Category: Events

  • Royal Mail Strikes

    Royal Mail Strikes and their Impact on Small Business

    As many of you will be aware Royal Mail workers have chosen to strike for a large number of days. This is right in the middle of their busiest period. Royal Mail Strikes are causing a great deal of difficulty for all small business owners. I am not the only one and it is time somebody voiced the effects.

    Normally I hate to put out such negative content as this but this post really is intended to highlight the issues faced and if one other Small British Business owner feels like they aren’t alone then this was worth it.

    What are the effects of the Strikes on Businesses ?

    The effects of these strikes cuts far deeper for small business. Some of us made a conscious decision to use Royal Mail and are now paying greatly for it.

    Larger Businesses have maybe not just one but potentially teams of people to deal with each aspect. When you are one person, you do every role in your business from shipping to accounting to ordering or manufacturing. You are every piece of your business and this reflects back solely on you. As a result you no longer work 9 to 5, 5 days a week. In addition you have no steady income. The Christmas period should be time for you to get your head down, ship as many orders as you can and hopefully make it through the next couple of quiet months with the central heating on (but that is a whole other topic).

    Having to deal with an exceptional number of complaints due to the inadequate service provided by Royal Mail is adding a lot of time to my working day. I am not the only one, small business owners talk to small business owners. We strive to provide excellent service and are being let down greatly. Furthermore when raising complaints due to late/missing/lost/damaged parcels with Royal Mail we are ignored.

    Royal Mail Strikes reflect badly upon Small Business. In the eyes of our customers we have failed. We are the ones they complain to. Royal Mail does not care about the problems they have caused us. It is not their problem that we are having to work extra hours on top of extra hours to deal with problems of their creation.

    Can you just change to another service ?

    This would be great. Unfortunately as mentioned before when you do everything in a business and there is nobody else to take care of matters and the shipping is integrated into your website with supporting hardware… Not as easy. Combined with what is usually an annual peak in number of orders there just isn’t time to make a switch.

    Grizzly Wears has automated shipping. This means when an order is placed, labels are automatically queued for printing and billing. Something that was set up with the intention of regaining all important time. In addition this means another supplier must offer a similar service and allow labels to be printed in standard 4″ x 6″ format. In the UK this is not a widely offered service without paying a large premium. This is why changing service is not such an easy task and requires more effort than googling another service. To make matters worse there is little contingency if there are issues with the new service and little opportunity to roll back.

    An end to Royal Mail Strikes

    Royal Mail need to stop the impact to their service by any means necessary. Whether it is coming to a deal with workers who are striking or letting them go. Currently we are heading for a recession in the UK. With cost of living prices at an all time high people are struggling to pay the bills each month. I see both sides of the argument but currently feel like if you have a job and steady income you should be grateful for this. Maybe you won’t be able to afford the luxuries you enjoyed as often but priority needs to be given to certain expenses.

    If you don’t like the terms and conditions from your employer or find that work/life balance is not right then you need to be looking for a different job. Having been in this situation several times I know it can be hard. Make time to clear your mind. Learn new skills. Improve yourself. Start looking and applying for other jobs and opportunities to improve. Do not stay in a job you are fundamentally miserable in. Ask for help and seek support if you have to.

    A Conclusion to my thoughts on the Royal Mail Strikes

    These Royal Mail Strikes have greater impact than just Royal Mail. They are affecting everyone who pays for the service which is not being provided. Poor management of the situation is to blame in my eyes. Management so poor that many of the small businesses who rely on Royal Mail service would be bankrupt if they operated this way.

    Royal Mail – You have let down all of your customers and your workers at a time when you should be performing at your best. I find it hard to believe that you could not increase your workforce, pay generous overtime and manage the situation. As a company that has been operating for 506 years I would have thought the experience to deal with busy and difficult times would be present.

    Moving forwards I will be adding options for further postal services. I do not like to operate with single points of failure and feel I have been let down as a customer and let down my customers.

    Support Small British Business

    If you want to help me along my way, please check out my shop. If at all feasible I will hand deliver items locally, Alternatively you can come and see my items in person at my remaining events for this year.

    I’m sorry for all orders that have been and may be delayed at this time.

  • New Items for March 22

    New Items for March 2022

    Having so many new lines coming, out for testing, in development I thought it would be good to drop them all in one place. This is about Grizzly Wears new items for March.

    With the countdown to the National Running Show getting close, all of my effort has been diverted towards this. April’s update may be very similar !

    Running Gear

    When the opportunity came up to launch at the Running Show I took it. New items were already being tested and in the pipeline but this has given me a challenging deadline. As I write this the first batch of 100% recycled men’s tees is in production. Women’s will follow directly. Unfortunately I can’t provide all sizes and colours I ultimately want to due to lack of warehouse space so colours will be done on rotation and sizes will expand over time.

    Following on from testing we don’t think Bamboo has the properties required to be used for running. This does not mean our efforts have been wasted. Following on from the tests with Bamboo fabrics we have decided it would make a much better base layer.

    Mountain Bike Gear

    Following on from the running tees quickly, will be a long sleeve 100% recycled polyester top. The cut may not be perfect for riding but it will be an affordable, sustainable, versatile piece of clothing. Being in early development there are no current deadlines or dates but this may be developed through summer and released for autumn/winter.

    Boxer Shorts

    Boxer’s arrive April with production expected to complete this month. Upon arrival they will immediately be added to the website. All of this first batch will be blue with sizes ranging from S to XL. After nearly 5 months in design, prototyping and testing I am nearly there !

    New items for March

    Stay tuned for April’s update. Intention was to update this post throughout the month. I’ve decided now to just leave it to reflect back on. I will use these monthly updates as a way of building up a timeline !

    https://www.instagram.com/grizzlywears/

  • The National Running Show 2022

    The National Running Show 2022

    I may have mentioned once or twice that Grizzly Wears will be at the National Running Show South. As a small business and a fresh start up this is a big challenge and a big deal !

    For those of you who have not booked your tickets yet, head over to https://nationalrunningshow.com/south and use the code GRIZZLYWEARS at checkout to get your tickets free of charge. It would be great to see you there so come over, say hello, buy some of our awesome sustainable clothing and support me. Help me make the most of this show and lets have a great couple of days. I will be there all weekend, right by the main stage.

    https://www.instagram.com/grizzlywears/

    On with the Show

    When I booked the stand at the show, I definitely was not ready or prepared. As I write this there are only 64 days left before showtime. The last few weeks have been extremely busy. But I am on track. Being a fresh start up working on a new range of sustainable running clothing there was nothing in stock. There still isn’t on my website. On the plus side, the men’s t-shirts are being made as we speak. Boxer shorts are being made and will arrive on time. Women’s t-shirts, vests, and a couple other items have a slot booked in and will be here. I’m not entirely sure how I pulled this one off but now I have headroom and can relax a little.

    Furthermore, as a business that has nothing this is a big challenge, I need transport, hotels, helpers and all important stock. There is no experienced events planner here leading me to believe there will be a lot of lessons to take from this show. Either way I intend on making the best of it and hopefully doing a few more !

    What will Grizzly Wears have at the Show ?

    Grizzly Wears Clothing will have:

    • Men’s Boxer Shorts !
    • Men’s and Women’s running tees
    • Women’s racerback vests
    • Women’s crop t-shirts and hoodies
    • Some cotton t-shirts

    This is what I hope to definitely have available. I will try and think of some exciting competitions that don’t get me into trouble too. The last part of that sentence is the bit I am struggling with.

    Updates

    7th March

    Getting closer and closer, time is ticking away now. But definitely on track, Men’s products to be printed soon. Women’s are due to be ordered this week. I should definitely put some effort into making the show stand !

    15th March

    Waiting for first batch of clothing ready for the show, this will go live, test stuff has been sent to testers & ambassadors. still have that to-do list to blow through. Yesterday was busy busy. Today, I’m getting hydrated and going for a quick morning run to gain that productivity boost.

    Women’s stuff all here and in preparation.

    4th April

    So… I completely lost track of time and forgot to update this weekly !

    It has certainly been a busy few weeks. We have our men’s recycled running tees available, women’s is in progress. Boxers are in transit. I have loads of freebies and promo items ready for the show. It seems like times is getting tight but I am definitely on track. Most things are all in place and ready. I definitely need to make a stand though !

    18th April

    With less than 3 weeks to go I feel I am nearly there now. Everything is ordered and/or in transit. The show must go on !

    Somehow I feel like I have pulled back a little time and can relax a little. I definitely need to take a few more photos of items and get them put on the shop. Hopefully I can get round to this week. Currently I am waiting on other people getting things here on time so most things are out of my hands and I just need to remain positive. I’ll do this by running and riding in the nice weather.

    27th April

    Into the last 2 weeks before the show, 1 week before we need to start packing and getting ready to head down… I am very nearly ready, pulled everything I can think of together. Few final touches to things and some sorting to do but we should be ready to arrive and give 100% on the day. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong, I definitely need to get organised and get the counters finished. This was well underway at the weekend but I found some ducklings and had to rescue them so got a little behind. I’ll make the time up this week, get back on track and maybe even have some time to sleep.

    30th April

    One week today… I really need to get on with finishing everything off, thankfully the weather is sunny so I can get out and do some painting. All there is to do then is label everything, organise where it goes and load into van accordingly. I haven’t injured myself running or on the bike so just need to not do that now. I am totally on track for once. Hopefully no more wildlife in need of help turns up today. I believe everything is in hand and we will get to this show with everything in order and kindof planned for.

    If you see me at the Running Show, come and say hello. Hoping it will turn out to be a great weekend and although it wouldn’t be the worst thing to be rushed off my feet the whole time, it would be nice to see some more of the show. Later this week I will remove all stock from the website, If you wish to order anything online, now is probably the time.

    If you can’t make it to the show, here are the latest products which are available to buy in my online shop now:

    I will definitely add to this blog as the countdown to the show gets closer. And finally, there will be some awesome guides to running for you to read in the run up !