My Story

Hey Witches,

I have achieved more in a couple months than I have in years! It is amazing to know how far I have come from being in a depression burrito (rolled up in my duvet whilst staring into the abyss) till now, I am now proudly self-employed and the owner and creator or The Witches Planner.

Where did it all begin?

If you know me, you know that I suffer heavily with Depression, Anxiety and PTSD. Daily life can be such a huge struggle and I never know how I am going to feel each day. I was working 40 hours a week in Hospitality (If you have ever worked in the industry you know just how awful and antisocial the working hours are.) Going to work was like putting on a mask, no matter how terrible I felt that day, I would put my mask on and smile to the customers, give them the best service that I could and manage all of my roles and responsibilities. I would get home, exhausted from keeping up my false 'happy' persona and take off my mask. This year has been extremely testing but I have pushed through everything that the world has thrown my way. Early 2018, I started getting really heavily into learning and practicing my craft, going to work, keeping my house clean, looking after myself and everything in between. It became so difficult to keep up with when the next full moon would be, preparing for sabats, keeping a social life and going to work. I needed to take control of my life. I needed a planner.

Not just any planner, I looked for weeks trying to find the perfect planner that could combine my craft and my day to day life in one place. Nothing seemed right. That's when I had the idea to create the perfect planner for me and witches just like me! Baring in mind that at this time I was so far into the black hole that is Depression that getting out of bed was a task in itself but I knew that this idea was something that I HAD to do, not just for planning but to prove to myself that no matter how bad I had been suffering, I could do (what seemed) the impossible.

How did you do it?

Over the next few weeks, I came up with a style for my planner and worked on designing the basic pages. I posted a few of these pages on my Instagram story and I had so much amazing feedback from all of you lovely people. I realised that it definitely wasn't just me who needed this. Knowing I could create something to help so many of you, gave me so much motivation to actually make the planner a reality and not just a little project. I worked hard to research, design and produce the inserts for the planner. I had no experience in manufacturing at all, so when it came to getting the covers made I was completely lost. I had no idea where to even start, I spent so long googling and asking around. One of the biggest hurdles for me was getting these covers, I would not give up. After a lot of tears, breakdowns and depression burritos, I managed to eventually find an amazing manufacturer, they were so easy to communicate with and knew exactly what I wanted. Finding a printer based in my area that could complete a job like mine was my next task. Due to it being a ring binder, it meant I had to find a printer that was experienced in drilling (mass hole punching). Thankfully my mom and stepdad had previously worked in the print and design industry had some connections and was able to set me up with their own printer. As well as this, I had to find packaging, stickers, business cards, etc. A lot of my time was spent comparing prices and quality of products. Now finally, manufacturing was sorted. It was now down to me to complete the insert designs, so this planner has over 300 pages. I have never designed anything to this scale and I will be honest it was hard for me to find the motivation to sit there for hours working on it, but I did it.

I look back to where I started and cannot believe that I managed to figure out all of these 'impossible' tasks that were in my way.

What happened next?

WELL.. you guys happened!

I decided to set up a preorder for the planners, mainly to make sure that this product was something people would buy and to help fund for the original manufacturing of it all. Oh boy, did it kick off! In the first few days I sold 10 copies, the next few weeks I just got more and more orders. I knew I was on the right track. I decided to quit my job and work full time on the planner, this needed my whole attention if I wanted to become my future.

Fast forward to today, I have sent out over 100 planners, tote-bags and downloads (and we hadn't even officially launched yet!) I now look forward to waking up each day, I get out of bed and jump straight into 'work'. That good old saying, 'do a job that you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life' is SO TRUE! I still have bad days, don't get me wrong! Having the planner brings me so much happiness and knowing that I am able to share it with you all is amazing. I am so excited for the December release!

Thank you all, so so much!

I now have purpose, motivation and or course, happiness.

Love,

Sophie

xx