How to Write a Mission Statement for Your Handmade Skincare Business

Step ONE of creating a successful product line: sitting down to write the mission statement for your handmade skincare business.

Mission statements are a key player in turning yourself from ‘hobbyist’ to ‘breakthrough entrepreneur’. And spoiler alert: it’s not hard.

(Don’t make it hard.)

As a maker (and most likely a solopreneur), your mission statement is going to look different and be used for different purposes than the traditional templates you’ll find online.

Get ready to do it YOUR WAY from the get-go by getting the overarching vibe of your dream skin care business officially down on paper to help guide ALL of your upcoming branding decisions.

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What is a Mission Statement?

Traditionally speaking, a mission statement is a sentence or two that defines a company’s reason for existing and its primary objectives.

For larger organizations, a mission statement can:

Provide an opportunity to stand out from competitors
Be a motivational intro to new employees during the new hire onboarding process
Be referenced during staff meetings to get everyone on the team back on the same page, and/or
Be given its own section on a company website

But most of us handmade skin care entrepreneurs are a business of ONE.

We don’t have staff meetings, employees, or onboarding processes. And if we’re selling on a marketplace such as Etsy, there isn’t a ‘mission statement’ tab.

For our purposes as handmade skincare makers, a mission statement is a few ‘for-our-eyes-only’ sentences that we use as a guiding light to keep ourselves focused when adding a new product or choosing our branding details.

Why Do I Need a Mission Statement for my Handmade Skin Care Business?

Because of focus and direction.

A mission statement for your handmade skincare business helps you to make better choices about:

What products to consider
How to prioritize different tasks as a solopreneur, and
What problems to focus on solving first

I’ll use my second skincare line – which has since been rebranded – as an example (obviously sans ‘clear mission statement’ to reference).

There I was, successfully selling personal care products to expectant and postpartum mothers….but then beard oil became a ‘thing’…so I added it.

It’s pretty safe to assume that most of my ‘mama-to-be’s were beardless.

Did I sell a few to my ideal customer that then gifted to the fellas in her life? Yes.

Was beard oil in line with my skin care business target market? Absolutely not.

My energy, time, and dollars could have been used much more successfully on a product that fit the direct needs of a new mama.

A specific, cemented, in-my-face-every-day mission statement would have saved me all of those resources.

Whether it be a big decision (such as a new product) or a small decision (such as trying to come up with ideas for a social media post) – your statement is there to tell you, “Yes, this is gold, right on track!” or “No no no, you’re veering away from your purpose, get back in your lane!”

Big decisions. Little decisions. The mission statement is your focus in it all.

How Do You Write a Mission Statement?

The easiest way to come up with a mission statement for your handmade skincare business is simply to ask yourself a lot of broad questions (with answers that may seem obvious to you) and get them down on paper:

What does your business do?
How do you do it?
Why do you do what you do?
Who do you do it for?
How do you want to come across overall?
What is the general feeling and impression that your audience gets from seeing your skincare line?
What is the unspoken promise to your customers?
What is your general goal as a business?

Seeing all of your answers together, you’ll most likely see repeated words and ideas that can come together for a more general statement.

Keep in mind that you are not deciding on your specific target market right now, you’re not deciding the specific items that you’re going to make and sell, etc.

Stay super broad with this to allow your business room to grow and breathe as it takes shape during the branding process.

Feeling inspired? Go forth, answer those questions, and put them together in a statement that will keep you on track one week from now, one year from now, five years from now.

Need some guidance? Keep reading for three real-life examples from other handmade indie skincare businesses.

Examples of Mission Statements for Handmade Skincare Businesses

Below you will find three different approaches to a skincare line – under each mission statement example, you’ll find how the statement helped to drive future business decisions for that particular business owner.

As you will see, they don’t have to be full of professional jargon – for our purposes, these mission statements aren’t going to be ‘public’ on our websites. They are written for-our-eyes-only to keep us on track and focused on the daily.

Disclaimer: You are NOT going to be making the ‘future decisions’ as presented in the examples right now. These are provided just to help you visualize how your mission statement will help you to make choices for your business going forward.

Mission Statement Example 1 (Fun, Fresh, Affordable)

“My skin care company is FUN and FRESH with products that are affordable for individuals that don’t have a huge budget…an all-natural product line that makes natural living and organic products easy to understand so that more people talk about it and don’t always categorize it as ‘expensive’ or ‘too fancy’.“

Future business decisions that the mission statement helped this entrepreneur make:

“To keep costs down for affordable skin care, I need to make sure to purchase low-cost packaging materials and keep a low overhead, buy in bulk as soon as I can, etc. This will require a bit of research to find ingredients and recipes that don’t drive the cost of products up.

To make natural living and chemical-free products understandable and approachable, I need to use terminology that makes sense to everyone, even if they don’t know anything about skin care or natural ingredients. The light-hearted feeling I want to communicate will probably come across the best with bright, carefree colors and a bubbly font. Use trendy words and phrases in my posts and marketing and any social media influencers I can get.”

Mission Statement Example 2 (Small/Custom Batch)

“My 100% natural skin care company is an intimate experience – my customers can reach out to me as a friend and ask about my ingredients, knowing I am making products in small batches and to order…they can even request ingredient or scent substitutions if needed. I am the face of my business and will be seen as more of a natural living mentor than simply selling handmade products.”

Future business decisions that the mission statement helped this entrepreneur make:

“Since I want to make super small batches (and even custom products based on requests from my customers) that have ZERO synthetic ingredients, I need to create recipes that don’t include water. This will negate the need for any unnatural preservatives. I’ll need to keep a careful eye on my inventory so that I don’t receive more orders than I can handle at once. I’ll need solid systems in place to know my production times and ingredients on hand.

So that my audience knows I’m making things 100% naturally and made to order, I need to make all of my communication look really handmade. Labels that I actually write on, use a handwritten font for the printed portions, write thank you notes that include their first name, etc. Make sure that it is clear on my website that I take requests. Use a lot of customer testimonials in my social media posts.”

Mission Statement Example 3 (Luxury Skincare)

“My luxury organic skin care company is an authority – one that really knows the science behind skin care and every detail takes sustainability seriously. My customers feel good about purchasing my products knowing they are making a difference in the world rather than simply buying a product for their own use.”

Future business decisions that the mission statement helped this entrepreneur make:

“To build a luxury line, I am going to get professionally certified in organic skin care. I will need to research the vendors I use for ingredients and packaging to make sure they’re sustainable companies and mirror my own mission. Possibly look into the option of donating a portion of customer sales to environmental groups (what does this involve on my end with taxes and other legalities???).

All of my packaging will be 100% sustainable with professionally printed labels with the ‘certified organic’ seal printed on them. More of a modern, streamlined look that is a step ‘fancier’ than the typical handmade shop. Professional language with the science behind WHY my products are effective will be front and center. A lot of my social media posts will contain skin care education to demonstrate my experience and authority.”

As you can see in the examples above, writing a mission statement for your handmade skincare business will keep you focused and consistent in all aspects of your business as you flesh it out.

Take the time to do this first crucial step for your product line.

No, it’s not hard.

But it does take some thought about what kind of a business and future you see for yourself – make it fulfilling!

When you’re ready for the next step, read Choosing Your Skin Care Target Market.

If you want a methodical experience in building your business, check out our Handmade Skin Care Business Branding Guide – it takes you through every step of the business-building process that is based on your mission statement.

A faster, more streamlined guide to getting your skincare product line up and running: