Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!
This month is all about embracing change. The weather is changing from summer to fall here in NJ (yay!) and it feels like the rest of my world has decided to change with it, so I'm bringing you all along for the ride. Forced change is never fun, especially when you are settled in your methods and have a routine. But with change being forced upon me, I've decided to use it as an opportunity to improve and bring an even better experience to you. Or, so I hope - you'll have to let me know how I did!
First up - you may have noticed that my email is coming from a new service and has a slightly different look and feel. While I loved using my old service and was content with my newsletter style, my service provider let me know that I had reached the upper limit of their free offerings and would have to either move to a paid tier or reduce the number of subscribers. I feel so blessed to have reached the point in our growth that this is an issue, but I also know that I am dedicated to bringing you this newsletter without it impacting the pricing of our products. Everything is getting more expensive already and I don't want to pass that cost on to you - so off I went to find another way. And here we are! I'm sure there will need to be improvements as I learn a new system, don't hesitate to let me know if you see something that can be done better, or if I made something harder for you to find the products you love.
Next, if I'm upgrading my mail, and I've already upgraded my social media, then I have to upgrade my product photography, right? I've been thinking about this one for a while and would love to hear your thoughts on the change. When I started this journey, I made a conscious decision to keep everything simple and clean, with stark white backgrounds and barely posed products. Mostly because my skill set with photography is limited to a light box and point-and-shoot technology. But it's time to catch up with the rest of the competition out there and step-up my game with more aesthetic product pictures. I'd love to know if you like it more now, or did you prefer the bare basics? Never fear, the white background shots are still available on our website, just click through the "pretty" picture. I'll be upgrading all our photos slowly throughout the next few weeks (months, who am I kidding?)
And last, the change I dreaded making. Pricing. In order to survive this holiday season as the small farm you know and love, I could not escape the inevitable. And for the first time since opening this shop, I had to change from free shipping for orders over $25 to free shipping for orders over $75. It broke my heart to take even that small step, but with USPS holiday rates going into effect even earlier than last year and staying in place even longer, I can no longer absorb the increases. I am able to maintain our $5 flat rate shipping for all orders, and while $5 does not cover the shipping cost from me to anywhere in the US, the small shift in the free shipping threshold is just enough to make it work. I hope you understand. I never want shipping to be the barrier that prevents you from shopping, reach out if you have ideas that may help us both, I'm all ears!
Ok, that was a lot of words for this edition and I'm just going to close out with a huge thank you to everyone - these changes are hard, require some extra hours and effort, but they are needed because you helped me get to this next level. I see you, I hear you, and I appreciate every one of you. If you made it this far, thank you! And go subscribe to my YouTube channel, you are my people. 💚
