Looking back at where we were starting this company, it cracks me up that we thought we had any of it together. We did not, and honestly, still don't.
Three years ago, we started with one thought in mind, "How can we spend more quality time with Blue, and be home more often." That one thought has driven us to create Hundenfolk and keep it alive, but we are far from nailing it.
As of today, February 16th, 2020, here is what we've accomplished so far according to the metrics:
- Instagram Community: 3170 fans following along on our page.
- Sales Results 2019: Doubled our sales from the previous year.
- Pop-Up Shops: 10+, 8 with Nordstrom.
- Five Star Customer Satisfaction Rating across all platforms.
Although I am hyper-critical about what we have achieved metric-wise and we have a very long way to go, this isn't everything we can be proud of. Here is another list that businesses don't share often enough:
- Created this business from scratch: business licenses, products, logos, marketing materials, websites, social, shipping, pop-ups, collaborations, purchasing, wholesale, and so much more.
- Practicing my craft: I taught myself how to sew when I was younger and overtime have honed my craft to what you see today. Forever learning and getting better.
- Pop-Up Shops: We held over ten pop-up shops at various locations throughout the years and we learned a lot. How to get into local shops, how to prepare, what to bring, how to pitch our brand, how to talk about our products, how to make our tiny shops representative of our brand and so much more.
- Finding our style: I love what I love, but learning to craft that into one cohesive vision and staying true to ourselves is something I didn't anticipate being as difficult as it was. Currently, I am really proud of what the style we represent.
- Making true connections with our fans: Seeing people that found us through our social accounts show up at our events is always a major win and we had such a great time meeting people that want to support us.
- Seeing our products in the wild: Nothing feels better than seeing something you've made in use by a customer you've never met. (I wrote a little post on our first sighting, you can find it here.)
Overall, I am most proud of our progress and here is a perfect example. Take a look at the very first image we uploaded to represent Hundenfolk, absolutely laughable now.
Just a simple H, for Hundenfolk with a houndstooth background. I thought we were so clever. Ha!
Today's logo. A much-needed upgrade that showcased a simplistic take on a folded bandana with a sash like a Girl Scout might wear. :) We will be revisiting our logo this year too, always aiming to make it better.
Thanks for going down memory lane with me, here's to another big year for Hundenfolk.
-xoxo jules