How can it be one year already?

Yet still those feelings of fear and excitement, rush over me when I think about it all! Yet it is so surreal I almost feel like it was a dream, like I imagined the whole thing! But I did not! We did it, we took the scary step of entering the Den… and despite the fact we did not get the money, (but we were so, so close!) I have absolutely NO regrets! Life has changed, business has changed, everything has changed beyond recognition.

Here are 8 things that have changed since being on the program which aired on August 30th 2015.

1. We have another member of our ever-expanding team, which has allowed me to finally begin to focus on the bigger picture rather than the day to day running of things. We welcomed Pippa into the business on October 2015. Pippa is our customer services Manager and so is the lovely person you get if you call or email us! An absolute godsend to the business. She has a real attention to detail too, something I often lack. I am a do-er, I drive for things to get done, but that leads me to being a bit sloppy, Pippa helps me reign that in.

2. We have a business coach who is just an absolute font of knowledge and challenges us weekly to be better. My husband says its like having ‘a mum to question your every move’. I suppose it is, but when you run your own business, its easy to loose direction, to focus on the small details instead of the bigger picture. He helps us ensure our actions are focused on our big picture goals and we are edging towards them with his direction.

3. The business is in the process of ‘growing up’ we have put in place lots of strategies and systems that will allow us to transition from a small family run business to a much bigger one. Before the Den, a lot of information was stored in the depths of my brain, no one but I knew it… now we are slowly digging it out, recording it and teaching it so other people can do the tasks I used to do, leaving me to focus on achieving our bigger goals! We are not done yet! We have HUGE ambitions!

4. My brain and knowledge has expanded beyond recognition, as has that of our team. Lorraine who was on with me has come on so much, she is becoming a self taught social media expert. But with the heart of a mum. One like all of us who is juggling what life throws at us. Lorraine is extra special, because she is real and human and that engages people. I would not change her for the world.

5. We have secured lots of new deals and exciting collaborations. On the special needs side of the business we are working closely with someone in the NHS and hope to soon launch something the market has never seen before.

6. The Dragons’ gave us lots of excellent advice, a lot of which was not seen on the camera, but one thing we have done as a direct result of their feedback was to put the Moozels clothing on the back burner, which was so hard to do, but the right thing. We have high hopes and big plans for this brand, but are taking it slowly. Almost a year after the program aired we introduced our new Moozels bibs, which are just amazing and already proving a real hit with babies and parents alike. Had we not gone on dragons Den we would have brought out a lot more than that, but it was not the right thing to do. It would have cost far too much and spread ourselves too thinly. I am slowly learning the art of patience, something I have never had, I don’t like it, but it’s the right thing to do. We often have more ideas than time and money, but this will evolve as our company grows and cannot wait to show you more!

7. We have doubled our sales and expanded into new territories

8. We have shed 7 stone between Lorraine and I, nothing like seeing yourself on national TV to make you finally act! Lorraine is at goal and looks fantastic, I have one last pesky stone to shift, but I know I will do it!