Working from Home

The face behind the brand.  Samantha at home on the West Coast of Scotland.  "Being able to work from home has been a wonderful way to run a business while still raising a family", Samantha says.  "Being there to nip to school and back and know I'm there for my girls (Betty and Scarlett) if they need me has been hugely important.  The boundaries do blur from time to time and it's hard to juggle, but my girls love being involved.  They've helped out with modelling, with drawing, with photo-editing, and most recently even helping me out with spreadsheets!  Their favourite job was helping me select our alpaca fur teddies and joining me at trade shows.  Scarlett was 11 weeks old when we went to a show in Denmark together.  We got stock in Copenhagen overnight when our flight was cancelled, but good old BMI put us up free of charge in the executive suite of the Hilton and with dinner thrown in.  You don't get compensation like that these days.

I have managed to contract out a lot work which some businesses try to manage in house.  The pandemic was good time to look at our systems, cut costs and make efficiencies and this has stood me in good stead this last few years. 

My office is in a separate part of the house, so I can close the door and get on, and I have a very loyal assisant who I couldn't cope without.  The other member of the team is Lola, my little sheep dog / poodle cross, who features regularly on my Instagram account!   Perfect office dog, but she likes to take me out for a good walk every day!