My Week as an #SBS Winner!

Evening folks, I hope the week is finding you all in good spirits! I have put this evening aside to update my blog as the last 10 days have been a bit like a whirlwind for me. My last blog update was written sat in Costa Coffee at Nottingham Trent Uni whilst I waited for my daughter to finish her interview for a Uni place this year studying Film and TV Set Design. It was very handy as I managed to write my blog, source new stock and buy some too! (We are yet to hear how the interview went ...willow branches are all crossed here)
That very day I was lucky enough to be #Purplebiz of the day on Twitter which is run by http://thepurpledog.net/ For those of you unaware of what this means, its a daily Twitter occurance. Purpledognet (@PurpledogNet) choose a different business everyday to promote on Twitter, it brings the chosen business lots of new followers, which in turn of course brings potential customers and leads. It really is a fab way of reaching a far bigger audience than many of us small businesses could possibly do on our own. All PurpledogNet ask, is that you in turn support other #purplebiz of the day winners and ReTweet.
So there I was, my phone pinging away with new followers, orders and enquiries in Costa, writing my blog..how fab is this? I was thinking. I managed to gain over 50 new followers by my #purplebiz win so I would thoroughly recommend to other Twitter users.
My week continued as normal, lots of behind the scenes stuff going on with sourcing new stock and finalising the orders from the fab British Businesses I mentioned in my last post. On the Saturday of that week my wonderful Hubby from here on in known as WH (Wonder Hubby! or Willow Hubby?)told me I was NOT working at all ALL DAY and off we went to London for the day..We had a fab day just walking round, doing the real touristy thing which when you live not far from London you never seem to do (or is it just us that never does it?) Our daughter's boyfriend had given us a voucher for Loch Fyne Restaurants for Christmas so dinner in Covent Garden Loch Fyne was on the cards and even better when its paid for!! I hadn't realised quite how much I needed a day to chill and stop obsessing about the business.
The next day was back to normal but with added vigour and a refreshed enthusiasm, and as usual on a Sunday I started thinking about what my Tweet to Theo Paphitis (the name behind Ryman's and one of the infamous Dragons from BBC's Dragons Den) Every Sunday, he runs a Small Business Sunday competition. You tweet him @TheoPaphitis using #SBS your business with a link and then sit back and wait. 6 businesses each week are chosen and they are ReTweeted by Theo to his followers (all 214,000 of them)
At around 9.30pm that night my phone pinged and I looked, then looked again...my phone said TheoPaphitis has ReTweeted you!! I was one of the 6 chosen businesses!
Well as you can imagine, I went a little crazy (just a little you understand) and from then til around 1am my phone did not stop. In the first 24 hours I gained around 200 new followers which is amazing!
The week that followed was non stop, I had a wonderful Gold Badge designed by @AquaDesignGroup  http://www.aquadesigngroup.co.uk/ that now takes pride of place on the website http://woodandwillow.co.uk/ I had a small piece written in our local Newspaper about my win, which I only found out about when I went to the village Post Office with my orders to be greeted with "Oh here's the celeb!You were in the paper yesterday!" I had written a Press Release sent it out to local Papers and TV but heard nothing back!

Then on the Wednesday afternoon, I had a phone call from BBC Radio Northampton about my win! Asking if I would like to go on the John Griff afternoon show the next day? Yes, I said, would love to (a could hear a voice in my head saying "You would love to? Are you mad? You can't do this you are too shy and a nervous wreck most of the time" But I had said yes so that was that.
My friends and family know how shy I am and their faces when I told them what I was going to do said it all! My WH (remember him?) and children were great they kept telling me I would be fab, amazing, brilliant etc.. But I knew they were thinking "Oh Lord what on earth has she done?"
Eldest daughter drove me to the studio the following day (that in itself was enough to give me the shakes, but I thought if I am thinking about her driving I won't be thinking about the interview)
By the time we arrived I was sure there would be no way I would even be able to say Hello let alone talk for around 5/6 mins about my business and the SBS win. But to my absolute amazement, I did it! And from the feedback I have received it seems I was ok! The 5/6 mins actually lasted 12 mins and it really did just fly by. I made 1 mistake calling SEO (search engine optimisation) CEO but apart from that it was great fun!

I  also had a members blog posted on the Mumpreneur website  http://bit.ly/zQOYoL that I had submitted in December and then forgotten about!

I was also asked to write a Guest Blog for LittleEnterprise.org  http://bit.ly/yqBlfm which was also nerve racking but great fun.

So really this blog post is, I hope, for all those small British Businesses out there who are working away furiously to get up and running. I really hope my week will give you hope that things can happen when you least expect them to!

As to this week at Wood and Willow, I am working with my web designer Martin at http://www.systemwizardry.com/ to add a whole new section on British Handmade so all the fab new products handmade by these talented people are showcased properly. My Zoe Corney and Barn Studio Sign ranges are now available in time for Valentines and Mothers Day. As are the handpainted Valentines Cards by Georgia Brown. So if you are not yet organised for these occasions do please take a look.

I am also very proud to be working with Andy Driscoll, his gorgeous range of products all handmade in the UK will be available on the website by next week!

I hope next weeks blog update will be as positive as this one, I am also hoping to get a Guest Blogger to write something for me! So watch this space....

Thanks for reading, if you would like to leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

New Year at Wood and Willow

Evening everyone, well it's been a while since I last had the time to sit down and focus on my blog! The weeks leading up to Christmas were absolutely manic for me..as I am sure they were for all of you too?
I never expected to be so busy so soon after re-launching the business as Wood and Willow. Stock was flying off our branches, which was great but left no time for much else except wrapping and packing and order paperwork!
On the family front, we had a lovely Christmas, all of our 6 children were here Christmas Eve which was chaotic but really really lovely. Although we came to the conclusion on Christmas Morning that we need a bigger living room to cope with presents for 6 children!
My eldest daughter works part time in a local Restaurant whilst doing the second year of A Levels so she was working Christmas Day but that was her choice and she loved it! So 10 out of 10 for her work ethic (or was it the double time and extra tips that swayed her....)
My middle daughter has her Birthday on 28th Dec so as soon as Boxing Day is over I am already thinking of her day.She had a fab day and in the eveni9ng we all went out for Dinner along with her Dad and partner (blended families eh...how very modern lol)
Unfortunately, I came down with proper full blown Flu the next day. You know the kind of flu where you think you will never feel well enough to get up again? Anyhow, I laid in bed feeling terrible and there I stayed for around 5 days! So New Year came and went without me taking much notice or really caring, my poor Hubby spent his New Year's Eve passing me tissues, warming up wheatbags then opening all the windows when it was "Like a blooming oven in this house"!
So that was the Wood and Willow family Christmas. I hope you also had a fab time and a better New Year than me!
I have been lucky enough to find a great couple Charlotte and Stu behind Edge Inspired who have designed and produced all our new product tags, they really suit my Wood and Willow vision and have been very helpful and extremely professional to work with..so thanks guys!
Which brings us to 2012. I have so many goals and ambitions for this year, the 1st being a lesson I should of learnt from last year...
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH MY ACCOUNTS DAILY! As for the last two years January has become a month where a very big dark shadow (image a Dementor all you Harry Potter fans) sucks the very heart and soul from my body...Too dramatic? No sadly not.
The 2nd being I am trying my hardest to source new stock from UK small businesses. I have made a great start to this, with 3 new suppliers who all deserve a mention.
Zoey Corney has a business making ceramics and Textiles http://www.zoecorney.com/ and I am proud to say I am now a Stockist of some of her gorgeous range, from Cushions to Easter Gifts. I can't wait to receive my first order and get the items on to http://www.woodandwillow.co.uk/
Helen Newman is the name behind http://www.barnstudiosigns.co.uk/ another wonderful UK business, based in North Yorkshire. Helen makes lovely handcrafted bespoke wooden signs. I ordered a sign for the business and as soon as I received it, I just knew I wanted to start stocking her signs! So my first order has been placed and again I am eagerly awaiting their delivery. Titles include Mum's B&B, Be Mine, Love, Best Mum and Mr & Mrs.
Thirdly but by no means lastly, Georgia Brown @GeorgiaBrown_90 is an incredibly talented young artist and she has designed and produced a range of 3 different hand painted watercolour Valentine Cards. Georgia is in her final year at Birmingham Uni studying Illustrationa and I am thrilled that Wood and Willow will be the very first store to promote and sell her gorgeous cards. She is at present working on a Mother's Day card range too!
So those are my first 2 goals for 2012, my 3rd goal is quite simply to grow the business. I have had such a positive response to our products that it has encouraged me to take a few risks and really take every opportunity that is thrown at me.
We have new Easter inspired stock coming very soon, along with a fab Mothers Day gift and card range...
As you may be aware, I am a recent convert to Twitter and I can honestly say I haven't looked back since joining the tweeting world. I have met some really lovely tweeps with fab businesses, many like me paddling furiously underwater to keep up with all a new business brings.
It is also a marvellous marketing tool which I am still learning about. It gives us small businesses a platform to be heard, and to reach audiences that just would not be possible without paying huge amounts in advertising!
A lovely Lady who is also a Twitter convert (my fault apparantly!) is Alison from @LullabyBabyGifts She, like me is doing everything she possibly can to make her business work and broaden her customer base. I felt I had to mention her for 3 reasons, 1. she is a really lovely lady who is also a great tweep and goes out of her way to help other fledgling businesses on Twitter 2. We went to Secondary School together (although we were not in the same "circle") and 3. she has given me a fab idea which I am currently working on! So if you have a new arrival to buy for or you are organising a baby shower, please make sure you visit http://www.lullabybabygifts.co.uk/ It really is the place to go for gorgeous gifts!
So watch this space for news of Alison's idea as it comes to fruition.
Hope I haven't rambled too long, actually I have but there was just so much to say! If you like my musings, please follow and share my blog...every little helps! Also I do read all comments if you care to leave your thoughts!