Growing up, I had always been one of those people who wanted to work for themselves at home. Being my own boss, never having to explain myself to anyone, getting away with wearing pj's to work, not wearing make up! Honestly, though I never thought it would happen. So when it did I was over the moon!!
However, it's not always as easy as it seems!
So, pre lock down I had a really good routine in place with working from home. I would send the twins to preschool and the childminder for 3 days a week and during that time I would focus 2 days on the business 'Hummingbird by Victoria' and the other one doing things for me, whether that was shopping, chilling or housework, just guilt free time for myself. I was just getting into the swing of things and then BAM like a wet fish to the face... CORONA!! I naively thought that I would be able to continue with my work as usual but oh my goodness there had to be some drastic changes.
Ch Ch Ch Changes..
My husband was off for the first 3 months of lock down and it was great as I was able to focus my time on the business while he looked after the children (if he ever says I have it easy again I will murder him, JK) and then when he went back to work at the end of May I realised how hard this situation would be.
I am forever thankful for my customers…
My business really boomed during lock down and long may it continue but it has come with its challenges. I always prided myself on being fast and getting orders out well and truly before their cut off but there has been times that it became increasingly hard to stick to the old 10 working day time frame due to supplier delays, in fact we are now sitting at 18 working days and I do not like it!! But the reality is, that I am just a mum raising 3 children during unprecedented times doing the absolute best I can.
For the most part people have been overwhelmingly understanding about this. I will never be able to do next day shipping as literally everything is made to order. I am not a huge multinational company with warehouses full of stock, I pride myself in being one of the only companies who offer complete personalisation in everything that we do. We really do offer a family based business approach and many of my customers have now become my friends.
New Collection
We have recently launched the new Autumn/Winter Collection (we hope you like it!!) and we have also had some work done on the website to make it more user friendly. We have so many things planned for the future and cannot wait to show you. It’s so exciting but also so terrifying!! So much work goes in behind the scenes, but when it finally comes together it is TOTALLY worth it!!
