I can’t believe how far I have come, both in terms of distance travelled to China and growth of my business. You have to remember, that 10 years ago I started out making things on my sewing machine at the kitchen table, and didn’t know much about business. Never dreamed I would be doing things like I am now, I Love it. I’m a small town girl, (we don’t even have any traffic lights here in Cambridge) so had to put on my “big girl knickers” to take another solo trip to China. The contrast is huge.
It’s really important to me, that I personally go to the factory (a random visit) to check on my goods before they are shipped, and to maintain good relationships and trust with the people I deal with. Here are a few photos from my trip last week.
“You’re not in Cambridge anymore Franny.”
So glad I packed my jacket! it was cold!!!!I made it, i got to the right place! A few nervous moments along the way. Achievement!!My winter stock is almost ready for shipping. So I went to the factory to do random checks on quality, and conditions for staff (all very good). I can’t wait to show you my new designs, *wearing Essence Tunic Long Sleeve.
I spent one day at the fabric market, to start planning for next summer and winter 2016. There were THOUSANDS of stalls like this where you meet the Sales Rep from each fabric company and can see samples of their material.Where to begin?!….. I quickly felt overwhelmed, but just kept telling myself “you can do this.” And then I would slowly filter though, and it became easier to pick out the fabrics that I liked. And then begin talking to the Sales Rep. I have so many ideas!!!!Motorbikes everywhere. Even on the inside of the buildings at this fabric market.This is normal. They couldn’t understand that we don’t have delivery motorbikes in NZView from my hotel, with glow from sunrise. I arrived at 6am, and had first meetings at 9am.Look at the bottle neck- everyone was waiting to use the escalator and not walk up the stairs.My hosts ordered all the food for me, so yummy!! There weren’t any unusual surprises this time. (Bad photo, I was so tired!) They kept giving me a fork, but I only wanted to use chopsticks.
It was a very successful trip. The only problem now is that I have so many ideas, my challenge is just to implement things slowly and grow as funds allow rather than taking on debt to launch them all at once. (so watch this space!)
Franny xx
PS the people and culture are amazing, I was so interested in everything
PPS my sense of achievement is huge. I cannot believe I have been there and back myself!! And I can’t believe that my business has grown to this level.
