Lady in Links is 1 Year Old Today!

Yay!!!!! Feeling very chuffed to have made it this far :) Got a little worried when a Business Link adviser informed me that only 11% of new start-up businesses make it through their first year! When I first started up I was thinking “well how hard can it be?” But I can understand this poor survival rate a bit better now. Cash flow is the biggest killer - once that life line runs dry you've had it. There came a point when I had to stop haemorrhaging money into the business, however passionate I was about it. I'm not out of the woods yet though, not by any means, and it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

After I got over the initial excitement of my first few customers dribbling in, my first real high was when I got my first overseas customer, from Moscow. He ordered a pair of my pearl cufflinks for his wife for Christmas, and then came back a month later for another pair for her birthday, with matching earrings too - my favourite customer so far!! Since then Lady in links has reached as far as New York to Australia, and I still get a buzz from each order!

Another perk of the year was when Women Do Business hooked me up with a business mentor. Sally soon ironed out my confidence issues and got me phoning magazines, newspapers and nominating me for awards - which really paid off. She taught me the phrase “what have I got to lose?” So I swallowed my nerves and got out there.

It has been a year of learning from my mistakes as well as from other people - one mistake was paying for advertising – in my case it was so not worth it. Sally then taught me that you can get it for free if you try hard enough. I also learnt to make the most of the people around me. I had my boyfriend out selling my cufflinks to his financial adviser, a friend helping out with PR, and another setting me up with business advisers and networks. Oh, and I found networking is key - surround yourself with other people who are inspiring and entrepreneurial - I swear it’s contagious.

A further lesson was to surround myself with positive people, and I learnt this the hard way. Not long after Lady in Links was up and running I met someone at a seminar who took great pleasure in telling me that my business would fail, that is was a terrible idea and that I should quit while I was ahead. Ahead? I had just spent most of my house deposit savings on my new business venture, how was I ahead?! It shook me up and made me really doubt myself and my business. For a while I really believed them too – that I had been in a little dream bubble and she had finally popped it, and all I had created was a huge debt. But that was another lesson - I had to be able to bounce back. There's always going to be someone to sow that seed of doubt or put you down because they've had a bad day. So I bounced back – and it was the best feeling in the world when I walked past that same person at an awards ceremony in May to collect a business award - I gave them a nice big grin!

I think my most valuable lesson I have learnt this year is that you can't do it all alone. You need people around you to throw ideas around with, support you, advise you, and take you to the pub after a long day. These people are invaluable. I am so grateful to those who have helped, supported and advised me, and especially those who take me to the pub afterwards!! Couldn't have done it without you, Thank You!! :)

www.ladies-cufflinks.com