Crystal Clear: Sharing Solace and Entrepreneurial Reflections on 2020
Cyrstal Webster, founder of Sharing Solace, holding a picture of her daughter, Madelyn Elizabeth. (Image courtesy of Crystal Webster)
Life is full of adversity. In fact, if you asked any entrepreneur who tried to navigate the choppy economic waters of 2020 to describe their experience in one word, I am sure that nearly all of them would use either “adversity” verbatim, or some form of the word. Yet, although this descriptor may be accurate to describe the times, “adversity” often describes something more than just a feeling. For many entrepreneurs it describes the spark that led them to launch their idea, or a moment of darkness that sparked them to action.
I had the privilege of meeting Crystal on September 30th when she shared the story of her startup, Sharing Solace, at 1 Million Cups Anchorage. Her presentation was the second one that I moderated, and the story of how she overcame incredible heartbreak to support others in need, is not one that I would soon forget.
Crystal’s entrepreneurial journey began with a heartbreaking tragedy. Her daughter, Madelyn Elizabeth, was born on May 19th, 2010, and tragically passed away a few hours later. Over the next five years, Crystal would grieve her daughter’s passing, and would try to find peace in an unthinkably difficult situation. In her own words “during our annual vacation in 2015 the concept of Sharing Solace came to me like a bolt of lightning,” Crystal wrote on her website. “I believe that Madelyn knew I was ready, so she sent the idea down to me herself.” Over the next three years, Crystal set to work building her company, to help others who were experiencing unimaginable heartbreak and pain.
Sharing Solace’s business model is simple, but its impact is powerful. When a person is grieving a loss, they order a Sharing Solace Token + Locket Set which they then register online to join the Sharing Solace support community. They keep the physical token “close to their heart” while going through the healing process. Once they are ready to release the debilitating, heavy on their heart, don’t want to get out of bed grief, they then remove the token from the outer locket, then pass the token along to another person who is grieving a loss. As individuals register their tokens online, it is possible to track how the tokens move over time, creating a visual map of how individuals address and overcome periods of difficulty and sadness.
2020 posed unique challenges for Crystal and Sharing Solace, and her description of this time is perhaps the most unique take that I have heard to date. “It was like trying to walk on a waterbed”, said Crystal. “I knew that I wanted to move forward, but what is forward when this has never happened in my lifetime?”
As she entered her second year of her entrepreneurial journey, Crystal was forced out of her comfort zone as she tried to share her idea, confronted with the realities of the pandemic. “I really like to attend a lot of in-person events,” said Crystal. “Those were gone...and even the ones that were still on I did not want to attend to be perfectly honest because of COVID and everything else. I really had to, through the word of 2020, ‘pivot’ and did a lot of online work. I had to rethink everything.”
When asked about her most difficult day of 2020, Crystal responded with characteristic candor. “When did I face adversity...every day”, said Crystal. “What helped me the most was baby steps. There is an expression ‘how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I adopted a similar mentality when facing challenges with my business and was careful about how I worked through them. Sometimes you have to take two steps backwards and that’s ok. Just try and take two-and-a-half steps forward.”
With this principle in mind, Crystal reevaluated many different aspects of her business to make the necessary adjustments to maneuver during the pandemic. “It was both personal and professional,” said Crystal. “I really needed to determine how I could bring a personal touch through the computer screen, and how could I still give them a hug. Sharing Solace is very touchy-feely and deals with serious emotions.” While this adjustment was certainly difficult, there was one silver lining for Crystal: she launched her book, Confessions of a Griever: Turning a Hot Mess into an Haute Message, in May.
The timing of this launch presented her with a unique opportunity to connect with her customer base online. “It just so happens to be a ‘choose your own journey book’”, said Crystal. “I did a little segment every day over the lunch hour where I would read a section of the book and everyone would vote on what they wanted to hear the next day. That was a way to get the audience involved. I would have preferred that we would be in the same room but this allowed for us to get some interaction going on.”
Looking ahead to 2021, Crystal is optimistic, with but one resolution on her mind. “I want to achieve everything...world dominance”, she joked. “Every year I choose a word for the year. 2019 it was ‘declutter’, which meant a lot of different things. 2021’s word is ‘growth’, which seems very broad, but it is broad on purpose.”
Whether it is through baby steps or adopting a new approach to engaging with customers, Crystal’s story is as inspiring as it is touching. Her commitment to helping those who are dealing with the deepest grief, is truly remarkable, and as we move into 2021 and beyond 2020, learning how to harness difficulties and turn them into catalysts for positive growth will serve to determine where we go from here, both as individuals and as a society. But if you need a little motivation to get going, I leave you with Crystal’s own words.
“If I could give a piece of advice to an entrepreneur out there, I would tell them to just keep swimming,” said Crystal. “Just keep swimming.”