There’s the week you announce something.
And then there’s the week it actually leaves your hands.
The Week It Actually Left Our Hands
I’ve known about For Keeps since 2017.
Not in a vague way — in a write yourself a note and wait kind of way. I found it recently. A reminder from a version of me who wasn’t ready yet, but already knew.
The idea sat quietly for years.
It waited through businesses built, weddings served, thousands of people fed. It waited until last year, when it became clear that it was now or never.
I worked on it for months. Thought about it longer than that.
And in November, I “launched.”
I made it official. Put it on the internet. Let people see it existed.
But this past week?
This was the real launch.
This was the week the first product left.
The week someone — a real person I’ve never met — trusted us enough to order something we made.
That’s the part no announcement prepares you for.
Hospitality Is Proximity. E-Commerce Is Not.
I’ve owned and run a successful business for over a decade.
As a chef, I’ve cooked for close to 150,000 people — just in weddings alone. That doesn’t include the dinners, the supper clubs, the charity events.
Every weekend is someone’s Super Bowl.
There is no room for “almost.”
And with that comes a constant, low-level anxiety that never really leaves.
But there’s also comfort.
I get to meet our couples. I get to sit across from them — often with their moms, their families — and talk things through. I know I cook well. But more importantly, I know that when they leave that second-to-last meeting, they feel steady.
I can answer questions.
Make decisions on the fly.
Talk through scenarios.
Adjust invoices.
Reassure.
Hospitality is proximity.
E-commerce is not.
E-commerce is shipping labels and packing tape.
It’s Shopify settings and ad dashboards and algorithms that don’t care how much you believe in something.
It’s sending something out into the world without being able to say, “Are you okay? Does this make sense? How does this feel?”
That distance is the hardest part for me.
When Belief Raises the Stakes
I get excited about every new follower.
I look up every customer who orders.
I want to email them. Write them. Thank them. Give them everything for free just to make sure they have a good experience.
I want to be both: the “cool girl” brand you trust instinctively...and the person quietly losing her mind because you chose us.
Those two things don’t coexist easily.
And I don’t know that they’re supposed to.
I remember the early days of being a chef — when recognition started coming, when I was asked to cook at prestigious dinners, when people paid a significant amount to eat food cooked by me.
Every time, without fail, I would get physically ill beforehand.
Nauseous. Throwing up. Convinced I couldn’t do it.
That part never got easier. I just learned where my limits were.
And now, that same anxiety is back.
I’m afraid to watch UGC videos.
I make someone else do it first.
Not because I don’t believe in the product — but because belief raises the stakes.
When something matters this much, you feel everything.
You're Not Failing. You're Present.
I don’t know if there’s a lesson here.
I don’t know if there’s advice to give.
I just know this:
There’s a particular kind of fear that comes when you let something you care about leave your hands.
And if you’re feeling it — in business, in love, in a season of trying something new — you’re not failing. You’re present.
This was the week For Keeps became real.
And it turns out, real is louder — and quieter — than I expected.
The first box is here. If you've been waiting — this is the week.
