When trying to think of a business we could run from the country a mail-order business struck us as a good idea, particularly with internet sales beginning to boom
Krystena Petrakas: Have you always wanted to set up your own business?
John Nicholson: I was already running my own business in London, an audio visual installation company which installed cinemas in people’s homes. I’m probably relatively unemployable to be frank! [laughs]
KP: What encouraged you to start a mail-order business?
JN: We wanted to move out of London. Melissa and I were both brought up in the country and fancied doing the same for our children.
When trying to think of a business we could run from the country a mail-order business struck us as a good idea, particularly with internet sales beginning to boom. It felt like a reasonable punt.
KP: Tell us about the initial set-up…
JN: It was stressful. When you’re planning it’s great because there’s lots of blue-sky thinking, but the nuts and bolts of the first couple of years are hard.
KP: Including financially?
JN: Yes. We were fortunate in some ways, as we’d worked in London for 20 years and had a lot of money in our house, which we sold. We then moved into rented accommodation.
It was really worrying the amount of money were losing at the start.
KP: How did you cope?
JN: Personally, not very well [laughs]. But Melissa was brilliant at sticking through it, she’s really strong-hearted.
We learnt to dig deep and believe what we we’re doing was the right life choice.
KP: Does the business fit in with your lifestyle?
JN: Yes, everything is a bit of a compromise but you’ll find that with pretty much every business.
You have to make time for the right reasons. One of us can, for example, pop out on a Wednesday afternoon and watch the kids in a sports match, but generally one of us always has our nose to the grindstone.
My two older daughters have come here on their holidays, stuffing catalogues into envelopes to earn some pocket money, so our business is integrated with the whole family.
KP: What’s a typical day for you?
JN: We work at the office nine till five but office work often gets taken home, and website design gets done later on in the night.
You never stop thinking about work when it’s your own business. It’s like another child in many ways.
If you’re going to make it fly you’ve got to give it 100%, which is sometimes difficult. It’s what we choose to do, but it does take up all your waking hours.
KP: Can that be frustrating?
JN: I wouldn’t choose to do anything differently. What’s frustrating is trying to make customers believe in you, having the perseverance to keep telling them that you’re worth it.
KP: Apart from that though, have you enjoyed it?
JN: Yes: when things are going well it’s a real buzz. It’s feels fantastic to come home after a good day – you feel the world is your oyster!
KP: What has surprised you the most about running your business?
JN: How tricky it is to manage your staff. It’s a skill which is surprisingly difficult.
We only have six people working for us, but neither Melissa nor I are instinctive managers.
KP: How lucrative is the mail-order business?
JN: The potential is fantastic, and if you can make the volumes it’s very attractive. But when you start out, buying the quantities you’ll need to buy is very difficult – an awful lot of people struggle and go under.
KP: What did you do to avoid that?
JN: A lot of hard work, perseverance and having a deeper wallet then most. We had the financial ability to keep going without turning to the banks for credit.
KP: So are you growing now?
JN: Exponentially! This year’s growth is slower then last year because the financial market has changed, everyone’s purse strings are much tighter.
We’re still attracting new customers but they’re spending less than before – the average order value has fallen.
KP: And what have you done to adapt?
JN: We went on an aggressive sales push from January in an effort to move stock along. We were worried when the financial crisis hit because we were heavily stocked – we wanted to turn a lot of that into cash, and quickly!
In retrospect that was possibly a bit too generous but that’s the benefit of hindsight: you learn.
KP: Do you adapt your business plan according to such lessons?
JN: We had a business plan to start with but we don’t have one now. We’re not capitalised by the banks so we’re relatively unstructured in that respect.
Our initial plan had a lot of forecasts, because we wanted to work out whether we’d be in business in a year’s time. I was probably overly optimistic in the first year or two.
KP: As many entrepreneurs are! Anything else you’d do differently if you did it all again?
JN: Get a proper job! [laughs] I don’t know, there are so many things you could do differently and better, but that’s the beauty of hindsight.
KP: Any advice for aspiring mail-order entrepreneurs?
JN: Do all your promotion through PR. It’s so much better if somebody’s writing about you because they believe it more than an ad on the back of a mag.
It’s talking to people like you! We want you to write about us even if it’s just a three line Q&A somewhere – that can potentially give businesses an enormous benefit.
However, sometimes you can have a two-page feature in a local newspaper that gives you nothing.
You never really know what the results will be. Sometimes something very small can get fantastic results – it’s quite surprising.
KP: Any other advice for someone just starting out?
JN: Be committed. Do as much research as possible beforehand, and talk to your friends and family about your business plan.
If someone is sceptical or negative about something, listen to them, don’t bury your head in the sand.
Take advice and work hard; it won’t happen unless you do. And above all, you must love what you do.
