How my relaunch almost broke me.

Going Harder does not mean Growing Faster

A few months back, my sister and I decided our business needed a relaunch. Our basic candle names and collections had started to feel stale, and sales were way down.

Brainstorming new scent ideas brought me back to life. For the first time in a long while, I felt energized — like I did when we first launched two years ago.

I thought this relaunch would feel like a fresh start.
Instead, it almost became my breaking point.

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The Vision vs. The Reality

At first, it was exciting.
Creating meaningful names tied to my personal experiences, redesigning the website, closing the shop with a big sale — all of it filled me with momentum.

I loved every minute of it.

But then I decided that if I just pushed harder, our relaunch would be even more successful.

Before, I’d been focusing on Substack, Threads, email marketing, and the occasional Instagram post. For the relaunch, I convinced myself I needed more: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest… all at once.

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The Downward Spiral

The rush of new ideas gave me a false sense of being unstoppable.

I was so proud of our products and our new site that I wanted to share it with the world. Writing came naturally — Substack posts, Threads, emails felt effortless.

But content creation? That’s where the nightmare began.

Re-downloading Instagram was my first mistake. The doom-scrolling began, and comparison took over. I watched countless polished videos from other candle makers, their magazine-worthy photos, their perfectly edited reels.

I thought: I can do this too.

So I tried. I spent hours making a single video — tweaking music, rewriting captions, timing the post just right. After posting, I’d cross-post to Facebook and TikTok, then stick around to “engage” because that’s what every expert says you have to do.

Hours of work. Hundreds of views. Ten likes.

And while I was chasing algorithms, I was neglecting the platforms that actually brought me joy and results.

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The Breaking Point

The night before the website was scheduled to go live, I thought I still had everything under control.

Until perfectionism took over.

(Just writing this still makes my shoulders tense.)

I noticed a small issue with product photos not displaying correctly. It ruined the aesthetic for me, so I searched for a fix. ChatGPT handed me a step-by-step coding tweak that seemed simple.

It wasn’t.

Hours later, I had broken the site even more — product images wouldn’t scroll, listings looked awful, and suddenly my website was unpublishable.

I’d spent 10+ hours on what should have been a small change, and instead of improving the site, I had wrecked it.

By 11 PM, I couldn’t hold back the tears. We’d hyped this launch for weeks, and the site was supposed to go live at 7 AM.

Thankfully, my husband pulled me away from my computer and made me take a break. After 45 minutes, I sat back down, looked at the code with fresh eyes, and finally found the fix.

At 1 AM — exhausted, raw, and shaken — the website was back online.

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The Relaunch

The next morning should have been a celebration.
Instead, I felt hollow and drained.

The site was live. Orders came in. But I couldn’t even look at it without panic bubbling up. The joy was gone.

Content creation felt heavier than ever, so I let it go. And when I finally stepped back, I realized how much time I’d stolen from my family — and for what?

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Shifting Perspective

I had become a stressed, tired, grumpy mom. Something had to give.

So I deleted Instagram and TikTok from my phone. Now I only post a couple of times a week from my iPad. I’m rethinking Instagram as more of a portfolio than a constant “how to” feed.

Video content isn’t for me. And that’s okay. Just because others make it look easy doesn’t mean it is.

What is for me is writing. That’s my strength, and where my energy should go.

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Lessons I Learned

Here’s what this relaunch taught me:

• Doing more does not mean growing faster.

• Burnout steals joy and creativity.

• Stick with what you actually enjoy — even if it’s not what everyone else is doing.

Yes, this relaunch almost broke me. It drained me, scared me, and took weeks to recover from.

But it also reminded me what truly matters — and where I want to spend my time.

So thank you for being here, reading along, and sticking with me through this.

I can’t promise I’ll never burn out again. But I can promise I’ll be here, writing, sharing, and staying true to this space.

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Writing this newsletter has become one of my favorite creative outlets — a place where I can reflect on the chaos of motherhood, the joy of creating, and the rollercoaster of running a small business.

Your support helps me keep creating this space while raising a family and growing my little candle shop 💛

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