sneakylatina
Full Member
Posts: 107
Dec 28, 2018 5:16:09 GMT
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Post by sneakylatina on Jan 16, 2019 16:46:20 GMT
actually, I guess a smack across the face is active aggressive, not passive aggressive.  Someone actually scrapped page and posted it somewhere titled, I think, "the smack heard 'round the world." |
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,688 
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Post by Elsabelle on Jan 16, 2019 16:47:04 GMT
Okay - to be clear this slap happened BEFORE she was shilling PL for Becky on HSN. HSN (a different network from QVC) must have agreed to have her on for her "comeback" with PL offerings but maybe it didn't work out. I would say she was on HSN around 2013-14. I have seen PL sold on HSN since, but it's been by a different host. Right! Definitely on QVC. |
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Post by refugeepea on Jan 16, 2019 17:21:30 GMT
Agree, I love Heidi. She always keeps it fresh. I love what she is doing with the custom wall words. I also appreciate that she isn't constantly trying to sell me clothes, etc (at least not that I've noticed) even tho I think her style is way better than others in the biz. I think Heidi has a really good balance of personal and professional as well. I'm generally not annoyed by her once in a while religious posts. It doesn't come across as this is what everyone should do more like this works for me.
Actually by the time Project Life hit HSN, it was the beginning of the end. PL wasn't new, it was at the time Becky sold out to AC and they started mass producing several kits at a time. Before then, she had one release a year and the quality was much higher. Things started to unravel after the sell out to AC with many loyal customers being turned off by the quality and production issues. I think it was right in the middle. I don't think she'd sold her brand to AC yet. It was the one and only item I bought from there. The Kraft (or was it Jade?) kit that came with a 12x12 binder. |
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Post by Night Owl on Jan 16, 2019 18:20:23 GMT
I don't think she'd sold her brand to AC yet. It was the one and only item I bought from there. The Kraft (or was it Jade?) kit that came with a 12x12 binder. It was before she sold to AC. That was the premiere of PL being sold on HSN and Lisa was on there selling the 'Jade' and 'Blush' kits that came with the binder. |
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pancakes
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,002
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Post by pancakes on Jan 16, 2019 18:36:31 GMT
Ah, a long-winded email from BH. Here is the thing in its entirety, which I mostly read/skimmed: mailchi.mp/beckyhiggins/whats-happening-with-bhI would like to call attention to this portion... If this is their reasoning, so be it. But it was a poor business choice. Just because someone likes your clothes doesn't mean they WANT YOU TO MAKE CLOTHING. It's NOT mixed messages, BH. At the end of the day, you don't just try shit to see what sticks — you need to protect your business, and making bad decisions is going to cost you. There better be a great reason, combined with data and market research, to support a new business line. And regardless, a new BU should not be so far from your core identity that it causes confusion. It would be 10x better to start a completely new brand for that, divorced from your existing brand. But I guess why am I even bothering to say these things. Because this is why so many startups and businesses perish. Because their leadership makes bad business decisions. BH's situation is no different. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 26, 2024 0:47:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2019 19:02:27 GMT
Dear God, the incessant rambling and re-hashing and the overuse of the word “we”. Please make it stop. There is no business on this planet that I care this much about. If you’re business email is more than a short paragraph and a picture, I’m out.
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Post by karinec on Jan 16, 2019 19:09:19 GMT
If you need that many words to describe your business you are in trouble.
I'm with @stamptastic, I don't need to read your long-winded email!
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Post by Katie on Jan 16, 2019 19:11:19 GMT
I found it interesting in her email that she admitted she was not using PL much and her intent is to get back to using it. Geee, what took ya so long, Becky? I dunno, I don’t want to bash her and say mean things about her, but she seems to be overly excited about these ‘changes’, trying to make it seem like it was her brilliant plan all along, when we know darn well she was forced to downsize and regroup because of the way she was running her business. It’s too fake and happy-happy for me. I can see right through it. Tell us it’s a scary time and that you need us to tell you what we want...I think we would all appreciate a bit more honest truth rather than the fakery on a platter she’s trying to serve us.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jan 16, 2019 19:31:08 GMT
I found it interesting in her email that she admitted she was not using PL much and her intent is to get back to using it. Geee, what took ya so long, Becky? I dunno, I don’t want to bash her and say mean things about her, but she seems to be overly excited about these ‘changes’, trying to make it seem like it was her brilliant plan all along, when we know darn well she was forced to downsize and regroup because of the way she was running her business. It’s too fake and happy-happy for me. I can see right through it. Tell us it’s a scary time and that you need us to tell you what we want...I think we would all appreciate a bit more honest truth rather than the fakery on a platter she’s trying to serve us. I would wager a bet that she truly believes it's the fault of the consumers and stores that no longer want to stock her product rather than her doing anything wrong to run it into the ground. |
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,621
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Post by julie5 on Jan 16, 2019 19:39:30 GMT
Holy who cares Batman. She needs to get a grip.
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,621
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Post by julie5 on Jan 16, 2019 19:45:26 GMT
I agree something is going on with Becky. The party..I couldn't finish watching it. What happened to professionalism? Good gosh. That video was horrible for her brand. Not only does she look like a 12 year old having a slumber party, she is publicly criticizing her friend and how she has her frames hung. Seriously. Who cares?! And then discussing that her brand probably only has two emails from consumers that are waiting to be answered? Why not just put a billboard saying your brand is dead and no one cares? The whole thing just screams “tax write off”. Like the people who think they can expense a lunch if they say one sentence about work. We could probably write off more meals but we right off actual expenses. What we spend in fuel a day is way more thN a lunch. And we get the maximum write offs that we can. These are bored housewives still desperately clinging to the idea that this was a business that needed meetings and office spaces. And they are still super important. And the picture frames? I actually commented because that was flat out bitchy and if that were my home, I woulda knocked her teeth down her throat. I get the vibe that Becky proudfit is only tolerating this because she’s afraid of the mean girls so she’s trying to be like them insteD, but they’re still mean. |
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jennamama
Full Member
Posts: 114
Jul 13, 2018 18:42:10 GMT
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Post by jennamama on Jan 16, 2019 20:50:54 GMT
I don't think she'd sold her brand to AC yet. It was the one and only item I bought from there. The Kraft (or was it Jade?) kit that came with a 12x12 binder. It was before she sold to AC. That was the premiere of PL being sold on HSN and Lisa was on there selling the 'Jade' and 'Blush' kits that came with the binder. Nope, she had just sold AC - that was the big debut on HSN and AC was who developed that partnership. Jade and Blush were under the AC umbrella. I think the last pre-AC kit was Turquoise...gosh I can't remember for sure. Remember they were VERY exclusive and hard to get for a while - you had to wait for her to announce the product would be hitting Amazon and it would be gone in minutes! I'm talking 2011-2012 era. The pre-AC products were nicer, I still have some. |
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jennamama
Full Member
Posts: 114
Jul 13, 2018 18:42:10 GMT
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Post by jennamama on Jan 16, 2019 20:52:58 GMT
Dear God, the incessant rambling and re-hashing and the overuse of the word “we”. Please make it stop. There is no business on this planet that I care this much about. If you’re business email is more than a short paragraph and a picture, I’m out. OMG THIS THIS THIS.  WE DO NOT CARE THIS MUCH BECKY!!! Cork it! |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 26, 2024 0:47:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2019 21:08:35 GMT
Dear God, the incessant rambling and re-hashing and the overuse of the word “we”. Please make it stop. There is no business on this planet that I care this much about. If you’re business email is more than a short paragraph and a picture, I’m out. OMG THIS THIS THIS. WE DO NOT CARE THIS MUCH BECKY!!! Cork it! I can't believe she has NO ONE who cares enough about her and her business to professionally tell her this - her CPA? her atty? her husband even (as a co-owner). JUST STOP WITH THE OVERSHARING - it's a business, not a sorority. |
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jennamama
Full Member
Posts: 114
Jul 13, 2018 18:42:10 GMT
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Post by jennamama on Jan 16, 2019 21:25:40 GMT
OMG THIS THIS THIS. WE DO NOT CARE THIS MUCH BECKY!!! Cork it! I can't believe she has NO ONE who cares enough about her and her business to professionally tell her this - her CPA? her atty? her husband even (as a co-owner). JUST STOP WITH THE OVERSHARING - it's a business, not a sorority. So true - is this the entire problem? Like does American Crafts run the "real" aspects of the business (legal, accounting, etc.) and leave her flailing in the wind with her nutso ideas and cleaned camera lens iPhone? Is she, like, on her OWN in Arizona spouting whatever the hell comes off the top of her head without any idea what it's doing to her numbers?  I'm sort of concerned about her mental state. Also - is it just me or did that email touch on almost every comment we have posted here over the past few months--- apparently she's reading. |
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Post by susanstwins on Jan 16, 2019 21:26:53 GMT
I feel like the email was basically point by point referencing this thread. I have friends on another message board who are head scratching right now and I piped up with "I know exactly what she's talking about!" She's addressing pretty much everything that's been mentioned here.
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flamingo
Shy Member
Posts: 10
Jan 16, 2019 18:42:37 GMT
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Post by flamingo on Jan 16, 2019 21:31:31 GMT
Has anyone taken Becky’s Family Yearbook course and can you share feedback? I saw her photography course didn’t get great reviews here. I’d like to get a better workflow for this years book and to catch up on old ones, but not sure if this class would help, or maybe Cathy Zieske’s or others?
On the changes - I don’t buy paper product anymore but still have tons of cards from old kits. I think they’re too wedded to the idea of the box containing EVERYthing for the year. If they did some limited releases with fewer cards I think those would be popular.
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Post by marie on Jan 16, 2019 21:33:07 GMT
After reading that whole email, it's frustrating that she still doesn't get that she's not providing the products that the customers have asked for. One possible reason why they weren't selling in the stores is that they weren't what people wanted in terms of design or kits. Not that project Life is no longer wanted. my friend and I always split a core it and we couldn't find anything that we liked in store.
When project Life had a booth at scrapbook expo around 2016 the physical products were flying out the door. My friend and I shopped at that booth first, and by the end of the day it was almost empty.
In the CK convention days I took classes from Becky. After watching the insta stories video I don't even know who she is. So unprofessional. And frankly embarrassing.
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Post by marie on Jan 16, 2019 21:37:32 GMT
Re: page protectors, including Design A possibly being discontinued
Becky Higgins page protectors are no longer carried by big European scrap stores. Some even discounted them to get rid of their inventory in 2018. It's become very difficult to purchase them. Even Becky Higgins LLC no longer offers them on most European Amazon sites (they are still selling the weird configurations that are no longer manifactured by AC). Same for BH's 6x8 page protectors. Something funny is going on. I don't know what it is but it's something. Considering they are still very popular around here, I don't know what's up. It doesn't make sense why scrap stores would no longer carry them.
Simple Stories have stopped manufacturing 12x12 too (albums and PPs) so choice is narrowing. Thou art warned.
Are AC considering rebranding them in the future? Who knows? But something's rotten in the state of Becky H.
BH is still releasing new product (albeing not a lot) with AC. Click is this spring's release and includes a 12x12 album.
ETA: Click collection photos embedded (the embellishments look like they're trying to capture the early successes of kits like Liz Tamanaha's Everyday PL line which was so pretty and timeless).
Thanks for sharing pictures of the new kit! This is what I expect BH to be sharing.I saw that scrapbook dot com has it coming soon so I clicked the notify button. Still lots of BH products for sale on scrapbook dot com but no large pack of design a page protectors. |
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Post by rune2484 on Jan 16, 2019 21:50:23 GMT
Re: page protectors, including Design A possibly being discontinued
Becky Higgins page protectors are no longer carried by big European scrap stores. Some even discounted them to get rid of their inventory in 2018. It's become very difficult to purchase them. Even Becky Higgins LLC no longer offers them on most European Amazon sites (they are still selling the weird configurations that are no longer manifactured by AC). Same for BH's 6x8 page protectors. Something funny is going on. I don't know what it is but it's something. Considering they are still very popular around here, I don't know what's up. It doesn't make sense why scrap stores would no longer carry them.
Simple Stories have stopped manufacturing 12x12 too (albums and PPs) so choice is narrowing. Thou art warned.
Are AC considering rebranding them in the future? Who knows? But something's rotten in the state of Becky H.
BH is still releasing new product (albeing not a lot) with AC. Click is this spring's release and includes a 12x12 album.
ETA: Click collection photos embedded (the embellishments look like they're trying to capture the early successes of kits like Liz Tamanaha's Everyday PL line which was so pretty and timeless).
Thanks for sharing pictures of the new kit! This is what I expect BH to be sharing.I saw that scrapbook dot com has it coming soon so I clicked the notify button. Still lots of BH products for sale on scrapbook dot com but no large pack of design a page protectors. Krista Sahlin is one of the best digi scrapbook designers out there. She sells on The-Lilypad.com under Sahlin Studio. This PL kit is showing off her strength as a designer beautifully. Honestly, I've wondered for years why Becky hasn't tapped into her talent. The other digi designer who I'd love to see more of her designs brought into the physical product world is Peppermint Grandberg (of One Little Bird Designs). Both Krista and Peppermint I think are far better designers of scrapbook product than most of the named designers on AC's roster. |
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Post by lazytown on Jan 16, 2019 21:56:24 GMT
I think that Click collection looks great, but it's nowhere on the Becky Higgins website or blog. Why isn't she promoting it? I don't get it!
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pancakes
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,002
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Post by pancakes on Jan 16, 2019 22:09:32 GMT
Try to edit your link and take out from the '?' and all the characters after (like above). I think that those characters mark your particular message to your particular email (if you care) Ha! I saw that when I posted it via mobile...but didn't care enough to delete. But now that I'm back on desktop, I edited it. Nothing I said there wasn't anything I wouldn't have said publicly anyway. Just the straightforward truth! |
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sneakylatina
Full Member
Posts: 107
Dec 28, 2018 5:16:09 GMT
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Post by sneakylatina on Jan 16, 2019 22:18:21 GMT
I can't believe she has NO ONE who cares enough about her and her business to professionally tell her this - her CPA? her atty? her husband even (as a co-owner). JUST STOP WITH THE OVERSHARING - it's a business, not a sorority. So true - is this the entire problem? Like does American Crafts run the "real" aspects of the business (legal, accounting, etc.) and leave her flailing in the wind with her nutso ideas and cleaned camera lens iPhone? Is she, like, on her OWN in Arizona spouting whatever the hell comes off the top of her head without any idea what it's doing to her numbers? I'm sort of concerned about her mental state.Also - is it just me or did that email touch on almost every comment we have posted here over the past few months--- apparently she's reading. I do think she has seriously lost her sh*t. She seems adrift and totally obnoxious, a few parts bitter, a few parts defiant, a few parts pollyanna, many parts repetitious. |
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Post by refugeepea on Jan 16, 2019 23:05:13 GMT
It was before she sold to AC. That was the premiere of PL being sold on HSN and Lisa was on there selling the 'Jade' and 'Blush' kits that came with the binder. Thanks. I didn't realize it was the very beginning. I bought Jade. |
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FurryP
Drama Llama
To pea or not to pea...
Posts: 7,287
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 19:58:26 GMT
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Post by FurryP on Jan 16, 2019 23:56:09 GMT
Also - is it just me or did that email touch on almost every comment we have posted here over the past few months--- apparently she's reading. Yes! As I was reading some parts, I was thinking to myself: She has read the 2peas thread. |
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Post by dudleypippen on Jan 17, 2019 0:08:16 GMT
My take away from this is that it’s all our fault. WE stopped buying physical products. WE sent mixed messages. For someone whose name is the brand I wish there was a little bit more leadership. This whole train wreck could have been over weeks ago with a simple- hey guys, we are making some changes and regrouping after trying some things that weren’t working for us. Instead we’ve had endless Instagram stories, tears, long emails and Facebook posts, pictures of the house being built....and no actual memory keeping. It shouldn’t be this hard to get back on message.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Jan 17, 2019 0:27:05 GMT
My take away from this is that it’s all our fault. WE stopped buying physical products. WE sent mixed messages. For someone whose name is the brand I wish there was a little bit more leadership. This whole train wreck could have been over weeks ago with a simple- hey guys, we are making some changes and regrouping after trying some things that weren’t working for us. Instead we’ve had endless Instagram stories, tears, long emails and Facebook posts, pictures of the house being built....and no actual memory keeping. It shouldn’t be this hard to get back on message.This is her attempt at saving her business. She's getting attention and she somehow thinks it will translate into sales or something. Pity sales, maybe? IDK.
In terms of mixed messages, I could totally see her convincing herself of that. The truth is that we've been asking for squared corners for a long time. If she wants to translate making too late of a change and customers not buying her stuff now because they sourced what they were looking for elsewhere (and not wanting to pay $30 for low quality product that has too many duplicates) as mixed signals, go for it. She should have made the change when she was doing square corners with Stampin' Up because SU had a great punch alternative for those wanting rounded corners that put the BH branded one to shame. She might have seen some shrink due to market saturation, but if she had listened YEARS ago to the wild concept of 'you can round a square corner, you can't square a rounded one...give people the option to decide for themselves' AND focusing more on small kits (with maybe 1 or 2 releases a year of the core kits to cater to her 'do it my way' audience) she would be doing better. Maybe still not needing an office (Heidi's brand doesn't need one...she has an office in her house for her to make demo's with and that's plenty) but at least still relevant.
She shouldn't have blown all those profits hiring unnecessary staff.
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Post by QueSeraSera on Jan 17, 2019 1:19:50 GMT
I stopped following Becky after the wrapping paper dancing. I checked our her Instagram stories today. She was groaning about how long and hard they worked from 9:30am to 4:30pm. 🙄 Are you kidding me?! That would be called leaving early at my company. 7 hour "meeting" at someone's house with a bunch of food. She really is out of touch.
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,621
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Post by julie5 on Jan 17, 2019 1:21:55 GMT
I stopped following Becky after the wrapping paper dancing. I checked our her Instagram stories today. She was groaning about how long and hard they worked from 9:30am to 4:30pm. 🙄 Are you kidding me?! That would be called leaving early at my company. 7 hour "meeting" at someone's house with a bunch of food. She really is out of touch. I thought the same thing. A long day? Girlfriend needs to get a JOB. |
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Post by refugeepea on Jan 17, 2019 1:46:27 GMT
I stopped following Becky after the wrapping paper dancing. I checked our her Instagram stories today. She was groaning about how long and hard they worked from 9:30am to 4:30pm. 🙄 Are you kidding me?! That would be called leaving early at my company. 7 hour "meeting" at someone's house with a bunch of food. She really is out of touch. Perhaps she would like to stay up for over 20 hours to monitor a child who does not sleep? Let's do the Freaky Friday thing!   |
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Someone actually scrapped page and posted it somewhere titled, I think, "the smack heard 'round the world."
I'm sort of concerned about her mental state.
