2020 started off with such promise....

I was really excited with the start of the new year and decade of 2020.

2019 was a particularly challenging year for Joolzery, and I thought any year would be better than that one.

How wrong was I?

We are now in the 5th week of lockdown in the UK, due this pandemic commonly known as Coronavirus or Covid 19.

On the whole things really has not changed too much for me, well apart from not taking part in the usual habdmade craft markets that are usually starting to pick up at this time of the year.

I started the year planning which handmade markets I wanted to take part in, and duely and diligently applied for the usual suspects along with a few new ones, in different geographical regions to get the Joolzery brand out there.

Majority of them responded with the generic response, informing me that I had not selected due to the level and number of applictants, but would be added to the waiting list.

After the first rejection I just took it in my stride, and took the approach, what's meant for me will not pass me by!

Then this Coronavirus thing started gaining some momentum, and I was in two minds as to whether I would attend the only handmade market I had booked on, Ness Gardens Spring Market on the 15th March 2020.

As it so happens I took the chance, and turned up.  A few stallholders had cancelled meaning the market was smaller, which obviously meant less competition for me, and all in all I had a really good day.

Little did I know that, that may well be my last handmade market for awhile.

Over the next few weeks, all those markets that had rejected me, started cancelling their events, and not giving refunds.  I bet that that would cause a lot of stress for those who had paid!

In the leading weeks of the lockdown due to the Coronavirus I went through so many emotions and feelings and the business, trying to deal with this pandemic as it unfolded.

This is what I would have to say are my 3 stages of Pandemic Response:

 

April 25, 2020