OOO, AHHH, this smells nice, this smells great!… OOO, AHHH,  this feels nice, this feels AMAZING!   Uh, I’m not fond of this smells and to be honest, I’m not fond of the texture either.

These things could be the kiss of death for these products with our clients.  They will never get to the testing phase if they are left with the negative FEELINGS about our products characteristics.

No matter how a topical product feels massaged between our fingers and applied to our skin, the first reaction is the feeling we get from the smell and how it feels on our skin.  Is it smooth?  Is it creamy?  How well does it absorb into our skin?  Does it leave a dry or greasy feeling?  How will my skin feel later in the day or over time?

In a world consumed with instant gratification, the first hit is important but repeated use tells the story.  Will it continue to work or will my skin show less of these short-term benefits?  Should our company care or should we realize consumers may sometimes be fickled and tempted to grab the ‘next shiny object’ that comes along and then the perception of our product may diminish over time?

These are a few of the most important things that crossed our minds in the final steps of product development.  What my team DOES know is that the natural and organic ingredients we select works because the science tells us this which is critical when we make decisions on what problem our products need to help solve.

After sitting with the team and discussing our mission, I wandered off to ponder…  This is my company and it is critically important that I spend some quiet time thinking beyond the ingredients and the obvious; think beyond exterior beauty;  how a product smells and feels going on the skin and shortly thereafter and of course, calculating does it has the chops to sell.

I’ve invested way more time pondering and contemplating about products in general and go back to, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, does it make a sound?”  Then I decided to reach out to Germany and have a chat with Dr. Goetz Renner, PhD my former development partner, and talk about our product line and just WHY it should be important to our partners and their clients… help me figure out if I was on the right track.

I needed to focus on the Energe’ Botanicals brand. Determined not to be a cookie-cutter company marketing to women who have bought into the concept that skincare is all about beauty… maintaining our youth by somehow trying to stop the aging clock.  I knew I wanted our company to help steer that mindset in a different direction… mean more to women than instant gratification. Help them understand the importance of the condition of our skin and how it recovers from the impact of the environment, treatments to improve skin texture, help address daily concerns such as dryness, oiliness, acne, redness, inflammation…  and what Energe’ Botanicals products can do to help combat these stressors.  I ultimately wanted women to look in the mirror and have skin that would make them smile no matter what their age.

I am an admitted excogitator… have been all my life.  And it was time I self-reflect on Energe’ Botanicals and what drove me to pull together a team in a very crowded field of products and contenders.  Why us?  Why now?  Lots of CBD companies making claims about their products but what was the driver to get us to this point?  I needed a psychologist to help me filter through the noise and overabundance of products and help me determine how we stack up.  So we go back to square one.

As with most of us, I’ve spent THOUSANDS over the years believing the marketing, feeling at times like a guinea pig.  But being the hopeful person that I am, I always thought with enthusiasm that the efficacy of the ingredients would help to achieve my expectations.

I sat with my scientists and their plant biochemists and said… this is what I want… this is why I want it… this is what I need… and can we deliver this.  But not long ago, the ah-ha moment hit me.  What I was doing all along was based on the outcome… how are clients going to feel after applying our products to their skin?  Will their discomfort diminish?  No doubt!  Will our products hit all the notes… smell, texture, enjoyable to apply, cumulative lasting benefits, and overall improvement?  No doubt!  Our science tells us they will all meet the test of my high bar.

Dr. Goetz Renner, PhD…

“What you’ve done is create a product line NOT because the CBD market is hot and very lucrative, but because you CARE about positive outcomes….you are about products that can achieve results.  It’s in your DNA.  You actually care about how a person FEELS inside after using your products.  They are self-assured and confident, their skin feels nice to the touch, and they worry less about what’s happening on the outside.”