BEHIND THE SCENES - 2013 - A Good Year

I am really overjoyed to be writing this blog post. Today is the very first official birthday of mrs L cards, I say official because it is the first full year that I have worked full time on mrs L cards.  I can't believe one whole year has passed already. The events leading up to this date last year still seem vivid in my mind...

This time last year I was made redundant for the second time in 2012. To be completely honest neither  redundancies came as a surprise to me and fortunately as many of you know mrs L cards was already up and running, albeit in between working full time.

For quite a few years leading up to both redundancies I had felt a little despondent with my career and  in turn myself. mrs L cards gave me a new enthusiasm for design and, something that had been missing for quite some time, real excitement and a massive desire for what could be the new path for my life. I saw this second redundancy as a "Sign" to go for it with mrs L cards.

So one year on?
I can safely say I have never worked so hard or so many hours in my life. But it feels different somehow. The hours spent working don't seem like a sacrifice especially when you are enjoying it and you have a goal in mind. And when great things happen it feels so special. And some amazing things have happened this year; 

In March mrs L cards won the Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday Award. A barrage of emails one Monday night confirmed that my email had not been hacked but that Theo has chosen mrs L cards as one of his six small businesses for that week. At the end of November I'm heading down to Birmingham to attend my first ever #SBS Event AND I get to meet Theo himself!

#SBS logo

In May this year I went to my first ever Notonthehighstreet.com "Make, do and Meet" which was a full day in London where I got to mingle with fellow NOTHS sellers and attend workshops and talks. My NOTHS shop is going from strength to strength, mrs L cards has had over 6,500 sales from here alone. I know this is small fry to many of the great sellers on this website but it makes me so chuffed.

Not on the High Street Make, Do and Meet Event

Alongside my usual range of cards and prints I have been commissioned to do some wonderful things; from extremely personalised wedding thank you notes to posters to celebrate cycling achievements to heartfelt memorials I have loved doing them all.

Personalised button people mum of the bride cardButton people mum and dad of the groom card

Most recently mrs L cards has been shortlisted for Best Home Based Business for the North East Women Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Simply being chosen as a short-lister is amazing and being interviewed and filmed (!)has been actually quite a lot of fun. The ceremony, a fancy black tie event, is being held
on 15th November so fingers crossed!!!

WIN Awards Nomination for Best Home base Business 2013

So going forward...

I have so many ideas for how to grow mrs L cards. My "to do" list is never ending mainly because I keep adding ideas for new products. Sometimes I just need to find a few more hours in the day or more arms or something! I now have some super little helpers who take a weight off my shoulders and hopefully if all goes well I will need them more and more.

Every day is not wonderful, there are days when things go wrong, I make mistakes or the amount I have to do just becomes so overwhelming. But and this is a BIG but I wouldn't change it for the world. When wonderful customer comments come through I can't help but smile and feel proud. I've finally found
something I am really passionate about and I'm not prepared to let it go.....

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.