A long time ago in a year far far away, a sixteen year old boy went to his careers teacher to discuss the boy's future. During the conversation the boy told the careers teacher that he wanted to get into the making of natural skincare and soap. He went on to tell the teacher that he wanted to do something that was ethical and that he believed in. The teacher, with a look of disgust, advised the boy to forget about this silly idea, “Your parents haven’t spent all of this money on your education for you to waste it on this silly idea” he said. This wasn’t the first time the boy had come up against this sort of conversation. When winning a book token at school, the boy went and bought a book about herbs mainly because it had very simple recipes for creams and soaps in the back. He had to take the book to the headmaster who would then present it to him at an event later in the year. The headmaster told him that this wasn’t a suitable book and to take it back and get another. That summer the boy wrote letters to the businesses that he admired and desperately wanted to be a part of and quickly they wrote back with a long winded reply that was basically “thanks but no thanks”.
The year was 1991 and surprise… I was that 16 sixteen year old boy.
My name is Mark Geary and I don’t know whatever happened to that careers “advisor” but some 30 years after that conversation, I co-founded Truly Artisan with my partner Andrew and we have been making natural skincare, soap and home fragrance for the last four years.
Truly Artisan is the dream of a sixteen year old boy that knew what he wanted and never gave up on that vision. For thirty years he kept the dream with him as he pursued other goals. Of course the business looks totally different to what I thought it would have looked like. Back in 1991 there was no internet shopping, no Shopify or Etsy. I had no idea what the words artisan, small batch or vegan meant. All that I knew was that I wanted to make products that I had formulated and I wanted to sell them around the world… simple right??
Today, I produce a collection of skincare products by hand, using the formulations that I have created, with the finest natural ingredients and packaged in simple, no fuss packaging. Through the wonders of modern technology, I can market my products on social media and ship them across the UK after our customers have purchased them from our website.
Now at 49 years old, I get to say… never give up on your dream. Find a way, create a way and believe that there is a way (even if you can’t see it). It’s March 1st and the first day of #marchmeetthemaker and this has been my storytime.