The Next Five Years

If just one of the things in the past few years had happened, that alone would have significantly impacted our little company. But it's been one thing after another, and the cumulative effect has been and still is, pretty painful to see.

Here is an emoji outline.

2017: 🤰👩🏼‍💻

2018: 👶 👩🏼‍💻

2019: 👩‍👦👩🏼‍💻

2020 - 2022: 🇪🇺💸🚢 💩😤 😷🔐🤪 🌀🚢 💥🔐🤦‍♀️💸 🤒😭🤯💸🤬🧘🏼‍♀️👩🏼‍💻

The teachings from my yoga practice have supported me during this time. To be present. To do what is right in the moment. To use my mind as a tool to look ahead and strategise while keeping in check my mind's ability to create anxiety about the future. Accepting the discomfort of a worst-case scenario has become essential; otherwise, I would freeze. Planning for a best-case scenario has often been disheartening - as we are knocked off course repeatedly. When so many external things are changing and out of your control, the only place you can effect change is within. Break down your goal into steps, lean into the storm, and make slow progress through it. And here we are. The changes we have made have kept the business alive. And those changes are all things I love. (I ❤️ spelt husk.)

What next?

I think of my business as a tree. My job is to make sure it has everything it needs to grow strong so that it can weather any drought or storm. For a small business owner, that growth must be steady and manageable. Sometimes I have needed to remove a branch or two and tend to the roots (the basics/how we operate.) Right now, we need to move forward without raising our prices too much while also absorbing increasing costs. This means we need to grow new shoots to catch a little more sun. Reaching more people is a priority for us, so that we can weather the next storm. And in this, you have all been and still are so helpful. We've had to spend very little on marketing throughout the past few years, and that's largely because of you!

Our Planet

My next blog will describe in detail how the changes we have made over the past five years have reduced our impact on the planet. For now, I would like to share that since March we have funded the planting of 100 trees per month. 🌳

Our Family

Many of you will remember I had a giant baby bump when the business launched. So Tom is nearly five too! I'm psyching myself up to somehow make a cake that looks like a fire engine. 🚒

Tom has always loved the warehouse. He's here less now. In the early days he would sit here every day in his pram watching me pack the orders. Now he helps us pack the orders sometimes and he is very talented at telling people off! Ekotex Yoga is part of our family life. We love coming to the warehouse together at weekends because there is nothing better than building our lives together. I'm living my dream.

Thank you for the past five years - and hears to the next! We'll be here for as long as you want us to be. :)

xx