This week, actually on January 30, 2020, I had excellent news.
Everyone who follows this blog of mine or others knows how much I value entrepreneurship. How much I value this strength, this individual movement in search of spaces for development and commercialization done on its own initiative.
Leia aqui em português: https://raulbuchi.ch/connaturalis-da-flor-a-vida/.
I think it’s really cool when it’s done partially, for example when you take a finished product from some other entrepreneur and expose yourself to the market to make your own gain. But, I find it absolutely sensational when the entrepreneur develops the concept from start to finish on his own: he creates the product from scratch, enables production (even if handcrafted), creates the brand, founds the company and develops the market.
The issue is not so much the financial success, as it is the brilliance to solve problems, the creativity to create the processes, products, images, and values added to the enterprise and, mainly the human, biological power involved in the challenging effort of playing in the world.
This challenging endeavor, a mixture of responsibility with your ideal, commitment to your projects and faith in yourself, is a delight to be lived, but it is beautiful to be observed. We watch films and more films, documentaries after documentaries, we read books after books looking for inspiration and enthusiasm brought by stories of achievements and defeats based on this challenging endeavor of entrepreneurship.
So that you, my reader, faithful or not, can understand the excellent news, I will contextualize it as an inspiring story.
The beggining
In 2015 I met a woman, sooooooo much younger than me, almost two years younger than me. As soon as we started dating she received the difficult diagnosis of breast cancer. Just before that, we had talked a few times about changing careers. She was a kindergarten teacher, with a creative mind, long thought about a new direction for his career.
She was very interested in natural products, from teas, herbs, Bach Flowers and essential oils. The whole range of these alternative things, ayurvedic diets, vegetarian pizzas, meditation and soaps made from environmentally friendly raw materials. In other words, from these things comes a possible return to nature as something positive for humans who travel on the planet.
During the periods she was away from work for cancer treatment (after surgery and radiotherapy) she took the opportunity to study and deepen his knowledge. Right after the first sick leave, she started producing shampoos in bars for her own consumption. Deodorants followed and, less than a year after diagnosis, and before the second surgery, she was already trained as a flower therapist, certified by the Bach Centre of England. She carried her box of Bach Flower Remedies under her arm.
When we moved to Switzerland in early 2018, a suitcase of raw materials, francs, special pots, decanters came along. The witch’s suitcase. Here, in a short time she was already producing for herself and as a gift to her friends and, less than 6 months later, she was already supplying her friends with shampoos, essential oils, flowers, and environment sprays.
The development
The house is always fragrant, exotic books with strange names decorate the house. Dried leaves and flowers, sliced lemons, strange pots, Kombucha fermenters, precision scales decorate the house. Pots and bottles of all sizes and colors, jars, spoons, and spatulas occupy the corners and cupboards.
At the end of the past, she created a brand for the products she created for her own consumption: Connaturalis. Symbolizing exactly this development journey “with nature” at your side. The desire for friendship with nature is so great, that in the living room, we have a small garden of lavender and aloe vera.
In Switzerland, the difficulties were slightly greater than in Brazil. First, unprocessed raw materials are scarcer, secondly, the technical vocabulary is in German, and plants and herbs are in Swiss German, for which there is no dictionary. But still, this year, at the restaurant where I work, I was able to present my colleagues with homemade shampoos and bath bombs with essential oils.
The endeavor
This year, and we are still in January when I start writing this text, came the folding and stippling machine in cardboard and plastic. It is called the “plotter”. The idea is to ensure that the cardboard and paper used in the packaging are 100% recycled and recyclable or compostable. No toxic waste, no carcinogens, great care for beauty, health and environment.
It was 5 years of personal and technical development. It was 5 years of research and betting on an idea. On 01/30/2020, Connaturalis received the official documents from the canton of Sant Gallen confirming its foundation, in German: “grundung” !!.
The challenging endeavor of entrepreneurship leading from difficult breast cancer treatment to the founding of a natural products company. The challenging endeavor of entrepreneurship injecting a new sense and meaning into life that has been called into question and reconquerd.
The inspirational story inside my house, in front of my eyes.
I present you: Connaturalis
With pride and joy, I share with you the link to the Connaturalis page and the Facebook and Instagram page. Follow this journey with me, consume the products (super important to keep the entrepreneur motivated) and share with the world around you, the beautiful story of overcoming and challenging effort of my entrepreneur wife!
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