You’ve heard of Spotify Wrapped, now I give you Small Business Wrapped: From Jersey City to Asbury Park and places in between, we participated in 12 markets this year and met 29,567 dogs (we wish). We launched our website and started growing an email list. We’ve had moments of triumphs and some downfalls, but ended the year on a high note.
At the beginning of the year, I was a full time, fully in office employee living in a one bedroom apartment that I shared with my boyfriend, Andre, and Daisy. I had this tiny sewing table that folded up into a side table that I would have to wheel out into the middle of the living room whenever I wanted to sew or had orders to fill. All of my fabrics took up residency in the closet - sharing space with all of our clothes, shoes, suitcases, and Daisy’s bandanas (believe it or not she has a lot of them!).
Eventually those fabrics started finding their way into piles in the living room/kitchen area because they outgrew their designated space. Whenever I would have to cut said fabrics, I was using my kitchen table - having to clear off every single thing, spray it down, and wait for it to dry then put everything back in its place after (so we could have dinner LOL), making the entire process take twice as long. There were times that I dreaded coming home because I knew I was coming back to a total mess that I had created simply from the lack of space.
I had been applying to jobs for an entire year before I finally landed my dream job with my alma mater and we moved to Maryland at the beginning of October. I’ve always said that if I wasn’t living in NJ I would like to live in Maryland…and now I do! Now I get to work from home three days a week (which Daisy loves) and I get to commute into Baltimore twice a week via water taxi, how f*cking cool is that?! Daisy still tries to guilt me into not going to work on my in office days so…not much has changed there.
The best part about moving is that we were able to get a spacious two-bedroom apartment for way less than we were paying for a one-bedroom apartment in Connecticut. Now Life of Daisy Co. actually has its own space to live and grow!
I know my Jersey people are wondering, “Amanda, you live in Maryland now - does that mean you won’t be doing events in NJ anymore?”, and the answer is that we will DEFINITELY still be doing events in NJ (y’all can’t keep this Jersey Girl away). Some of my most successful markets of the year have been in Jersey City, and I have really started to grow a sense of community here. I’ve started to get to know other small business owners, dogs & dog owners, and people who run markets in town. I even sometimes see dogs walking around in my bandanas which is so surreal!
Part of my plan for market season 2025 is to continue growing our community in Jersey, especially in Jersey City and to start introducing ourselves around the Baltimore-area. In the meantime, I’m focusing on consistency especially with social media, having fresh new items in the shop, and having a monthly newsletter. I have so many ambitions for this small business of mine in 2025 and can’t wait to see what is in store for us.
If we had the pleasure of meeting you and/or your dog in 2024, filling your order, or interacting with you on social - just know it made our year! And if you’ve read this far down, thank you! We can’t wait to see what 2025 will bring and we hope you will be with us for the journey.
Wishing you the best in 2025,
Amanda and Daisy
(Here’s us in Maryland! This was actually before we moved here when I was still doing my Master’s program with Hopkins online and we decided to pay a visit to campus - but let’s pretend like it’s more current LOL.)