Confessions of a Female Flounder part 2

[foreverblowingbubbless]

I've embarrassed for Meghan saying that her arranging takeaway food on a plate is the same thing as what Figs Heather Hasson has done 😬

I wouldn’t worry, I believe the picture is as close as they actually got to the beehive!

If that actually is their beehive. Or if it's active at all.

This is why I strongly suspect that there aren't actually any bees and that they're visiting an empty hive just for show.

Exactly!
staged photos!

Like so much about them. Fake.

Is Harry’s new job to walk behind Meghan taking photos ?

A lot of it depends on the health of your business. I 'fired' a client once for being repeatedly rude, bullying and unreasonable to one of my employees (a very conscientious and hard-working young woman). We worked on the drafting of the termination letter together. That was quite therapeutic.

At other times I've had to suck up a difficult client because I've desperately needed the revenue. Beggars, choosers and all that. Overall, though, if a client doesn't take your advice and isn't a reasonable person, it can only be bad for your business in the short or long term, or both.

I highly doubt that Sunshine Sachs have ever had to take on a difficult client out of financial necessity, certainly not recently. But I do note that Meghan has more recently made a point of hiring start-up / one-woman-band PR advisers. Not only would they be significantly cheaper, but they're also less likely to tell Meghan hard truths or give good (if challenging) advice. Because they can't afford to lose her custom.

It's fascinating reading comments from experts that point to little signs that things really aren't going well.

But I do note that Meghan has more recently made a point of hiring start-up / one-woman-band PR advisers. Not only would they be significantly cheaper, but they're also less likely to tell Meghan hard truths or give good (if challenging) advice. Because they can't afford to lose her custom.

I can understand someone just starting out taking on a difficult client, just to get something on their cv, and for the experience. But there's difficult and there's absolute nightmare. At this point why would any youngish PR person think that working for H&M would do anything to advance their careers?

I read someone saying that this was a possibility as that child looks like it has diapers/ nappies on .

Meghan must be gutted that Brigitte Macron has taken over in the news.

In her latest episode, meghan talks about not asking too many people about your business idea, as getting too many opinions may talk you out of it.
She then gives the listener advice that if youre having a baby, pick the name, tell no one, and announce the name once the baby arrives.

So pretty much what everyone thought they did with the name Lilibet, but they lied and said they asked for permission. Harry even threatened to sue the BBC when they said that wasn’t true.

We all knew there was no way they consulted anyone in taking the Queens pet name. They can’t even keep up with their lies.

There are some new gems in this obscure publication that isn't Vogue, and notably female founders are queuing up to be guest on COAFF series 2 and there will be no new As ever products until 2026 because Meghan is busy analysing the data from the launch sales. Oh, and she's a good mum because Archie woke her up at 2am excited because the tooth fairy had been and she cuddled him all night even though she had lots of meetings in the morning. No other mother has ever done that, have they? https://www.fastcompany.com/91340227/meghan-markle-duchess-of-sussex-confessions-of-a-female-founder-as-ever-netflix

She doesn’t half talk a load of crap.

So back to the drawing board then, no restocking.

The launch that never launched a product.

Archive archive.ph/wqblI

Meghan is busy analysing the data from the launch sales.

How much data can there be? And isn't that what they're paying these other people for? People who actually know about this stuff?

Exactly - there can't be much to analyze if they sold out within an hour - only that they didn't order enough.

Clearly this isn't a serious business it is a PR/branding strategy

I don't believe a word of that article, it's all mouth and no trousers as my granny would say.

Some interesting 'read between the lines' in that article

The Netflix team decided that it made sense for As Ever to exist on its own, without any Netflix branding. This is why the line isn’t called, “With Love, Meghan,” like the show.

The easiest thing to do would have been to simply restock the products, which would likely sell out very quickly again. But instead, Meghan wants to take a step back, gather data from the launch, and figure out exactly what As Ever could be.

She says she’s planning to announce new products in the first quarter of 2026.

There’s interest in doing a second season of Confessions of a Female Founder, and many female founders have approached her to be a guest on the series. But Meghan is now involved in such a wide range of projects,

And the best bit is the bit at the end of the article, edited, I missed that it is an application for an award, unless their brand is a contender for the award hence the interview

The final deadline for Fast Company’s Brands That Matter Awards is Friday, May 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.

So they had to apply for the interview to some obscure online magazine, LOL.

As someone that actually works in retail businesses, this is just the most ridiculous business plan ever. The As Ever/ARO team spent a year figuring out product lines (and completely jettisoning the first brand launched, don’t forget) and “forecasting demand”, then launched a small amount of products that sold out. They are now not restocking, but are now spending a year “gathering data from the launch” and now plan to offer new products in early 2026. So, another whole year away.

Meantime, Meghan also tells us ““We are on calls daily, working through product development, SKUs, and inventory. We have a field trip tomorrow to look at different manufacturers and suppliers as we expand the brand.” That’s a lot of work for something that is apparently a year out. There's a big disconnect between how busy she tells us she is, and what is being achieved. Delay eats up your capital.

And, meantime, what about her customers? The ones who purchased As Ever products, had their money taken, but didn’t receive anything, and haven’t been refunded? They were promised they’d get something in the next drop. Are they expected to wait a year to receive something?

This is all just ludicrous. God knows what is going on behind the scenes if this is the best spin she can put on things externally.

Also, Meghan’s desire to make this seem like something more noble than a way to monetise her public status wil never not be funny. The article specifically tells us that:

“Over the past few years, even as Netflix’s subscriber numbers have continued to show impressive growth, it has also been exploring how it can create products tied to the content of shows”

It then tells us how Netflix approached Meghan about products. Meghan says:

“At the time, I had been working towards building out my own in-house team. But I had a complete U-turn because I completely bought into the vision she was sharing, which is where content and commerce meet, not in a product placement way, but rather in an ideological way.”

I think Netflix’s sole ideology here is to make money from its production IP, Meghan. That’s as elevated as it gets. You’re are not curing cancer, you are flogging stuff to fans.

ROFL at the idea of M analysing sales data.

Oh, and she's a good mum because Archie woke her up at 2am excited because the tooth fairy had been and she cuddled him all night even though she had lots of meetings in the morning. No other mother has ever done that, have they? if she were to drop the Sussex/HRH stuff and just be 'Meghan', is all this the sort of stuff a social media influencer would post to loyal followers? I know very little about influencing, but it seems as though this is what she's aiming for, all it needs is for her to become really good at curating/making something and then promote it and kerching all the way?

I'm going to say that it's unusual for a 6 year old to wake at 2am. I suspect it's the usual, a story to make her look good.

"I completely bought into the vision she was sharing, which is where content and commerce meet, not in a product placement way, but rather in an ideological way.”

Since when has UPF pancake powder been ideological......

What is she on? This is just hilarious.