It's been a while!

Writing a blog isn't one of my strong points. I'll admit. I never know where to start, I run out of ideas, and so I then just radio silence the blog for 2-3 months 😅

So I thought I'd just do a small update post, of what's been going on, what I've learnt and future plans!

Why the quiet?

I'm not going to lie, it has been a hard year. I knew when I moved away from doing Disney inspired products 18 months ago that it was going to be like starting a business again from scratch to an extent. I had expected a drop in revenue and whatnot, and last year definitely showed that, but it was still manageable. I however had no idea that this year was going to be so hard, that the economy and social media algorithms and who knows what else would impact sales also, and mostly are things that I have no control over either.

So yeah, the last couple of months particularly have been quite stressful in that respect, as less sales means I can't pay myself what I was previously to pay my bills. Personally, we've had a shuffle round of expenses, knocked some bills where we can, changed our car and other things to make things work. Just! It's been tight, and whilst I have been looking for part time work, to no avail, I'm determined to make the business work still as a full time job.

And I know so many people are feeling it this year too. So if you're in the same boat as me, know that you're not alone!

What's new?

In that time, I have been adding new products and trying to make the business work! I've not been sitting around doing nothing, although the temptation to do that when everything you try just falls flat is very high!

I've added lots of new cat and floral products, as well as worked on Christmas (yes, I know, it's coming to that time soon!), designed the new very bright floral 2026 calendar - which is currently for pre-sale - whilst doing lots of markets, and trying (and mostly failing) to market the business on social media.

Here's a quick little bullet point list of some things that have happened recently, both good and bad!

• my trusty printer I bought from 2019 broke. Well, an error occurred and even my very tech savvy husband couldn't figure out what it was, so a new printer was panic ordered. I actually ended up going with the smaller A3+ version of the Canon Pro printer (I had a pro-1000 before, I now have a pro-310)
• I've been doing lots of markets! And footfall and sales have been lower, but I have also learnt that not all markets are for me. I'll definitely be doing an in depth post about that soon!
• Wholesale is hard. So many emails sent, and nothing. It's definitely a long game.
• June was a tough month for sales, but July has been better, so I'm hoping things are starting to look up a bit!

What's coming up?

Well, I plan to be more pro active with blog and getting back into my min. of 2 posts a month, and I have some ideas lined up already.

I'm going to be doing lots of markets, some brand new to me on the run up to Christmas and you can see where I'm going to be here.

I've also learnt that the cat products sell best! So I'll be focusing on those more, and especially so when it comes to new things. Whilst money is tight, I have had to pare back on products, but there are so many products I'd love to do - notebooks, tea towels, key chains and decorations, maybe even some washi again... so hopefully I'll be able to add some new products soon, providing the reset of the year goes better! 🤞