A Business is Born

marysylvie@twigsandfaeries.com.
We were (and still are) in the planning stages of our new business venture when, through Kokopelli a la Carte, we got our first order. And it was a big one! Less than two weeks before Christmas too!

A client of Kokopelli a la Carte's asked for 65 cookie sampler platters as a holiday gift for his clients.

Of course, we had some concerns with such a large order at the last minute and so close to Christmas, but when opportunity knocks you have to let her in. And we did so in a very big way.

We had almost no supplies, fronted the money ourselves and immediately got to work. There was so much to do. We didn't even have a name. But who had the time to even think about that.

Apparently we did. At 3:00 in the morning!

Everything I had read about choosing a business name advised that it should represent what you do. Well, we are a gift shop, offering unique and interesting gifts that could be tailored to the giftee. Too many things to try and encompass in one name.

So I thought that the next best thing was a name that represented who we are. Mary and Sylvie. Still no inspirations, no name and no tag line to go with it.

Then at 3:00 in the morning one day I woke up and realized that our "identity" and tag line was right in front of us. Under our very noses. We actually had been talking and joking about it for a month already. So I waited until an acceptable time later in the morning to call Mary and tell her about my middle of the night "aha!" moment.

When I asked her if she knew what I was talking about, at first she had no clue. Then the developing smile on her face and knowing look in her eyes showed me she got it. The thing we had talked so much about was our distinctly different styles and trying to bring them together.

Mary is very primitive and rustic with a Southwest touch. I am more renaissance, foresty with a little magic thrown in. Hence the name that Mary created, "Twigs and Faeries".

So in the middle of our mad dash to fill this order, our little business was christened and the brand promise came very easily after that----celebrate life!

We managed to fill the order (that's about 2400 cookies and 65 mini sweetbread loaves) all individually wrapped and served up on a beautiful stoneware plate with a winter design. And we made our deadline too!

But I think next year we'll have a cutoff date for taking on large multiple orders during the holidays so we can spend the time just before Christmas with our families. Without their support and help, we couldn't have filled this order.

So while Mary and Sylvie do the high five, we salute our families with a HUGE thank you and lots of hugs!