First Swallows
2024.06.13.
Tadaaaam. The day has come. In the past two months, things have really picked up around Lost Garden. Lost Garden Biotechnological Ltd. has been established. We’ve received the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities, and our products are ready for sale. The packaging is done.
Oh, the packaging!
Wow, that was quite a task :) I haven't dealt with printed materials for years, and never with packaging. What material should we choose, who should be the manufacturer, how can we check the quality in advance, what about the sealing (what?), how will the logo have a metallic shine, how can we create a subtle background pattern that’s there but not too visible, just playing with light... and I could go on with the questions. We jumped in, googling, requesting quotes, meetings, personal factory visits, waiting excitedly for what would come out when the machine started... It took about a week and a half for all the processes to be completed, and the packaging materials were boxed up, and finally, we had them in our hands.
But do we like it?
Do we? Yes, no, not really. But what don't we like? I’m not sure. The whole thing. Okay, let’s sleep on it, show it to others. Wow, this is great! Okay, good, we like it. Let’s enter our first competition; we can send the packages. Off to London! We entered all four products into the Nourish international competition. The judging for dietary supplements should be starting around now. And we’ve already entered another competition; the package is on its way to Italy.
We’re excited.
But it’s a good kind of excitement. Will the products be good? So far, they seem to be. We’ve only posted a few things on our Instagram and Facebook pages, but we’re already getting inquiries. Friends are asking: what is this, where can we buy it? Great, they like it! And we’re getting business inquiries! Do we want to meet with the owner of a network in Budapest? Are we interested in working with a new private clinic? Would we like to collaborate with a pharmacy chain?
Wow, okay! Of course!
We want to talk to everyone to better understand what we’re doing, what value it might have. But hold on a minute! What exactly are we doing? Why are we doing this? What does this business mean to us? We love our lives. We want to create something good, something valuable. We want what we do to be useful to our customers. Every product is handmade to avoid using additives—additives that are essential for machine-made products.
And the questions keep coming!
What do we want as owners? How can we achieve it? What paths can lead us there? How do we imagine our company 1-2-3-5 years from now? What do we already have for this? What’s missing? How much money do we want to make? How much are we willing to risk? Do we want employees? How big do we want to grow? What should we optimize for? Time? Money? Quality? What is the priority? What’s the goal, and what’s the means to achieve it?
Let’s take a break.
Our thoughts are maturing; we talk a lot with Kata, and the picture is slowly taking shape. But what do we need to be able to answer all these questions? We need to believe in the product. It doesn’t hurt to see what our customers say. About what? Everything. What they like, what they’re looking for, what they desire. How can Lost Garden be about them at least as much as it is about us? At least as much, if not in the same way, but at least as much.
So, let the first customers come. We’re not advertising; we don’t have a webshop (yet, maybe in July), but we’re open, curious, and communicative. We’ve started talking, and those we talk to are curious too. Some are already telling their friends, and now they’re curious too. So, the first packages are being prepared. We made each one, and we might even know who’s getting which one.
And in a way, that’s a beautiful thing.
I love it.
www.lostgarden.hu
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The article was translated from Hungarian to English by ChatGPT. Thank you, ChatGPT, for being here.
