Say What?!?!?!

This may come as a big surprise to some people.  It is not something I've openly talked to about, because frankly, until I was sure, I felt it would be bad business to talk about.
Many of you who have been loyal fans to LilacAve know the story.  I started LilacAve after I left my career in Fashion Merchandising, to be with my son who was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism.  For a brief 7 months I did return back to my corporate life, only for us to start a whirlwind 2yrs, where we moved to Hawaii (7 months) to Georgia (16 months), and back to Virginia. During that 2yrs I put everything I had into LilacAve.  My ultimate dream was to make the business into my income.
While pursuing this "dream", our family made a lot of sacrifices financially, and we tried to concentrate our lives on doing things, and not material things.  We tried to really concentrate on what we REALLY need versus what we wanted.  It was almost like a recovery from the fast paced, buy everything we need, and don't need world before the economy crashed.
At the beginning of this year, I felt like we really had "made it".  I was earning some pretty big increases over previous years, and as exciting as that was....it was also exhausting. If you saw my blog back in June (My Reality of Owning a Micro Business), you saw that I was starting to question some things about owning my own business as an income.  What about vacation, what about 401k and retirement, what about growth plateaus?  I was starting to worry about the feasibility of maintaining the perks....working in my PJ's, being home for my kids after school, freedom with my schedule, and still growing to the point that I could pay for my kids college and retire one day.
Then summer came.  Summer Business is like a Texas Summer.  Usually it doesn't rain much.....but this year it was a full out DROUGHT!  My business came crashing to a screeching halt.  And not just slow for summer.......even slower (30-50% down from previous summers). It was heart breaking.  It was exhausting.
Back in about mid August, a series of events and random conversations, led me to start applying for jobs in my old career path.  As I kept interviewing and talking about merchandising theory, balancing inventories, and managing financial plans based on sales, I got excited. I remembered the passion I thought was dead.  The idea of co-workers, a steady income and vacation days, started to feel like a great big hug.
This Monday I got a job offer. I was more giddy and stress free than I've been in quite some time. And the more I thought about what this means for LilacAve, the more I thought, maybe it is time to let her go.

Say What?!?!?!?!

Here's the plan. It will NOT be right away.  I have too much made candles, lotion bars, and lip balms to just close up shop.  And at the moment I am at 1899 Etsy sales.  I propose I will stay open until 2000 sales. 
After that, my Etsy shop will close but my facebook business page will live on. I am hoping after a hiatus, I will start to yearn to make candles, and fabulous spa like products again.  I will want to be adventurous and smell new things, make new things.  I'll miss old things (like Blueberry Cobbler and Wood Wicks).  I will start to make things, and post them for sale via my Facebook page. 

I leave this blog post, thanking my customers for your encouragement, your praise, and being my "work" for over 3yrs.  However, I'm not leaving our friendship, it is just going to evolve.

Much Love,
Deb

P.S. To help me get to my goal and to Thank You..... any time between now and the closing use THANKYOU coupon code and save 25%.
**you cannot use 2 coupon codes coinciding**