A few weeks ago, we announced to Envouthé subscribers that the adventure would end in March. We communicated by email, on the site, and on social networks (see the Facebook post here). In reality, there will certainly be a buyer. To find out more, continue to follow Envouthé on social media.

I'm not going to talk about business here, I'm simply going to talk about my personal experience: the start of my freelance life with Envouthé, my professional development towards other horizons, and my deep attachment to Envouthé.

7 years ago, a tweet, a tea, the start of a collaboration, of my freelance life

7 years ago, at the beginning of 2013, I sent a tweet to Julia Roubaud, founder of Envouthé, to ask her if we could meet. A few months earlier, she had launched the very first Envouthé Box! To date, 90 Boxes have been released. It's crazy.

Envouthé is a tea box sent every month to subscribers, with a high-end selection of teas from different brands, on a given theme.

Julia was already busy and handling a lot of things on her own, but she took the time to meet with me. I had decided to leave my contract as Communications and Distribution Manager for a theater company, and I wanted to branch out my career a little. What I was really looking for was an environment with these elements:

• a motivated, demanding team, with energy, and people who are not afraid to question themselves, to learn
• freedom in the way of working: that I be given objectives, but no “micro-management”
• a creative atmosphere
• a project in which I believe

The fact that it was in the world of tea was the icing on the cake for me. I wasn't expecting that much! But I went as a simple consumer and spectator, directly to Julia, attracted like a butterfly by her product, which she took so much care to create each month with her partners. A treatment that has never been altered and which has been in good hands successively with two product managers: Chloë, then Lisa.

Below Julia on tea plantations in China. She made several trips to the sources of tea and always came back inspired. Passionate about personal development and humans in general (she originally wanted to be an anthropologist), it is in this direction that her next stage of life will turn, keeping tea as a creative, cultural and spiritual ally, but in focusing on the relationship with others and with oneself. I can't wait until she can reveal a little more!

In 7 years, I have managed social networks, press and influencer relations, and customer relations in turn and sometimes simultaneously. I started from an experience focused solely on the world of art and culture, and I had done a bit of press relations for an art gallery, but I was coming out of an experience where I mainly sold shows, I took care of administration and logistics, and I managed a website.

Julia didn't choose to work with me because of skills I already had. She saw potential and real motivation on my side. I am very grateful to him for taking this chance with me. I don't know without this and without the journey that followed, at what period of my life I would have had the opportunity to discover that I was “made” to be independent, freelance. It would have inevitably crossed my path I'm sure, but perhaps much later?

I direct you to the site of Gaël Chatelain Berry “Manager Bienveillant” which I find evokes the subjects of somewhat original and benevolent management: https://www.gchatelain.com/blog

I ultimately made a change – change of environment and profession – without going back to study.

What wouldn't we do for the love of a job well done?? So here I am in a nightie for the “Nightwear Party” event in 2013 with influencers at Dandy in Paris

Retraining: diving into the unknown

If you have known me in life for long enough, you know that I am curious, very curious, and that, let's admit it, I sometimes like to get into difficulties.

Moving first to a country where I don't know anyone (Scotland) then to a country where I have great difficulty understanding the language (Germany), leaving a job without having anything behind...these are some examples of the dives into troubled waters that I have been able to do, without ever regretting them, but sometimes sweating a little.

This start of my mission in Envouthé was not easy, I had to learn so much that at times I thought I wouldn't make it. At the time Julia was trying as best she could to train me, while she herself was drowning in work.

Coming from a world with a very heavy hierarchy, I had a lot of difficulty finding myself subordinate again: a personal preference that I had not anticipated! When finally, after several months, I had managed to train myself in my multi-tasking role, we understood that I would be happier and more efficient as a freelancer. For me, these first months of stress transformed, and gave way to several years of serenity, until today, working on Envouthé.

The start of the freelance adventure

When I started to be independent, I felt wings growing! I understood that this way of working was made for me. What convinced me and what I still love as much now is freedom. The freedom to choose my clients, my missions, my schedules, working methods... an essential freedom for me, to be the best version of myself, and to be as efficient and creative as possible.

To ensure that my activity is sustainable and that it always gives me as much pleasure, I went through the following steps:

• have other clients and other missions to benefit from diversity and satisfy my curiosity and my desire for novelty
• keep my clients as long as possible, have a long-term strategy (I rarely work with someone for less than 6 months, and often it's several years). It is for human comfort, the trust that is created, financial comfort, and the joy of seeing projects evolve over time.
• take an office – co-working in my case
• hire an accountant
• continue to train myself – with paid or free training, training days or weeks, or sometimes just videos to keep up to date
• always communicate smoothly and honestly with my clients – that means setting goals, addressing any concerns or misunderstandings, and changes on my end that may affect them too

With all this, I have a very positive experience as a freelancer, an experience whose match was Envouthé: Julia, her team, the partners she chose, and the Envouthés, the darlings, those for whom we has gone to great lengths to provide the best product and service possible.

Organizing the end of Envouthé subscriptions: the essential role of kindness

When we understood that the adventure as we know it had to end, we immediately thought about how we were going to announce it, communicate about it, and how to manage loyal customers sad at no longer receiving their Box. .

In this whole process, from the moment I joined the Envouthé project 7 years ago and until this moment when we had to think about announcing its end, what I have always loved and respected is the kindness with which we we have always demonstrated within the team towards customers. We have constantly been aligned on sending positive vibes outside, always respecting customers and doing, in our opinion, the best for them. All the decisions taken were made intelligently between the need to run a business, and the equal need to produce a beautiful product and have top-notch service.

It's always moving when a page turns, but having said to ourselves all these years “we really give the best” contributes to the sweetness of this goodbye. This Facebook post where we share the photo of a subscriber who received 80 Box, and where we ask the community to share their photos in turn, illustrates our state of mind! Read the comments below the post, that's the best part.

I learned from this a general lesson for me about being the best version of yourself, about giving to the outside world the best of what you have to offer, in sincerity and in accordance with your values...trying to constantly aligning yourself with this requirement for yourself allows you to overcome a lot! I don’t say to myself “we gave everything and it didn’t work”. I say to myself “we did what we love and we received a lot in return, it’s wonderful!”.

I leave you with some of my best memories, apart from the exchanges with subscribers, these are the exchanges with influencers and the press during events that we organized.

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