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Breaking Up Is Hard To Do...

They say the wisest person is one who can learn from others' mistakes. It's because of that I'm sharing my story about the HUGE business breakup I went through at the end of 2018. I want to share what happened not to point fingers or issue blame, but rather to encourage other entrepreneurs out there to trust their instincts and stay true to their vision and dreams.

So, here's the story...

 

"Once Upon a Time", in the Fall of 2018, I was anxious to grow my business. I knew that I had an *amazing* product. I knew I wanted to help women SHINE. I knew I was all about empowering the #Ladybosses of the world to connect with their inner Goddess and light the fire within! There was just one issue: nobody really knew who we were yet. 

So, when I started looking for outside guidance on how to get my candles in front of more eyes, I did something I shouldn't have: I started questioning my vision, and worst of all, my worth.

 

I was so gung ho to get the ball rollin' that I started doubting whether I was up to the task of growing my numbers myself. I admit, it was really tempting to trust the men in suits who seemed to have all the answers. Initially, this professional marketing firm swept me off my freaking feet. They promised me they could take me from zero to sixty in no time. They would take over my online presence with a promise that I would be seeing significant profits within a few weeks. 

So, I hired them.

Now, I realize hindsight is 20/20. At the time, I thought I was making a smart decision for my business. And in many cases, other small businesses have benefited from working with marketing companies. 

BUT: You know that saying "if it sounds too good to be true, IT IS!"?

 

Well, guess what? It sounded too good to be true: and it WAS! After I hired them, my sales plummeted. It was crickets. I lost followers. I lost customers. I lost, and lost, and lost.  But, you know how a breakup goes...you think, maybe I've been too hard on them. They deserve another chance. Maybe I'm "crazy"...so I gave it another month. Another month of being treated like an annoyance. Another month of "it's not me, it's you". Another month of what I'm embarrassed to admit was thousands of dollars down the drain.

But I still wanted so badly to believe that these people would deliver on their promises to me that I went back-and-forth about whether to "break up" with this firm and cut my losses.

At one point I was so low, I was having lunch with my assistant and I got tears in my eyes as I asked her, "do we have an ugly baby?" She started laughing and said of COURSE not! She reminded me of all the positive feedback we'd gotten from every single person who'd ever come into contact with our company and our product. About the hours we'd spent doing the work ourselves, going to the markets, pounding pavement getting the word out about the work we were doing and the message we were spreading.

And she was right.

The moment I started doubting myself and changing my business to be somebody else's idea of something that would "sell" was the moment I went wrong. 

 

So, my dear fellow Ladybosses, the moral of the story is: If you feel in your gut that someone is taking advantage of your trust, no matter what area of your life- business, personal, or otherwise- you need to get out of that relationship.

I'm still healing from what ended up being a very costly business breakup, both emotionally and financially, but you know what? I have a TON of optimism that perhaps that was exactly what needed to happen to reconnect me to my community. To my own inner Goddess.

I can't wait to move into 2019 knowing *exactly* the message I want to put out into the world and *exactly* the kind of empowering female community I want to build. 

 

You live, you learn, right??

 

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