Five years of Sniffing and Wagging

Five years in business as Sniff and Wag - Frogtastic! What an eventful, exciting, and exhausting five years it has been. But it's only when reminded by family that I really look back at our various adventures. I tend to be so focussed on making the present into a successful future that it's easy to overlook just how far we have come.

When I started, I just wanted to be one of the 20% of small businesses in the UK that make it through the first year, and that did feel like a real achievement.

We had a quiet spell in the middle when we had to decide how to go forward with printing the books - full colour printing in the UK is expensive, and I wanted to be sure that we could justify the print run. Five years on I am in the process of deciding on how soon we will need a print run ten times the size.

We have met so many amazing people, and made such good friends along the way. We have learnt more than we could ever imagine that we would need to know! And yet, it feels like the beginning.

Because now I have set my sights at achieving much larger goals, and starting to supply into one of the UK's top four supermarkets is the beginning of that strategy coming together.

Not everything we try falls into place - I worked hard to put myself forward to be the author of choice to promote the Lancashire Library big summer read, but without sucess. I worked with two other companies to put in a bid to the BBC children's tv for a pilot programme for under fives, and Frog Ted was our ambassador at the New York Licensing Show back in June, to showcase Frog the Dog to international licensing companies. There has been some interest from the far east, but this is a process that takes time, so we have put it to the back of our minds for now. None of these ventures would have seemed remotely possible five years ago, or even 18 months ago, but now, we tuck them away and see what else might be possible.

It's hard to listen to the news being so negative about the economy; but I am told over and again that it's those of us who keep going through the bad times that will make it through the other side. I CAN see the light and it's very bright - I'm going to be here in another five years. What's going to happen next?

Have fun!