I've had so much going on in the last few months that have just thrown me into a bit of a tailspin and I've been really down. The same week I had the miscarriage, I was given the news that I was losing my business. I have a small cosmetics web store and I was told by my supplier that they were changing sales policies and shutting down all outside web business (driving all internet sales to their own site). They told me that as of Sept. 10th all sites will be shut down. This news hit me hard and the timing was awful.
My supplier has guidelines in place for outside sales that I have never I'm really followed. I have always broken the rules and knew that sooner or later they would catch up to me and shut me down. It's been over a year. I've had some warnings from them, but never listened thinking I'd keep going until they forced me to close. I've always viewed it as riding the wave while I could. I knew one day it would come to an end but wasn't really prepared for it to happen.
I just got a call from the head office. My heart sank when they said who they were (thinking they were calling to inform me they shut me down early for going against guidelines). They told me they were calling me to let me know they've been well aware that I have been going against guidelines for quite some time. Then said there was no way to put it other than to tell me that they chose to look the other way. They allowed it all this time because they were impressed with the way I run my business and with the quality of my site. they told me the guidelines were in place to avoid their company name being damaged by bad service and dodgy sites that made them look unprofessional. They told me they were really happy with all I've done and that even though things will be changing - they would like to keep me on as an affiliate. They've made special arrangements for me to keep my existing customers and are allowing me to bring in new customers going forward. My profit will be cut by 15% (ouch) but they are letting me to stay open.
They also let me know that they've passed my information on to the company that is handling their e-commerce campaign and recommended me as someone they should look into in hiring as a consultant because of my success and professionalism.
I am so pleased and proud by this news. My business really means a lot to me and even though it's going to change, it could still work out well for me. I feel a huge weight lifted and I'm so relieved.
Recently, a magazine here in the UK issued their list of their Top 100 women in show business. This sparked conversation between Wayne and I and one rainy weekend when we had nothing to do, we compiled our own Top 20 lists. The rules were we had to judge on looks alone (not their physique) and only one token model was allowed. For fun, I thought I'd add our lists here for you to view and enjoy. Maybe it will even spark conversation between you and a friend or loved one. Wayne and I actually had a really good time creating our lists together - judging each other's taste in the opposite sex and laughing over how long it took for us to prioritize our selections. We still change the order every time we look at it! (although our top five have remained the same) Enjoy and feel free to comment!
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