Aug 08 2021 45 mins
When the going gets tough, it’s often really difficult to feel playful. We have to feel safe to play and I think for many of us, feeling safe has been a bit of an issue over the past 18 months or so.
My guest today has had her share of tough times in business and with her own health. Alison Deary, is the co-owner of The Papery, a proudly South African online store that sells beautiful diaries, journals, and other stunning stationery products. In 2020, The Papery lost out on five week’s worth of sales during the hard lockdown when they weren’t allowed to trade. They also lost many of their regular diary orders from their corporate clients, who were cutting their budgets due to the pandemic. Then, in what is typically the busiest time of the year for her business, Alison suffered a series of heart attacks.
But get this: despite these devastating setbacks, The Papery had a record year, increasing their overall sales by 60% and their online sales by a whopping 200%. And thankfully, when Alison and I had our interview, which was back in May 2021, she was healthy, happy and bubbling over with a playful attitude!
It’s this playful attitude that Alison credits, at least in part, to the success she achieved in 2020 — despite all the challenges that came her way. And she even told me recently that they’re on track to smash their 2020 records by the end of 2021!
Don’t you want a piece of that kind of success? I know I do. Now, Alison admits that embracing playfulness has been HARD at times. It’s taken a lot of intention and indeed some hard work. But as you’ll hear in the interview, the way of playfulness has been far more effective than the way of over-work, hard grind, and trying to be supermom.
Oh yes, because if you thought her 2020 year was remarkable, just wait until you hear what happened back in 2016 when she decided to “do nothing”!
So if you’re wondering how you can continue to embrace an attitude of playfulness, even when the going gets tough, then stay tuned!
Connect with Alison and The Papery
The Papery Website*
2022 Mom Diary* (pre-order now for delivery in Sept 2021)
Free Out Of Overwhelm E-book from Alison and The Papery
The Papery on Instagram
* That's my friend Lynne's affiliate link for The Papery. Lynne connected me with Alison, so it's only fair that she gets a small commission if you decide to buy any Papery products, at no extra cost to you. #mompreneurcommunity
Don't miss out on any of our weekly episodes! Go to playfulmompreneur.com and join my email list. I'll let you know when a new episode goes live and share tools and insights for your Playful Mompreneur journey. In addition to that, please also SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your podcast player (TPM is on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast — and a whole lot more players!).
And remember, I'd love your question for a future episode of the Playful Mompreneur Podcast. Go to playfulmompreneur.com and record your question. I'd love to weigh in on your question and feature you on a future episode of the podcast!