What Was One Of My First Challenges?

Someone asked me a double whammy of a question: What was one of my first challenges when starting this business, and what made me stand out? And what's funny is that one of my very first challenges was that I chose a way to stand out that wasn't very practical!

When I first started, I wanted to have my packaging be super distinctive and reusable, and I was convinced that I had to sell them in little gift sets. So I made these really pretty little boxes all by hand and I tucked in a pair of earring hooks inside each one and I tied everything up with a string. On the box, I had a link to a tutorial to turn the box and the string into a pair of earrings. 

I mean, it was an adorable idea! But as soon as I got a few orders, I realized it was taking me almost 20 minutes to make and package each box because the design was so complicated. So, I simplified the design and kept doing the boxes for a few years.

I eventually realized that people didn't really care much about whether there was a box or not, and it was just a lot of effort and expense with no gain, so I phased them out.