Welcome to Our Family Run Business
Our Wedding day in Dominican Republic back in 1997. You can see I’m punching well above my weight and it was a bit too windy that day on the beach to wear a kilt like a true Scotsman!
We are a family run business owned by my wife and daughter.
I suppose it’s a bit of a dream really but it hasn’t been easy over the years as competition has increased and google keep changing their algorithms. But we have hung on in there (sometimes by our fingertips) because too many of you rely on our products and we couldn’t bear to leave you in the lurch (and our team rely on us).
To our advantage, we do have life changing products (we also have our nasal products SinuSoothe and Sinubalm) and we are very much focused on healing you with integrity, using safe, natural ingredients but our small business is much, much more than just making money.
This is our true calling in life and we want to make a real difference even when it is a struggle and it would be easier for us to get full time jobs. But you and our team depend on us. We operate from a place of integrity, so if we think our products won’t benefit you we tell you and lose a sale rather than sell you something that you waste your money on that won’t work.
Hard nosed business people would say we are crazy but we don’t care what they say, it is what is in our hearts that counts.
We NEVER try and sell you something you don’t need and realise that money is tight these days for most people so we try and offer you as much value for money on our hand crafted skincare as often as we can, bearing in mind our products aren’t mass produced in a factory and we don’t use cheap, harmful ingredients.
You can read our origin story below if you like but rest assured we will keep fighting the good fight so we can still continue to help improve your quality of life through our products and make your life better.
The universe definitely works in mysterious ways but I wouldn’t change any of it for the world because only through hardship did I personally grow and become awakened and follow my life purpose.
I always had an underlying de
sire to work with herbs and have always been a good Samaritan but never in my life did I think my journey would lead me to this line of work and to helping so many of you in the process.
I have a Bachelor of Science and a really inquisitive, scientific, problem solving mind and also and have always been a healer (mainly focusing on my own health). I have an affinity with herbal medicine (it must be the gypsy blood on my mother’s side of the family!) so I took to this like a duck to water.
Creating our products has been a combination of science, research on our ancestors wisdom and knowledge and intuition, with your safety and well-being always at the forefront of our minds. Sadly too many larger companies are only creating products to improve their bottom line.
Our journey goes something like this….
Born In A Storm
My wife, Jacqueline, had been miserable with sinusitis for over twenty years and I, due to significant stress in the workplace (resulting in a nervous breakdown), also developed it. Until this time I didn’t really appreciate how negatively it had impacted her life but she is stoic and not one to complain (unlike us men when we get man flu!).
It Almost Broke Me
Before I go further into our story. I will say that the period of my life that proved to be the catalyst that led to Sinusoothe and then Mama Nature being created, was the toughest two years of my life and it almost broke me (and it was also tough on my wife seeing me in the state I was in). I went to hell and back to put it bluntly and my wife was watching me unravel.
When it would have been easy for me to have just slept on the couch for two years under a duvet and give up on everything, some force inside (or outside) of me powered me through all of the darkness to not only keep myself and the life we had built together from completely falling apart, but to create our SinuSoothe natural nasal spray and the business. This alongside my construction company helped keep our heads above water and meant we could keep paying the mortgage.
I Felt Alone
Things got so bad that I even felt compelled to phone a psychic because I desperately needed someone to talk to. Someone who could maybe tell me what was going on or at the very least just listen. I knew straight away the guy on the other end of the phone was the real deal and I was so vulnerable at that precise moment, that I felt as if my life was teetering on the brink.
I told him that I felt like I was falling apart. And do you know what he told me? He said that I was.
He told me that I was breaking apart so that a new, stronger me could take its place. That although it seemed unbelievable to me at that moment (I felt so alone, vulnerable and like a lost child) I would become much stronger. And he was right. It was a trial by fire.
The dark night of the soul is definitely not for the faint hearted (understatement of the century) but looking back, and as crazy as it sounds, I wouldn’t change a single thing. Because without it, how can you become stronger and awaken?
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
What I learned from all of my suffering was that every cloud has a silver lining and that you only ever truly learn from your defeats. It also taught me that God works in mysterious ways. A lot of cliches but every single one true. I always wanted to work with herbs in some form or another and discovered that I am an intuitive, natural born healer who just can’t stop helping others (this resonates because I have many family members who are social workers).
If I hadn’t have gone through this stormy episode in my life, I probably would never have fulfilled my life’s purpose.
So, if you are going through a tough time of your own, and feel that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, I’m here to tell you to never give up hope. There is light at the end of that dark tunnel if you can just keep going, and along the way don’t be surprised if you find little glittering gems you never knew existed and you will become stronger! You will find out what truly matters to you and you may end up following your own life’s purpose.
Everything happens for a reason and usually s***t only happens so that you can learn and grow from it and sometimes it is the only way to put you on the correct path in life.
As Mama Nature would say with all of her innate wisdom ‘you don’t get what you want in life…you get what you need.’
This is our story, and how Mama Nature was born….
Necessity Was the Mother of Our Invention
Doctors, ENT specialists, countless pharmaceutical and natural remedies – nothing in the world helped until a eureka moment when I got out of my car and a cold wind slapped me straight in the face and numbed my pain for the first time in almost three years.
I know it does sound corny but at that moment I knew I would have to take matters into my own hands and cure our sinusitis.
A Gift From The Goddessess?
We set about formulating our natural nasal spray, SinuSoothe. Hundreds of hours of research and dozens of formulas later, we were still not on the right track. Then Jacqui called me and told me she had found some interesting research on-line. She could hardly contain her excitement.
Her phone call was like a gift from the Gods (or should I say Goddesses). So, both of us, working into the early hours, night after night, and after dozens more formulas, not only did we eventually cure our sinus infections (we were our own guinea pigs)) but family and friends also asked to use it, with great success.
Desperate Times Called For Desperate Measures
The recession was hitting hard in 2009 and like many families we were really struggling to pay our bills and we were even on the brink of losing our family home that we had lovingly restored.
The stress of this was taking its toll on me in particular as I was the main breadwinner and took care of the finances (Jacqui was taking care of our daughter and the home which is a job in itself). I knew we desperately needed some form of additional income other than my construction company (co-owned with my dad who has sadly passed away) which was being seriously affected by a downturn in work due to the recession.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
So, having a natural entrepreneurial spirit, I decided there was a market and a need for our innovative nasal spray and after going through the necessary red tape we set up our business in 2009 to share our nasal spray’s healing ability. What could be better than helping people and earning a living at the same time?
Only a Pipe Dream?
At that time the banks were nervous about lending money to start-up businesses and I was even told by my bank manager (politely and with the best intentions) that he thought it was all a bit of a pipe dream. I left empty handed and down in the dumps (to say the least). Remember I was still recovering from a nervous breakdown and my confidence was at an all time low.
But still determined, because we knew it worked (and we needed to pay the bills) we took a massive gamble and used credit cards to set up our small business. We really were between a rock and hard place and if it didn’t work out then we would lose the house and be saddled with debt.
A Godsend?
And do you know what? Getting positive feedback telling us our spray was a Godsend felt great (and so did being able to pay our bills). And people were literally begging us to never stop making it because it literally saved their lives and couldn’t be without it.
And Then Mama Nature Was Born
As often happens in life, things were going along swimmingly and the road was smooth. Then the building company took another sharp downturn and that road was getting bumpy again. Making additional income to pay our bills was now very much on our minds again.
To cut a long story short, I formulated at that time eighteen natural skincare products that are equally as innovative and life changing as SinuSoothe.
But we couldn’t think of a name for the brand. After much tossing and turning, the name ‘Mama Nature’ suddenly flashed across my mind’s eye at around three in the morning. What I have since found out is called ‘The Witching Hour’. 🙂
Again, after the obligatory red tape, we launched the brand and products on a new website in 2011 and the rest is history.
Sometimes You Just Have to Follow Your Calling!
Our skincare products have been called transformative! magical! life saving! unbelievable! and miraculous! And have even brought some of you to tears (happy tears of gratitude and relief). They have worked for so many people we have lost count.
They may not work for everyone (nothing does) but we have so much faith in them that we offer a no quibble money back guarantee even if you use the entire product. How many skincare companies offer that?
We Would Like To Thank Our Team
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our team for all of their hard work, creative input and skill in hand crafting our ethical skincare products, just like our ancestors did in the days of old. We are actually more like one, big happy family (who occasionally rows!). They are an essential part of our business and we plan to reward them as the business grows (hopefully it does!).
We Would Like To Thank You
We would also like to thank you, our customers, for sticking with us through thick and thin and supporting our small family run business so we can continue to heal and enhance people’s lives through our natural skincare range. And transform them of course.
Who is Mama Nature?
This is going to sound crazy and far-fetched but we feel she came to us during our time of need (during the Witching hour!). Or maybe it’s because we like to believe that real magic exists? We’re not quite sure who she is exactly but we believe she is the energy behind everything we have ever done (and still do) with regards to our skincare products.
We sometimes joke around amongst our team that we better watch what we’re saying as she might be listening in from wherever it is she resides.
We hope you put your faith in us and decide to start your skincare journey with us, putting yourself on the path to better looking, healthier skin.
Like us you may even start to believe that Mama Nature is out their somewhere, in the ether, collecting flower remedies in her little basket, singing her ditties (and soulful tunes) before coming home to her little log cabin in the middle of the woods.
Where she then waves her magick wand with one hand as she tosses Mother Nature’s healing remedies into her bubbling cauldron with the other…..
James & Jacqueline Shearer
Co-founders
Mama Nature