The Year I Almost Shut Down My Small Business (And What Saved It)

A reflection on burnout, nearly selling, and what became the best year yet for Vermont Marshmallow Co.

In 2024, I contemplated selling The Vermont Marshmallow Company.

Shortly after, my favorite year in business began.

Before I dive into reflecting on our truly magical 2025, let's go back to 2024. On paper, "business" was great. Revenue up, engagement high, retail wholesale accounts lined up out the door, the brand was strong, customer experience ruled. But the growing pains were real and I kept running into challenges I couldn't figure out how to handle. My best efforts just Kept. Not. Working.

Everything that came my way seemed to highlight the chasm between where I was and where I needed to be. And the challenges Just. Kept. Coming. Something new before I'd caught my breath from the thing before. All the beliefs and tools that had carried me through in the past stopped holding up. The wall between my Business and my Self crumbled.

I got depressed, anxious, exhausted, unavailable, messy.

Everyone knows that owning a small business ain't easy. It will bring up ALL your stuff. It shines a spotlight on every pattern. Real "success" (define that however you want) requires you to self-confront, self-correct, grow, and change. 2024's question was: what if you just don't have the energy for all that?

By November, I was looking for an out that wouldn't require me to summon energy I'd already spent.

So how did we go from that... to the best, most fun, biggest, most profitable, most nourishing year yet?

1. I let myself actually explore selling.

I ran the numbers. I had real conversations with business owners who had done it. And the more I talked, the less aligned that path felt. But cracking that door open also let in some energy to fix things from the inside. Sometimes you need to look at the exit to remember why you walked in.

2. Systems, systems, systems.

The foundation of a small business isn't something you build once at the beginning and leave alone. It's something you tend to--ongoing, forever--to ensure it can keep supporting the weight of your growth. We rebuilt ours, nearly from the ground up.

3. Zones of genius, not just job descriptions.

I've always said: the best version of this business doesn't exist in my head alone. So we took everything I'm not a natural at and gave it to someone who IS. We built zones of genius that matched the team. I gave them so much ownership it hurt... until it didn't.

4. Radical honesty, hard conversations, and a lot of forgiveness.

Asking for help. Recognizing that while I can cultivate almost any skill, some things I'm genuinely not best suited for--and there are people for whom that stuff is just easy. Releasing the shame around that. Reminding myself that perfection was never the goal.

A lotta forgiveness. A lotta releasing. A lotta magic on the other side.