Add to Cart is now 1 year old!

If you can believe it, our online shop Add to Cart is one today!

I remember so clearly that night of the launch, being completely terrified of what was to come. Not knowing if it would be well received, not knowing the back end of it all, the sending, the payments all the months and months of behind the scenes work without anyone knowing all depended on hitting GO and we had no clue what we were in for! I also think Harper got a vomiting bug that night so it’s good to know that a year later we were pretty much bang on with the timing of another. Sheesh.

What a steep learning curve it has been. Taking a gamble and getting a small loan to buy stock on the shop that you guys would like the kind of stuff I like and might want to buy it. I think we back that loan amount in the first few days and from then it has just grown and grown and grown. From a small amount of products to the HUGE amount we have today.

We have been through all of the celebrations that come in a year now: Christmas, Mothers day, Fathers day, Easter, Spring/summer and autumn/winter and have been to a couple of trade shows too. Oh the things we have learnt along the way…

We have had successes and failures, LOTS of stress and worries and MANY more achievements than we thought. We have packed literally THOUSANDS of orders. Thousands! We have had back end postage pain: ceramics are the actual worst to pack, and teething issues with cable printers, who we would choose from postage, managing the cost for postage and budgeting for new seasons and tax and just all round business stuff. It’s been bloody hard work!

Lucy and I send this GIF to each other approximately 3-4 times a week because it sums it up: we don’t know if it will work, but let’s just give it a try. This is usually my go to when I have just spent thousands of dollars on something not knowing how it will go. Or when I get my tax bill. Or when I send a huge amount of ceramics and I don’t know if they will make it one piece. You get the drift…

And try we have!

We have achieved more in this year than I could ever have hoped from. From the growth of our sales and customer database to the reach of our shop all around the country. We have HAPPY customers who return again and again and again and again (we see you guys, and we appreciate you SO much). You have spread the word with friends and family and we have so many happy customers. People who appreciate our style and products, who love the hand written note and personal touches, the hands on customer service ready to answer ANYTHING at literally ANY TIME and the timeliness of our deliveries. We work really hard on getting this right and I know that you all appreciate it. We do every single thing: from the back end tech stuff, shooting all the images, all the marketing and all the sending. We are customer service, we are finance, we are ALL OF THE THINGS in between other work and of course life with small kids (well Lucy smaller) but 5 kids between us. We are BUSY.

We have been on adventures together and have had so much wonderful support from our suppliers and friends, family and business mentors who have been along every step on the day. Smart, savvy business owners have mentored us and supported and encouraged us. Nikki from Styling You has been there every step of the way: from her being our very first customer! To helping with any questions day or night about the back end, the marketing, the sharing of our stuff, she has truly been amazing. Our beautiful women business owners big and small who encourage us and teach us and create amazing products for us to sell – it’s a privilege and an honour to work alongside you all. Thanks for helping us when we had NO clue. And of course our families and friends…our poor neglected children who have had to sit and watch us pack order after order, go the post office, go to office works, help out, it’s been FULL ON and we couldn’t have done it without our partners and family and their amazing support and encouragement.

I get a bit emotional when I think about Lucy and everything she has done and what it has meant to me working with her every day over the past year. She is my very best friend and I cannot explain how wonderful it has been working with her. She works SO hard and she gets me completely. She makes me laugh, she pushes me, she gives me shit, she takes photos of me, she doesn’t roll her eyes at me and we have had the most amazing adventure together. It’s been the BEST. The actual best and if nothing ever comes of this shop, we have had the most amazing time together. We have created an amazing, successful business from our homes in a small country village and I think that’s bloody fantastic. I am SO proud of us. SO proud.

So a very deep heartfelt thanks to all of YOU for helping make our dreams come true. For buying from us, sharing our stuff, liking posts, adding to cart, teaching us, encouraging us, sharing the word and for coming back time and time again. THANK YOU. So much. Truly, truly truly.

We hope you continue to come along for the ride for another trip around the sun. And to celebrate today we are refunding one customer’s ENTIRE order. Just place an order between now and 6am AEST tomorrow (22/10/19) and we will pick a random order number and refund the entire thing for free! So get shopping my friends…it could be on us!

Comments

  1. Love you long time, my friends … and love all that you stock x

  2. Love it all and so happy to see it all going so well for you and the whole family. I never want to take my ‘add to cart’ pillow cases off my bed!! 🤗😉😂

  3. Are you at the markets?
    Which ones?
    When?

    Thanks

  4. You guys have done such an amazing job, all your hard hard work has paid off. Well done to both of you!!!

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