Sep 15, 2026

It can't be true. But it is. All of it.

by Sylvie Roy

One of the things about my mastermind group is that although we all have similar businesses, they’re mindful about not having multiple people in the group who are in the exact same business. The environment needs to be such that everyone feels comfortable sharing sensitive info, and a lot of folks might feel awkward doing that if someone who is considered a competitor is in the room with them.

But sometimes, being in the room with someone who does exactly the same thing as you do can be a very good thing.

Which is what happened when I met Meggan.

She was new to the group, and once we started chatting, we realized we had “met” online in industry groups on Facebook, and that although Meggan owns a skincare brand, Farmer’s Body, with a range of different products, she had found herself a niche in the lip balm market.

What I didn’t know about Meggan was that she is also a dentist. I joked that she might be the person who finally helps me get over my fear of dentists because we got along great. I bragged about the 13 cavities I was having filled over the summer (KIDS - DON’T DO AS I DO, DO AS I SAY - GO TO THE DENTIST) - yup, I know how to impress people.

When other members of the group caught wind of the fact that there was another lip balm lady in the house, they were all nudging me saying “Sylvie - you might have your production problem solved already! Maybe Meggan could take over production for you!”

So we got to chatting. It turns out that being a dentist, she had been making lip balm for dental practices and that she was set up to make large quantities with production staff already in place.

And she was using the same handmade process as I was! So no machines - just melting down ingredients and pouring them into big filling trays like all of those videos of mine you’ve seen. And yes - the scraping too!

The more we talked, the more both of us started thinking that this could be a very good idea.

Working together would mean that so many of the things I had been worried about, like having to commit to huge quantities and discontinuing so many items, would not be an issue.

They could use my exact formula
They could make small batches of any flavor I wanted using the ingredients I wanted
They could make tinted balms and exfoliating balms
They could print my labels in house
They would make each lip balm by hand
They could keep things super clean because hello?!! DENTIST!
They would still be made by a small, woman owned business

But there is one thing that made me nervous.

Meggan’s business is in Vermont. As in, the state. In the United States. Which Canada is NOT a part of.

I knew that my US customers, who make up over half of my business, would not have an issue with this at all.

But what about my Canadian customers? Would they feel let down if I had a US company making the product for me? I’ve always been so proud to say that Eclair Lips is handmade in Canada. How would people feel about handmade in the USA? Not so long ago, Canadians would have felt good supporting a small US-based business too.

But I also had to be practical, strategic and realistic.

So what does reality look like for me?

Many of my suppliers are US-based because Canada just does not have many companies selling the specialized things I need.

The shipping costs for the materials I need from the US are atrocious.

Bringing anything in from the US has become an excruciating, ever-changing process.

Sending things to the US is equally painful.

It made so much sense. Imagining having less chaos and confusion to deal with felt like such a relief. And at the same time, I hated that it was a good idea. Because this was the point of the recent political chaos, right? To squeeze Canadian businesses so that the alternative that made the most sense was producing things in the US?

I don’t like the politics. I hate them.

But was I going to cut off my nose to spite my face?

I could not afford to do that. Not only financially, and for the business. But personally and for my own health. For my daughters.

And if there is one thing business has taught me, it’s that two opposite things can be true at the very same time.

You can hire employees because there is more work than you can handle while at the same time, not have enough work to pay their salaries.

You can have a beautiful production space you feel proud of while at the same time feeling ashamed that it’s ridiculously too large after you had to downsize your team.

You can absolutely love making a product that brings joy to your customers while simultaneously having terrible anxiety about the production process.

You can outsource your production to a company that checks every single box while at the same time hating the absolute shit political climate that would have us see our neighbors as enemies instead of friends.

You can be angry at what’s happening across the border and still love the people on the other side of it.

The next move was up to me, and it was time for me to decide which reality I wanted to step into.

Thank you for letting me share my story with you. Here are the other parts I've shared so far:

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