What one thing would I do differently if I were starting my business over?

What one thing would I do differently if I were starting my business over?

Each month Lizzy and I plan the upcoming month’s Instagram posts.

The more you post, the more engagement, the more followers the higher up the algorithm - where all of us small businesses want to be!

Our involvement with Instagram has been in fits and starts, pledging and achieving a daily post then one every 3 days then eventually settling down to, on average, a sustainable (for us) weekly post - may be not the best, but achievable.

As an aside I have constant admiration for those who maintain a daily post, but I digress.

Having Googled and Googled ‘how do I build my Instagram following' and 'how do I get good interaction on Instagram’ we try and include a ‘trending type post’ one of which this month is: ‘what one thing would I do differently if...'

Lizzy having taken the allocated past 3 posts glibly said, "this one's yours mum". That got me thinking.

I can’t speak for other people starting up a small business, we all come from different backgrounds, knowledge and levels of financial support but writing this blog make me think back on our start up mistakes and was, I admit, a bit painful. Some things were out of our control, some very much rookie errors which were in our control.

Both of us having common sense and life experience made us feel, maybe, a bit over optimistic and overconfident in our abilities. The line between enthusiasm - an essential asset for any new business - tipping into blinkered enthusiasm is a fine one. Some bits were just bad luck, our first manufacturer went under, ingredients changed beyond our control necessitating new packaging, other things were more under our control, and I am pleased to say that we have learnt from -  free QR codes are only free because they time out - so don’t make flyers with them on! If  companies say they are cruelty free - get them to sign the cruelty free certification before you purchase their products - as one refused to sign the ‘leaping bunny documentation’ for us. Marketing companies give you presentations that make you believe you will be on sale in the big supermarkets tomorrow, scammers offer you cheap advertising provided you sign up before lunch time - how did I not see that red flag? - the list goes on.

I think that it is fair to say that starting to make our shampoo and conditioner bars was an emotional decisions rather than a business one.

As a family we all try and do our bit for the environment, the idea for the bars was seeded by Katherine - Lizzy’s little sister who gave us shampoo bars one Christmas extolling the virtues of no plastic. We loved the idea so set about trying to make one ourselves. I actually think that involving emotion i.e. starting the business for another reason other than to primarily make money helps motivate and sustain you when the going gets tough: to use the jargon, "believing in your product" helps. When we decided to sell our bars - we were even slower in finessing them. We delayed commercial production spending years working out what was to go in our bars, our USP (fermented products) and decisions such as sulphates or no sulphates. The delay meant that many competitors got their feet in the door before us - but again, I have no regrets, working out who we were, and where we were placed in the market. With competitors around, we need to be able to say why ours (in our opinion) is a better bar than theirs.

So, taking time to  formulate a solid (in both senses of the word) product that you believe in is worthwhile - even if it slows you down.

Our packet design also took time, we employed a local designer friend who was amazing - I can’t thank her enough - again money well spent - as we have had so many compliments on our packing -  and aesthetics are important. (Click here to see the full design process!)

But selling shampoo bars is very different from selling delicious chocolate brownies - everyone knows what to do with a brownie, exactly how much and when they will spend on such a treat - which helps the customer make the decision to purchase.

A lot of people have no idea what a shampoo bar is, if they want one and why they want one -  and so hesitate in buying one.

Where I think I would do things differently is our marketing strategy. 

Neither of us had any marketing experience but lots of advice came our way:

‘You have an ‘explaining product’ - go into telemarketing

‘Make a bar for pets’

‘Post daily on Instagram and sell from there’

‘Become a TikTok sensation’

‘Get into big shops’

‘Get a company to do your marketing’

‘Join Top Drawer - a design led retail trade show’

‘Sell wholesale on Faire'

‘Get external investment’

‘Have you thought of Pinterest - you can make good money from there’

‘Go on Dragon's Den’

‘Pay money for a bespoke website' and the reverse 'no don’t waste your money on a bespoke website and get an off the peg one like Shopify’

‘Win competitions' and the reverse ’competitions are a waste of time’

‘Sell in small local shops’

‘Concentrate on-line sales ‘

‘Spend more money on advertising and boosting your Instagram posts’ 

I wish to impress that the advice that we were given was individually excellent and well-meaning but collectively impossible to follow, primarily because of its diversity and volume. We did follow some of the advice and it worked, but in all honesty, there was no clear plan, what we tried one week had no coherent strategy with what we tried the following week. I can confirm that a scatter gun approach to small business marketing - or using the technical term ‘tactical manoeuvre hell’ as your modus operandi is not recommended. Not only did it lead to increased and often wasted work, but it also planted the seed of despondency. "This does not seem to be working" became an often-used phrase. In retrospect - nothing had time to work before we were onto the next thing.

We did spend thousands with an external company to launch our new range - they frankly did less than we could have done if we had put our mind to it. We didn’t understand that even if we had a great Instagram promotional campaign - it’s not going to do much when posting to less than 200 followers (which is what we had at the time) and that we are wasting our money - and funnily enough the PR company didn’t point that out to us either!

Later we paid for someone to help us with Instagram - she did some fantastic posts and taught us a lot. We had to let her go as we did not see a return in our money when it came to sales, but personally, I feel that she was a great investment for us as a confidence booster, introduction to, and teacher of Instagram.

We tried big shops, we tried little shops, we fretted over Instagram, we dabbled with TikTok, tried (and won) some competitions, haven’t yet got a pet bar, we dismissed dragon's den (too scary), we joined Faire, we got a bespoke website then changed to Shopify,  we went to small and large summer and Christmas fairs, we haven’t yet joined Top drawer - as you can see, we took all advice seriously!

When running a small business, and in Lizzy’s case having another job and an infant (and a dog!) time is of the essence. Knowing where to target your efforts to get the biggest returns is vital - and if you don’t have a clue then you don’t have a clue. Just like the TV Saturday evening games shows - the answer is simple when you know it - but not when you don’t. With no clear direction and no clear understanding of what we needed to do at times if felt as if we were running hard but not really moving forward.

Drum roll please, out of sheer luck - our fairy god father stepped up in the form of a friend who had worked in the field of management consultancy all his life - someone who we had known for years and who we trusted. Someone who listened to where we were at and how we were doing before giving any advice, then someone who gave advice that, to us - sounded sane, doable and didn’t include dragons’ den.

We were so lucky to have this person, he has subsequently met with us regularly - we meet for breakfast in a local American diner, and over eggs on toast with a coffee on the side, he has given us advice which is working - go local, become big names locally, become part of the community,  get into local shops and build up your mailing list are among a few of his immensely wise words. Not only is it advice that we can follow, but it also resonates with us, we love our community, have lived here for over 30 years and interacting with while feeling part of it just makes sense.

So, we get to the crux of the post -  the one thing that I would have done differently if I was starting all over again is:

Find a mentor. Someone who you know and trust and someone whose advice you will follow - then follow it. Don’t be deviated by ‘well we could just try….’

Your time is limited - not to mention your sanity.

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1 comment

This is so good Tina!! I finally got around to reading it and it has so much insight into everything you have both have gone through. Love the fairy good father as well. He’s happy to be mentioned. Really love your writing as well. It’s from the heart, funny and personal. Good luck with it all!!

kathy allen

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