We have been in business for a year and overall it’s been a really fun experience. We thought it would useful to share what we have learnt, we are not business experts, and continue to be on a steep learning curve.

Here are our tips and learnings…

- Responsibilities
We have always had agreed areas that are our remits which has helped to define and share the workload. But like any family-run business, there are multiple responsibilities to juggle, not just the requirements of Penny and Lola, so things can get a bit frantic or neglected, and that’s just the way things are sometimes, as long as you don’t lose track of what needs attention when.

- You can’t rush things!
Things take the time they take, you can drive things, but sadly (and often frustratingly) things like production and shipping take the time they take! So you just have to go with the flow. But if you’re not happy with something, go back and get it updated until it’s as you want it. We nearly went with a prototype that wasn't quite right, and I am so glad we changed it at the last minute.

- Meet Ups
Make time to have meetings weekly, rather than vaguely chatting about things all week. This way you’ll be focused in that moment, and feel more organised. We do not always get this one right! 

- Ask for help.
We are lucky enough to have a mentor, but we speak to all sorts of people to see if they have thoughts or advice, and often they do! Always ask your network, or ask about your network’s network!

- Social media is not your whole business.
Social media can be a really tricky place to navigate. It’s hungry, so needs constant content and attention, but probably it is not the only way to reach your customers or sell your products. The thing that makes it difficult is being a small business you don’t have a team of people producing content, so you have to make it work hard! Anything you create in one place can live in multiple social platforms, by sharing or using a distributor like Hootsuite or Zoho. Instagram has notoriously been difficult for small businesses throughout 2022, and we quickly learnt we can’t rely on a channel we have no control of. We love Pinterest and YouTube for other ways to reach our community.

- Keep an eye on the accounts.
The thing with being a small business is there is not a lot of money to play around with. So having a system in place for tracking what’s coming in and going out week by week keeps you focused. Knowing the numbers as much as possible helps you be aware of what you can spend on new products or marketing, which is the key to everything. Paying people on time is vital for keeping good relationships. It also allows you to set goals and see trends, for example we have seen that people buy things at the beginning and end of the month.

- Spending
Investment to begin with is usually either debt or personal funds. So before you have revenue to reuse, knowing what to spend when can be a nightmare. We have been quite clear on spending money on things like good product photography, and packaging.

- Goal Setting
As a couple maybe it’s easier to have similar goals than if we were just friends or business partners. But we are clear with what we’re trying to do, we have similar ideas of what we want to achieve in the short medium and long-term, which helps enormously as we are pulling in the same direction.

Hope that's useful!