Chapter Eleven – Where on EARTH have you been?
Chapter Eleven – Where on EARTH have you been? Sorry! We were just checking Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram and when we looked up it was 2016. Who knew 3 years could whizz by so quickly! Social media addiction isn’t the only reason we’ve fallen behind on the yearly Little Dog review but it is in the Top 5 for time snaffling. You can also add tough economic trading, two brand creations, work/life balance, under staffing and eating biscuits to that list. And with time moving swiftly now that we are a smidgen older, it’s easy to see how 3 years have passed in a blink of an eye. So here are the edited highlights & lowlights of a sibling run card & gift company from Derby about to ease itself into it’s 18th year of trading.
Towards the end of 2013, we employed our first person since the recession hit in 2008. 
Amanda joined the team part time to help with marketing, sales, social media and reception. A tidal wave of energy, intelligence, enthusiasm and chat, she will never know just how valuable her presence would prove to team moral,when just a few months later we had one of those curve balls which knock you clean off your feet. After 11 years of Little Dog dedication Nathan, (Gavin & Anna’s baby brother) received a job offer he simply couldn’t refuse. Nathan had recently become a Dad and it was the right time for him to try something different.
He left with our honest blessings and very best wishes but behind closed doors, hearts were crushed. The sibling balance was completely out of kilter and at the risk of sounding melodramatic it felt like a bereavement, however this was a loss very few people, even our nearest and dearest could understand.
On a practical level we employed the awesome Martin in the Warehouse and the lovely Mandy in Dispatch to help fulfil Nathan’s role, Natalie took on extra duties and Gavin and Anna picked up the slack. We also employed the very talented Alison for 2 days a week to take over the running of our handmade creations and help with product development. Little Dog Towers was beginning to feel crowded but in a good way. Gavin boldly went where no other Little Dog member had gone before, to seek out and deal direct with new manufacturers in that little place they call China.
The irony of the situation was that after years of hard, recession induced slog and long, monotonous working hours, Nathan had left just as things began to pick up. On a design front it looked like Anna had finally cracked the 5 year challenge of “exactly the same yet completely different”. Her new digs&manor collection used the same gentle humour and drawings but the card format was change to square, a lovely background colour palette was added and all the animals where placed within the home, the dog in his digs and the cat in her manor.The response from our customers was everything we could have hoped for and the aforementioned social media addiction was proving invaluable for inspiration and furry muses.
We really can’t say thank you enough to all those who send in their pet photos, comment, share and play along with our furry silliness. On the bunny front Rufus Rabbit was almost 3 and steadily establishing himself as a permanent fixture in the newborn gift market but best of all was the feedback we were getting from trade and public on the Little Dog as a company. So many lovely compliments about service, high standards and integrity. And then as we approached the end of 2014 the Little Dog enjoyed one of those plot twists that only exist in Hollywood movies. Nathan came back! It turns out money, big corporations, job titles and commuting to London doesn’t guarantee job satisfaction or happiness BUT working at the Little Dog does!
We hit the ground running in 2015 and honestly cannot believe how quickly this year has gone. We’ve concentrated on efficiency and time management and cornered the market in whiteboards, quite possibly the simplest yet most effective tool in helping our company grow.
2015 will also be remembered as the year “Our Girl Friday” Natalie spread her wings and embarked on a brand new career, exchanging her title as Queen of Dispatch for King of the Roads. Natalie swapped her beloved little smart car to sit behind the wheel of a 60ft touring coach. Amazing! We cannot speak highly enough of Girl Nat for her loyalty, hard work and dedication to all things Little Dog but mostly she has our undying gratitude for putting her own life dreams on hold when we needed her most. The blow of loosing Natalie has been soften by her replacement, Ann, who thankfully shares the same Dispatch legend DNA. No, she literally does, Ann is Natalie’s Mum!
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And finally we welcomed our very newest member to the team just in time to don a Marilyn face mask at the Xmas do. Jenny is taking over from Gavin, Nathan & Amanda in reception which will make a massive difference to all their working days and sets us up perfectly to take 2016 at FULL speed.
