Monday, May 28, 2012

Vessel™ - Scented Jewelry!

Well, I suppose it's only fitting that the first post on my new blog site is an update on what I've been doing in my new life, post Nature's Sunshine Products layoff.
As anyone who knows me will know, I had absolutely the best job in the world, with what was the best company in the world. But the only thing that stays the same in this world is that things change, and I was unfortunately part of a company-wide layoff in November of 2010.
The layoff upset my balance greatly, and I had to take some time to grieve the loss. Then it was time to look for a new job, which happened to be at a time in the American economy when we had the highest unemployment in decades. To say that the job hunt was an ego-buster would be an understatement!
In the meantime, a good friend and former co-worker, Karen Carter (who was also part of the same lay-off), had had an idea stewing in her brain for years. Because she had skin sensitivity to fragrances, she wasn't able to wear perfume. Her idea was ... why not create jewelry that would hold some sort of fragrance mechanism, thus avoiding the skin sensitivity problem? She had thought about this for a long time, but had a hard time contemplating leaving a secure job to launch the idea. When her "security" was yanked out from underneath her, she thought, "What better time than now?" Karen told me about her idea, and I told her I would help her until I got a job.
Well, the job market hasn't really improved very much (especially for those of us a bit "long in the tooth"!), but the good news is that in the meantime Karen and I were able to lay the ground-work for the new company.
So, after months of working on the concept, trying to get funding lined up, and ALL the aspects of putting together and running a company, we are finally in pre-launch status (I don't know how to term all the previous work ... PRE pre-launch??) for Vessel™.
The basic patent-pending concept of Vessel is that you can create custom jewelry pieces by combing any of our uniquely-designed lockets with any chain, and adding charms to complete your unique look. The lockets can hold our ScentSpheres™, which are clay beads that come in a large array of designs, colors and shapes and which are fragranced with a perfume oil of your choice from our fragrance line. We also have other products, such as flowers (you can attach a locket or charm, and wear either on your clothing or in your hair), purse locket/chain, car freshener locket/chain, and soon a pet line! We are selling via the home party business model. We have already had many parties, with the calendar filling up fast! Please check us out:
Also, a couple of weeks ago Karen appeared on Good Things Utah (Channel 4): http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Vessel/CBaHQR1ztEiYcwgFpnotOw.cspx
Being laid off was scary, in a bad way. Getting this company off the ground has been scary ... but in a good way. I haven't felt so alive about a job in ... well, never. Even my dream job at Nature's Sunshine didn't give me this feeling.
So, we will continue to rush into the unknown future, trusting that all will happen as it needs to happen. If there is one thing I have learned about life is that everything happens for a reason, and a negative event is often what is needed to put you on the path you were meant to be on. So ... thanks, NSP!
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