For the past two months my favourite brother in law has been on life support in the ICU. I say favourite, he's my only and I can't imagine the hell that my sister and her kids have been through. But he is my favourite because he's taught us all a very big lesson. “For what it is worth Tai, you must get out and smell the roses”, he told me today after a not so good report on my on health, “as life sure is precious”. For eight weeks now he has been, as my niece describes, "circling life and death". To be honest it has been very grim and at times very little could be done as staphylococcus ravaged his body and took him to a very dark place. So bad in fact, they had to remove his artificial hip replacements he received decades earlier as they were turning against him too.
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It all happened one day when he least expected, he was out on his mountain bike as he does daily and took a tumble, bit of a graze here and there but he thought nothing of it. He then begun feeling unwell so my sister forced him to see a doctor, “I'll be fine” he said, as all men do. Eventually he got in for a blood test. Thankfully he got the right doctor as she checked his results after hours, if she hadn't seen the results and called him immediately to get him to hospital, he would have passed away at home that weekend, in his chair probably, watching sport. Within twenty four hours he was in a coma.
By some miracle and the faith of the medical team who worked every trick in their doctors bag, they eventually woke him up, he's going be alright – thank the Lord! Still he has fight on his hands getting well enough to receive new hips and the road of rehabilitation and walking again.
It's not a mystery to any of us that sickness and death is absolutely going to happen to everybody, yet it's always a shock when it happens to your tribe, your people. However it's a good reminder to ask yourself, what's my intent for this life? You spend a hell a lot of time working, so what intent do we have for that work, to make money, be the best at what we do, lead the field? It's not easy to say what the best intent is because they are different to everyone. But it's a damn good thing to think about considering the state of the world. Is it just me or has this desire for fame and adoration just gone nuts over the past few years? Apparently it’s the most in demand thing as the goal for some people’s lives. Honestly who would want it? Life under a blinking microscope, all eyes on you waiting for failure.
It brings into line how we want to work with intent. What we know about our company, is that for 24 years we have been dedicated to these corner stones.
- We are dedicated to handcrafted ethical product.
- We care about the people who make it.
- We care about how product impacts on the environment.
- We want the world to look better and be better.
A girlfriend of mine recently went on a weeks seminar in Morocco to study with a world renown guru of marketing. The biggest thing to come from that course from world research is 'our clients are generally someone like ourselves'. They have a similar value system and ascetics, drive similar cars and are attracted to similar objects for their inherent value.
It’s certainly simple, but very relevant. So our intent is now to work with others who care. So we're introducing – Bandhini Partnership Pals.
We want to work with mutual intent to help you. We don’t want to dump a bunch of cushions on you and depart. Here’s what we want to do to help so that there’s real connection and a experience as valued as the product.
- In store training sessions by me personally: Including the story behind Bandhini and how all our products are made, by who and why with demonstrations on how block printing and weaving is achieved.
- In store materials: Including swatch books, quilt swatches, point of sale material (posters and books) to display and special give outs to clients
- Free storyboard service: Storyboarding is an invaluable resource and service that has changed our business, it helps put together collections for you and your clients for in visioning our product in your project.
- Champagne Evenings: For you, your staff and your clients. Interactive workshops (how to layer a bed, a sofa or layout an art wall, textile craft), gift bags, Photo booths.
- Social Media collaborations: Sharing and promoting your business through our social media platforms.
- Eco & Luxe Ranges: We have also listened to you and are introducing a Bandhini Eco (economy) and Luxe ranges. The new Eco range allows you to achieve that brilliant Bandhini look with budget in mind – both looks fully supported with Lifestyle photography!
We know that the internet is not going to go away and it certainly is a very important part of how we all need to do business, but let’s layer that with a one of a kind shopping experience – something memorable and fun that sitting behind a key board can’t do.
I’m up for it “getting out there and smelling the roses” – as life sure is precious! Are you up for it too?
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...So I'm off to New Zealand today to check in with my family - sister and brother in law, plus my old mum turning 89, still going strong and asking me what the collection colours for the season are!
Tai Schaffler - Founder of Bandhini
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