Campaign for Real Success Stories

I find few things more demoralising than motivational speakers.  Every time I hear another story of a dropout who left school with an NVQ in bird feeding*, a heart full of dreams, and a great idea, I cringe.  When I then learn that the great idea took root, grew and blossomed into a worldwide business empire, I just want to give up. 

Such people are exceptional.  Some are exceptionally talented, others are exceptionally lucky.  Either way, I would question the value of lessons based on exceptions.  It is highly unlikely that our business will turn us into billionaires.

[A chorus of motivational speakers addresses my inner ear:  You gotta belieeeeve Brother!  Believe the dream!  Cast out negative thoughts.  You too can make millions.  You just gotta belieeeeve!  Banish the doubt!  Stamp it out!  Know you can do whatever you want!]

Anyone setting up a business wants it to succeed but few people enjoy the staggering success of some of the examples routinely mentioned in business talks.  Examples based on more modest, less exceptional success would be less discouraging.


*OK - cheap shot.  NVQs are easy targets and not always fairly so.  I found my NVQ level 3 surprisingly challenging.

The cost of getting LitB on the go

It's amazing how many things you need to buy just to package and market the stuff you're selling, and it's frightening how expensive it can all get.

As well as getting scarves, bags and jewellery organised, we also needed to get business cards, address labels, product tags, and labels to stitch into things. 

One of the most surprising expenses was business insurance if we wanted to sell to the USA and Canada.  When we found out that it would cost an additional £500 we decided that North America could survive without Look-in-the-Bag products for a year or so.

The most annoying expense to date though, has been a recent hike in delivery charges.  We had found an excellent source of boxes that we thought were just about the right size for us (320x220x80mm).  They were - until 2nd April.

A recent survey organised by the BBC found that the UK's traditional three classes have now split into seven.  This development is being reflected in Royal Mail policy.  Our postal service used to offer a basic 1st & 2nd class service.  In recent years though, classes have multiplied.  For a while we've lived with big 1st & 2nd class, and small 1st & 2nd class (for both letters and parcels).  On 2nd April 2013, Royal Mail introduced medium parcels. 

When we took a package for despatch from the local post office and asked for a stamp, we were told to push it through a slot in order to determine its class.  It was tantalizingly close to fitting.  The package went part way, then stuck.  I asked at the counter how much more it would cost if we sent our box as a medium parcel instead of a small parcel.  "Three pounds" I was told. 

I gulped.  Our current postal charge of £4 barely covers our expenses as it is.  The box was stuck in the slot.  I pushed harder.  The post office woman shook her head.  "Sorry,"  she said, "it'll have to go as a medium."  I groaned, paid the postage, and wondered what to do with a large pile of boxes that are no longer quite the right size for us.

Beach Fantasy

Sand between your toes, the sun on your back, 

and the blue-green of a tropical sea.  

Wrap yourself in a daydream and relax.

The first time I ever tried snorkelling was nearly the last.  No one showed me how to ensure that the snorkel fitted properly, and within seconds I was coughing out seawater and desperately trying to understand the appeal.  I was persuaded to re-don mask and snorkel and put my face back down in the water.  I’m glad I did.  

I usually prefer mountains to beaches, but this particular beach was a short swim from a coral reef.  I’ve been an avid fan of natural history programmes since I was a  child, so the chance to (literally) immerse myself in one of nature's most stunning ecosystems was too good to miss.  

The experience of floating above intricately sculpted corals and shimmering fish is magical, but it is even better if it is followed by the experience of stepping out of crystal waters onto a sunlit beach and walking on soft white sand.  Unless of course, one stops to think about where the sand came from.

Gods of Small Things

When my nephew Tom, was six, he desperately wanted a place at Hogwarts. Shortly before Christmas, he sent a letter to the North Pole to consult Santa. 
"Am I a wizard?" Tom asked. "Can I do magic?" 
Santa obligingly responded, but not with the news that Tom wanted:

Dear Tom,
Thank you for your letter. I am writing to let you know that you can perform magic, but sadly not enough to get you into Hogwarts. Some magicians create potions that turn lead to gold and make people greedy for wealth. Other magicians cast spells that bring fire-belching dragons roaring from the sky to make people tremble with fear. You Tom, can perform one small piece of magic. You can make people smile and say “I’m so glad I know Tom.”

Please make sure you use your magic a lot in the coming year.

Yours sincerely,

Father Christmas.

The letter makes me think of the goddess Iris. Classical deities are generally associated with great deeds of power, mystery and might. Some ruled the heavens, some ruled the waves, some ruled worlds and underworlds. They fought with storms and lightning bolts, with magic and with fire. Iris was, I’m sure, a deity of many talents; but the only one that people generally remember is her ability to create rainbows.

A bonny bouncing limited company

Look-in-the-Bag Ltd has just celebrated its first birthday.  It came into existence at Companies House on 7 February 2012.

Actually, that's not true.  It began life as Look in the Bag Limited, but Neelam (wearing her designer's hat) felt that it worked better as one word (and preferred Ltd) so ten days after it was born company 07938340 was rebranded.

Of course, this leaves the frustrating thought that, had we held off a little bit longer, we could have been company No. 08000000.  That honour went to MT Lucky Ltd, which was registered on March 21st.  I couldn't help wondering who was company No.1 though.  Being inquisitive, I emailed Companies House and began an informative exchange with one of their archivists.  She told me that the earliest registered company was the Legal and General Life Assurance Society, (registered on 2 November 1844, before registration numbers were introduced).  The oldest surviving company  is Ashford Cattle Market Ltd, (No. 118) which was registered on 25 September 1856.

To confuse matters, Ashford Cattle Market Ltd is not the only No. 118.  Company numbers were introduced in  1856, with National Savings Bank Association Ltd being the first No. 1.  Then, in 1862, due to a change in legislation, numbering was restarted.  The second No. 1 was distinguished from the first by appending a 'c'.  This continued until company No. 2726c was registered, after which, in 1864, was legislation changed again and the 'c' was dropped. 

Being the kind of person I am, I can't help noticing that, between 7 Feb and 21 March 2012, over 61000 companies were registered, while between 1862 and 1864 there were probably fewer than 3000.

A Winter Classic

Neelam loves classic design.

She loves Indian design, but at this stage she wants to concentrate on less geographically specific 'Look's.   One of the problems is expectations. Because Neelam is Indian by birth, people who meet her enthuse about the colours, the patterns, the textures and the fabrics of Indian products and assume that she will produce similar designs.  Neelam shares their enthusiasm, but when people in Britain talk about Indian design, they often do so in the same way that they talk about Indian food.  Ethnically, culturally and linguistically, India is probably less homogeneous than the European Union.

Neelam likes the 'traditional' Indian looks that are admired by people here.  She also likes modern reworkings of them (such as those sold by Yuti, her niece), and she likes styles that are less well-known in the West - such as Madhubani and Warli.  Above all though, she appreciates classics.

Designs evolve as a result of a combination of culture, environment, technology and tradition.    Most parts of the world for example, have traditional clothing based on long strips of cloth that are wrapped around the whole body (kilts, kimonos, saris, sarongs, togas, etc).  The type of cloth (cotton, linen, silk, wool) depends on the environment, as does the availability of dyes (e.g., woad, saffron, carmine).

Technology affects tradition.  When cultures discovered stitching, it became possible to have clothing cut and shaped (tailor-made) to cover specific parts of the body, and it increased possibilities for adornment.
Recently, Neelam had the opportunity to recreate a classic design that was not available to her in her youth.  She grew up in South India, where the environment is not conducive to the construction of snow figures.  Last week's snowfall in Sheffield meant that she could make up for lost opportunities in her youth.  Her first effort provided a useful mannequin for Look-in-the-Bag,  but in the end, she decided she preferred the classic snowman look.

However, even in the construction of snowpeople, technology has an impact.  US Patents 3059279, 375964, 4164341, 535348, 5632926, 6176464 and 7963500 are all for different designs of snowman mould.

Keeping a husband out of mischief

Around this time last year,  Neelam and I were sitting in the Gardener's Rest pub in Neepsend, talking to a second hand book shop owner called David.  He's the brother in law of a friend (Michael) whose birthday we were celebrating.

David was in the process of moving his shop (Books on the Park) to larger premises, and one of the things he hoped to do with the extra space was sell cards from local artists and designers.  Michael had already mentioned this to Neelam as an opportunity, and she had explored options.  However, a day or so after meeting David, Neelam came up with a bright idea.

The best ideas work on several levels.  Not only do they do "what it says on the tin", they also suggest ways of using the tin when it's empty.  One of Neelam's many problems is that she has a husband with a low boredom threshold.  Rather than leaving her alone to get on with her design work, he comes along and fiddles with her pencils.  Her bright idea would (she thought) not only lead to suggestions for greetings cards, it would also provide respite for her pencils.

Neelam suggested that I should try coming up with ideas for cards based on book titles.  I immediately suggested that she sketch an inebriated bird jeering at the world from a floor littered with empty bottles of Mexican liquor.  Neelam chose not to illustrate Tequila Mockingbird, but liked the suggestion.  She liked even more the fact that I sat down at my computer and began to generate further ideas.  Sadly for her, in less than an hour I had knocked off over a dozen suggestions and went downstairs to resume pencil fiddling.

Within a month, Neelam had produced ten greetings card designs, all on the theme: "A Twisted Title: It's almost a classic".  It's a bit of a change from scarves, but she enjoyed doing them.  They're now on sale across Sheffield (in Books on the Park, Sheffield University Blackwells, and Sue Callaghan Bookbinder), as well as at Octavia's Bookshop in Cirencester.  Needless to say, they're also available from the Look-in-the-Bag Website.