Happy Black Friday!!
November 23rd, 2007 by LeslieThanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! I hope you all enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine. We had 15 guests for dinner, 3 fried turkeys, 8 bottles of wine, watched 2 football games and had only about 2 temper tantrums. A banner day over here at the Haywood house! The girls are at such a fun age. They are now really getting into the holidays and they have their mother’s appetite, so Thanksgiving is one of their favorites.
Yesterday was also a very special day because my new website went live at about 2:00. Right now I’m procrastinating hitting the “send” button to all of the people on my waiting list for Grill Charms. At 9:00 this morning the FedEx guy brought me 400 more broken down boxes of Grill Charms to assemble so I am RIGHT on schedule for my big launch today, Black Friday. I had given my web guy and my merchant account people today as a goal, and my OEM fell right into place and all the planets have aligned to make today’s BIG OFFICIAL launch of Grill Charms a reality. This is a monumental moment for me… and I’m freezing up. Here I sit typing to you, because it’s “safe”. I really don’t understand a lot of the technology that goes into making this whole thing happen so instead of pulling the trigger and emailing the list of people who have so faithfully supported me throughout this process, I’m babbling on here, with my run on sentences and safety net of knowing that until I hit “send” and just type away here, I won’t have to jump into the deep end of a full fledged, real business.
I can’t believe this is all really happening. Once I put myself REALLY out here, there is no turning back. Up until now I have been filling orders from friends and family, and even with 3 stores, it’s been manageable. It’s all been local stuff and again… safe. Soon I’ll be “out there” for the entire world to see. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am terrified! What if there are “bugs” in the system that I have not foreseen? What if I can’t fill orders fast enough? What if NOBODY is interested in Grill Charms? What if I don’t get the stupid SC sales Tax right and “they” come after me? (Seriously, I could go on forever with all the crazy things that plague me). I feel like this moment right now is the REAL do or die moment. This past week or so has all been for “play play”. Most of the orders were from friends or acquaintances, the stores were not “cold calls”, and it’s all been so…. Safe. (I wish I could think of a better word, but that pretty much sums it up). I’m about to unleash my baby on the big Ol’world and see if she can fly. Okay, here I go…. If you were on the waiting list…. Here I come!!!!
Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charms™ www.grillcharms.com
