Page 2 - Getting Going

Hola all and thank you for returning for Page 2! 📖

I hope you enjoyed the first page of my journal and have little understanding of Naked Palm already. 

I thought I would hop forward a bit more and talk about the first week of being launched, as previously mentioned I went live with the website on November 4th 2021 and was blessed with my first sale within 3 hours. 

Launching the website was a really scary moment, virtually no one bar best friends and family knew what I was growing in my spare time. I had initially hoped to be able to launch the website during the lockdowns as I found people’s phone, online and social media activities were at all time high. Everyone was very pro supporting small, be that through purchasing or liking, commenting and sharing posts that you’ve spent hours to create and now get such little return on them (thanks Insta). But, prior to the now failing algorithm, instagram really was the place to be to launch your brand, it was very much a given that you would adopt a very good following, exposure and reach.

So, the website was fully created but inactive, Shopify has a really cool feature where you can deactivate your website and enable a password so anyone with the password can view the website as if it were live. This is how myself, the website developer and the graphic designer all managed to develop the website without It being publicly visible. The website was actually fully prepared a few weeks prior to launching but I just wanted to familiarise myself with the running and ordering processes on the platform and just figure out a few teething issues. 

In the meantime I spent ages writing an Instagram post for my own profile to announce my new venture and brand. Sat in our absolute wreck of a bungalow, (oh yeah, in the midst of setting up NP, Joe and I bought a complete run down property, fully gutted it and renovated it) watching and waiting for the washing machine cycle to end I finalised the post and once it looked ‘instagrammable’ I hit send! 

The response was incredible, so overwhelming and I could not thank each individual who sent lovely comments, messages and shared my website even further. Within a few hours my instagram following had grown to a fair few hundred and I was teary. 🥹

Each and everyone reached had given time to visit the website and the interaction was just, well left me speechless. I still remember launching the website so clearly, I really didn’t know what to expect, and I really am a ‘don’t get your hopes up’ kinda girl but the support network I had made the whole experience something so memorable and uplifting… and for that I am forever grateful. 

Once the washing machine cycle of the rancid reno clothes finished I set off home (luckily we didn’t live in this reno) with a massive grin strung ear to ear across my face and my phone still buzzing. I pulled up on the drive and responded to thank all of the continued support, showered and sat down to eat one of my fav cuisines, pizza, and that’s when my first sale pinged up! 

Shopify (who powers this website) has an admin app and every time you make a sale the app makes a ‘kerrr-chinggg’ type noise, obviously my first time hearing this noise I was unsure what to expect from the notification but there it sat and read ‘Naked Palm Jewellery has a new order’. Honestly to this day every time I hear or see that notification, I get the biggest grin, the biggest influx of stomach butterflies and a real relief of ‘it was all worth it’. 🦋 

My first sale was a real memorable moment for me, (whilst scoffing my celebratory pizza) I will never forget what sold; the White Topaz and Bamboo band ring in Sterling Silver, and I will never forget that customer for putting their faith in investing in my designs, jewellery and brand. Although I sincerely cherish this sale, I won’t lie every sale I get now (over 1 year down the line) I still react the same, full of happiness and gratefulness. 

Anyway, have you ever had anyone waffle on so much about their first few hours of launching their website? Nope! But I hope my realities throughout these blogs are / become relatable for others, and I hope to encourage anyone wanting to start their dream business too!
So far so I’ve made the set up and running of Naked Palm sound plain sailing, but truth be told it’s also had many lows! But I’m here for the raw reality of business so visit back for Page 3 where I discuss the many tears shed over the PACKAGING.

Thank you for making it this far through my rambling, 
Love, 

Toriee xx