Gratitude, Lead Times, and the Things We Can’t Control

Hey founder,

This week, I wanted to pause from all the dashboards, shipments, and year-end chaos and just say thank you.

Thank you for reading.
For hitting reply.
For sharing stories about your wins, your mistakes, your “we barely made it” launches.

This newsletter started as a side note, a way to document what we’ve learned in the supply chain over the years.

Now, it’s a community. A mix of DTC founders, operators, planners, and dreamers who all share one thing: we love the messy, unpredictable, oddly satisfying world of bringing products to life.

The Gratitude Lessons Supply Chain Taught Me

1️⃣ Be grateful for delays.
They force us to look deeper.
When a shipment’s late or a sample fails, it’s usually a system showing you where it’s weak. The best teams don’t panic, they fix, document, and improve.

2️⃣ Be grateful for people who challenge your timeline.
They’re the ones protecting your margins.
Every factory that pushes back, every planner who says “that lead time’s not real”, they’re saving you from the costliest mistake: overpromising what your supply chain can’t deliver.

3️⃣ Be grateful for transparency.
Because whether it’s a supplier admitting an error, a teammate flagging an oversight, or a client being brutally honest, transparency is the rarest, most valuable currency in this business.

What I Hope You Take Into 2026

Next year, may your supply chain be leaner, your relationships stronger, and your ops meetings shorter.

But also, may you give yourself credit for building something real in an industry that rarely pauses long enough to say, “Hey, we did that.”

If you’ve survived 2025’s tariffs, freight spikes, and production delays, you’ve earned your turkey and your rest.

Before You Log Off

If you need something to watch post-turkey coma, here’s one for you:

🎬 The Most Expensive Supply Chain Mistakes DTC Founders Make - it’s one of my favorite YouTube episodes yet, and a good reminder that every problem we solved this year taught us something.

And if you want to keep learning, laughing, or venting about DTC supply chain life, join me here:
🐦 X: @larasupplychain
💬 Slack Community: Supply Chain Lounge
📺 YouTube Channel: Supply Chain Lara

Bonus Resource

If you’re already planning for next year (because let’s be honest, you’re that type), grab our BFCM Toolkit. It’s not just for this week, it’s a framework you can reuse for every major campaign next year.
→ 📦 Download the BFCM Toolkit

I’m grateful for every single one of you reading this.

Thanks for letting me share what I’ve learned, and for trusting me with your attention every week.

Happy Thanksgiving,
- Lara 🦃