Nixa woman starts gifts business

When a Nixa housewife started making homemade gifts, such as soap, to allow her to stay home with her children and make extra money, she didn't realize that a year later she would have more than 450 people selling her products in 28 states.

Nancy Bogart is the chief executive officer of Country Bunny Bath and Body. While she started the business in her home, today the company is in a 10,000-square-foot storefront and warehouse at 1106 Eaglecrest in Nixa.

"I'm an avid reader," Bogart said. "l started reading books on soap to learn how to make it. I used the base recipes from the books and then modified them."

Today, a partner company of Bogart's makes most of her products in the warehouse using her recipes.

She said she seems to have a knack for what's going to sell and what isn't.

"I haven't had much trial and error," she said. "The products have a lot of vitamin E in them, which is good for the skin. The products are family friendly, meaning they're good for sensitive skin and good for people of all ages."

She's also upgraded some of the products.

"I started out with bath salts and upgraded to salt scrubs which have a lot of uses," Bogart said. "They're good as an exfoliant, for smoothing feet and for taking odors out of the hands."

The product line includes candles; shower gel; an oatmeal, milk and honey soap; Mountain Fresh scented products for men; and a lotion bar the most popular product.

"It's our biggest seller because it's unique," Bogart said. "It can be used 300 to 400 times. If you wash your hands after using the lotion bar, the lotion won't wash off."

Most of the Country Bunny products sell for less than $10.

Bogart said she has more than 450 people selling her bath and body products through network marketing.

Everyone who starts out selling Country Bunny products is a representative. Then they can move up to a managing representative, then an executive representative and finally national representative with incentives along the way.

"I want the representatives to see this as a long-term commitment, set realistic goals and have fun with it," she said.

It was Feb. 8, 2000, when Bogart officially started the company. She had six representatives and worked out of her garage.

Last September, the company moved to the new storefront/warehouse. She employs several customer representatives to take orders and answer phones, an administrative assistant and warehouse staff to mail out the orders. In addition to calling in orders or stopping by the warehouse, customers can fax their orders or log on to the company's Web site, www.countrybunnybathandbody.com.

April Blandford has been a representative since October, after being recruited by a friend. She said she enjoys selling the products because they are popular and it doesn't require a lot of her time. She has a full-time job and spends two or three hours a week selling Country Bunny products.

"Bath and body is one of the best industries to be in right now because it's so popular," she said. "It's a way of earning extra income without sacrificing time with your family."

Blandford said her favorite product is the oatmeal, milk and honey soap.

"It has a wonderful fragrance and there's nothing like it on the market. There's real oatmeal in the soap too."

Blandford said most of her sales come after she's used something, like the lotion bar, in public.

"When people see me using a product, they recognize that it's something new, something they haven't seen before," she said.