White Rabbit Skincare will officially be 8 years old tomorrow, 25th of April 2022.
I can still remember the day I decided to register the business - which had started out as a hobby for me - with Companies House.
I was sitting in my Nana's front room, in 'my' corner of the brown sofa. My Nana is housebound, and we (my Mum, Aunts and other relatives) always used to go to her house on a Thursday evening for a catch up and nibbles. I'm not entirely sure why I chose that evening to just 'go for it', but I did, and here we are 8 years later!(Except I'm currently sitting in my office, with a heated blanket on my lap instead).
Apparently 20% of businesses fail in their first year, and 60% go bust after 3 years, so I'm pretty bloody proud of myself that we are still here 8 years, several lockdowns and a worldwide pandemic later...
I've never been someone growing up who knew exactly what I wanted to do with myself/career wise. I swung widely between a horse riding instructor, to midwife, to Marine Biologist (which was the strongest contender before I then decided to be 'sensible' and go to university to study business and - somewhat randomly I suppose - history). In hindsight, if I could go back and talk to my younger self, I'd say screw sensibility. Do what sets your soul on fire. But having said that, had I not gone to university, I might not have ended up with stress-induced psoriasis and White Rabbit Skincare might never have existed!
Everything really does happen for a reason.
Especially when as I say I had no real inkling of what I wanted to do as a career, having worked in mainly admin-based roles in various industries from aviation to welfare-to-work, and the notion of being an entrepreneur had NEVER entered my sphere of thought. But now I can't imagine doing anything else, and if I'm quite honest I think I'd now be a terrible employee...!
I am entirely self taught, and it's probably just as well one of my strengths is my curiousity and capacity for wanting to learn - and I've had to learn a LOT!
Running my own business is without a doubt the hardest but absolutely best thing I have ever done in my life. It has helped me develop as a person, become more resilient and most importantly believe in myself. I've lost some people along the way sadly; people who became jealous or didn't like the fact I had to spend time on something that wasn't them, but I've now realised that they were 'my people', and the ones who are will support and believe in you no matter what.
'My people' also includes you, the person reading this blogpost. We have THE most incredible, loyal, supportive, kind customer base we could ever ask for, and sometimes when I'm reading through reviews I literally cry because I can't believe I could ever be so lucky. I am also genuinely delighted that our products also help other people and give you confidence in your own skin.
I will never be able to thank you enough.
Here's to another 8 years - and beyond.
Cheers!
Melanie x
1 comment
Gosh 8 years! Time has flown.
You are absolutly smashing it, ways going from strength to strength.
Well done, an inspiration to anyone wanting to get up and do soemthing they’ve perhaps always out off or been unsure about. Just go for it!