Tag: Online shopping

Why I LOVE #FreeShippingDay

It’s almost here!  Soooo exciting!  What’s the big deal?  WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL!?!?!  Free shipping day!  That’s the big deal!

I’m not just talking this up for promotional purposes (though we are participating again).  This truly is my favorite online shopping day of the year from a retailer’s standpoint.

So what makes Free Shipping Day such a highlight for me?  Because I get to ship smiles.  I’ve been participating in this one-day-a-year event for the past few years, and of all the orders I receive, most are going to other people, which means we’re shipping Christmas presents.  The recipients open their packages, bust open the package, read the name on the tag, and they know someone was thinking of them.  Then they open the wrapped goodies inside and get to experience our amazing products (if I do say so myself).

A little personal story…  I was in graduate school the first time around back in the days when the internet was infantile and online shopping wasn’t really a thing.  I certainly didn’t have internet or email myself.  I’d get mail order catalogs and thumb through them at night while I was unwinding, choosing gifts for people that I thought they’d love, mailing my check and order form, and waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting some more.  Finally I’d get the little salmon slip in my mailbox announcing a package had arrived for me, and I’d schlep it back to my apartment, barely heeding the envious looks of other students (“Package!  I like packages!”  I felt the same way when someone else got one.).  Once back in my apartment, I ripped into the box, rifled through all the packing material, and pulled out my order, oohing and ahhing over the items, imagining how much this person or that person would (hopefully) love this gift.  Then, I’d wrap the gift and place it under the tree, delightedly expectant of the joy of giving it and watching the recipient unwrap it.

I feel that same sense of expectant joy when I’m wrapping these packages to ship on Free Shipping Day.  While I don’t get to see the recipients’ faces, it still excites me knowing that I have some small part in the love they might feel in this holiday season.

 

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Taking Care of the First Order of Business

It’s crazy this time of year, isn’t it?  Some of us are cooking for Thanksgiving, and some of that bunch are planning on hosting these fabulous Thanksgiving dinners and looking forward to celebrating with family.  (We’re all just going to hope that the host home is a “politics-free” zone – yet one more thing that’d make us quite grateful.)  For small business owners, we’re gearing up for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and as small business owners, we still have our own homes to prepare for the holidays.

A year ago tomorrow, my wish for “a more relaxed Advent season” took a turn I wasn’t expecting.  I was hoping that my family would willingly pitch in and help take some of the load off my plate so I could play games on NORADtracks and feel less stressed.  Well, my family did step up and help with cooking, decorating, and my business – after I took a spill that resulted in a dislocated knee and six weeks in a leg brace.  Not some place I want to go again!

The thing is, we absolutely must take care of ourselves as business owners and parents.  I started a weight-loss regime of toning, walking, and calorie monitoring in early October.  (The weight loss numbers have been disappointing, but I’ve got new muscle tone, and my pants are getting unattractively loose.)  With huge orders to wrap and ship, classes to teach, a home to take care of, and gifts to make, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to find the time I need each day to get my exercise in.  I need that exercise, though!  My knees are happier, I sleep better, and I feel better overall.

Yesterday was one of those challenges.  There literally aren’t enough hours of daylight these days to get everything done.  I’d taught both girls their lessons, planned dinner, and the soaps…  Well, we won’t mention those.  The sink was full of dirty dishes waiting to go into the dishwasher, but I only had about an hour of light left and really wanted to get a walk in.  What to do, what to do?  And the fact that it was pretty chilly outside really didn’t help much.  I donned sneakers and grabbed a windbreaker out of the closet and headed out for my walk.

It was a great walk, though my legs were cold by the time I got back.  I waved at neighbors and had one lady tell me that it was “a blessing to see [me].”  I watched Christmas lights going up on a house down the street and witnessed the little boy’s excitement as he watched and “helped” his parents.  In one section of our neighborhood, one house had wreaths on the windows while the house across from them has an inflatable turkey.  I saw the first star appear in the clear evening sky.

As I struck out to take my walk, I knew I had a lot of work to do for my business, my home, and my family.  I have a lot of work to do for me, too, though.  If I don’t find the balance that allows me to take care of my self, then I really won’t be able to take care of everything else.  My knees will become sore and stiff again, I’ll be sleep-deprived, and I’ll lose some of this new energy.

My business mentor insists that we all treat ourselves to a post-holiday sales rush spa day – or a massage at the very least.  This year is looking like a good time to add that to my self-care.  In the meantime, though, these steps I’m taking now are helping me combat the stress before it starts.

Going into what I call “the silly season” in retail, I encourage my colleagues to work some self-care into their daily routines.  (We cannot live on Christmas cookies alone!)  For you folks – mostly women, admittedly – who are trying to do everything and be everything to all people, pause!  Take the time to make some memories and simply be with the ones you love.  Not every walk I take is intensely therapeutic; tonight I’ll be walking with my little girl who will watch squirrels and marvel at the Christmas decorations that are going up downtown, so a slower pace.  And that’s OK, because I still get my walk, and she and I are making some lovely memories.