I honestly wasn't sure

I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make this video because in some ways it's easier to not address the elephant in the room and I normally keep my personal life to myself but I truly believe honesty is the best policy. That being said, the last couple of weeks have been kind of a disaster. My car was broken into and has been in the shop for weeks. We had severe thunderstorms knocking our power out. We had flash floods and for the first time in my life we actually had to evacuate because of a tornado warning. It's just kind of been one thing after another. Normally when life gets hard I just hunker down deal with it privately and make sure it doesn't affect my work. But that's the reality of running a business completely by yourself. Everything depends on you. There isn't another employee to pick up the slack. If I'm struggling the business feels it too. And unfortunately that means that you guys feel it. Our normal order processing time is up to 10 business days, which I know is already a long wait. But it's because every single order is made, packed and shipped by me. If you've ever ordered from us, you know I put a lot of care into every package. The ribbon, tissue paper, golden wax seal stickers, stamps, handwritten thank you notes with your name because I genuinely want opening your package to feel special. But this last launch some orders took me 12 business days instead of 10 after finally getting everything picked up and shipped. Several packages aren't showing any tracking updates at all still. At this point, it looks like some may actually just be lost, which means I'll be reshipping those orders on Monday. But I feel awful about that. I never want anyone wondering where their packages are or feeling forgotten. That's not the experience that I want for my customer. And when you run a solo business, there's nobody else to blame. I have to own that the truth is I simply made too much product all at once and received more orders than I could realistically process by myself. And then life piled on with the car being out of commission, transportation issues, storms, power outages and everything else. So if you've noticed I haven't been posting, that's why. Because honestly felt wrong to post videos of new soaps or upcoming collections while some of you are still waiting for the products you already ordered. But at the same time, this business supports my household and it's our only source of income. My brain is telling me you have to keep posting, you have to keep selling or you won't be able to pay rent and buy dog food next month. Meanwhile my heart is saying you need to slow down and make sure that every current customer is taken care of first. So that's what I've been doing and it's been a very difficult balance. Even though I've been quiet online, I promise I have not stopped working. I've been putting in 18 hour days, all nighters, packing orders, answering emails, reshipping packages and also digging through all of my business reports from Q1 and Q2. I've realized there are some systems that just aren't sustainable anymore. And before we head into the fall and holiday season, I really need to fix some things like inventory management, order fulfillment and pricing. Making sure I can continue giving every customer the experience that they deserve without burning myself out. And I'd actually really love your input. I have a few polls up on my stories right now asking for your opinions on some changes that I'm considering. And if you have a minute, I'd really appreciate you voting because genuinely helps me shape the future of this business. And lastly, thank you. Thank you for your patience, for your kindness, your understanding and your supporting. I know I don't show my face, but I'm a real person behind the screen and you guys are what makes it all worth it. This wasn't my usual kind of video. I wanted to be honest with you about where I've been and what's been going on. And now I'm excited to move forward, improve and get back into things.