Any Day Made: thoughtful gift boxes curated by two thoughtful ladies
Today on Massive Orange Book, we’re speaking with Molly and Jess, the two ladies behind Any Day Made, a gift box service that takes care of the presents so you can be more present.
We asked Molly and Jess how they came up with the idea, what some of their challenges were along the way, and what they’re hoping to achieve next with their incredible side business. If you’re currently on the hunt for the perfect gift, check out their website, because it’s full of amazing ideas.
- What is Any Day Made, and what’s it all about?
THE SERVICE
”Anydaymade is a gift box service; an artisan experience, online.
At ADM we hope to give our customers the tools to make memorable moments more commonplace, to challenge the ordinary and to add a little sparkle to the every day. Our carefully curated gift boxes feature products produced by small batch craftspeople, nestled in different corners of the UK. The brands that make our boxes are never less than exceptional. Every gift box is lovingly packed and wrapped by a team of dedicated gift givers, meaning the ADM experience begins as soon as your order is placed.”
THE STORY
“Anydaymade started as a feeling. Having spent most of their lives together sat around a kitchen table, childhood best friends, Molly and Jess, realised that their favourite memories of one another were made at home.
With a keen eye for design and a taste for good food, the girls slowly started to build a collection of beautiful homewares and a book full of recipes from around the world. For Molly and Jess, sitting around the table became more than just a necessity, it became an experience. After hosting countless breakfast clubs, dinner parties and everything in between for friends and family, the girls eventually decided to turn their passion project into a business. And so, anydaymade was born…”
2. How did it come about, did you have a eureka moment or did something inspire you?
“We have always been driven by wanting to work for ourselves. Coronavirus and Lockdown was a massive thing for us in the development of adm. We had to return home to the UK from travelling round Australia together, with our friends, we didn’t know what we wanted to do or what direction we wanted to go with our lives in a career sense so the free time that lockdown gave us allowed us to think outside of the box and come up with a business plan that incorporates the skills we have, enjoy and have practiced at university and in work prior to travelling.”
3. How long have you been working on Any Day Made?
We launched anydaymade.com at the beginning of March 2021 but we had been talking about the concept for about 6 months prior to that.
4. Who are other creatives or other brands who inspire you both?
@thetableedit, @bableit, @hostelondon, @vaiselle.boutique, @iamlaurajackson
5. What was the biggest hurdle in taking it off the ground? Have there been any challenges along the way?
“I would say that the biggest hurdle we have faced is knowing what to do next and having the motivation and the energy to keep going, developing and staying engaged with our audience. One of the challenges which has become easier is staying up to date and active on social media, when you have so many things to think about it is often easy to lose track of posting or sharing or replying to people on Instagram but this is where we find new customers so it is very important!”
6. How do you stay motivated?
“We love what we do, we are so proud of what we have achieved with adm so far and we think there is still so much room to grow!
I think the main thing that motivates us to keep going is the enjoyment we get out of producing products and an online presence that people enjoy and want to engage with. It makes us so happy that adm parcels are sent out by us to spread joy and show people that they are loved, our business model is infinitely positive and this is something that motivates us.”
7. Do you both work on adm full-time, or do you fit it in around other jobs/projects?
“Jess is a nanny part time and I work in a farm shop so we do ADM half of the working week plus evenings and weekends!”
8. What’s next for adm?
“We are in the process of finalising the shipments for our big father’s day collection. Sending out all the orders for a specific event is really exciting and we love the idea of all of these families opening up there adm boxes on the 20th and loving the goodies that have been carefully collected, designed and packaged just for them!”
9. What are 3 media publications/channels/blogs/influencers that you read regularly and keep up to date with?
“Instagram is our main way of connecting with both peers within our industry as well as customers. We love following and engaging with pages similar to us some examples of this include @artemisdecolondon, @the_table_edit and @notanotherbill.
Stylist is the publication we were most excited to hear we were getting a feature in along with BBC Good Food. It is important to us to gain exposure across all industries we work within, food, lifestyle and homeware.
@Charlottejacklin is an influencer who we sent a PR box to and got us 400+ followers in one day, the marketing model we used for her is one we want to try and replicate, the people who subscribe to her style and aesthetic are clearly people who appreciate ADM so we need to try and find them.”
10. What’s your current manifestation? What are you wanting to put out into the universe?
“Our main aspiration for anydaymade at the moment is to get the business to a place where it can be the sole source of income for both me and my business partner, we get such excitement out of seeing orders coming in, exposure in publications that we admire but mainly people loving what we’re doing and coming back as repeat customers.
A more specific project we are working on at the moment is expanding into the world of corporate gifting, we would love to work with bigger brands that we admire.”
If you’re looking to buy some gifts for a special occasion – you know where to go!
