Wow! It’s been quite a year for us here at Amy Adele and it’s only May!
Let me start with the bad news (because I just want to keep it real). Sales over the last two years have not exactly been great… and that is putting it mildly. My husband and I kept hoping things would improve but the sales continued to decline. So we did what any hard working business owners do… we hunkered down and talked to a lot of experts and advisors to analyze Amy Adele to get their opinions on what to improve and change. Owning a business is kinda like owning a house. There’s ALWAYS something to fix and improve and the list can be overwhelming. So we decided to focus in on what was possible and went after it. The first thing was the navigation. We added the sorting tool on the left of each page so our customers could easily check the boxes to fine tune their search and find the cards they wanted. Then we worked on the home page. We changed everything about it! The top, the navigation, a “Stationery Gift Finder” tool, and more. We also corrected details on the backend so new customers could find us easier and introduced Paperless Invitations.
However, despite our efforts, the sales just weren’t strong enough. We had to make a bigger change. You see, we had been printing and shipping all our orders out ourselves in a little office space a few miles from our home with a fabulous staff for 10 years. But the more we looked at the numbers, the more it made sense to close our shop. So at the end of January, with very heavy hearts, we said goodbye to our faithful staff, sold our equipment, packed up all the extra supplies, and closed our doors.
This little bee greeted us by the front door every morning.
Now the good news! We are thrilled to report that we have partnered with a top notch printing company in California. They have a wonderful reputation in the printing industry and they are experts in printing personalized stationery, invitations, and all the other things we offer! With their help, our designs are now printed on even thicker paper than before. They are also able to print and ship our cards faster than we could in our little office. We love that! Over the last few months, I have truly enjoyed working with them. They are professional and quick to respond when I need to make a change on an order for a customer.
Honestly, it has been heartbreaking for my husband (who worked full time on Amy Adele) and I to see the decline in sales. However, we remind ourselves each day that our hope is not in Amy Adele or the provision it used to provide us. Our hope is in Jesus. His ways are higher than our ways. Our prayer is that our hearts will be stronger through these trials, because that’s what really matters! The best part is that we have already seen traces of these blessings already!
So, it’s just little me running the show now! I work from home, personally approving every order that comes through, replying to customer emails, sending out emails announcing our sales, creating new artwork, posting on social media and more! I always worked from home with Amy Adele but I've never had this much involvement. I'm completely out of my comfort zone here... but so far so good!
My sweet little desk where all the magic happens! ;)We are so very thankful for our faithful customers who have consistently ordered from us year after year; for each birthday party, for teacher gifts and family Christmas cards, to name a few. Our greatest joy that we get from Amy Adele is that we are able play a small role in helping your children say “thank you” to others. We are overwhelmed by your support. We hope our faithful customers and our new customers alike will enjoy the new changes!
Thank you again, dear friends!
Amy Adele Wike
P.S.
Would you like to help? For those of you who enjoy Amy Adele, you can help! If you haven’t already, “like” us on Facebook, Google +, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Most of all, please tell your friends about Amy Adele and invite them to our social media sites, as well. This will help us out a ton!