Entrepreneurship – Page 4 – Coastal Carolina Soap Blog

How to Get Me to Vend Your Event

You have a spectacular event. It’s well-planned, scheduled at just the right time of year, and you are expecting some crazy-good crowds, You have tripped over my website or heard of me through the show grapevine, and you send me an application in the mail. What will make me say, “Oh my gosh, I will simply perish if I can’t vend this event” and part with a chunk of my hard-earned money? Well, barring a scheduling conflict, here are some things I look for before I sign my name on the line and mail in my booth fee.

One, how long has this event been going on? I’m more likely to toss my hat in the ring for an established event that already has a following. I might consider a first-time event.

Two, What sort of advertising are you doing? If you’re so committed to your event to invest in billboards, TV ads, and radio spots, then I know this is a huge big deal to you. Your striving for success tells me I have a chance to be successful, too.

Three, What other vendors do you have? If you’re an artisan-only show, then I expect vendors to be well-juried to weed out multi-level marketing companies. I promise you, those sellers/representatives are not artisans selling artisan products. If you’re allowing commercial vendors, then what’s your ratio? As an artisan, I personally have no desire to compete against a commercial vendor selling inferior soaps made in some overseas sweatshop in upscale packaging for $3.00 a bar.

Along with that, how many other artisan soap vendors will be joining me? Some competition is great, and I enjoy meeting other soapers. Plus, we might sell different products that appeal to different customer bases, which is cool. However, four soapmakers out of around a hundred vendors, all selling about the same type of product, is a bit much, don’t you think? Yes, that has happened.

Four, what sort of crowds are you expecting? You could be planning a small, cozy event with maybe 200 attendees who will spend lots, or a humongous event with a projected 40,000 attendees who may or may not spend much at all. I have a good reason for asking. My first show was a 4-day event, 44 hours across those 4 days. The event coordinator said that on one day, there could be 20,000 coming through in a few hours’ time period. The “surge” I was expecting was a mere trickle. A veteran vendor said at the end of the night, “I estimate we had 10,000 all day.”

Five, How can I get more information about your event? I would look for things like a Facebook page, reviews of past events by other vendors who’ve done it, or a website. A current Twitter or Instagram feed shows me you tend to be active about keeping your followers up-to-date and are likely to post right before and during the event to draw interest and generate excitement.

Six, Is your booth fee realistic for the duration of the event? Two separate events, same month. One is essentially a one-day event; the other, 3-day weekend. The booth fee for the weekend is just $20 more than the booth fee for the one-day event. Considering other expenses, it’s important for me to determine if your event is cost-effective for my business. Some argue, “But it’s contact. It’s exposure.” Sure it is, but if nothing comes of that exposure, then I’ve wasted a good deal of time and money. I’d rather invest that same amount of time in building and strengthening relationships with my customers.

I love events, speaking to customers face-to-face, seeing their expressions when they smell particular soaps (a little Perfect Man, anyone?), and teaching them about the amazing benefits of artisan soaps. As my business has grown and I’ve matured as its owner, I have learned to be more picky about the events I do. No more selling myself short or cheap chasing after the almighty dollar.

What things do you look for in events you would do?

The Joy of Saying No, pt. 1

The Joy of Saying No, pt. 2

Time for a Little Caretaking

As most of you know, not only am I an entrepreneur and CEO of a growing bath + body business, but I’m also a mom and a home educator. My days are often busy, but I don’t declare that to make myself look superior; it just is what it is, and most days, what may look like busy work to some people is productive hobby time for me. With all these responsibilities and duties, there must be time to completely unplug, relax, and unwind away from it all. A little over a week ago, Mary, Vice President of Product Development and COO of Girly Arts Made by ME, and I struck off to the beach for the weekend.

This was exactly what we needed. You may have caught my write-up last week about the impressive guest care skills of Garison at The Winds Resort at Ocean Isle Beach. That whole weekend was exactly what these Corporate Divas needed. Just picture white powder beaches with warm water, lush tropical landscaping, and restful moments reading in a hammock under waving palm trees. Yeah, it was that good. There were cold beverages, good eats, and restful nights’ sleep accented by a friendly, accommodating staff.

That picture-perfect postcard that mocks you with, "It's beautiful. Wish you were here." — That picture-perfect postcard that mocks you with, “It’s beautiful. Wish you were here.”

A peek at some of that luscious tropical landscaping The Winds is known for.

We enjoyed our time immensely and returned home feeling loose and mellow. I truly haven’t experienced that much calm time in forever, and it was amazing!

It’s important, now that we’re home, to maintain that peaceful feeling, to take moments to do things that help promote a calm spirit. Knitting is my mini-vacation of choice these days. Studies have actually shown that knitting helps lower blood pressure. I find having a cat lying beside me also helps me feel incredibly relaxed. Between the two of these things, most nights it’s a serious struggle getting upstairs to bed, because I’m half asleep with my knitting needles in my hand. My current project is a lace shawl. This is it in process:

Sneak peek of the black and sequin lace shawl I'm knitting to go with a red dress. And jeans. And... — Sneak peek of the black and sequin lace shawl I’m knitting to go with a red dress. And jeans. And…

This is our secret for chilling out and relaxing, and in the process, we returned home with grand ideas and fresh energy for taking care of orders going into the busy holiday season. How do you recharge your battery?

Customer Service Excellence

Part of being a business owner and home educator is giving myself permission to take breaks, like escaping to the beach on occasion. There is, of course, great value to this, as I come back well-rested and refreshed, sometimes with new ideas for ways to serve my customers better. When I can experience the epitome of excellent customer service in the search for a much-needed break, all the better.

I first encountered Garison online. No, it wasn’t at any place sordid – no Ashley Madison dot com or match dot com-type places. I first became aware of Garison through Trip Advisor. Garison is the Customer Service Manager for The Winds Resort at Ocean Isle Beach, where Mary and I enjoyed a very relaxing weekend away this past weekend.

A view of the beach through the lush tropical landscaping around the resort

Mary and me in front of one of the cool, kitschy, totally necessary signs directing you places

So, what made this guy stand out? Simply put, it was how he handled all reviews, both positive and negative. While Garison hasn’t been at The Winds very long (18 months or so), he made an effort to address reviews that predate the start of his tenure at the resort. Dealing with complaints from what a predecessor did takes some integrity, and I admire integrity. To reviews that end with, “I’m never coming back!” he replies with a smooth, “Even if you don’t stay with us, we hope you’ll come back to Ocean Isle Beach for your next vacation.” A 5-star review got a response of, “Navigating The Winds’ many pathways can indeed be challenging. (There’s a reason we hand out maps! <g> ).” There are winding paths around the property, so the maps are quite helpful. To another 5-star review, there was this comment, which I found amusing, given that it was overcast and lightly raining until the morning we had to leave: “I do apologize, however, that we failed to maintain sufficient control of the weather for you. I will speak with our staff about that and see if we can’t do better for your next visit.” Garison did more than just blow off the reviews with a “Thanks for staying with us and we look forward to seeing you again soon”; he took the time to read each and every review, and he went so far as to accept responsibility on behalf of the resort for things that truly were their fault or failing and using well-placed humor on issues that weren’t.

My daughter and I were already looking forward to the trip, but looking at the online reviews (interesting to note that there’s only been one bad review in the past year) and reading what people were saying, as well as Garison’s responses, just heightened our anticipation and made me want to meet this guy. As a business owner and one who wants to make sure every customer is happy (not just satisfied), I respect and admire that same quality in others in the customer service sector. Garison helped at check-in, and he was willing to let me get a picture with him. On top of that, he was extremely patient with Mary’s efforts to get a clear picture, even though it was time for him to go home for the rest of the weekend.

Garison and me (Photo credit: Mary Nesbitt)

I have great respect and admiration for all that Garison has done as Customer Service Manager at The Winds – guest services, managing the staff (and giving them their due for good work), and also taking the time to deal with online comments. The pleasure Mary and I had as we enjoyed our mom/daughter weekend led us both to declare, “We’re definitely coming back here!” Garison and his top-notch staff sealed the deal on that.

When’s the last time you took a break from the hustle and bustle of your daily life? What did you do?

Rewards of Limitations

It’s one thing to tell myself that I won’t do an event. I can list the reasons why it’s a good idea to skip it. I can identify all the affirmations of the decision. The real test comes, however, in the moment: How will I feel knowing the event is happening and I’m not doing it?

Friday, the feeling that I was doing the right thing in not vending Saturday’s event continued. I felt so relieved! I commented to Mom later that that must have been what she felt the first day after she retired. She commented, “It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off of you.” Yes!!! That’s it exactly! Friday, the girls and I ran some errands around town, and I know I had the biggest, dopiest smile on my face. We went to the bank to withdraw some money. The teller took my check and started pulling out bills. Then she looked at the check again. She looked at me with some confusion. Then she looked at the check yet again. She said, “You usually get more money than this. Are you doing the festival?” I replied, “No, which is why I’ve got this huge smile on my face.” It was getting almost comical.

Friday night, I was sitting on the sofa knitting and watching TV with the Swirl God. I said, “You see this? You see what I’m doing? Or, more specifically, what I’m not doing?” He didn’t quite get it. I said, “I’m sitting. And knitting. And watching reruns of TV shows I missed the first time. I’m not sitting at the table labeling a bunch of stuff. And later I’ll be heading to bed at a decent time, and maybe I’ll even sleep in in the morning.” My best friend who usually waits up with me while I’m doing my last-minute show prep was also looped into the giddiness.

The day of the festival arrived, and I did, in fact, sleep in. I pretty much slept until the start of the festival. Then it was on! I made cinnamon roll waffles for breakfast, then I started potatoes for potato salad. Long story short, I made potato salad and a batch of oat bran zucchini chocolate chunk muffins before lunch, and made a batch of pickles afterwards. The girls and their dad went to the festival, but they were back in about an hour; it was just too hot. By all accounts, attendance was down and people weren’t parting with their money easily. It also seems like it was another one like last year when it died 4 hours before the end.

It felt a little bad not being at the festival, not seeing one of my private label customers (another vendor), and potentially not serving my repeat customers. But only a little. I got over it. It just felt so good all weekend! There was the happy, relieved feeling of all week. There was the family time before the girls scattered for the week. There was having the energy to hang in until late with my best friend after his mom got hurt. There was the simple sweetness of celebrating Father’s Day on Saturday with a movie and a special dinner. And then there was Father’s Day itself, the first in a few years where I actually got to see my dad on Father’s Day.

Telling myself no to this event was risky; I stood to lose a good deal of potential revenue. I gained so much more, though, far more than that money is worth.

The Joy of Saying No, pt. 2

This article is part 2 of 2 on the rewards of saying, “no.” You can read the first part here.

As I mentioned in part 1 of “The Joy of Saying ‘No,'” I found joy and a sense of achievement in placing boundaries on my time and preserving my need to rest, sleep, and spend time with my family, even if it meant telling some special large order customers they would have to wait. Last year, I started putting some boundaries on myself, telling myself “no” when everything in me was hollering for “YES!!!”

It began at a local festival I had done faithfully from 2010 to 2014, despite seeing the booth fees increase steadily over that five-year period even as revenues dropped. After 2013’s festival, I crunched the numbers and realized (*gasp!*) I had ended up $150.00 in the hole (and we don’t have to travel more than 2 miles to it). Yikes! I still persevered into 2014 and participated in last year’s festival, again with a booth fee increase and diminished revenue. I decided not to do that event again. It just wasn’t worth it anymore. That was a really difficult decision, as a friend and private label customer is one of my fellow vendors, and I have many local customers who find me there. Deciding to quit had emotional ramifications for me.

The weekend following that event last year saw me at a steampunk convention for the second year. So. Much. Fun!!! I had my costume, I had a fabulous part-time partner to cover my booth, and I was hugging and greeting friends throughout my set-up time. There was so much to see and so many people to talk to, and it was much less tiring than it had been the previous year. Again, though, the participation fee had gone up, paired with travel expenses, and my revenues were down. In fact, it seemed attendance was down for both events. With a very heavy heart, I decided it was no longer financially feasible to participate in this event, either.

I’m a female with a female’s emotions; I feel sad, happy, victorious, frustrated, and angry. The hardest lesson for me in making these choices was, I couldn’t let my emotions run my business. There is room in my business for passion and excitement, but when the ledger books are showing more red than black, then there is no room at that point for emotion-based decisions.

As emotionally upsetting as the necessity of those decisions was, it did not take me long to move past the sadness and embrace the positives. The steampunk convention isn’t happening this year due to “lack of venue.” The booth fee for the other event went up yet again. In addition to that, I found out that attendance really was lower last year, per someone on the committee. Then the weather forecast proved to be the third affirmation that I’d made a smart choice; this Saturday is supposed to have a heat index over 100 deg. No way do I want to be out in that all day!

The rewards for me have been tremendous! This week I’ve supervised my daughter while she made and canned chocolate syrup, made a cover for my older daughter’s Nook, and finished their dad’s Father’s Day gifts. Whereas normally I’d be pulling everything together, doing last-minute wrapping and labeling, and trying to get my daughters ready for a couple of nights at their grandparents’ house, in addition to getting my oldest ready to go off to camp for a week, this week I’m calm, relaxed, and nearly giddy with how not-stressed I am. At random times, I’m dancing around and giggling – yes, GIGGLING!!! – because I’m not doing this festival. I’m not volunteering at our church’s booth at it (this year), I’m not going as a customer, nothing.

Friday we will do Father’s Day, since the oldest leaves at 5 Sunday morning. Saturday morning we will sleep in, have a special breakfast, and stay in our pajamas until close to noon. Sunday morning, instead of waking up late, still dehydrated and suffering the remaining vestiges of heat exhaustion, we’re going to wake up for church and then enjoy lunch with my parents.

The psychological effects of telling myself “no” have been overwhelmingly positive. Sure, there was a little discomfort at first, but like with so many positive changes, those negatives have quickly disappeared in light of the feelings of joy, calm, and excitement I am experiencing this week. If you’re a business owner, a mom, a teacher, a whatever, I encourage you to embrace the word “no” every now and then. You’ll be amazed at how liberating it is.

15 Traits of Emotionally Wealthy People

The Joy of Saying No, pt. 1

When I was in divinity school, I studied how to place personal boundaries on my time, my commitments, and my space. I also learned how to set boundaries on the amount of crap I’d put up with. Manipulation? Nope, I’m choosing not to accept that. Heartfelt pleadings for me to do something for you when my schedule is already overloaded? Nuh uh. Not my problem. Sure, I pissed some people off, but they got used to my “no” and soon grew to recognize that I could still be in relationship with them without the psychological game playing. (I mean, seriously, who has time for that when you’re in graduate school, working, and raising a family?)

Grumpy Cat No — Love me some Grumpy Cat!

While it is no longer hard at all for me to tell people “no,” I have had a really hard time enforcing my boundaries when it comes to my business. I’ll work long hours on production or media, or I’ll burn the midnight oil to get a zero-hour order processed for a customer and out the next day. The transformation seemed to come all at once. A few days before Christmas, a private label customer sent an order to me. I informed her that I was closed for the holidays and gave her a specific date when I would begin to process her order. Ahhh… Telling myself that it was OK not to work proved to be incredibly liberating to me.

More recently, another private label customer and I were discussing her most recent order, which was all ready to go in the mail. My agenda for the following day included taking my car to be serviced before heading to the beach with my girls. As she asked for add-ons to her order – none of which I had expected or had ready – I said, “It’s almost 11:00. I’m not going to do that tonight.” She’d temporarily forgotten one part that would have had me up for a while later and agreed to add those into her next order. Really, truly, I have amazing, understanding customers!!!

In both of these cases, I’d had to say “no” in order to preserve my time, my body’s needs, and my sanity. No longer do I have to give up family time or sleep in order to meet my customers’ needs. This wisdom comes with experience and being in business for a long time. It is wisdom that has seen late nights, high stress, and printer malfunctions (which only happen in crunch times). It’s wisdom that has cried from being overwhelmed with trying to balance soapmaking and present wrapping. While it has been earned the hard way, the reward is giving myself permission to stop, rest, and relax.

If you are a business owner of any sort, to what have you had to say, “no”?

Click here for “The Joy of Saying No, part 2.”

I mistook better, cheaper, faster for di

Moving Beyond the Fear & Hype

A Casual Affair: The Best of Tonic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The petition crossed my inbox more than a year ago. It was entitled, “Tradition, not Trademark,” (TnT) and they were moving to have the US Patent and Trademark Office remove the trademark for “Fire Cider” that Shire City Herbals had acquired. I signed the petition. At this point, a bunch of my friends had started talking on social media about their fire cider experiments. They posted pictures and recipes (and, frankly, I thought it looked and sounded disgusting, but that’s beside the point). Since “fire cider” seemed to be the latest trend in old-timey, all-natural cold remedies, it seemed that any attempts (let alone success) to trademark this tonic was, in fact, hording something that’s been around for ages.

I bought everything that TnT said. It seemed horridly unfair and unjust for Shire City Herbals (SCH) to take possession of an old folk remedy and prevent all others from making and selling it. TnT has recommended everyone boycott Shire City Herbals’ Fire Cider tonic, claiming that SCH is a huge mega-corporation out to bury smaller herbal companies. TnT has backpedaled a little on some of their claims, but they’ve offered no real apologies.

This week, I posted something to one of my social media feeds encouraging the boycotting of SCH Fire Cider. A certified aromatherapist friend of mine had posted it, so I thought she had the real scoop. Well, I was wrong, and so was my friend. I heard from someone from Shire City Herbals – one of the founders of that company. Apparently, they started making Fire Cider to sell in 2011; others started following suit. This is the way that usually works: A product hits the shelves that quickly gets a reputation for being from an old-fashioned, all natural recipe. All the folks who are interested in having some for themselves without having to buy it hit Google for recipes which they then post on their own social media pages, but maybe with their tweaks. It spreads from there. It seems that, in this case, someone (not one of my friends) started making Fire Cider in her own kitchen and claimed that SCH stole the recipe from her.

After perusing some information directly from Shire City Herbals, I’m left with a couple of impressions of this company. One, in light of everything with which they’ve had to deal, SCH has stayed focused on their own business, which led to their controlling their business growth. While I’m sure the antics of TnT were annoying at best, SCH seems to have worried more about what they were doing than what TnT was doing. Two, TnT’s call to boycott SCH’s Fire Cider backfired and proved that boycotts tend not to work. If anything, a call to boycott intrigues the non-customers (turning them into customers) and it makes the company’s loyal customers rally behind them.

TnT was using fear to promote their agenda, and I am ashamed to say that I bought into it. They created a fear that Shire City Herbals was going to monopolize the Fire Cider market, making it illegal for anyone else to make or sell it under that name. The thing is, I’m not even an herbalist in any commercial sense of the word, so no part of this ordeal was even going to impact my business. I guess the unspoken fear agenda could be, “If one company trademarks a generic folk medicine remedy, then what’s to stop other companies from trademarking other generic product names?”

They create environments of positivity, focusing more on the good that’s going on than the bad.

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It was, in fact, Shire City Herbals who first claimed the name fire cider, and the recipe they use is one they derived from one of the owners’ grandmother, as you can read about here. In light of a few years’ worth of trials, Shire City Herbals has not only managed to survive, but their business has nearly doubled.

Successful, outside-the-box thinkers & movers will draw their haters & critics.

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Successful, outside-the-box thinkers and movers will draw their haters and critics, but they don’t stay successful by listening to the hatemongering of their critics, nor do they buy into the negative hype surrounding them. They create environments of positivity, focusing more on the good that’s going on than the bad.

Day 38: Fire Cider

It Started With a Dream

As many of my customers know, I have two daughters, both of whom like helping me with my business. My older daughter, Mary, is COO of the Girly Arts line, and my younger daughter, Hannah, is learning the craft and beginning to help mix colorants and make soap. Hannah has one objective: Earn money for her pink fishing boat. Early versions of this boat look something like this:

Eventually she’ll earn enough money fishing both to finance her college education and to upgrade to a bigger boat, something along the size of the Disney Dream. No dreams are too big for her.

Hannah is determined to pay for her boat outright – all cash, no credit – and is already working hard to earn the money to buy her boat. Not too long ago, she told me she likes helping me make soap. I asked her what she likes about it, and she said, “I get to make money for my boat. I’m in it for the money.” Nevermind that she’s eleven years away from even being able to get her pilot’s license; she’s ready for it now.

As part of her endeavors to earn the money for her boat, Hannah has created and crafted these charming Steampunk butterflies. Silver, bronze, and pearlescent white come together in a gorgeous, funky-cool soap unlike anything we’ve offered before.

steampunk butterfly — Steampunked Butterfly

Lovely, isn’t it? Quantities are very limited on these beautiful special edition soaps, so get yours quickly. Just click the picture above to get your hands on one of these sweet little gems.

Everyone has a dream. What’s your dream? What are you doing to achieve it?

I Feel… Free!

It’s normal for me, in January, to randomly let the next six months float through the ether in my brain to see what settles out. This usually includes must-dos, events, trips, holidays, etc. This afternoon, I was in the shower, letting the steam mix with the ether as all these thoughts drifted in and out of my head. (I don’t know about you, but I do some of my best thinking in the shower.) Let’s see…

January… Inventory is just about finished, and it’s time to restock, maybe order more ingredients if restocking depletes me too much. Gotta get all those wine soaps stocked and run through top sellers for that other account to make sure I’m good there.

February… Second weekend – taxes. Ugh. but then by the 4th weekend of February, refund, so it’s all good.

March… April… Soccer. Open house – maybe? Hopefully – at a friend’s house. It’s already in the planning stages.

May… Pender Spring Fest. Mother’s Day. I’d really like to take Mary on that “just us” beach trip that didn’t work out a few years ago.

June… Father’s Day. Maybe ConTemporal. Peter’s birthday. Blueberry Festival. Wait. Hold on! I’d decided not to vend Blueberry Festival this year.

Oh. My. Gosh! I feel so… free!!! Blueberry Festival is almost always the Saturday before Father’s Day, and with prepping and vending, working all the day long in the sun, by the time Sunday rolls around, I’m still in “Where’s my weekend?” recovery mode, which is hardly conducive to helping the girls facilitate a special Dad’s Day celebration. Not vending Blueberry Festival means being completely present for that. It means spending time with Mary before she goes to a week-long mission camp. It means not having the application deadline cluttering up my mental space. It means more time for me, more time for my family, more time for trips to the beach and stuff.

This is the year that I’m allowing last year’s developing attitude and mindset to grow a little bit more. I said last year that 2014 is not my year; it is a year of preparation for 2015, which would be my year. And hear it is. I have been taking steps to owning my business more, instead of letting it own me. It will be a good year, a saner year, a happier year.

What can you give up this year in order to free yourself for more pleasurable things?

Lessons for a Stressed Out Kid Entrepreneur

Sometimes, life is feast or famine. A couple of months of ease have given way to a week of total insanity, as a wholesale order, a private label order, and a major show have all come together at one time. Mary has had to make a bunch of Reindeer Poo soaps and bags for the wholesale order and the event, and she’s feeling the stress. On

top of that, she needs to make a couple of more gift sets. And do school. And her chores. Yes, my sweet 11-year-old girl is in agony right now!

Well, guess what? I’m stressed, too. Can you imagine how awful and unproductive it’d be if both of us were stressed at the same time? So, I’ve decided to create teachable moments from the stressful moments. I can’t take the stress away from her. Oh, if only I could! The best I can do is give her tools to manage her stress.

As I type this, we’re both benefiting from one of my favorite ways to ease stress: We’re listening to classical music. She has heard me say dozens of times that I prefer classical when I’m strung, and this morning, Mary actually asked me to play classical today. This is the same child who cries, “Oh, no! Not classical again!” every time we’re in the car. It’s working; she told me not long ago that she’s feeling much less stressed this afternoon.

This morning she asked me why I’m don’t seem very stressed. I started to tell her, “I formulated a plan that I’m using to guide me,” but that just led to eye-rolling. So I said, “You’re already stressed. We can’t both be stressed. That’d just be disastrous, so I’m going to be zen.” My youngest piped up and said, “And if you get stressed, then I’ll be zen! And if I’m not zen, then Daddy can be zen. And if Daddy isn’t zen, then Grandpa can be. And if Grandpa…” I cut her off there with a smile and said, “Your Grandpa is always zen.”

Today, like every day this week, we’ve planned and executed. The trite but true response to “How will we get this all done?” is simply, “We just do it.” As we entered the last of the wrapping/labeling phase this morning, we have been able to see the fruits of our labors coming together as soaps have stacked up on the table to be transferred to bins for transporting or boxes for shipping. Just that – seeing all this work moving from the production stage into the pre-selling stage – has been more motivating than anything else so far this week.

Earlier in the week, Mary was making bags for the Reindeer Poo soaps using my sewing machine when it started to make this really unpleasant noise. We figured it was just struggling from lack of use. But then, the next afternoon, the noise got louder, and the machine stopped working altogether. Whee! Let’s shoot that stress level up another notch or two or twelve! Mary dug out her sewing machine, and as it fired up, a collective sigh of relief blew through the house – until that night, when it was being temperamental. She was in tears of fatigue and frustration. “It’ll be OK,” I told her. “Go to bed, and we’ll attack it fresh in the morning.” Sure enough, her sewing machine worked great the next day.

Along with all this, my youngest has been feeling left out. She’s used to having more attention from Mommy and big sister through the day than she’s been getting this week. There are some things she can do, but not many. This morning, she admitted that she has been misbehaving more to get more attention. I’ve had to be more attuned to her needs and wants, even when I’m labeling lip balms and wrapping soap and bottling Tahiti Kiss all at the same time. Today at nap time, she said, “I’ve tried to behave better.” She has.

While I’m used to this level of work and having to meet deadlines, Mary isn’t, so this has been a tremendous learning experience for her. She’s had to learn time management, stress management, and the importance of working smarter instead of harder. Those are all great lessons which will serve her well in life and business.

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