Shop Blog — independent business

It might seem counter-intuitive to suggest small business owners should use paper planners to track things.  Between website analytics, Google Analytics and all the social media platforms too, statistics are not something small business owners need to search hard to find. But that’s also part of the problem - there are so many places, and so much collected, that it can be overwhelming, hard to interpret and easy to get lost in amongst it.  Although you’ll still need those online sources to get the information you need, actually using a paper planner can be a great way of breaking down...

The weekend of the 1st-2nd October is going to be BUSY! I’m over the moon that I’m going to be participating in both the online Super Seconds Festival and at Made up North in Newcastle, which will be my first in-person event in quite a while. Having never done the Super Seconds Festival before I thought I’d give you a bit of an intro and let you know what it’s all about and what I’ll have on offer.  The Super Seconds Festival is a great opportunity to buy seconds, samples or experimental pieces at bargain prices from Indie businesses from...

If you ever search for Planner or Bullet Journal spreads on Pinterest, Instagram etc. there will always be images which catch your eye of brightly coloured and immaculately organised planner pages with beautiful lettering and decorations.  They’re visual feasts.  And also, if I'm honest, not my thing.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate the skill and vision that goes in to them, but that’s just not what works for me.  But I don’t like things really plain either.  Setting up my planner spreads gives me some pressure-free creative time, helps me get ready for the week ahead and generally fosters a...

For quite obvious reasons I love a personalised stamp.  I think it’s a great way of adding a personal touch - whether its a gift to someone or to add a branding element to some business stationery.  Regardless of what you might be using it for here are my top tips of what to think about when getting one.  1 - Order with as much time as possible - don’t leave it until the last minute.   This covers quite a few aspects of getting the stamp ready but the headline message is there’s probably more to think about than you...