This past year I have been running my own company. After graduating and going to countless interviews for a variety of jobs no one wanted to hire me... sob, sob.
So I decided to hire myself. I live with my husband in the idyllic town of Bury St. Edmunds. We have a variety of gorgeous boutiques but were missing an independent children's clothing store. A mother and daughter team were quickly allied; researching brands, attending trade shows and putting together a business plan. Whilst working for
Six a designer menswear store in Bury St. Edmunds (yes someone did hire me eventually) I worked on their online store styling outfits, writing descriptions, processing web sales and just generally boosting their online status.
www.sixwhitingstreet.co.uk
Millie (my designer kids wear & shoe boutique) was born/ started trading in March 2011, and sadly died in January 2012. The shop unfortunately does not trade any more due to manyreasons, the main being a massive increase in the business rates. However its not all doom and gloom as I have loved working with my customers, their children and grand children, and have grown so much as a person and as a professional.
www.milliesclothing.co.uk
I have learned/ become:
- feisty, its not in my natural character but have learned how to stand up for myself!
- developed my styling skills, as thats pretty much what i did online and in the shop all day
- gaining a sense of what the customer wants and buying and selecting clothing and shoes appropriately
- often taking a risk pays, people want something thats different and are prepared to pay for top quality brands
- how to be cheeky and jump through some loop holes (sshhh!)
- gained some serious tips photographing as i photographed most of the clothes myself
- social media junkie, tweeting, facebooking, pinteresting and blogging about designer children's clothes
- visual merchandising
- the correct way to dress a mannequin
- how to iron correctly (yes in the vm world there is a wrong way to iron!!)
- designing an ecommerce website
- boosting internet presence
- a researching master
- negotiating prices
- designing bags & boxes, how my clothes were purchased was very important to me
- liaised with press
And now my brain hurts... I am currently on the job hunt again, but am enjoying some time off after working 6 day weeks, 12 hour days.
