11 September 2020

A short one today, writing on the car journey to Hull. After anxiously waiting for the fabric sample to arrive, it naturally arrived 2 hours before we left for five days away, and the same day as my Back Her Business application was approved (!). But it was worth the wait and worth the rush to get a sample made up before we left. I quickly cut some strips and made them up – and, at this point, the nagging feeling I’ve had for the past few days that I had got myself in too deep here, vanished.

This is going to work!

Now, to babble to my husband about all of this for our four hour journey!

My COVID start up Diary – Entry 2 – the prep

Written 6th September

I had this wild idea that I’d check in daily to this diary, but in reality a few days have elapsed and perhaps its good to check in when the mood takes me. The day after my last check in, I nailed the scaling, spacing and tiling on my initial design and sent it off to be printed as a trial. And since then the whole idea has consumed me. It’s been so excited to think of all the options and designs, and to start to send off ideas to friends to gauge interest. It’s so fun to have a project, but boy has there been a lot to do!

I quickly decided that the proof of concept was important – I had to get the fabric printed asap – and decided that was more important than finding the perfect printer up front. It was important to me to see and feel what the bias would look like – even if it just meant I had some bias binding to use myself, and the idea fizzled out, it was worth a try. So I went for a well known but expensive printer for the sample.

I’d like to say ‘the next thing’ but to display this as a linear process would be a falsehood – its been a mess of wild thought and heavy brains. But the next thing I should talk about is finance, and how I’d get this thing off the ground. I’d heard about Natwest Back Her Business from Vicky (@Sewstainability) who was part of the scheme for her sewing pins kickstarter and thought I’d investigate a bit more. It really is a great way for a product based business to get started – there’s no way I’d be able to get this off the ground without some capital. It is all a little nerve wracking as it means I need to cost the product before getting too much of a feel for popularity – and have a solid idea of printing costs and amounts too to feed into all of this. I also need to decide how much I want to raise, what the minimum amount I need to set everything up.

I’ve learned a lot about business insurance, spent more hours getting lost in the maze of the Royal Mail business options than I care to admit, been more excited about different eco-packaging options than I care to admit, and been just as frustrated at my inability to understand websites as I ever have been. As always, when I go in for a project, be it a hobby, a collection, a new skill or a job – I really do go all in – and this has been no exception. I tend to, from an outside view point, move quickly – but often because I’ve spent day and night reading/researching and planning twenty options or iterations a minute. There’s still a lot to do, but I can feel this forming a real solid ‘thing’ that actually can work.

My COVID start up Diary – Entry 1 – the idea

Written Wednesday 2nd September

Five days ago, while stood at my ironing board, I decided to start a business.  An idea popped into my head and that was that.  My brain latched on and hasn’t let go.  I woke up at 1am this morning unable to shift this niggling feeling that me and my big mouth and creative overactive brain had got me into trouble here.  I’d told people about a big idea, got excited and done a lot of work (in a short space of time).  But what if it all went wrong, and it all dissipated into nothingness.  It was at that point that another big idea popped into my head.  And for the second time in less than a week, I am acting on it.   I decided to write a diary of this little startup journey.

Two years ago, I started sewing.  That’s a short statement that doesn’t really convey the whole picture, I suppose.  I had owned a sewing machine for several years and learned to sew at school.  I had always wanted to learn to make my own clothes but never got over the initial learning ‘hump’ and given up more times than I could count.  But as a theme in my life (and certainly in this journey), once it stuck, it stuck.  The hobby surprised a few of my friends, I think.  As a science nerd, engineering PhD and computer game geek, I guess I didn’t fit the good housewife seamstress picture in a lot of people’s minds – hey perhaps even in my own.  But there exists a diverse and wonderful online sewing community that I am delighted to be part of.   For a science nerd, I’ve always had a strong creative streak and its nice to exist in a space of creative people who come from all walks of life. 

Anyway, back to the business. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind five days – mixing the fun (and less fun) parts of business planning with “The Day Job” as a blink of an idea has solidified and become a plan.  Maybe even a Plan, with a capital P.  To show that I am (or it is) serious.   While making some bias binding, in a new sewing space, an idea formed in my head. I wondered if it was possible to make bias binding with text running along its length. Then, naturally, I thought – someone must have done this already. So, stood over my ironing board, I googled away, searching for quirky bias tape to adorn the inside of my garments. It made sense to me, that, if the concept of making your clothes as pretty on the insides as the outsides is as popular as it is – that this must be A Thing. Turns out . It isn’t. Or wasn’t, I suppose. And that has peaked my curiosity. My engineering brain likes to solutionise. The Day Job is in innovation, research – I like new things, that are hard to solve. And this problem seems like something that has a solution. Having researched (googled) enough to convince myself this didn’t exist, I vowed to make it happen.

Look, 2020 has been a year and a half.   I can guarantee between the loss of jobs, the furloughing, the major social movements and general ‘life in pandemic’ moments, I will not be the only person to have had an idea and decided to start a business.  In fact.  I could probably look back to 5 other times this year I’ve pondered the notion. 

If 2020 has been a year and a half, this week, in my life at least, seems well suited to its year.

I suppose the first sentence here was a touch sensational. While stood over my ironing board, I vowed to make this happen – for me, on a personal scale suitable for my needs. I’m always a big dreamer – so it wasn’t entirely unexpected that there was a niggle in my mind that said, ‘if you want this, other people must do too. There’s a business here’. But that little niggle has wormed its way to the front and centre of my mind over the last five days I’ve spent working furiously at finding and realising this solution. I’ve grappled with design and scale and spacing of images to see if this idea will work. And it will. So. Business planning begins.