Each month the owners of Keap reflect on the theme of our Ignite Story, and consider what the topics mean for us as individuals, and as business owners.

Before starting Keap I mainly saw the year through the lens of months and seasons, with a sprinkling of key birthdays and anniversaries.

Now that I run a business some other dates are front of my mind: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and the Winter Holidays.

Not to say I didn't think about these days before, but certainly not in the way I do now! These days are huge business and constitute the top 4 holiday spending events of the year in the U.S. (with $1.3 trillion combined spend in 2018 according to the NRF — roughly 3 months of spend condensed into 4 holidays).

Valentine's Day is the first key commercial date of the year, and ever since we started Keap it has always taken us somewhat by surprise. The holidays feel like they just happened, we are all recalibrating for the start of the New Year.... and just like that there are chocolate hearts everywhere. 

On one hand people spend $160 billion on Valentine's every year. It's a commercial no-brainer.

On the other hand (and despite being romantics) both Harry and I have never been big shoppers on Valentine’s Day. So focusing solely on the commercial aspects of it has felt inauthentic to us in the past. 

So this year we decided to spend less time making commercial plans and more time reflecting about the love in our lives. I thought a lot about my family and my husband who surround me in truly unconditional love.

So please do buy a candle for your loved ones (of course!), or write them a card, or give them a hug, or do whatever comes naturally to you. Here’s to all types of love, no matter how you do it! 💞

Happy Valentine’s day!

With love,

Stephen from Keap