A Little Hello
I thought it was about time that I got round to actually writing the blog I’ve had “coming soon” for at least 3 months. So here we go…
Hi, I’m Linda, owner and everything behind The Grumpy Tortoise. I’m late 30’s (yet refuse to believe this I pretty much live in fandom clothing), married Mum to one amazing girl and 2 dogs.
So how did I end up running a small business?
Was my life goal growing up to run my own business? Nope, to be honest I never really had a life goal other than wanting to be a Mum. Did I ponder the idea a few times over the years? I did but I never really has an ‘ah ha’, I need to start a business moment. Instead, it kind of evolved naturally. I have always loved crafts and making things, I have a room full of craft equipment and I love being able to whip something up. Nathan (the husband) suggested one day that I opened an Etsy shop, his theory was if I made a bit of money on the side it could fund all the craft supplies I was going to buy anyway.
So in September 2019 The Grumpy Tortoise was born. Why did you name your shop the Grumpy Tortoise you ask?
Well, I didn’t want a shop name that constricted me to one type of product, as I mentioned before big crafter and I didn’t know what I would enjoy making. We were on holiday in Spain and I came across a grumpy tortoise teddy at a zoo we visited and that inspired the shop name. The teddy sits on my shelf in my office, I really should feature him more!
Roll on December 2022 and I had been running the shop a few years alongside my full-time corporate roll when I was unexpectedly made redundant. It seemed like that was the perfect time to have a go at running The Grumpy Tortoise full-time.
Has it been easy? No
Has it been easy? No
Has it been a success? Well, this depends on your definition of success, whilst it hasn’t been financially stable (at the moment!) it has been a success in a multitude of other ways.
Am I going to keep going and give it my all? Hell yes.
I have so many plans and ideas of where I want the shop to go and the type of products I want to sell, I still feel the shop is evolving at the moment but I’m so excited for the future and what it can bring.
Thank you for taking the time to read my little ramble, this is the first time I’ve written anything like this so I hope over time I will get a bit better at it.