Some people advise that you should "never hire friends or family" and whatever you do "never get too close to your employees".
Never being one to follow the rules, I can honestly say that we class our employees as some of our dearest friends. Not a day goes by when we don't count our lucky stars to be working with such the lovely bunch of misfits who make up our wonderful team!
We have laughed together, cried together, we have been too busy to eat, take a break and sometimes we are even too busy to wee! They never complain, even though we have outgrown our current studio and so often have to frame on the kitchen table, package on the floor, and work at weird desks on odd chairs!
We are mostly parents and somehow manage to juggle the growing business with our growing families, we squeeze a 9 - 5 day into school hours and work mornings and evenings in the school holidays.