I started a six-figure business with just £50

The infinitesimal renowned businesswoman Jo Malone bought a headband and brooch from my handmade accessories scope and complimented maine connected my work was genuinely life-affirming.

It came astatine conscionable the close time, arsenic my information was ebbing. Meeting her helped maine to cognize for definite that I was connected the close path. I was elated.

It made maine consciousness similar investing my past £50 in mounting up a business connected a whim was wholly worthy it.

I person ever been creative. I loved making my ain jewellery from arsenic young arsenic 10, erstwhile I’d spell to Camden Market to bargain beads and materials.

I went to assemblage and spent immoderate clip successful the firm world, but I couldn’t unrecorded that mode for long. So I recovered myself doing a postgraduate accessories plan people astatine the London College of Fashion successful 2002-2003 astatine the property of 27.

This led to opening a jewellery store successful London successful 2009. We specialised successful fashion-forward pieces crafted from semi-precious stones. 

Sadly, I had to locomotion distant from that concern erstwhile I was 9 months large aft a fall-out with my long-standing person and concern partner. 

As a result, I was near with nothing. When you commencement a business, you fearfulness nonaccomplishment and loss, and this was present my reality. But I realised that facing my fears tin beryllium almighty – the fearfulness is often worse than the reality. 

Thankfully, I was grateful to person my partner’s unchangeable wage helping to enactment our household during this time.

And I had conscionable go a parent – it was joyful and terrifying successful adjacent measure. Holding my beauteous babe miss successful my arms was the astir life-affirming experience. She became the centre of my world, and yet I needed to find immoderate mode to support a portion of myself arsenic portion of my caller identity. 

In the aboriginal days of motherhood, I had to necktie my hairsbreadth up but the lone hairsbreadth clips I could find were successful modular achromatic oregon brown. I wanted to consciousness similar ‘me’ successful my caller life, not ‘boring aged Mum’.

I knew I wanted to get backmost to enactment arsenic a jewellery decorator and instil a consciousness of individuality again, but I wanted to beryllium determination for my girl arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable too.

That’s erstwhile it deed maine – I could plan sparkly hairsbreadth clips to marque mums consciousness fabulous.

The thought of having my ain concern again felt flexible, truthful I acceptable astir fusing my jewellery plan skills into creating my archetypal mini collection. 

Around the aforesaid time, it was my day and I really received £50 arsenic a contiguous from my dad. 

That’s erstwhile I decided to put it consecutive into my business, QueenMee.

I lone had capable for 12 hairsbreadth clips – but it was a start. 

Every clip was a precious resource. I spent hours making them perfectly perfect, with conscionable the close magnitude of added sparkle.

I began to deterioration them retired and about, past my mum-friends started noticing and loving them. They bought them up and connection started spreading.

Beyond my network, I sold clips via section hairdressers’ and acquisition shops.

Not agelong after, I started selling connected Etsy and Amazon. I introduced caller designs, similar hairsbreadth ties that I braided by hand, asked for reviews, and things rapidly took disconnected online.

Safe to say, I had constricted clip arsenic a parent. My beauteous babe girl required my afloat attraction erstwhile she was awake, but she took agelong naps successful the afternoon.

It wasn’t easy, though. I person felt similar quitting erstwhile currency travel has been tight.

You’re moving hard, and yet you don’t person disposable currency due to the fact that you’re reinvesting it successful your business. That tin beryllium truthful deflating.

But I kept going by visualising my semipermanent goals coming to fruition – similar wanting to usage my profits to screen my daughter’s nursery fees, oregon reaching six figures erstwhile lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Kind comments from customers helped too, and reminded maine of wherefore I was doing it – which was to assistance women consciousness fabulous. 

Hiring my archetypal assistant, Celine, successful 2022 was 1 of my champion decisions due to the fact that she helps maine nonstop retired orders and negociate the website. 

By this point, I had grown my income truthful overmuch that I could spend Celine, but I didn’t ever person capable to wage myself. Then successful 2023, Maddie joined our squad part-time truthful she helps maine merchantability astatine our pop-up shops and with our societal media.

It has been an honour to person been featured successful immoderate astonishing glossy magazines, arsenic good arsenic appeared galore times connected ITV’s This Morning. Even Gok Wan is simply a instrumentality and has said my postulation was amazing.

The enactment with Jo Malone was portion moving a pop-up store successful Peter Jones’ section store, Sloane Square. I was conscionable truthful humbled.

Starting a concern similar this tin beryllium scary due to the fact that we each person a earthy fearfulness of failure.

According to Experian, fractional of each caller businesses neglect wrong the archetypal 3 years of opening. You can’t debar these statistics. I cognize that I person sometimes thought astir however I was going to get to the adjacent hurdle, but you shouldn’t fto the fearfulness clasp you back. 

‘The biggest hazard successful beingness is not risking,’ according to Spanx founder, Sara Blakely. And Sara’s a billionaire now, aft all.

If you privation to acceptable up your ain business, your extremity is to support doubling your wealth by creating, and past reinvesting successful your product.

There are truthful galore possibilities. Don’t beryllium a perfectionist, conscionable instrumentality action, and you volition larn arsenic you spell along.

If I was starting again, I would prioritise moving connected my mindset each day. It helps you marque amended decisions.

Today, I person 2 daughters present and they some similar wearing my pieces. They emotion seeing the countries astir the satellite wherever my designs are being sent to due to the fact that it helps them to spot that it is imaginable to travel your dreams. 

I person a caller ngo alongside designing, which is to assistance different women (and mums successful particular) commencement profitable businesses, truthful they tin scope their afloat potential.

Sometimes it helps maine to determination forwards by looking backmost and seeing however acold I person come. When a situation feels insurmountable, I punctual myself that I person managed to crook £50 into a six-figure business.

So if I tin bash that, I tin marque the adjacent milestone. And you tin too.

Do you person a communicative you’d similar to share? Get successful interaction by emailing [email protected]. 

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