My Buzz

#SBS has enabled me to make more contacts for my business than would otherwise be possible; it also lead to an interview with a local paper and contributed to more people contacting me directly.

My Bio

I have a BA Hons degree in Graphic Design specialising in illustration. I have worked as an in house artist for 3 years solely on designing Christmas cards and gift wrap for major high street stores in the UK. After this I worked for 2 years as the product manager for Card Connection Ltd; I left to freelance as an illustrator and intially also a design manager sourcing artists for a gift wrap company in Holland. I illustrated several children's board books for Ladybird, among other publishers and went on to design 100s of greeting cards for a variety of publishers. When we moved to Norfolk I continued to illustrate for a while alongside becoming an executive trader recruiting a team for Phoenix trading. I began to design my own hand painted children's gifts (and illustrate for Phoenix too) at around this time when my children were 2 and 4 yrs old. Moobaacluck was born and after a year or so of promoting my personalised hand painted range when out selling, Notonthehighstreet invited me to open a shop on their site - where I have been since January 2009. I still don't know how they found me! When Theo chose my business I had a site about what I did but it wasn't transactional; I now have a fully transactional site and am getting regular sales through it. Now I am working on building a second to become home to gabriellabuckingham.com for a new range in late 2012 if all goes to plan. I LOVE what I do.

My Business Tips

My motto has always been "where there is a will there is a way" , I try to remind myself of that when something seems overwhelming. Don't be afraid to try things, for me its been a way to discover what works and what doesn't. Theory isn't always enough, it is easy to believe what you think you should do rather than what YOU really should do. Follow your own path, if you try to hard to be like someone else you won't feel comfortable. Use your uniqueness to create a business that suits you. Really try and get on top of record keeping and following up leads from the start. Can you tell I am giving myself a talking to!?

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