A Year in Review: Top 2018 Moments for Curated Gift Box Business Marigold & Grey

Just as we recently looked back on our 2018 goals before setting our new business goals for 2019, I think it's healthy to take an even broader look back on the entire year before venturing into next one. I'm excited to share with you this detailed recap of 2018...these are the highlights!

 4th Business Birthday

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 80% of businesses survive the first year but only 50% of all businesses make it past the 5 year mark and even worse,  only 33% survive the 10 year mark. This year, we celebrated our 4th business anniversary and are doing anything and everything we can to not only "make it" but to continue thriving! While we didn't double in size like we did last year and the year prior, in a space with far more competition than ever before and weeks upon weeks of serious technical issues with our website, we are proud to say that we achieved significant growth, more than we were initially expecting.

Image: Lissa Ryan Photography

Rebrand + New Website

Our biggest moment of 2018 was launching our rebrand along with a completely overhauled website! I now know why people don't rebrand and launch new sites every year even though they may want to...it's a LOT of work! But worth it. We finally feel like our visual brand is in line with the level of clientele we serve and that the website more accurately portrays the style and aesthetic of our work. Prior to rebranding, I would cringe whenever I'd look at our website and now, quite simply, it feels like home. With that said, there are numerous improvements coming in 2019 because we realize it still isn't perfect and have appreciated your candid feedback over the last few months. But, you guys, oh what an improvement! 



New Ready-to-Ship Collection

We knew it was time for a brand new Ready-to-Ship Collection of pre-designed gifts to offer in our online shop. We knew we wanted to increase the number of gifts offered in our online shop and also that we wanted to introduce them at the same time as our new brand and new website. So over 40 brand new gifts later, we launched the new shop in September and from the growth that we've seen, it's apparent that the changes were the right decision! 

Image: Lissa Ryan Photography

Private Label Collection

As if a rebrand and new online collection weren't enough, we knew we wanted to introduce our own private label line of products in conjunction with all of the other changes were making. We worked with Claudia of Fig2 Design to create packaging for a line of bath scrubs, bar soaps, bath bombs as well as liquid soap and lotion sets. Our private label products are now included in several of our gift boxes featured in our online shop and we could not be more thrilled with how the packaging and product quality turned out!

Image: Lissa Ryan Photography

Press

While we always care most about what our clients think of us, it is always nice to be recognized by the press as well as by our industry peers and those we look up to. This year, we were thrilled to have a full page of our work in Washingtonian Weddings as part of an orange-inspired styled editorial piece they produced. We were also recognized in the same issue and awarded "Top Vote Getter" in their all-new Favors & Gifts category! We were also over-the-moon excited to see multiple examples of our work featured by Martha Stewart Weddings in their '46 Welcome Bags for Real Weddings' piece as well as custom welcome totes for a DC wedding featured by Style Me Pretty and Easter-inspired welcome gifts featured online by Washingtonian Weddings.

Image: Lissa Ryan Photography

Team Growth & Change

We welcomed Carla as a full-time member of the team. She came on as Studio Assistant and was quickly promoted to Chief of Staff. You may also remember us saying goodbye to Kelly Rumpke, our original Director of Operations, who left in May as she prepared to welcome her first baby! Due to significant growth since then, we've decided to split the operations role into two positions (Project Manager and Operations Assistant) which we are currently hiring for! We also said hello to two interns, Samantha (Sami) Walker and then Peta Cruz, who were both incredible assets to our team! While Sami left us at the end of the spring semester, we hired her to do some marketing work for us remotely! And Peta, we loved her so much in the fall semester that she's agreed to stay with us through the end of our very busy January! To say we've been lucky with our interns is an understatement!

Image: Lissa Ryan Photography

Sponsored Events

We said yes to sponsoring welcome gifts for three events in 2018, which is more than we normally agree to sponsor. We're so glad we did. We created Alice in Wonderland inspired favor boxes for the Hay Adams' annual Valentine's Day Love Brunch. Next came favor boxes for The Planners Affair event in Annapolis Maryland hosted by a longtime client of ours Adriana Marie Events. And lastly, the Coterie Retreat, which meant that our spa-inspired gift boxes traveled all the way to Bermuda with the owners and founders of multicultural wedding publication Munaluchi Bride. We were honored to be represented at all three events and show support to their missions. We sincerely hope that all of the attendees enjoyed their gifts as much as we loved creating them. 

Image: Lissa Ryan Photography

Vlog Launch

One of the things I'm most proud of in 2018 is the launch of our YouTube channel and vlog! Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely HATE being in front of the camera. So needless to say starting a vlog was definitely stepping far outside of my comfort zone as a business owner. But with Carla's videography experience and an upbeat team willing to try anything, we jumped right in!  Our goal with the vlog is offer our audience a behind-the-scenes look into the business that cannot be captured in any other way. A few topics we tackled: our biggest business disaster, a before and after of our studio makeover, disagreements we had with one of our designers when designing our new online collection, Kelly's last day in the studio, and even a glimpse into the busiest part of wedding season. 

Image: Marigold & Grey

DC Wedding Week

I was honored to speak on a panel of wedding industry professionals at DC Wedding Week. The topic was industry disruption and biggest mistakes made as a business owner. I revealed one of our biggest screw-ups from over a year ago when a large delivery of ours was damaged upon arrival and the steps that we took to correct this issue with our client. This particular panel was extremely rewarding because it was full of honest and candid discussion about the both the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. The audience was highly engaged and I left there feeling like it was one of my favorite and most rewarding speaking engagements I've had had the pleasure of participating in.

Image: Stephen Reasonover Photography

We hope you've enjoyed our trip down memory lane! It was fun to go back and see all that's gone on over the course of 2018 as we dive into 2019. Thanks for being with us along the way. We sincerely appreciate your support! If there's anything specific you'd love to see from us this year, please don't hesitate to reach out here.