I am going to start a sustainable children's outerwear apparel business... there it is.... it's now official. I now need to take it forward and I thought I would take my faithful subscribers with me for the ride. I am nearly 47 and it's only recently that I truly started to believe that it's ok to change your mind in life especially when it comes to your career.
I have certainly done this in my life so far and now feel inspired to encourage others to do the same. You may feel stuck in a rut with your job or had children and want a change or have a dream of trying something completely different?
I started work as a nurse but feel that I just kind of fell into it because I was caring and came from a family of nurses. However, at 18 I don't think you have had enough practise at life and experience to know what you want to do. With the benefit of hindsight, working on ICU at the Northern General in Sheffield was one of the happiest times I had in my career.
After this I realised (after a long time....too long actually) that I was in a really rubbish marriage so I got divorced, had very little money as a single parent and decided it was a great time to re-train as a teacher....wrong! Well, not wrong for me now but at the time training in a year whilst working in a school and trying to be the best Mum I could was a baptism of fire to say the least! I look back and feel really guilty that I was constantly telling Millie, my daughter, that I just had one more lesson plan to do, the school laptop open constantly!
This may sound like a contradiction to what I have just said about having a go at something new but it turned out that the plan to be a teacher was poor timing on my behalf and a hard lesson in; yes have a go at something new but make sure you prepare well, have a plan A and a plan B. I have skipped those steps a few times and always land myself in hot water but fortunately my drive to try again and learn from my mistakes kept me powering through 😉
After eight years teaching experience, mainly as an Early Years lead, a moderator for Early Years settings in North Yorkshire and a Special Educational Needs Co ordinator, I left to set up my own Forest School business. I joke when I say I ran away to the woods but I'm sure if any of you are teachers or teaching assistants in school you will know the stresses and strains that school brings.
Covid-19 has brought the opportunity for some reflection time for all of us and with that
has bought change for me, a reset and a reconnect with Forest School and the 'why' I do what I do. I have read and listened to advice and information on growing and scaling a business and it's given me time to go back to the start with Grass Roots Muddy Boots and ask the most important question of all; Why am I in business? What motivates me? What do I believe in? When I started to answer these questions I became clear on my mission and could plan for where I go next.
My first question about my business was what if there is another spike in Covid-19 cases? Which I do think is inevitable and will continue until we have all got herd immunity so the sooner we adapt to living with the virus the better. If this is the case my business needs to pivot and adapt too. Secondly; How will the winter months affect the spread of the virus? If it is the same as flu then cases increase and Forest School may come to a halt again.
My answer was to set up a meaningful brand to hold hands with Forest School, supporting it by selling online direct to the customer. Why am I in business? because I want to make life a little bit better for children. Grass Roots Muddy boots makes a difference to children's lives, however small the wins are they are valued and the cumulative effect of lots of small wins is huge and has an impact that is real. My core values include: adventure, awareness, compassion, connection, courage, creativity, credibility, curiosity, determination, diversity, freedom, happiness, helpfulness, honesty, humour, inclusivity, joy, kindness, learning, love, loyalty, passion, quality, reliability, respect, safety, simplicity, sustainability, transparency, trust, understanding and value.
Extending these to a sustainable clothing brand seems quite natural, in that, I believe that children should be comfortable in the clothes that they play out in, that they should like the colours and feel of their clothes; which for some children with additional needs is the most important thing before they will go out of the door in the morning. Clothes should be purposeful for the outdoors; durable, warm, waterproof, easy for children to dress and undress themselves and have room to grow or swap for a different size when they grow out of them. They should also fit well. As adults, it is our responsibility to enable children to play out freely by providing purposeful, comfortable clothes that children are happy to wear. As we are the ones who buy children their clothes we should model how important it is to choose clothing that has been ethically sourced, where the business who sells the item knows the name of the person who made the pattern or that the person who sewed the fabric was paid fairly for their work. It is important to teach children that this item of clothing can be re-used, recycled, treasured, loved and it's a good thing to pass it on to others. Children are the trustees of our planet and it is our responsibility to model humility, respect, kindness, love and empathy for others that make our clothes and for our future planet that we all share.
My goal is that Atta Sustainable Outerwear for Children will deliver all the above in small steps but cumulatively will make life a little bit better for children. So thank you for taking the time to read this, you are one of the first to know and hope that you will join me on this latest adventure.
Sally x
