​When I began this string of blog posts with RWP Origins 1, I had no idea that there would be a re-launch.  I began writing to encourage others who had dreams and goals, business or personal.  You may think to yourself that I should have left out some of the “whiny” bits, but those tough spots sure made the accomplishments sweeter.  You may think that our dream was flawed because we felt the need to make so many changes, but in business (as in life) we should remember that you don’t know, what you don’t know, until you know it, it is imperative to plan, but plans always change, and although there are always obstacles, we can be certain that there are always solutions (they just might not be the solutions that you imagined)  
The more personal reasons that I began writing is due partly to wishing that I had taken more photo’s, Megan actually was nursing babies while designing layouts, a photo of the pink and grey office being constructed with custom cabinetry (thank you Stephen, probably not what you had in mind when designing your new home), toddlers sitting at the little tikes desk in that office working with Mom and Grammy.  Writing a book of limericks on our way to a show and laughing so hard our faces hurt, and the bloopers in recordings. 
These blogs also were meant to thank all of those wonderful people that shared our vision, to let them peak in and see that although the wheels seem to turn so slowly, the rollercoaster never stopped, and without them, family and friends, it could not have kept going.
Last but not least, shouting out to our Artists.  For those who do not know the ins and outs of our company, all of our illustrators are contracted, some choose a small up-front advance on royalties, some took no advance.  These wonderful people have entrusted us to share their work with the world professionally, in a way that puts the best light on their amazing talents, and patiently wait to see what’s coming next.  They have worked so hard at bringing our characters to life, organizing whole worlds to support the themes and ideas we have written the words for. They didn’t join us because we could offer them a fine financial future, they joined us believing in the concept that IS Rosy Window Productions, to teach our Children to NOT look at the world through rose coloured glasses, but to give them the tools to enjoy looking out their own window to a pretty rosy world.  

We can count our blessings each and every day, even when the world has been turned up-side-down.  So many lives were, and are still being affected by the pandemic.   Tragedies, constant tension, fear, bankruptcies, illness, solitude, anxiety, to have the family and friends, that I have, to be able to say that most of us have made it through relatively unscathed, and my heart goes out to so many, who cannot say the same.  
When everything ground to a halt, RWP did to.  I had some personal upheaval that had to be dealt with, and Megan was left holding that bag, along with the uncertainty that everyone was dealing with.  I can’t tell you how thankful I was, and still am, that she is such a strong, wonderful woman, giving me some time, and holding things together while I got my “poop in a group”.  
As the dust was still swirling around all over the world, we began to attack the big picture questions that had been lurking in the shadows, the ones that had “get to this when you have time” sticky notes and “this will do for now” band aid solutions in place.  You know, those things that are sort of dealt with but as they lurk in the back of your mind, they keep growing, and growing.  
COVID did a couple things, it stopped all of the personal contact we had with people, which essentially benched our marketing, but also gave us the space we needed to invite the shadows into the light, rip the band-aids off, and tear up the sticky notes. 
And so began the simple task of re-launch, give this six year old company a new look, and get to the root of the issues that had come up: in getting a variety of easy to use resources to children, shifting the resources we had created to resources that more parents would be comfortable with, and dealing with some of the “wish we had done that from the start” realization. We will have this wrapped in in 4 months!  
Perhaps you guessed already that we here at Rosy Window Productions do not look at the world through rose coloured glasses, but sometimes we are a little optimistic about how quickly things can roll out.  As I have mentioned way back, speaking to those with goals, sometimes we must re-frame, re-think, be firm but gentle, and shift a little to carry on (but we persevere).  As we embarked on another round of technology, learning, developing, the 4 month time lined turned into 6….8…………9?.........ok so removing our hypnotherapy resources and offering guided meditations, was just what our great, wonderful, amazing clients was looking for!  One shadow could disappear.  Shifting our audio’s to video + audio + day & night + readables was a little more techy time consuming than we thought it might be, but another shadow bites the dust, tear up that stickynote.  The most daunting though, how to offer a variety to children, without having their parents buy each and every book – some books are age appropriate reading, but the meditations are so much more universal, (and all the different angles mentioned in the last post)  After much contemplating, back and forth, research, research, research, a Rosy Membership concept, an inexpensive membership to access all of our resources (YES) guided meditations, videos, audios, printables, lesson plans, without ever having to purchase a book!  Not that we don’t want people to buy a book, they are a great resource too, oh so give members a discount on the books and posters - (YES)!
Memberships - easier said than done.  (Now you might think, like I did, that these beautiful websites that you see all over are so user friendly that it is just a quick click and you are up and running – oh contraire – you could also muse that hiring a tech would be the answer (yes, yes, and someday we most definitely will take resumes, but we are IT for now)   As we learned more programs, engaged some more apps, learned far more about coding, linking, editing, up and down loading (even sideways sometimes, as our drives hit capacity (my computer and my brain), high-fived overcoming obstacles, slumped in our chairs, watched our families eyes glaze over as we thought out-loud, we watched the calendar pages flip by, and 4 months turned into a year plus, but WE DID IT!

As the glow of the launch remains one of the many sparkling stars which guide our RWP journey, after the enchanted evening, (a short rest, a deep breath, a sigh) it was time to get back to work.  Oh, speaking of shining stars, we have many in our Rosy sky, my wonderful Mom, who has always been the biggest fan a daughter, granddaughters, great-grandchildren, could have, my other two daughters who are wonderful women, and always in our cheering section (also part of our “please try this” beta group) Megan’s amazing husband (who puts up with his mother-in-law working long hours in the amazing office he built for us in their new home) all of our illustrators, the wonderful peeps working at the little Ontario print shop, and all of our family and friends who are too numerous to list (OMG academy award speech – sheesh – sorry).  Getting back to the next chapter, after the launch we were back to it, preparing more books that our artists were busy illustrating, creating the hypnotherapy that accompanied them, offering some supports for the adults, who lovingly were helping their kids, and you know, everything was finally coming together.  We had quite a few wooooo-hoooooo, moments, being invited by another star to present a workshop on how educators could introduce guided imagery to their students, which led to meeting some great people, (and what a fantastic reception!) being awarded a grant to put our workshop online (now it’s worldwide and free to everyone – everywhere – forever).  Each book that came out was as exciting as the last, and now there are 11 instead of 4.  Even just the fact that the company could pay for the next book to be printed was a pretty amazing milestone.  Unfortunately there were some painful moments, after coming up with a work around to provide our customers with the hypnotherapy audios that accompany the book they purchased – the infamous download codes, we found that it was quite challenging for users, (insert sad face here) – more research, and long computer days to figure that out, AND THEN (wait for it) drum roll…….all of the download codes, which are each, individually generated, put in the system, and stickered in each and every book, drum is still rolling…..they all disappeared!!!!! (website host’s update – and NO SOLUTION!) We get to apologize to our customers, we get to KNOW that none of the codes will work in any book sold in the wonderful outlets that our books are in, WOW! 
​Along with all of our wonderful reviews we also had some feedback that surprised me, and a lot of parents just weren’t comfortable with hypnotherapy – how do we address that? As a Hypnotherapist, it never occurred to me that it would make so many people uneasy.
So the work-around to get our audio’s out is not working well AND we had been scratching our heads trying to figure out how to get our audio’s out to more children in a broader fashion, like the child that reads Adelaide, because she is dealing with anxiety, would really benefit from the audio that accompanies Shelly, promoting self-esteem, and then throw in My Super, Wicked, Awesome Family in to help her recognize all that there is to be grateful for.  Or the youngster that is just a great kid, but we want to keep him feeling great, even with the bombardment of our society and its thoughts on how people are suppose to look, and feel, and be, and the pressures that life will bring to him as he grows up,  So most of our audios would be great, just to reinforce the values and beliefs he already has.  Another dilemma was how is heck do these kids begin a daily practice (you know, like their parents do, to keep themselves balanced) without being bored to tears by the same two audios?  (and for anyone who has started a daily meditation practice later in life, you understand how much easier it would have been, had it been a habit that you grew up with – like brushing your teeth)
Life was busy, Megan raising two babies, working toward another degree, my Counselling Hypnotherapy Practice, another part-time/full-time job, but we were happily busy so the big picture questions only got quick small picture solutions.  We were scheduled for some Pro-D workshops, here and in Prince George, fit in a book signing tour with Indigo at the Edmonton locations, looking forward to some great wellness conferences, developing new books and workshops, recruiting some more artists, slowly reaching a broader audience….AND THEN….(NO DRUM ROLL)……COVID.