December 31, 2024, it’s time to look back on the year

As I have done every year since the creation of Meanwhile Boutique, I am taking the time to do a transparent review, which I am sharing with you today.

The end of 2024 debrief, by Manon

2024 was a particularly intense year. It was, without a doubt, the most difficult and richest in learning since the beginning of this adventure. As they say: "Entrepreneurship is not a long, calm river." The end of the year, especially for retailers, is both the worst and the best period. In 2024, it was marked by many challenges, moments of joy, breakdowns, and a colossal volume of work.

First of all, I would like to thank my loved ones, my family, and my friends, who support me in this beautiful adventure — and sometimes in my struggles!
A special mention to my father, who was omnipresent at my events in Paris this year, fully deserving his title of "the best concierge of Meanwhile Boutique".

I will share with you my challenges, successes, areas for improvement, and my intentions for the new year (article also online on Linkedin). And no, we haven't yet exceeded one million euros in revenue, but a lot has still happened.

The struggles of 2024

Every adventure has its challenges:

Recruitment: A major difficulty this year, with last-minute dropouts or the search for talent, especially in Marseille, where qualified and motivated profiles are sought after.
Service providers: Once again, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people: a “com” agency (recognized by the state and signed with our OPCO) caused a drop in our organic traffic – with code added to the site to access our data – and did not support us at all as planned… Technical test on our site without prior request, objective not met after completing all the requested tasks, no customer follow-up on the roadmap... I am so disappointed with agencies – where are you, the really good agencies? (and I know they exist!)
Marketing: Migration of my customer emails to Klaviyo software as advised: a “progress” and “significant results in a few months”, but I don't see them, customer segmentation still needs to be optimized: Lists, segments, tags..? and after-sales service is not present.
Admin: Change of accountant to a firm specializing in mission-driven companies. We are also waiting for our new Kbis after the integration of an investor, after a request made in February... what is happening at the registry office?
Mental and physical well-being: An overload of projects at the end of the year: opening a store in Marseille + recruiting/training + organizing events in Paris. This prevented me from optimizing the digital (and from sleeping more than 5 hours a night for 1 month), something I will NOT do again.

The highlights of 2024

Despite the difficulties, many positive things happened this year:

Organizing our first eco-friendly Festival in Marseille, in a space of more than 350 m², thanks to Vincent from La Coque.
Winning two awards, “the favorite of female entrepreneurship” thank you Accede and the Marseille award of the “AccEss 2024” competition thank you Makesense and Nhood.
Managing a team of 6 people (even remotely) – a record for us!
Still 0 paid advertising: all our traffic is 100% organic.
Launching a loyalty program.
Rewriting our purpose: "Promoting responsible consumption for a lifestyle respectful of Living Beings and human well-being, within a committed and optimistic ecosystem".
Arrival of new reputable brands like Armedangels and Wouf.
A truck road trip, alone, from Paris to Marseille to transport the store's goods.
Coordinating 11 days of events in Paris in December, while managing the store in Marseille.
Co-organizing an event at Mazette in Paris, 12th arrondissement, from the south of France.
Going live on France Bleu to present our stand at the vegan Christmas market at La Recyclerie.
Collecting more than €220 for the Vaincre Alzheimer foundation thanks to order rounding.
Opening a store in Marseille with a space for Meanwhile Boutique brands, but also a space for second-hand items and for creative and committed workshops.

Also happy to...

See a team based in France that is always diverse and committed (talents from India, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Benin, or Madagascar).
Creating exclusive products in collaboration with certain brands from the collective.
Having set up and opened a 180 m² store in JUST one month (and without a car).
Making our collaborations with our 130 committed brands, committed venue partners, and business service partners like Ethi'kdo, long-lasting.
Meeting inspiring entrepreneurs at events or randomly crossing paths with faces I hadn't seen in years, while standing behind my Meanwhile Boutique stand.
Discovering tools like mind mapping.

Intentions for 2025

Publishing more content, especially on LinkedIn.
Finalizing my carbon footprint and eco-design with ADEME and Greenly | Certified B Corp.
Finding an OTI and writing my mission report before February.
Organizing great workshops in the Marseille store (creative and awareness-raising).
Keeping the physical store for 6 months as agreed and taking a week of vacation to think about what's next.
Planning my Christmas 2025 strategy before September 2025.
Finally releasing our long-awaited collaboration with Pierre from H #staytuned.
Continuing to build a dynamic and reliable team.
Developing a B2B Tech offer, supported by an incubator.

Special thank-you mentions

Charlotte, who lent her pen to enrich our content.
Matthieu, who supported me during my first event in the city of Marseille.
Isa and Yogan for their help unloading my 12m³ truck, on a Saturday at 7 a.m.
Magali, a talented decorator and amazing entrepreneur with Minkey Gang.
Anne-Sophie, a great store manager who also draws very well on shop windows.
Melanie, a golden friend and a great work partner.
To the entire Meanwhile Boutique team in 2024: Mathylde, Georges, Lina, Dounia, Helena, Madhura, Hind, Océane, Kanty, and currently Méryam and Leïla, who are with me in the store.

This adventure exists above all thanks to you, so THANK YOU.