Accidentally deleting entire inbox and other shenanigans at CLC

Tim (my web designer) - if you're reading this...I DID IT AGAIN. I deleted my entire inbox again. This is probably the 3rd time I've done it folks. It happens early in the morning, usually before I've had my morning coffee - alright, fine - morning coffees. This time however, since I've been so jacked up on meds and my head has been foggy to begin with, I deleted my inbox in the middle of the day. Folks, do not get into the habit of hitting Shift + Del when in Outlook. Once you get used to this, you then get yourself accustomed to just clicking on the yes button when the computer confirms...Now do you really want to permanently delete this e-mail because if you hit yes, I am wiping it out of my system and no amount of begging will get this e-mail back. Since my fingers tend to fly faster than I can think and this process has become rote to me, I just hit yes, thereby effectively deleting the entire contents of the sharonn@ inbox. So if you e-mailed me sometime this past week and you never got a response, it's probably because you're e-mail was part of the Flying Fingers of Fury casualty.

This whole week, I have been busy writing people back asking them to please kindly and without judgment, resend their e-mail. This is a blanket appeal to all those who sent me an e-mail and never received a response, Will you please resend your e-mail?

In other news, I went through a battery of blood tests this week trying to figure out what exactly ails me. See, this Super Bug has been with me for 2 weeks plus now and it's over-extended its welcome. My blood test results finally came back and folks...I tested positive for two major conditions. Enlarged Butticles and Enlarged Gutticles. For all you skinny beeyatches out there, I'm talking about having a big butt and gut! In all seriousness, my blood tests came back fine and all my organs are functioning (save for my demented brain which is beyond help at this point). Doc said this may really just be a very bad upper respiratory bug. But back to my butticles and gutticles. This bug has literally wiped out every ounce of energy in my body. At its worst, I could only stand to be up and about for half an hour, after which I would collapse on the couch for 3 hours to rest. Do this for 4 straight days and you'll find that there's more carbs in the Couch Potato Regimen (CPR) than an entire loaf of processed white bread. Symptoms of CPR include an expanding butt and stomach, whiny voice, sickly palor (in my case I have turned a nice shade of pastel yellow) and a sudden affinity to daytime talkshows.

As of today, I am at about 70% of my normal health and given where I was just a week ago, I consider this a remarkable improvement. I suffered a relapse this past Saturday, but I am now on my 2nd round of antibiotics and it seems to be working (fingers crossed). Thank you for your patience as I slowly get back up to speed. A number of orders did go out this week and it looks like with this weekend's shipment, I'll be pretty much caught up. Thanks again for your patience and well wishes.

Last shenanigan to report is that I I've finalized my hair detangler/body mist. It's been in testing with friends and local customers for the last week and feedback is AMAZING. This is the third modification of the formula and I think I've got it to the point where I'd like to send it out to a few Smarties to test. I have 3 Smarties already signed up (from a while back) to test this formula. I'll send out an e-mail to the rest of the names in the database sometime this weekend. While we're closed, I'd like to gather feedback for this formula and if all goes well, I'm hoping I can offer it when we reopen in June.

I think I've reported all the shenanigans that have happened this past week. Don't forget...last day to place orders is Monday, April 28th. I'm quite looking forward to this break because frankly, I'm exhausted ladies! I'm still essentially a one-woman show and I think it's time for a little break. I need the time to finish up some projects, hook up and play around with my new kick-a$$ laptop, test out some ideas that have been rattling around in my head and most importantly, take a little break for myself. Thanks for rocking the last 3 months of my life! This has been so much fun hasn't it?! I really hate to tear myself away from CLC productions and I miss you all already, but the more logical, less crazy side of me is telling me that it's good to take a break every now and then.

Till the next shenanigan(s)...

Oh...I think I'll start signing off with a list of what products I used for the day so here goes...in case anyone's interested:

- Suave Clarifying Shampoo & Conditioner: I swear by this stuff. I've been using it for as long as I can remember and it's one of my HGs.

- Luscious Lather in Lemon Blueberry Frosting: Just trying to get through the bottle now since I've overdosed on this scent.

- Throughout the day: Comforting Creme for my hands scented in Sweet Cream and Lavender - gals, this scent has a very strong following and I couldn't be prouder. I'm not a fan of lavender, but I was determined to come up with a very approachable lavender. This is it. Soft, smooth and not snooty at all.

- The hair/body mist formula I'm testing scented in Shimmering Pink Sand. I think I overdid it because I'm getting a sore throat from stinking way too much! As a body spray it has great lasting power. Can't test for the scent longevity as a hair mist since I have chin-length hair and no amount of hair swinging will enable me to sniff my locks. If I shake my head furiously like Irene Cara in that "What a feeling" movie, I can get a whiff.

- Unscented Aloe Smoothie lotion.

- Obagi Vitamin C Serum.

- Oil of Olay Complete Defense SPF 30 moisturizer - the best facial moisturizer out there period. In my experience, it beats even high-end moisturizers that cost multiples of the price for this product.

- Later tonight: Flutter Butter in Sweet Cream and Lavender for my hands and feet before bed time.

Madras and Cream & Sugar Scrub

Okay, two developments regarding the scent - Madras, and the product - Cream & Sugar Scrub.

Madras
It turns out that my supplier has discontinued one of the main fragrances for this blend. I didn't know about it until I had to re-order. Imagine my dismay when I only had about 2 inches left of the FO and then no more! I begged and pleaded and promised my first-born son, but he would not budge - the heartless, capitalist robot that he is. I keeed people! He's actually a stand-up person who runs a small reputable fragrance and flavour business about an hour away from me in NJ. The reason he said, was that the oil wasn't selling well. In fact, it really wasn't selling at all!!! And you now what? I can understand why. Alone, the FO - which was the cranberry component of the blend - smells like the product of a flatulent donkey. Really, folks it was that bad. But as is my practice with all my first sniff disasters, I let it sit in an open amber bottle for a bit to see if the fragrance would morph to something better.

Sure enough it did and although I still wouldn't use it alone, the fragrance took on a mellow-sweet character, quite unlike a tart cranberry actually. Which is really what inspired me to create the sniff of the famous cocktail Madras. Using straight-up cranberry and orange juice in a fragrance blend would have created way too many sharp edges for anyone's liking. But this particular cranberry was smooth and sweet enough to make the citrus notes less sharp and biting.

Anyway, so until I can either find another supplier with this particular FO, I've resorted trying to make an accord to dupe the cranberry component. I'm not having much luck folks and it's been day 5 of my quest. Yesterday, I came up with an accord that I found came pretty close so this is what I'm using for now. Thankfully, the orders for Madras-scented goodies have dwindled, which will give me time to test out this blend and make a final determination as to whether to keep or toss the reformulated version of Madras. For now, orders from 1714 onwards will receive the reformulated Madras scent. I am sending this out to a few customers to test, but one in particular (KATHY!!!) who is THE Madras Queen! Like in gladiator days, we'll wait with baited breath as Kathy sniffs the reformulated version and then sticks her thumb either up or down. The reformulated version is not an exact dupe of the original blend. The cranberry note is a little sharper, and the blend is a little sweeter, but for those who know what the cocktail smells like, this may actually hearken closer to the real deal.

I'll let you know what Kathy says as soon as I hear from her. Till then, I'm keeping this reformulated version and again, keep in mind that if your order number is 1714 or higher, you will receive the new version of this blend.

Cream & Sugar Scrub
With the warmer weather fast approaching, I challenge tested this scrub to see how it would react to sitting in the hot sun for a few hours. Just as I had suspected, the cream base of the scrub gets soft and melty. Sometimes, it's even past the soft point and gets downright oily. Should this happen, simply pop the scrub int he refrigerator and allow it to cool and harden for about 15 minutes. Stir it once before you put it in the fridge, then one more time after you take it out and it should be fine.

As long as this scrub is kept in a cool and dry place, you shouldn't have to keep doing this prior to each use. Just please be careful opening the jars when you receive your package, especially if it's been sitting out in the sun for quite some time.

For those who live in warmer climes, please drop me a line and tell me how this scrub held up in transit if you've ordered it recently.

That's about it in terms of an update. I'm back to filling orders and working as fast as I can to catch up. I'm sad that I am not able to offer the Summer Box Sampler I had originally planned to sell around this time. Between the number of orders we have yet to fill and the setback in TAT as a result of my illness, it just wouldn't be in either one of our best interests to encourage another huge uptick in sale orders.

More to come in the next entry, but I think I've kept you out of trouble long enough with this post. Now go and wreak some fragrant havoc!

Update on orders from 1714 onwards...

Hi ladies! Just wanted to give a quick update on the status of orders starting from 1714.

I was moving at a decent clip filling and shipping orders within the lower range of the stated turnaround time (12 days) and then BOOM...I got sick. It started Sunday and got progressively worse. I have that illness that I liken to an urban legend. You start off by telling someone your symptoms "Sore throat, congestion, hair loss, crossed eyes, etc." and they get this sage-like look in their eyes. "Aye," they say, "My neighbour's friend's cousin's husband had something exactly like yours. He was home sick for 2 weeks! Darn near almost killed him." Everyone knows someone who knows someone else who's been hit with this bug that's been going around. Of course it's been going around people! How else would I have caught it!!! On any given day, I can be found in line at the post office, at the local Starbucks, the bank, browsing in Barnes & Noble and food shopping at the local supermarket. Funny really. I just got done telling my neighbour about my illness and it turns out his wife has the same thing. Now I think I'm being accused of coveting my neighbour's wife because how else could I have gotten this illness?!

Anyway, I'm confident that I'm on the road to feeling normal again. I've stayed away from making any orders, but I have been taking care of other adminsitrative tasks such as sending out completed notifications, printing out labels and getting packages ready for shipment. The good news is that it looks like I'm still within turning orders around at the stated TAT of 12 to 14 business days. The bad news is that it doesn't look like I'll be able to continue sticking to the lower end of the TAT range. Right now, it looks like I can get orders out within 14 business days. I'm sorry for the delay, but this bug has really kicked my beee-hind. Two days ago, someone would have had to surgically remove the couch from my butt in order to get me going. That's how bad it was. And the thing is, I'm one of those people who always says, "If you're well enough to go to the doctor, you're well enough to show up to work!" Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

Before I sign off, I want to thank everyone for making our Spring Sale such a huge success. Soooo....y'all really took the tag line seriously huh? Stock Up and Save...and yes you sure did! Most of the orders we received were quite large. I'm seriously afraid that I won't hear from you for the next 2 years because you sure ordered enough to last you that long!

Alright, back to work for me. Just wanted to let you know how things were going here at CLC. It looks like we have a few more things brewing, but I'll save that for the newsletter. Speaking of newsletter, please make sure you sign-up to receive it! We're going to pick one lucky subscriber at the end of the month to win 200 points!

Sale Extended (for all ye procrastinators)!

Okay, so I thought I was actually running late for taking the sale down, but lo and behold!, a couple of hours after I did, I received a bunch of e-mails asking me if the sale was indeed over! One of the e-mails, from Lisa H. of Canada (hi Lis!) mentioned that she thought the sale was till the 16th. I had to go back and read my newsletter to double check when I said the sale was going to end, and sure enough, I wasn't drunk e-mailing (a blanket apology goes out to all my ex-boyfriends for being on the receiving end of my newfound literary prowess and expanded vocabulary of expletives whilst under the influence).

So anyway, we all have Lisa to thank for extending the sale till the 16th!

Happy shopping gals and remember, friends don't let friends text, dial or e-mail drunk ;) Oh, and the sale ends on Wednesday, April 16th at 12 p.m. EST.

New Kiva Loan

We just made the following loan through Kiva!

Borrower Profile as copied from Kiva:
"Mr. Sovannathou and his wife have been married for twenty one years. They have three children—one son and two daughters. Two of their children are employed full time and other one is in school. The family lives about fifteen kilometers from Phnom Penh.

Mr. Soun has been selling watches for fifteen years. He buys them from the market in Phnom Penh for resale in Treng Trayoeng Market (Kam Pong Spoe Province). His wife has been a garment factory worker for 5 years.

Mr. Soun is requesting a loan for the first time. He is asking for $1,000 to purchase watches for resale."

As of March 28th, 2008, Mr. Soun has raised 75% of the needed funds.

Please check out this wonderful organization that empowers and enriches the lives of so many people around the world. These entreprenuers do not have access to capital the way we do here in the United States, through small business loans and heck - personal credit cards, home equity lines of credit and friends and family!!! Kiva provides them with the opportunity to start or grow their business through loans. You can lend as little as $25.

Check out Kiva here: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=home.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Amanda who introduced me to this wonderful organization! $25 may not be a lot to some of us, but it means a lot to these people.

My side of the story...

I recently refused to fill someone's order and feel that I need to explain the reasons that led up to this difficult decision. Up until now, I've restrained from using this blog as a forum to air my grievances, but I've just about had enough of people who are so quick to cut and pass judgment without even for once considering that there is another side to the story.

This particular customer ordered the Spring Sampler. However, knowing that she prefers to have her products scented in Very Strong, and that I've received e-mails from her in the past stating that even at this intensity she still couldn't smell anything, I was sure that the sampler wasn't going to meet her standards. The products in the sampler are scented at Medium to Medium/Strong, the most often requested intensity by our customers.

So I decided to refund her money and in my e-mail to her I explained that since she has been unhappy with her previous orders and the lack of throw in the products even at the Very Strong level, I did not feel comfortable filling the order because the products in the sampler were scented at Medium to Medium/Strong. I offered to send her fragrance oil samples free of charge if she wanted to try out any particular scents, but again I explained that the sampler was probably not the right avenue for her.

Twice I've filled orders for this customer. The first time she ordered, she e-mailed me and told me she couldn't smell any scent in the product so I gladly remade everything, scenting all the products as strong as I could within safe guidelines. The feedback from this round was that she could detect a faint smell in the products and I suggested that she let it cure to allow the oils to bind and the fragrance to bloom.

The second order was for a shampoo and conditioner. The feedback from this was that the scent itself was nice, but again, still not as strongly scented as she would have liked. Again I explained that 1) All products need time to cure and 2) The scent she chose, Dark Pink, takes a little longer to fully blossom so she should give it some time and 3) I can only scent to a particular maximum load so as not to compromise the preservative system and stability of the product itself.

Okay, so given the customer's history of only being somewhat satisfied with her orders from me in the past, what possible incentive did I have to fill this one, especially when the scent intensity was clearly not going to be to her liking?! In my e-mail to her, I apologized for not filling the order and explained that I simply wanted to save her the frustration and money of receiving yet another batch of "weakly" scented products. What would YOU have done in this situation? I didn't refuse to sell her anything - closing CLC's doors on her! I simply refused to offer her the sampler given the past e-mails she's sent me about her lack of satisfaction with her previous orders. Come on? What was I supposed to do? It's like, "Hey doc, it hurts when I bang my head against the wall." "Okay, so DON'T bang your head against the wall then!"

Truth be told, I just didn't want to get another e-mail from her after she received the sampler stating that there's no scent in the products. I was damned if I filled the order, but I guess even more damned that I didn't. In addition, there have been more instances where I've received feedback that our products were too strongly scented and that they found the throw to be too much.

I really hate using this blog for this situation, but I've sat here feeling defenseless and mute long enough. When CLC re-launched in February, someone named Chocolate911, CocolatteXXX, ChocoDelicious and every other combination and permutation of the word, sent me some wonderful e-mails with screen shots of what was being said about me on a particular forum for weeks! My business and I were subject to a lot of name calling by people who had never ordered from me before, yet felt entitled enough to pass judgment on me. Those who were kind and open-minded enough to ask me what happened that caused me to close CLC down so suddenly got a very candid and honest answer from me. However, I wasn't going to use this blog to broadcast all the personal issues I went through. If you'd like to know and I know I owe some an explanation, by all means please ask and I'll tell you! Just not on a public forum such as a blog.

Anyway, whoever this "Choco-whatever" person is, used to send me daily e-mails from different addresses (so I couldn't block them) letting me know what was being said about CLC and me. Again, what I found most surprising was that people who never had exposure to CLC were the quickest ones to make judgment calls. Wow, if this is the market to which CLC caters to, then I guess I'm doomed from the start eh?

So how about we try this novel idea people? Before you pass judgment on someone, stop and think about what their side of the story could possibly be and what could have motivated them to do what they did? Some a$$hole cut you off? Maybe they're on their way to the hospital to witness the birth of their child or to hold the hand of someone who's dying. The waitress was abrasive and rude when you asked for extra napkins? Maybe the person in the next table left her a $1 tip for a $40 meal. Some e-tailer refused to sell a customer a sample set? Maybe, JUST MAYBE, given the customer's history and feedback on past orders, she knew that the customer wasn't going to be happy with the scent intensity in these pre-made products and that she thought she was actually saving the customer time and money by offering an alternative. I guess it's true what they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

If for nothing else, this whole ordeal has made me a more empathetic person because I have seen first hand just how ugly being judgmental can be. It's made me stop and think before I lash out because I've been on the receiving end of this type of ugliness.

So anyway, that's my side of the story. If you've gotten this far, thank you for your time and for at least hearing me out. That's all I wanted - for my side of the story to be heard.

I intend to move forward from this incident and I do not wish to revisit this. To the customer who felt "deeply offended" by my decision, I've apologized enough and offered an alternative solution which she didn't want to accept. If I've lost business as a result of this decision, well then it's a price I'm willing to pay to shake off all the negativity and false accusations.

I'm moving on and I hope others can too.

15 Minute Update

Okay - it's 2:44 p.m. EST and I figured if I can stick to this 15 minute rule thing, maybe I'll be able to post more often.

Here's some mindless on and off-topic banter that's been on my mind:

1) I really need to make a large batch of the hair mist/detangler that I'd like to send out to test. I wrote about it a while back, then I played around with the formula some more, then I decided I'd like to test two different versions. I'd like for it to be multi-purpose, so on top of being a hair detangler & perfume, I'd also like it to do double duty as a body mist. Hopefully, I can work on this this weekend.

2) Speaking of this weekend, I'd like to take Sunday off. I've been working 7 days a week, and well into the night and I need some time to unplug and decompress. On top of that, I have shopping bags of stuff that need to be unloaded. Here's the thing - I hit 3 Lush stores back in January/February when they were having their huge sale. I have been digging through the bags to see which product I'd like to use next. I guess in a way it's good because it's kinda like a grab bag. Close my eyes, stick my hand in and pull out whatever I happen to grab. Last Lush product I used was a bar of Snowcake. BTW, the 3 Lush stores I hit? One was in the Philippines, during my holiday. WTH is wrong with me?

Anyway, I think I need to spend some quality time organizing my stash. It's kinda gotten out of control. I made a bunch of CLC perfumes, Lusciuos Lathers, Comforting Cremes and Flutter Butters and the bottom drawer of the bathroom cabinet is now completely filled. I need to organize this before it gets too much more out of control. I took quick stock today and in addition to all the CLC stuff I have, it's brimming with airplane amenity kits, hotel toilettries, free gifts with purchase and product samples.

BTW, don't let me give you the wrong impression. I'm a HUGE fan of CLC products (but of course!). I love and use every freakin' thing I make but as I've always maintained, I'm a product junkie and a sales addict. You put these two together and you've basically mainlined a drug into my veins that will get me to surrender my credit card for the sweet truimph of Buying One and Getting One Free. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that these expenses count as a business tax deduction for competitive research purposes. Hello! Hey, it was Origins' Incredible Spreadable Scrub that inspired our Cream & Sugar Scrub after all.

3) It's now 2:52 p.m. - 7 more minutes left to type and I just hit a freakin' writer's block.

4) I think I have my running mojo back. If I can keep this up and commit to a sensible training schedule, I'd really like to run the NYC Marathon this year. I've backed out twice because of injury, but I feel good about this year.

5) I'll be releasing our Spring/Summer '08 scents soon. I'm looking at third week or last week in March for the release. Right now, I'm in the process of writing scent descriptions for all of them. Not sure yet what special I'll have for April. I'm open to suggestions.

6) Crap! It's 3:01 p.m. Gotta sign off.

Have a lovely weekend. I'll be posting some of the pics I took of the Denims & Knits event (which was a success by the way) in my next entry.