Planuary
A new year means a new start for your business, whether you’re setting up from scratch or simply need to reflect and reset. 2024 is the year to make those small business dreams come true. All you need is a strong strategic plan!
This January, Hobbycraft Plus hosted a weeklong small business bootcamp, designed to get you thinking ahead and feeling ready to conquer 2024. Each day a free lunchtime webinar featured the best independent experts to help you up your small business game.
If you missed joining the sessions live, don’t worry – you can watch them all on the links below!
Monday 15th January @ 12pm
2024 Trends & Strategy Planning
Planning for the year ahead can feel daunting but it really doesn’t have to be!
Having a strategy for your small business can be a game-changer. It not only keeps you on track and focused, but it can also help with your marketing and PR efforts, bringing your brand all the exposure and sales it deserves.
Join Katherine Paterson, Customer Director of Hobbycraft, and Nerrisa Pratt, Founder of Untld Project, as they talk 2024 trends and plotting out the year ahead with strategy.
Tuesday 16th January @ 12pm
Branding Your Business
In this session, we’ll be making sure your business has all the right ingredients for a delicious branding pie!
Gain a deeper understanding of the foundations of effective branding. From refining your brand strategy to ensuring your product is strategically positioned and creating a brand identity that oozes your personality, this seminar will cover it all.
Come for a fun-filled branding session, sprinkled with a few food analogies. Let’s cook up a unique branding pie that'll have everyone craving a slice. Ready to make your brand irresistible?
Speaker: Aiza Cheung – Studio Coya
Wednesday 17th January @ 12pm
Pinterest 101
Pinterest is an incredibly powerful marketing tool, but it's still so underutilised by creatives. In this session, you'll learn the basics of Pinterest marketing so you can get yourself set up to win with your pins and get more eyes on your brilliant business.
Speaker: Rachel Waring – Rachel Emma Waring
Thursday 18th January @ 12pm
How to Get Stocked in Shops
This talk will break down exactly what wholesale is and the different ways to sell to shops, helping you understand if wholesale is the right choice for your business. You’ll also have an introduction to what retailers expect and how to set your prices.
Catalogue or line sheet? Discover what the difference is and why you need them! Plus, get expert insight on what to include in your email pitch to retailers, as well as advice on how to find the right ones for your brand.
Speaker: Therese Oertenblad – Small Business Collaborative
Friday 19th January @ 12pm
Live Q&A
Join us live on Instagram for our Live Q&A!
Ask experts from Katherine Paterson (Hobbycraft), Nerrisa Pratt (Untld Project), Aiza Cheung (Studio Coya), Rachel Waring (Rachel Emma Waring) and Therese Ortenblad (Small Business Collaborative) anything you’ve ever wanted to know about running a small business.
Starting at 12pm, we’ll be ready to tackle your questions and give you all the knowledge you need to get ahead of the game in your small business for 2024.
More about our speakers
Katherine Paterson
Katherine has been Customer Director at Hobbycraft since 2012 and is accountable for marketing and brand, the Hobbycraft Club and our ecommerce business. Katherine joined Hobbycraft from B&Q where she was Executive Marketing Director, and has previously worked at ASDA and Mars Inc. across a number of marketing, customer and sales roles.
Katherine is a self-confessed baking and cake-eating enthusiast – ideal for life at Hobbycraft!
Nerrisa Pratt
A craft enthusiast, Nerrisa Pratt is the founder of Untld Project and lives and breathes independent business.
She likes to stay busy and also runs The Bargello Edit, offering retro-inspired craft kits for the modern maker. She published her debut craft title ‘Bargello’ with Quadrille in 2021, and any spare time she has is filled with her role as a freelance creative content maker.
She has worked with various brands including Hobbycraft, Cricut, PFAFF, IKEA and The Range.
Aiza Cheung
Founder and brand designer at Studio Coya, Aiza designs mouth-watering branding that oozes irresistible personality. Everything she designs is built on a solid strategic foundation.
Rachel Waring
Rachel is a creative marketing consultant, helping small business owners blend creativity and strategy to show up and stand out online.
Therese Oertenblad
Therese Oertenblad from Small Business Collaborative has been in the home and gift industry for 15 years. Since 2018, she’s been working with product-based business owners who want to grow their wholesale and create a powerful, consistent income stream for their businesses.
Her clients include Studio Wald, Claude & Co, Etta Loves, Hello Day Planner and more. Many are now stocked in Liberty, Selfridges, Oliver Bonas, Anthropologie and independent stores in the UK and abroad.
Therese is on the National Committee for The Giftware Association and she hosts Let’s Talk Shop, a seasonal business podcast sharing industry-specific business advice.
