Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hannah Hon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hannah , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Hi! As a creative person I’ve always had many, many ideas about what I could do in life, or things that I’ve wanted to do. Throughout my life I’ve always been interested in natural body care products and, in general, had a creative bent towards ‘making things’. ‘Things’ being pretty much anything from baking a cake to making handmade cards, from sewing a quilt to putting a puzzle together. I am a hands-on person and love using my hands to create a final product.
When I was in my late twenties my interest in natural body care products had grown significantly from when I was a kid, so much so that I was delving into aromatherapy and essential oils and how they could be used in body care products that I made myself. Making my own natural body care products seemed an extension of an interest that had grown since childhood and mixed with my love of making ‘things’ seemed like a perfect fit.
I formalized my education in aromatherapy through the American College of Healthcare Sciences and graduated with a Certificate of Aromatherapy. One of the courses that was required for the Certificate was a business course. During that course I really felt like starting a business making natural handcrafted body care and aromatherapy blends was the right path for me.
Over time I developed several proprietary aromatherapy blends that personally used all the time and I eventually made those blends the backbone of my current business, Ruministics, LLC.
Coming up with a name for my body care business was a very big challenge and I debated over a lot of names! ‘Ruministics’ (Pronounced Room-in-is-tics) came from me playing around with the word ‘ruminate’. I distinctly recall one evening I was writing different potential business names in the back of my journal and the word ‘ruminate’ seemed to fit somehow, so I wrote and re-wrote different variations of how that word could be, could look and sound, trying different endings and eventually ‘Ruministics’ came out and I really liked it. Since the name is derived from ‘ruminate’ meaning ‘to think deeply on’ my business focuses on creating reflective moments for your body and soul. To me, the name speaks of recollection, thoughts, reflections and contemplating.
I think that anything that is handcrafted is a worthwhile endeavor. So many of our household products, things that we use day in and day out, and that are just a part of our lives, are manufactured who-knows-where and often you don’t know who made it when or where. Having a business that values the handmade, and in fact, I personally make all the products I sell, is a big thing. You know that care and attention went into that specific product and that there is a connection between the product and the person who made it.
I currently offer six proprietary aromatherapy blends as well as handcrafted soap and self-care sets. I’ve also started selling my handstitched blank journals as part of Ruministics. One of the things that really gets me excited about what I offer is, not just the products themselves, but seeing how the gifts and talents that are in me can really be used to bring joy and beauty to the people around me. I often sell my goods at events and markets around town and I love seeing how people react to the scents I offer and how much they enjoy the unique journals I make.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Sure. I already mentioned how I natural body care products was an interest of mine ever since I was a kid and grew with me into adulthood. Going through the Certificate of Aromatherapy course that I took really honed me in on what I loved about the products themselves, which really was the scent. The world of aromatherapy is a huge one; there is so much to learn, and I’m definitely still learning. Being able to customize my own aromas for the products I make is a something that I love. As mentioned, I currently have six proprietary blends that I make for Ruministics. These blends each focus on a different mood, feeling or purpose. Essential oils are highly concentrated plant essences that have naturally occurring chemical properties within them that one, make up their aroma, and two, give them a more therapeutic purpose, hence the name, Aroma-therapy. You may have heard that lavender, the plant itself or the essential oil, may be helpful for relaxation. This is because of the chemical properties that are present in the plant/oil. By using small amounts of different plant essential oils to make up an aromatherapy blend you can create new scents for specific purposes like relaxation or energy.
The scents that I currently offer are highly curated. I don’t have three scents for relaxation or five scents for stress relief, I have one for each. My aim is have these be my customers go-to blends. When you are tense, you don’t need to be trying to figure out which blend is right for the moment, you need ONE and you need it at your finger tip!
All my blends come in a roller ball type bottle, that are each 1/3 of an ounce total. With the small size you can tote it anywhere you are, in your purse, pocket, bag, backpack, car, at work, at home…anywhere. With the roller ball style bottle it has a stainless steel ball at the top so you literally can roll the aroma on your pulse points (Your wrists, temples, neck) and find the energy or relaxation or stress relief that you need.
The blends that I offer are specifically aimed at focus, relaxation, stress relief, romance, energy and creativity. With these six aromas you have a well-rounded collection to chose from to help you throughout your day. They are also multi-functional as well, simply because they are scents and can be used for an aromatherapy boost throughout your day or as a perfume blend.
I call these aromatherapy roll on oils Roll & Go Oils because you can use them anywhere you are. You ROLL on the blend and then GO enjoy your day. Using them throughout the day can help you create reflective moments too; moments that say, ‘Relax, slow down, breathe’ and to refocus on the important things in life, like the moment you’re living right now.
I also sell handcrafted soap. These scents are not the same as the Roll & Go Oils, but they do compliment them and I also sell the soaps and the Roll & Go Oils together in sets, which make lovely gifts.
The handsewn journals I make are new to the scene. Since Ruministics is all about creating reflective moments for body and soul the journals are more of the ‘soul’ portion of the business. I’ve been making blank journals for several years now and it is one of my true joys and passions in life. I am also a writer at heart, and an avid journaler myself, so bringing along these beautiful blank journals to sell along with the body care was something that was close to my heart.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
Yes! I definitely manufacture all my own products. Even though making things was something I have enjoy throughout my life, manufacturing a product for sale was a learning curve. Making the Roll & Go Oils was a simpler learning process than the soap. Creating a new aromatherapy blend from the ground up can be challenging and that takes time and patience and I usually go through several prototypes or ‘fails’ before I hit on one that I really like and feel confident to bring to the public. The formulation process can start really with an idea of what I want the blend to smell like or the purpose for which it is intended (ie, relaxation, energy, etc). Then comes gathering the essential oils that I feel best represents what I want the end purpose to be, from there it is playing with a drop here or a drop there — I basically have come up with my own way of creating the blends, something that works for me and gives me the desired result. Once I am happy with the blend, I can recreate it. Since all of the Roll & Go Oils are the same size bottle, I know approximately how strong I want it to be, how it the scent blend will hold up being diluted. The Roll & Go Oils ingredients all consist of the proprietary essential oils blend, non-GMO Vitamin E oil and jojoba oil. The number one rule for using essential oils is to always dilute them, so by putting them in a base or carrier oil such as jojoba oil ensures that they can be used safely on the skin. From there it is just a matter of manufacturing the actual product by adding in the essential oil blend (Each roll on bottle has the exact formula in it; meaning, I don’t create a big batch of the blend and then portion it into the bottles. I know this makes it harder to scale up, but it also means that each bottle has exactly what should be in it scent-wise!), vitamin E oil and jojoba oil.
Manufacturing soap was a harder process to learn. I remember my first time making soap was with a friend. She really wanted to learn how to do it and since it was something I wanted to learn how to do too, I said a resounding YES to trying it with her. Two novices, in her kitchen, we didn’t know how to properly use the lye and we burned through the first big soap pot because we poured the water on the lye and my friend had to run out and buy another pot. Yep…that was a big learning curve and thankfully we were both ok, and didn’t get burned ourselves. To make soap properly you ALWAYS want to add the lye to the water (Not the water to the lye!). The second batch we made with the new soap pot was fine — we learned from our mistake and I’ve never repeated that! A few years later I started making soap on my own and have now gotten into a manufacturing routine that produces consistent results. It still is a process though — from melting the oils together, mixing the lye and water together, making sure they are the same temperature before mixing the oils and lye solution together, molding them, letting them sit for 24 hours, unmolding and them letting them cure for a few weeks before packaging them.
The journals are also handcrafted by me. From designing the covers with the vintage and upcycled fabric and stitching, cutting the papers, and then binding everything together, it’s a long, but enjoyable process.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Someone recommended the book ‘The E-Myth Revisited’ and that was one of the books I read when I was just starting my business. It made so much sense to me and I really try to mimic what the book was talking about, especially about putting procedures in place and manufacturing a consistent product.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ruministics.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruministics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thoughtfulbodycare
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ruministics
Image Credits
Jodi Hertz, David Cooley