Emma's Journal: Confessions of a Business Owner, entry #2

Welcome to my journal, want to take a peek? Every month I invite our lovely followers to peer behind the curtain at aspects of business life which are not always openly discussed. As the female founder and owner of a small (but growing) ethical business I feel it's very important to share my journey and be transparent about the ups and downs of navigating the UK business world; growing my team of amazingly talented women and making difficult decisions. All while doing something I truly love; growing a sustainable and eco friendly brand which creates timeless minimal handmade jewellery in London. By sharing my experiences I hope I can help other women in business and female led brands. It can be difficult being a female entrepreneur but it's the most exciting thing I have ever done. Join me for a round up of Feb at Wild Fawn.

8th Feb 2022

This is a first for Wild Fawn. We’ve hired someone solely dedicated to growing the brand by selling Wild Fawn to independent shops. Up until now I’d always managed this but it had got to the point where it was becoming a neglected part of the business. I grew busier spending my time doing things that were absolutely essential (think VAT returns, HR, tech support for the team, setting up new systems to keep track of projects). As a very important contributor to growth that was being put on the back burner, 2022 was the year to sort it and taa-daaa, we now have Naz, our very first walking, talking Wild Fawn hype woman. As a small business owner, every single hire is a big deal. That means salary, on-boarding, extra management, working out new responsibilities and (the best bit) managing the extra work that comes from more sales. But, Naz was the perfect employee even before we interviewed her! Maybe the way to a business owner’s heart when applying for a job is a topic for another day.

18th Feb 2022

Today was the set up day for Top Drawer (a trade show where brands show their goods to shop owners who come and place orders to fill their shops). Rebecca has been WFH with covid this week which made me very VERY grateful that we were well prepared *takes mental note for the next trade show*. Even so, the whole team was still so soo busy finishing off all of the jewellery samples, labelling them up and prepping things like order forms, how we will display prices etc. You might have seen on our Instagram that I decided to go a bit rogue and paint our stand dark emerald green (usually we are very neutral) and today after having painted the space, I’m so glad as it really stands out from the other stands. It’s been a long long day but it was refreshing getting out of the studio and doing something different with the team.

22nd Feb 2022, (8.49pm, Wine in hand).

Trade show ended today and just got home after pack down and I’m ready to sleep for days. 

25th Feb 2022

So having finally caught up with emails I got over the last week and a half it’s time to focus on our subtle rebrand (that you may or may not have noticed was ticking along the background). New fonts, new logo, new colours all mean scouring everything I’ve done in the last 7 years and updating anywhere that has the logo (turns out the list is bloody endless). Also just casually here having to learn the basics of coding to put in a custom font onto the website. 3 hours of trying and still no luck. No-one look at the website fonts for the near future, just look at the lovely photos please and imagine it looks just as it does in my head. 

28th Feb 7.30pm

Finished the month off on a positive note. Lewisham Council asked me to be a guest speaker in a webinar to persuade other small business owners to become London Living Wage employers and get accredited for it like Wild Fawn. One person was on video walking her dog, one person’s dog was asleep on her knee and the others were all in very cosy living rooms. I had a flashback to the first lock down where all I seemed to do in the evening is sit and do quizzes with friends. Aside from that, quite a few people were persuaded so job done!

Read my first journal entry here: Confessions of a Business Owner; entry #1