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About 'Mad about Cards' |
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To start off with here are profiles of the Mad about Cards team. Further down, beyond the profiles, you can find out how we started and how we have evolved over the last few years.
Sandie Goble - Director and joint owner
Sandie is an artist and designer at heart and designed most of our die-cuts and the cards that can be found in our Card Ideas section as well as the downloadable images. Sandie also sources and orders all of our products and loves to find new and exciting things.
Andy Goble - Director and joint owner
Andy heads up the IT and Website Development Departments. In his spare time he likes to cut wood, drill holes and drink beer - hopefully not at the same time though! Longs for a company snooker room, but each time we move to larger premises the 'Snooker Room' gets used for something else.
Sandy Bishop - Orders supervisor
Sandy makes sure that all the orders are correctly picked and packed and deals with despatch and delivery. Her favourite things included leopard skin print, PVC and anything glittery and shiny. Despises good taste. The tackier the better as far as Sandy's concerned! Sandy knows everything there is to know about pop music – a great asset at quiz nights!
Nikki
Nikki deals with the company accounts and payroll as well as being the Returns/refunds department – anything to do with numbers really! Readily admits she has numbers floating round her head!
Karen
Karen seems so quiet but we think she laughs too loudly when we talk of our clubbing and drinking days. Definite dark horse. They always say that the quiet ones are the worst ones! Karen deals with staff training, risk assessments(!) and holiday requests plus she assists Sally on Customer Services. And sometimes finds time to pack some orders to relax!
Carol
Carol ensures that the office runs smoothly. She deals with recruitment and training and successfully steered us towards our 'Investors in People' accreditation.
Jane
Jane is responsible for stock control. She makes sure we can find all the stock quickly and easily but often shifts it around to make room for new products and to keep us on our toes. She also deals with the outstanding list and gets items sent out as soon as new stock arrives.
Geoff
Geoff is Plymouth Argyle's number one fan. Well someone's got to be! He loves fishing and is rather partial to JD and coke. He's also turned into the die-cut king - we can't get him away from the machines.
Sally
Sally heads up our Customer Services team - if you have any query or problem Sally will do her best to help. She is also part of the picking and packing team. In her spare time Sally can be found relaxing at her beach hut (when the sun shines) or taking her two dogs for epic walks along the seafront.
Sharon
When horse-mad Sharon isn't galloping around picking orders she can be found unpacking the new products. Talks horses with Jane - leaving the rest of us totally bemused or talking about the latest antics of her pet parrot, Smurf.
Chris
Chris shares the responsibility of being the Order Supervisor with Sandy. She is cool, calm and precise when it comes to picking, packing and closing your orders. However, her personality completely transforms at the weekends when she can be found stamping her feet and banging on the glass whilst cheering on the Chelmsford Chieftains Ice Hockey Team.
Maggie
Maggie's first impression of us was that we're a friendly bunch and the work isn't too tiring, which means she's got enough energy left for taking her dog for extra long walks. Enjoys a good novel and the odd mug of tea - she is yet to discover the joys of card making but we're working on it!
Stuart
Stuart is one of our IT trouble-shooters although this mild mannered computer expert could be..........Hong Kong Phooey as he's into martial arts. As a member of a heavy metal band he probably doesn't appreciate our choice of easy listening but he does enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.
Selina
Right from day one Selina couldn’t help feeling inspired by the range of products we sell. So in the not too distant future all her friends and family can look forward to receiving handmade cards. When Selina's not picking and packing your orders she can be found assisting Sally on Customer Services.
Maureen
Maureen is our very know domestic goddess and comes in every afternoon to clean up after everyone. Maureen is a keen card designer. When she's not working or making cards Maureen can be found talking to her pet parrot, Louie. She reckons he has such conversational skills that he's almost human.
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| A short history |
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I started making cards after watching Blue Peter on TV after our first baby was born. I had previously worked for 15 years as an Insurance broker in London and hadn’t seen much daytime TV, especially not children’s programmes! Seeing them make Christmas cards on Blue Peter inspired me to sit down and make all of our cards that year and the following year.
It was after that I got the idea of making cards to sell as I thought of a good Valentine’s design. Many designs came to me and soon I was doing lots of craft fairs and holding card parties at home.
It was in September 2001 that we did a craft fair and had taken along other crafty bits to sell as well as cards. All of the crafty bits sold, much to my surprise. When I told my husband about it, he was quick to latch onto the idea and Mad about Cards was born.
Being an IT consultant and programmer with some 16 years experience, Andy wanted to start a web company rather than a shop. The website name, www.madaboutcards.com, was registered and work started on the website, fitted between Andy’s full-time job in the City of London and my role as full-time mother of two.
We expected the web shop to be ready by about May 2002 but this wasn’t the case so we invited people via our web-page to register their name and address and we produced a simple catalogue on Word to send out. This took off pretty quickly and orders started coming in even though it didn’t have any photos of products.
In October 2002 we finally decided that the web shop was ready to go live and one Saturday we told our relatively small mailing list that the shop was open. Since then we have built up our product range and customer base considerably.
In April 2003, we decided it was time for Andy to take the plunge and leave his job in the City to come and work with me. At the same time, the builders were busy converting our double garage to provide proper premises for Mad about Cards as all the supplies were taking over the house!
In September 2003 Mad about Cards won the E-Trading category of the 2003 E-Commerce Awards for the East of England region. We picked up a cheque for £2000 and a nice silver trophy and went forward to the national final at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London where we were up against the winners from the other regions. Unfortunately we didn't win anything else, however we still had a very good night! Here we are at the regional award presentation (we're the two in the middle!)
July 2004 saw us move into much larger premises at the Seedbed Centre in Shoeburyness and stopped us falling over each other. In March 2005 we doubled our space again by taking over the unit next door.
In June 2006 Andy and Sam finally completed work on our new website (this one!) after a number of months intensive work. Apart from the increased functionality that it offers you, the customer, it is also a lot easier for us to maintain.
In December 2006 we moved again to premises five times the size to give ourselves more space and comfort.
We are now joined by Sandy Bishop, Nikki, Karen, Carol, Jane, Geoff, Sally, Sharon, Christine, Maggie, Stuart, Selina and Maureen who help us run the business and prepare your orders for you. We have worked hard to get where we are today and continue to make improvements to the website and service. We hope that you like what you see here.
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| Sandie Goble, August 2008
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