Last week I met with Todd Ervin, owner of Alabaster Fragrance & Color (aka Alabaster Candle Supply). After nearly two hours discussing a preliminary list of responsibilities, I walked out as a new employee. While I don’t exactly have a title or position (e.g. Customer Service) at this point, I’m not complaining. I brought a copy of the list home and showed it to my other half. His comment was “Wow honey, this was written for you”. While my other half doesn’t particularly care to talk about making soap or other products, and tends to tune me out when I try to talk to him about them, he does know me and my love of handcrafting.
I agree with my other half. While I’m not going to say this is a ‘match made in heaven’, it’s pretty darn close. And the best part is that I not only have a new job, I have one within the industry I love. As a supplier, Alabaster serves both the candle and bath & body crafters in Alabama and beyond. I don’t know a lot about candles (although I’m sure I’ll be learning!), but I do know bath & body, and that is where most of my responsibilities are. I’ll also be doing some marketing and promotion, as well as special projects, live chats, and more.
So where does this leave DP Naturals? Honestly, at this point I’m not sure. I’ve been planning to begin gearing up to take it to the next level, getting serious and making the effort to become a full fledged business. Now I’m not so sure. At the end of May, I briefly posted on my food blog about my spine condition. Trying to take DPN to the next level is not physically possible for me at this time. I need to work a regular job, and on top of that, I would have to be on my feet making lots of products for the markets and such I would need to do on my days off. And let’s not forget all the household responsibilities.
My back just can’t handle it all, and I know this as fact. Since early March, I’ve had a part-time job that required me to be on my feet 6 to 7 hours a day. There was also a physical element to the job with pushing and lifting. I used double-stacked fatigue mats, and they helped, but I was still exhausted and in pain when I got home. While the job proved to be too much for me, I am thankful that I had it given the current economic and employment situation. I learned quite a bit, and I hope to apply some of it to my position at Alabaster.
DP Naturals is not going away at this time. I suppose you could say it’s on an indefinite hiatus while I get settled into my new job, continue the therapy for my back and spine, and give thought to it all. I will still be making products for friends and family, as well as products for orders that happen to come in. I will also continue to write for Saponifier Magazine as the Toiletries Editor.
Working for Alabaster is the right thing for me at this time. It also will allow me to do what I love to do, and get paid for it. It doesn’t get much better than that.
