Unexpected Outcomes

Well, this is an unusual post for me to write, the likes of which I’ve never done before. After over two years in business, I took a deep look at the picture of my life, and found that running a product-driven business alone, while also working full time and being a single mother of two was just simply too much for me to handle.

The costs of overhead (expensive packaging, Etsy fees, high quality ingredients, taxes) combined with the sacrifices I was making toward my loved ones (it takes a LOT of time to make products, handle bookkeeping, and maintain inventory) caused my stress levels to begin to severely damage my health and my relationships.

When I looked at this situation, the only decision I could possibly make was to pare away the things that are no longer serving my family, and unfortunately in this case, an unprofitable business fits the description.

I have dearly enjoyed and appreciated my customers, thank you all so much, the majority have been extremely kind and sweet, and have absolutely added to my appreciation and love for humanity.

I feel very sad to be letting people down. The least I can do is offer you the recipe I’ve used for this deodorant, because I know it’s a good one 🙂

Lastly, I was very harshly criticized by one customer for not communicating my reasons for keeping the shop on an extended vacation mode, or addressing questions on Facebook quickly. If anyone else feels that I let them down in any way, or takes this personally, please know that it was not my intention to be rude. Etsy is a company that values the struggles of the individual, and recognizes that sometimes happiness and love take precedence over robot-like perfection, that things take time sometimes, especially when there are divorces, deaths, loss of income and illness. That’s why I chose to work with Etsy. I appreciate the folks who are also this kind, and I hope that I didn’t come off as unkind in any way. I have no excuse, other than that I am just one person with a lot of responsibilities.

Hopefully someday we will live in a society that employs a government that supports small business, where the 99 percent of all new income generated is NOT going to the richest one percent of our country (go Bernie!).

Please stay in touch, I plan to keep blogging from time to time, and seeing where this road leads.

Love,
Mere