Shaken Not Stirred

Another year in reflection- pivots, and more resilience than any of us have thought possible. Trips made, trips canceled. Business started, stopped, changed, reinvented. Friendships evolved. New friendships started, old friendships moved on. Family dynamics shifted. Births and engagements, large weddings, small weddings, attending concerts, events again, events canceled, deaths.

Weary. If there was just one word for 2021, weary would be the word I would choose. We are all weary. Everyone has their own story as to why, but the root cause is the same for everyone.

The phrase I have been hearing lately is “We are all going to get Covid eventually, we must learn to live with Covid.” This seems to be more of a reality than ever. As an owner of a high touch facial business, though, this is a huge weight to bear.

The services I offer are not like going for an important doctor’s checkup or a necessary dental appointment. Sure, we love great skin, we enjoy the moments we get to lie down on a warm bed snuggled in the softest blankets and have someone slather lotions and potions on us. But operating a facial business during the last eighteen months has made this thirty five year veteran in the beauty business weary.

My small and mighty team is weary, still standing, strong and resilient, but exhausted. My clients are fried. Everyone is sick of talking about it and living with this wacky experience, but we can’t stop talking about it either.

My neighbor came over to deliver some Christmas cookies yesterday and took a look around. The shelves, as always, are filled with skin care, the main component of my company for my entire career. He looked at the two rooms that house my new store I opened, filled with books, rock and roll t shirts, and candles and Wonder Woman swag and what my grandparents used to call tchotchke (pronounced CHOTCH-key) meaning lots of little items. All birthed because of March 13, 2020, the day everything changed.

“I can’t believe how much you have adapted,” he said in awe.
I showed him around, filled with, until that moment, unrealized pride as his words reverberated in my heart.

I have adapted. It is what any entrepreneur who loves being an entrepreneur almost as much as life itself does. Adapts.

Business owning, no matter what the size is instant entry into a club. There is an unspoken knowing between business owners that joins us. This…