This month, the good and the bad are one in the same. Truthfully, it's mostly good, but with the good can come some challenges. This month’s behind-the-scenes post has all to do with our Father's Day order from Paperchase.
THE GOOD. Paperchase is a store based in London with almost 200 locations in the UK, Europe, and Canada. It's a great account: the buyers are nice people and very easy to work with, and they send good orders on a regular basis. Especially great is their Father's Day order, which is quite large for a small business like ours. We spend the majority of January to February printing, trimming, scoring, folding, enveloping and sleeving the cards in anticipation of their trip "across the pond." Pretty much everyone in our studio stops what they're doing to to get the order out the door. It’s a lot of work but the camaraderie of working together makes up for it. It also means a nice chunk of revenue comes in just as we approach our spring/summer cash crunch, and what's even better is that our cards are distributed internationally!
THE BAD. Like I said, it's a great order from a great store. However, as a small business, orders such as these have the potential to throw the shop into a bit of a tizzy for a short period. The bad is mostly figuring out logistics and mainly handled by our shop manager Sarah. Have we mentioned how awesome she is? Routing and shipping guidelines for large accounts can be daunting, and the fear is that if you do something ever so slightly incorrectly, you're at risk of losing a bunch of that aforementioned revenue, not to mention your reputation. It's a huge exercise in patience, but as they say, you gotta take the bad with the good, and this bad is well worth it considering! The logistics include getting the barcodes approved, arranging to have the order picked up on time, and completing the paperwork, to name a few. Sarah handles it like a champ, a smiling one no less.
THE (NOT SO?) UGLY. Fuller House on Netflix … "Cut! It! Out!”
(image source: Paperchase)