Winners!

Those of you who follow us on Twitter will know that recently our Managing Director and founder, Jane, has been recognised by British businesswoman, Jacqueline Gold CBE, for her success as a female entrepreneur. We’re delighted!

Jane and Jonny’s Sister were one of three winners selected by Jacqueline after she entered ‘Women on Wednesday’ – a competition launched by Jacqueline in 2011 to celebrate the growing number of UK female entrepreneurs and businesswomen.

Jacqueline said ‘Jonny’s Sister has a handmade, authentic feel to the company and the extensiveness of the product range caters for a wide range of occasions. Personalised products are becoming increasingly more popular and all of the products on Jonny’s Sister website make for a brilliant gift idea!’

When selecting the winners, Jacqueline looks for businesses that are interesting, that have strong brand values and that she thinks have potential to grow and succeed in their industry. She looks for quality products and services, well designed websites and entrepreneurs who demonstrate good business acumen and who have spotted a gap in the market.

We’re a proud bunch at Jonny’s Sister and everyone here is beyond excited about the accolade, just check out the photo below!

Top Drawer Trade Show

It’s all go at the moment in the office with Jane and myself getting ready for Top Drawer, just to add, the first trade show we have ever done, no pressure…! 

Jane and John left shortly after 10:30, not quite the 9am they were planning! Everything all prepped and boxed up in the van, how much easier it is planning for Top Drawer rather than the Spirit of Christmas, no stock needed, one of each product, and then just the two of us. 

The first of the pictures I started receiving from Jane, it definitely didn’t look like much when I received this…

Getting there… It’s easy from where I’m sat, at my desk at HQ!

Nearly there…don’t think I’ll mention it sloping along the top!

Think they both deserve the next picture I received…

and it’s complete, rather impressed for the first show this year hopefully many more to come. 

Sunday morning I catch the train up to get ready for the next three days, meeting new potential customers, putting names to faces and looking for new products ourselves. Doesn’t sound like we are going to stop. It is a great show to network with people and really make the most of new products we have available.

Staying in London really adds to the show as I get to catch up with friends that live there, it is so different to where I live, we can actually socialise after 9pm and there are bars and restaurants open! It really makes you feel refreshed for the next day, or not! 

Breaking down after the show is something I have never done before, so I will describe it in one word…easypeasy, not quite one word but so much easier than the Spirit of Christmas breakdown!

Again we have managed to bump into our Spirit of Christmas friends and have brief catch ups before we must all head home, back to HQ’s and to crack on with the workload we have brought back!

-Shannon 

Spirit of Christmas 2015

We all know at JS that Christmas has approached once we attend the Spirit of Christmas show in Olympia, London. 

Whether you attend Spirit of Christmas for the food and wine, a social event, or to start the christmas shop, the week long fair has all of the above!

So Jane and John head off from our Somerset studio to hit the road, early should I say! It’s all go once we get to Olympia, vans pulling in from everywhere, boxes being unloaded, the odd fragile box you hear drop… We leave the stand looking like we aren’t going to be ready for the Monday and that the week is going to be an utter disaster.

Sunday is when I (Shannon) come along, I get the long straw for setting up! Pricing products and making the garland look ‘pretty’. The Sunday flies by as does everyday when we are exhibiting, but, ta dah the stand is complete, so the week commences!

On the Thursday it is late night shopping, the day still seems to fly by even when it closes at 8pm. This is the night I manage to escape from the stand and check out the show, need I say more when Lily, from Branche D’Olive and I end up sampling the upstairs which is of course, the alcohol…!

The whole show this year was a complete success, it was our second biggest year since we have been attending and that’s been quite a few years. It was such great fun, meeting repeat customers, new customers and also networking with other businesses, what more could we want. We have the lovely ‘Branche D’Olive’ opposite us, ‘Helen Moore’ to the right and ‘Carina Hildebrandt’ just around the corner, such a fun and festive atmosphere!

We hope you have a lovely Christmas from us all at Jonny’s Sister and hope to see you at next year’s Spirit of Christmas! 

-Shannon

New JS Staff

Since the last blog we posted we had the likes of, Lisa, Leanne and Martha working for us. A lot has changed since then, their choice to leave though, not ours! They have all taken the next steps in their careers, Lisa has gone into admin in a school, Leanne has gone to a college working in admin and Martha is doing a university degree. All three of them started at Jonny’s Sister doing an apprenticeship in business and administration. 

(Clockwise- Alec, Shannon (ME!), Martha, Leanne, Lisa and Lara) 

Although they are all sadly missed at JS we have employed some newbies! It started with Becky, then Emma, Katie and Rhiannon. Here’s a little bit about them;

Becky is our chief despatch person! She is in charge of despatching all items on time and making sure they are sent out in a JS standard state, poor Becky as we have such high standards!

Emma is our new admin team member! She has office experience and is a whizz at speaking to customers on the phone, she deals with the order management making sure everything is with the correct suppliers and being despatched on time.

Katie is another new admin team member! She used to work at TESCO dealing with the charity events that happened in her local store. She is a very bubbly person and was chucked in the deep end when she joined about 6 weeks before Christmas! 

Rhiannon is a new studio member! She finished her design degree in summer just gone and is super talented with her work, although she doesn’t say so herself! At JS she works on the production of orders that are done in house and new product development. 

So there you have it, a quick introduction to our new JS members. There are still the three of us from the old team, Alec, Lara and Me, oh and don’t forget Jane, John and the dogs! 

-Shannon

100 Days Til Christmas!

It's that time again, Christmas is on it's way! With only 100 days until the big day (which to some people may seem like an age), the festivities are in full swing here at Jonny's Sister HQ. The temporary Christmas elves are in training, the kitchen table is full of treats, and the Christmas sack orders are flying in..

As we are all feeling super prepared, we have put together a list of our top Crimbo picks for those of you who are too!

1. Reindeer Mug
Last year we introduced these festive little mugs to our enamelware range. They can be personalised with the name of your choice, with the wording matching Rudolf's nose. They are perfect for those cosy winter evenings spent tucked up with a cup of something warm!

2. Cream Cake Tin
These tins are the newest addition to our cake tin range, perfect for budding bakers with a flare for something colourful! The wording is painted in the colour of your choice, from cherry pie to our popular metallic shades, you are sure to find something to suit your kitchen! Why not treat your Granny to an extra special tin to fill with mince pies?

3. Christmas Sack
It isn't Christmas here at Jonny's Sister without the sound of people shouting about Rudolf's nose (or no nose!). This is the 5th year of the Christmas sack, and they are now going stronger than ever! Perfect for small children and adults alike, we even do a Christmas sack for your favourite pampered pooch or pussy cat!

4. Wool Dog

What perfect stocking fillers these little wool dogs are; filled with lavender, they are sure to make your bedroom smell divine! You can personalise the collar with a special message, followed by one of our festive Christmas symbols- we love Santa's sleigh!

5. Man Tin

Last but not least, why not treat the man in your life to one of our personalised Man Tins? They can be funny, factual, or just plain personal; these tins can be filled with all of his 'man stuff'!

We can't believe how quickly time is flying here at JS, soon it will be December 1st and the countdown truly will begin! Are you getting ready for Christmas? We'd love to hear how you're preparing for the holiday season!

Father's Day is on it's Way!

A big hello from the Jonny’s Sister team! Before you know it, Father’s Day will be just around the corner, and boy have we been busy. For the past month we have been working non-stop on creating a new range of products for our customers and their Daddy’s; head on over to our website for more details.

These ‘Best At’ tins are perfect for little ones who think that their daddy is the best; you can include their greatest talent, or simply that they are the best at everything!

We love these personalised ‘Checklist’ tins too! Here you can list everything that your daddy is good at, from cleaning Hammy’s cage to making the yummiest pancakes; you name it!

But that’s not all, we have a whole range of Father’s Day gift ideas, so why not head over to our Father’s Day section now? 

Spirit of Christmas 2014

Last week Jane and Shannon went up to London to be a part of the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Olympia... and gosh did they enjoy themselves! With Christmassy music playing, the hustle and bustle of those organised shoppers and with a secret stash of Celebrations behind the stand, they came back on Monday and brought the festive spirit with them!

For those of you who haven’t heard of Spirit of Christmas, it is a large fair made up of hundreds of small boutique retailers (such as ourselves) offering original gifts and quirky Christmas ideas to thousands of shoppers. Due to sheer size of Olympia, in our opinion you would need a couple of days to take everything in, but would definitely recommend a trip in 2015!

Like many previous years, this year did not disappoint and we did very well at Spirit; not only did we get a chance to meet other companies alike, but we got the opportunity to sell directly to customers which isn’t something we get to do very often! The weeks coming up to Spirit are always busy, making booklets, finalising new products, getting excited whilst freaking out, but we love it none the less. 

Bring on next year is all we can say!

A message from Jane: 

As always Spirit of Christmas is a great way to meet our customers and to get a feel for what products they like best. Each year we have some tickets to give away as prizes in a competition that we usually run mid October time. Make sure you keep checking your in box for details as it is a great show for visitors as well as exhibitors! 

Happy National Dessert Day!

Although it seems that every day is a ‘national’ something or other, we felt that National Dessert Day was a fabulous day to celebrate! Here at Jonny’s Sister HQ we have all been shopping (too busy for baking!) and filled the office with treats. Cakes, cookies, tarts and swirls everywhere, it looks like it’s going to be a happy Tuesday for everyone!

Christmas: 83 days to go

83 days ‘til Christmas. Let the games begin! If we’ve learnt anything over the past 9 years, it’s that Christmas starts in October here at Jonny’s Sister. Although it comes at the same time each year and no matter how much we like to try and prepare ourselves, we’re never ready!

With 20 days and counting, we’re soon to be moving our studio to a new location (blog post on the way- keep your eyes peeled!). At Christmas we have our lovely little handmade gifts coming out of our ears and are sick of the sound of jingle bells by December 1^st. But this year we will be ready. Although October has only just begun we have already started preparing; finalising our exclusive Christmas range, mass producing gift cards and gathering the troops!

Here are a few shots from last year- look at poor old postie trying to squeeze those all prezzies in!

With just over a week to go until Mother's Day, we have been very busy at HQ with new products flying in from all over the place. (Not all live yet so keep posted!) 

From personalised cake tins, teapots, garden trugs, tea towels, cushions, you name it we have it!

Check out our website www.jonnyssister.co.uk

Jonny's Sister-2013- What a year...

Check out the year we had in 2013!!

Looking back on 2013 it felt like it flew by with nothing major happening. Yet when we asked around the office for blog contributions to see what we had done, it seems that we did loads! So here is a brief run down…

January saw Hannah & Shannon off to London for a jolly as a big thank you 
for their hard work over Christmas

February saw us successfully fight off someone who tried to clone our company

March saw us drawing up plans for the new studio

April saw the filming begin for our first ever video

May saw us designing our first product that would totally bomb!

June saw Hannah gain her apprenticeship NVQ level 3 in business administration

July saw our company video finally go live

August saw our new studio finally finished and ready to move into

September saw Jane going to 10 Downing St as part of a team to discuss small businesses

October saw us at Country Living and then straight on to Spirit of Christmas

November saw us pick up the ‘Best British Website Award’ from GWG in London

December saw the hugest and busiest Christmas we have ever had

WOW what a year!!

Famous for a day by Jane

The week before last I was invited up to 10 Downing Street as part of a team of small businesses to discuss ways that the government can help us. Apart from being hugely flattered, I had never been to Number 10 and was dying to see inside. After meeting up with everyone at the Horse Guards Hotel (lovely hotel so long as you don't get landed with the bill) we all trooped over to Number 10. We all felt very smug as we filed past all the tourists and through the gates, all desperately trying to look as though this was 'just another meeting with Dave'!

As you go through the door, you realise just what a huge building it is. Full of wonderful antique furniture and paintings. In fact in one room they have 2 Turners over a fireplace.

The meeting was very good, some excellent points were raised and we really felt that they were listening. After the meeting we had a tour of the place which was a mixture of beautiful formal rooms and old rooms that hadn't seen a lick of paint since Gladstone.

We managed a pic outside with Daniel Korski (Special Adviser to the PM) which was good as we were originally told that it might not be possible. Sadly I look like Daniel's mother who dropped by on her way to the shops!

All in all a great day and fingers crossed that some of our suggestions are put into action.

Let Go Wild!

So this week amongst the Father's Day rush we took some time out to do something a little different...

Jane's brother, Jonny, has created a very unique and original drink called 'Wild'. It's kind of like a very classy and upmarket alcopop! The drink is a gin based sparkling cocktail infused with either elderflower, plum or sloe. As there are 5 under 20 year olds working at JS HQ at the moment, Jonny thought that it would be a good idea to do some market research on us. We agreed in a flash. To say that we liked a drink would be a bit of an understatement, 10 bottles later (and slightly giggly) we all came to the conclusion that it was our new favourite drink. Each flavour was unique and so refreshing, the elderflower tasted of a summers day in a beer garden, whilst the plum tasted of a night out. We are all very excited for these to be released into the bars and clubs of the UK and have our fingers tightly crossed for an invitation to the launch party (hint hint Jonny!).

So in the near future if you see a Wild on the shelf of your favourite bar or club, we highly recommend that you get one!

From left to right we have... Sloe, Elderflower and Plum!

Shannon, John, myself, Alec, Sam & Hollie enjoying the Wilds! 

The Apprentice... has come to Somerset

Hello, my name is Hannah and, along with Shannon, we make up team apprentice here at Jonny’s Sister. When most people envisage an apprentice they think of someone working in a large corporate company, constantly on coffee duty. Then after 6 months they are finally promoted to using the photocopier. However things are a little different here. There are 4 of us, so Shannon and I make up 50% of the workforce, although that doesn't count the dogs and the chickens. 

Shannon (left) & myself (right)

before cocktail sampling in London

Shannon (left) & myself (right)

before cocktail sampling in London

There are so many advantages of working in a small company, one of them being John makes the coffee! However, on a serious note because it is a small company we get to work in all areas of the business. From customer service, to stock control and PR to feeding the chickens we are constantly being exposed and gaining experience in all aspects of running a business.  We are encouraged to work to our strengths rather than continually trying to improve our weaker areas (although some jobs just have to be done!). This is great as it means we end up working not only in areas that we really like but, as a result, areas that we are strong in. Shannon and I are like a jigsaw, her strengths are my weaknesses, and my strengths are her weaknesses. We’ve only found this out by working in all the various areas.  This is great as it means that by the time we have finished our apprenticeship we will have a good idea of which line of business we want to work in.  Some people go to University and do courses that they have little or no knowledge of and then 3 years later and in their first job, realise that it is not for them.  We won’t be in this situation as we get exposed to EVERYTHING, and have already realised that some areas (like accounting) are just not for us! 

I've been a member of the team at Jonny’s Sister since April 2012, and an apprentice since June 2012. Already I have done 4 retail shows including the Spirit of Christmas. We’ve just had our busiest Christmas ever and although it was soooo stressful, it was great fun at the same time and we both learnt so much from it. Then in January we went up to London for 2 days to attend a trade show to get an idea of the trends for 2013 as well as checking out the trends on some new cocktails!

See ya soon!

Hannah x