Describe the last difficult “goodbye” you said.
When you start a new adventure, it’s often difficult to know what to expect. You have high hopes (or maybe a high sense of dread), but you go in with a clean slate, ready to tackle it head on.
In January of 2021, I created a small business. I designed my logo, came up with a name, fulfilled the legal requirements, created a social media entity, and started building a customer base. Within my first three months, I saw a profit. Within six months, I had built my VIP group to nearly 1,000 members. Within the first year, I hit my 1,000th order.
The first few months of my second year were incredible. I was so excited for the growth and felt proud of what I had accomplished. All of that quickly changed midway through 2022 when sales plummeted and left me with a plan that would no longer be viable.
I held on. I pushed, I promoted, I cried my heart out in exhaustion. Every spare moment was spent marketing, finding new product ideas, trying to build my customer base, sending out advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, by the end of the year, I knew I could no longer keep going. My time was no longer worth anything. I was spending 80+ hours every week to return very little profit. I was missing time with my family, missing sleep, losing my sanity to the desperation.
In February of 2023, I bit the bullet and announced the closing of my shop. I gave myself a week to collect any last orders, clear out my social media accounts, and say my goodbyes. Saying goodbye to something you built from the ground up, fought for, cried for, and eventually broke down for, was one of the hardest goodbyes.
My small shop wasn’t a person, it wasn’t a loved one or a dear friend, but it was a piece of me, and the goodbye hurt just the same.
The Midwest Mom Musings 