The Show Must Go On
The story I want to tell you today is a bit more practical. Because when you go through a separation, you feel all the feels, but you need to sift through a lot of stuff. Literally and figuratively.
It was clear right away that some things were up in the air; I did not have certainty that I could keep my home, and control of my business was also in question. And there was no rushing any of that - I just had to wait for the process to, well, process. I’m happy to report both those matters have been put to bed now, and that Eclair Lips is 100% mine and that I was able to keep my home.
Eclair Lips has always been my baby. I dreamed it up, built it from scratch, and ran it every day of its life. It’s how I’ve supported my family for many years, and the idea that it might have to be dismantled and my future livelihood put into question… Well, it’s something I never imagined I would have to contend with. So during those months of uncertainty, I decided to keep plodding forward and planning for the best case scenario: making the business work for my new life moving forward.
There was the immediate need - keep selling lip balm - which thankfully, was taken care of thanks to past-Sylvie who has always loved implementing systems that helped the business run smoothly without me needing to be involved in every little thing. From emails and social posts being sent automatically, third party warehouses handling shipping and even gmail filters that automatically send my receipts to my bookkeeper - things that took a chunk of time to figure out when I put them in place were paying off in spades.
I took back the reins on customer service which used to be handled by my ex-spouse, and luckily, that is also an easy job because for one, my customers are just lovely people and I probably get more emails just to share kind words than from people with actual issues. And those who do need help are usually so nice about it too. But also, because when I identify problems in my customer experience, I’ve always tried to resolve them so that things go smoother for people. Win-win.
And dang, I needed to do something about those thank you cards that went in each order that had both our names on it. I instructed both my warehouses to destroy any stock they had immediately.
But the lip balm? Well, it doesn’t make itself now does it? So I knew that soon, I would have to be back in my commercial facility to start production again. And it felt like a boulder sitting on my chest.
The weight of making the lip balm is one that pre-dates my separation, so I knew that it was the first thing I needed to resolve. It’s just that this particular task scared the crap out of me.
Thank you for letting me share my story with you. Here are the other parts I've shared so far:
