Itchy feet? Restless? Spring, the season of new buds and fresh starts, is here.
If you’ve ever thought of starting your own business and being your own boss, now could be the time.
But, where do you start? Here are five start-up stories to inspire you.
Go on a train journey
Sometimes an idea comes out of the blue.
Louise Tierney is the founder-owner of
Lash Inc, the only English-language magazine for beauticians who specialise in eyelash extensions. When we spoke with her, she confessed that: “I’m very entrepreneurial. Sometimes there’s not a lot of thought goes into things. I get an idea for something and I just want to start on it straight away.”
Louise was on a four-hour train journey back home after selling a previous business when the idea for Lash Inc came to her. By the time she arrived in Edinburgh, she had launched a new website, ordered a logo, opened a PayPal account and secured her first advertiser.
"I thought, if I can get one advertiser on the way home, I'll go ahead,” she told us. “Otherwise, I'll have a serious think.”
Today, Lash Inc is published in the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia. The business also runs conferences, training courses and provides certification for eyelash professionals.
Follow your passion
You don’t need to be a battle-hardened entrepreneur.
As a young petrol-head, Shami Kalra had always wanted one of those very expensive, motorsports chronographs that drivers and film-stars wear but, as he told us, “When you’re broke, with two young kids, there’s no way you can ever afford anything like that. I couldn’t even go to a Grand Prix.”
Years later and jaded with his corporate career, the 47-year old Shami decided to follow his passion.
“I locked myself in my home-office one Friday evening and didn’t come out until late Sunday night,” he explains. The result was a series of motorsport-inspired watches, designed with meticulous attention to racing heritage and detail – for example, using the same fonts as the dials of famous, race-winning cars – but selling at affordable prices.
Shami built his own website, promoted his watches on Twitter and waited. Within 48 hours
Omologato had generated £1,000 in sales.
Today, motorsport legends like Damon Hill, Karun Chandhok, Johnny Herbert and Derek Bell are both fans and friends, and Omologato boasts the world's largest selection of motorsport-inspired timepieces.
Seize the opportunity
Sometimes necessity creates opportunity.
Elle Smith loved her job as air crew for a long-haul airline but, when her youngest child became seriously ill, the long-haul life became unsustainable. Instead, she turned a hobby into a new career.
As an art school graduate, Elle had previously painted in oils and acrylics. However, she researched the market, taught herself to work in watercolour and started painting wildlife.
“It was a big decision,” she told us when we spoke to her. “And, it’s been a learning curve, but when you rely on it for your income, you throw everything at it.”
Marketing her work through ebay,
Facebook and her own
website, Elle now has a growing, international fan base of personal and corporate customers that includes the RSPCA, PDSA, Bovis Homes and Top Gear magazine.
Fill a gap in the market
Another Mum, Mel Thomsett, founded the
Sensory Smart Store to support other parents of children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).
After Mel’s son Archie was diagnosed with the condition – in which people are unable to regulate the sensory messages received by the brain – it took her a long time to find clothes her son could wear.
“We had two years of barefoot battles,” she told us. “In winter, we were held hostage at home; we couldn’t leave the house because we couldn’t dress Archie in appropriate clothes. As a parent, you feel completely isolated and bewildered.”
Eventually, Mel found and ordered special, seamless socks from America: “It took us two weeks to get him to try them, but once he put them on, he sighed with relief.”
The socks were such a transformation that Mel ordered 2,000 pairs and sold them to other parents on eBay. The Sensory Smart Store was born.
Running a business has been difficult at times. Mel has had to balance Archie’s evolving care needs with developing the store, but emails and letters from customers (parents and children) has kept Mel going:
“We’ve just left the house for the first time in six months.”
“We’ve just been to a wedding; we couldn’t have done it without your tee-shirt.”
Or, simply, “Thank you for my magic socks.”
Find a new lease of life
The drive and inspiration to start a new business can come at any time.
Peter Webster retired from the taxi business in 2015 but, unable to sit still, he soon found his side-line of selling taxi accessories becoming a full-time business.
Like Mel Thomsett, Peter’s business started from need – he couldn’t find a coin dispenser for his taxi. When he eventually found a supplier, he bought ten and sold them to his colleagues.
Today, Peter is busier than ever as
Motorgold expands its lines of stock.
“This has been a new lease of life for me,” he told us. “I can see huge opportunity and I get such a buzz from seeing my ideas becoming profitable. What was a side-line has turned into a full-time business and the personal satisfaction is immeasurable. Instead of retiring with nothing to do, I feel part of the real world!”
Are you inspired to submit to Spring fever?
Running your own business can be tough. But, it can also be enormously rewarding.
Today’s technology – from ecommerce platforms to smartphones and from social media to mobile payments – makes it easier than ever to get started.
Every day in the UK, 1,800 new businesses are created.
If you’re feeling a touch of Spring fever, spend a couple of hours exploring the options. Set your ideas down on paper, chat it over with friends. Give your fever a focus.