9 years ago... my sister surprised me with an amazing, beautiful, incredibly functional, flawless website. ( and a bunch of gorgeous photos of my soaps too, like the one in this post).
for so many years it did everything we needed it to do. i didnt have to reach out for help very often, because they set it up in a way which was so user friendly i was able to do most things all by my non-internet savvy self. however, as time went on .... we'd notice little things going wrong for no reason. we'd try to fix them, or we'd band-aid them for a little while, until the band-aids started falling apart too.
recently, i had been calling my sisters company. she didnt even know i was having to call - i felt bad pestering them .... they have an incredible company with just as much going on as me, they may not be making soap - but they are working just as long and just as hard, if not harder. but they dont do eCommerce. the website they made for bodygoodies was a surprise for me - a gift to me - support from my sister to help me out in business. a gift i will forever be grateful for!
over the last 9 years ive learned so much, not just by having a business, but how to have one. how to do things it takes to have one - like website maintenance... and all of the other things that make me pull my hair out. ive learned what it takes to keep a business moving along, and what it takes to keep customers happy. its hard to balance it all- so much energy has to go to so many places. its hard to do it ... its hard to have a business. its easy to do what you love - but its hard to do the parts you dont love, or never imagined youd be doing, or dont feel qualified at all to do..... but when the only shoulders for the everythings to fall on are yours - you have no choice but to somehow figure it out. and if it doesnt figure out - you find a new route. somehow, someway - you continue on. you.have.to.
so, late october - right before my holiday season at bg really kicked off - my sister came to town for a visit ....we had a little chat about the failing website - and we both knew it was time to shut it down. ... to rebuild. to rebuild with a platform that was capable of all the things necessary for a retail/eCommerce business in these social media and mobile everything times. i knew it was coming, but i still nearly crapped myself having the actual conversation.
i went into work the following tuesday and mentioned it to the team that the website we know, has to come to an end, and i am asking for anyone who may be somewhat internet savvy to step up and help bodygoodies figure out how to build a website. everyone seemed overwhelmed by the idea of taking on such a huge task. so, i figured well - let me please just get through the holiday season with the last little legs the website was standing on - and then ill take on the task of figuring out how to build a new website on my own, in january. because well - its on my shoulders. thats just the way it goes.
thennnn......about 2 weeks ago - im in my truck running errands and my daughter calls - mom, whats the xyz for the etcetc..... she says " im building us a new website, im doing it right now and i need your business ID" lol... then she follows up with - " well when i came in to work today, the first phone call i took was someone trying to place an order on the internet and it wouldnt go through, and we just cant have that going on during the holidays".
by the time i got back to the shop.... we had a website coming together. she literally had the entire foundation done in a day. now, im not surprised she figured out how to do it - shes crazy smart and always has been the most determined little thing..... but what it did - was bring me to tears that she cares so much. she sat down, and put this giant task on her own little shoulders.once the foundation was good to go... she began taking all of the photos and uploading them, listing the products, etc. we've been sat at a PC desk side by side with our screens working together, listing, fine tuning, making decisions and figuring it all out together. but basically, she built the entire website in a matter of days.
me however, lol....unfortunately, im not as capable as her with the internet stuff - and today, when i was attempting to move the blog to the new website ( not just a link) i accidentally lost it. lol yep - 9 years of blogging ... poof. and for as much as i will regret losing some of those - i like to see this entire experience as a new beginning, and i think those are good. to be honest, i think ive figured out a way to recover some of it actually, but i sort of like the idea of a clean slate. perhaps ill post the most important ones from way back... and keep the rest as memories ;)
anywho -- we hope you like the new website - it should be way more user friendly for your mobile devices, and the new platform really gives us so many more capabilities as far as eCommerce goes - all sorts of features. some you may notice, some only we will notice - but it all will make a difference for the better. we still have so much to learn on the back end to make full use of all of the new capabilities - so we hope you will bear with us as we work with and learn our new website and all of its possibilities.
thank you for understanding, thank you for your patience, thank you for your support.
and to my sister amy, tracey and the entire fastspot team - thank you so so very much for the many years, the amazing website, the best support, and for all of your hard work.
And to my incredibly talented daughter... for the beautiful photos, beautiful website..and the determination to make it all happen.
until next,
-heidi