Start up Styles wants to hear from the Great British consumer. Many people may want to start a business making their own merchandise so we are conducting a little bit of market research.
Flat leather shoes by Taschka.
One gift shop owner who Stylista Toni Sekinah spoke to said there is a trend among her customers for buying locally produced merchandise.
Is this the case among our readers? Take this poll so we can find out.
An array of colourful silk ties
The owner of Diverse gift shop in Brixton gives her advice on how to start up entrepreneurs should approach a gift shop they would like to stock their merchandise. She also talks about her collaboration with the Makerhood collective of Lambeth.
Stylista Toni Sekinah went to down to Tomorrow’s Store in the City of London to hear from representatives of the Prince’s Trust. They told her about how young people with a kernel of an idea are supported in starting their new businesses through the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme.
The Prince’s Trust
Amanda Richards, the Prince’s Trust PR manager and Sally-Anne Ashley, retail manager at the Prince’s Trust Tomorrow’s Store spoke about entry criteria, workshops, pitches and business mentors.
PrincesTrust
“No idea is a bad idea.”
On Tuesday 18th February, the Startup Stylistas went a workshop at Google Campus in London’s Old Street. Doug Richard, an early stage investor, gave a room full of wannabe and newbie entrepreneurs, 4 hours of advice on funding their new businesses.
Doug Richard workshop
Here are the top tips we gleaned from this session.
10. Borrow money when you don’t need it.
All lenders want to know “Can you pay the loan back?” otherwise known as serviceability. When a business is going through a rough patch, it will be harder to prove that it can repay the loan, and the lender is unlikely to approve it.
9. Banks never lend to small businesses because they are deemed too risky.
Imagine bank x is lending money at 10% interest. If it is lending to 10 businesses, it can only afford for one of them to fail which is equivalent to a 90% success rate. These odds do not look good to banks considering Doug Richard had a 20%-25% success rate out of 25 investments.
8. Money costs money – go for the cheapest first.
The cheapest is a small business bank loan, with interest of 10%-15%. Guarantor loans charge about 50% per year if a friend of family member puts up collateral. Pawn brokers are another option. Unintentional overdrafts may charge around 250% with fees on top. Payday lenders are extremely expensive with APRs working out to be over 1,000%.
7. Startups can get free money in the form of grants.
There is a time cost involved in preparing a good grant application. Business owners should go for larger grants as there is less competition for them compared to those for smaller amounts.
6. When an investor invests in your business, they become a co-worker.
The goals of a venture capitalist are not the same as the goals of a startup founder. Different goals means different priorities and this can cause serious problems when the business is not doing well.
5. Have more money than you spend.
This is a general life rule but is critically important when you run a business.
4. A good entrepreneur is better than a good business plan.
When an Angel Investor is looking to invest in a business, (s)he has to like the entrepreneur. For example, Doug Richard likes charismatic, lucky people who are excited about their idea. Also, he doesn’t like ‘assholes’.
3. Product and service crowdsourcing is a great source of credit for startups.
Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the biggest crowdsourcing ventures on the scene. Entrepreneurs can raise money for their business globally without giving up equity or paying for a loan. Like the developers of the Pebble watch, business owners can sell their product early, get new customers and use the profit to capitalise the business. Kickstarter is a bit more straight-laced while Indiegogo is more easy going.
2. Now is a good time to be an entrepreneur.
After the financial crisis of 2007/8, banks pulled back and created space in the market for new credit lenders. People came in to fill the gaps by helping small businesses raise money through equity, loans, and crowdfunding. Also the government has set up the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme through which small, young companies can ask for up to £150k and it’s a sweet deal for investors.
1. Newbie entrepreneurs should check out crowd versions of angel investors; seedrs and crowdcube.
Seedrs focuses a bit more on SEIS type businesses while crowdcube is somewhat more expansive and has more flexibility.
On Saturday 15th February 2014, Old Spitalfields Market hosted a hundreds of designer-makers. Julie Spurgeon, the designer of Material Pleasures ceramics, a former jewellery designer, had as stall and spoke of her experience of selling directly to her customers.
What is it like selling at a market like this?
Doing this market is an inexpensive way of getting retail customers to comment on your work. You immediately find what people like and that helps.
What has been the reaction to your collection today?
It’s surprising actually as to how many men like the range. I thought that it’s quite a feminine tea set but actually men are attracted to it so it must have some sort of architectural quality. I supposed it’s also slightly art deco in style which appeals. And I do the grey tones as well.
Where and when did you study?
I graduated in 2008 as a mature student from Central St Martins.
Do you have any famous customers?
As part of my degree show project, I designed a tea set. We had to get a critical appraisal from a gallery or retailer and I took it along to Fortnum & Mason and they were really interested.
They said “Well come and see us after you’ve graduated.” So obviously I followed it up and they launched the range in 2009. They wanted everything made in England. I didn’t have the facility to make at that point. It was made in Stoke-on-Trent for me by a small manufacturer and they bought three different collections, so that was a good start. But it was quite expensive because it’s really high quality and it really restricted who I could sell to. So I actually now make myself in high fired earthenware which means I can do all the different colours. Last spring, Liberty happened to pick up on my work. And now the coloured ware range is sold in Liberty.
Apart from Old Spitalfields Market, at what other events do you exhibit your collection?
I do Pulse Trade Fair which is a really good trade fair to do, which is in May, and I do the Country Living Fair at the Business Design Centre twice a year.
How easy was it to launch your collection?
I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I hadn’t had a retailer already interested. That gave me the confidence, I got a startup loan from Central St Martins which helped to finance all of the tooling costs. You tend to do the lot. You’re designing it, you’re making it, photographing it and packaging it all up.
What advice would you give to someone else starting up as a designer maker in ceramics?
I think you’ve got to make models of everything you do, maquettes or models to make sure they function properly before you go to the expense of making it up into the real thing.
Merissa Hamilton of Naturally Simple started her line of hair care products after suffering from post-natal hair loss following the birth of her son in 2009.
Merissa Hamilton
She went to work in her kitchen finding the right combination of natural ingredients to promote healthy hair growth.
Friends and family started putting orders for her hair oil and hair butter concoctions and in 2012, Ms Hamilton decided to launch Naturally Simple to the public.
The entrepreneur was at the Natural November event on Sunday 3rd November 2013 in Lambeth Town Hall, London. Toni Sekinah caught up with her at her stand.
Tell me about some of your products.
So this is the 3 step set and it has Green Tea extract. You can use it on braids or locks or natural hair, straight hair, whatever. I use it every day just to keep my hair moisturised and it doesn’t leave any build up and what I will do is I usually spray it on my locks, I would re-twist my hair with the butter so when you use the spray you can seal in the moisture with the butter afterward and it’s a lot lighter than Shea butter on its own and it’s not going to leave your hair clogged up. And then the oil which is a mixture of castor oil, sweet almond oil, Argan oil, rosemary, peppermint, lavender and tea tree oil. Rosemary and tea tree help to stimulate blood flow to the scalp which helps to promote growth. It’s not a magic potion that will make you hair grow but it will keep the scalp healthy. So you can use all three together.
Merissa explains to a customer how to sample the product. “To be honest a little bit of those products goes a long way so a large set will last a long time.”
I’ve only got three products basically because I am lazy with my hair. Shampoo, co-wash [washing one’s hair using just conditioner], I couldn’t deal with it. I’m too lazy for that. Then you’ve got to twist this, and tie this and band this. I was like ‘Give me something that’s straight forward.’
When I first made the butter it had a lot less coconut oil in it because I found that people who have braids or locks said to me that it wasn’t blending in and caused a lot of build-up. So I had to keep adjusting the formula. That’s why it is that consistency now. That’s what works at the moment.
Naturally Simple hair care products
What are the main ingredients in your products?
Shea butter, coconut, avocado, vitamin E.
Have you had a good response today with lots of people buying?
I’ve got some regular customers so they other order on line or come to event specifically for the products. Usually when I do Natural November I’ll let them know I’m doing it and they’ll come to the event to stock up on whatever it is that they need.
I’ve got quite a few customers that have come about from word of mouth so usually when I get an order online, I’ll ask them where they heard about the products and they’ll say “Oh so-and-so tried it” or “My daughter tried it and they’ve given me the contact details”. Or I’ll get a message via Facebook saying they have a friend who has tried it so a lot of it gets spread through word of mouth which is good because it means it must be doing the job it’s supposed to be doing.
Did you launch the website at the same time as the products?
I launched the products and the website together and I did that last October (2012). When my kids were born was when I started researching and making things and that’s when I came up with the products that I wanted but I wasn’t actually marketing or selling them. I was just making up batches for friends and family. And it was in summer around June or July last year that my husband said to me that I need to concentrate on marketing it properly so he helped me with the design and the packaging and it was in October that I launched the website. Natural November last year was the first event that I actually came to and sold at. No, it was September not October because I spent two months getting it out there and then saying that I was going to start so I actually launched it officially at Natural November.
How was the response to the launch?
It was good because I didn’t realise that anybody that had seen it on Facebook would actually come to the event and say that they had seen it.
So when people said they had seen in on Facebook I said “Wow! It’s actually really out there” .Since then it’s been really good. I’ve changed the branding once because originally the logo and the name have always been the same it was just the labels that have changed slightly. And also I went through a stage where I was experimenting with the packaging. So I made up new sets, I had taken some material that I had taken to Natural November in May to see which set was preferred. I had some that was very sleek with aluminium bottles and ones that were like this [transparent] so I was doing on the spot market research. People said they preferred the clear one because they could see the products, they could see what was left. They felt better about using what they could actually see.
Do you combine making these products with a full time job? What is you work-life balance?
Work-life balance is work, life, children. Because I make these up to order I’m not churning them out all the time. Say I get an order in the day, the products [ingredients] are ordered if I don’t have them then they are made up in the evening after I have received the order. I say to allow for five to seven days. I usually get it out within three but allow extra in case I have to order in anything that I don’t have. I just like to allow for the extra time so that people aren’t wondering where their products are.
Natural combs
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