Celebrating 1 Year as a Small Business
There were so many moments when I never thought I would be celebrating one year!
Learning about business has been so fun and so challenging.
I began this journey trying to save corks from a landfill w full support of my husband. He would let me try to sell my “plant art” in his store and provided me with boxes upon boxes of corks that were taken out of bottles at his local redemption center. It truly was heartbreaking to see how many of these little corks added up to a whole lot of garbage. I think the saddest part was that all of the corks were brand new- so to speak. Literally, I’d imagine myself just uncorking a bottle of wine for dinner, taking out the cork, tossing it in the garbage, and replacing it with a reusable rubber one that was easier to get in and out of the bottle. (We can call that easy access to my vice lol). I couldn’t have done any of this without the opportunity that you have provided me Dave. You are an amazing Husband. Thank you to the Damon family for believing and supporting me through this journey. I still am not sure how Dave and I are so lucky to have met you all, but from day one, we all just clicked. You have given Dave and I wings with our dreams and for that, we are both forever grateful.
The cork and air plant idea turned out to be rather popular and continued to sell, even today. Such a cool feeling to visit homes for my children‘s play dates and see my ”plant art” magnetically hung on their fridge. I cannot tell you how much I LOVED when an online purchaser would text or message me with a pic of their “plant art” styled in their home or office. Selling your art work (plants added or not) is such an emotional investment. It’s becomes a passion of yours, making it, prepping it, selling it- and the reactions to the work can be really “all over the place.” Most of the time, I will say that the reactions for certain pieces are what I least expected. I think that’s the fun part about business.. That factor of unpredictability really keeps it interesting and keeps you on your toes. For a one Woman led, small family business, it is a lot to take in and take on- but every second of it was absolutely enjoyable because at the end of each purchase & creation, the smile of the customer or the feeling of happiness that it brought that person was the most enjoyable part of it all.
The overall feeling of our community‘s support has kept “Made” going for a year now. Maine friends of ours & acquaintances throughout the 5/6 years that we have lived in the Bangor area have supported us in so many different ways. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to everyone in our local community.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU x a million and more…
Thank you to everyone who supported me so that I can keep creating. It has brought me so much Joy.
To show our appreciation, we will be announcing a few fun give-always for
Damon’s Beverage & Redemption
GRAND OPENING
@ their Beautiful, NEW location:
700 HOGAN RD
April 8-10
We will also be attending with a full inventory:
Bangor On Tap this year!
April 2
10am -8pm
@ The Cross Insurance Center
Hope to see you all soon! More details to come.
Xoxoxoxo Kates
PS- Kates was the nickname one of my favorite Uncles called me throughout my life.
May he always RIP. We miss you Uncle Ed.
These are some of our creations throughout the year.