Dream come true..
Fri Jan 03 2020 23:16:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Spain
Here in Spain it is almost Christmas.. Three Kings day is on the 6th January. And the traditional Christmas day for gift giving. It makes more sense when you think about it - the Three Kings or wise men brought gifts and kicked off the whole giving gifts at Christmas thing, and they didn't arrive until a bit later.. They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh, but in Spain they just bring sweets to toss to the crowds of excited children.
Last year (in the last newsletter) I was writing to you from AW HQ in Sheffield, wishing you a (British) Merry Christmas - you can read about it here
So here we are in 2020. All nice round numbers, and kind of clear thinking ring to it..
Of course I wish all our customers, subscribers, suppliers, staff, competitors - anyone who reads this newsletter - all the very best for the coming year, heck the coming decade.
The beginning of the year is always the time I sit with the managers in the various parts of the AW business.. and make bold ambitious plans for the year ahead. But it is 2020 - the start of a decade so this calls for an even bigger and more grand vision. So, my friends how will the next ten years pan out?
Are you making plans?
How do you make plans? How do you make grand plans.. that can plot out a ten year future. I'm talking here about business..
Well I think you start by looking back, back.. to see how things were 10 years ago. Gordon Brown was PM in the UK. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga was blaring out everywhere, Netflix was still two years away, Instagram had not yet been born.
At AW we had just moved to a new modern warehouse, about 30 staff and had launched our own warehouse in China. Today there are about 100 staff, warehouses in Slovakia, Spain, Indonesia and customer database of over 200,000 - supplying independent (in the main) gift-shops across Europe.
How did that happen?
As you have heard me say - and I think this applies to every business.. It's about the PRODUCT.. You can have the best marketing, the best customer service, flashy everything, but if your product is fake or not good then the foundation of the business is flawed.
Sure you can survive with teams of high pressure salespeople, you can even grow with hype and dubious marketing, but long term it's the right product at the right price that makes a business scale upwards. At AW we don't have salespeople, (strange I know) so the products have to work for themselves.
So how does this impact the BIG PLAN?
More focus on the product, more design, more working with artisans and producers to develop the gift products that your customers like. We believe the trends now are for less plastic, more artisan, more natural. Watch out for AW-Earth range.
So we are making big plans to increase capacity and products at our aromatherapy and soap factory in Sheffield, source the best products from more places (Nepal & Morocco are new) and we of course need your valuable feedback to guide the directions we move in.
Plus more ways to help you our customers do better.. thinking of improved drop-shipping, ways for you to sell on Facebook & Instagram with ease. More White Label products.. what's that? It's products that are unlabelled so you can make them your own brand, or localise them, more gift packaging for the same reasons.
For your plan.. just dream big.. how many people / shops / sales will you have in 10 years. Close your eyes and imagine what everyone is doing in that business. If you don't have a dream - how can you have a dream come true?
If you are planning to grow your business this next year and beyond, then look no further than Ancient Wisdom.
Meanwhile back in the UK.. there is a backlog of orders, but we are working hard to get them turned round. Over Christmas two containers arrived, these with Spring stock and there is some great new stuff.
Check out the deals below and order early to be sure of stock ahead of Valentines season.
Wishing you the biggest of big plans and great success for 2020 and beyond.
Take Care
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