Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dominique Gonzales. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Dominique thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

From my current perspective, I think I would have a different type of happiness and freedom as a full-time business owner. I’ll share a little insight I’ve gained recently.

I participated in the Milestone Circles program sponsored by the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. During our first onboarding session, we were led through a visualization. The facilitator asked us to visualize our perfect work day as a business owner. I thought I would struggle with this visualization because there wasn’t much prompting. I was pleasantly surprised to see a very clear picture of my perfect work day and all of the details in the day.

As a full-time employee for a corporation and part-time entrepreneur, I often think about life as a full-time entrepreneur. The visualization helped me see and feel what it would be like working for myself and making enough money to have flexibility in my time while running a successful company. Before this visualization, I couldn’t truly see what entrepreneur life would look like for me. Now, the clear picture I saw in that exercise pops into my mind often when I think about my desires.

Ideally, I would start my day with sunshine, gratitude, a workout and coffee. From there, I’d have breakfast with my family, send my kids off to daycare/school and check on orders in my fulfillment center. In the afternoon, I’d have lunch and then move into meetings and content creation. I would end the workday in reflection and head home to spend the rest of the evening with my family.

I don’t desire or plan to push my family and health to the side in my pursuit of business success. I seek balance and will have healthy boundaries. I will have a team I can trust and a lot to celebrate.

Dominique, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’d love to share a little bit of my story. I started creating bath and body products to give myself something to do with the anxiety that I deal with daily. I was diagnosed with CPTSD, anxiety, depression and ADD in 2018. I was struggling to find balance in my life and truly needed help and support. I had to stop working and start intensive healing work through group and individual therapy. I knew I needed to change some things and internal healing is where I chose to start.

In my group sessions, I learned a lot about self-care and what it looked like beyond the content being shared on social media. It is more than spa days, pedicures and traveling, but I didn’t know that at the time. I decided to learn some new ways to cope and started meditating daily. During a meditation, I got the idea to make my own scrubs, soaps, candles, etc. I wasn’t working and couldn’t afford aromatherapy products from the major retailers, but I knew I could make my own for less money. I shared my idea in therapy and was deeply supported by my group. They encouraged me to do some research and take my time so I didn’t get overwhelmed and stressed. I took their advice and made a sugar scrub. As a thank you for their support, I brought samples to the group. Most of them paid me for the samples. When I tried to give the money back, they refused. They told me my scrub was too good to give away and I deserved to be paid for the products I created. I was shocked! I realized making these products gave me something to do with my anxious energy and boosted my mood. I saw this as an added benefit outside of the skincare and aromatherapy benefits. I didn’t intend to start a business, but a few weeks later on October 2, 2018, Care Bath and Body Products was born and registered as a business.

I’ve recently decided to have a more focused product line. I make all natural soaps, scrubs, and body butters scented with essential oils. I want people to know they can use my products in a matter of seconds and, hopefully, have a few moments of mindfulness. I always explain my goal like this: Imagine you are having a rough part of your day and you’re skin feels dry and itchy. The skin issue pushes you over the edge. While it might seem like a small issue, it’s happening to a lot of people on a regular basis. Imagine this same scenario, but add in a body butter than melts into your skin AND smells amazing. You let out a sigh of relief and release some of the stress so you can move forward. This is my desire for my customers.

Care was born out of my need for better self-care and my desire to give the gift of self-care products to others. I often say that during a really dark, scary, and confusing time in my life, Care is something beautiful that was created during that time. I hope to inspire others to use tough (and great) times to create cool things.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Initially, I self-funded my business. I started with $60. I bought the ingredients I needed for sugar scrubs, containers, and the business registration fee in my city. As I made sales, I continued investing in the business and more products and materials.

After completing the National Entrepreneurs Association Boot Camp and Certification Program and the Bank Of America Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, I learned about other options for funding. I decided to apply for grants. I received my first grant in February of 2023 and my second in August of 2023. Receiving grant funds allowed me to register an an LLC and qualify for more funding and accelerator programs. I’ve worked to adjust my pricing strategy to increase my revenue. It allows me to keep my product prices affordable, but gives me more capital to work with for my business operations. I was, also, selected as one of 10 finalists in the country and participated in a National Virtual Pitch Contest hosted by the National Entrepreneurs Association in the Spring of 2023. Multiple cash and technology prizes were awarded and I had a good experience even though I was not selected as a winner. I plan to participate in more pitch contests to gain capital for business expansion.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn perfectionism when it came to my business. People will make you believe that every single thing needs to be perfect before you launch your business and I had to unlearn this. I made my own logo and websites. I designed my own labels. I came up with my own scent combinations. I didn’t carefully curate my social media pages and that shocks people. However, my goal is to remain authentic to myself and my audiences. I know I have quality products and I’m professional in my operations. I don’t need perfection stopping me from moving forward everyday. There will always be challenges and learning experiences. I embrace them and remind myself I can always rebrand, change labels, hire a team and more as I grow. I was not perfect on day one and I am not perfect today. That removes a lot of pressure and lessens the anxiety I already deal with on a daily basis.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carebathandbody.com
• Instagram: https//www.instagram.com/care_bathandbody
• Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/carebathandbody