Lee Bodmer began crafting her homemade balms made with essential oils while caring for her elderly mother with dementia. The aromas of the handmade lip and hand balms soothed her mother. Bodmer’s hobby has since grown into Lulu’s Garden, a successful business based out of her Whitefield home.
Lulu’s Garden distributes to retailers nationally and internationally. It has been recognized by the small-business resource website Start Up Nation as one of the top home-based businesses in the country and by Graphic Design USA, a news magazine for creative professionals, for its packaging design. Bodmer said she is ready to take her business to the next level and is actively looking for a business partner to help Lulu’s Garden grow.
“Sometimes when things are meant to be, they’re meant to be,” Bodmer said about the start of her business. “Things just fall into place.”
Bodmer grew up in upstate New York and moved to Maine with her husband to be close to his family. Through happenstance, they found a house in Whitefield where they settled to raise their daughters.
Bodmer inherited a strong entrepreneurial spirit from her mother, who developed her own business while raising Bodmer, Tip Top Frame and Art Gallery. “She taught me hard work and diligence,” Bodmer said. “She taught me to keep my eyes on what I wanted and to never give up.”
Bodmer decided early on she was going to be her own boss. “I always wanted to start my own business,” Bodmer said. “It was really just a matter of time.”
The time came in 2009, while caring for her elderly mother who was diagnosed with dementia. Bodmer recognized the healing effect the balms she made out of beeswax and essential oils had. She began selling a small sample of her product on Etsy.com, an online marketplace for handmade and vintage items.
The positive feedback she received helped her make the decision to turn her hobby into a profession. She sought out business advice from SCORE, a nonprofit devoted to providing technical support to small businesses. She hired Elm Street Marketing Essentials, of Camden, to help with logo design and packaging, and began to offer her homemade lip and hand balms to the world.
Bodmer uses all-natural ingredients in her products and strives to keep her business expenditures local. Al Arthur, of Belfast, designed the website for Lulu’s Garden. Banana Banners, of Bowdoinham, prints the company’s labels. Coastal Woodworks, of Nobleboro, makes the base of Lulu’s Garden displays. The bees at Humble Abode, of Windsor, produce the beeswax Bodmer uses in her products.
The motto Bodmer has adopted for her brand is “natural products with a purpose.” The blend of essential oils contained in her products target emotional as well as physical distress. She has hand balms specially crafted to treat the damaged skin found on winter hands, gardeners’ hands, or knitters’ hands. Her lip balm product line includes Revive Lip Balm, Stressaholic Lip Balm, PMS Avenger Lip Balm, and Happy Place Lip Balm, amongst others.
Bodmer’s products can be found in store across Maine, the U.S., the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. In Lincoln County, Lulu’s Garden products can be found at Sheepscot General in Whitefield, Granite Hall Store in Round Pond, and Sea Glass Spa in Boothbay Harbor.
Lulu’s Garden was recognized by Down East Magazine in 2011 as one of the Best Bodacious Bath and Body Care Products in Maine. In 2013, Lulu’s Garden won Graphic Design USA’s American Package Design Award. Start Up Nation listed Lulu’s Garden as one of its top 100 home-based businesses in 2014.
“Sometimes you just have to throw things in the air and see where they land,” Bodmer said. For Bodmer, things landed as a solvent business primed for its next chapter. Bodmer hopes to expand her business and is actively seeking a business partner to help with marketing, distribution, and technical assistance.
For more information about Lulu’s Garden, visit http:// inlulusgarden.com.
