Ah yes, that weird feeling of driving off a cliff. I remember it from last year.
At some point, the Christmas orders slow down as people realize it's probably too late to shop for Christmas presents online. Last year, we set that date at 12/21 and updated the web notification (that bar across the top) to say we were out of town through the end of the year, and then we left.
We drove off our own cliff. At least, until the new year.
This year, as an experiment, we decided to stick around and keep shipping until Christmas Eve if people wanted us to. We have the stock (amazingly) and we're kind of housebound anyways because of the ThinkGeek order, so why not, right?
It's kind of surprising to see the quantity of orders slowing even though we did not proactively announce a cut-off. (we did announce a recommended order-by date, but not any official cut-off when we'd be physically gone). I just sent a new shipment of stuff to Amazon since I figure people will still be ordering from Amazon all the way up until the very last second, but even our seller-fulfilled orders through Amazon have slowed.
And honestly, even though it's a little weird and disconcerting, it's fine. I have to keep reminding myself that it's fine. We will be just fine.
In fact, we will be better than fine. We'll be great.
My mom is coming to visit, we're shipping a huge wholesale order, we're moving to a new spot, and we actually have some money to put toward the new shop (thank you thank you thank you customers!).
Last January, we were taking out two loans (one personal, one Kiva) so we could leverage bulk buying. This year, it looks like we're not only going to come out of the season with a little money (and a lot of elbow grease) to outfit the shop, we're also going to be able to buy next year's supplies in bulk with the money from the Christmas sales.
It feels like we might actually finally be in a real business. And that feels good.
I know I say it all the time (and I know I say that all the time too), but we couldn't be here if it wasn't for you sharing our company and our products, talking about them with people, buying our stuff, and letting us know what you think. It means a lot and we never forget it.
Five more days until Christmas, and miracles are all around us.
Thank you.
