QUEST FOR A BIRTHDAY WISH

As Small english is strolling into the fourth year of its existence, I thought I'd write up a few words to commemorate the fact that I have managed to keep my head above the water for 3 straight years. It has certainly not been easy. However, would that come as any surprise that running a self funded startup is not easy. Had I have to summarise my experience of the past 3 years in one word, it would be SURPRISING. I have been surprised countless amount of times on different spectrums.

I have drawn quite a few original illustrations for clients and released 10 editions of 27 original products on a tight ship with a few collaborators and one llama wearing many hats. A constantly surprised llama :D I could say so many things which have been said before that there is no rule book, you cannot predict all that much, the first three years are hectic and the odds of surviving are slim and yeah I want to quit at least once every quarter. All the drama aside, there's also plenty of good things happening such as working with clients who share similar views, serving customers who like what I have created and watching the company grow.

Getting back to that whole surprise thing, the most surprising was to me of how helpful so many people were. So many much bigger sharks decided to find time for me in order to share their insights which could possibly help to solve the problems I had; so many sharks came to rescue when yet another unexpected thing came my way and so many sharks cheered me on when I thought there was no reason for me to continue. Small english birthday month is pretty much fellow shark appreciation time for so many reasons. Mainly because without the support, me and my small time operation would not manage to be where we are now. My wish for Small english birthday is to have enough strength to continue going and I can only do that with the support of fellow sharks. And from one shark to another, Small english entered a partnership with Made Blue.

Made Blue is an organization which helps to provide access to clean water in the parts of the world where it is scarce. As from now, each purchase on the Small english webshop will provide 2000 liters of clean drinking water to people who have difficulty accessing it. Because no shark can be a shark without water.

Shall you wish to make donations directly to Made Blue, please see the information here.

All my love,

L.