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

Photo Shoot for Lady in Links in Exeter

A few weeks ago I gathered some good friends and headed to Exeter city centre for a few pictures for my new website.
Showing off my cufflink collections in fitted shirts and smart work dresses, we enjoyed a few cocktails whilst we were papped, and got quite a few appreciative looks! Tom certainly got into the cameraman role, and I think he enjoyed ordering us around a little too much!
Coal in Princesshay were very welcoming with their comfortable and friendly atmosphere and delicious cocktails - many thanks to them.
Thank you for a great evening ladies and for all your support, the images should be live on my website soon :)

Its been a while....

Now that Lady in Links is up and running, I thought the hard work would be over. How silly of me. The notion that you can just pop an online store onto the worldwide web and bingo, sales start rolling in, is a distant dream. I sat patiently waiting for my first customer (my mum and best friend don’t count), for 3 weeks. And that was a really long three weeks. But I’ll tell you what, that feeling when you see your first order pop into your mail box is absolutely worth the wait. After hours, days and weeks of tentatively clicking the send/receive button on the email, one tiny little line pings into my empty list saying ‘Order received’. Hoorah! After leaping with joy and running round the office a few times, I ended up spending the money on cakes in celebration.
But even after that long wait, I still thought ‘Ah, now they will start flooding in someone’s spotted me’. It was another 2 weeks until the next order, and another round of cakes to celebrate. Fear seeped into me at the realisation that 2 orders a month weren’t going to pay the bills, especially if I keep buying these cakes. But then we hit October and I was saved from turmoil by poor souls trying to find something different to give their wives/sisters/daughters for their Christmas gift. One day in December I actually received 2 orders in one day. I cannot tell you how over the moon I was! I even had emails from happy customers to say how delighted they were with my products....big smiley face on The Cufflink Lady!
So success is not as easy to come by as I naively expected, but the wait I endured made the orders I received so much sweeter.
Needless to say, now that Christmas is over, I have my work cut out to get Lady in Links ‘out there’. Short of standing atop a very tall building and shouting for all I’m worth about it, I am rubbish at this marketing malarkey. So, off I go to some marketing courses, good old Women Do Business I say.

Chapter 1 of Starting Up My Own Business

Hello! This is my first ever blog, and it is all rather daunting. But I wanted to share my story, or rather my journey to ‘Businesswoman’. Actually, I am not quite there yet, so I probably shouldn’t blow my own trumpet too soon. It has been a very long and slow journey to my business launch date, and I believe I can see the end, although it is still quite a distance away, about two months in fact. But so much has gone on since I said (over 10 months ago now) that I would finally put my money where my mouth is and start my own business.

Funnily enough, I said a similar thing about starting a blog about 8 weeks ago, and I have only just got around to it. But here goes...

So, my business idea sprang from an accessory that has been on the market for many many years, but has predominantly been geared towards men: Cufflinks. I am putting together a collection of cufflinks that are designed specifically for women. They are such a sophisticated accessory that really allow an individual to express their personality and add a unique touch to everyday work wear. Yet it is only in the last few years that ladies cuffed shirts have become readily available on the high street - and still the range of ladies cufflinks is so small and limited. So that is my business objective; to provide women with classy, beautiful and feminine cufflinks that look fabulous and give a feel-good factor to a shirt or suit.

Design was a large and important part of these accessories. They have to be intricately feminine whilst also being practical. Therefore my choice of materials ranges from sterling silver, precious stones, pearls and crystals, to rhodium and gold plated designs of enamelled finish that will all provide longevity. The majority of the collection also feature pointed swivel fittings which ease the process of putting the cufflinks on, which is always an issue when I am rushed in the mornings.

My next task was presentation boxes, which are fundamental to the lady in the sense that it can be a fantastic gift box, as well as providing the protection that beautiful jewellery requires. With these in the pipe line, I am now designing my website, organising photography, writing business plans, marketing plans, you name it, it’s all on my endless list of things to do. But the most important factor that keeps me propelling the business forward is my passion. I love these accessories, and I want every lady out there to love them too.

I have been really lucky with the support I have received along the way, this has helped me enormously. Firstly are my friends, who have had to cope with endless market research questions being propelled at them, along with sampling products and providing feedback. Secondly, the support from Women Do Business has been wonderful. This programme is run by the Rural Community Council for Devon and provides local women starting up businesses with advice and support. After joining last November I have been hooked, attending all the seminars, workshops, and this week’s International Women Do Business Day. I always leave an event filled with confidence, self-belief and inspiration. It is a great way to meet women in the same position, share stories and worries and receive advice and support on the subjects that are limiting our business progression. We must have all looked hilarious at one of the workshops last week when we were trying to set up Twitter accounts for our businesses. Technology was quickly identified as one of our core weaknesses. But you can now find me on Twitter as The Cufflink Lady, thanks to that fabulous workshop. I just hope I will be able to put some photos up soon so that you can all see why I am so excited to be launching my business.