what it costs to scale.
since 2017, adwoa beauty has packed and shipped every order ourselves.
every bottle. every box. every label printed and sealed inside our own warehouse and showroom in downtown dallas. the blue walls weren’t just aesthetic, they were operational. proximity to product meant proximity to customer. if something ran low, we knew immediately. if an order came in late, we stayed late. control was built into the walls.
in the early years, that model made sense. we were small, focused, scrappy. managing fulfillment internally allowed us to move quickly and protect cash while building the brand. it kept timelines tight and decisions close. growth felt tangible because it was stacked on pallets in front of us.
our warehouse in downtown dallas.
but growth changes the math.
as the brand expanded, the same model that once created agility began to create constraint. two leases. rising freight costs. equipment. systems. and most significantly, payroll. maintaining our own warehouse operation meant carrying overhead that exceeded $600,000 annually. what once felt efficient began to pull focus from where we needed to be spending our time, product development, retail expansion, marketing, customer experience.
there is a moment in every growing company when survival systems stop supporting scale.
for us, that moment came in 2024.
we had also begun experiencing increased dinging and damage issues in transit. when you fulfill in-house, you absorb every operational friction point directly. packaging adjustments. carrier negotiations. staffing fluctuations. what looks seamless from the outside is, in reality, deeply technical infrastructure. and as order volume increases, so does complexity.
we had to decide whether to double down on control or redesign the system entirely.
in august 2025, after eight years of self-fulfillment, we transitioned to a third-party logistics partner, commonly known as a 3PL. for those unfamiliar, a 3PL is a warehouse and fulfillment provider that stores inventory, picks and packs orders, and manages shipping on behalf of brands. instead of maintaining your own facility and staff, you integrate into a logistics operation built to handle scale across multiple companies.
on paper, it made sense. shared infrastructure. established carrier relationships. technology systems designed for high volume. reduced fixed overhead.
in practice, onboarding was more complex than anticipated. our first 3PL experience in Texas exposed just how sensitive fulfillment transitions can be. inventory transfers, system integrations, communication workflows, each step carries risk if not managed precisely. customers felt delays. we felt the pressure of watching systems recalibrate in real time.
it was a humbling education in what it actually takes to move from founder-controlled operations to scalable infrastructure. but growth rarely unfolds without friction.
earlier this year, we made the decision to transition again, this time to a 3PL partner in Indiana with deeper specialization in beauty and direct-to-consumer brands. the move required coordination across freight, inventory reconciliation, platform integrations, and new operational protocols. it required patience. and clarity.
adwoa beauty products being cycle counted at our new 3PL
founder control feels safe. scale requires delegation.
for eight years, we could walk into our warehouse and physically see our business. pallets meant progress. boxes meant momentum. letting go of that proximity required a shift in mindset. but scale is not about proximity. it’s about durability.
if your order experienced delays during this transition, you felt that shift before we did. operational change is rarely invisible at first. we understand that trust is built not only through product performance, but through reliability. we are refining systems to ensure consistency, not just speed. the goal is not to ship fast once. the goal is to ship well, repeatedly, at scale.
outsourcing fulfillment is not about reducing standards. it’s about building infrastructure capable of sustaining growth without destabilizing the business. by moving from fixed warehouse leases and in-house staffing to a shared logistics model, we significantly reduced overhead while increasing operational capacity. that reallocation of resources allows us to invest more deeply into formulation, retail partnerships, and long-term brand development.
this is the less glamorous side of scaling.
campaigns are visible. warehouse transitions are not. but they matter just as much.
between 2017 and august 2025, every adwoa beauty order was fulfilled internally. that chapter built our foundation. it taught us discipline. it taught us margins. it taught us the weight of every shipping label. this next chapter is about stability.
from founder control to infrastructure.
the current warehouse in Indiana is not perfect yet. onboarding any new system requires refinement. workflows get tightened. forecasting improves. communication rhythms stabilize. but the infrastructure is built for where we are going, not where we started. we’ve also been able to offer $5 shipping as a result of more efficient carrier positioning in that region.
there is an important distinction between growth and scale. growth is increasing demand. scale is increasing capacity without increasing fragility. for a founder, that distinction is personal. you move from doing everything yourself to building systems that function without you. it can feel distant at first. less romantic. less immediate. but it is necessary if the vision extends beyond a moment.
we are building adwoa beauty to last. that means making decisions that prioritize sustainability over sentiment. it means acknowledging when a model has run its course. it means choosing long-term efficiency over short-term familiarity. it also means being transparent about the process.
what customers see is a bottle on a shelf or a package on a doorstep. what they don’t see is the infrastructure required to move that bottle across states, through carriers, and into homes reliably. fulfillment is not simply shipping. it is forecasting. inventory accuracy. packaging durability. data integration. carrier negotiations. labor management. insurance. compliance. when done well, it disappears into the background. our responsibility is to ensure it does.
the blue walls in Dallas represent our beginning, hands-on, self-built, close to every order. the conveyor belts and pallet racks in Indiana represent the next phase, structured, scaled, designed for longevity. both chapters matter but only one can carry us forward.
if there is one thing building this brand has taught us, it is that control is not the same as strength. true strength is building systems that can sustain growth without collapsing under it. this is what it costs to scale:
it costs comfort.
it costs familiarity.
it costs ego.
and in return, it gives stability. we are refining. recalibrating. building infrastructure that supports not just the next season, but the next decade. because adwoa beauty was never meant to be small and the systems behind it shouldn’t be either.
