You may be wondering where the name Apiphany came from?
If you have been following me on Instagram you will see that in October 2022 I lost my small business Instagram account for Aileen’s Attire (the original name for my business). I was so devastated and cried a lot about it. I worked so hard on that page since 2020 and grew it up to over 2,000 followers, it may not seem like a lot but to me it was everything. I wrote several appeals to Instagram and no help was given. I even tried to contact people I found on LinkedIn that worked for Meta but to no avail. I felt like giving the whole business up and just forgetting about it because I was so upset. I was going through a grieving period for Aileen’s Attire and nothing would help unless I got the page back. It was a rough time. I continued with my Christmas markets with people at my stall telling me they would follow me on Instagram. I had to explain the situation and they were confused and annoyed for me. It makes you realise how important having an Instagram account for your business is and so many people followed me there.
I tried to make a new Aileen’s Attire page but it was also taken down due to ‘impersonation’ which was impersonating myself, so ironic. Anyway, after a lot of doubt I decided the only way to get back out there was to rebrand and change my name, look and give it another go. I tirelessly tried to think of a new name but it was hard since I loved Aileen’s Attire and so many people knew me as that. I tried to think of names for weeks but nothing was sticking out to me. Once I had my name I knew I could start the rebrand process of a new logo, new branding for packaging and setting up the social media accounts. One day I said to myself when I woke up “Today you will think of a name and you can’t go to sleep until you do’. I sat with my laptop and brainstormed more names but still nothing. That evening I went up to my boyfriend Oisin’s house and his mum Edel was asking about my rebrand and when it was happening. I told her I couldn’t think of a name that was the only thing holding me back. She made everyone in the house sit at the table and help me think of names. She had lots of good ideas that I was considering. I had said I wanted a one word name that people would remember. I said that I loved the word Epiphany and thought it was nice. Edel then says what about Epiphany but with an A for Aileen so Apiphany. That was it, I loved it. That is how we thought of my name.
I created everything I needed for the rebrand and got started again. This time I created my very own website, which is something I’ve always wanted to do but it was something I couldn’t afford before. However, I thought to myself being an entrepreneur is about taking risks so that’s what I did, I took a risk and bought a website and domain name in the hopes that it would be successful. My sister Catherine helped me get the website ready and I have to say I am really happy with how it turned out. I relaunched on the 14th January 2023 and everyone has been so supportive! I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has followed and purchased something on my website I am so grateful.
My mum is a great help to me and she is posting my orders for me when I’m working during the day. She is the best business partner and I am very lucky to have her. There were a lot of days where I considered not doing it anymore but I remembered how I love running my own business and I’m glad I decided to keep going with it.
I know that everything happens for a reason and although I was so upset about losing my other page, I was meant to rebrand and create a website which is going well. I just need to grow my following again and reach all the people who had followed me before. If you would like to follow my new account it is @apiphanyjewellery on Instagram and TikTok.
Thanks again for your support and I will see you in the next post
Aileen xx