On June 27th, 2007, I lost my job. I had been working for a fantastic software company with a great team of people and in a city that I knew and loved. The whole thing had come as a complete shock and I just remember feeling so crushed. But bills must be paid, so I picked up my young broken heart and started the job search the next morning.
Facebook Marketplace was fairly new at the time and still had all the buzz about it. I decided to look on there and discovered an opportunity that sounded right up my alley. The brand new company was called OnlyGreen and they were looking for a Marketing Assistant. Best of all, it was in Midland, which meant half the commute time.
I applied right away and got a call a few hours later. A guy named George wanted to meet with me that evening. The interview went well. So well that I got a call the next day to come back and accept the position! I met with George the Friday afternoon to go over the scope of work…..in a word, it was a shitload. The first thing I stated is that this job didn’t sound like I would be ‘assisting’ anyone. And so Marketing Manager I became.
I took the position and agreed to start right away, the Tuesday following the July long weekend.
What followed for the next 6 months (plus 4.5 years…but we’ll get to that) was complete chaos. I don’t think I really grasped when I accepted the job that I would be personally and single-handily launching the entire company. Don’t get me wrong, the 3 guys who hired me where there with tons of support and ideas, but with different companies each to run, I was left to do the work for this one myself.
In a short period of time, I learned to register a business with the government, set up GST/PST accounts, research hundreds of products, broker and organize inventory goods, work with a designer to develop the brand, website and 1st catalogue (on paper, hole punched, in a duotang!), write the story and mission statement and start to write product descriptions. This was the starting of launching the product offerings and company image.
Soon after I was joined by some help. Thank god for Aimee! She was brought on for one day a week to start and helped me with pretty much anything that was needed. Over the next year, the company moved quickly. We gained a pile more people and started for work towards launching the direct sales opportunity. January 2009, the Starter Kits for your very own OnlyGreen Business were ready to go and out the door! I can honestly say it was an incredibly proud moment for me.
To describe the next 3.5 years that followed the opportunity launch would be more than my blog can handle. We did so much. We went from 3 Ikea shelves in my 1st office, to an entire warehouse full of inventory. We began manufacturing our own complete line of safe & natural health, beauty & cleaning products, among so much more. Over the years, OnlyGreen produced 8 full catalogues and created so many amazing new products.
We grew the business in ways I had never imagined and met some amazing people along the way. Our team of Independent EcoAdvisors was filled with dedicated and hard working people who had such a passion for the environment and natural health. Some of them will honestly remain friends for the rest of my life.
Everyone involved with our Head Office worked so hard. I can’t even recall the number of nights that extended to a point of Chinese food or pizza around a boardroom table. We all had our hearts in it and were working passionately to see it take off.
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| This certainly is not everyone who made the magic happen, but it is a good shot of the original gangstas! Aimee, me, Corey, George, Norm & Bob. |
I won’t get into the gory details, but unfortunately we won’t see that happen. As of the end of this week, we officially cease operations. It has been one of the most heartbreaking experiences that I have personally ever gone through. I know life changes, businesses close, but I (along with my coworkers) really gave this my all.
I can say for certain that being with a company from conception to close has gained me more extensive and varied skills than I am sure I would have gotten anywhere else. I wore so many hats over the 5 years, many of them at once, and I know I am the better for it.
They say as one door closes and all that jazz. When the news officially broke, I placed a call to my old boss from the awesome software company. They are now at a new venture which has been quickly successful and continuously growing. A couple meetings and emails later and I am now rejoining the team that has been steadily rebuilt at the new company. I will be a Client Success Manager and will be responsible for overseeing the web presence optimization (website, social media, blogs, press releases, etc) for my clients. I can’t wait!
So onward I go. My last day with OnlyGreen was June 27th, 2012 and I will begin work back with a familiar team & my new opportunity the Tuesday following the July long weekend.
Life is just incredibly and strangely ideal at times.
Beautifully written story of your heart. You are an amazing woman and I so value every single thing you did along the way. You will continue to shine in your new role I am certain. Hugs to you. Can’t wait to do it in person next month!
I was sorry to hear that OnlyGreen was shutting it’s doors. You should be proud of all the work you put into it over the years.
What an amazing accomplishment for you. I can’t imagine the emotions that you all felt. So glad that you are already able to move on to another interesting position. You’ll be a super star there too!