I haven't made as much progress with the relaunch as I had hoped, but any progress is better than total stagnation, even if that progress is slow.
So, why the delay? I'll be honest and confess that it's partly due to procrastination and distraction, but it's also been caused by the need to juggle running a home alongside recovering from surgery. Surgery? Ah, yes, I haven't told you about that yet, have I?
So, at the beginning of April I was heading out to play a badminton match, when overwhelming pain in my gut meant I had to stop the car. My first call was to the team captain telling him I wouldn't make it to the match, my second was to my husband to come and collect me; rather than take me home though, he drove me to A&E. Admission to the ward was followed by a series of tests, then emergency surgery to remove a section of intestine that had died as a result of an internal hernia. The surgeon, surgical team, nursing staff, and other hospital personnel took amazing care of me, and I used the two weeks I was in hospital as time to reflect on what I wanted from life (I also spent a lot ot time sleeping, and coping with the hallucinations caused by the drugs I was on).
One of the things I realised during all that thinking time was that I wanted to restart Doodlebags. I've been an artist's model, sitting for portrait, sculpture, and life drawing since 2017, and it's become my full-time career, and whilst my work does involve a level of creative expression, it doesn't provide an outlet for design, or an opportunity to explore my love of fabrics. So, many of those hours lying in bed were spent planning how best to relaunch my brand.
The plan was to use my recovery time at home to build a new website and make products to market and sell; however, another two trips to A&E and two further week-long hospital stays during the month that followed caused an unexpected delay. So now, three months after my surgery, the relaunch of Doodlebags is not as far along as I had hoped it would be, but positive progress has been made:
- my sewing machine has its own workstation;
- more reclaimed fabrics have been sourced;
- buttons, and other fixings have been organised;
- the website, though incomplete, is live;
- Doodlebags' social media is being updated.
The major tasks that have yet to be tackled are reviewing product designs and making the final products; at the same time I need to continue investigating the best way to sell our products.
And, in case you're wondering why I often refer to "we" and "our", when Doodlebags was previously a one-woman enterprise: I'm delighted to announce that in the relaunch I will be joined by my youngest daughter, who will assist in the construction, pattern redesign, and introduction of any new products. I also hope to be able to showcase some of her own work and clothing designs in a dedicated section of the website.
It's taken three months to recover from the surgery and susequent health complications sufficietly to be able to go back to work (it may sound like a long time to recover from a bowel resection, but being an artist's model is very physical, requiring strength and stamina, and I was under strict instructions from my surgeon not to risk further issues by rushing back too soon). Much as I've enjoyed the luxury of unstructured days and the gift of unlimited time with my family, I am looking forward to return to a job I love. It does mean, though, that everything from this point on will need to be carried out between bookings, but in those gaps I will endeavour to prioritise Doodlebags over procrastination and distraction!