Meet Cecelia Mims of ClayLove in Parkhill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cecelia Mims.

Cecelia Mims, the founder of Clay Love, was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She created Clay Love in August 2017. She graduated from Denver University with a degree in Business Administration in 2000. Cecelia found a career in purchasing and she was a Realtor. Cecelia was getting close to retirement and wondered what she would do with her time. Clay Love offered her a way to continue doing what she loved and generating revenue after retirement. Her products are skin and hair care with clay base. She had purchased a product that for her granddaughter to try for her acne. She put her on a skin care regime with this product and noticed amazing results. Her granddaughter’s skin had cleared 50% in the first two weeks of using the product. Cecelia started researching clay and its benefits and fell in love. She also found that a lot of other skincare products were using chemicals that were unhealthy and even harmful to the skin. This started the journey of creating Clay Love and she decided that she wanted to share the information with the world. She found a way that she can do that and get paid at the same time. Cecelia always knew that she wanted to leave her mark on the world, and she wanted to leave something for her family when she was gone.

Clay Love provided an opportunity to do just that. She used her family to test new effects of clay on different skin types. Cecelia loved everything about clay except that it was messy to prepare. This is when she went out to create a solution to this issue. Cecelia created a product called a “Kneader” in June of 2016. The Kneader was a bag used to mix and store clay. It can keep the clay from spoiling for a longer period and it comes with a convenient shower hook for easy application. This became the center of the business. She began holding ‘Healthy Me’ parties which went over benefits of health and introduced her product. Here she would collaborate with other small business owners to focus add to topics at the parties. She also attended festivals and health fairs to gauge the needs of individuals and offer information about clay. She began collecting information from the visitors of her booths to create her contacts to market her product to. She did this for a while and in August 2017, Cecelia officially created her business. One of her first milestones was when her website was created. She named it accordingly, www.claylove.com. Cecelia created and tested five different versions of the Kneader and finalized the product in July 2018. Cecelia retired in 2019 and currently runs her business full time and continues to sell houses.

Cecelia stated that her inspiration is her family and her health. She stated that Clay Love addressed both issues as clay is 100% natural and the business is generating revenue. She kept her motivation because she wanted her grandchildren to have a role model. She wanted to teach her family about business and pass her information down. She did face many hurdles and her tenacity allowed her to push forward. She believes that you should never quit. Challenges that Cecelia faced were mostly financial. She never owned a business before, so she also struggled to find the information that she needed. At times it was hard for her to handle the work life balance. She was working fulltime and was a wife and mother during the creation of Clay Love. Since her children were grown and she generated two other sources of income, that allowed her to continue building the business. She said that she and her family had an understand before she started that this would take up her time and she would not be able to attend events every time. Her family was supportive and even offered help running booths and throwing parties. Cecelia stated that she learned that the things she needed most were resources, support, and collaboration. She also stated that when she makes mistakes, she must get over it and move forward. I asked Cecelia if there was something that she would share to inspire others, she said, “Do not allow judgement to affect you.”
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Business Description: Earth Provides Nature’s Care for All Our Needs. I believe that nature provides everything we need, we just do not know how to use it. So, my mission is to help make using natural ingredients, specifically clay, easier, convenient, and fun for health-conscious consumers in my community and the nation. In 2017, I designed a clever convenient easy to use clay mixing tool, the Kneader bag. Next, I registered my business, Clay Clean LLC, now doing business as ClayLove LLC; and I filed for a patent on the Kneader bag. I designed this tool hoping more people would use clay daily. I demonstrate and educate health-conscious consumers about the many possibilities and benefits of using all-natural clay as a natural deep cleaner and healer for the skin and hair, and a natural safe way to reduce acne. ClayLove provides the best clay at an economical price, as well as clay-based body wash and exfoliators. I am grateful for a supportive husband and the understanding that makes working my business and producing products in a designated area of my home a success. I was excited when I generated my 2020 business goals to – include additional “Healthy Me” workshops, working with organizations promoting teenager support, moving the business into wholesale and retail, all of which included a budget for additional contracted team support and adding two employees.

In 2019, 95% of ClayLove’s revenue was from direct sales via booths, farmers’ markets, events, and my “Healthy Me” workshops /parties. Pivoting to online sales has now become a major part of my business strategy for 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis. ClayLove is now forced to quickly pivot, as ClayLove and the country adjust to a possible new norm. I will focus to increase my online presence and sales. To continue my passion of helping and providing my free educational workshops, helping teens reach their skincare goals, improving their self-esteem, and to put ClayLove’s product on the shelves of health food, boutique, and big box stores, I will adjust as need and move forward.

Has it been a smooth road?
The last three years have been No were near a smooth road. From design, product development to the logistics of running the business, it all has been challenging and a constant and continual deep learning process. Keeps me young though! It may be that since there is so much to learn, in so many categories, given my age, (64) and categories that are just out of this world new to me i.e. social media, it feels tougher than it should. So, to answer the question, finding funds, finding time for learning, and cleaning up all the mistakes I made are the biggest obstacles faced. Next I have the personal management to not let these obstacles scare and affect your vision and passion

ClayLove story – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I supply the best clays, education about clay and I make using clay easy. Most people are surprised about the many uses that clay can provide. You can use clay from hair to feet. Clay is known for a facial mud mask; oh, but it is much, much more. You can shave with clay for a soft smooth shave. And hey, if you nick your skin, keep applying clay for a faster heal. It is great for soothing rashes, bites, and irritation. I have used clay for over five years daily. It is relaxing to know that I am removing bacteria and deep cleaning all while adding minerals to the body. Amazing Right! To top that, clay will help to reduce acne bumps which is my driving force for working so hard. Great results in reducing acne with no harsh chemicals is the way to go. After naturally reducing acne, I see the lack of self-esteem be replaced with smiles of my teen clients. That is the sweet spot for me.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The growth of health-conscious consumers is amazing. I see more and more consumers pay attention to the ingredients in their food and beauty products before purchase. I see prices for single ingredient and natural products reducing due to supply and demand. Of course, the more usage and discovery the more possibility of government regulations. Currently, we have associations and nonprofits who are stepping up to do product research for consumers to assure that a claim of natural and/or organic is a fact. This is nice.

Contact Info:

• Website: ClayLove.com
• Phone: 3035205780
• Email: ceceliamims@claylove.com
• Instagram: claylovebeauty
• Facebook: claylovebeauty
• Twitter: claylovebeauty

Image Credit:
Cecelia Mims

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