Imbolc Introductions & Intentions

I must admit, I am a little nervous to begin this blog post. I have never written a blog in my life & I have no idea what I’m doing. But that’s a challenge I am pushing through - finding the courage to approach the things that make me uncomfortable. So here I go! I’m making my approach. Taking my first steps… I hope you’ll join me for my very first blog post, one of many to follow, welcoming you into my world, sharing my experiences, joys & blunders. Let the uncomfortable adventure begin! 

February 1st was Imbolc….  For those of you who might not know, Imbolc is an ancient Celtic fire festival celebrated on February 1st, a halfway point between the Winter Solstice & the Spring Equinox. It marks the beginning of Spring & the return of the Sun’s light as our days grow longer. If we look close enough, we can begin to see the first stirrings of life as the sap begins to rise in the trees, snowdrop flowers begin to bloom & critters begin to emerge slowly from their hibernation. Imbolc honours the home & hearth, as well as blessing the fields for future fertility. You might think of it as a period of providing sustenance for both your body & spirit after the challenges of a long, bitterly cold Winter. It’s definitely been a rough one in Ohio this year!! BBBRRRRRRR!!!

At Imbolc the Earth is starting to awaken from her long slumber as the Wheel of the Year turns, shifting toward the Spring Equinox, bringing life back to the surface; a rebirth, and with it new hope, fresh thoughts & inspired dreams. All this renewal & rebirth is symbolic of what is going on within our lives, too. It’s a great time to clear away any energy from the chaos of this last year. It can be an early start to Spring cleaning, clearing your space (inside & out), making room for fresh new potential. We need to let go of what’s no longer serving us if we’re gonna make room for something new! So get that junk out of here! Let it all go! 

I gave up on setting New Year’s resolutions a long time ago! It never felt good to me. Inevitably I would break whatever resolution I had set for myself & fall down that age-old shame/blame spiral of defeat & disgrace. We’re all still reeling from the busyness of the holiday season at the first of the year. How can we possibly find stillness & peace to sort out our intentions for ourselves when we’re all still so busy?! Imbolc is a great time for us to truly enjoy the peace & quiet that Winter offers. February’s Eve allows us to ease into our intentions for the upcoming year in a more natural way. It’s important to be mindful of the intentions we’re setting, ensuring they are truly aligned with our highest interests, that we’re not being impulsive or “drinking the Kool Aid” of some grandiose idea we had. Believe me, I’ve been there! I’ve got enough Pisces in my birth chart that I practically breathe impulsivity & get tipsy from drinking my own Kool-Aid!

I have been mulling over the idea of creating a blog page for my website for a long time now & Imbolc seemed like the perfect time to begin. So I would like to take this time to share my experiences of the past year, clearing that energy from my space, making room for what’s next & setting my intentions for the new year, with you. 

Last year was quite the whirlwind! It was my first full year in business & I learned a ton!! Maybe I should back up just a little bit… For those of you who have read My Story, you know that I have been making these products for myself for years. My body’s sensitivities to chemicals & unnatural ingredients deemed it necessary. It wasn’t until later in life that I began to think of making these products for others. In the Spring of 2024 I had a few generous friends who were willing to be guinea pigs for me. I started to build a pretty strong product line from there & set intentions for myself to open this business. My plan was to go live with Lilly’s Luxuries by the end of 2024 & by the end of 2025 have sufficient income from the business to replace my job’s income. Well, as the Fates would have it, I was unexpectedly let go from my job at the end of August 2024. My timeline was moved up drastically & I knew I had to hustle!! October 18th, 2024 is the official business birthday of Lilly’s, when I made my products available on Etsy. By the end of 2024 I had listed my product line with Etsy & eBay & I was established in three local markets; Ohio Art Market, The Humble Crate (now PickTown MarketPlace) & Keller Market House. I had a pretty good season considering how new I was to the process & how green I was at selling my own products. 

When January 2025 came around I had no job prospects but I had my disability income & some financial assistance from family & friends to help me get through this time, allowing me to focus on the business. (I couldn’t have done it without them & I am truly grateful for each of them!) Inspired by the path that was opening up for me, I put my nose to the grindstone to birth my business into existence. I created my website in January 2025 & also listed my products online with Facebook & Instagram. I began researching local shops, asking for referrals from anyone who might have a spot in mind. Friends sent me places to check out & I followed up promptly! I was totally unaware of the market saturation for a product line like mine & I wanted to reach out to every potential shop! I performed Google search after Google search, drove around local communities & pounded the pavement! By the end of 2025 I went from being in 3 local shops to an amazing 10!

Building this business was definitely a joint effort! Not only did it entail the people who helped me financially & the guinea pigs I mentioned earlier, I also connected with an amazing mentor through a non-profit, small business mentorship program, SCORE. My mentor Lori has been a great resource & has opened me up, asking some really challenging questions about my intentions. She’s a fantastic guide! I would also like to give a very special thanks to my friend, Minuet. She has been a wonderful marketing resource for me & I truly believe I owe a lot of my success to her! Throughout 2025 she handled nearly all of my marketing efforts through social media. As a marketing graduate her skills & knowledge shone through with brilliance! She has trained me well & as we transition into 2026 she embarks on new adventures on her path & continues to be my marketing guru, consultant & friend. Minuet, thank you!

Some of my 2025 milestones, apart from growing from 3 to 10 markets, include a magazine interview with Voyage Ohio Magazine - you can check out the article here. It was a great honour to be approached for this interview & it also inspired a second article from their Voyage’s Bold Journey column. This interview will be available soon & I will be sure to post it for you to check out. I also teamed up with The Compost Exchange for a promotional giveaway. Each of us made a contribution & my portion included some free products which were well received by the winner! I donated a gift basket to Celestial Cats Rescue for their fundraising event last Summer. And another was donated to Keller Market House (KMH) for a silent auction they held during the holidays. I received a letter from KMH letting me know that my Complete Skin Care basket drew a lot of competitive bids, finishing as one of the top three items with the highest bidding response! I had a few successful pop-ups throughout the year as well; a couple at Keller Market House & one at The Humble Crate to celebrate my business birthday. I have more pop-ups on the horizon in 2026, so keep a look out. My sales were great for my first year & my top 5 products were Deodorant, Lip Balm, Face Cream, Hand Cream & Dry Shampoo. I am so thrilled by the response from the community. You have all given me a warm welcome & embraced my products and business with love. I am so thankful for you all!

I learned a lot from my first year in business & it has helped me to shape my intentions for the coming year. I’ll be growing my market presence to 15 shops in the area as well as exploring indoor vendor events. Accessibility is very important to me, making my products available to as many people as I can. After all, my vision is to be known throughout our communities as a trusted source of natural, eco-friendly products, grounded in strong values, expressed through artistic, ever-evolving creations - bringing luxury & simple living together. My community outreach will expand with advocacy programs too, as I continue to connect with more organizations, adding to my existing partnerships with The Compost Exchange, A Treat for Justice & Celestial Cats Rescue. Referrals & suggestions are welcome, so please reach out!

Which brings me to my next intention, creating new products. During these months of renewed life & rebirth, as we head towards Spring, I have been pregnant with some great ideas which are ready to be born into my product line. In March, the month of the Spring Equinox, I will release moisturizing bath salts, containing a nourishing blend of epsom, dead sea & himalayan salts, as well as fresh dried herbs, essential oils, shea butter & vitamin e oil. In May, in honor of Beltane, I will create a bug balm recipe to protect our skin from those little pests on our outdoor adventures in the Summer months to follow. Next, in August, I’ll celebrate Lammas with a natural shave cream for all genders. Do you know what’s in your shave cream? Yikes! I will also make my gift baskets available for the holiday season again. I tested them out during the 2025 holiday & I believe they were well received. With a bit more prep & planning they could be a big hit! I’ve got more irons in the proverbial fire as well, outside of my current product line, shifting towards craft creations like sewing & crochet projects. But I will mention more about them later when I have more to share. 

To find balance with my marketing efforts, I’ll be working to promote my products, business & brand. Marketing has not been my specialty in the past. I’m an artist who loves most every medium, but graphic design & advertising is not my field of interest or expertise - again, thank you Minuet!! I know how important it is to market yourself & make your presence known. So, I will find balance in this area that challenges me so much. I’ve already begun creating videos showing how my products are made & all the lovely ingredients inside. But I’ll need more than that to attract an audience sufficient for today’s marketplace. So I’ll plug into some resources for marketing ideas & guidance. 

I’ll also be diving deep into additional resources to help me grow my business & help with its continued success. SCORE has a wealth of free webinars & resources available. I have already joined several this year & they have so many videos available in their library, I’ll be busy for a while!! The Columbus Public Library small business center, the WomensNet Resource Center, as well as continued meetings with my SCORE mentor will all be invaluable to aid my growth. I am a big fan of education & fully embrace that we are never too old to learn something new! I continue to be open, to let life move & change me, finding inspiration that will help guide me in business as well as in my personal life.  

I’ll be taking a much deeper dive into my finances by creating all those lovely chart of accounts, budgets & profit & loss statements that CPA’s live for! While I am not a CPA, I do have a solid background in accounting & finance so I can do okay for myself. And I know where to go to get the answers I need when my knowledge bank is empty.  

Finally, this blog. I am setting the intention to create a blog post like this with each seasonal shift; the fire festivals, equinoxes & solstices. Hopefully my posts won’t be this long, but I’m not making any promises. Those who know me, know I can talk! Ha! But I will do my best to keep them short & sweet - bite size so it’s easier to take in. 

And so, in celebration of Imbolc, I’m planting these seeds of intention for the upcoming year in hopes that they will bloom in the Spring, grow through the Summer, to be harvested in the Autumn, sustaining me through the Winter & into the next new year. May these intentions be for the benefit of all, allowing no harm to come to any, including myself. So mote it be. 

What are your intentions for the year ahead? What seeds are you planting within? What ideas are you pregnant with that need your care & attention to be birthed into your life? Now is the time to find stillness, creating fertile ground within your life to tend to those seeds. 

Thank you for receiving. 

Namaste & blessings my friends,

Kimberly

Imbolc image was sourced from https://nationaltoday.com/imbolc/