The last 2 weeks...

Ok - I know I haven't been blogging now for 2 weeks, but trust me, dear readers, it wasn't an easy 2 weeks to live through.

Most of you know that my sister & I have been operating our Scrapbookng business via 3 different stores and a transactional web site. When we started 4 years ago, we were soaring - sales were flowing in and business was at full expansion. This year paints a very different story. We were the first in our area, but certainly not the last - Major discount stores such as Walmart, Zellers, and Dollar stores got into the act by selling scrapbooking materials at prices we could absolutely not compete with and survive - The Candadian dollar rose to par with the US dollar, making eBay purchases more interesting for bigger ticket items, and US Scrapbook retailers, hungry for new clients, started shipping to Canada for free or at much cheaper rates. Not to mention that the economy is down the drain, and that Scrapbooking is a hobby - the first expense to go when money is tight or even perceived to be soon tight. We had a budget and we were as true to it as possible - expenses were kept to a minimum and even less than minimum, but the top line - the sales revenue line wasn't keeping up! We started to bleed...

By the end of April, we were hemorraging - badly. Sales in the Laval store were at their lowest ever since the opening of the store. Sales in Candiac were only marginally better. People kept on coming in to the stores - but the average purchase fell from $25.00 per purchase to about $6.00 per purchase. Unfortunately, the rent and fixed expenses didn't drop according to our sales... we had to act - it was either bankrupcy or closing some stores. What a heartbreak - what a mess - what a disapointment! We worked so hard, we gave so much, we owe so much! And all that for what?

So, with broken hearts and quiet resolve, we closed both the Laval and Candiac stores. To help us get out of our leases, we had to enlist the help of a Trustee firm - who are handling the financial fall out. This was such an unpleasant and miserable time in my professional life (and for my sister too) that I just couldn't bear to blog or even read anyone's blog either. We are still heartbroken, and still broke, but the bleeding has been staunched. Our business is still alive - we are still in operation albeit much smaller. Our internet sales are doing well and our Granby store is busy. There is hope yet.

We have had a wave of support from loyal clients, and for that I am grateful. On the other side, we have had a wave of angry, discontent clients calling us to let us know of their miscontent. To them I say - here, not to their face, although I should - "If you had kept on buying from us instead of going to the Dollar store for cheap knock-offs, maybe we would still be open, so don't complain to me that we closed". Some clients took it as a personnal insult to them - as if I took some kind of perverse pleasure in ruining their Monday afternoons at the Scrapookerie by closing. How ignorant can you be.....do they not know how horribly hard it is to let go dozens of loyal employees - some who really needed their jobs...do they not realise that it's not only money that we are loosing, but part of ourselves, the selves that we invested into our business tirelessly for the past 4 years....No, of course not. They only know that their favourite hangout on Mondays is closed, and it's our fault. So sad...

This has indeed been a bad experience, but I will take from it all that I can in terms of knowledge and business savvy. In the long run, this will make me a better business person, and hopefully will help me in the future. For who knows what the future holds? A year ago, if someone had forecasted what this year has brought so far, I would have either run away screaming or laughed my head off in disbelief.

Which brings me to another subject - Last summer, I visited my son in Vancouver and found someone I really didn't like. A drug addict, living in squallor with other guys as addicted as he was - living day to day without a thought for the future. I love my son, but I didn't like what I saw. But what can a mom do? He is over 30 years old after all... All I could do was offer him a way out

And here we are, almost one year later. David called out of the blue last November and took me up on that offer to come home to clean up. When I picked him up at the airport on that rainy, miserable November day, he looked as miserable as the weather. Six months later, he is clean, working full time, happy, smiling, and looking real good! I do believe he is making the ladies turn their heads! But best of all, he has turned out to be an excellent roomer. He is clean, pleasant, helpful, and funny - a pleasure to live with. Keith & I were both joking tonight that poor David may simply not be allowed to leave....Who'd have thought?

So there it is, no matter how good things are, do not take them for granted.
No matter how bad things are, do not despair.

That's my bit of wisdom for the day...