I AM GOING TO STOP WITH THE SUN SAND SALT BUSINESS

​“A DECISION COMING COMPLETELY OUT OF THE BLUE”?

​For me not!
Of course not.
For you …. reader, customer, supplier, follower, friend, family……probably YES.
But for me it has been a process of thinking, feeling, “missing something” or maybe
“finding something”, realizing and more thinking.
And all this for months.
Understanding what I want to do in and with my life and what NOT.
Understanding that the direction I was going, was more and more in the “what I do not
want” direction, but even while seeing that, I was still going there, slowly but steady.
 
Understanding that the business is growing, that the hard work finally starts to bring
something in return. Something good but also something I dislike at this stage of my life.
Making the choice between growing or quitting, as standing still or just having some fun
in the margin, is no longer possible.
 
When I left the Moto GP world and crazy life of traveling and 24/7 availability for work,
I left for a reason. I made the basic comments “I want to have a house, with a garden,
make jam, grow tomatoes, learn Shodo (Japanese calligraphy), have dogs, go to the
beach and enjoy life”.

Of course things can not be that idyllic, but it was the way to explain what my life goals
were.
And here I am…………having our lovely house on the hill, with a huge garden, lots of
fruit trees, plenty of space to grow tomatoes and a lot more, I have 3 giant dogs, live 5
min from the beach,
BUT……I am not making jam, not growing tomatoes, not spending enough active time
with my dogs, no longer at the beach every day and actually not enjoying life that much.
 
Because I am running a business which is growing, which needs more and more
attention, which makes me sit every free moment behind the laptop, to search, find, look
for, research, write, create, upload, add, count, prepare things with regard to products,
marketing, presentation, customer / order attention, projects, photography, accounting etc.

A business which needs constant attention for Social Media, to post, share, like, look for etc.
And I was already not a fan of Social Media, but understand that it is important for the
business. To me it is a waste to spend time with my phone, instead of with my dogs,
instead of pruning the trees in my garden, instead of going out with my husband, instead
of cleaning the pool, instead of meeting friends.
 
And in a way, do I start to be back in that life of Moto GP, where I was a slave of my
mobile, laptop, networking, of staying in touch and a slave of work all together.
And don’t get me wrong, with a lot of love I did that for years.
But I had a lot more love for the newfound life at home, without living out of my suitcase,
​being away most of the time.
​
And I realised that this newfound life, now slowly started to disappear to the background
again.
A newfound life which actually never got really lived. As between starting the business,
adopting more and more dogs, moving house, 2 years of renovations and construction
​and Alejandro still traveling a lot with the Moto GP Circus so a lot came on my plate, I
​never picked up that new life.

​I LOVE WHAT I DO, BUT NOT HOW I HAVE TO DO IT.

​This whole business was unplanned and started by coincidence behind the laptop,
at the dining table, while being available for my replacement in Yamaha Racing,
with long distance support. And from one plastic tupper box under the table with
some goodies, it grew out to what it is now.
A small funny business with focus on sharing, inspiring, connecting people, storytelling.
 
And at the moment it is even more enjoyable, as the orders keep coming in, from
all over the world. From Peru, Jordan, New Zealand, Alaska, USA, Japan, Denmark,
Egypt, people found the Sun Sand Salt products.
With beautiful interactions with customers & suppliers, in many cases “new friends”.
With such a fun time at markets, where you can deal with people in person, where
the dynamics are different every time, where the vibes are what I am looking for.
With all the nice products, creations, colors, stories and backgrounds.

But despite all this good energy and positivity, I am missing to live life and the
possibility to decide in which dosage you give your time to the business.
And now at this point, where I can only jump to the next level, a level with
more dedication and spending time on the business, I realize that I prefer to jump
out of it.
 
For what reason do I have this business? I have to proof nothing anymore,
not to myself and not to others. I can make this work, if I dedicate fully to it.
But that is where it goes wrong. I can not dedicate to it, the way I should.
Not with time, not with energy, not with priorities, not with my private life the
way it is.
I can not and at the same time do not want to.
 
I want no more pressure,
no more business posting on Social Media,
no more looking for new products,
or to keep creating, keep designing, keep promoting, keep connecting, keep
accounting, etc.
No more issues with accountants, tax department, social security, trimesters,
stock control, Facebook, Instagram, web page, product uploads, post offices.
mobile phone, invoices etc.
No more issues with not having cash flow while there is a lot of money in
the stock and business in general.
 
And in 2018 I had too many times the confrontation with “real life” and putting
business life last (the death of my father in law, the broken foot of my husband,
dogs who needed operations, a husband traveling a lot, my father in
hospital back in the Netherlands…………
every time the business got “switched off” and that is not possible for a business.
I keep canceling markets to be with people or my dogs, but you can not cancel
your source of income on a weekly / monthly base. But I knew where I had my
priorities.
So this feeling of discomfort with the situation kept growing.

Some months ago, I posted this below quote already on Facebook and now
recently my dear friend Mia also posted the whole poem with the quote.
I took this as a reminder and confirmation.

I have had this confrontation with my life-style several times in my life.......
it made me give up everything I had and move to Africa, it made me start with Moto GP,
a life full of new chances and opportunities, it made me also quit with Moto GP again and
so on and on and on.
Obviously I need this reminder and "jump back to basics" every now and then.
My "second life" had some re-starts and nothing wrong with that, as long as you keep coming
back to that feeling of content, appreciation, less is more, slow life, feeling privileged and
embrace what you have.

​WHAT IS THE PLAN?

To be a social human being instead of a social entrepreneur.

Back to basics, back to normal.
Declutter my life, materialistic, emotional and social.
Make jam, grow tomatoes, learn Shodo, paint, write, whatever …..create in any other way.
Help people, help animals where I can.
Take care of the environment.
Meet and spend time with beautiful people, again being able to give my time.
Get OFF Facebook and Instagram
Stop with all these networking groups, at the end you are so busy with looking for “networking
options” that you have no time to actually connect with someone.
 
I will keep the Sun Sand Salt web site as a personal web-site, with the shop part deleted and
with more focus on the blog and photos. And to keep the brand Sun Sand Salt alive.
And maybe new projects.
Everything is possible, isn’t that great?
But nothing that will be this time consuming and life overtaking again.
 
To get there, will be a process of some months. My goal is to stop at the 1st of July 2019.
From now on I will only be:
 
* selling (out) all the products (and there is a lot, more than you only see in the shop)
* no longer order extra stock or new items.
* the web-shop will be available till the 1st of July
*  and I will also keep selling at markets till that time.
 
And after that………I will continue my life in the sunshine here in Catalunya, with Alejandro,
​Kuma, Kira, Nati, the house, pool, garden, trees, my family & friends, the beach.
Back to slow life!
​Back to calm.
​Back to "cut the bullshit".
And see what that life brings me.
With new space, new approach, projects, maybe freelance jobs, new simplicity.
 
And for sure some jam making and tomato growing will be involved.