CELEBRATING WILTSHIRE ' S START-UPS
Starting up your own business is daunting – any business owner will tell you that . In fact , if you are not daunted by it then you probably aren ’ t taking it seriously . The reasons behind taking such a bold step are many . It might be a long-held wish ; it might be family reasons ; it might be through a job loss or redundancy or it might be through pure chance . Whatever the reason , there is much talent to draw on across Swindon and Wiltshire to help business start-ups . Advice or support can be accessed for free or for low cost . Everyone ’ s journey will be different and that ’ s what makes this area such a vibrant mix of entrepreneurs at all levels of success . Here , TBE Features Editor , Fiona Scott profiles just a handful of the small business owners who have taken those first steps .
DUST & DANCE
Claire Sankey runs Dust & Dance , Salisbury . Dubbed the Chief Glitter Officer , Claire is 27 and already supplies glitter all over the UK and now overseas .
She said : “ I set up Dust & Dance because I saw a gap in the market last year , and predicted the trend for glitter was going to be huge for 2016 ( some of the big fashion houses had started to use cosmetic glitter on the catwalks which was a tell-tale sign that 2016 would be super sparkly ).
“ I wanted to buy this kind of glitter but couldn ’ t find it anywhere so I did some research and decided as no-one else was doing it , I would .”
As a result Dust & Dance specialises in chunky glitter mixes for people to use to embellish their face at festivals and parties . The company already stocks the biggest selection of glitter mixes available to order and these are also sold by a growing number of independent retailers .
For Claire , the early months have taught her to trust her instinct even though the first few months were very slow .
She said : “ I spent the first six months setting up the website and growing brand awareness with few sales . I was waiting nervously for the festival season wondering if I had made a huge mistake but I persevered to get everything ship shape .
Dimity Fayre
Dimity Fayre is an online retail business run from Potterne in Devizes selling a range of handcrafted homewares and gifts made in the UK .
The company was set up by Kerry Jones , aged 41 , who cofounded it with her business partner . Kerry had worked for The White Company for many years previously .
She said : “ Both my business partner and I had always dreamed of setting up our own homeware brand . We read articles in Country Living and Country Homes & Interiors magazines and were amazed by the amount of British talent making high quality products . We wanted to offer these
“ Sales were slow in April , then in May sales were five times the previous month , June another four times this and July is on target to at least double this once again .”
Her biggest challenge has been cash flow , she set up the business with £ 100 and has re-invested every penny into stock . So her first year has been one of do-it-yourself for all of those ‘ business ’ things which need to be embraced such as customer service , marketing , building a website , social media , book keeping , sourcing and logistics .
Claire ’ s next step is to scale up products from being packed at home to being manufactured . She has just started shipping worldwide so will be increasing her international marketing efforts .
makers an easy place to sell ( by buying their product ) so that they can concentrate on what they do best , which is being creative .”
Kerry believes their biggest achievement to date has been to sustain an ‘ average order value ’ or AOV of around £ 75 . Their biggest challenge has been :
“ I still think it is very difficult educating consumers we should be paying a premium price for these products . We
Previous Homewares
Previous Homewares is a retail and online business with a shop in the High Street in Corsham offering modern and vintage items . It ’ s run and managed by Nicola White .
Nicola set up the business after a life-time of being interested in good design , fashion , vintage and antiques . She ’ s a former lecturer in the History of Design and has written several books on the subject of history in fashion .
At home , she ’ s always mixed the modern with the antique . Opening a shop allowed her to pursue her passion and share her naturally eclectic nature with a receptive audience . After testing the water in Tetbury , with a small unit within a centre , last year she opened her shop in Corsham , selling from the window display even before opening day .
Nicola said : “ I probably underestimated the demand for vintage and I am kept really busy hunting for unusual , lovely and stylish old things to meet demand .
I ' m also always on the look out for new ranges you won ' t find in most other shops , whether it be beautiful jewellery from Amsterdam , the softest leather metallic bags from Morocco or barbershop man-gifts from Italy .
“ I ’ m very keen there should be something for everyone , from toddlers to grandfathers , from 50p to £ 500 . The critical thing for me though is the prices are really keen . This fast turnover means new stock is always coming in .”
Her biggest achievement to date is the fact she ’ s been able to employ several great people and her biggest challenge was to actually find the right premises with lovely big windows for enticing displays and lots of light , in an historic building .
Her single piece of advice for any start-up business in Wiltshire is to contact Inspire ( formerly Wessex Chambers ) an organisation which has helped with start-up courses , advice and contacts .
www . previoushomewares . co . uk
are working with some very talented people who spend hours making their goods and so we want to ensure they receive recognition for this in the pricing .”
The next step for Dimity Fayre is to concentrate on strategic social media engagement as well designing their own product which will be handmade in the UK .
www . dimityfayre . co . uk
20 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2016