Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Power.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
LM Organics was established when I found myself extremely dissatisfied with the quality of ingredients in baby care products available in 2011 when I was pregnant with my son. After much research, I decided that it wasn’t worth it to change the health and well-being of the sweet human growing inside me to use any of the toxin-filled products that were available, simply because it would be more convenient.
I began to do even more research and developed several alternative products for use in our home and with our little guy (Rivers). Those first products included body butter, congestion relief salve, baby wash, cloth wipes solutions, etc.
The excess products I ended up with from each batch, I gave as gifts to fellow moms and dads. My father-in-law eventually convinced me to sell those excess products since so many people loved them as much as we did. I started selling out of my home, at Denton’s local Community Market, and in several local craft fairs. The response was overwhelming and encouraging.
After a few years, another baby, two rounds of rebranding, and lots of product testing/creating, the products had evolved from predominantly infant products to more of a lifestyle brand. There truly is something for everyone now, and all of the products are so practical and useful. I love how the brand has just continued to grow with our family. Everything I create comes from a need that we have in our home (or that of a dear friend frustrated with being unable to find something that works for their needs).
With my most recent rebrand (I believe that was in 2016 or so), and the launch of my own website (instead of relying on Etsy) I was able to hire one of my closest friends, Darby McFall, who also happens to be an incredibly talented graphic and web designer. Without her, the brand definitely would not have grown and developed as it has in the past few years. She’s the brains and vision behind so much of our label/website/branding esthetic. I have LOVED working together with her to really develop the esthetic of the brand. We understand one another, and she really grasps the vision that I have had for LMO and she (much more than I) was able to really bring it to life.
In the last couple of weeks, we have also been able to hire TWO more contracted workers (Jen, our VA/copywriter, and Lindsey, our shop assistant), and we are SO excited for the new content, products, and events that we have coming up in the near future for LMO! So much of it will only be possible with the extra help. I can already feel a breath of fresh air from not being the only person on the planet to carry an entire load of responsibility of the company. I’m so grateful for these women who have come alongside me to further the brand and reach more people around the globe.
This company is, and truly has been, a labor of love – It all stems from a new mom with no other affordable options making pure, safe, and effective products for my family to use and my desire to share these products so that others, too, can feel confident in the products that they use on and around their most precious gifts!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
LMO’s journey has been one of paced, organic growth, so (thankfully) I haven’t had any HUGE obstacles so far, in growing the brand. I’ve been running the business alone (other than the help of my sweet friend, Darby, with the web and graphic design) for 6 years now, so there wasn’t any other realistic way for it to happen. It’s been a huge blessing for me to be able to be home with our babies for so long while still having the freedom to pursue my passion and dream in this business.
One reason I think I was able to avoid TOO many struggles is that I truly LOVE to learn. I joke about probably having the knowledge to possess multiple degrees at this point (from aromatherapy to finance to an MBA and all sorts of degrees in between) simply from research and study and online courses that I have invested both my time and money into. It’s all been worth it, and I wish I had MORE time to study every week. I do my best to continue learning every day, whether it be from podcasts, online courses, articles, webinars – you name it! I feel like a sponge, and I am always just so thirsty for more knowledge to share with our people, and to use when creating and bettering our brand and products.
I think one of the hardest things for me on this journey of entrepreneurship has been having to reign myself in to keeping a realistic pace with the slow growth that I could personally keep up with, but it has been so extremely important, as anything more would have been absolutely unsustainable as basically a single person business.
As our kids are getting older (sweet Rivers is in kindergarten this year, and our spitfire daughter Parker will be 4 this summer), I have been able to put more energy and time into the business. I have more headspace that I can afford to use on LMO while still not neglecting my husband and children. That alone is really allowing me to actually use so much more of the excitement and energy that I often feel about the business. It’s so incredible to be able to use that energy to move the business along even more.
I am the type of person who gets SO passionate about the things I love and the things that I am learning, and it has been SO hard for me to just sit on so many ideas for the past many years while I have been intentionally trying to focus more energy on raising our sweet babies/husband & caring for our home and family in the years when more of my attention and time and energy has been needed in those areas. I’m convinced that I will NEVER regret that.
Whereas I can most definitely envision myself regretfully wishing I would have stepped back from work and spent more time there if things had been different. The company will be here as long as it is the Lord’s will for it to be, but our babies will only be young once, and we will only be in the first decade of our marriage once, so I’m clinging to the joy that these memories and this time will continue to give us all in the future.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The purpose for LM Organics’ existence is to bless those who come in contact with us through:
*Educating in health/wellness/ self-care
*Providing products that make those things more practical/attainable for them and their families
*Monetary relief, social outreach, or product donation in order to further orphan care through the families/organizations who love on and tangibly care for them day in and day out.
*Or any other way we might be called and able to love our family and community.
With this purpose in mind, I will do my best to lead and grow LM Organics as we grow and expand.
The two main things that I would say set us apart as a company would be the quality of our ingredients (always organic, non-GMO, and therapeutic grade essential oils) and the fact that we donate 20% of all profits (both retail and wholesale) to orphan care relief.
I believe we all have a responsibility to love on and care for the orphans of our world, and even though my husband, Aaron, and I do not feel that fostering or adopting is what we are called to be doing at this time, I 100% believe that there is so much room for us to support those who are, and I am SUPER excited to be able to use this brand as a platform to do so much more for them than we would be able to do on our own. It truly is a joy for me to write the checks and transfer the funds to families who are waiting to bring home their precious sons and daughters each month.
A service that I am currently working on offering is being able to reimburse individuals who are spending their own time and money to become legally able to care for orphans or to serve families through babysitting their foster children each month. There are SO many costs associated with fostering and adoption that many people have NO idea about. Fingerprinting, background checks, medicine lock boxes, display boards for family rules and expectations, cabinet locks and other household upgrades necessary, etc.
Just to be able to go out to dinner and have someone watch your children, you have to find someone who is LEGALLY able to babysit for you if you are fostering. Small things that so many of us take for granted make a big difference to those families, and I just want to do what I can to make it even a little bit easier on them – like reimbursing their friends/family members so that they can go and get that certification to be a babysitter for them.
I’d love to eventually be able to organize an actual event where people can attend a training, get fingerprinting done, and set up their background checks all in one day so they can become certified to assist those families in our area looking for wonderful foster-certified babysitters! Honestly, there are a ton of ideas that I have floating around in my head, and I’m just excited that I now have a team so that I can spend more time developing those ideas so that they can come to fruition!
What were you like growing up?
I feel like I was a pretty stereotypical “first child”. I’ve always been extremely independent, passionate, and creative (and my siblings would probably add in “bossy” and “hard-headed” – Sorry, Mom and Dad).
Growing up, whenever our parents invited families over for dinner, I was the kid who gathered all of the children and somehow convinced them that we should create, rehearse, and perform our very own theatrical shows (complete with lines, songs, and choreography). I’m sure it was probably just me bossing all the kids around and changing my mind as to what they should do/say/sing as quickly as I could tell them the first idea I had, but they somehow went along with it, and I just ATE UP the attention from the adults every time we performed.
I went to a SUPER small school in East Texas, but I loved it (well, a lot of it…ha). School was where my friends were! I’ve always been quite the extrovert. Throughout middle and high school I was all about cheerleading, show choir at a local university (really all things music), and I’ve always loved to read. Honestly, I was everywhere and into everything. If something looked fun or interesting, I would try my hand at it if I had the chance!
Whether it was acting, guitar, piano, ballet, makeup artistry, quilting, cooking, painting, track, tennis, hair styling (cutting, coloring, you name it), and TONS of things in between. I have always just figured that if it seems fun, I should at least try it out! The worst that could happen is that I don’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, or I find something else that I like better, and I spend my time on that new thing instead. After high school, I attended the University of North Texas for Musical Theatre with a Business minor.
I’m pretty sure that at that time in my life, my goal was to play Christine in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I had a blast that the first year, but then they did away with the Musical Theatre program, so I switched my major for the first time. I switched majors approximately 393462739 times before I finally graduated with a General Studies Degree in Education, Linguistics, and Rehabilitation Addictions… I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I honestly felt pulled in all directions of interests every day of my life until I finally realized what I could build with this idea of LM Organics which was more than 5 years later.
In the time between, I did everything from waiting tables at the local Chili’s Bar and Grill, to writing and performing my own music, to doing hair on the side, to becoming the General Manager of a local Aveda salon and spa, to getting my alternative teaching certification and teaching middle school reading (which is what I did up until LMO). I also moved to Madrid for a chunk of time in there, since I wasn’t passionate about anything that was happening here in Texas at that time in my life.
It’s funny and incredible to see how each of those “random” jobs I held and learned from have prepared me for different aspects of creating, owning, and running this business that I love so dearly.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lmorganicsshop.com
- Phone: 940-390-8681
- Email: dpower@lmorganicsshop.com
- Instagram: lmorganics
- Facebook: LM Organics
- Twitter: lmorganics
Image Credit:
Darby Kate Photography
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