Things went remarkably smoothly on Valentine’s Day. There were a few minor hiccups, and one driver racing to get some CookieTexts to a school before the final bell (my fault, not hers, I should have sent that order on another route), but considering the volume of orders we put out, it went smooth like…butter.
Tuesday night around 7:30 pm we reached the number of orders we thought we could deliver with pride. At that point I went in the back end of the website and turned off February 14th as an option for delivery date. That was a first.
Liz was here with me that night as we got a head start on the next day’s orders. She’s awesome. She can sprinkle, box, and ribbon a CookieText faster than you can say Oklahoma Sooners (she proudly is one). Typically when she walks in the door I turn on the 60’s Pandora station and we get into a groove, and that’s exactly what we did. We share a couple of laughs and I bounce some ideas off of her, but we actually work pretty quietly together. Liz is the perfect example of when the student surpasses the master. She can work circles around me.
At one point in the evening my friend Carlyn popped in with a survival kit. The paleo-beef stick I looked sideways at in the moment was a Godsend at 2am when I needed some sort of nutrition to keep going. It was either nutrition I needed or something to soak up all the liquid caffeine I’d ingested, either way, it hit the spot at the exact right moment.
Liz and Monica were both at work about 7am, and we got our hustle on. We had 6 routes going out, one of those with two people in the vehicle because it was the biggest one and deliveries go more quickly with two people. Our biggest delivery was to CNU, that driver put a rolling cart in her van so she could wheel everything to the mailroom in one trip (pretty brilliant). You know how we ended up with so many at CNU? ….I asked.
I wrote a Facebook post and asked that if there were any CNU parents that followed our page, I’d love it if they would let the other parents know we’d be happy to help them send a Valentine to their student. It only takes one person to say yes. It didn’t happen right away. The post had been up a few days when a mom commented that she had shared my post with the CNU parent’s pages she had access to. Not only that, she also fielded questions from them that they asked on the post. How awesome is that? I’m not sure if the lesson is sometimes ask for what you want or that it only takes one person to make a difference. I think it’s both.
Wednesday afternoon I went immediately to my friend John over at Healthy Touch Massages He blissfully worked out the multiple kinks in my back and right arm from piping so many CookieTexts. The thing about John and Healthy Touch is that it’s convenient (I can book online), the prices are fair, the place is welcoming, clean, and classy, and he always does a great job. Once I found them, I never looked elsewhere. That’s how I want CookieText to be for our customers: reliable, efficient, and effective, so I can see why Healthy Touch’s business model speaks to me. Once I left there I hit my couch and didn’t get up until Thursday morning.
This was the first Valentine’s I can remember that we didn’t forget something: either some sprinkles, a balloon, an extra frosting, or something like that. That makes me so happy. I can’t stand messing up. We didn’t get a single complaint. In fact, quite the opposite:
“I ordered 3 cookie texts yesterday and one was going to a high school that told me they would turn it away. I contacted you all and you were so awesome! You called me almost instantly and I was able to change the delivery address. Also, the products are SO delicious!! Thank you so much!!! I’m a previous customer and will keep ordering!!!”
“Super easy to order! Love that there’s no shipping cost! Hubby loved getting his on Valentine’s Day! I will definitely order again!”
“This is our second year sending CookieText to our daughter for Valentine’s Day. This year’s was more beautiful than last, and she absolutely loves receiving them. Thank you so much for making her day while she’s away at school.”
How awesome is that!?
I’ve said it a million times, I love my job. I am grateful. We have a fantastic team on board and we had some phenomenal extra helpers as well, they all amazed me. Thanks to all of you for your support, for ordering from us, for cheering us on, and for telling your friends. Valentine’s Day is our Black Friday times 10 (but lucky for you there’s no standing in line at 4 am). It’s a lot of work, a lot of fun, and we get a ton of joy out of knowing people are getting showered with some cookie love. It’s a blessing to be able to do what you love for a living, and it’s something I do not take for granted.
All that said, as a true entreprenuer, I’m compelled to remind you: we’re here all year…you can order 24 hours a day at www.cookietext.com. 😉
I hope you had a LOVEly week,
Jeanne
