A Year In Review

2023, where did you go?!

It feels like just yesterday that we were undergoing a complete re-organization of our team at the top of the year. I agonized over the decision to shake things up, but thankfully it proved to be the right move. It gave team members opportunities to take on leadership roles, try different things, explore different parts of the business, and further specialize in things they’re naturally good at.

There is nothing more rewarding to me as a CEO than witnessing the women on our team push past their comfort zones, take risks, accept bigger and bigger challenges, and prove to themselves that they have what it takes. Making changes in order to have the right people in the right roles proved to be everything for us this year and I’m thankful I pushed past by own comfort zone to pull the trigger.

Taking risks isn’t only needed when you start a business – it’s over and over again along the way. That can be tough at times.

The Team

We welcomed new members to our permanent team: Clair as Account Executive, Kasee as Assistant to the CEO, Stephanie as Inventory Assistant, and Yvonne as Production Assistant.

We promoted several team members, too! Maria to e-Commerce Production Manager, Daisy to Custom Gift Production Team Lead, Jeanne to e-Commerce Production Team Lead, Mia to Custom Gift Designer, and Morgan to Business Operations Manager.

Jordan expanded her Managing Director role to oversee all of operations while Katie expanded her Business Development Director role to oversee both Sales and Custom Gift Design in order to offer an even more seamless client experience. Casey expanded her role to include revamping and overseeing our Production Assistant Training Program, in addition to overseeing Custom Gift Production. Nothing makes us happier than creating new roles as the business grows and promoting from within!

Gift Designs

Rather than introduce a large number of brand new ready-to-ship gift designs like we normally do each year, we introduced the “bare minimum” for key holidays like Mother’s Day and the holidays, and instead focused our attention on creating a completely new sub-brand within M&G called Marigold Mailers! This collection offers budget-friendly mailer boxes geared towards occasions in both life and work. While these mailer boxes have a simplified, scaled-back unboxing experience in order for us to achieve lower price points, they are still extensively sourced from small artisan brands as we’re known for doing.

We paid attention to client feedback and expanded our Add-Your-Own-Logo Program! This program has always allowed clients to add their branding to our ready-to-ship gift boxes via paper products (gift tags, notecards, bellybands). A new offering now allows clients to add their logo to the products inside the gift boxes as well - branded tumblers, coasters, blankets, journals, etc. Our clients achieve gifts that look and feel even more custom with short turnaround times and very low order minimums!

New Brand Partnership

The most significant happening of 2023 is something we haven’t said a lot about yet. We’ve spent the last ten months negotiating a game-changing brand partnership that we’ll be announcing in the New Year!

The most significant happening of 2023, is something we haven’t said a lot about yet. We’ve spent the last ten months negotiating a game-changing brand partnership that we’ll be announcing in the New Year! This partnership involves us becoming the gifting arm of an $18 billion dollar company and has required an extensive amount of our time, energy, and financial resources to figure out all of the necessary workflows and advancements needed on our part to be able to support a partnership of this magnitude.

We view this last year of sweat equity as an investment in M&G’s future and look forward to its impact on revenue, the size of our team, and the scope and volume of work we’re able to execute.

Our Clients

Last but not least, we were honored to expand our client list (and earn repeat projects with past clients) with notable brands such as iHeartMedia, Hilton, the Mayo Clinic, US Figure Skating, the PGA, Nestle, Solidcore, PWC, the Detroit Lions, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Dwyane Wade, and so many more.

Challenges

We had challenges this year too – delays in rolling out tech initiatives, vendor letdowns big and small, and growing pains associated with scaling a business. Overcoming challenges comes down to teamwork and thankfully we have a team in place that supports one another, works together to meet deadlines for our clients, solves problems as they arise, and learns from every problem we face in order to apply those lessons whenever needed. While not always fun, challenges make a business better, stronger, more durable, and longer lasting.

We’ve never before been so excited to see what a New Year will bring, and hope you’ll continue to come along with us for the ride. Thank you for gifting with us, referring us, and cheering us on – we couldn’t do it without you.

Wishing you happiest and healthiest of new years from all of us here at Team M&G!

See you in 2024!

Image: Elis Llinares Photography