I used to be really good at slacking.
I've had a job since I was 15 (and babysat before that), and although many of those years were spent working well over 40 hours a week, and most of them also included school of some kind, I somehow always found time to slack.
Good, old-fashioned slacking... just sitting and watching the world go by, listening to birds chirping, riding my bike, attempting to to draw or paint, whatever it was, it was time I spent by myself and feeling a deeper connection to the world around me.
Then I started school full time, majoring in a subject that I loved but never really saw myself making a life out of, with some of my professors expecting much more effort out of students than they wanted to put into teaching, in a school that I hated more than pretty much anything else in the world.
I did that for two full years. Why did I wait so long to change things? I have no idea. I was so stressed out, so broke, tired, sick, over-worked, under-funned, I don't think I really knew what was happening. Or, I did, but I was in denial. Or, I knew it, but I just wanted to finish something. I still haven't decided.
Then a string of events happened (The Story Part 1... but after just looking back on it, I guess I still need to write more of the story!). Wunder Budder was sent into motion.
I went straight from being all those things I mentioned, to being all those things I mentioned (only I was loving what I was doing this time), with no break in between.
After three years with no real break, I'm teaching myself how to slack again. And to not feel guilty for it.
One of my forever goals is to find balance in all aspects in my life. This year, my focus is to find balance between growing a small business, spending time with the people I need in my life, some old-fashioned slacking, and any combination of those things.
I started with sleeping more, only using an alarm when absolutely necessary, and becoming more organized... to quit wasting time trying to keep my head, my business, my life together, and just take steps to make sure they stay together without all the extra effort, at least most of the time.
I've discovered projects... as in, a goal, with a time frame, split up into parts for a less overwhelming experience. This month I have two major goals... to have my studio fully organized and to have my lip balm wholesale campaign ready to go by May 1st.
So far, so good, and I can't wait to show off my studio before and after pictures later this month!
XoXo,
Lisa
www.wunderbudder.com
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
40% off Some Stuff!
Hello! Spring is in the air!
I was spring cleaning in my studio earlier today... I found 200 pipettes, 100 perfume sample vials, 25 1/3 oz perfume roller bottles, 1000 wooden sample spatulas, 50 1oz dropper bottles and some chocolate sunflower seed clusters.
All of these things I forgot I had or thought I lost, so it was a day of surprises!
How do you lose that many things in a one room studio? You become me.
That was earlier in the day.
Later, I took some new photos to update the website...
 |
| Just Lavender Aromatherapy |
I had totally forgotten that I had no picture of Just Lavender anything on the site!
As I was going through the bottles, I realized that some things had paper labels
and some things had EarthFirstPLA labels.
We're in the process of switching all our products over, and all 1&2oz bottles,
inhalers, salves and lip balms have the PLA labels.
Except the few that I found.
spring cleaning + mismatched labels = hugely discounted sale!
40% off all 1oz & 2oz facial oils and toners, and select aromatherapy air & body sprays until the paper labels are gone! There's only a few of each left, and once the paper labelled items are sold, the sale is over. So, get some while you can!
 |
| Some of these things are on sale |
XoXo,
Lisa @ Wunder Budder
Love living naturally!
Monday, February 14, 2011
A love letter to Wunder Budder...
my original salve - Original.
At first it was just called Wunder Budder.
That was the name of the salve.
Wunder Budder super soft salve.
 |
| Original calendula salve |
Time went on, and I as kept making new stuff, the name Wunder Budder slowly became the name of my business and my original salve, no longer with it's own name, became Original. Original calendula salve. Sometimes I think it fades into the background because of it's name, but it is one of my favorite things that exist in this whole world.
Really.
The Whole World.
I'm not exaggerating.
Sometimes I forget... I get so distracted with the new stuff I make that Original might sit in a bag for days, all alone.
And then I see it, pick it up, put it on my lips and massage it into my hands.
Those words aren't even right... I don't just "put it on" or "massage it in"... I see it, feel it, smell it... I experience it.
Those words aren't even right... I don't just "put it on" or "massage it in"... I see it, feel it, smell it... I experience it.
It's so soft that sometimes I can't even believe it.
And the smell... the beautiful beeswax aroma... a little calendula, a little apricot kernel oil, but mostly just the sweet smell of beeswax.
bright
yellow
beeswax
Someday I will raise my own bees.
I think about where I was when I first started making it... a cold dry New Mexican winter at first, and then the snowiest Massachusettes winter I had ever remembered when it became official. I think about picking out the tins... flat tins... they just feel better
I think about designing the labels, teaching myself how to use Illustrator. What did I want it to look like? What did I want to see when I looked at that little tin filled with soft yellow magic?
I experimented a lot...
 |
| A few of my favorites. |
Stars! It needed stars... and my favorite color? Orange? Or is it green?... both! Add a little blue, just the right color blue...
And the back?
From the very beginning, the labelling laws from the FDA plagued me... the font size of the weight or volume had to be bigger than the ingredients! Ok, it doesn't have to be that way, but in the case of the small label needed for a Wunder Budder tin, it did. I spent so long on the front, getting it exactly as I wanted it, that I didn't want to interrupt it with the contents measurements.
I got it to fit on the back, with the ingredients, the original Wunder Budder quote "Don't forget to smile", and a short description: "A soft smooth salve to moisturize and protect your skin and lips. Apply whenever needed".
It seems simple, right? But it wasn't! It still isn't!
Trying to fit everything I want to say about my stuff never fits on a label.
I also wanted to add something else... how to use it... what it was good for... I was familiar with salves, but now still, 8 years later, I meet many people who don't know what they are or what to use them for. So, I needed to add some guidance... "A little goes a long way!" followed by the words, in a ring around the edge of the label:
hands lips cheeks elbows soles hair legs friends fingers knees toes
My dorkiness still makes me smile.
It's still my favorite thing to make. And don't get me wrong... there's nothing but love going into everything I make... it's what I do... it's what I love. But Original is still my favorite.
Infusing the golden calendula flowers into a special blend of the even more golden jojoba and apricot kernel oils... it's liquid sunshine... not like Sunshine... a different liquid sunshine.
I guess I say that a lot.
I guess I say that a lot.
I think of vegetables as crunchy sunshine.
...
The melting of the beeswax...
really, I just love beeswax!
 |
| Makin' Original |
But my favorite part... cleaning up after! Really! It's like making a cake and licking the spoon. Only, there's no eating involved.... I love to scrape the melting pot and take globs of the slightly warm amazing goodness and spreading it over my skin... it's true that a little goes a long way, so it's these moments, and I think it's these moments only, that I'm happy I have no furry friends to go home to.
I'm in love.
XoXo,
Lisa, proud owner and lover of Wunder Budder
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Business Bubble
I'm making a prediciton.
Maybe this isn't news.. maybe it's soemthing that people have been talking about for a while, but I haven't heard anything about it, so I'm calling it my prediction.
There is a business bubble growing and eventually (sooner? later?) it's going to burst.
Remember the housing bubble? It was being talked about and talked about, and the warning signs were there, yet some people were certain it would just grow forever... they bought houses as investments instead of as homes. This works for contractors and the like, but not for other families. I don't know when it became an old-fashioned concept for a house to be a home, but it did. Houses turned into commodities, just to be bought and sold, without the heart, the love, that a home holds. And then, everything fell apart because of it.
I'm starting to see this in business.
Over the last few weeks, so many things I've read, heard about, seminars I've attended, seem to have a focus on building a business just for it to be sold.
What?
It's the housing bubble all over again.
For certain people, I can see buying and selling businesses to be the focus. But, a small amount of people, like contractors buying and selling houses, not for the masses.
If I were the type of person to say "mark my words", I'd say that now. The business bubble is going to burst.
Maybe this isn't news.. maybe it's soemthing that people have been talking about for a while, but I haven't heard anything about it, so I'm calling it my prediction.
There is a business bubble growing and eventually (sooner? later?) it's going to burst.
Remember the housing bubble? It was being talked about and talked about, and the warning signs were there, yet some people were certain it would just grow forever... they bought houses as investments instead of as homes. This works for contractors and the like, but not for other families. I don't know when it became an old-fashioned concept for a house to be a home, but it did. Houses turned into commodities, just to be bought and sold, without the heart, the love, that a home holds. And then, everything fell apart because of it.
I'm starting to see this in business.
Over the last few weeks, so many things I've read, heard about, seminars I've attended, seem to have a focus on building a business just for it to be sold.
What?
It's the housing bubble all over again.
For certain people, I can see buying and selling businesses to be the focus. But, a small amount of people, like contractors buying and selling houses, not for the masses.
If I were the type of person to say "mark my words", I'd say that now. The business bubble is going to burst.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Making Love...
the perfume!
Five or six years ago, I started getting into natural perfumery. I became fascinated with the other side of essential oils - blending purely for pleasure, the perfume aspect to working with botanics.
And then I became obsessed!
It's hard not to... with essential oils, infused oils, absolutes, tinctures and resins, there are infinite combinations of aromas to create... even just thinking about it I'm getting a little overwhelmed!
I started collecting bottles... single essential oils and absolutes... I had well over 100 in my collection... some were the from the same plant, grown in the same location, but from different companies so I could see the difference between different suppliers. Some were from the same plant, but grown in different locations... different growing conditions like altitude and humidity can really change the aroma of an oil! I still keep up a collection of vetivers... it's one of my favorite oils!
I'd use all my free time to make blends... one drop of this, one drop of that, and ooh! what would this smell like blended in? I started working on accords (blends to be blended with other blends!) and taking notes.. notebook after notebook of notes on notes!
From the accords I would make new blends, take more notes, get new ideas, make more blends of more notes of more accords of blends of notes and notes and oils and blends... ahhhhhh...
And then, I decided to take a break... a long one... I wanted to bring my focus back to aromatherapy blends... less complex blends... ones where each oil would stand out and do its duty.
I cut my collection back to about 20 different oils, and started working again on blending with a purpose... blends for aromatherapeutic use...
And around that time was when Wunder Budder was reborn...
Focusing my collection and my purpose on aromatherapy allowed Winter to be created and released as Wunder Budder's first official aromatherapy blend!
I remained focused, releasing two more aromatherapy blends, and blends for lip balms and facial care.
Blending for a purpose is both easier and more difficult with its limitation... With this kind of blending, I wanted to be more careful about my choices... that meant using only oils that were generally safe for skin applications and giving up ones like bergamot (one of my favorites!) that were great for inhalation but weren't skin safe, according to my two safety manuals and IFRA standards. By limiting my options, I had fewer choices to work with but it also stimulated the scientific aspect of my thinking, which sometimes I think is no different from my creative side(!), to pick the oils best suited for their application. It was fun and I stayed focused...
Until I started making Love, the aromatherapy blend.
Even from the start it seemed more like a perfume blend than an aromatherapy blend... I wanted to make something that could try to illustrate the feeling of falling love.. all kinds of love... spicy and flirty on the outside, blossoming into a floral heart, leading into a deep sweetness. The full aroma. Which needed oils to match it.
I started off with the base... the deep sweetness... labdanum! On it's own, labdanum is layered... it's not traditionally used in aromatherapy, but it's so sweet and innocent and long lasting, there was no way I could make a blend about love without it. Plus as one of my other favorites (I have a lot of them!), I just really wanted to work with it again. And vetiver! It's deep earthy aroma just had to be included. And oh, they just smell so good together! And cocoa! What if I added a little cocoa (actually, cacao) to the mix? A deep dark chocolaty addition to the vanilla-like aroma of labdanum with a little vetiver thrown in to keep it from being too candy-like? Yes! Would I usually use cocoa in an aromatherapy blend? No, but the three just smelled so good together!
Then I moved onto the middle/heart note... jasmine... it had to be jasmine... alone, jasmine is both spicy and sweet and deeply floral... it was necessary... and then rose... rose! Rose would calm the jasmine a bit with it's softness. Both are also often included in aphrodisiac blends, so what could be better as a heart note for Love?
It smelled amazing so far, but it needed something else... a top note... something spicy that would jump out first, but also act as a lead in to the rest of the blend... clove! Clove, which to my nose acts as both a top and a middle note... clove would be the perfect grabber... the top note that would both jump out and blend in.
And after a few weeks, I declared Love, the aromatherapy blend, finished. I was in love with Love. I added the labels for inhalers and aroma sprays into my big order and put it aside for release after Christmas.
But, I couldn't stay away.
It just smelled so good.
And, the more I smelled it, the more I smelled ghost aromas... ones that my imagination added to the blend... I had planned on keeping perfumery at bay for at least another year until Wunder Budder (the business at a whole) was stabilized, but Love was drawing me in. I couldn't put it down.
It was like it wanted me to add something to it... like, it had its own personality and it was calling me... please, please, just try this one other essential oil, I promise you won't be disappointed. But you have so much going on already, Love, you don't need anything else...
It won.
The blend was calling out for was another one of my favorite oils from the Perfume Years... I ordered it, added it, smelled it, and it fit perfectly. And called out for another oil... and another... and another... until I finally gave in to what was happening, and almost as if it created itself, Love the perfume was born.
As someone that usually uses only a small amount of grain alcohol in blends, both to extend the shelf life of certain creations and to help carry the scent, I was nervous about creating an alcohol based perfume instead of the jojoba based perfumes I've experimented with in the past.
Jojoba oil and alcohol as carriers bring different things to blends... but, I discovered that my heavy-handedness with base notes (a personal preference, and thought of by me as a curse until I settled into my own blending personality) worked really well with an alcohol carrier! Together, the grain alcohol (not the standard perfumer's alcohol, ethanol, which can sometimes be extracted from petroleum products instead of plants) and the blend created a perfume that was even... it didn't, it doesn't, come on too strong or fade too fast... it changes, like natural perfumes are meant to, but it changes at a nice even pace. I fell in love with Love all over again.
With the use of oils more rare and complicated and beautiful than many oils traditionally used in aromatherapy, came a higher price which needed to be matched with fancier packaging than my usual amber glass bottles.
Deciding on packing was almost as fun as creating the perfume! What would match the aroma best... oh, a clear glass bottle with an old-fashioned black fabric bulb atomizer? Yes!
But, what if someone didn't want a full sized (46mL) bottle of Love? Is there something smaller? Oh, a heart shaped(!) 4mL bottle with a gold cap and red tassel, to be used for fingertip application? Yes yes yes!
I had found the vessels for Love.
And then, I decided to add one more option... a simple glass atomizer, 4mL, perfect for purses and filled with Love as an eau de toilette!
I was done, and now it's almost time to share Love with all of you and I can't wait! All three (eau de parfum strength in 46mL and 4mL, and eau de toilette strength in 4mL) will be released on February 1st, 2011. Finally!
Only a few months in the making, this was a short time for a perfume to go from idea to creation to packaging to offering. Perfumers sometimes take years before they feel their masterpiece is ready. I love that it's a perfume based on an aromatherapy blend, and maybe that's why it didn't take as long as many perfumes traditionally do. Or, maybe it's that I'm not really a perfumer...
I just like to make things that smell good.
XoXo,
Lisa
Experience Love!
Read the Press Release
Five or six years ago, I started getting into natural perfumery. I became fascinated with the other side of essential oils - blending purely for pleasure, the perfume aspect to working with botanics.
And then I became obsessed!
It's hard not to... with essential oils, infused oils, absolutes, tinctures and resins, there are infinite combinations of aromas to create... even just thinking about it I'm getting a little overwhelmed!
I started collecting bottles... single essential oils and absolutes... I had well over 100 in my collection... some were the from the same plant, grown in the same location, but from different companies so I could see the difference between different suppliers. Some were from the same plant, but grown in different locations... different growing conditions like altitude and humidity can really change the aroma of an oil! I still keep up a collection of vetivers... it's one of my favorite oils!
I'd use all my free time to make blends... one drop of this, one drop of that, and ooh! what would this smell like blended in? I started working on accords (blends to be blended with other blends!) and taking notes.. notebook after notebook of notes on notes!
From the accords I would make new blends, take more notes, get new ideas, make more blends of more notes of more accords of blends of notes and notes and oils and blends... ahhhhhh...
And then, I decided to take a break... a long one... I wanted to bring my focus back to aromatherapy blends... less complex blends... ones where each oil would stand out and do its duty.
I cut my collection back to about 20 different oils, and started working again on blending with a purpose... blends for aromatherapeutic use...
And around that time was when Wunder Budder was reborn...
Focusing my collection and my purpose on aromatherapy allowed Winter to be created and released as Wunder Budder's first official aromatherapy blend!
I remained focused, releasing two more aromatherapy blends, and blends for lip balms and facial care.
Blending for a purpose is both easier and more difficult with its limitation... With this kind of blending, I wanted to be more careful about my choices... that meant using only oils that were generally safe for skin applications and giving up ones like bergamot (one of my favorites!) that were great for inhalation but weren't skin safe, according to my two safety manuals and IFRA standards. By limiting my options, I had fewer choices to work with but it also stimulated the scientific aspect of my thinking, which sometimes I think is no different from my creative side(!), to pick the oils best suited for their application. It was fun and I stayed focused...
Until I started making Love, the aromatherapy blend.
Even from the start it seemed more like a perfume blend than an aromatherapy blend... I wanted to make something that could try to illustrate the feeling of falling love.. all kinds of love... spicy and flirty on the outside, blossoming into a floral heart, leading into a deep sweetness. The full aroma. Which needed oils to match it.
I started off with the base... the deep sweetness... labdanum! On it's own, labdanum is layered... it's not traditionally used in aromatherapy, but it's so sweet and innocent and long lasting, there was no way I could make a blend about love without it. Plus as one of my other favorites (I have a lot of them!), I just really wanted to work with it again. And vetiver! It's deep earthy aroma just had to be included. And oh, they just smell so good together! And cocoa! What if I added a little cocoa (actually, cacao) to the mix? A deep dark chocolaty addition to the vanilla-like aroma of labdanum with a little vetiver thrown in to keep it from being too candy-like? Yes! Would I usually use cocoa in an aromatherapy blend? No, but the three just smelled so good together!
Then I moved onto the middle/heart note... jasmine... it had to be jasmine... alone, jasmine is both spicy and sweet and deeply floral... it was necessary... and then rose... rose! Rose would calm the jasmine a bit with it's softness. Both are also often included in aphrodisiac blends, so what could be better as a heart note for Love?
It smelled amazing so far, but it needed something else... a top note... something spicy that would jump out first, but also act as a lead in to the rest of the blend... clove! Clove, which to my nose acts as both a top and a middle note... clove would be the perfect grabber... the top note that would both jump out and blend in.
And after a few weeks, I declared Love, the aromatherapy blend, finished. I was in love with Love. I added the labels for inhalers and aroma sprays into my big order and put it aside for release after Christmas.
But, I couldn't stay away.
It just smelled so good.
And, the more I smelled it, the more I smelled ghost aromas... ones that my imagination added to the blend... I had planned on keeping perfumery at bay for at least another year until Wunder Budder (the business at a whole) was stabilized, but Love was drawing me in. I couldn't put it down.
It was like it wanted me to add something to it... like, it had its own personality and it was calling me... please, please, just try this one other essential oil, I promise you won't be disappointed. But you have so much going on already, Love, you don't need anything else...
It won.
The blend was calling out for was another one of my favorite oils from the Perfume Years... I ordered it, added it, smelled it, and it fit perfectly. And called out for another oil... and another... and another... until I finally gave in to what was happening, and almost as if it created itself, Love the perfume was born.
As someone that usually uses only a small amount of grain alcohol in blends, both to extend the shelf life of certain creations and to help carry the scent, I was nervous about creating an alcohol based perfume instead of the jojoba based perfumes I've experimented with in the past.
Jojoba oil and alcohol as carriers bring different things to blends... but, I discovered that my heavy-handedness with base notes (a personal preference, and thought of by me as a curse until I settled into my own blending personality) worked really well with an alcohol carrier! Together, the grain alcohol (not the standard perfumer's alcohol, ethanol, which can sometimes be extracted from petroleum products instead of plants) and the blend created a perfume that was even... it didn't, it doesn't, come on too strong or fade too fast... it changes, like natural perfumes are meant to, but it changes at a nice even pace. I fell in love with Love all over again.
With the use of oils more rare and complicated and beautiful than many oils traditionally used in aromatherapy, came a higher price which needed to be matched with fancier packaging than my usual amber glass bottles.
 |
| Love eau de parfume, 46mL |
But, what if someone didn't want a full sized (46mL) bottle of Love? Is there something smaller? Oh, a heart shaped(!) 4mL bottle with a gold cap and red tassel, to be used for fingertip application? Yes yes yes!
I had found the vessels for Love.
 |
| Love eau de parfum, 4mL |
I was done, and now it's almost time to share Love with all of you and I can't wait! All three (eau de parfum strength in 46mL and 4mL, and eau de toilette strength in 4mL) will be released on February 1st, 2011. Finally!
Only a few months in the making, this was a short time for a perfume to go from idea to creation to packaging to offering. Perfumers sometimes take years before they feel their masterpiece is ready. I love that it's a perfume based on an aromatherapy blend, and maybe that's why it didn't take as long as many perfumes traditionally do. Or, maybe it's that I'm not really a perfumer...
I just like to make things that smell good.
XoXo,
Lisa
Experience Love!
Read the Press Release
Love living naturally with Wunder Budder!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
2010 from beginning to end, or Gratitude, part II
This has been one long, crazy year! I almost wouldn't believe everything that happened, but since I lived through it, I kind of have to believe it. These are just some things I've felt this year....
Scared
Awestruck Strong Grateful
Failure
Supported Lucky Crazy
Stress Fear
Proud Creative Alone
Falling down down down
Excited Dreamy
Independent Needy
Shaky Obsessed
Loved
But today.. after taking a few days "off" (working was optional, but I couldn't help myself!), I'm feeling a surge of gratitude.. everything has settled, and before it gets all crazy again I'm letting thankfulness engulf me.
I'd like to say thank you to (in no particular order)...
Chris & Brenda at Front Street Coffeehouse... there's a reason why you guys have such loyal customers, and why none of us employees ever want to leave.. there has been so many days that I've gone into work in bad mood and work cheered me up.. not many people get to say that.. FSC is where I met my husband and most of my friends.. you've given me a meeting point, a beginning in Salem (it's also where I was when my first apartment back here fell upon me.. I knew that hanging out at FSC would find me a place to live!), a job when I needed it, and now where you've given Wunder Budder an outlet to start and grow.. I'm grateful not only for what you've done for Wunder Budder this year, but for all of those things and just for being who you are.
Not only to Chris and Brenda, but everyone that works at Front Street and everyone that goes there who had and has a part in Wunder Budder's growth.. everyone behind the counter who told people that Wunder Budder was awesome and that they should try it.. everyone who put the logo stickers on their phones, iPods, bikes, books.. Elise and Deirdre.. I joke that you guys keep me in business, but I'm not completely joking.. thank you for everything you've tried, everything you've given to other people, and for just being awesomely supportive..
And an additional thank you for the Front Street studio days.. to Chris and Brenda for letting me set up, and to everyone that did their Christmas shopping at my table! December was the best month ever for Wunder Budder.. if I could keep it up, I might even be able to pay myself this coming year!
My husband who has been even more amazing this year.. picking up my slack everywhere he can and being supportive on every possible level.. I feel so amazingly lucky every day with you Mikey!
My family.. my awesome mom, brother, cousin, aunt, parents-in-law.. you've all helped me in different ways this year, and I'm grateful for every thing you've done.. all the help you've given me, the shows you've come to.. I don't want to list everything, just know that I love you, appreciate your support, and realize how lucky I am to have you as my family.
Midge at Green Clean for being so encouraging and doing things like bringing me hammers when I need them and spreading the Wunder Budder love through gifts to her clients.. I don't think you always know how awesome you are!
Jane.. you came over and washed dishes when I was freaking out.. dishes! Along with everything else you've done this year, I'm so grateful for that dish day!
All of Wunder Budder's Facebook fans.. thank you for liking Wunder Budder, for wanting to keep up with what's going on, for your comments, for sharing.. You've grown to almost 1000 in this first year.. you're the best!
Everyone that purchased Wunder Budder this year, or had any part at all in our growth.. thank you, thank you, thank you. You're helping me live my dream.
Wunder Budder is having a birthday/thank you sale on January 1st, with 20% off your entire online purchase no matter how big or how small. I've also decided to offer free standard shipping (regular shipping restrictions apply) for this day because 20% off just didn't seem like thank you enough. If you're running out of or have been been eyeing something, this is a good time to pick it up!
Use code Celebrate2010 at checkout
and
click FREE Standard Shipping 01/01/11
Talk to you next year!
XoXo,
Lisa
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The Big Confession...
I've written blogs over the past couple months, and then deleted them without posting.
I felt like I was complaining and I don't want to seem like I don't love Wunder Budder or that I'm not grateful for how everything has gone in this first year of business.
But then a friend reminded me that this blog was meant to be about my first year (and beyond...) in business, including the bad things.
So here's my big confession...
Starting a business is hard!
Like, really hard!
And, it's not that I didn't know it going in.. I just didn't know it, know it.
I've discovered that it's really hard to stop working. When I'm not making stuff, I'm researching, or improving the website, or experimenting, or ordering.. I'm the formulator, the accountant, the sales rep, the advertising and marketing team, the designer, the delivery person, the customer service, etc.. It can sometimes be overwhelming but, almost as bad, addictive!
When I start to feel overworked, I'll take a day off.. but then all that work needs to be made up. If I take two days off.. disaster!
So, usually I decide just to work through it until I'm so overworked, underslept and non-home-cooked-mealed out, I end up getting sick. Then I go into emergency mode and have to take days off at my "day job" so I can get work done and still try to heal.. then my paycheck decreases, more stress piles on and on and on until I start having doubts that I can make it and start to think everythingisfallingapart and I'mgoingtofail!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
And then everything comes together again.
Luckily, I can look into mistakes and take something from them.. I'm really good at it.. no regrets because everything is a learning experience and learning is part of growing and growing is one of my favorite things about being alive.
This January will be all about change.. behind the scenes... reorganizing my studio, business stuff and mind... working on wholesale and spreading (hey, spreading!) Wunder Budder further away from home... finding ways to work regular hours while still getting done what needs to get done... taking everything I've learned this year, and doing a bunch of stuff with it, all at once. Fixing what's broken and getting ready to make a bunch of new mistakes.
I'm ok with that.
XoXo,
Lisa
I felt like I was complaining and I don't want to seem like I don't love Wunder Budder or that I'm not grateful for how everything has gone in this first year of business.
But then a friend reminded me that this blog was meant to be about my first year (and beyond...) in business, including the bad things.
So here's my big confession...
Starting a business is hard!
Like, really hard!
And, it's not that I didn't know it going in.. I just didn't know it, know it.
I've discovered that it's really hard to stop working. When I'm not making stuff, I'm researching, or improving the website, or experimenting, or ordering.. I'm the formulator, the accountant, the sales rep, the advertising and marketing team, the designer, the delivery person, the customer service, etc.. It can sometimes be overwhelming but, almost as bad, addictive!
When I start to feel overworked, I'll take a day off.. but then all that work needs to be made up. If I take two days off.. disaster!
So, usually I decide just to work through it until I'm so overworked, underslept and non-home-cooked-mealed out, I end up getting sick. Then I go into emergency mode and have to take days off at my "day job" so I can get work done and still try to heal.. then my paycheck decreases, more stress piles on and on and on until I start having doubts that I can make it and start to think everythingisfallingapart and I'mgoingtofail!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
And then everything comes together again.
Luckily, I can look into mistakes and take something from them.. I'm really good at it.. no regrets because everything is a learning experience and learning is part of growing and growing is one of my favorite things about being alive.
This January will be all about change.. behind the scenes... reorganizing my studio, business stuff and mind... working on wholesale and spreading (hey, spreading!) Wunder Budder further away from home... finding ways to work regular hours while still getting done what needs to get done... taking everything I've learned this year, and doing a bunch of stuff with it, all at once. Fixing what's broken and getting ready to make a bunch of new mistakes.
I'm ok with that.
XoXo,
Lisa
Wunder Budder
Natural skincare & aromatherapy,
handcrafted with love
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