We left off talking about University, and we're going to pick up telling you about our time working in retail.
Interviewer And besides this experience at uni, can you identify other
experiences, other events that you think were important for you to become an
entrepreneur now?
Fairypants Yes, definitely. My time at Superdrug I think was a really big
thing. I mean, that was accidental as well. I was working at British Home Stores
when I was 16, 17 and then I decided to look for another job and,
again, it was only going to be like a weekend thing because I was at university
at this point and I just found an ad for Superdrug. It was totally accidental, but it was quite a big
turning point in my life, because although it was just weekend work, it was
never just weekend work there. There were all these different opportunities,
things to get involved in. They opened lots of doors for me, and I
think had the recession not happened, I think I would probably have ended up
being some kind of area manager or something in Superdrug. So in a way it was
good that it did happen because perhaps I wouldn’t
have started the business otherwise. So it’s a good thing that we
had the recession, it was great for me!
But, yes, so my time at
Superdrug opened lots of doors, like I said, gave me lots of training. I had
lots of training with cosmetics and skincare, which obviously has stood me in
good stead for what I do now. I’ve got no formal training other than what I had
from my time at Superdrug, so it obviously was useful. . And also, they
offered me the chance to go on their retail management training scheme. I knew
when they asked me that I didn’t want to come out of it and be a store manager,
which is what the end result is of that training, but I still said yes to it because
I say yes to everything. So I said yes to the training, spent six months during
my last year at university doing this training, graduated the training,
qualified, and learned an awful lot.
Interviewer And which other skills do you think are really important in
running a business besides self-confidence?
Fairypants I think for my business probably research is a big one. It
sounds really, really boring but, like I said, if I don’t research a recipe
properly, then it’s not going to work. If I can’t find the cheapest
ingredients, but the best quality ingredients, then it’s not going to be
financially viable. If I decide to make something for the first time, there’s weeks and weeks
and weeks of trawling to find what I need to make that thing before I even make
up a sample and send it on to be tested, or anything like that. So I think
research is a big thing, even though it sounds really boring. And also, I think
for me it’s really important to manage my time properly. I have to manage my time to within a minute
each day, otherwise stuff doesn’t get done. I don’t relax. I don’t have me
time. Everything is planned in my day.
Interviewer But was it always like that?
Fairypants To be honest, it probably was. It was like that when I was in university
because I was in so many different societies. I would have to be in lectures
for so many hours a day, then I would have to do reading or essays for so many hours.
Then I would go to the radio for two hours. Then I would come back, I would
shower, I would get changed, I would eat, and I would go out. So my days were
very regimented then and I think that’s just carried on now, but I need to manage my time, otherwise it doesn’t work. When I’m ill,
everything goes out the window.
Interviewer So you think there were
other experiences that in some way contributed towards you having a business?
Fairypants Possibly. My mum always reminds me that she found this one book from when I
was I I was at nursery or the first year of primary school or something like
that. She found this book and we’d all had to write it in. When I’m a grownup I
want to be, whatever it was. And she said that everyone else had written, I
want to be a nurse, I want to be a fireman, I want to be a teacher, and when it
came to me I had written, I want to be a dress designer. So at four I knew that
I didn’t want to be any of these things that these other people wanted to be. I
wanted to be this weird thing that I made up myself. So I think I’ve always
known I wanted to be something unusual, even if I didn’t know it at the time,
really.
I didn’t even really know
what a dress designer was when I was four, and I wanted to be one and that’s
the end of that. And I think it also helped that my mum worked very hard. So when
I was little, she was working really long days. I used to be picked up from
school by my Nan and I wouldn’t see my mum until about half six at night.
But it didn’t bother me, I didn’t find it upsetting or
distressing. I think I found it aspirational in a way, in that she was working
so hard and she had this work ethic. And I think I’ve got a lot of
drive and I want to push myself all the time and
when I achieve something new, I’m immediately not happy with it and I want to get
to the next level. If I gain a really big stockist, I’m happy for about a week,
and then I’m like, right, what’s next?
In the final part of this interview we look at how creativity and business come together. xox
