Last weekend we visited Spring Fair at Birmingham N.E.C, a trade show for the gift industry. An opportunity to buy stock, speak to existing suppliers and to find new ones!
5 years ago we visited with a vision to set up an online Business Gifts From Handpicked, we were overwhelmed by the 20 halls ( all the size of pop concerts ) filled with trade suppliers and lots of gorgeousness!! Luckily for us we had good taste in gifts, passion for good customer service and thrived to succeed. Our hard work and success was recognised and we were invited to this years Spring Fair as guest speakers. This was an opportunity to share our experiences and roller coaster ride of what really happens when 3 women aged 30 - 50 all with different backgrounds and tastes embark on a journey of selling gifts and homewares online.
For the first time in 5 years we sat down and reflected on our journey, the laughs we had and the lessons we learned. It was great to brainstorm and reflect, I would recommend this to all businesses, we all look forward and plan for our future but to even think back to what was the first items we bought was fascinating and fun! We made some great notes and was ready for Monday morning's seminar. Naturally we were nervous, even more so to find that following us on stage was Kirsty Allsopp!!
We were interviewed by Isabel Martinson CEO of the Giftware Association and once settled at the front of stage we shared our experiences, gave our best advice. It was lovely meeting so many people looking to set up a Business and those currently in Business. Our proudest moment was being told by several of our audience that we were inspiring. We then went on to be inspired by the lovely Kirsty Allsopp who comes across as a really nice person and funny without trying. It was the best Monday morning in a long time.
It was lovely to reflect, share and be proud that Gifts From Handpicked is now a thriving established Business with so many lovely customers and an online shop brimming with all of our favourite things. It is all a dream come true and we have loved sharing this blog post with you.