In 2015, I took a break from my nine-to-five and leaped into an adventure chasing dreams and building my own business; and what a year it was!
Clutched (the online luxury accessory rental boutique I started with my brother) is doing well, but is still very much in the start-up phase (launched to the public at the beginning of 2016).
So as our six month anniversary approaches, I thought it would be a perfect time to sit down and reflect on the first year-and-a-bit of my start-up journey and some key learnings and advice that I wish I could get into the DeLorean and tell my 2015 self.
1) Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection
I spent pretty much an entire year "planning" Clutched. Yep, a year.
12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days.
Granted, there were legitimate delays outside of my control, and I didn't actually spend that *entire* time actively working on it, but that's roughly how long it took to [wo]man up and just launch to the public.
My learning here is to not worry about that elusive goal of perfection and to just create something that works, launch it, get people's reactions and feedback and improve from there. Agility > perfectionism.
Far too much time was spent overthinking, not wanting/embarrassed to show anything to anyone until it was "perfect"; a destination I soon realised is about as real as the meat in cheap sausages.
Trust me, it feels AMAZING to see your plans come to fruition - just do it!
2) Copying an idea is fine. Copy and pasting some else's hard work is not
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Personally, I prefer my flattery in the form of chocolates and flowers.
Since launching Clutched, we've already had to deal with slogan thieves and website copycats.
When you release something of quality into the world (especially online), it's very easy and very inevitable that people are going to engage in a bit of blatant Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V action. So I like to rely on what I call my Continuous Awesome Strategy. As the name suggests, it's the commonsensical method of continuously striving to be more awesome than yesterday (and thus yesterday's copiers).
3) The new kind of social
Gone are the days of proudly framing newspaper clippings or that tiny line in a magazine which made reference to your business (that a total of 6 people saw; 5 of which were your relatives).
Nowadays, it's all about the who's who on social media giving you a shout-out to their following, often with a minimum viewership of 20k. If you choose your digital influencers carefully, the price you pay for the collaboration will be made back almost instantly via sales.
I'm going to be publishing a separate post dedicated entirely to my social media learnings and working with digital influencers (a massive passion of mine), so watch this space.
Above: Top Australian blogger, Kiara from Lion In The Wild, promoting our popular YSL clutch
4) Size doesn't always matter
I've been told that it's often advantageous to start small when launching a start-up. But with that comes the feelings of inadequacy: "am I big enough?" and "everyone else seems to be a lot bigger than me".
We launched Clutched with a total of five bags. Five lovingly selected bags based on popularity and niche. And to be honest, I suffered from a serious case of size inferiority.
Are we even a legit business with such a small inventory? Will people take us seriously? The answer to those questions is yes, you are legit and yes, people will most definitely take you seriously. If only I had known sooner, it would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights.
5) Be real and be human
Just because you're launching a business in the fashion ecommerce industry, doesn't mean you need to fit into the stereotypical "fashion girl/guy" type (which I most definitely am not - my idea of fashion is a licensed Batman tee tucked into grey tracksuit pants!) and nor do your customers. I contemplated adopting some sort of fake persona to try and be what I *thought* we needed to be in order to appeal to the people to which I *thought* we needed to appeal.
I've realised that by staying true to yourself and your brand's core ethos, both on social media and real life, customers, influencers and fellow entrepreneurs are more likely to want to get to know/gravitate towards YOU and your brand, as opposed to seeing your business as an unapproachable shopfront.
Companies I massively look up to in this regard are Missguided, Nasty Gal, Uber, Airbnb, ASOS and Sendle.
6) Do your online platforms well or not at all
A good online presence is worth its digital weight in gold. However, if you don't know how to create a quality, functional website (or don't have the time/resources to learn) and have no budget for the professionals, then simply don't have a website at all (where possible).
We live in an age where there are a variety of platforms (and combinations of) to run a business (such as Etsy, Facebook and Instagram), depending on your business model. A website with low resolution images, poor navigation, useless information and no booking/payment system is pointless and will only tarnish your brand.
I've seen people run professional, successful businesses digitally sans website, so it *can* be done. I've also seen amazing business social media accounts linking to aesthetically (and functionally) distasteful websites, detracting from the quality social media content they're producing.
So I guess it's a case of sticking to your strengths and/or outsourcing where possible (but tread with caution when outsourcing creative assistance for one platform and not another; it can result in disjointed messaging and branding).
7) It's not *just* what's inside that counts
It took MONTHS to find a manufacturer who could produce the shipping boxes for our clutches with which we were 100% happy. We were after a very specific textural finish and rose gold logo embossing. Heaps of companies offered similar products, but none had the wow factor we needed.
After contacting every other manufacturer in Australia, we finally found a local company (Joyland in Belmont) who made the boxes exactly how we wanted and were very reasonably priced.
The very first customer we shipped a clutch to immediately contacted us in absolute awe of our packaging, and commented on the actual clutch only after they finished gawking over the box. I don't think we would have gotten that response had we gone with the less-than-perfect, average, mass produced options.
I strongly believe that the way your product is packaged and arrives to the customer is a massive part of the overall experience. My motto is that customers should feel like it's their birthday when receiving and opening your product. You wouldn't put an awesome present in a crappy beaten up shoe box, would you?
Above: Our custom-made shipping boxes by Joyland
8) No one cares about your business as much as you do
When you're working on a start-up, it's inevitable that it'll consume you. It becomes more than just a start-up; it becomes an extension of one's self.
We've all got ideas, but you're actually acting on your idea and attempting to bring it to life, and that's a scary and brave thing to do! What if you fail?! What if you make a big mistake!? What if people laugh at you and don't "get" why and what you're doing!?
My advice: NO. ONE. CARES (well, at least not as much as you do).
I'm told that most start-ups either fail and shut down, don't make money for a long, long time, or evolve from what they originally were into something totally different. Which brings me to my last point….
9) Never forget why you started
I'm sure there's a lot of people whose entire objective when becoming an entrepreneur is to rake in the moolah and buy a small Greek island. I think it's great to have hopes of becoming the next Sophia Amoruso, but your heart's got to be with the goal, not the glory. Ask yourself WHY you came up with the idea in the first place. I'm guessing it's because you identified a gap in the market or you think you can do better than what's already out there. So stick with that. That way you can set yourself realistic and achievable short and long term goals to get your big idea to where it needs to be to become successful. And from there, once your start-up gets traction, you can start to put a raincheck on that island ;-)
Find something people want, not what you think will make money - hopefully that can sort itself out later.
It'll be a while before our project is profitable. But the many dollars and countless hours poured into it have already reaped major benefits worth much more than the initial investment.
You can't put a price on forming valuable connections, building a strong personal and professional brand within Perth's booming start-up industry, learning lifelong lessons and building a new and relevant skill set which will no doubt lead to bigger and better things.
People pay money to attend courses to learn the things that struggling startup owners learn in their first years of business. Running your own business is like attending your very own live university.
So to anyone with an idea, big or small, don't do what I did and overthink every last detail. Plus, the more mistakes you make, the more you learn.
As long as you're in a situation that gives you leeway to take a leap of faith, jump!
