Goodwin & Goodwin is a custom sign maker, hand crafting unique installations from light up letters to neon signs. It was founded in 2009 by husband and wife team Paul and Viviane Goodwin, who worked part time and evenings from their London home to get the business off the ground. Goodwin & Goodwin now has a team of 15, a 5,000 sq ft workshop and its signs are sold around the world. Since its inception, the business has helped put on festivals, provided backdrops to several TV shows, worked with brands including Spotify, MTV, GQ and Coca-Cola and even sold to a few celebrities. We caught up with Viviane to find out the signposts to success.
PayPal (PP): What have been your greatest successes?
Viviane Goodwin (VG): When we started our business, we dreamed of making our first million – and we are getting close to that achieving that milestone. However, I would say our greatest success is how fast we have grown as a business. We hired our first member of staff two years ago and our 15th just this month. We hire from our local community and most of our staff were unemployed before they came to work for us. We have also hugely expanded our workspace to keep up with demand – we have moved five times in the past five years and now have a 5,000 sq ft workshop.
I’m also proud of the recognition we have received from our peers – last year we won ‘small sign maker’ at the British Sign Awards, this year we won two awards plus we were highly commended in a third category.
PP: What is the greatest challenge you faced in setting up your business and how did you overcome it?
VG: In the early days, we did a lot of trade shows which involved very long hours, often over evenings and weekends, and lugging big boxes around whilst trying to engage potential clients. The hard work didn’t really pay off as the retail margins were so small compared to the hours that we put in. We soon realised that the only way to succeed in our market was to sell directly to our customers. As a result we changed our strategy and invested heavily in our website. We are now seeing the benefits as orders come in from all over the world, despite having absolutely no advertising budget.
PP: What advice would you give to other small businesses and those thinking of taking the plunge and creating a start-up?
VG: Be original. It’s very easy for new business to follow a brand or business that they admire and try and mimic their success but it will only get you so far. A new range of products, original service and unique brand values will leave you in a much stronger position.
Be brave, go with your gut instincts and you’ll see how far it will take you. The worst decision you can make is to make no decisions at all!
PP: Why did you start using PayPal?
VG: We wanted a simple, stress free way of taking payments and when we upgraded our website to Shopify the PayPal integration was very easy. All that was required were our login details and a special code generated on the PayPal website. Before we started using PayPal we had a system provided by our bank. It was really difficult to integrate with our existing store and we received very little support.
PP: Has using PayPal helped your business? How?
VG: Many of our customers already have PayPal accounts, so integrating PayPal as a payment system really speeds up their payments. We have also seen a notable decrease in the number of shoppers who abandon their purchase during the payment process. Finally, it has helped us build our international customer base – as they recognise the PayPal brand and by extension trust our business.
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Imogen Howat