I wanted to share with you something I’ve thought about this year, a lot.

When I was fresh out of school with my MBA, I got a job at a fashion company that produced jewelry & accessories in China. During my first month on the job, I had a meeting with the Product Development team and I noticed they had created a big wheel of fortune. I asked what it was and they told me that every slice of that wheel was something that *actually* happened to them.

Here are a few of the things that I remembered from that list:

  • Vendor cannot mass-produce the sample they produced
  • Typhoon has swept beads into the South China Sea
  • Box truck fell off of a cliff with order
  • Factory disappeared

It’s hard to put a bow on this year without acknowledging the unimaginable roller coaster ride that my team, as well as many of you, have been put on. What once we took for granted with our supply chain has become a spin of a 2021 version of the wheel of fortune. It’s been a test, that’s for sure.

Even in the face of all these challenges what I truly believe is that this adversity will make Blezoo stronger in the long run. It’s more than the grit that it has taken to just get through it. It’s the abundance of self-examination in what we can actually control; our processes we use internally, our recommendations to forge a path to success for clients, and our attitude.

I am certain these lessons will eventually turn the headwinds will into strong tailwinds. 

Looking back; on January 1, 2021, we were at the brink of Blezoo’s toughest quarter it has ever faced. Instead of curling into a defensive posture, we decided that it’s time to build, and so we went all-in on building for the future.

  • We acquired and built out a new headquarters
  • We have been building an e-commerce business
  • We began to build infrastructure for warehouse fulfillment
  • We built and fine-tuned new tech tools to make us more effective

By January 1, 2022, many of these things will be online or about to be online. It’s going to be a huge year, and we’re not going to rest on our laurels, we’re going to keep building.

Thank you for being a part of our extended Blezoo family. May your 2022 wheel of fortune be filled with unexpected great things that happened. Happy Holidays.

With gratitude, 
Dean Caravelis
CEO
Blezoo

P.S. This letter was inspired by Marc Andreessen

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