7 Years, my goodness what can I say? (pt 1)
What started out as an idea that I truly believed could work, I received just one order a month. Then after a few months it was one order a week and then one order a day to 100+ orders a day during lockdowns and then back down to 20 orders a day. I can tell you with all my heart it has been an extraordinary rollercoaster. An adventure I had no idea of what might come. From not being able to pay myself for almost three years, to paying myself more money then I could ever imagine, to going back to my pre-business salary when I was employed. I can confirm that nothing has stayed the same for very long. I spent 6 years working from my home starting out from a spare bedroom on the third floor of an apartment in Randwick to a house in Melbourne and from January 2022 an actual warehouse.
As you can imagine, there have been so many highs and most recently a great deal of lows. Now it’s been a few months I have come to terms with the changes and the grief has morphed into acceptance. I was incredibly lucky to have a business during lockdowns that flourished and it’s not lost on me that I was in such a low percentage of those who did. But the come down from that, the interest rate rises and the general lack of need to send care packages after almost three years of constantly needing to has seen my business take a nose dive back to reality. Which has in turn produced worry like I have never felt before. Can I afford my staff? Can I afford my marketing activities when so few are spending money of these kinds of gifts.
And then there was the staff who I knew needed the money but I didn’t have the hours to give them. That pain crept into my every waking hour. I couldn’t concentrate for worrying about paying my staff. I wanted things to be different, to be back to how they were with 30-40 orders a day. And for that I grieved. It has felt like a death, a loss of my business. My staff found more secure jobs which was heart breaking and a relief all at the same time.
But things are still better then pre-covid times and for that I am so greatful for. I can still afford my warehouse which I absolutely love working from. I still have my family who can help me out and Susie by my side.
I have spent a lot of time beating myself up for ordering too many hamper boxes basically leaving me short of money but with approximately 3-4 years worth of boxes. I have worried myself silly that the money I made in the past year and poured into my new brand of socks won’t work out and it’ll all have been for nothing. It has been a vicious cycle of stress, worry and torment these past few months.
This year I did ‘all the things’ to give Joode the best shot of working out. And I’m proud of where I’ve managed to get it. And Feel Better Box was the pillar behind it, basically paying for everything I’ve been able to do and achieve. Did the gamble pay off? I think so, I back myself but the honest truth is, I don’t know – it’s unconfirmed and ultimately it’s outcome will be clear in the next year or two.
I’m hoping I’ve got off the rollercoaster for a few months. My expectations have changed a great deal. And hope has come back into my thoughts and daydreams. If I have played my cards right, I will have two businesses in 2023 that go hand in hand and grow from strength to strength. There is one thing I know for sure, that that cold I had back in 2015 set in motion the most extraordinary 7 years I could ever have imagined. So here’s to the next 7 years, I’m ready for you.