Grace Announcements

After I had my first baby, I knew that I would need to do something more than just stay home with him.  I missed the challenge of my previous business that I had to give up because of complications in my pregnancy. 

I toyed with many ideas, but nothing stuck and it wasn’t until his first Christmas when I ordered a holiday card from a major retailer that I realized that the Canadian market was lacking with options for the modern parent.  We didn’t have any custom, modern trendy card options here.  I knew that many parents wanted something with more options, something that would better suit them and their lifestyle.  Something more than the cute little bear images that seemed to be the only option. 

So with a little bit of research and sourcing out my suppliers and printers the Grace Announcements website was officially launched in 2005 just after my son turned one.  I had never created a website before, but somehow I managed to figure it out.

I remember my excitement when 2 months later I had my first real customer.  You know the ones that are not family and friends.  She found me on the internet.  That was so exciting I knew my idea really was something.  I worked hard to learn the ins and outs of having an online business and submitted my site to all the major search engines. 

After one year, Grace Announcements was busy creating holiday cards and the standard announcements and invitations.  My husband was amazed and admitted to me that he thought my idea a year ago was a bit silly, but my wonderful husband supported me.  He was so proud of how I took this silly little idea and created something amazing. 

I remember the day when the company was about 2 years old and I was noticing how many orders coming in said that they were referred by a search engine.  I immediately went to search “birth announcements Toronto” for myself and was amazed that I was #1 on many and the others that are much harder, like Google I was on the 1st page.  My little custom cards company was #1 on Yahoo and MSN.  I was so excited I had to share it with everyone that I knew.

Just as the business was ramping up I got a surprise that I was pregnant with my second child.  I took a step back and was not sure what the next 9 months would be.  I had a very hard pregnancy the first time around and here I was pregnant, I had a 2 year old and I was running this business that worked to keep me busy.  I worked to make my products better, I worked to get a better understanding of my market and what I needed to do. 

I spent the first 5 months in bed, and the last 2 months unable to walk, but thankfully I was able to put my computer on my lap and work.  As time drew closer to my due date I realized that I really needed to have a plan in place.  I was not sure what it was going to be like, but I also knew that I could not just stop my business.  Who would work, who would design?  No one.  I told all of my customers around my last month that I was about to have a baby and that I might disappear for a few days.  I was off for a day, only one day, 24 hours and then I was back working.  I was home with a 1 day old baby working, creating birth announcements for other beautiful babies!

Now both of my kids are a little older, and I am able to put my focus back into making Grace Announcements a well known name.  I am constantly looking at what I can add to my line.  I love what I do, I don’t look at it like a job.  I have the opportunity to work with amazing people daily.  I create designs for adorable little babies, and memories for families to cherish forever.