I survived...sorta

The past two weeks have been, well, thoroughly exhausting. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and any other way possible that I'm not thinking of right now. And unfortunately, it's not over.


Another High Point Market has come and gone. I thought things would calm down once Market started, but they haven't. The high level stress of launching a new company on October 16th is gone, but that's about it.

I worked my butt off. It felt like the old days when I worked 100 hour weeks at Oly. And I did everything I needed to plus a little more. And I felt really good about the job I did.

What do I do? I work for a furniture designer, Julian Chichester, in their US office (Julian lives in London) and am over the sales and marketing but I also do a lot of the operations. The office is in High Point, NC and I work from home and travel...a lot.

In launching this new company we had about 150 new products that were arriving a week before Market. A WEEK. Which, let me tell you, is not enough time. We set up a photography booth in our warehouse and as each container arrived, they would unload it, unpack it, measure it and photograph it.

I had to create skus, descriptions, and all the other information for importing into our system. I had to set up this complicated scanning system to take orders at the show. I had to create all the marketing including ads, postcards, email blasts, price lists, tear sheets, website, price tags, terms & conditions, business cards, catalogs, order forms. I had to keep track of deadlines, maintain the mailing list, work with my graphics designer, photoshop guru, office staff, photographer and customers.

And did I mention that I had to do this for our existing company, Julian Chichester, as well? Oh, and I have a newborn baby who was born prematurely and was in the NICU for 25 days during all of this.

I didn't sleep much. In fact, I slept very little at all - 2 or 3 hours a night. I neglected and ignored everything. I didn't have time for personal email or calls and have about 50 emails and calls to return. I didn't have time to exercise. Tony took care of all household chores (which he usually does anyway) and fed me. I even neglected Tony and Ryan. I would nurse Ryan on a pillow on my lap while I worked on my laptop - the above photo is my boy on my lap. He would sleep on that same pillow. I would glance at him and kiss him once in awhile cause he's just so darn cute, but I was definitely focused on other things.

But I really do love my job. And I do love my company - both of them. And we were a huge success. It wasn't all perfect, but I am very happy with the job I did - especially in such a short amount of time.

I believe I am done venting. If any of you are still reading, thank you. And for those of you who have called or emailed, my goal is to return those calls and emails....soon.