A long time ago, when I worked as a Beauty Director, I had an obsession: Shopping, specifically, beauty shopping. In fact, my bathroom shelves resembled a mini Sephora. I loved the bottles and packaging, and the smells and the colors. My bathroom was my happy place. I worked hard, and if I wanted to spend $100 every paycheck to “reward” myself, well then, so-be-it.
Fast forward fifteen years.
As a CEO of a start up (well, to be fair, we are in year four, so not so much of a start up anymore), I work exponentially harder than I ever did working for someone else. Twelve and fourteen hour days are not uncommon. But you know what, I still shop. Only I have exponentially MORE money to shop with. And you know what else, I STILL shop for beauty products, only now, I am a super sleuth for great ingredients, and not so much impressed by fancy packaging, besides, I would rather give my hard earned money to a fellow indie rather than any big cosmetic conglomerate.
To unwind at night, when my family is asleep, I hop on Etsy and do my version of window shopping. That’s when I came across your Etsy store. I was genuinely impressed by your ingredients.
Even though I adore my own products, and use them the majority of the time, I do like to shake it up a bit and try other wonderful products. In fact, I will be the first to tell anyone I am not the only one to make great products. I also do this so when friends are looking for a product recommendation who can’t afford the Celtic Complexion price point, I can give them an honest opinion of another line.
That’s why I was surprised when you sent me an email implying that I wanted to steal your formula. If that was my intention, I probably wouldn’t have used my real information, which was easily searchable.
First I want to say, I’m not mad. My feelings are hurt that my integrity was questioned, but I’m not mad. I debated whether or not to say this to you over an email exchange, but figured in the end, it was best I just sent you love and light and wish you the best.
I recently had a great customer order my products, and they didn’t work out for her. She felt bad for returning the products, but I didn’t mind taking back the return because I never want a customer to be unhappy or disappointed with the results. Do you know what I did? I went to the website of a competitor (who’s products were really good) and I purchased the entire line for her specific condition.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Nobody can *ever* steal what’s yours, what your heart and soul made. Don’t operate out of fear, because it will only attract it into your life. Besides, when you are always looking over your shoulder, you miss what’s ahead…
From one artisan to another, may you find success and peace.
Warmly,
Jennifer