Courtesy Bobbi brown

Bobbi Brown is the founder and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

Bobbi Brown turned her passion for natural makeup into a successful business, launching her now-famous line in 1991. Here, she writes about her key tips for how anyone can do the same with a smart idea. 

I’m often asked what advice I would give to someone looking to start their own business. I started my company with ten brown-based lipstick shades created to fill a void in the market for simple, flattering and wearable makeup. To start your own business, you need an idea, followed by tons of passion and enormous amounts of hard work. You need to trust your gut – you have to be hard-headed and have selective hearing in regards to the negativity that come from other people. This is not something you'll learn in school.

Make a decision by feeling, not by thinking. I do almost everything by feeling – from hiring a baby-sitter to developing products.  For me, it’s never about what market research shows. If you have something that you believe in, it doesn’t matter what other people think. Get it to market – it’s really important to be first to market – and figure out a way to tell people about it. I was lucky because I was first in my niche. I wasn’t the first cosmetics company, but I was definitely the first with natural colors designed by a makeup artist.

Be true to your vision and do things with integrity. My philosophy has been and still is the same as the day I first went into business – not to change what a woman looks like, but to make her look like herself, only better. I believe in telling a woman what’s right with her, rather than what’s wrong with her.  And I also believe 100 percent in the products that I create.  From start to finish, every product has to reflect my ethics and aesthetic.

Along the way, I’ve learned a few things that have really made a difference in the path that I’ve taken: 

• Follow your dreams and passions. Have a vision of where you want to see yourself and figure out a course to take you there. 
• Don’t take no for an answer. If one door closes, look for a back door or a side door. 
• Have long term goals – and mini goals.  Don’t get overwhelmed – it won’t happen overnight.  Always have a plan and re-evaluate it regularly. 
• Work on your craft, network, and always be nice. Hard work and niceness come back to you.
• Do things with integrity and always look people in the eye when you talk to them.
• Hire people who are great at what they do and let them do it.  Don’t micromanage.  It’s important to learn how to delegate.
• Listen to your heart – not always to your head. Instinct always leads us in the right direction.
• Prioritize and balance between the details and the big picture.  Take moments to step back to clear and refocus your perspective. 
• Take care of your personal well being – exercise, don’t smoke and drink lots of water.
• And finally, remember this: life is not a dress rehearsal, so do it 100 percent.

Courtesy Running Press / "Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater"

Candy cane, anyone? Nothing like matching sweaters for the annual holiday family photo.

When Anne Marie Blackman isn’t attaching Christmas lights to unsuspecting knits, she’s sewing on furry Santas and searching for the tackiest, boldest, over-the-top vintage holiday wear she can find.

It’s ugly Christmas sweater season and her customers are in a frenzy to buy.

As the proprietor of MyUglyChristmasSweater.com – a Vermont-based business Blackman started five years ago when she was looking for a way to make extra money – she designs and produces such gaudy collections as “Wacky Santa,” “Puffy Frosty” and “The Ugly '80s.”

“An ugly Christmas sweater would be something that would make people look and laugh and go, ‘Oh my God, why are you wearing that?’ ” said Blackman, who features plenty of examples in her book, “Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater.”

Related: Ugly sweater day is here

One of her most outrageous offerings this year? A sweater with giant coils coming out of the chest area – think Madonna’s cone bra – with ornaments dangling at the end. It’s sold out, as are many of her designs.

Blackman’s website has had more than 5 million page views so far this holiday season. Although she doesn’t give out specific sales numbers, Blackman estimates that she sells thousands of sweaters each year.

“It’s crazy popular,” she said.

So why are so many people willing to plunk down their hard-earned money during hard economic times for something so tacky?

Courtesy Running Press / "Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater"

This holiday sweater deserves two thumbs up.

Courtesy Running Press / "Rock Your Ugly Christmas Sweater"

Wow, who even knew you could buy ugly holiday sweaters for dogs?

Many buy the sweater for the social connection, said Kit Yarrow, a consumer research psychologist and chair of the psychology department at Golden Gate University.

“You are wearing something that other people want to talk about, which then gives people a reason to talk to you. It makes you seem kind of big-hearted in a way, that you’re willing to wear an ugly sweater for other people’s amusement,” Yarrow said.

“I’ve known people who have spent $250 on one of these sweaters. Those are people I would call, 'All in.' "

Then, there’s the satire factor. College-age consumers love irony, Yarrow has found in her research, so wearing such jaw-dropping fashion is a good-natured way to mock the world, she said.

“It’s actually sort of a charming thing, as much as we mock it,” Yarrow added.

Adam Paulson – who together with two friends runs UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com – attributes the trend to the exploding popularity of parties that require guests to wear obnoxious holiday knits.

The celebrations first began about a decade ago as college students made fun of their parents’ fashions from the 1980s, Blackman and Paulson said, but then evolved into events involving all ages. The ugly Christmas sweater theme is now common at office parties, fundraisers and family get-togethers. There are even online tutorials on how to add an iPad fireplace to your outfit to help you stand out.

“Everyone’s grabbed on to it,” Paulson said. “Every day we spend so much time trying to look good, and this is kind of just like a Halloween. You get to let loose and look absolutely ridiculous.”

UglyChristmasSweaterParty.com began as an Indiana-based blog, but emails began pouring in from people trying to find the featured sweaters. So in 2009, Paulson and his partners, Brian Miller and Kevin Wool – who call themselves "Team Ugly" – began making the rounds at Goodwill stores to find knits they could sell. Each sweater was given a silly name, like “Ryan Treecrest,” and the business took off.

Today, the men buy sweaters by the truck-load and sell about 20,000 during a season, Paulson said. The trio even co-authored a book, titled “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book: The Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On.”

Business is booming, but the competition “has just gone through the roof,” Paulson said.

Blackman recalled that when she first started listing her sweaters on eBay, there were about 3,000 for sale. Today, a search for “ugly Christmas sweater” on the site yields almost 35,000 results.

“(The trend) has a lot of legs to it. I think it’s going to go on for some time,” she said.

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Unlike Humpty Dumpty who took a fall and couldn’t be put back together again, there are a lot of small business owners out there who seem to have a sixth sense about how to take a fall without breaking!

Either through good luck or good sense, some entrepreneurs seem to have a knack for making the right moves at the right time to keep their businesses solvent.

TV news reporter JJ Ramberg, and two of her producers, Lisa Everson and Frank Silverstein, have been keeping track of these so-called "naturals" ever since the economy went south more than four years ago. They’ve just published a book of practical advice and usable wisdom from these natural born survivors called: "It’s Your Business: 183 Essential Tips that Will Transform Your Business." 

BOOK EXCERPT: ‘It's Your Business’: Getting your company off the ground

Here’s a few of the survival stories from those who’ve learned from the school of hard knocks.

The soft touch

Meet Paige Arnof-Fenn (Tip No.108), owner of the Boston-based marketing company Maven’s & Moguls. When the work dried up, Paige went on a "listening tour."  Instead of pitching new business to people who couldn’t afford it, she offered to meet former clients to talk about their current problems and long-term plans, with no strings attached. Now that the economy is showing some small signs of life, Arnof-Fenn reports that many of those same people are now hiring her. 

The sharp elbows

Mike Michalowicz (Tip No.104), founder of New Jersey-based Obsidian Launch, took a more aggressive stand. “When a competitor goes out of business, immediately call the phone company and ask to have their number redirected to yours.” He told us.  “You’ll have to train your staff to politely explain that the company they intended to reach has gone out of business, and you can provide them with excellent service.” Same goes for URLs as well.  You might have to call the business and persuade them to sell you the Web address, but it might well be worth it.

The fancy dance

Juliea Kushnir (Tip No.84), owner of New Jersey-based Tax Solutions, kept herself afloat not by offering profit-killing discounts and price reductions, but by increasing "value" instead. She says she offered packages of services with a few extra bells and whistles (that didn’t actually cost her much to add) but made her services stand out from the crowd while keeping her fees at the same level.

The modern David and Goliath

Tom Egelhoff (Tip No.142), owner of smalltownmarketing.com, says one of his clients didn’t throw in the towel when the big box stores came to town. Instead, he beat them at their own game.  How?  By  charging less for  popular products than the big guys did.  Are you wondering how he still turned a profit? While a small company can’t compete with a big chain on price for every product every day, it can beat them on price for a few hours on a few products on a given day. “Once you’ve got them into your small town store,” Tom said “then you can get them to return by showing off your better customer service, your more convenient location and the other competitive advantages that make small-business shopping more enjoyable.”

Breast-feeding avengers may be coming to a workplace near you.

Women want to be able to breast feed their babies when and where they want to. Witness the “nurse-ins” at Target stores on the West Coast last week that were prompted by a shopper who was mocked for breast feeding by employees at one Target. Moms, however, also want to be able to breast feed when they’re on the clock.

To that end, help is here. A new law, which was tucked into Obama’s health care reform legislation, is already helping to make breast-feeding at work easier.

The Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in March 2010, amended the Fair Labor Standards Act, and for the first time employers are now federally mandated to provide women with breaks and a place to breastfeed. The final rules regarding the law have not been finalized, but that hasn’t stopped the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour division’s enforcers from going after employers who don’t make accommodations for working moms who want to pump.

Already, 23 companies have been cited by the agency, according to Sonia Melendez, a spokeswoman for the Labor Department.

“The department intends to continue enforcing the law based on the statutory language,” she said. “Until the department issues final guidance, the request for information provides useful information for employers to consider in establishing policies for nursing employees.”

Employers can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for the final rules because the Labor Department may slap a fine on a company or at least force it to make breast-feeding accommodations.

“It’s been the law for a while and they don’t have to have the final regulations to be able to enforce it,” said Carrie Hoffman, a partner with Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP in Dallas, who represents employers.

The new law, she continued, is hardest for smaller firms to comply with, and for retailers in particular where space is at a premium. But, she added, she’s advising her clients to start thinking about how they’ll be able to make adjustments in the workplace to provide time and a location, besides a bathroom, for women to breast feed.

Here’s a list from the Department of Labor of some of the better-known companies that have already been cited at certain locations under the law:

• Dollar General: Violations – Failure to provide adequate space and failure to provide reasonable time (Agreed to comply and agreed to pay $814.43 in back wages). A Dollar General spokeswoman said the company was cited at one of its locations, adding that it could not discuss the particulars of the case. "I can say that we have a policy in place that is communicated to our employees through our employee handbook which explains our compliance with the new regulations. We do have a policy that provides time and space for employees for breastfeeding."
• Dillard’s: Violations – Failure to provide adequate space and failure to provide reasonable time (Agreed to comply)
• Starbucks: Violation – Failure to provide adequate space (Agreed to comply)
• McDonald’s franchise based in Murrieta, Calif.: Violation – Failure to provide reasonable time (Agreed to comply)

The Department of Labor would not provide a time frame on when the final rules would be introduced. But there’s a fact sheet on the law here (http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.htm). Also, employees who believe their employer has violated the law can contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 1-866-487-9243.