Charlotte's Chocolates

I think I can safely say that I have the loveliest, most generous and kind customers, just look what I received in the post today from quite simply my favourite customer.

Charlotte and I have become very friendly since her first order back in February and when she recently asked for some bunting that incorporated her logo colours and font she mentioned that she'd send me some of her hand-made chocolates so I could see and taste for myself exactly what her chocolates are like. I hoped she would send me some but knew I shouldn't really expect a customer to send me a gift so you can imagine my delight when I opened up the package (especially as I thought it was a return) :-)

Please go over to Charlotte's Facebook page and have a look for yourself. Charlotte has the most amazing photos that will make you drool and I can now categorically state they taste even better than they look ..... they are delicious. So delicious in fact that I will not be sharing them!

Don't you just love her tagline number 6 of your 5 a day?

Build A Business From Your Kitchen Table

You may have seen/heard that the founders of notonthehighstreet.com Sophie Cornish and Holly Tucker have recently written a book called "Build A Business From Your Kitchen Table". I was very pleasantly surprised to receive a copy in the post the other day, a signed copy no less.

As a seller with notonthehighstreet, and as I really do run my business from my kitchen table, I soon abandoned Mr Grey (I know ... I know) and started avidly reading. Imagine my delight to find not just one quote but two quotes from me. In print. In the book. From me!

The first quote is just simply the truth about why I do the hours that I do. My boys do have endless (mostly totally undeserved) faith in my capabilities and when someone was having a bit of go at me recently Oscar came up to me and whispered in my ear "Just prove them wrong Mum". They are the reason I'm doing this so that I can be at home and not have to endlessly worry about childcare and so that I can juggle my hours to suit me and go and see them in various sporting/musical events.

The second quote was because I've found that when dealing with other female business owners the truth is simply the best way and you get such support and help that I never experienced in a mainly male workplace. Obviously that is just my personal opinion and I'm sure lots of men are very supportive but I find this "world" very different from my previous experiences.

So how about the book? Well, I found it really interesting and helpful. I thought I knew most of the Sophie/Holly story but you get much more insight into their struggles to make this a success. Their honesty is to be applauded as sometimes I think you imagine that every successful company just happened and that it was easy for them. The book is also very helpful without getting into the American self-help way of talking to you and as I've only read it quickly I need to re-read it giving it time and taking note of their advice.

Most of all this books confirms what I keep thinking that if you want to be successful Work Hard. If you know anyone who is just starting a business, or even thinking about it, I would strongly recommend this book.

Happy Notonthehighstreet Birthday To Me

Yesterday was my Daisyley birthday as one year ago I finally went "live" with my notonthehighstreet shop.

On 2nd March 2011 at 16:27 I was beyond excited to receive my very first order and I had accepted the order by 16:29. The first order appropriately enough was for a birthday banner and I proudly posted if off the next day.

Yesterday saw my one thousand and ninety third order ... yes 1,093 people have ordered from me. I can hardly believe it.The furthest I've sent bunting to is New Zealand and the nearest was a couple of miles up the road (the only package I've hand delivered!).

I didn't always get it right in the beginning and had a couple of bad reviews but I took it onboard, learnt, changed things and moved on. Thankfully I've had lots of really lovely reviews. One this week said 

"The product, service and delivery was excellent. It arrived the next day and was beautifully packed. I'd have no hesitation in ordering many more!!!" 

It is my aim for all my customers to have that sort of reaction and that comment was just a perfect ending to a great year. To make me even happier I've had my busiest week since beginning of December :-)
I also went into the Venture group of notonthehighstreet sellers which won't mean anything to anyone who isn't a fellow seller, but it is the group I've been aiming for all year and now I've set my sights on the enterprise group {that is a big challenge!}.

Of course, I wish I knew then all the things I know now about customers/retail/selling .... but I'll probably think that this time next year... in fact I know I will as I still have SO much to learn. And that's the great thing I'm learning things all the time, I've met some great people and I'm sure it can still keep growing. It gives me huge satisfaction to say I really enjoy what I do and I still get a thrill when an order pings through.

So today at 16:27 I shall think very fondly of my first customer and think of all the lovely customers I've sent packages off to.

Happy Birthday Daisyley and thank you notonthehighstreet.

Daisyley Goes International

I'm now accepting international orders ...

I'm not sure why I didn't do it before? I think I was put off by the nothonthehighstreet postage prices and I thought it was far too complicated and expensive, but when I got an email from noths last week saying they had rejigged their international delivery charges I decided to give it a go.

I'm so pleased I did, as it really isn't complicated at all, especially as I have to go to the post office every day anyway. So just in one week I've had to post to Ireland and Russia .... yes some of my personalised bunting has gone to Moscow. I just love it - Russia ;-)

And it makes me smile to see International delivery available on my product pages {as I've said before I am easily pleased}.

Does this mean I can put on my web page Lindsell London Moscow .... ?

A little NOTHS get together

Last Wednesday I took the train up to Kings Cross to have a little meet up with some South East/London members of notonthehighstreet. We met in just the most wonderful place called Drink, Shop & Do which is a design shop and café bar selling products from emerging designers alongside vintage furniture and home wares. It was a perfect venue. Honestly if you are near Kings Cross go in and at least have a cup of tea in their mismatched crockery!

 

The meeting was arranged by the lovely Bee of Bee@home and among others I met Jennifer from Scamp Baby Gifts, Lisa from Dizzy, Jenny from Radiance Boutique and Linda from Cocoapod. We also got to meet Nell and Annie from notonthehighstreet.

We sat chatting and swapping ideas (whilst drinking copious amounts of tea)  and also got to ask Nell and Annie questions (who were completely charming by the way) whilst they also gave us some really useful information about trends and how the company is operating at the moment.

All in all it was a really useful afternoon and I'm so glad I went - thank you again Bee.

Personalisation is the name of the game

I have a selection of personalised name bunting at notonthehighstreet. You can choose between Princess, Pirate, Funky or Army.

Princess

Pirate

Funky

Army

People have ordered them for christenings, hen parties and birthdays.

Perfect

Perfect just perfect ... The Perfect Gift Guide 2011.

Getting asked to be in the Not In The High Street gift guide was really flattering. In my newbie naivety I thought they rang everyone and asked .... mmmmmm .... now I don't think that is the case so feel quite appalled that the first time they asked I said no!

The new gift guide hit the doorsteps on Thursday and so far it has proved to be a pretty good decision to go in. It's a new format of catalogue and gets posted to 750,000 people - that's a lot of people.

If you don't get the catalogue then please have a look at the virtual one page 32 bottom left hand side!

Size does matter

I had a request from a notonthehighstreet customer asking if I could make some bigger personalised bunting as she wanted some for a 30th birthday in a hall and the personalised bunting I had on sale was just too small and didn't quite 'cut the mustard'. I was very happy to have a go and I hope she is happy with the end result. The added bonus is that I now have another product. It is great when someone makes a specific request and I hope there will be other people who would like bigger bunting for parties in big halls!

Lilac and Pink

Lilac and Pink

This bunting is a lot bigger than I normally make and the pennants measure 14.5cm x 21 cm so hopefully it will make a real impact. So party on ...

Happy Easter, OK not yet but you've got to be ready

Now that Mother's Day is over I've been thinking about Easter. I love Easter and always put a few decorations up, so with that in mind I have some Happy Easter bunting available in my notonthehighstreet shop. Pretty pastel letters with pretty pastel easter eggs - ahhh.

Not On The High Street

I am now live on notonthehighstreet. Hurrah! It has taken me some time to get it right and the activation team were endlessly patient and encouraging. It would have been so easy for them to send standard emails telling me to get better photos, write longer descriptions and learn how to do meta keywords myself but they took the time to send really kind, positive emails which was really appreciated.

I was absolutely thrilled to get an order the day after going live and have already made a couple of trips to the post office. It is all a bit of a steep learning curve but so far (fingers firmly crossed) it seems to be going well.

Nearly there ... Part Two

I got a reply from the lovely people at Not On The High Street full of encouraging words but, as I suspected, some of the photos need to be redone and I need to make a few tweaks here and there. 

I spent most of last week in bed feeling sorry for myself so I didn't get anything done. I could have done with one of my Get Well Soon boxes!

I hope the weather this week will be fine, bright, sunny and spring like so that I can get outside and take some photos in daylight (much, much easier).

Nearly there ...

I have been busy all week preparing my page for Not On The High Street and it has finally gone in for approval. 

I am still learning about product photography and seem to make a HUGE mess trying all sorts of things out, plugging the camera into the computer, adjusting the photos, going back and trying a different angle. I hope it will all be worthwhile and now that the kitchen is tidy again (!) I can start on some more ideas I've got.

Before Clean Up and After Clean Up

This was the last photo I did today - what NOTHS call your brand image - I hope it is OK - fingers crossed I haven't made any errors and my page gets up and running soon.

Not On The High Street

I applied - they accepted. The information pack says they only accept 10% of the applications they receive. My 'cynical head' says, "yeah sales talk" but my 'happy head' says, "wow and they want Daisyley Boxes woohoo". 

Now have lots of hard work to do getting it all up and running. It could take some time as I would like to do better photos and need to really think about the products I will upload. 

I'm really excited about it and feel 2011 has started brilliantly.