We’re on a steep learning curve

Looking up a steep learning curve 

In spring 2018, we started to follow a steep learning curve, when Swizzle and friends started to take off as a business.

To start with, sales were limited when we started to produce beeswax wraps.

Initially, these did just have beeswax as the coating and while they helped prevent food from drying out, they didn’t stick to maintain a seal.

Over the months, these were developed with resin and jojoba oil included to add different qualities to the wraps.

Stepping up production 

And then, sales started to rise over the autumn and into winter, it was a challenge to keep up with demand.

As we made our way up the steep curve, processes were refined to improve efficiency. 

Gone were the days of heating the mixture in a water bath. Instead we were using an induction hob to maintain a steady temperature.

Gone were the days of using an iron to fix the mixture to the cotton material. Instead, we were using an iron press to increase production speed.

But while we could increase production speed, ultimately it would get to a point where we couldn’t produce any more with the resources at our disposal.

We needed to develop lines that did not involve more production time. This would mean establishing partnerships with similarly-minded people who produced plastic free products. 

Getting to know others

Establishing partnerships? Another steep learning curve. Having not come from any sort of sales background, this was all new territory.

Why would they join us? Well, because we have a website to promote the products. Website? Better get on that learning curve to help develop that as well.

Perhaps sub-contracting some of the work to free up time? But how to pay them and meet all our legal obligations. With the help of an accountant, we made progress on that steep curve.

We’ve got a ‘to do’ list and it’s not so little

There is so much to work out when you are developing your own business. While there is plenty of knowledge to access, it is not always obvious how to tap in to it. But we are trying.

There are certainly ups and downs along the way. What if the demand drops? How should we react to that? What happens when we get a negative review? How should we deal with that? How do we analyse all the different situations?

So many questions but the answers are out there

So many questions, but hopefully we’ll find the answers as we go along and perhaps that steep curve will start to level out as we gain experience.

It’s a big world out there and we are trying to make our way along the business development path, but it’s definitely a steep learning curve, but one of the advantages is that we can see how far we’ve climbed up that curve.