address to have the code sent to.]

 
3) As per the steps in the blog post I click on Security.





 

 4) Then I click on More Security Options.



 




5) Whereby I'm asked to protect my account via Microsoft's annoyingly frustrating security code verification system, where they offer an (inactive) email address for the code to be sent to.  They also offer the option to give a mobile number instead of email address.






6) I choose 'I don't have any of these' because I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO GIVE Microsoft personal details such as a mobile phone or private email address, then click NEXT.

 I am then taken back to the same screen in step 2) Since you don't have access to your current security info...

And the process repeats itself.  As explained in a previous post... even when I try to do this via getting a security code off Microsoft it still doesn't work - I get the run around there too.  Hence here I am almost a year later after having already tried to access the account to delete it.... STILL TRYING TO DELETE THE ACCOUNT.

I'm not really sure what Microsoft's deal is but I wish they would just give customers the SIMPLE option to DELETE their accounts if they so choose to!!!!  How hard can that be for a company who specialises in coding and product design????