The Diary of The Longest Stay - February 03 2016
This time next week I will be presenting at the United Nations. I can honestly say I am not yet fully prepared mentally or physically. Meaning I am not ready to be immersed in the New England cold and haven't accepted that there are going to be over 2,000 members of state sitting in the room. I don't think this is going to get any better in the next few days, in fact, it’ll probably heighten.
Speaking of cold, it hit me today when I walked into our office and the heater was off. T was out of the room so Georgina, bless her, managed to turn it on doing a small circus act impressing us with her flexibility. We don't have much space and between the cabinets, stock, desks and Donut's bed there isn't much room to negotiate anything so the heater is hidden and not in a place that one should have to climb into to turn on. But for now we live with it.
Today was one of those days were I felt I was managing a variety of things, so much so that my head was spinning. Whether I was chasing our accountant for company annual accounts, following up with potential investors, working on our business plan, dealing with a defected cabinet, interviewing marketing agencies, following up with several journalist requests, paying invoices, looking at CVs, trying to find a good printer to print fliers for Princess Nisreen El Hashmite's coffee paintings that we are displaying in Dubai at a conference, and helping support the team with any inquiries.
I got a break when we met with a top outdoor furniture company from The Netherlands who will hopefully be joining TLS soon. We will be uploading products in March so anyone thinking about their summer outdoor furniture this brand Oasiq is not to be missed. I love discovering new brands that no one else has, makes us unique.
Last night a client of ours was saying to me that our eclectic mix is the highlight of the site. Not just one look, but a little bit of everything and some serious brands. She prefers us to other sites she said. That made my day. The other thing that made my day is being told that a piece about The Longest Stay will be in FT How to Spend it shortly. The Ecquisitions section column that talks about high-end stores. How fabulous.
It is those day-to-day positive things that keep you going. So you may have 5 bad things but that one thing confirms you are on the right track. One bad thing was that an order we thought was processed wasn't and we are two weeks behind delivery date. So that means being very nice to our supplier and getting them to move any boulders blocking the way even if it wasn't our fault. You have to just get the result no matter what it takes.
One of our suppliers also told me how much they love this blog. Even wrote me "Best Blog Ever" email today. Whether she meant one in particular or just the whole theme of these diaries also made me smile. Another journalist told me they liked the vibe and how are we going to make this the tone of voice for TLS? I guess I need to get writing all the time!
Overall great day. Hope you are all having a good week.
