Saturday, 29 September 2012

Ladder Club - Leigh on Sea - September 27 & 28 2012

 

Letter to Lynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery whose brainchild is The Ladder Club, set up by Lynn to help new greeting card publishers.

Dear Lynn


I had such a wonderful time at the ladder club seminar and took away such valuable information that I thought I would write to you straight away to say a BIG THANK YOU. As a second time laddette, it was even better for me than last year - mostly because last year I hardly knew anyone but this time, walking into the bar on the Thursday evening for the pre dinner drink, I immediately saw other ladder club members that I had got to know last year  and others that I met at PG Live. The general consensus was how fast the year had gone and, as most of us launched our fledgling publishing companies at PG Live, a mere four months ago, how far in that short time we had come.

It was with great excitement that I woke up on the Friday, eager for all the nuggets of information and wisdom that would be coming my way. And I wasn't disappointed. As you know, initially I was worried that, with the same speakers as last year, there may be repetition. Well, there was a tiny bit,  but the bit there was was well worth hearing again. Claire and Karen of Paper Salad entertained and frightened me in equal measure, by giving a realistic and white knuckle account of what it is like to land a major retailer. Jeremy Corner from Blue Eyed Sun reiterated his famous  SMART goals which was really useful and seemed even more relevant to my business this year. Particularly, as the Specific part of it was to increase turnover from 10K to 100K!  Imagining my ideal day/week and ensuring a work/life balance is a valuable exercise and one that does no harm to air again. I love the "looking back from perfect" and making sure the main thing you like and enjoy doing is the main thing you actually do.  Jeremy is just so brilliant at getting down to the nitty gritty of running a business and what makes it a success and his pearls of wisdom kept on coming; I really could sit and listen to him all day.. But move on we did. I am so glad Soula Zavacopoulos from The London Studio overcame her nerves as she gave such a useful and thought provoking talk on social media, and was full of useful tips for increasing our brand awareness and getting ourselves known in all the right place - advice which I intend to put into practise asap. The usual suspects were there with their advice and help with printing and paper and having Jakki and Warren from Progressive Greetings and Sharon from the GCA just completes this circle of fine people.

Without any exaggeration, being at the Ladder Club feels like being a member of a close and loving family and we all have you to thank for that. You are quick to praise everyone else, Pauline and Trudi for their hard work, undeniable, Bob Short from The Imaging Centre and Steve Summers from Sherwood Press for their support and help, Mark and Janet from GF Smith for their generosity, again all undeniable, but it is you who have brought this all together and without you the whole shebang would not happen. You are a star! and in my view the matriach of the greeting card industry.
Love from Nina Green

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