A Posting from Lora Andersen, Life's A Peach
Lora Andersen
access the newsgroup to check out all the posts I've been hearing
about. After reading through the flurry of threads on the subject of
me, my store, and BEAD RETREAT: 2000, I've very carefully considered
whether a response from me would really benefit anyone. Obviously,
I've decided to respond and primarily for two reasons: to publicly
apologize to those people who've suffered harm or at least
inconvenience as a result of my actions (and inactions); and to bring
some truth into some of the exciting discussions that have a lot of
fiction in them.
First, my apology. There are a few people with whom I have a business
arrangement and who have suffered financially and emotionally because
I was unable to meet my commitments and because I did not communicate
appropriately with these people. While I'm sure a lot of people fall
into difficult times with their business endeavors and most, including
myself, try to be as sympathetic as possible to those in such
circumstances, it is unacceptable to fail to communicate at these
times. I did not communicate with my consignors during my recent
hardships and for that I am truly sorry. My consignors have placed a
lot of trust with me and, by not talking to them to keep them apprised
of my status, I caused several of them great distress. Again, I am
sorry.
Now, some facts. I debated whether to include this, but so many have
been asking me what's been going on with me that I've felt compelled
to include it. I have no intention of making anyone wrong nor am I
writing them as excuses for my mistakes.
The time from late January through February of this year was extremely
busy for me. I was working to the best of my ability to make the
first ever BEAD RETREAT:2000 a wonderful event for all those
participating. I put my store second to my preparations for the
retreat and worked nearly every waking moment to prepare for the
event. In early February, I fell and broke my wrist. Shortly after
my wrist injury, I was diagnosed with Fifths Disease, a kind of
measles that felt to me like a combination of the flu and Mono.
During this time, my only work online was focussed totally on the
retreat; emailing instructors and attendees and posting news on my
retreat website. About a week after the retreat, we lost our computer
monitor due to a cat accident (I know this sounds like "the dog ate my
homework" but it's the truth). Due to our financial situation, I have
been unable to have a working monitor until now. Without direct
access to email, I have been relying on telephone and postal
communications. To a very limited extent, I have been able to ask my
husband to access my email from his office (a practice frowned on at
his work). In hindsight, it seems like a few people may have felt I
was ignoring them when I didn't respond to email and I can understand
their frustration. My lesson here is that I will need to call my
business associates if I ever experience similar problems again with
accessing email. I mistakenly thought that anyone who didn't get a
response by email would call and either talk to me directly or leave
me a voice mail.
LAP Consignment
-At this point, I have returned goods to all but two consignors who've
requested it. I'm reconciling the inventory for the remaining two and
hope to ship these goods out shortly. It is not now, nor has it ever
been my intention to keep either goods or money that don't belong to
me.
-Where I have been able to reach my consignors by phone, I have done
so; making arrangements with them regarding shipping.
-In some cases I owed money and I have withheld some to cover return
shipping. This is consistent with my consignment contracts.
-I do everything I can to make money for my consignor and for my
store, in that order. I spend a lot of money on display materials and
on advertising and this makes it very difficult to make money on a
70/30 arrangement, but I believe this is my duty to my consignors.
-When I do shows, I sometimes bring consigned work with me; however, I
do this only after I've discussed it with my consignors.
BEAD RETREAT: 2000
-As many of you are aware, attendance at BEAD RETREAT:2000 was quite
low. I planned the event to accommodate at least 50 attendees and the
actual attendance was around 20.
-I had to make payment for lodging and various accommodations a month
in advance of the retreat and, although I reduced these arrangements
for the number of committed attendees, the retreat still lost a
significant amount of money due to late cancellations.
-Accommodations at the retreat, including the sharing of beds, were
clearly described in detail at my website, and in both verbal and
written communications between myself and anyone expressing an
interest in attending the retreat.
-Due to lower than planned revenues and a variety of unexpected costs
at the retreat and last minute cancellations, I depleted my business
account before I was able to balance it and checks to two of my
instructors bounced. If I had had to choose couple of checks to
bounce, the checks to my instructors would have been last on the list.
The day after I learned of the check problem, I wired funds to cover
payment to the instructors. In addition, when I learned that these
instructors had incurred NSF charges on their account because of my
checks, I paid these charges once I had received documentation of the
charges. Although I knew I wasn't required to legally, I covered the
NSF charges because I felt it was the right thing to do. Since my
business account was wiped out by retreat costs, payment for the
original checks and the NSF charges was made from my household account
and, when that was depleted, we withdrew from our retirement account;
again, because I felt it was the right thing to do. If the
instructors have any further losses of this type, they need to call
me.
-Potential BEAD RETREAT: 2000 instructors were under contract to
teach. Included in the agreement was a minimum class sign up
requirement. Instructors were encouraged to make efforts to fill
their classes, in addition to the marketing I pursued. No class for
ANY instructor met the minimum at the time of registration
confirmation. I contacted all the instructors to discuss the problem
and released all but a handful from teaching at the retreat. Four
instructors agreed to teach at the retreat with the understanding that
they might have very limited attendance. I was and still am grateful
to these instructors for participating in the retreat, despite
marginal profits at best. I have learned a lot this first year and I
plan to make the 2001 retreat even better and without the mistakes
made in 2000.
-Although my original agreements included paying instructors' travel
costs, when I found that all classes were below minimum attendance,
the original agreements were voided and I renegotiated agreements with
those instructors still interested in attending. One instructor had
only a single attendee and agreed to teach so that she could enjoy
some time in Gatlinburg (lodging and most meals were provided free to
instructors).
-To help defray one instructor's travel costs, I closed my store to
pick her up from the airport and then invited her to stay in our home
the night before the retreat.
-Since obviously this was a for-profit event, registration fees
reflected not only an estimate of the expected costs, but also a
markup intended to pay me something for the hundreds of hours I
invested in preparing for and managing the retreat. Included in the
costs were lodging and most meals for a staff of eight, including
instructors, plus various spouses. I admit I'm still learning to
manage the revenues for an event like the retreat and I grossly
underestimated the costs this time. Definitely a learning experience
for me.
-Food provided to participants at the retreat included both "takeout"
as well as some prepared especially for the participants. I only
received compliments on the meals prepared
-At the end of the event, I was able to talk to most of the attendees.
Without exception, each attendee thanked me for hosting the retreat,
said they want to come back next year, and said they hoped to get
their friends to come next year too.
In summary, I'd like to apologize again to those I let down. In
reading through the threads, I found I'd been called a predator,
thief, shark, "lying sack of s##t,"and compared to a pedophile by
people who don't even know me. Some people seemed to claim business
relationships with me that weren't real. While obviously I don't like
these slurs, I attribute them to my mistakes and in my failures at
communication. Someone once told me that making mistakes is part of
being in action and that the bigger the actions, the bigger the
mistakes. He said that our mistakes are opportunities for learning
and growth. All I can do no is learn from my experiences and strive
to do my best
Sincerely,
Lora Lucinda Andersen
Life's A Peach
Minibeads
better and without the mistakes made in 2000.>>
I think if you had learned a lot, you would be waiting until you had some of
your reputation back before you would do another retreat.
<<Without exception, each attendee thanked me for hosting the retreat, said
they want to come back next year, and said they hoped to get their friends to
come next year too.>>
Exceptions have certainly appeared! So if you are counting on what you heard
then, I think you might be surprised.
Cheryl
Life often dishes out tough lessons.
It is inevitable that when something this bad happens... ok - so it was not
"one " thing - rather a string of events that just made life miserable....
anyway - it is inevitable that digging out of the mess ends up painful.
I think your posted explanations were well-considered.
Perhaps with time those who felt "hurt" will
FORGIVE ...
a hard thing for people to do - but it can be done.
Since I was not involved directly in any of the problems I can only say
LIVE and LEARN - A quick postcard to each and every person UP FRONT saying
"OH NO - our computer is down - please
mail me at : XXXXX with any needs or questions."
probably would have helped immensely.
Seems we all depend too much on computers anymore. Even at work, the whole
office is in a tizzy if the server goes down for an hour! ---
If I were you - I would not try to plan another Bead Retreat under the current
circumstances...... I think you need time to recover.....
Hmm - basically - I hope all of you read this and remember that old saying -
"there but for the grace of god go I"
problems can happen to anyone....
at any time - and in any business.
I think Lora's apologies sound quite sincere.
Cheryl of DRAGON BEADS
Flameworked beads and glass
http://www.dragonbeads.com/
Irish Red
Dear Lora,
I don't know you and have not dealt with you, but I have read the
seemingly never-ending messages regarding your business. It takes a lot
of guts to come here and face the people who were so angry with you and
for that, I applaud you.
But...it does take longer to recover a tarnished rep than it does to
build one from scratch. IMHO, you need to work on rebuilding your rep in
the business community before you try to plan another retreat. It's a
great idea for a lot of fun and has potential for making good money. But
now is not a good time to try it again. Too many people have too many
bad memories that are still fresh in their minds.
Having made more than my share of mistakes and expecting to make
more, I will attest to the fact that the road to hell is paved with good
intentions. You've obviously done hell and, in your own words, have
learned a lot. Please take some time to recover,use what you've learned
and rebuild your business and bank account.
Good luck to you,
Kim "beadyeyedbrat" Kennedy