Have you ever made plans so perfect, they were fool-proof? You were so sure that everything would run smoothly with no mistakes or obstacles. Then….. there is one hiccup. No biggie we planned with enough time to allow for setbacks. Then….. another hiccup. We get a little nervous, but that’s okay, we pivot and rearrange. Nothing can stop us now, maybe this is what we should have done from the get-go. Ultimately….. it’s too late and we have to cancel everything. Time wasted, money down the drain, but most importantly….. LESSON LEARNED!

Has this ever been you? This was definitely me in January leading up to Valentine’s Day. Christmas sales have been the best ever. I was hyped, I was pumped. We are finally out of the business slump since Ms. Rona came knocking. I did my deliveries on December 24th. Enjoyed Christmas and Boxing with family and friends. And worked out my Valentine’s Day plan on December 27th. I was ready!

The plan in general terms:

• December 28th: Order starter supplies and promotional props.
• January 2nd: Receive ordered supplies.
• January 3rd – 6th: Bake and shoot promotion footage.
• January 7th: Promotion goes live on all platforms.
• February 7th: Customer order deadline / Order additional supplies if needed.
• February 10th: Receive ordered supplies.
• February 11th – 13th: Baking and prepping orders.
• February 14th: Deliveries and many happy customers!

Great plan right?

Setback #1

While trying to order supplies in December we realized that our credit card was having issues. And we won’t be able to resolve it until January due to backed-up appointments. That’s cool we’ll just purchase the supplies here to begin promotions, and do a full order on February 7th. What was available here (the island of Curacao) was, not only, way more expensive than what was available online, but it also was not exactly what I wanted (I’m stubborn like that). But we learned to adjust and work with what we have.

Setback #2

Due to the high volume of orders I was still receiving in January, I had no extra time to work on baking additional stuff for the shoot in order to start promotions. And, admittedly, I was a bit in the dumps because I wasn’t able to purchase all that was needed to my liking, so I was trying to think of ways to adjust what I was offering to match what I had. In the end anxiety and a dash of depression kicked in because now, some business bills needed to get paid, and the funds weren’t matching up as I had made the decision to purchase more expensive supplies locally. So I stopped worrying about Valentine’s Day and focused on the current sales to be able to pay what needed to get paid.

When it all hit the fan

When I was finally all caught up with everything. I had enough funding to run the business but not for any additional costs like purchasing additional supplies just to shoot a promotion. I figured at this point I should just scrap the entire original plan and come up with something new to offer. Also panic was setting in as everyone else is now in full-blown Valentine’s Day mode and I haven’t produced anything as yet. I’m racking my brain to think of a completely different menu at this point. Eventually, I got so overwhelmed I gave up. I threw in the towel. It doesn’t make sense to even try anymore.

Lesson learned

Even though this whole experience did not have a happy ending, it definitely taught me to “Trust the Process”. My husband always tells me to not sweat it, because everything happens for a reason. If you make a right turn instead of a left, it was probably because something would have happened had you turned left. You know, that sort of thing. It turned out that we ended up having some major car issues starting on February 1st. We finally got the car back from the mechanic yesterday (February 16th). Meaning: I had no transportation to go to the supermarket to purchase ingredients. No transportation to purchase additional supplies based on the new menu. And, most importantly, no transportation to make deliveries!

Had I trusted the process I would not have forced myself to purchase supplies locally. Which would have meant I would not have had funding issues during that time. I would have been more relaxed with less anxiety.

Besides learning to trust to process there is one major bonus: My husband and I started daily walks because we had to walk to the minimarket to purchase dog food and minimal groceries and even though the car is back I continue doing so because it makes me feel good. It’s a time when I can clear my head and not think of all the worries and responsibilities back home. And because we had no car we started eating healthier (new body peeking around the corner).

I’ll end with a quote,

“Trust the process. God will always give you what you need at just the right time.”

I hope this information was helpful. Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments, and please share. You never know how helpful this information might be to those who read it.

Until next time, #StaySweet my friends