Hello Wink Fam!
…or should I say “ni hao”? In fact, “zao shang hao” (“ye li hao”? It is 4am) from Shenzhen, China. NO don’t worry, I am NOT looking for the next big thing to grow your lashes or brows. Keepin’ it natural and from the USA, people. ?
Ok why am I in China…
(besides to work on my Mandarin)? And why am I writing this blog in my underwear right now–what gives?
I have been up all night thinking about you. I don’t feel like we’ve talked in a WHILE.
The China thing, we’ll come back to.
Alright fam — we are having some growing pains at Wink. I have been absent for a while, in the name of trying to “grow the company” and “become an adult”
but honestly.. I don’t like it.
I woke up in the middle of the night tonight and thought, how long has it been since I’ve actually talked to one of my customers? … sad.
As most of you know, we had quite a few blunders in 2014.
To not dredge up bad memories (doesn’t matter–cringing anyway), let’s just say that things didn’t always go according to plan. Yeees ok the bottles didn’t work for most of 2014. Ok I said it. But we fixed that!
On the bright side, we–and by we I mean WE, like all of us–did donate 826 bottles of Wink to Cancer Survivors, we were featured in Inc. Magazine as well as many others, went to LA
.. a few times (Wink at the Emmy’s) and we even opened our very first Wink store in my hometown!
That’s all great! It’s so great that it almost makes me stop cringing from thinking about all the blunders that happened in 2014. Almost.
Ok but 2014 is behind us now, except for the purposes of reflection.. and except in China (Happy New Year!)
So back to you:
I have been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what makes my customers happy–a beautiful product? a product that works consistently? professional sounding marketing? a brand new store?
But I don’t think it’s really any of those things.
I think what makes people happy is being a part of something, especially something that they helped grow. Not only being a part of something, but being appreciated for the work they’ve done.
In 2014, I left you all out. To make matters worse, I forgot to say thank you. For that, I’m really sorry.
Honestly, I tried to do it all myself. I tried to find the answers on my own. I tried to act older than the 23 years that I have under my belt. That really wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair to you–my biggest supporters.
So I still have a lot of unanswered questions, and a lot on my mind in general, but first I want to know: can you forgive me?
Do you want to help me make Wink a better company? A company that delivers better product, better customer service, and gives back to the community?
Can you promise me honesty in exchange for transparency? That means real feedback–even when it’s tough–and even harsh criticism. It means helping me grow as an individual (it’s funny–you’re helping me become an adult! ..slowly..) and helping Wink grow as a company. Your loving criticism is what helped make Wink awesome in the beginning, and it’s the only thing that can continue making Wink great.
Can you accept my apology and my intent to keep you–the people who made Wink what it is today–in the loop this year?
I don’t know what the answer will be, but either way you can let me know–in the comments or in my inbox ([email protected])
If you accept my apology, then we can restart this relationship together today.
What I need from you is to help us move on together from 2014. Let me know your honest, nitty gritty feedback. I want to know if you disappointed you, wowed you, let you in the dark completely.. just let me have it! And I will take the time to respond to each and every one of you in detail.
That’s it.
Then let’s move on together.
Well… that’s almost it. If you have ideas for the Wink store I’d love to hear those too. All of them.
And if you have nice words to say about Wink, leave them here on Amazon (we could use it).
So why am I in China again? Well…..too bad! You’ll have to wait until the next installment of this blog, because I’m way over 500 words right now.
Stayed tuned to also learn more about why the heck we’re celebrating Heart Health this month (hint: it’s not to make money, where the heck is Miguel!?, what is Wink doing dragging its feet on extra products, what big things we have planned for 2015 (fingers crossed!), and more…
