The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
The past 6.5 years has been a whirlwind for ‘Beyond the Faerie Tree’, and at times the emotions entwined between the positives and the challenges have been a challenge of its own. As a business owner, you really learn to be adaptive and malleable, thrive on these moments and enjoy the ride.
An overview of the experiences includes starting a business, where we then opened our retail store and party faerie grotto (which was open for 2 years), to closing a retail store and going mobile. All the while, we continued to flutter to numerous parties, events, markets and fetes through rain or shine. A pandemic and finding our own way through being able to contact clients during lockdown (where we offered faerie phone calls and postponements after postponements), and then being unable to face paint on return to visiting parties. Starting my own family and at 6 months postpartum, I started fluttering out to parties again in the weekends, to operating a business in the wee hours while my little faerie sleeps.
It has always been a busy and ever-changing experience and one that taught me so much.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Running this business is woven with threads of magic and reality. The pros are vast – the joy of seeing children’s faces light up, the freedom to nurture our creativity, and the ability to share the enchantment of the faerie realm. However, there are moments of challenge too. As with all weekend work, you can find yourself pulled between a social/family life and a work one. Finding that all important balance of both really is what makes it possible.
Yet, every challenge is met with the knowledge that we’re creating cherished memories for families.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
The journey ‘Beyond the Faerie Tree’ continues to unfold. We dream of expanding our faerie team in order to be available for even more enchanting experiences with the families we visit. Our hope is to touch the hearts of more families, allowing them to step into a world of light and wonder with us.
Visit the Beyond the Faerie Tree website to find out more, and follow them on Facebook.
