This Is Only a Test by Chris-Tia Donaldson

Author:Chris-Tia Donaldson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-05-03T23:43:15+00:00

Chapter Eight

8. Let Go and Let God

I always say that 2015 was one of the best and worst years of my life. It’s hard to think that something so amazing and something so tragic could happen in the same year. On March 1, 2015, my company launched in over 250 Target stores nationwide. This was one of our biggest milestones as a company.

I never thought, nor did these large behemoth companies ever believe, that one day they would not only be fighting for shelf space in major national retail outlets with small companies like tgin, but, in many instances, they’d be losing that fight.

The time leading up to the launch was extremely stressful. Before the ink was dry on this deal, I literally had to gather almost every single piece of paper that was connected to my business since I gave birth to this thing. And guess what? Sometimes electronic copies or unsigned copies were not good enough. I’m talking about originals with actual signatures. I was fortunate enough to get a loan from a local community bank that believed in me. As part of that process, I was responsible for making sure all of the paperwork was in order, responding to security lien requests, and making sure any bank who loaned the company money could get their funds back if we didn’t “make it.” Life insurance coverage, a vial of blood, and a drug test—they wanted it all.

When placed in pretty stressful situations, I’m an amazing delegator. This time, though, I had to really roll up my sleeves and go all in because everything was so time sensitive. The sooner we delivered, the sooner we would get paid. However, if we were not on top of our game and things get delayed, it could put off when we got paid, which would make it look like we lost a ton of money at the end of the year due to all the inventory purchases. As part of the Target launch, I learned we had no control over everyone’s delivery schedule. Trying to find a warehouse with fifty thousand twelve-ounce bottles lying around was seemingly impossible, but on top of that, we needed everything in less than six weeks. And yeah, those shiny silver caps that make us look luxe cost a fortune. The lead time on such a small element is super long, so we had to go out and see if we could find another supplier to help us make our deadline.

To make matters worse, our Honey Miracle Hair Mask, a deep conditioner we made by hand, was tied with our Butter Cream Daily Moisturizer for the #1 spot of best-selling product. Back then, we were doing everything by hand in small batches, working on deadlines, even when our products started to take off and hit bestseller lists.

When I came up with the idea for our Honey Miracle Hair Mask, I had no idea it would blow up and become so insanely popular. YouTube vlogger CharyJay called it

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