How a Dream Turned into a Successful Beauty Business

THE BLINGER STORY 

On November 2, 2014, single-mother of four, Angie Cella, had a dream. “In my dream, I was borrowing a girl’s flat iron to straighten my hair. But each time I squeezed it together, it put crystals in my hair. Then, a few weeks later, I had another dream. This time it was with God and He said, ‘I want you to make this product.’” While many, if not most people would have dismissed such dreams, Angie believed that the Lord had truly spoken to her. She then began a journey of many starts and stops, successes and failures.  

The next four years proved to be quite an education – and adventure -- in product development. Angie learned more than she ever dreamed about business plans, prototypes, engineering firms, seeking investors (and finding none), online fundraising, obstacles, tool development for mass production, manufacturing, marketing, and the world of retail.  

She needed lots of help from experts in all these fields, and in answer to prayer, seemed to find it at just the right time. Throughout the years, Angie was able to provide for her family as a successful VP in Arbonne, a skin care, make-up, nutrition sales company.  Nonetheless, she used all her savings, went into substantial debt, and chose to sell their large, comfortable home and move into an apartment.  

That move allowed her to fund a manufacturing “tool” (needed for mass production) for her product, by then called Blinger. Her children were fully supportive all along, Angie says. While they didn’t always understand what went into the process, they believed in and stood behind their mom.  

At last, in in 2018, Blinger became a huge hit at the Women in Toys event in Dallas, where Angie had signed up to present it to retailers, toy companies, and Walmart. “Everyone loved it!  Blinger was the talk of the show – it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” she recounts. Blinger has now been distributed all over the world by the Wicked Cool Toys company, sold $22 million wholesale worth of product, and $50 million in retail sales.  

TIPS FOR ENTREPRENEURS 

Along with determination and a strong work ethic, Angie has always had a heart to help other people succeed. Her intent in writing a book was precisely that, which she does, in one sense, by sharing her many failures and how to avoid them. Angie offers a number of tips: 

•    Don’t hire people outside your country.
•    Don’t pay for work (or any goods) until you’ve verified it.  
•    Verify credentials and get references. 
•    If you use a third party to deal with product engineers, don’t try to deal with them directly.

Angie also shares what she calls, “Angie’s Top Ten Tips for Success”:

•    Be ethical.
•    Be yourself.
•    Be kind to everyone.
•    When you hit a wall, don’t stop or waste energy trying to understand why.
•    Put pride in your back pocket.
•    Take a break.
•    Give your goal a bigger meaning.
•    Don’t quit.
•    Be careful whom you listen to.
•    Enjoy the journey and trust the process.

Angie explains, “Give your goal a bigger meaning” this way: “You can’t be in it just for the money or fame. These are shallow (goals) and can be unfulfilling. Many times, they are also only temporary. If you don’t have a bigger meaning, find one. Make it life-changing.”  

THE POINT OF IT ALL 

Angie’s “bigger meaning” in this incredible chapter of her life comes down to obeying God and finding fulfillment by helping others along the way. “I didn’t make this product to make money. When I get to heaven, I don’t want to hear, ‘Way to go, Angie. You made a lot of cash. Great job.’ Sounds pretty empty, right? When I get to heaven, I want to hear my Father say, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant!” (

) because I hopefully made a difference in someone else’s life. My identity is much deeper, much more meaningful to me than Blinger. My identity lies in Christ. ‘Fearfully and wonderfully made.’ ( ) He guides my steps, sets my moral baseline, and gives me a framework to follow. He’s my ultimate upline that I attempt to duplicate every day in my life.”  

Angie sees a big part of her success as having the platform to give people this message: “What you do doesn’t matter just to you. It may be life-changing for the rest of us. The world might not need a Blinger, but it does need exactly what you have to offer and that only you can bring into it. You’re not replaceable, you’re essential.”