In May, we posted a story about us - the founders. We met in May 2015, and while that first time along with the six months before founding Népra was almost too good to be true, the sometimes harsh reality of running a business showed its face after Christmas.
Our first pre-order campaign had been good but we admit we had higher expectations about the start of the journey. After the campaign was done, we had a break over Christmas and opened our online store officially in January 2016. The website did not get much traffic in the first months and we soon realised we had no idea what we were doing. We were overwhelmed by the fact that we were now business owners; somehow we should be able to get our shit together and work on our online store, marketing, sales, finances, and product development. There were so many tasks to do, and not just a long list of small stuff but big things we had no clue of! Where to start? How to set priorities? What about our own life management and personal lives? It was all like a big black hole and we weren’t sure how to get out of it.
It took us approximately one year to learn how to put the light on, roll up the sleeves and start to get things done, one after another. However, every time we talked about Népra and the future, we knew there was something in Népra - in us together - that gave us the strength to keep on working smarter. Surprisingly (or not), the work has been more about dealing with our own doubts and fears of not being good enough and smart enough, and less about the actual problems with certain tasks.
Little by little, we found our first team members and made our first video. It has been our mentality to be a bit better every month than we were in the last month. And our measurement of being better has rarely been about money - it is just one little component and more like a result of going in the right direction. Being better means for us being better personally, professionally and as a team. All these three include lots of hidden work and struggle but gives so much more in return.
Today, we are not simply two strangers with individual interests anymore. Now we are Népra, and the two of us are the essential cogs; without either one of us, there would not be any Népra at all. We have created something that is now starting to live on its own, and we are beyond excited about what the future holds.
Love,
Ama & Essi
Edited by Alex Burchell
This article was originally posted in November 2018.
