And just like that, it's 2024, and Arlo & Co is 10 years old.
Time flies, I know. But TEN!?
I can hardly believe it.
In the lead up to our 10th Birthday celebration, we thought we'd take a trip down memory lane, and share some little snapshots along the way 👇🏽
Let's go ...
In 2014, I was on maternity leave (from Primary Teaching) with a 1 year old, an 8 week old baby, and a personality that loves a good little side 'project' to throw myself in to 🙈
I had home-made machinery (that was sitting otherwise idle in my Dad's shed), and a 'just-start-somewhere' attitude.
No experience. No huge expectations. Just a bit of creativity, and an Instagram account. 🤷🏻♀️
Our first-ever product was a Gold Mirror Name Plaque that we made for our daughter before deciding to share it on Instagram.
Famously, we made exactly 3 x sales on the first day we launched Arlo & Co ... and then none for 2 whole weeks!
But we persisted. And thanks mostly to Instagram, our people soon found us. ♡
In 2015, it felt like suddenly Arlo & Co had gone a little bit 'viral' in the (very) small business world online.
That feels a bit silly to type but the year brought a rapid growth of Insta followers (our only marketing tool!) and 6 months in, my partner Damian joined Arlo & Co full time.
Together, we navigated all the newness of building websites, exploring new designs, growing a community and running a business in general, with two little girls in tow. (All of which we'd never done before!)
It was a very steep learning curve, but so exciting. While still working out of our home garage, and a spare bedroom, we also hired our first employee.
To be honest, by 2016 Arlo & Co started to feel very ‘grown up’.
We won the ‘People’s Choice Award‘ for Australian Small Business, we featured in magazines, and we re-branded with a new logo that felt more authentically ‘us’.
All while continuing to juggle parenting two small girls and business life from our home.
By this point we’d outgrown our backyard garage so we rented the house next door to us, using bedrooms as offices and mini photo studios, and the giant basement as our workshop / studio. I honestly have the best memories of that time.
More people joined the team, and I kept pinching myself ... 'Is this really real?'
2017 put us 'on the map' ... in my memory :)
Much to our amazement and excitement, we were shortlisted as Telstra Small Business of the Year - and were invited to the first of several fancy award dinners.
I can't begin to describe what an honour it was to be showcased with Australia's most innovative & progressive entrepreneurs in the country, across all the 5 categories, in the most prestigious business awards in the country.
We’d created Arlo & Co from our kitchen bench and this just seemed so incredible.
In 2018, we finally moved into our beautiful warehouse studio which gave us office space galore and room for more machinery, more people, more creativity, design and innovation.
We focused on creating unique products for the moments and memories that matter most.
In 2019 - we focused a lot of our efforts on our connections to charity.
Strengthening our partnerships with life-changing charities – Foodbank Australia, Adara Development Group, Breast Cancer Foundation Australia, and The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation — was among our truly proud moments.
We doubled our efforts that year and found so much meaning, purpose and love by donating over $100,000 to these incredible organisations. Giving back was soon embedded in our motivation to keep going – and for us as a family, it continues to be a driving force.
As we all know, 2020 was a shocking, life-changing year. And from an Arlo & Co perspective? Business altering.
It felt incredibly ‘sink or swim’ and we swung from huge moments of uncertainty as to whether we’d be shut down or keep surviving. ‘Pivot’ was the word of the year and we did our very best.
With thanks entirely to an incredibly resourceful, flexible team of wonderful Arlo & Co humans – and an overwhelming tide of support from our Arlo & Co community of customers – we made it through the first year of Melbourne’s infamous lockdowns. I’ll always be grateful for the support we were shown in the first strange and scary Covid year.
In 2021, lockdowns, home schooling and challenges continued for us in Melbourne.
But we found moments of absolute joy being at work together and honestly felt so grateful that we were allowed to continue operating (although under strict guidelines).
As a team, we kept each other sane - and the Arlo & Co community online kept us connected ♡
Finally, in 2022, we were so grateful for a year of almost 'normal' again.
School was back (at last!), and our whole team were able to come back together - all in the same room! - for the first time in ages.
And this lil' Arlo & Co continued to innovate, and grow.
2023 seems to have been our biggest year so far.
With many new customers and new beautiful teammates, we’re determined to continue our focus on connection, meaningful gifting, and making a difference.
And here we are - 10 whole years later! ♡
And as always, we focus on making things we love, around the people we love, for people who love each other (and that’s a whole lotta love!).
What’s more precious than a keep-forever child’s painting, a heartfelt message, a cherished photograph, a birth announcement, renewed wedding vows, or a childhood ‘first’ milestone?
With every Arlo & Co creation we keep that in mind – always.
We’re so excited to see what our next chapter brings.
Thanks so much for following us all this way.
Love from
Gem, Damian and the Arlo & Co team