Southern Alchemy

This month seems to be flying by so fast! I finally got our tree up yesterday and hopefully will be able to start my Christmas shopping the latter part of this week!

I know I seemed a *bit* stressed these last 2 weeks and I apologize to anyone that picked up on that energy. To explain a little...I guess the economy has made this a strange year for all of us (and therefore an unpredicatable one as well). My online sales were slower than normal over the summer - then wham! I got slammed in October- which kind of took me by surprise lol, then November came and started off real slow and then by mid month wham! I got slammed again, this time the business was coming in from all sides (etsy, my site, wholesale customers and the plethora of events and markets we had committed to). Now don't get me wrong I feel blessed and am extremly grateful for the business, but I was not prepared for it. Because we offer so many scents and attend weekly markets it made it kind of hard to make sure we always had everything in stock (what might be in stock one day may be gone the next, and then add to that the fact that many of my suppliers are dealing with their own dealys in getting supply orders out). Anyhow, the week of Thanksgiving was difficult because I had several wholesale orders that had just been placed that were wanted in time for Black Friday, I had a shortened week due to the USPS closing early Weds & Friday and being closed Thanksgiving, I had kids home from school, family in town, a huge event that Friday & Saturday and a black friday sale I was running online (in hindsight probably not the best of planning on my end lol).

By the time last Monday came I realized I had close to 500 candles (and other bath/body products to make) and yes , I freaked out a bit. I decided to shut down the shop temporarily so I could get caught up. For many that have wondered or asked, I do not have an assistant or any permanent help. Just me ! My husband helps when & where he can (labels and wicking etc), but he also has his own business to run. I need to hire help, I know, but I need to have a level of consistency in sales before I can commit to that financially.

I am very happy & excited that as of todays shipments I am caught up on all Etsy orders (yay!) , I have a few that have came thru from local clients on my website that I still need to complete but other than that I am up to date! This makes me feel very good as it really bothers me anytime I have to extend past my typical 3-4 days ship time. My customers have shown great patience and understanding and I can not tell you how much I appreciate it!

Now, for the news. I have come to the realization that as my business is growing I will have to make some changes this year in order to keep up with it. Some of these changes will take place at the first of the year, others will be implemented throughout the year. New packaging, scaled back products and scents, new products replacing some of our existing ones. I am excited by these changes and I hope that as I share them with you over the next couple of weeks you will be too!

Last, will we reopen before Christmas? The only reason I closed is I did not feel it was fair to continue accepting new orders until I had shipped the ones I had already received. I did not want to end up in a situation where I took on more than I could handle. After today I want to take a few days off for myself and my family, but by weeks end I will be reopening shop. However I will only be listing items & quantities of what we currently have made and ready to ship. This means that I will not be accepting custom orders or wholesale orders until Jan. 1, also it means that our shop stock will probably fluctuate on a daily basis. The shop may look a bit bare compared to usual but this is the only way I feel comfortable reopening for the holidays, so hopefully everyone understands!

We love our customers & fans and appreciate the business! Please know that any changes we made are only in anticipation of being able to better serve you!