‘The Knitted Patchwork Blanket Saga’ by Millykins

I found Millykins online when I was looking for applicants for the Pop Up Boutique. Her incredible knitted pieces caught my eye immediately, after being taught to knit only weeks before by Jen at Stitch and Story.

I love this piece by her, describing what knitting means to her and I can completely resonate with her words – in such a stressful period in my life I am able to find calm and contentment when I am creating bobble hats of all colours! (Christmas presents for everyone this year due to the lack of funds!)

Well worth a read!

The Knitted Patchwork Blanket Saga.

Working together while sleeping together….!

I have recently been writing for the self start community Startacus and this is one of the articles that I wrote for them…. please forgive the long silence, things have been HECTIC!

I thought I would put this up to keep you Teabirds occupied and buy me some time to write an up to date post about all the Pop Up Boutique and Christmas antics at Bluebird!

–Just thought… how amazing would it be if you could actually buy time? I’m sure I watched a film about that out in Canada. It does beg the question about what is the most valuable resource.. time and money would certainly be up there. Happiness and love still have my vote though.

Most days I wake up thinking I am incredibly lucky to not only be working for myself, doing something I love and creating a worthwhile business, but I also get to do it with my partner Mike. Although, I do get told a lot that this is most people’s idea of their worst nightmare!

I would be lying if I said it isn’t hard at times, sometimes infuriating, but I must admit we are lucky that we make such a good team. While I play to my strengths in the creative design areas he looks after the financial planning and strategy.

 

One of the massive bonuses, and thing I like most, about working with someone you love is that when you have to face something new it is exciting rather than frightening. When we try something new with Bluebird I know that Mike is there by my side trying it with me. We are in it together, making it twice as likely to succeed. And if something goes wrong there are two of us to face it.

It is also interesting and invigorating to find out that some of the things that can be challenging in our personal relationship, for example our completely different outlook on absolutely everything is actually a massive positive for our business. The classic cliche of two heads being better than one is definitely true if you can work constructively together.

I have heard people say not to get into business with friends or loved ones and although I can see how these types of business relationships can become emotionally weighed, it is undoubtedly useful having someone like minded and on your side to sound out your thoughts to.

Something you have to be careful about is getting so far into the woods that you can’t see the trees. When there are two of you investing so much into your business idea, it can become difficult to gain perspective and you can end up fueling each others, potentially bad, ideas and decisions because of it. You must take a step back and figure out if you do honestly make a good team and be brave enough to call it a day if you don’t.

I think one of the biggest problems can be that you end up spending all of your time together. Especially with a new start up, you end up pulling long hours and spending all day every day with your partner. It’s important for your relationship (and your sanity) that you make time to do your own thing. Go for dinner with your mum, go to yoga, go on girl’s weekends away, whatever you like doing, make sure you make time to do it without your partner! Absence makes the heart grow fonder after all. (That was the last cliches I promise!)

The other biggy is being able to keep a clear head about what is business and what is personal. You must try really hard not to let these overlap. Making time to have a social and personal relationship where you put twitter down for the evening and talk about anything but your business is essential! As is putting down whatever is going on in your personal life when it’s time to sit down to business.

The most important lesson we are quickly learning is that although there are two of us invested in Bluebird, two people halving the work load and doubling the efforts, there are also two of us that Bluebird has to support. Bluebird has to be able to fund both of our rent and put food on the table. So we are now working to our advantages by splitting up as much as possible so we can go to two events rather than both being at one and training others to serve our teas so that we can utilise our strengths and be where we need to be for Bluebird to grow.

So my big 5 dos and don’ts when it comes to working with someone you love:

1.  Do be courageous enough to do it!

2. Do be courageous enough to admit it to yourself if it isn’t going to work out!

3. Don’t bring personal matters into the office or take business things out to dinner with you!

4. Do make the most of there being two of you- play to your strengths, support each other and work hard!

5. Do get out of the office/bedroom/house and make time for yourself and other people in your life!

Overall, working with your partner, family member or friend can be a fulfilling and successful adventure at its best but at its worse it can be damaging for your business if you don’t work well together and leave personal matters at home. You must create the right balance of work and play to be both successful partners and business partners.

Love + Tea

ThatBluebirdGirl

xXx

www.bluebirdteaco.com

How to pretend you’re on trend!

Today I’m at Hanbury Hall, just off the famous Brick Lane in East London, because Bluebird was selected to be a part of London’s first Pop Up Department Store.

To be honest it’s all very trendy. The people here are all way more trendy than I’ll ever be… probably because I keep using the word ‘trendy’. But surprisingly and completely accidentally, while I may not be ‘street’ or ‘cool’ it would seem that Bluebird apparently is!

On Wednesday we were showcasing as part of Start Up Day outside the British Library where we were interviewed a lot and got to chat to Sahar the founder of Coffee Republic (who loved our Gingerbread Chai!).

Then later that evening we were catering for The Glam Collective at the beautiful Becca Boutique in South Kensington. (OK I admit I hadn’t actually heard of Becca, but I was told by my very good, fashion obsessed, journalist friend that this was a BIG DEAL! She also offered to swap places!)

It’s like having a slightly famous or completely beautiful friend- Bluebird gets us invited to places we would never normally be allowed, meeting people who normally don’t mix with us everyday Joes off the street.

I like to think I am blending in well so far at Hanbury Hall. I may have forgotten the shelves to the display unit, but I feel no one will notice after my genius camouflage attempt. (see right!)

And I may be wearing my big woolly bobble hat from hot dog day, but the painfully cool clothing designer next to me has a similar one on, so I must be doing something right. In fact, he just nodded at me in a ‘hey you’re rocking wool wear too, aren’t we ironic?’ look.

Bluebird’s image really does get a lot of attention. I’ve been doing a bit of writing for Startacus– the self start society- and they asked me to write a piece on ‘reinventing a product for a new audience’ because they were so impressed by our innovative branding.

Until they said it, I hadn’t really thought about it like that. We did set out to do something totally innovative with tea and to show everyone, tea lover or not, that it is such a versatile  yummy little drink. Luckily we appear to have achieved it too, but we didn’t really sit down and plan a strategy for ‘reinventing a product for a new audience’.

Like always with the power of hindsight and a bit of blagging I managed to write something I hope was useful.

My 5 top tips in the article were:

1. Have a top quality product at your foundation

Sounds obvious but if you don’t spend the time and money getting your product to be the very best it can be then it won’t stand up against others. We anticipated the ‘I can get a 50p tea from Maccys why would I buy yours for so much more?’  You must be ready to answer these questions and your product must back up your claims.

2. Make sure what is unique and special about your product is clear to the customer

This is why we have big chunks of chocolate and slices of fruit in our teas and why we show them off with windowed packaging. It is obvious that there is something very special about our tea from just looking at it. Getting a packaging solution that was airtight, resealable and with a window was a pain and expensive but we knew we needed to do it so we did.

The development of Bluebird Tea Co.’s packaging: 

3. Find out what problems your customer has with products in your industry and solve them with yours

The first reason a customer buys something is because the product solves a problem for them. This reason comes above ‘want’ and ‘need’ buying but not many people realise this. One of the common problems we identified with tea was that fruit teas smell good but all taste the same- like dishwater. So we made sure our fruit teas look amazing with massive chunks of fruit and more importantly that the taste lives up to the smell.

4. Identify an occasion where your product meets your customer and get out there to create that occasion

For self starters, with little or no marketing budget, you have to use creative and personal approaches to get your product into the hands of your target audience. We’ve been popping up all over the place, in all sorts of environments, at every type of event you can think of… giving out free stuff also really helps!

5. Be creative and courageous with your product’s image and your brand

It’s really important that you are projecting the innovative aspects of your product, and business, through your brand.

Being the creative half of the Bluebird team, I have put together our brand image and done all of the designing for the website, the packaging and our promo stuff.  I do mention it quite a bit, especially during interviews or at these start up days, partly because I am really proud of myself but also because it just proves that you don’t have to have a huge budget or employ a design team to create a successful brand.

I knew I wanted our logo to embody our Bluebird philosophy, draw from the important heritage of tea and be modern at the same time. So I drew up the Bluebird and scanned it in, used a free design programme (Inkscape and Paint.NET do me just fine there is no need to pay for creative suite!) and took a photo of some wooden panels. I then chose a font that fitted with the stamp/stencil theme and used the vibrant Bluebird blue and orange like the beautiful bird.

The development of the Bluebird logo: 

The result mirrors the stamps on the traditional tea chests but is simple and modern at the same time.  All the bags are also natural and recyclable kraft and hand stamped. The logo took 10 minutes and the rest is just attention to detail- please don’t pay a design company thousands for this! If you’re not creative ask a friend to help!

Lastly, I choose creative and fun names for the teas like Monkey Chops and Retro Ted, that catch attention and shows off how fun and innovative our brand and our teas are.  The names draw customers in and the stories tell them a bit more about the teas, it’s all about creating a personality for your product that attracts the customer.

I admit I am lucky to be quite a creative person but I am completely computer illiterate and have never done any courses or qualifications in design or graphics or whatever. I just taught myself with books and You Tube!

For the website I use an ecommerce platform and customised the css, most of which I taught myself by just playing around and using w3schools as a resource. I also ask friends to proof read and test functionality for me which is so useful. (Shout out – you know who you are!)

For the printed stuff we just contacted a few printers and asked them what we needed to do. We were so impressed with the people who did our banners that we asked them to do our labels too so they got in some special paper for us which was great. They have helped us loads with how to format things, bleed lines and ratios and all sorts of other complicated things that I always do wrong! Print day is always a manic time of emails and attachments being pinged back and forth with amendments!

Last thing I have to say is don’t be afraid to just ask people questions or for advice. You will be surprised to find how willing and helpful people will be!

Hope you are all having a Bluebird weekend!

Love + Tea

ThatBluebirdGirl

xXx

www.bluebirdteaco.com

It’s all about BUST

This week I promised to explain why it is all about the BUST and why chatting to your Granny is key in any business start up.

Sound a bit bizarre? Should you really be surprised, coming from the girl who gave you banana tea!?

Warning: This weeks blog is more business advice than tea chats… but I have furnished with pics from our new Pinterest page to give you your weekly fill of tea!

The StartUp Britain bus was brilliant on Friday, although absolutely freezing cold! I think Winter is well and truly on its way. Actually, it has been in Bluebird HQ for a fair few months already… We were sampling Christmas Cake tea in July!

On the bus there were business advisers, pr consultants and mentors who do this for a living. It can make you question how we can help. But I think it is because we are just normal young people who decided to start a business that makes us ideal to advise young people who aspire to do the same. We are proof that it can be done.

 

In the early days getting ahead of yourself and being dragged into all these scary things like employing a pr consultant, complex website builds and advanced marketing drains a hell of a lot of energy and money.

When you just need to get started, all you need is confidence and then you just take it one step at a time.

Obviously, as we have found, you quickly outgrow the level that common sense, hard work and confidence alone can take you and you do need to start listening to the right people and making some clever decisions… and spending some money!

But to start with, as I was explaining to some of the students, one of the most useful things to do is to clarify your concept by outlining your business idea, your promise and your mission statement (or goals).

This is where your granny comes in. It’s all about keeping it simple.

Similar to the elevator pitch concept, the granny concept is basically that if you granny can get it anyone can. Keep it short and simple. Which is a bit rude about grannies actually, especially seen as Mike’s granny is the most capable person I have ever met.

But if you think about it, it means more than that. When you speak to your granny not only do you need to explain things clearly but you would also never lie to your granny so you must be honest. And you want your granny to be proud of you too, so if your business idea makes her proud you know your onto a winner.

So it’s about having a simple idea that is honest and worthwhile.

Bluebird’s simple idea is to make tea fun and tasty for everyone. The honest and worthwhile part of the idea is encapsulated in our promise to our customers: ‘To give at least one cup of happiness to everyone we meet.’

This tells you that not only is our tea so good that is will make your day and bring you happiness but that we, as a business, actively seek to make people happy, the tea is just our worthy delivery vehicle.

Your business, you, your brand, it all needs to stand for something worthwhile. If it doesn’t promise something relevant to your customers why would you expect them to spend their time and money on you? It needs to be honest: If you they don’t trust you to do what you say why would they deal with you? And if you can’t deliver what you promise then why would they ever return?

BUST stands for Big, Unique, Simple and True.

I approached each one as a question about us and by answering them I was able to put together what Bluebird stood for. If you can make your business hit BUST and you can demonstrate and deliver them effectively then it is likely to succeed.

Big. This is basically asking what is it that you care about? What is the big thing about your business?

Unique. What are you offering that your competition cannot?

Simple. What do your customers actually want?

True. What can you genuinely deliver?

I cannot emphasise enough the following statement: Everything from your product to your service to marketing, everything, must deliver against your BUST! Without it at your foundation your business will struggle at some stage, even though the cracks might not yet be apparent.

Our name delivers again BUST, our idea delivers against BUST, our promise delivers against BUST, and what does this tell you about Bluebird?

It tells you that the thing that is big about our business is making people happy. It tells you that we are a company that not only offers an exceptional product but that it goes above and beyond the competition because that product was designed to make you smile and improve your day. It gives you an experience and a service that is friendly and personable and that cares.

Anyone who knows me will understand that I think it is just common sense that businesses that are worthwhile and honest, simple and true are more likely to succeed because honesty and integrity are the foundations to everything in life. Why anyone would want to build a business that wasn’t worthwhile or didn’t stand for something is beyond me.

I hope this is transparent in our mission statement, our goals to aim for:

Bluebird’s mission statement is:

1. ‘To become proof that you can be a nationally recognised, thriving company by basing business decisions on spreading happiness and enriching lives’
2. ‘ To have made tea exciting, fun, unique, simple and accessible to all and a regular occurrence both in and outside of the home’

When all put together, we call this the ‘Bluebird Way’ which is a way of living and running Bluebird according to its values, purpose, promise and goals. We continue to use this as a guide to help us choose which path to take us down. It has also been invaluable as a measure when trying to agree on difficult decisions. If it doesn’t fit with the Bluebird Way then it doesn’t happen.

Sorry a bit of a long one this week and not much cake or skiing… or much ranting actually. I must be off my game!

Promise to do better next time!

Love + Tea

ThatBlueBirdGirl

xXx

www.bluebirdteaco.com

The pub- always the first thing to do!

Hi there Teabirds

Little old me has been asked to share my experiences and invaluable advice (ah hem!) as a young entrepreneur. So tomorrow, I’m taking part in StartUpBritain’s Bus Tour as it stops off in my home town during its nationwide tour of colleges and universities. It’s designed to inspire, support and encourage young people get their business ideas up and running.

It is also Global Entrepreneurship Week next week (second most important thing of the week – my birthday being the first!) so perhaps a good week to start offering my words of wisdom as I promised. Although, that said, I make no promises that I wont descend into ramblings about skiing or cake.

I really don’t consider myself an entrepreneur even though I keep getting invited to speak at these types of events and even though I have actually set up a business. That might make me brave, or stupid- you pick, but not an entrepreneur.

In fact, it may surprise you to learn I subscribe to the E-myth school of thought (This has nothing to do with the business book/theory titled such by Michael Gerber!). My E-myth is that there is no such thing as a Entrepreneur with a capital E – Someone who is born an Entrepreneur just like someone may be born a redhead.

Of course, social influences may help people appear a born ‘Entrepreneur’ (my psychology modules are coming through a bit here!). A nurturing up-bringing can help individuals develop confidence and obstacles or difficulties growing up can instill determination. Obviously, wealthy, well connected parents certainly help a great deal. From my experience, the latter seems to be the case for most people calling themselves Entrepreneurs.

I firmly believe anyone can pursue their dreams of setting up their own business regardless of their nature or nurture. I’m not trying to say that having no money or not having the right skill sets isn’t a massive obstacle in pursuing this dream, it certainly makes things more challenging but never impossible. There is absolutely nothing out there that can stop you dreaming and as long as that vision is there you can prove its possible. 

In my opinion.

My vision had been brewing (no apologies for the pun!) for a fair few years, during which I spent a lot of time in irrelevant industries and some time in relevant industries – sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally. In fact, I look back now at times spent in completely unsatisfying jobs and realise I learnt things that are crucial to me now running Bluebird.

For example, while treading water trying to find some direction after I left university I worked as a PA for the head of design at an e-learning company. It could be argued I was overqualified for filing and scheduling and spent most of the time either bored or frustrated by my managers small mindedness.

But silver lining: I was given an old graphics computer with a full Adobe suite on by accident. I also had access to all the graphics books I could ever want and worked with some incredibly talented designers who were happy to exchange tips for preferable words with the boss. So I taught myself graphic and web design. From scratch. I am the least computer literature person I know and yet I taught myself from books and bugging people.

Detour over. Where was I? Right vision. Well after my idea had been cooking in my head for a few years I finally voiced it to Mike while we were out in Canada (supposedly starting a new life out there… sort of ruined those plans!) and he was just as enthusiastic as I was so we set about seeing if this was something we could actually see ourselves achieving.

It’s important to note that it was never about whether or if we could achieve it, it was whether it would make us happy to achieve it. And if it did, whether it could make us a living.

Now obviously there were hundreds of influences and a hell of a lot of research put behind this decision and it is something we are still reviewing as we go along. But for the sake of this blog I wanted to talk about what we did first, before anything else, and what I would recommend any aspiring businesses person to do:

Go to the pub.

That is actually what we did! We went down to the pub, grabbed a beer each and sat with our notebooks to write down our vision. That very first piece of paper told us all we needed to know going forward.

The Original Bluebird Scrawlings!

The first thing we asked each other was how we wanted to build and run a business and how we wanted to build and run our lives. The two were completely entwined.
After 6 months in Canada we knew we wanted more of the beauty, kindness and happiness that we experienced in that wonderful country in our lives, regardless of where we were in the world or what we were doing.

It was encapsulated so perfectly in the concept of a ‘Bluebird Day’ – a day with fresh powder snow and blue skies. A perfect day. A day when it was completely acceptable for everyone to shut up their businesses, take their kids out of school and go up the ski hill.

It was obvious that we should call our business Bluebird so we wrote down some words that represented Bluebird for us…

Some of them included: Flying, Happiness, Prove it’s possible, Living the dream, Euphoric, Just living- not chasing anything, No constraints, Everyone psyched and slightly aroused (!)

We then wrote down some values or philosophies that were important to us both. And that was the basis of Bluebird, the beginning.

Our Business Bookshelf!

Since then we have done a lot of work to define these first scrawling. We have read a ridiculous amount of business books and articles, been to loads of workshops and met up with anyone who was happy to offer any advice. This has helped us shape our vision into ‘The Bluebird Way’ – a new way of doing business. Which I want to talk more about in the next blog.

The importance of putting down your vision on paper cannot be underestimated. It is when your business becomes reality. So as long as you have a pen and some paper (or iphone notes app!) you can be get started on your business.

It has been especially important in a partnership because you have to make sure you both are on the same page ,want the same things and have the same vision.

Throughout everything since then and to come, regardless on what we disagree on, we know we will always be unanimous in these beliefs and goals. They are the foundation of who we are and where we are going, the DNA of Bluebird.

Right that’s me. Time up. Next week I’ll write a bit more about how to define your idea using the elevator pitch/granny chat method and tell you why it is all about the BUST.

Have a Bluebird Day!

ThatBluebirdGirl

xXx

www.bluebirdteaco.com

p.s I just wanted to take the opportunity to show you an illustration I was sent this week by ‘Monkey Chops‘ who I came across while doing some boring SEO for our website. (He shares his name with our delicious banana tea!)

It is titled: ‘Lost at Tea’

Market research (Literally!)

I love this time of year.

Even though I love the beach and I’m a ski-a-holic, autumn is still my favourite season by far. We have been able to take full advantage of the outdoors this week because we have been puppy sitting for the whole clan.

Meet Whistler, Lizzy, Jazz and Popsta:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whistler is only just allowed to go for walks so we have been exploring the park together. The turning of the leaves have been reminding me of this time last year when I had just completed my second marathon in the greatest city in the world (New York), alongside my good friend Rachael.

Running through the streets of Brooklyn, lined by golden and red trees, being cheered on by thousands of people; running to the sounds of a different band on every street corner just there for us, to help us on our way, was one of the best experiences of my life. It has inspired me to get the running shoes back on this week, again something that has been on the to do list for months.

We have done no exercise during the four months since setting up Bluebird – unless you count carrying boxes to and from market stalls, across festival sites and making 500 cups of tea a day while standing in a field?

Mike jokes that when we make it big and write the standard ‘Business from my kitchen table’ self help book, we can call it: ‘How Bluebird made us fat’. Got a certain ring to it I think.

It was on the marathon trip that I decided that I was going to agree to fly out to meet Mike in Canada. And it was on that trip that I knew I was going to follow that voice inside saying: ‘start your own business, go on prove it’s possible’.

 

It was perhaps the long hours spent just running, surrounded by incredible places and people and it definitely helped that I had Rach there to be a soundboard, an ally, a reasoning voice, an interested listener. One thing I have learnt on this journey so far is that being around people who truly get what you are doing and genuinely share in your achievements and excitement makes such a huge difference. As does being in creative and inspiring environments.

Last weekend we were in an equally inspiring place, a little closer to home; Brixton Market, London.  The lovely people that organise the market were one of the space holders at Spaced, who chose us after being impressed by our pitch. They are keen for us to attend the market and have offered us a free pitch going forward.

After just one weekend there we are already getting some great vibes. In Brixton, cultures have collided in this amazing way so around every corner I thought I was back on the streets of India, Zambia, Egypt, Nepal, and Malaysia all at the same time. It is also such a hot bed for unique, incredible talent and ideas.

The standard of things being sold at the market was just phenomenal. There was one stand serving the most flavourful coffee I have ever smelt and you could pull up a stool and have a drink just there on the street, a tradition much loved in many places all over the world but something we just don’t seem to do.

Another stall was trading breadcrumb inspired incense in a little pot ‘to help you find your way home’ in return for stories about how people have found their way to Brixton over the years. Another had rolled out a beautiful wooden floor so their stall became a walk in fashion boutique and just opposite us was Auntie Aviator selling vintage specs. The smells and sights, food and hustle and bustle of people made the street come alive in a way only a market can.

I have become very fond of markets and proud to call myself a market person (among other things!). I wouldn’t say we are experts by any means and I certainly haven’t spent 40 years on the markets like some people we’ve met, but I think the summer has given us an insight into a world that we really didn’t expect to become a part of.

It has been an eye opening and educational journey. We have learnt so much about how to communicate with people, how to create a space that can just ‘pop up’ in half an hour but can make an impression that lasts for much longer and how to fight your corner (literally sometimes) in a competitive metropolis of people trying to make a living by selling what they make.

We have taken Bluebird to food markets, river festivals, vintage markets, gift markets, national music festivals, local village fetes, food festivals, fine food fairs, charity festivals, regular markets and one off special events. Even the pop up shop was a market of sorts. A temporary space that becomes a platform for your message just for a matter of hours.

Our original intention was to spend the summer attending all sorts of events and taking up every opportunity that came our way, which we have done. At every place we went we get chatting to cool people with their own contacts, stories and projects that wanted us to be a part of that too. We were meant to be figuring out if our longer term plans are feasible, whether people get what we are doing and more importantly whether they are willing to part with their hard earned pennies. The answer is a resounding yes.

But interestingly we have also found out some things about Bluebird and ourselves that we didn’t expect. We found that the fluid and temporary concept of just ‘popping up’ and bringing our experience to people wherever they may be has worked really well for us. This was perhaps natural considering how our business was born.

I think ‘popping up’ whether at festivals, markets or pop up shops, the concept is slowly becoming a more popular way of approaching business and people. We had always seen shop premises as the ultimate aim but with rents high and business slow on the high street it may be that a more flexible way of bringing Bluebird to people is in order. We shall see.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for us was that once again at Brixton we found that people were just as excited about Bluebird as we are.  Our market research seems to be telling us that we are following the right trail of breadcrumbs.

Have a Bluebird day!

ThatBluebirdGirl

xXx

www.bluebirdteaco.com

Secret Projects…

Firstly, apologies Teabirds…

I intended to start this up quite a few months back, in the spring when we were still in Canada, but I seem to have found myself in Autumn already and only just getting around to it! Although it has been manically busy and it’s a shame to have not been able to write this in real time alongside our crazy summer adventures, I shouldn’t complain as it has been because of the huge success of Bluebird. It has exploded into our lives in a way we hadn’t truly appreciated until we started that ball rolling. It is still rolling, well hurtling out of control down a very steep hill while we cling on for dear life might be a more appropriate description, but let’s not argue over the small details.

So if it’s alright with you Teabirds, I will start where we find ourselves now on this beautiful autumn day and tell you all about our exciting Christmas plans (sorry to use the C word mum!) and then over the next few blog entries I will back track and tell you about our summer as we have been on quite an interesting journey and I’m sure you will be greatly entertained by it too.

Before we start, my english teacher always drilled into us the importance of laying out the key points in the introduction to excite and interest before expanding later, so I might just bullet point some of the points to follow in the later blogs. English teachers are always right after all. Although, she also used to scrall in red pen ‘stop waffling, get to the point.’ Hmmm. Also my grammar and spelling is awful (are awful?!), so perhaps I haven’t learnt as much as I thought. 

At least if I set out now what is to follow you have something to hold me to and I won’t be able to get distracted by a cheese flavoured tea blend, meetings with various London hobnobs, erecting marquees or stamping endless supplies of brown paper bags.

To look forward to then:

–          The beginning –  Canada, the Bluebird idea, moving in with the parents, working together while sleeping together, setting up, designing, tea creating, website building, our first show!

–          Market stalling – the highs and the lows! High’s – winning a pitch in the Carfest ‘Best of British’ Pavillion to hold the top 100 small food and drinks producers in the UK. The Low’s – losing money sitting in a wet, empty marquee having to listen to X factor ‘celebrities’ perform to an equally empty and wet field.

–          Popping Up- Our experience during our two week stint in Richmond, taking Bluebird to the high street through the StartUp Britain campaign. Including the interesting tale of Edward (our unique and much loved van) and his incident with a parked car.

–          The big one – Stratford Food Festival, that we worked up to all summer and the first time we trialled our ‘tea bar’ alongside selling our packets of tea. All our family and friends volunteering to help us test the model for market research to add to the master business plan!

–          Becoming Young Entrepreneurs – pitching for free space in London for a year through Somewhereto_’s Spaced event and joining the Start Up Britain’s Youth Enterprise and Entrepreneurial bus tour.

I guess it will end up as a bit of a chronicle of how we decided to build a business and literally how we went about doing it. I’m hoping it will become an inspiring testament to the attitude that hard work and passion, dedication and sheer determination can get you anywhere you want to be.

But first, let’s talk about now. October, which (that!?) was supposed to be ‘blocked out’ in the diary for nothing but revising the business plan and making plans for a shop in the new year. However, we have found it difficult to turn down any opportunities we are offered which means our diaries are always double booked. Recently some success seems to be starting to form out of the chaos.

So here I am sat on a bench outside a marquee with wafts of pork pies, olives and cheese, at the Beckett’s Farm Autumn Food Fair, with my ever trusty brick of a laptop (complete with loose wiring hanging out) trying to make a start on this blog. I often wonder what we would do if anyone decided to steal this brick that contains the whole of Bluebird, but we are blessed that, like our van, it is so old and worthless that nobody would want to nick it!

It’s not that I had forgotten about the blog. I do occasionally forget things… like today, I forgot the Bluebird banner, and last week I forgot the flyers. Forgetfulness you may call it, but I’m sure it’s because so much is going into my head on an hourly basis that some things are bound to fall out: ‘Bonfire Toffee out of stock, Ring Susan back about the tea boxes, Reply to Tess about the Tea cocktail evening, Remind Mike to book into the Bakewell Christmas fair, Design some new flyers, Send the Christmas postcards to the printers, Add an ‘I brought this’ Facebook widget to the website.’ Arrrrgh.

This is why we write to do lists. Everywhere. On the white board, in our diaries, on little pieces of paper that go into wallets and the cash box, on sticky notes that go onto the van dashboard. This blog has been on many to do lists for many months. I have been beating myself up about not getting it done all summer. But as my frozen fingers are typing this and I think back over what we have achieved this summer, and I can hear the occasional ‘Yeah it’s got chilli, lime and papaya, would you like to try some?’ from Mike inside, I am so proud of where we are today.

And it’s autumn, my favourite season; the leaves are red and the sky is blue, so all round the 2am late stint last night packing 100 bags of tea was worth it, as will the many others be.

I’m happy with where I am and even happier with where Bluebird is. This is something that it often overlooked and undervalued.  To be happy in the moment is a difficult thing to balance and something I have rarely experienced. Especially not in any of my many previous jobs. (28 so far – I have counted!) And something I feel truly grateful for when I hear my friend’s woes, trying to move upwards to success and happiness in such a miserable time for jobs and careers.  They are excellent at what they do but there is just nothing out there. So while we did have to move back in with the parents and I have some serious frown lines developing at just 24 and have no pennies going towards that student overdraft,  at least we are in a job that is valuable and fulfilling.

I guess Bluebird isn’t really a job. Well it is, but it is so much more. It is my passion, my creative outlet, my life, my hobby, my fun, my business, my livelihood, my pride, my joy, my family, my friends, it is everything. And it’s so special because we created it all ourselves. With our own two hands. (Well ok four hands if we factor Mike into the equation, again let’s not argue over the little things!)

It must be said that although it took a little while for Mike to get that green tea doesn’t take milk and that fruit teas don’t actually contain any tea, he is now an amazing tea snob, I mean buff, and an excellent tea sales person to boot. He just talks honestly and fairly and people love him. Especially the middle ages ladies. He’s also surprisingly photogenic. As my mum told me after seeing some of our press shots… ‘Wow that photographer has really done a brilliant job with Mike’ How rude!

The truth is that Bluebird wouldn’t be where it was today without the creative ideas and attention to detail, stringent financial planning and intricate stock spreadsheets, strategy planning and tea blending that comes from us working together. For those who know us I will let you decide which of the above are each of our strengths. Sure it’s difficult working long hours. Very long hours. All day, everyday with your partner but we have been pleasantly surprised to find that our different personalities and outlook have made us dynamic and successful business partners.

So, I had started with promises of what’s to come for Bluebird over the next few months. We have had some secret projects in the pipe line and of course big Christmas plans. Mike probably won’t approve of me sharing with you but we hope to have made back our investment by the new year, which for a 6 month old company is fairly impressive. And leaves us in a brilliant position to tackle the big plans for the shop space in the new year.

Drum roll please:

Secret Project No.1: We have been developing our limited edition autumn teas, which arguably we have left a little late – I refer you to the above to do list dilemma.

But our Spiced Pumpkin Pie is now up for pre-order on the website. I have to say it is possibly my new favorite  (Excellent as a latte, sprinkled with cinnamon or nutmeg!)

We have decided to launch limited edition ranges each season going forward with any real favorites being added to the Bluebird range full time.

The Christmas teas have been on a pre launch preview this weekend at Becketts but won’t be for sale on the website until at least November. Sorry to disappoint but I refuse to join the premature ejaculation of all things festive that seems to be a problem for most shops on the high street. I have compromised and allowed November to be the date, previously the C word has been banned until after my birthday (15^th November if you want to send a gift!) but this was more to avoid a diversion of attention from my day than genuine moral outrage at the commercialism of Christmas.

So all I can tell you now is that they are possibly our best yet and I am VERY excited about our Christmas gift packs which, as well as our three Christmas teas, will also contain a hand crafted Bluebird tree decoration made by the lovely and talented Teabird, Bunny Bosworth, especially for us.

Ok while I’m on the subject I could also tell you Christmas Cake not only smells exactly like what is says on the tin but also containing real spruce Christmas tree and candy snowflakes that when dissolved make your tea sparkle like icicles. Amaze-ball-balls I think you will agree! Already I have said too much. This paragraph will self destruct in five seconds.

I really didn’t follow Miss Pritchard’s advice about highlighting the most interesting and exciting points in the first paragraph did I? Also about the waffling. Well at least it is a reward for those truly dedicated Teabirds who have stuck out, through the rambling to the end.

[Mike just fetched me some hot chocolate from the chocolate man – this is something I will touch upon in the market blog, how we have become the ‘tea people’ and everyone refers to each other by what they sell. We are good friends with both the ‘pie lady’ and the ‘beer guys’ but not so much with the ‘Jam’ man.

He also fetched some gloves, which was a kind gesture, however typing has become difficult and the annoying touch pad mouse can no longer sense my finger movements so I have resorted to bending over and moving it with my nose! Needless to say I am getting some strange looks. He also told me that a lady who said she would come back later actually did and brought 6 bags too, so his faith in humanity has been restored.]

Second drum roll please…

Secret Project No.2 :  For those of you who have been following our antics you will know we were shortlisted alongside 50 other young entrepreneurs and business people for the chance to pitch to space holders in London (businesses and people with space to give) for a chance to win a years free space for Bluebird.

A blog entry will follow, but the basics are that after a 1 minute elevator pitch during which a lady threw one of our Strawberry Lemonades over herself (very distracting indeed), we were selected by not just one but three space holders! So we are off on Tuesday to meet with the businesses and discuss terms in order to make a decision! Very exciting times.

                       

Secret Project No.3: We are in talks with the wonderful and inspiring Bartons Plc– ‘bus people’ after their own very successful summer about potentially setting up a Bluebird Teabar as part of a Christmas pop up special at their beautiful venue. This would finally give all of you a chance to come into a warm and dry space to sit and enjoy Bluebird drinks as part of the teabar concept that we are developing. A Bluebird Teabar sooner than we thought on a high street near you!

Secret Project No.4: Well that was this blog. So there you have it. Much more to follow as it develops over the next few weeks! Keep those peepers peeled Teabirds.

See you next week.

Keep finding those Bluebird days.

ThatBluebirdGirl

xXx

www.bluebirdteaco.com