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May 10, 2004

Go holistic | A chat with Carol Richards, owner of Serenity Oils in Richmond.

By Rebecca Norling
Founded: September 2003
Revenues, year one: $1,500
Projected revenues, year two: $7,000
Address: 815 Main St., Richmond
Phone: 737-8282
Web: www.serenityoils.com

Describe what your company does.
I custom blend all-natural essential oils for people, for the body, mind or home, and I make custom hand balms and lip balms. I also do Reiki [a natural healing technique based on "life force energy"], and I work with a paramedical make-up line [Germany-based Dermacolor] for people with severe scarring.

What do the oils, and your services, cost?
Oils can range anywhere from $6 for a five-milliliter bottle of lavender, which is a standard size, up to $127 for five-milliliter bottle of rose oil. Lavender is easy to produce, but it takes one ton of rose petals to make one liter of rose oil. And it fluctuates ˆ— if there's a bad growing season, the prices go up.

Reiki is $40 per session, which lasts around an hour, and I always give free consultations.

When did you first get the idea for the company?
I've been involved in aromatherapy for over 20 years, and I always have a hard time finding quality oils and containers. People were always asking where I found my stuff because they couldn't find anything in Maine, so I decided at the beginning of last year that I would start carrying this locally.

What was the biggest challenge going from idea to reality?
Number one, it's advertising, because I don't live in Portland or southern Maine where you have high traffic. It's also been difficult selling the idea; [aromatherapy is] getting more and more popular, but it's still very slow coming up to this area.

How did you finance the launch of your business, and what did it cost?
I did it completely on a credit card. Ultimately, it cost about $5,000-$6,000 to carry a good supply of oils. We also had to build my studio, which was probably about $1,000.

What could this company become?
I would like to see the product line expand. I've been testing things this year in some local stores ˆ— the hand balm, lip balm, room sprays, body sprays ˆ— to see what the response is. So I'm listening to feedback, and I'd like to start getting out more and get it into more specialty stores.

What could stop you?
If it ever got to be too much for my family ˆ— if I absolutely had to spend too much time at the business ˆ— that might hold me back, because my family is more important than my business. The other thing is the economy. It's the people who do complimentary therapies ˆ— massage therapy, aromatherapy ˆ— who always feel a bad economy.

What kind of competition do you face?
None. If you're looking for the cheapest thing you can get, then you need to go to Wal-Mart or Rite Aid. If you want 100% natural, if you want as high quality as you can get, then I have no competition.

Who do you turn to for advice?
When it comes to the regular person, it would be my husband. I'll have him try the products ˆ— he actually helped me develop a men's aftershave. When it comes to professional advice, I turn to the woman who taught me a lot about aromatherapy, she's in New York, and the Reiki teacher, who's in Windsor. These are people who I feel are experts in their fields.

Describe a mistake you've made in your business, and what you learned from it.
I have to be careful to not jump on too much stock. Something I think might fly out the door may not sell. I think it's a mistake that probably every store makes.

If you were given $500,000 toward your business, what would you do with it?
I would have a complimentary therapy salon. No hair or things like that, because there's so much synthetic nonsense there, but a completely holistic spa where people could come and get advice, products, services ˆ— affordably. I think you're doing more of a service if you can keep things affordable.

So you deal in aromatherapy; is it possible to be too mellow?
I guess if you get to the point where you just don't care, you're a little too mellow. You need to try a new oil.


New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.

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