Dear friend,

Thank you for the kind words during our announcement last week. Thank you for holding in tension both the grief and the “I wonder…” that comes with saying “good-bye.” I always wondered how people – customers, fellow small business owners, friends, etc. – might respond to a closing announcement, and I was only met with thoughtfulness. Thank you.

I debated writing this post about “why” we’re closing. I wasn’t sure what benefit it would add to the conversation. Maybe it would just add more confusion or more noise. Perhaps, I was looking for validation to prove that I had made “the right decision” to close. Maybe it was just a post for me to help me process my own “why.”

In the end, multiple truths exist here. I want to share my own “why” because:

1. I hope this brings clarity for our community who might be wondering “what just happened” and how a business decides to close,
2. It will bring clarity to myself in language that is more concise than the word vomit currently in my head,
3. Maybe this will be an encouragement to other small business owners in their own seasons of wondering “why”.

Factors for deciding to close

Often all the factors can be boiled down to the question – do the benefits of “factor” outweigh the costs of “said factor”? If the answer is yes, then most likely it makes sense to keep going. But if the answer is no, or its looking fifty-fifty then it’s a much less obvious “yes.” 

Financial.

Often, the most direct factor in why a business chooses to close is financial. The overhead costs to keep a business running varies and depends on the type of business and where you’re located. But for a seasonal product based LLC in Massachusetts, my annual overhead was minimally $2500, before I accounted for production costs (which were annually over $5000). When you take into consideration the seasonality of the business (with focused sales in fall and winter), that’s a lot of sales I’m going to need to make in those few months in order to break even, let alone make a profit. 

Needless to say, after a few years, the pressure to turn a profit greater than the year before was high by 2024 (which was the 5 years of business mark). And yet, both the numbers and the patterns of the numbers were not math-ing in a positive way.

Time.

Does the amount of time being spent on the business outweigh the costs? Costs of sleep, energy, time away from being with friends or family, financial (if you’re not able to work full time in another role), rest, etc. 

At the end of my answering this question, it seemed like because the business was seasonal, work and life could be adjusted throughout the year to accommodate the increased business workload of fall and winter. 

But as I began to look for patterns in our family rhythms and plan ahead in the years to come, I realized that many of the “costs” were timing nicely with the increased workload. Our family rhythms hold celebrations and travel in the fall and winter, as opposed to the spring or summer. Which means my heavy business work was always aligning with family rhythms. I have historically missed out on family moments, both physically and mentally, and would continue to do so as well.

Did the benefits for keeping the business running outweigh the costs of missing out on these family rhythms, travel, and moments? 

For some years of the business, the answer has been yes. However, in this last year, the answer was no. Especially as I thought through the last factor – the “why.”

The “why”

At the end of the day, the “why” is the most important factor. There might be a long list of time and financial costs that seemingly don’t outweigh the benefits. However, if a business’ “why” is strong enough and compelling enough, it might not matter.

In that, there are loans, grants, ways to scale down financially, fundraising/finding investors, and etc., to help with the financial burden. 

The costs of time might be a long list, but, in theory, over time, those timely costs would decrease the longer a business runs. As more help is established, processes are outsourced, brand is set, etc., the burden on the business owner to maintain everything on their own is reduced and therefore (in theory) the time costs also are reduced.

But the “why” needs to continue to be compelling.

My “why”

My “why” started out compelling – I wanted to create paper goods that helped people see themselves as more than human doings but as human beings. I wanted to help people live life with joyful abundance, create beauty, embrace wholehearted connection, and live intentionally. This was what I struggled to embrace in my own life and wanted to help others embrace as well.

And while these things are still true, I still want this for people (myself included), I have come to realize that the how I’m going about it, might not be this business anymore. It might not be through paper goods. This business is no longer the avenue for this “why.” 

Which is why I’ve been careful to use the language “this iteration of the business” and why I’ve chosen to adopt the language of “phase 1” vs “phase 2.” 

Phase 1 vs Phase 2

My “why” is always going to be there. It’s something I believe in wholeheartedly. And while it might not be crafted through this business anymore, it will come in another form, I believe.

I’m choosing to see this closure as an end to phase 1 and an opportunity to open more space and energy and time to explore what phase 2 will be like. I have no idea of what that will be like, if it’ll even be another business, or if it’ll be something entirely personal in my own journey and life untied to the public world. 

But having this perspective has given me such freedom to say “good-bye” without despair or heavy grief, knowing there is more I’m getting to walk towards. 

So there it is friends. While the heavy lifting of my reasons are quite practical in both finances and time, they have not been the surface driving force. The ultimate reason is that this business is no longer the avenue for which I see the original vision and current dreams being lived out. And while I don’t know what may be next, I look forward to it.

For those of you who read this as a customer, thanks for being here and understanding the reasoning, I hope it provides clarity. 

For those of you as fellow business owners, I hope this is an encouragement to you that when you want to pull your hair out and the business feels as if it’s failing, to check in with your why. And to know that its okay to shift how you live out your why and how your business plays it out. There’s a place for saying no to say yes.

With joy & gratitude,

Val

PS: We’re still running our inventory sale at 75% off everything in the shop! From now until things sell out or March 2nd 🙂