Wow, I've just looked at our last blog , this time last year!!! That's no way for a business to run not keeping up with all aspects , and while , yes , we have been busy , it's no excuse .
So my pledge this year is to do a monthly blog about what's happening in the business and where we are going .
We are now into the 3rd year of Creative , most businesses struggle in the 2nd year but we saw a massive growth , more group sessions , more locations and generally more business to business interested in our art, whether that was through commissions or workshops, we tripled the previous years .
I hate blowing our own trumpet especially on social media , it's a pretty fake place to be at times and its a pet hate I have of other businesses trying to "con" people they are doing better than what they say, and I find it really sad that they can't be honest. You know the posts , you've seen them , then 6 months later the " we're really sorry to say this " post, well if you were honest from the start you wouldn't be in this situation . Honesty is the best policy in every situation , no matter what it is , and that's what we try to do all the time , the more people see honesty and integrity , the more they buy into you , which is really your product , not what you are actually selling.
We're also honest with our pricing , we want people to be able to afford our workshops so by keeping them relatively low priced , especially for what you get out of them , is always our main goal . We see the news, recession? no-one has any money ? people aren't buying ? I'm sat in Costa as I type , waiting for Emma at the hairdressers and let me tell you , people have money !!!! Go to any Wetherspoons pub anywhere in the UK , people have money, go to any shopping outlet , Dalton Park, Teesside Park, people have money, so when businesses say oh no-ones spending we have to close , they haven't bought into YOU, not your coffee, not your sandwiches , YOU.
I'll give you an example:
There was a well known establishment in the North West who kept popping up on our feed for Side Burner , videos , reels , all berating customers who had been to their shop and not liked the products, they actually put pictures of them on social media for their followers to berate , and I found out by watching these and looking at the comments it was always the same people doing the berating , multiple accounts ? very good friends who could be bothered to do such a thing? who knows. What I do know is the more they did this the more followers they lost, god forbid anyone who goes against your product. I know everyone doesn't like us and I'm absolutely fine with that , you do you , we'll do us it's fine , I'm fine , fine ............I'm really fine , whatever :) ,anyway 6 months later the inevitable "we're sorry" post happened and they closed and moved on, honesty would have prevented yet another establishment closing down!!!
Right that's that little rant over that has been on my mind for months :)
Since last January we have worked with many charities , mainly for free ( which is bad I know ) but it gives us so much joy to see people who may not be able to afford a full workshop to have a go and maybe spark something within them to create more.
Working with the lads just over from the road to us sparked an interest in us that we didn't know we had , well , that's a lie , I've always loved helping people , Emma is always more business like and structured , but , doing the charity work something clicked in Emma and I saw a change , while we still did the session as usual Emma got involved with the people more , talked more ( I mean I know she can talk but this was different ) , listened to their stories more and was genuinely happy when they realised that they can make their own masterpiece too, the joy that it brought us both was interesting to say the least.
We are now exploring avenues that can run along Side Burner to help even more people find the relaxing , mindfulness of pyrography and stir something inside them they didn't know was there , more on this to come in the coming months but its very exciting for us!!
So what am I trying to achieve in this blog as I sit here with my now , cold cup of tea and empty plate where the twisted chocolate pastry once sat . I suppose I am wanting to reiterate why we do what we do , why we keep our prices low , why we love helping people create masterpieces but most of all why we are honest with everyone we meet , you are selling you , are we going to be millionaires from this business ? absolutely not , are we going to help a 1000+ more people discover this art this year..................abso-bloody-lutely, stay creative