What an absolute trippy time we have been living in! Magic Roundabout and the Teletubbies don't have shit on this year. Could you ever have imagined that we would have been put on a national lockdown? The world fell quiet for a while and the internet spewed outs its nastiest of trolls. We will be in the history books that's for sure!
What am I babbling on about I hear you cry! Of course it's the pandemic and of course you know exactly what I'm going on about because the whole flipping world has been going through this shit together. Corona virus. Covid-19. That bitch Rona who's gatecrashed a party she wasn't invited to and has proceeded to fuck shit up.
We have now been given a glimmer of hope and I am going to hold onto that with everything I've got. Not only am I desperate for some normality but I am desperate to be back at Nipa Threads headquarters.
We started our slogan clothing company in 2019 and officially opened our doors, or rather our website, on the 24th June. We were excited, nervous, dubious but overall jubilant to have started our very own business. Eeeeeeeekkkkkk I couldn't quite believe it. It had been a dream for so long and it was finally reality. Something I could touch and see. We had our very own logo for fucks sake how grown up is that?
Things were going well for us. We were growing each month and people were resonating with what we were doing. We soon came to realise that we were not just a company but a brand. A brand that people wanted to be a part of. A brand that people loved because we were real and funny and just your average girls girls. We were flying high man, life was good and despite our occasional cock ups we were enjoying ourselves. Learning, laughing, crying silent tears when things went wrong but still pulling ourselves up and carrying on and learning some more.
I remember the first time I really heard about corona, I was in San Francisco and everyone was talking about how badly the city was being affected.This was late 2019 and to be really honest I didn't really pay much attention as you know the saying, ignorance is bliss and an that! I just went about my business and flew home a few days later not dwelling on it. As much as I love San Fran it has definitely changed in the 15 years since I started to fly there. I was more concerned about my safety from the residents rather than a virus I knew fuck all about.
I carried on living life, printing our slogan clothing, researching new t-shirts and sweatshirts to add to our collection. Coming up with some Christmas slogans and getting ourselves involved in a local business pop up. Everything was swell. Our audience was continuing to grow and we were finding our flow as a small business. Our slogan t-shirts and slogan sweatshirts were being well received by our audience and it was lush to know that people found our humour funny. I mean we think we are hilarious so it was nice to see we were not alone!
We decided to throw a Nipa Threads Christmas party which was complete carnage - for me that is! I can not hold my alcohol, yet despite knowing this I still drink way to much way to quickly!! I was in a right state and the next day I was so so ill. Not hungover ill but tonsillitis on steroids ill!!! Christ on a bike I have never felt so rotten in my whole life. Luckily I have a business partner so Nina was able to hold the fort whilst I tried to recover. It wasn't until I knew a bit more about corona that I was convinced I had just had it! Especially seeing as I had landed from Hong Kong a couple of days before. So now I started to take a bit more notice and wandering just how it was going to impact us.
Roll around March 2020 and BOOM full fucking lockdown. Kids off school which was enough to send Mary Poppins reaching for the vodka, and no working together for myself and Nina. Just like that and through absolutely no fault of our own we were left in limbo thinking what the actual fuck are we going to do!!
However we were one of the lucky businesses and I thank my guardian angel every day. Nipa threads headquarters just so happens to be at Nina's house which she was already at so it wasn't like she was going to work she was jus going upstairs. Nina has been amazing throughout this whole pandemic and despite homeschooling 3 boys she also took on all the practical elements of our slogan clothing business. Printing, labelling and packing and all I did was collect the parcels and head to the post office. This actually inspired one of our new slogans on our new super sturdy shopper, Post Biatch!!! That is me I am the Post Biatch!! I am so grateful to Nina for keeping us afloat and I am so grateful to all our customers for continuing to order and being patient as we upped our turnaround time.
I feel blessed that we still have our business and that it is thriving. I am so lucky that I get to do what I love and have a business that does not feel like work at all but feels like I am living my passion. I really hope we can inspire others to just go for it and chase your dream. It doesn't matter your age - we are no spring chickens, if you want it then go fucking get it.
I am not going to bullshit you, running your own business is hard, exhausting and time consuming. The social media aspect is off the charts and I really had no idea how much time that would take up. Networking is now a buzz word for me and something I do on a daily basis. It makes me proud that I have learnt these skills and adapted my old school skills to the business world of the 21st century. I have continued to surprise myself and that is an empowering feeling.
Something else I have learned is the power of women. I have met some incredible women on my journey. Women who support you, lift you up and empower each other. Women who are genuinely happy to see you succeed and want to HELP you on your journey to the top, it is incredible and very far from the usual imagery of women backstabbing and cunting each other off. I am sure it happens but I have only had positive experiences with women in business and that's how I like it.
Over the next few blog posts I am going to go back to the beginning of our journey and introduce you to myself and Nina a little more in depth. I want to take you on our journey with us and hopefully inspire some more entrepreneurs. Honestly 2 years ago I would never have guessed I would be doing some of the things I am doing but here I am, living my best fucking life and building a successful business that will make my family proud.
If we can do it then so can you. It is all about believing in yourself and making the jump from thinking too doing.
Big love, mwah x