Instagram has a way of making everything look easy. Yeah sure you can run a business, all you need is some motivational quotes and a coffee on a Monday morning right?
(FYI neither of us drink coffee and Mondays get way too much negativity!)
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The way The Midi and The Lowdown were brought into this world felt a bit more like a baby being born in the back the car on the way to hospital with heavy metal booming on the radio than a soothing water birth surrounded by candles and a chilled Spotify playlist.
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Once you've found your stockists you want to keep them, obviously. Think about how hard they work, how most of the day they'll be busy with customers and all the other stuff that it takes to run a shop. With this in mind, how can you make life easier for them?
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This is a two part blog post where we'll talk about some of the key thing to consider if you are planning to go down the wholesale route. Think of it as a mini guide from our personal experience.
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One of the scariest decisions we have made in our first year of business was to take a break from it.
Since day 1 Mustard has consumed our minds, our time + our hearts. There are days where it feels like it's the centre of the universe + it can being really challenging to separate from it even just for the evening.
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Our aim for our colour palette was to create options that were versatile, beautiful and worked well for mixing and matching. Whether the lockers are for a living room, bedroom, office or hallway we wanted there to be a colour that fits with your space.
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So our little secret... you may think Mustard is a story about lockers and in many ways that might be true. But the real truth is...
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16th February 2018, wake up at 6 am, one hour commute to work, 9 hours at work, leave, travel to Heathrow and jump on a plane. One outfit change, a little bit of sleep + 4 movies later I arrive in Sydney to four very smiley people.
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Today I woke up (and Jess went to bed) to this article going live on The Design Files. If you don't know, it is 'Australia's Top Design Blog' so it's kind of a BIG deal. The truth is, I also felt a moment of panic, the imposter syndrome kick in, the 'what if I'm found out' moment. It may or may not surprise you to know that I have screwed a lot of things up with Mustard already, there are things I'd already like to go back and redo. It may or may not surprise you that every day I...
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Ok, so we aren't exactly Pros by any means (this was our first trade show after all!) but here's some things we learnt from doing Life Instyle: 1. Be human. (Most important!) You can't help it, you are human, don't try to hide it. Sometimes we jumbled our words, forgot things, dropped business cards on the floor. It's ok. You know the best thing? The person you are talking to is a human too. 2. Be prepared. Think about the questions you might be asked and prepare a memory bank of answers, practice and get familiar with them. Even better offer a...
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One night I said to my husband, “I just need to go to China.” He is fairly well adapted to my spontaneous nature and knows that I am not someone who will ask for permission and wasn’t born with a very large supply of patience. I had been emailing and skyping with my potential supplier in China for a few months and establishing what the parameters of possibility were. Could I have lockers any size or shape? Could I choose the design of the key? How are they packaged and can I customise that? How on earth do you get...
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It may sound strange to say that my first business was not about making money. Yes, I wanted some shiny coins in my pocket and yes I sure did have bills to pay but I also rarely checked my bank account or chased up payments that hadn’t been made. The money would flow in and, of course, flow out of my business account. It worked. There was nearly always money in the kitty for what I needed but the truth is, it just wasn’t what turned me on. In Australia wages are sensibly high and award wages mean that I would...
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