paying it forward and how bespoke gallery was born
Posted by Karen Lee on
Ne hao ma (cantonese for how are you)!
Starting a new business is not easy and neither is trying to figure out everything yourself.
I was lucky. In the early days of my business, I stumbled across a cheery lady from on an online business page who lived only a few streets away. She openly gave me advice and learnings from her own experiences starting a business. She taught me invaluable tricks of the trade that would have taken me months or even years to figure out on my own!
Adding to this we became friends. We met for coffee so our boys could play and she continued to give me advice when I needed it. Nearly 12 months on and now 1700kms separating us, she continued to help me to this day.
The birth of bespoke gallery
One day I dreamt up overnight a concept to 'pay it forward'... bespoke gallery would help other small handmade businesses, just like my beautiful friend had helped me. With just one week from concept to launch, I madly prepared for a big launch day.
In just 4 days, our FaceBook group had 500 talented members and I received nearly 1000 submissions for the launch day feature. Bespoke gallery was launched on December 1, 2015 with 24 businesses showcased in 12 hours over our Instagram, FaceBook and webpage.
Only 2 weeks young, bespoke gallery has hundreds of followers on Instagram and FaceBook and has featured 36 small businesses so far. We have helped hundreds of businesses gain exposure and provided learning platforms to discuss topics such as product photography, loop giveaways and brand repping. And bespoke gallery has quickly become a community for likeminded crafty and artistic people to gather, get advice and grow their own businesses with the help from their peers.
Bespoke Gallery has become an overwhelming success, far greater than I could have ever imagined. All from a simple concept to pay it forward. I must say, I am proud!
I'd love to hear what our members think of bespoke gallery, please share your thoughts.
Jo tau (cantonese for good night)
Karen