When I was one...

Ok, so you either know this A A Milne Poem, or the title has you confused. I had to recite it when I left pre-school, so it’s imbedded in my memory banks far more firmly that it would otherwise be…

When I was one,I just begun.

When I was two,I was nearly new.

When I was three,I was hardly me.

When I was four,I was not much more.

When I was five,I was just alive.

But now I’m six,I'm as clever as clever, so I think I’ll be six now, forever and ever!

Today is the 12th June, and marks exactly 365 days since I opened this online shop… technically, since this is a leap year, the actual full year will on Saturday 13th, but I try (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha) not to work on Saturdays, so I wanted to get this up a day early. At the time of writing this the website has received 612 online sales, not to mention the offline ones, and the sales from our pop-up shops (oh how I miss interactions!).

To say this has surpassed my wildest expectations is not an exaggeration. When I first opened my online doors I had a flurry of orders which set me out on the belief that this might just work. But, as the poem says, when I was one, I was just begun. The first year of trading is always about learning: what works (what doesn’t work); what sells (what doesn’t sell); whether people prefer to collect or have things delivered (delivered, free seems to be the answer!).

Mostly though, I just want to say a massive thank you. Thanks to the small businesses that supply me… thanks to all of you for your purchased. Thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to interact with me over Instagram or Facebook. And thanks for everyone who returns time and again for their gifts.

Year two will bring a whole host of new challenges. Already this year, I’ve had to park the bridal gifting and bespoke bridal accessories side of the business, not to mention pressing pause on hampers (two kids at home 24/7 just made this untenable… they don’t understand the kitchen clean down ahead of getting things set up).

The next year will bring a lot of things… some expected, some not. My own personal aims for the year ahead are to work with more local businesses. To work out how (when we’re allowed to leave the island again), I can ensure the business runs fine whilst I’m not here (this is a very scary prospect for someone who might be a bit more of a control freak than she realised when it comes to her business baby than she thought she would be…). I want to continue to support The Lola Project with the sale of my cards from The Right Lines. I want to carve that niche for myself in Jersey as your ‘oh s**t I need a gift, I need it today/tomorrow, and I can’t get to the shops’ (I mean, that’s niche right?! But I’m here! And we do Saturday delivery! And am always happy to help over the phone or email!). I want to increase brand awareness. I want to see people! I hope to be able to do some events over ths summer (I think it’s so much easier for you to see the products you are buying so that you know the quality is as good as I say it is). Most of all though, I want to continue to run this with the passion I have always had for it. I think (hope) that you can tell that I love what I do… that I love what I stock… and that I really believe in what I say and do and all the small businesses that I, in turn support by having Harriet and Rose.

Thanks so much for reading and shopping with me. Here’s to year two!