It's a little known fact that my favorite musical artist (and basically favorite person of all time) is Taylor Swift. In her new Netflix documentary, there is a scene where Taylor receives a call about the Grammy nominations. She remarks that she has been doing everything to distract herself from the fact that she'd be getting a call about the Grammy nominations.
That's how I feel right now. It's the morning of launch day, and there's nothing to do other than sit and wait and wonder. "Did I do enough? Is my marketing up to par? What if this product doesn't sell? Did I remember to schedule that email? Are people annoyed with how much I've been talking about this?"
It's hard not to have thoughts like that run through your head on the morning of a launch. Because even though these products are in no way attached to my worth... it's hard to remember that. When things do well, I feel good about myself, and when things do poorly, I take it out on myself. (Honest confessions of a twenty-something entrepreneur.)
So I planned this blog writing for the morning of launch to distract myself from the thought of how things are going to go.
I may have mentioned this one or two (or twenty) times, but my little baby business turns one on March 1, which is just WILD to me. A whole 365 days in business? Wowza. :') (I guess it's actually 366 since we're in a leap year, but ya know.) Because I wanted to do something to celebrate the biz's birthday, I decided I'd be launching an anniversary collection. It's going live today, rather than two weeks from now, because it just so happens that my birthday is this week, and I announced the launch of my biz on my birthday last year. Basically, everything about this collection is super meaningful to me.
And speaking of meaningful... everything in this collection was directly inspired by experiences throughout my first year in biz. So let's get into it. To make things easier for you, here's a picture of everything:
✨ #MOOD ✨
I'm gonna start with the items in this collection that were based on the pure fun I've had over the last year. Their stories are pretty straight-forward, too. The hooray pennant flag is how I've felt every time things went right or for when I got a new order and did a little happy dance. (Yes, the happy dances still happen.) "Okie dokie" is a phrase I use constantly cause it has so much pep in its step compared to "okay." Thinking about how many times I must've said it over the past year, I knew it needed to go onto a canvas banner cause it'd make the perfect, most quirky piece of decor. Similar to the hooray flag, the crushed it pennant flag is a celebration of accomplishments, but it's a mood I only really felt after getting the super big things done: launching the biz, surviving the week of Black Friday, completing wholesale orders, etc.
✨ TIRED AS HECK ✨
I like to pride myself on the fact that I am an expert sleeper and napper. I've perfected the length of my naps, I always make sure that I'll be waking up between sleep cycles, and I have a super solid bedtime. I do all this because I LOVE sleeping. And I also love making products about sleep. (I promise I'm not as tired as these products make myself out to be, they're just super fun to make and definitely some of the most relatable products I sell.) The let's nap pennant flag and hustle hard, nap harder banner are both inspired by the fact that I reward myself with naps. I've literally told myself "if you can get through this stack of orders, you can take a nap when you're done." Truthfully, naps were how I kept myself sane when things got super crazy during holiday season last year. The gold foil she believed she could print (and sweater!) is a twist on the classic phrase of "she believed she could so she did." It's way more relatable, encourages self-care, and it's always been one of my favorite quotes. So naturally it's making its debut with this collection.
✨ STRAIGHT INSPO ✨
I'm a sucker for inspirational quotes. There, I said it. I knew this line would be filled with inspiration, but I wanted to keep it a bit more human and a bit less "house filled to the brim with cheesy inspiration" (not that there's anything wrong with that 😉). The notepad and gold foil print that say "you can do hard things" were made because I love the universal encouragement that exists behind it. Every day brings new tasks of varying difficulties, and this quote encourages that fact that you can do any of it! The love that journey for you banner was inspired by Alexis Rose herself, because I just had to slip a Schitt's Creek reference in, and I love the thought of being inspired by the queen of confidence through home decor. Finally, the gold foil print and sticker that say "be afraid and do it anyway" were made because it's my motto for the year. I've already taken a lot of risks in 2020, and I will continue to do so. There hasn't been a day that has passed where I haven't felt afraid, but I'm doin' it anyways!! (Speaking of – one of those risks is choosing to change the main focus of the biz from apparel to decor.)
✨ EMPOWERED WOMEN EMPOWER WOMEN ✨
And finally, since this line is launching right before International Women's Day (my third favorite day of the year), I just had to add some empowering items. Honestly, the future is female sticker and shirt are straight up International Women's Day items; it was really important to me that I add something to the shop that has no other purpose than to celebrate women. Lastly, my favorite item from this collection is the brave passionate invincible mug. It has become a mantra for me (if you are brave and passionate, then you are invincible) and it felt like it was the perfect thing to put on my first professionally printed mug!