Meaningful Milestones: How to Bring Your Business to Life

W&D Product


I don’t mean to go Kenny Chesney on everyone (I blame my years in Iowa for this), but he wasn’t kidding when he sang “Don’t Blink.” I swear, what feels like five minutes ago I was schlepping boxes upon boxes as I moved into my very first studio, figuratively sitting on a lump sum of credit card debt, questioning every decision I’d ever made up to that moment. Like, “why tf did I think it was a good idea to quit my job to launch my own business?” Then what feels like milliseconds later, I awaken to the noise of two babies crying my name. After settling the chaos, I get ready for another day of work in the same white-walled studio I moved into two years prior. Except now, six talented women fill the seats behind rows of desks. And even better, all of the fears, doubts, and questions that consumed my young mind are forgotten, and now something of the past.

Of course, it isn’t that simple, or simple at all. The 22 interim months between then and now were hard, and with each new milestone reached, came its own set of peaks and valleys; each seemingly steeper than the last.

As you may have caught on the blog or while scrolling through your IG feed, a long-long-time dream of mine recently came to fruition: the launch of shopwitanddelight.com. This milestone is a monumental one in particular for it marks Wit & Delight’s official debut into the real world, stepping outside of the digital world where W&D has comfortably resided for the last nine years.

For the first time, Wit & Delight is presenting its own array of products, offering tangible goods to the loyal readers and friends we’ve met along the way. While this milestone is a huge dream of mine, all at once I feel like I’m back at square one with the brand I spent almost a decade working on. Except this time instead of wondering if anyone will read our site, I am wondering if anyone will want to use what we made! That feeling of discomfort that once used to terrify me now signifies an important milestone: it never gets easier to start a business. Even if you’ve built one before. This feeling means you accomplished the most important first step, which is to put yourself out there.

With that fresh fear keeping me up at night and in efforts of keeping our cool IRL, the team knew we needed to explore new mediums for communicating with customers; specifically, paper materials to be included in shipments. These seemingly minimal tokens of appreciation and thank you notes would play a key role in establishing trust and credibility with our customers early on and could not be overlooked.

After several ideation sessions plus a little prototyping, we learned our biggest feat wouldn’t be the actual designs, but rather the execution required to print said goods. My first instinct was to tackle the job in-house, our typical plan of action to cut costs. The joke was on me because there was no way in hell our studio printers were capable of producing the high-quality materials I envisioned (I can hardly print a one-sheet-brief in B&W).

Once I swallowed my pride, I started exploring alternative options and sat down with a commercial-sized printing company. Although they had the bandwidth to print in massive quantities, I had misgivings about the turnaround and questioned whether or not it would be the right fit for Wit & Delight.

Shortly after, a friend of mine recommended I look into MOO after ordering her own set of beautiful business cards for her side-hustle. She described her experience working with MOO as “seamless and simple,” right up our alley. After briefly perusing MOO’s site, it became clear their capabilities run far beyond beautiful business cards and that they were the solution Wit & Delight had been searching for.

MOO’s online interface is easy to navigate, allowing users to quickly upload a design, select a size and finish, and ultimately craft beautifully printed goods. As strong believers in the power of great design, MOO is passionate about setting businesses up with expertly-crafted materials to match their expertly-crafted brand.

To give businesses an extra “oomph,” MOO recently released promotional postcards and flyers in new paper stocks and sizes. Depending on the preference and budget of the customer, shoppers in the market for postcards can now choose from three premium paper stocks: original, silky smooth super, or extra-thick luxe paper. For the fancier folks, flyers can now be printed on the new Pearlescent paper. So chic!

Devoted to their customers, MOO guarantees 100% customer satisfaction, going above and beyond to meet the needs of all customers. Larger-sized businesses with 10+ employees are even assigned a dedicated account manager to ensure every detail is covered.

Had someone told me five years ago that Wit & Delight would transcend into the entity it is today, I would have said they were crazy. Not because I didn’t believe in myself, but because I didn’t realize all of the possibilities that would come my direction. Who knows where we’ll be by 2023?!

Looking to try out MOO’s services? Use discount code: WITMOO20 to receive 20% off Postcards & Flyers (for new customers only)!


Ed. note: This post was sponsored by MOO. The compensation received in exchange for placement on Wit & Delight is used to purchase props, hire a photographer, write/edit the blog post and support the larger team behind Wit & Delight.
While compensation was received in exchange for coverage, all thoughts and opinions are always my own. Sponsored posts like these allow for the development of additional dynamic content to be produced, unsponsored. Thank you for supporting our partners!

BY Kate Arends - June 6, 2018

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June 7, 2018 6:50 am

This was such an inspiring post! I’ve always thought I’m not one for entrepreneurship but recently I’ve started to open my mind up about it a bit. The Shopwitanddelight product line is super cute and reading about how you got to this stage is really interesting and encouraging for us unsure types so thank you for sharing these stories 🙂

June 7, 2018 6:02 pm

Anytime I’ve needed something to spice up my brand, I’ve turned to Moo. I’m so excited to see W&D out and about in the world. I feel like everyone is now seeing the brand that I’ve loved online for so long 🙂

September 15, 2018 1:20 am

thanks for sharing .your tips.. it is very helpful..

October 23, 2018 7:03 am

Got something new to know thanks for your article really interesting
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