Spark Reflections

In December of 2010, we launched the letterpress love albums.  It took us months to produce the line, so it was such a good feeling to get them out the door and in the hands of our retailers.  The launch of our albums seems like such a long time ago because since that time, it's been a long, hard road for our little company. 

We experience growing pains just like any company, the family members at Spark trying to remain optimistic and focused on our future endeavors.  We call it the "Spark Train" amongst each other.  People get on and people get off the train and no matter how tough of a day we've had, we have to keep chugging along.

Unless you own a business, you don't quite realize the blood, sweat and tears that goes into making it a success.  You have to be all in - 'go big or go home' as they say.  But with that drive, all of us realize that we are human and honestly, just plain tired.  Really tired.  We have families, children, grandchildren and friends who need our attention just as much as the clients we serve (thank you!).

And then one of us shares a conversation with an elated bride who just received her wedding stationery.  It is the best thing in the world to know that she is happy and that your work really paid off.  We share her enthusiasm with each other, our employees and families  - everyone on that fast train of ours.

We recently opened a store just a couple weeks ago (yes, we're crazy) and it is SO good for us to see the other side of story.  As many of you know, we sell our stationery in over 100 retail stores around the country.  Our own retail experience humbles us a bit because we are quickly understanding what it is like for retailers.  (To start, none of us has ever used a cash register!)  Of course, we've only been open a couple weeks and most people haven't figured out where we are yet...BUT, it's all good.  :-)  We're ready and waiting for our local and not so local clients to walk through our doors!

The picture in this post is our Carter announcement atop our baby press that we have at our store.  Carter was created for the original albums.  Carter and the baby press reminds us where we've been, of the people who have passed through our doors, of what lays ahead.

Right now, we are all taking a deep breath in and preparing ourselves for our next stop.  Thank you to each of you for your support, we don't say that enough!