Blue Eyed Sun’s md, Jeremy Corner has a busy week planning for Harrogate Home & Gift and keeping on top of his varied projects
Monday
I’m up early most days and like to check in on my social media accounts while having my daily breakfast smoothie of bananas, oats, rice milk, a date and six almonds.
I post videos every weekend on The Greeting Card Project YouTube channel and I share them on various platforms over the course of the week. I also spend time sharing and commenting on posts by friends who create content online.
I head to our workshops in Burgess Hill and check in with our team to make sure everything is running to plan. We call customers daily and have a weekly Monday meeting to track sales, distribution and operations. We also monitor onions (complaints) and orchids (compliments) to ensure happy customers.
I check appointments, make my lists and crack through my important calls and tasks. In the evening I’ll go for a half hour run along Brighton beach before dinner. I’m a film buff so I might try and catch a good movie on Netflix after dinner.
Tuesday
This is usually a financial day for me, where I check reports, cash flow and set up payments. I search through the data for cost savings and further sales opportunities. I like to chunk out this type of work as it requires a different head space to the more creative tasks I love. Ideally I plough through it and am done by lunch.
In the afternoon I will work on developing new product with our designers and liaising with my production team to see how we can make it happen. I’ll also work on my blog and plan our monthly email shots so that they add good value to our retailers.
Late in the afternoon I’ll often have a session with my business coach who helps me work through anything that is holding me back. This helps me to focus on how to achieve my goals going forward. It’s not cheap, but investing in myself like this has been very beneficial for Blue Eyed Sun.
In the evening I like to read in bed. I just finished Hemingway’s Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises and am currently on a book about flow state called Stealing Fire.
Wednesday
This week I’m finishing my preparations for Home & Gift. I’ve done over 100 shows now and have a good system for it and great support from our team. I’m excited about the new collections we are launching in the Greetings & Stationery tent (GS-58) at Harrogate. I love our new Sew Delightful range, which is sneak previewing at the show.
Each week I get PR requests. Journos often come back to me because I’m quick and make it easy for them. This week I’m sharing my first ever podcast interview, with The Marketing Disenchanted Podcast. We talk about business, marketing and greeting cards. It’s a lot of fun. You can catch this interview and others with The Start Up Van on my blog.
On Wednesdays, I’ll often have a Giftware Association meeting in Birmingham (I’m currently vice-chairman) or a Greeting Card Association meeting in London (I’m treasurer) where I do what I can to support our community. I also advise and help new publishers on the Ladder Club Facebook group or at the annual seminars. I usually try and wedge in filming at shops for my YouTube channel when I travel.
At night I like to fall asleep listening to Alan Watts lectures on YouTube.
Thursday
In the morning I’ll practice yoga or go for another run. Then I sit down and work on my monthly column for Progressive Greetings and content for my blog. I also occasionally write for Garden Centre Review and Housewares Magazine. Thursday mornings are all about content creation and tracking projects.
I spend the rest of the day playing with my ten year old son, who is home schooled. We discuss ideas and projects we are working on together. Sometimes he helps me film or edit my YouTube channel.
In the evening we read together and at the moment are enjoying listening to Stephen Fry read the Harry Potter books on an Amazon Echo I was given recently. We read JK Rowling’s stories together a few years ago and both enjoyed them.
Friday
Friday mornings I’ll work on any talks I have coming up. I speak at Autumn Fair and Spring Fair on social media and I like to be well prepared. Occasionally I’m hired by companies like Sage to speak on personal development, business and marketing at international events, so invariably I’m working on a Keynote presentation on Friday mornings.
Catch my talk on “The digital high street is approaching; how to future-proof your retail business” on 9th September at Autumn Fair’s Inside Retail Theatre.
Friday afternoon is spent hanging out with my son. Sometimes we’ll go to the beach, sometimes we’ll go swimming in the river up at Barcombe Mill with friends. Some days we’ll go to a museum to explore, discover new things and have fun.
In the evening I’ll meet friends for dinner or go away for the weekend. You can often catch me at Twickenham or having fun with friends and family. My father died young and I learned that life is short. Life’s a lot better when we work to live rather than live to work.
