This was our second summer of trading, and I was honestly expecting it to be quiet...but it was actually really busy, even with all these horrific bill increases.
Of course, I think that's been helped by how quickly our shop and website became well known after we landed a huge opportunity doing merchandise for Sam Bailey (winner of XFactor 2013). Since March, we have had hundreds of online orders from fans buying various branded items; from specially designed (by us) key rings, to printed hoodies. Swiftly after that two of Sam's friends, who gained their own following through her private Facebook group, asked us to do their merchandise too...which has generated even more sales. So, as well as being busy with all these amazing new customers from all over the country, we had more and more in store orders coming in, and things have just kind of snow balled.
When Sam came in to visit our little shop, I was so nervous...but she was just so lovely and down to earth. She did a live on her Facebook page while she was with us, which at last count had more than 26k views! Then boom...we were officially on the map :D
I would say the last 6months have been incredible, we've got new machinery that means we can do even more personalised items. We've gained new skills and learned a lot about designing and perfecting unusual bespoke requests. We've even expanded our stock range and repertoire far beyond what we could ever have imagined.
All in all, we're absolutely loving every minute of building our business, and speaking to all these new wonderful customers who are so supportive and have such lovely things to say about us and our products.
Dreams do come true xx