We're celebrating our 5th year in business!

Hello, Sophie here to say a HUGE thank you to our team and of course our customers for keeping us in business for 5 whole years.  Not an era I know but still an achievement and something I am both proud of and very thankful for!

 

Here's a snapshot of our little biz from a more personal side -

July 2018, year 1 

I was still juggling a housekeeping business I set up to work around my young kids and freelance styling work. I started with 12 backdrop designs stored in a plan chest in my home office and did all the, well everything, myself!

Thank you to a few lovely industry contacts we had some very high profile early-adopters in our first week of opening and we were off.

Spring 2019, year 2 

I think we had around 50 designs and enough customers by Feb 2019 for me to sell my other business and do BVS full time (still around styling, but I've never wanted to style full-time as you can't leave early for school runs can you?!). 

I was now working out of a garage at home but bursting at the seams.

2020, year 3 

Covid hit and our business quadrupled through the lockdowns.  Denise joined for virtual assistance and customer service help - Royal Mail lost about a million parcels!

It became more of a family business as my partner, Graham,  our daughter, Freya and sister, Bess helped with production and shipping orders.

In the November we moved into a studio and warehouse unit THANK GOD - so exciting to have a proper work space - this felt like we'd made it!

2021, year 4 

Business settled as the lockdowns ended and we enjoyed more balance again, using our beautiful new studio space to host photography clients and styling workshops alongside the online backdrop retail.

Louise and Julie (both angels!) joined the business to help with fulfilment and creative assistance so I could develop courses and work on larger film and photography productions.

2022, year 5 

We continued to work in the same vein in our 5th year, with a few experimentations in products but ultimately simplifying the backdrop offering to keep our space clean and flexible for film/stills production and workshops.

Denise, Julie, Graham and Lou continue to help me with the day-to-day running alongside a few more freelancers working from home.  

July 2023 - our 5th birthday!

And here we are! Still in the beautiful mill studio, still innovating and learning and trying to keep our customers happy or even get one step ahead with what they might need next.

I feel like we have now found our groove with a business that provides me a steady income and satisfies me creatively, while allowing me to take on as much other creative and training work as I wish around family life (and daily tennis!).

That's down to our amazing team of course but also exactly how I designed the business; our business (like most) has had both wildly profitable and just-scraping-though phases, but what I'm most grateful for is the freedom and flexibility it allows me to prioritise my family time and my health. 

 

If you're thinking of going into business or in the early days yourself - I would focus on that as much as the income it gives you - success isn't always about money, think about how you want your life to look- what does a good Monday or Friday look like to you?

I will always love working on sets and getting involved in large productions, but I feel most successful i.e like I'm living MY dream, when my work allows me to see my kids in to and out of school, when we all eat well and I have time for my health, hobbies and friends. And thats exactly what this business does for me and my family.

 

So if you see me skipping along looking smug, that's why and THANK YOU!

 

To celebrate and spread the love, everything here is available HALF-PRICE this week ONLY and available on 4FOR3! (while stocks last!)

You can mix and match any backdrops you like on the 4FOR3 offer - large backdrops, customs, sale and standard items! The only thing that can't go through on 4for3 is sale sets of multiple backdrops in the sale section.

My advice to get the best deal - shop the half-price backdrops here first as the items available at half-price will reduce as the week goes on and things go out of stock; if you have less than 4 items in your cart then you can shop the main collections or larger backdrops too to get the 4for3 deal!

There is no limit to how many backdrops you can get FREE! Cheapest items are made free.

 

Thank you again and here's to another 5 years, maybe!

Sophie xx