Grinding Away

This is Tough Stuff!

We've been busy grinding away to make this dream a reality. And part of that has been building out this website myself. I needed to set up and test out the blog, so I figured what better way than to write our first post. So here it is:

Starting a new company is an amazing amount of work. While I've been a small business owner for 18 years now, I've only had experience running a service company, and now we're putting a product out into the world. So there's been a ton of learning that has gone into this project just to get to this point. But it's been a very exciting journey!

So far, we've accomplished some major milestones:

• Created our logo and registered our new company's website
• Contracted with a manufacturer to create our  all natural sunscreen formula
• Obtained our business license from the city and registered with the county
• Designed our label and box and hired a graphic designer
• Applied for a sales tax permit
• Opened a small business account with our community bank
• Set up our bookkeeping system
• Set up our phone system, 1-800 number, and email system
• Began building this website you are reading this blog post on right now
• Ordered business cards

Whew! It's been a lot of work so far, but I'm loving it!

And while this has been a challenge (like going down an unknown road with no means of navigating) I have learned a ton about creating a company that will sell a product. And not just any product, a product that needs to pass FDA guidelines because it's a sunscreen. And a product that is as good for the user as it is for the environment. To say we are excited about this is putting it mildly!

So stay tuned and check in on our progress on social media from time to time. We're planning to launch after the first of the year.

Melissa Allen

www.theActiveLifeCompany.com

Inspired by nature. Built for adventure.