Originally Posted September 2023Hey everyone me again!
Sorry I’m late posting this but it’s just been a crazy week and ill be honest I went out Saturday night to an 80’s night in Liverpool and while I was not out late I was definitely not on my game Sunday.
I’ve come to the realisation that right now I can’t have everything. This is not me admitting defeat! I will get to a point where I can have a work life balance but right now, I need to focus on my business as its still in its infancy and building my brand and giving my customers the service they deserve has to trump my social life.
So, I’m sat here at 9pm on a Monday night, Scooby (my dog for those who don’t know) is giving me dirty looks as she likes to go to bed early. Yes, I’m a 42yr old independent woman, homeowner, business owner and I’m sent to bed around 8pm every night by a tiny little staffie because she wants to cuddle with me in bed.
Well then onto my week, we started off the week in my favourite way, an hour’s fun for me and Scooby in a private dog field, Scooby is reactive towards other dogs after an incident before she came to me where she was attacked.
We’re working on it and she is getting better but because of this I cannot let her off lead in public so I book private fields to take her to so she can be off lead in a safe environment, and she can run free.
Last week was one of my favourite places Micklehead Woods just me and scooby in the woods for an hour. She chased some squirrels and her frisbee and It’s the best therapy ever just watching her explore and be a dog is so nice to watch it puts me in a great mood.
Then it was back to reality and getting all my lovely customers orders from over the weekend out.
I had the pleasure of making a bear as a custom order for miscarriage, it has taken me a few weeks to nail the design because I struggled to get the baby feet visible with the pink and blue background but after the customer had explained the pink and blue with baby feet was symbolic of miscarriage, I had to nail this design and do it justice.
I came up with the idea of putting white behind the baby feet and while this design takes longer to make as I have to do it in 3 separate pours, I’m so pleased with the end result and my customer really liked it as well.
I feel like I’m finding my niche as people keep asking for bears made for different things, they, or someone close to them are going through and I feel so honoured that people choose to come to me when they want something with a special meaning.
Just knowing I’ve brought someone comfort when they are going through something makes all the hard work and long hours’ worth it.
I also had a not great thing happen and I have gone back and forth on whether I would bring this up because part of me thinks they don’t deserve my energy or head space, but I think it’s important to speak about the good and the bad. Now before I start my tale, I want to make it clear I fully understand and accept that people will be inspired by my work, some have seen the success of my courage bears and look at the hashtags and words I have used and use them in their work.
I have no issue with this as I understand its business. But I do have an issue when someone who has copied my design and comments on my content which I have taken the time to make saying they make these and pointing my followers to their shop.
That to me crosses a line, so my previous plan this week to explore if courage bears really work has been pushed to next week and now, I’m going to ask.
Does integrity and ethics matter???
When I set up HBC I made the decision that I was going to run my business my way and if that meant I made less money but I felt good about myself then that was ok.
During my career working for large companies, it was the norm to be ruthless, to do what was necessary to win the contract to maximise profits. As long as the legal division said it was legal things were done that, I didn’t always feel was right. People would frequently hide behind the company’s terms and conditions; they would scrutinise the situation and look for a technicality.
While I completely agree that process and procedure, terms and conditions are necessary for a successful business, sometimes things happen, and I would always look at the situation and the bigger picture and I always tried to be accommodating and meet my customers in the middle.
I actually remember one of the customer feedbacks I received that really touched me was that the customer said “Christine never hides behind terms and conditions and always finds a solution” and I remember being so proud of myself that, that was the opinion my customer had of me.
Now back to the incident this week because this is my business and my only source of revenue the thought of someone trying to take my customers hit a nerve. I was so angry but here’s the dilemma!
How to respond, as a small business owner whose business is 90% online my response to this will be seen by many and will be judged.
Do I completely ignore it in the hope that my product and my brand speak for me, does this make me look like a pushover or that I’m not bothered?
Do I respond to their comment, possibly making myself look unprofessional, which could lose me customers. Will this escalate the situation, which again could make me look unprofessional and could put me in a verbal battle I don’t have the desire, time, or energy for.
Someone else’s lack of integrity has now put me in this position, nothing I’ve done has instigated this. This is the lesson, in business we frequently have to deal with situations that are not of our own creation, we have to accept that this is part of doing business and nothing we do or say will stop someone from doing something underhand to get ahead.
I think it says more about them that this is what they put their energy into. I choose to put my energy into trying to stand out from the crowd and do something different that I can call my own.
So, after I had a little rant to Scooby who listened very intently, I blocked them on my social media so their comment was removed, and I have decided I will fight this behaviour by using it to push me to do better. I will win by having a quality product at a fair price with quality packaging, fast shipping, and excellent customer service.
I am redesigning my bears to make them my own design and taking into consideration feedback I’ve had from customers to make them better than what I currently offer, I am upgrading my packaging so that when you receive your order its an exciting experience opening your order.
So with that I’m going to end on a positive and say good night, I hope you have a great week and thank you for taking the time to read this