This has been a rollercoaster of a year, with top of the world highs and gut wrenching lows. Last year in December we had a life changing miracle with the birth of our first child. I refer to her as a miracle because of the long and difficult journey that it took to finally get to the point of having a child. That experience is something I have not shared with many people, but it was a constant test of our resolve, character, and marriage. The end result being our beautiful daughter Maeve, who is now 10 months old and wants to grab everything she sees (my beard included) was 100% worth it.
All of you that have children know what a challenge it is to adjust to life with your first newborn. I found that in a lot of circumstances I did not have the time or energy for things that I used to do. When I did have the time, I didn’t have the energy, and when I had the energy, I didn’t have the time. The LandmanLife Store was one of those things. It fell further and further down the priority list.
What had started as a fun and creative outlet during all of the terrible isolation in 2020 had turned into a part time job in 2021. The Store was never intended to make money, it was all for fun. I consider it a blessing that we have been able to donate money to charities, sponsor events, host parties, and give back to the community that supports us. But when I add up the numbers, not even accounting for my own time, I’m running the Store at a loss.
Not having time to constantly promote the Store, design new products, or manage marketing campaigns has really shown me how much it takes to keep the Store growing. Sales are down almost 70% year over year. We have had tons of supply chain problems, technical difficulties, and problems with order fulfillment on top of everything else. Managing this Store is not my job, but it has become a full time problem.
One of the rollercoaster highs this year has been starting a new partnership running a land brokerage. We’ve built a great team and are finding our stride. Then the gut wrenching lows, when one of our major clients decided to close up shop and stiff us on 2 months of invoices. That coincided with the start of some major health issues that I am still struggling with. Of course “stress” is a major contributor, because fuck me right? I’m very slowly starting to recover and hope to be somewhat back to normal by the end of the year.
I am sure you know where this is all headed. The LandmanLife Store is closing at the end of 2022. No, there is not going to be any liquidation “going out of business” sale. Whatever inventory we have left over will be used for donations, giveaways, etc. I’m not closing the door forever, this may be farewell rather than goodbye. Right now I need to focus on my family and my health.
It was fun while it lasted, and I cannot thank our supporters enough. The love ya’ll have shown over the past couple of years has been nothing short of extraordinary. I’m walking away from this experience with so many great friends and knowledge about the industry, I cannot thank ya’ll enough.
Sincerely, thank you.
Gates
