If you are anything like me, reaching the end of 2024 feels like quite an achievement. Saying the year 2025 seems big, really big. During this period, so much has happened on a global scale of course.
In fact an entire quarter of a century has passed since the ominous Y2K period, but what is really scary is this. We are now employing people who weren’t even born in they year 2000 when we were all worried the entire global technological and economic system would collapse overnight… (it didn’t do that until 2024, and somehow we’re all still here to tell the story)!
December always seems like a crazy rush to the end for me… while many people are looking forward to a well-earned break, we are ramping up. We are planning for the impending rush up to the 24th, when people crash through our doors with a dazed look on their faces, hoping we still have one last scrap of wrapping paper and that our sticky tape hasn’t run out.
It’s a crazy but super fun time of the year for those in retail like us, it’s a month where all the planning and preparation comes to fruition, and of course we always love to see the kids and Dads that only stumble through our doors once or twice a year too!
I thought I’d use this month’s musing to reflect on the year that was. I jumped online and had a look at our previous articles, and what a varied range of topics we have covered together! From a fabulous Women in Business feature back in March, a “how to” Holiday Packing guide in May, through to sharing the Story of how Ant and I became the proud owners of Meg + Me in June.
July’s Musing saw us share a wrap up of our first Shop Takeover event, where we transformed our retail space for one day to create a Pre-Loved Clothing Sale event, while in August I was clearly being influenced by the increase in Personal Colour Analysis posts online so we talked “Seasonal Colours” together! In September I took you all on a journey of how I Spring Clean my wardrobe, which although it doesn’t sound all that engaging, it really resonated with a lot of you!
In October I discussed the importance of supporting Small business, especially in regional areas. This too struck a chord with many readers, as we all appreciate how different life would be without the hardworking families providing the unique array of businesses in our towns.
November was a big month for me on both a business and personal level, so I put my pen down and regrouped, unfortunately missing my opportunity to share a Musing with you.
Let me tell you, it didn’t go unnoticed! I have been spending a few extra days “on the floor” in the shop lately, and I cannot tell you how many times I heard “What happened to you last month? The first thing I do when I pick up the magazine is look for your article!” Point taken. I will try not to let the team down again!
So as I sit here, with the cicadas heralding the cessation of Spring and the shift into Summer, I look am looking forward to the year ahead.
What will it look like for those in business, who knows? But what I can guarantee is, that for all those of us in business we will continue to push and grow, to challenge and change according to what’s needed at the time.
Together we will fight to stay relevant amidst a shifting landscape of technology and the economy, and we will try to always do it with a smile.
But until we face 2025 and all that will come with that, we will soak up the sun, the fun and the vibrance of our fabulous piece of the coast, and look forward to supporting each other through all the inevitable ups and downs that will come our way.
Together, we’ve got this!
