App Business Inspiration from Down Under

When Katie and I started developing iPhone apps we knew it was a male-dominated industry but that didn't put us off of course! Instead, we decided to focus our attention on designing apps for females which is where the idea for our first app Countdown Keeper came from.

We'd been inspired to produce iPhone apps after reading the fantastic App Empire by Chad Mureta which charts his journey from hospital bed to successful app developer. I follow his blog too and was over-the-moon to find two female app developers very similar to Katie and I in Byron Bay Australia; Sophie and Stephi, the owners of the business Applause.

These two inspirational women created Applause for the same reason Katie and I did; to be able to live a life that is more free than the usual 9-5 and what's great is, with a lot of hard work, they've done it! We're in a minority here in the UK in terms of lifestyle businesses but over in Australia and America people are valuing free time more than constant work so finding inspirational entrepreneurs like Applause is just fantastic for Katie and I and certainly makes us feel more supported.

Aside from their millions of app downloads, their way of working is also a major inspiration. They make relaxation and nature part of their working day (nicer in Byron Bay than the current gloomy Birmingham I imagine!), they take 'mini-retirements' to regroup and focus and also I love the principles that they created when they started Applause. The principles focus on what they want out of business and what direction they want Applause to go in along with actions on how they are going to get there. I know they were as inspired by Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Work Week as I was before creating Katie & Jane.

We asked Stephi and Sophie where they found business inspiration from...

"Instagram and the App Store. It helps a lot if you know what target market you want to reach with your apps so you know what app category to look into or what Instagram users to follow."

Get inspired by the duo on their blog here or download one of their popular apps.

Jane x

Carrie Green: Founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association talks to us about empowering women, building an online business & a few of her favourite things...

We first came across the Female Entrepreneur Association back in 2012 when we launched Katie & Jane. Since then, its founder Carrie Green has inspired us daily with her online support hub set up for female entrepreneurs all over the world. Here Carrie talks to us about her inspiration, goals, motivation and of course a few of her favourite things...

#1 What was the a-ha moment that inspired you to create your own business?

My first ever a-ha moment was back when I was 19… I’d run out of money while studying at university and found an opportunity to start my own online business and very quickly realised how unbelievably powerful the internet is. That was the moment that I knew I never wanted a job, because I could achieve so much success for myself online.

A few years later I did have another a-ha moment – that building a business really isn’t all about the money. You have to have a lot of passion and love for what you do, otherwise it becomes incredibly difficult. I fell out of love with my first business and went soul searching and realised that I wanted to build a business that really meant something to me and made a difference, which is when I came up with the idea for the Female Entrepreneur Association.

#2 Why did you choose the name ‘Female Entrepreneur Association’?

Because it sounded official and because it had my primary keywords in ‘female’ ‘entrepreneur’, so I knew it would rank well on Google.

#3 What was the ethos behind the Female Entrepreneur Association?

My vision was to create an onlinehub to inspire and empower women from around the world to turn their ideas into a reality and build successful businesses.

So many people are too afraid to follow their heart and their dreams, because they think they’re not good enough, or because they think they’ll fail, or because someone told them they couldn’t do it. But we only have one life in which to achieve all the things we want to achieve, so I want to help as many people as possible to make it happen. I want to inspire and empower people to believe in themselves and be amazing.

#4 What has been your biggest challenge to date? And how did you overcome it? 
Raising awareness of FEA. I started off with a network of zero, I was publishing stories and no one was reading them – it was frustrating and disheartening, but I just kept going. I set myself some goals – one of them was that I wanted to get 25,000 fans on Facebook. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I took a screenshot of my fan page and I changed the number of fans I had, using Photoshop, to 25,000 so I could see what my page would look like when I’d reached my goal. I printed it out and put it in my goal box and then kept working hard on making it happen. When it happened it was an amazing moment.

The biggest lessons I learned about raising awareness, building your audience and getting traffic are:

• You have to go above and beyond to create amazing content – it’s all about adding value, what compelling reasons are you giving to people to make them want to engage with your business over and over again.
• You have to get really clear on who your target audience are and make sure that everything you do resonates and connects with them – the language you use, the images you use, the products and services you create. 
• You have to know exactly what you’re trying to achieve – when you don’t know, the messages you send out are blurry and confusing for people. You’ll waste time and you won’t make the progress you want to make. At the beginning of each month, week and day it’s important to get clear on what your intentions are and focus on reaching them.
• You have to take the time to learn as much as you can and then keep trying and trying. I’ve managed to build FEA into a network of over 140,000 women because I’ve been consistent, even when nothing seemed to be working, even when I’d had enough, I kept going, because I trusted that somehow I’d make it happen.

#5 What’s the business skill you’ve had to work hardest on improving since becoming an entrepreneur?

Technology. All of my businesses have been online and so the skill I’ve had to work hardest on is how to leverage the internet. The online world provides so many opportunities for people – you can be a one-man-band and build a successful, global business fast, if you know how to leverage technology correctly.

#6 Have there been any moments when you just wanted to pack it all in?

All the time. Building a business is hard. You’re constantly trying to push yourself to do things that you don’t know how to do, so you’re always coming up against challenges and setbacks – it can be incredibly tough. But I’ve come to the realisation that it’s all part of the journey. 

Being an entrepreneur is a way of life – it’s like being on a rollercoaster ride in the dark – there are ups and downs, it’s exciting, but can also be scary as hell and most of the time we have no idea how things are going to work out. There is a lot of uncertainty to deal with, because we can’t see into the future and know for sure that our ideas and decisions are good ones.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve daydreamed about getting a job, so someone else could tell me what to do, when to do it and what time I needed to arrive at work and leave work at. But I just love the freedom and thrill of being an entrepreneur too much to quit.

#7 If you weren't supporting female entrepreneurs every day with the FEA, what would you be doing?

Probably something with animals or children. I like helping and taking care of things, it definitely makes me feel fulfilled.

#8 What keeps you striving forward in business?

The thought that I only have one life and I want to make it as amazing as I possibly can. I want to push myself to grow as much as possible, I want to learn as much as I can, I want to make a difference, I want to get to the end of my life and know that I did the best I could to follow my dreams and live the life I wanted.

#9 Name one future goal of the Female Entrepreneur Association

To open up the website and enable people to contribute to it. We’ve had a few contributors in the past, but it’s not been part of our strategy. But we’ve now set a goal to start sharing more knowledge, expertise and help by bringing on wonderful people who have something great to share.

#10 What is your favourite quote?

Ooo, I don’t know how I can possibly choose! There are a few…

“Everything in life can be taken away from you, except for your freedom to choose how you respond to the situation” Viktor Frankl – this one helps me whenever something bad has happened. It reminds me that I get to choose how it makes me feel and how I respond.

“Successful people hang on when everyone else has let go” I’m not sure who said that, but I love it! Whenever I’m having a tough time I remind myself to be the person who is willing to hang on.

“Your destiny is determined by the choices you make. Choose now, choose well” Anthony Robbins – this quote practically changed my life. It made me realise that I had to start making consistently good decisions, if I wanted to live an amazing life and achieve great things.

#11 A few of your favourites…

Way to relax? Walking my two black labs

Aid to well-being? Meditations & guided visualisations

Fitness activity? Body pump

Wine? Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc

Food? I’ve spent 10 minutes trying to narrow down my choices and I’m failing miserably! I love it all!

Song? At the moment it’s Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker (my boyfriend has got me into country music!)

App? YouTube

Social media platform? Facebook, because it has so many amazing tools for being able to share content and engage with people.

Your hero? My parents – they’re amazing.

And finally...

#12 what piece of advice would you give to entrepreneurs to inspire them to give their dreams a go?

Something that really pushed me to start FEA was a chapter I read in The E-myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber (a must read book!). He said something like…

Imagine walking into a room and sat on the chairs are your family and friends. As you begin to walk down the centre of the room you see a box and as you get to the front of the room you realise that you’re in the box, and it’s your funeral.

What kind of things would you want people to be saying about the kind of person you were, the kind of life that you lived and the kind of things you achieved?

Don’t wait until the end to realise who you want to be and what you want to achieve – start now. Life is precious and it’s up to you to make the very best of it. I think that when you look at life like that, nothing is too scary to go after.  So just go for it, be the amazing person that you’re meant to be and enjoy the journey.

******************************

To find out more about Carrie and the Female Entrepreneur Association head to www.femaleentrepreneurassociation.com and connect to the network on Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter.

To read the full set of entrepreneur interviews on our blog click here.

Katie x

Lorna Syson: The Award-Winning Designer Talks to us about Inspiration, Being your Own Boss and her Lovely Dog Jenkins!

Lorna Syson is a quirky home accessories brand which is inspired, designed and manufactured in the UK by Lorna herself. Her collections consist of lampshades, cushions, wallpapers and wallflowers all inspired by the British countryside, each with a lovely story to tell. We are huge fans of her designs, especially Songbirds and this year we were proud to have Lorna design her first iPhone background for our new lifestyle app Countdown Keeper. If you would like it for yourself,  just sign up at the website here. Here is Lorna's story... 

What inspired you to start your own business?

As a new designer I sold some of my degree work to a window display designer, this then planted the seed that maybe I could build a living on my designs at some point in the future, but my main aim when graduating was to get a job. I was told I didn’t have enough experience so I decided to keep showing my design work and create my own experience. 6 months down the line I started working with The Prince's Trust and I can honestly say I’ve not looked back. I now have 2 employees and I love my job.

Where do you get the inspiration to create your gorgeous designs from?

I’m inspired by the British countryside and childhood memories of classic British past times. Each of my designs comes with a swing ticket that tells its story. For example the Land’s End pattern originated from a New Year’s Day walk with my family between Land’s End and Sennen Cove, with seabirds wheeling overhead and the sea far below glittering in the winter sunshine, it was the perfect evocation of wild Cornwall.

Looking down from the cliff at the foaming white waves breaking on the dark rocks conjured this image in my mind. Later, walking down into Sennen Cove we came across the old winding house. The thought of generations of lifeboatmen pulling out in open rowboats into a raging sea under darkening skies led me to create this pattern.

What does a typical day at Lorna Syson HQ look like?

It really depends on what day of the week it is. My favourite day is Wednesday when both Gemma and Tiz are in and sometimes an intern too. We start the day with a morning meeting and update each other with what we have achieved from the past week and what we are planning to do. Then the orders from the night before are checked and documented, emails are answered and then we get on with the jobs in hand. At the moment I am reworking the lampshade and wallpaper production which involves factory meetings and sampling. We also have Jenkins my dog in the studio so I get to have a break at lunch time giving him some fresh air. I always try to leave the studio before 7pm.

What has been your biggest challenge to date and how did you overcome it?

I would say keeping constantly motivated can be quite hard, especially when things don’t seem to be going your way. What really helps me is the community I have at my studios in Cockpit Arts, Deptford. There are makers here who have been in the business ranging from six months to over twenty years and it means there is always someone to talk to who has been in a similar predicament to you before. Peer to Peer advice and mentoring has helped me so much since I moved into Cockpits.

If you weren't spreading happiness with songbirds and wallflowers, what would you be doing?

I love taking days off at weekends to head into the countryside or the beach with my fiancé Neil and Jenkins. It’s during these times I find I get most of my inspiration. When you run your own business there isn’t really an 'off' button. I always have to make sure that my phone is to hand so I can photograph an amazing landscape or the deep blues found in late afternoon skies.

And finally, what's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given?

The best piece of business advice was from my Prince's Trust mentor, Peter Dickson, he said "Whatever decision you make is the right decision." He said to me, "Always work on your instincts and don’t look back. Once a decision is made, you will always work towards making it the right one."

Quick Fire Favourites...

Way to unwind?

Spending an evening out with friends

Fitness activity?

Miracle Fitness Bootcampwith Fernando on hilly fields

App?

Hootsuite, great for all social media in one place

Food?

Dim Sum… especially from the chain pingpong

Social media network? 

Pinterest

Designer? 

Golden oldie...Lucianne Day

 Quote?

"Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world."

To find out more about Lorna, her collections and where she will be showcasing her designs next, head to www.lornasyson.co.uk or you can join her & the team on Facebook, Twitter and be inspired by their lovely boards on Pinterest too!

Katie x

Entrepreneurs for the Future: Katie & Jane invited to e4f!

We’ll be kicking January off to a great start having recently been invited to work from e4f – Birmingham’s Entrepreneurs for the Future initiative, based at Birmingham Science Park’s Innovation Campus.

Joining the likes of DigiVoodoo, Yogi, My Campus Ride and e4f graduates, Sync Interactive, we will be making the most of the co-working initiative, networking with other entrepreneurs in the tech space and meeting some very inspirational people during the first two months of 2014, we can’t wait!

e4f helps start-ups that use technology in innovative ways to launch, develop and grow their businesses by nurturing them in a dynamic community space, to find out more visit: www.e4f.co.uk

Katie x

Virgin Unite Loves our Pinning Skills!

This month, Virgin Unite featured Katie & Jane on their inspirational website after they chose our Pinterest board 'Feel Inspired' as one of their favourite entrepreneurial boards.

We were reading 'Screw it, Let’s Do It and Screw Business As Usual' by Richard Branson about this time last year, as we were at the crucial tipping point of taking the leap out of the 9 to 5 and into the rollercoaster world of working for ourselves.  Little did we know when reading it back then that only 12 months later Katie & Jane would be selected as one of Virgin Unite’s featured entrepreneurs.

We've really enjoyed populating our 'Entrepreneur Interviews' blog section after speaking to Nataly Kogan from Happier, Inc. Nikki Cooper, creator of Inner Me and Becca Reeves from Hattie's Wines over the past few months so this is a real highlight to celebrate the end of our first year of business.

Follow the link here to read about our journey, find out a little more about the great work done by Virgin Unite and of course see our winning Pinterest board!

You can watch Richard Branson talk to Pinterest Co-Founder and CEO Ben Silbermann via Google Hangout here where they share an insight into their own entrepreneurial journeys.

Jane x

Happier, Inc. Co-Founder & Chief Happiness Officer, Nataly Kogan Tells Us What Makes Her Happy!

I've been a fan of the app Happier ever since I saw it's catchy icon in the App Store in June and couldn't wait to give the free app a go. Four months on I use it daily and tell all my friends about it! I even wrote a review on my favourite app, you can read my full post here. When we contacted co-founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Happier, Inc. Nataly Kogan, we were really pleased that she was more than happy to answer some questions as part of our blog's Entrepreneur Interviews section.

Based in Boston, Happier, Inc. is on a mission to inspire people to be happier in their everyday lives. Research has shown that in sharing good things and focusing on the positives, we become healthier and more productive. The company's first product, the beautiful iOS app and online community designed to encourage people to share happy moments enables us to do just that.

Since using Happier, I have become more grateful for the little things in life and aim to put three happy moments in each day. Nataly, co-founder of Happier, Inc. talks to us about her positive moments, energy, favourite foods and wanting to be a spy! We're sure she'll inspire you as much as she has us...

Enjoy, Jane x

What inspired you to create Happier Nataly?

After my family fled Russia in 1989, I had a rough time. After a few months in refugee camps in Austria and Italy, we finally made our way to the United States and then spent a year living in the projects, on welfare, in Ypsilanti (outside Detroit). When I finally got on my feet I decided that to make up for the hardship my family went through by chasing the American Dream. To me, this dream meant becoming HAPPY. And the way I thought you got there was by achieving a LOT and making a lot of money. 

So for the next 20 years I did just that - a series of impressive jobs, starting companies, publishing a book with Hyperion, getting the fancy stroller and the fancy car, you name it. By the time I was in my early 30s, I really appreciated my life but I was not happy. Not at all. Mostly I was really exhausted.

My father is a scientist so I decided to see if there was scientific research about what I could do to be happier. I spent a few years reading every academic paper and hardcover book I could find and then I  had a "holy crap" moment. I was doing it all wrong. Money or achievements don't make us happy. But there are some really simple things that we can do and that have been scientifically proven to lead to positive and optimistic thinking. Some of the most powerful are: Focusing on and capturing a few positive things about our every day, helping others smile, being surrounded by more positive people (because happiness is contagious). 

I changed my approach based on what I had learned, stopped chasing happiness, and became a lot happier. And this inspired me to create Happier and to encourage millions of other people to stop saying "I'll be happy when..." and start saying "I am happier now because..." 

Another huge inspiration for me was realizing that being happier isn't just more fun. There is wide body of research that shows being more positive is fundamentally important to living well. Happier people catch fewer colds, have a 50% lower chance of a heart attack, are less depressed, stressed, and anxious, sleep better and make healthier lifestyle choices. And that's our mission at Happier: To help millions of people become happier in their everyday lives so that they live better and in more fulfilling ways. 

What have you learnt along the way?

Oh so much! One of the most amazing things we've learned is just how powerful it is to be able to come to a community focused on appreciating small positive things and to read what makes others happier. So many of our users tell us that they start using Happier at first as a gratitude journal, to capture what they appreciate in their lives. But what keeps them coming back multiple times a day is the amazingly supportive community and the fact that they can get an instant positivity boost when they read other users' happy moments.

We have 1000s of emails from users sharing with us that reading happy moments shared by the community helped them get through a difficult situation, a tough day, or a really horrific life experience. We are so grateful to know we can make someone's life better but true credit goes to the community at Happier, where people share these small positive moments and encourage each other, even on tough days.

How would your colleagues describe you?

Ha! I should ask them. Probably energetic, fiery, full of ideas (sometimes too many), overusing the word "awesome", did I say energetic?

I hope and I think they would say that I live and breathe Happier - not just the company, but everything we are about and our vision. And they would be right.

What does a typical day at Happier HQ look like?

There really isn't a typical day since we're a young start-up and things change a lot.

Most days you'd come in and find us cranking in our very bright and open Happier HQ, which is on the fifth floor of this beautiful industrial building, and is a very airy loft. We usually have some music cranking (we take turns taking over the speakers so everyone can share their music tastes). The team usually grabs lunch together - we try to not have meetings too much so this is a great way to catch up. Burritos are high on our list of faves and if it's remotely nice out we are out there, catching some sun.

Every Wednesday at 6pm we have Happier Hour. It's a chance for a team to grab some drinks and snacks and just chill out at the office. We often invite friends or other start-ups to join us, and once a month have an open community Happier Hour. It's one of our favorite team traditions and we even have a custom Happier Hour neon sign!

Since I do a lot of speaking and work with investors and partners, I run around and travel more than anyone on the team. We all use virtual chat and other tools, like Google Hangout, so we stay in touch even when I am on the road.

What has been your biggest challenge to date and how did you overcome it?

I think one of the biggest challenges is that people assume they need to be happy to be on Happier. It's actually the opposite.

Most of us are not insanely happy or really unhappy all the time, we're somewhere in between. We have good days and rough days and routine days and days we just don't want to get out of bed. The premise of Happier is that because happy moments can be so small - a good hot coffee in the morning, a favorite song coming on during a commute, a nice text from a friend or a hug from your kid - you can find one in every single day, including the tough ones.

So we try to articulate this as much as we can so that new users coming to Happier don't think this is a community only for endless optimists or people who are shouting about how happy they are. The best way we've found we can do this is through the happy moments our users are sharing - so you'll find those right on our homepage on happier.com and on the Discover tab in the Happier iPhone app.

If you weren't spreading happiness with Happier what would you be doing?
Well, for a while I really wanted to be a spy. (Let's just leave it at that.)

But probably I would be driving my family nuts by trying to start my own fashion label. It would have a lot of edgy cuts and yes, tons of orange, of course. 

And finally, what's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given?

Tough to pick just one, but one of my favorites is about asking for help and asking for feedback ALL THE TIME. No one has ever built a great company on their own.

I have a rule - I ask for help once a day. A mentor, someone on my team, a friend. Sometimes it's big, sometimes something small. But it's a way of thinking and it also sets an example for my team that they can and should do the same.

Quick Fire Favourites...

Way to unwind?

Go for a really quick walk outside.

Fitness activity?
Walking and yoga. Especially hip hop yoga.

App (that's not Happier!)?
Instagram.

Food?
A really crispy baguette with butter.
Figs. More figs.

Steel cut oatmeal made with hot milk.

Cherries. More cherries.

A really great steak with a glass of Rioja.

(Can you tell I like food?)

Song?
Lose yourself by Eminem. It's my fight song.

Radio Plus: Our Journey to the App Store and Beyond

Last week we were invited to be guests on the Radio Plus Talk Business show hosted by Mark Sephton. With a lot of nerves and excited energy we arrived at the studio ready to talk about being entrepreneurs and creating our very first lifestyle app, Countdown Keeper.

The first part of the radio show focused on us as individuals, the journey that led us to meet each other and how we find life as entrepreneurs. Mark asked some thought-provoking questions including what makes each of us happy and what we feel our purpose in life is! We weren't informed of the questions before and being one of life’s planners I’m not the best at ‘off-the-cuff’ answers to questions of such significance but I answered with sincerity. As friends and business partners Jane and I share the same goal to reach the end of our lives and look back at all the places we’ve been, experiences we’ve encountered, products we’ve created and people we’ve inspired along the way by making things happen.

Mark also asked us to discuss our strengths and how we complement each other as business partners. Something that we already knew about our partnership is that, between us, we have a good balance of moving forward but keeping focused on the present. We are both impatient out of excitement and eagerness to explore different ventures within our business but between us we try very hard to dedicate our focus to one thing at a time (well three things at a time as opposed to ten!)... we're working on it!

Mark also touched upon what makes us happy and apart from Jane’s beautiful dog Beau (now my adopted friend too!) we highlighted the roller-coaster that is the life of an entrepreneur. Something all business owners have to be prepared for are the lows that can be really tough, challenging, stressful and with a lot of beating yourself up, but then the come the highs! The highs are the reason Saturday and Sundays become working days, they are the elation felt at even the slightest issue being overcome, highs are hearing that a new client loves what we offer and how we do things differently, and a high certainly is cracking the HTML code over on our blog! These happy moments are everything to us and are so much more meaningful than in any job we have ever had before because we're achieving these milestones all on our own.

We like to meet as many entrepreneurs as we can to share their advice when starting out in business and find out what keeps them striving forward, you can read our interviews with them here. 

After a brief business round up, where I shared a somewhat fumbled view on Bill Gates (I was caught off guard!), we got onto the interesting stuff… all-things apps!

We were asked to explain the vision for our app business which is to create meaningful lifestyle apps with a purpose, solving problems and enhancing everyday life. We must have, between us, nearly 100 app ideas and we, like everyone else every couple of days will be inspired by an experience and note down ‘we could create an app for that!’. 

Mark asked us for tips on creating an app and so far in our small journey, through extensive research we have realised that the most important steps you can take before you even decide to go forward with an app idea are the following principles – and they take time!

*Please Note: we are by no means experts (yet!) we are just sharing our findings with you!*

1. Research everything you possibly can about the app industry
2. Track the App and Android stores to find out what types of apps are downloaded and why over a period of 6-12 months
3. Find your audience – where are they? Do they even download and use apps?
4. Establish your app’s purpose – why are people going to love it and need it every day?
5. Find people to work with who get you, the concept behind your idea, who you trust and tell you how it is (this step is very hard!)
6. Plan your marketing – this is the most important step, how are you going to get people to find your app?

To listen to our thoughts on these points head to this link where you can hear the interview in full. We hope to write an eBook after the launch of Countdown Keeper where we will share what we’ve learnt about the journey with others, including the good, the bad and the ugly!

On a final note we talked about how we wanted to inspire other women to create a business, specifically in the tech industry. Next week, October 15th will mark the fantastic Lady Geek’s first 'Her in Hero Day' where schools are encouraged to celebrate Ada Lovelace, recognised as the first computer programmer in the 19th Century. The campaign highlights past and present female tech heroes and aims to inspire girls to change the world through technology. It's something we're proud to be helping to spread awareness of and have encouraged our local Alderbrook School to be involved. To find out more about Lady Geek, Little Miss Geek and their campaigns head to their Facebook page to be part of the conversation.

We look forward to appearing back on Radio Plus to share more insights into the world of apps soon and in the meantime you can find out more and sign up to be the first to hear about Countdown Keeper, released in November, here.

Katie x

Hattie’s Wines founder Becca Reeves talks to us about life, wine, her advice for budding entrepreneurs and who Hattie really is…

Becca Reeves, is an experienced wine buyer, who got tired of the stuffy way wine is talked about and sold, and after a leap of faith and good dose of self-belief, her wine business Hattie’s Wines was born. We had the pleasure of meeting and working with the team at Hattie’s Wines earlier this year while they were working very hard to launch the business and have quickly established its place in the online wine-buying arena. 

Founder Becca has created a fun, interactive and engaging way of sharing and selling her carefully selected wines by tapping into the secondary thoughts that occur when looking for a good wine such as food pairings and occasions, and our favourite feature on the site... the Hattie's Shuffle of course!

We wanted to share the inspiration behind Becca’s venture into business, the driving force behind her brand, her advice for budding entrepreneurs, and of course, a few of her favourite things...

What was the a-ha moment that inspired you to create your own business? 
I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work at some great companies and do jobs that I have loved. But in more recent years, I found that there was something missing, I was looking for a new challenge but I couldn’t seem to work out what it was! I’d always toyed with the idea of having my own business but I had never had the confidence to believe I could actually do it, always finding reasons not to do it. Finally I ran out of reasons and it was my partner (who started his own business 10 years ago) who helped convince me to have the self-belief to go for it and it’s been the best decision I ever made! 

Why did you choose the name ‘Hattie’s Wines’ ?
I wanted the business to have a personal feel to it and have a real name, but I didn’t want to use my name. Hattie’s Wines was not created to promote me, it started as I felt there was a real need for something different, fun and engaging in the world of wine. There’s also a bit of fun to be had with it in terms of hats, and possibly even some kind of “mad Hattie’s” events in the future!

What was the ethos behind the branding and 'Hattie'?
Hattie is not just the name of the company, she is the persona behind it. On the website it says:

“Hattie is the woman we all want to be; she's the best part of ourselves plus the best bits of all our friends and people we know……. I like to think that wine should make women feel a bit like Hattie – knowledgeable, sophisticated and in control but having fun at the same time.”

Too much of what exists in the wine world is very technical, stuffy and serious so I wanted to put a bit of real life enjoyment back in! Hopefully the branding and the look & feel of the website reflect this.

What has been your biggest challenge to date? And how did you overcome it?
There have been lots of very specific difficulties such as massive technical problems delaying the launch of the website, but the biggest single challenge for me was, and still is, how to go about actually doing all the parts that are involved in running a business. Cashflow and financial planning (er?), social media (I had sent about 7 tweets before I started Hattie’s), writing website copy and emails to customers, planning events…… the list goes on! 

I had an idea and a vision of what I wanted it to become but I not a clue on how to get there! It’s amazing what you learn on the way, and the most invaluable and awe-inspiring thing for me continues to be the number of people who want to help and get involved. Friends, former colleagues and new contacts have skills that I don’t and are so generous with their time and advice. If you surround yourself with positive people and you’re prepared to ask for help, you won’t go far wrong. That, and ignoring the negative doom-mongers!

Have there been any moments when you just wanted to pack it all in?
Yes, frequently! Especially as it’s only me making the decisions. There are days when I just want to hide in a cave by the beach with no phone, WIFI or laptop. But, all that being said, and even in the darkest moments, I would still rather be doing Hattie’s than anything else. It has become a part of me in a way that no other job ever was. Don’t get me wrong, getting up in the morning isn’t any easier (I somehow thought that when I had my own business, I would bound out of bed everyday!) but at the end of each day, when you collapse exhausted into bed, you feel like you have achieved so much more.  

If you weren't spreading the vino love with Hattie’s, what would you be doing?
This is difficult, I haven’t thought about it! Work-wise, I guess I’d be buying wine for someone else (which is no bad gig). I couldn't imagine a life outside of wine! If I wasn't working and money was no object, I’d take my friends on a pilgrimage of all the great wine regions of the world, and I would learn to cook on the way! 

What keeps you striving forward in business?
On the good days, the belief that what you’re doing is going to be brilliantly successful. On the bad days, the fear of failure! 

A few of your favourites…

Way to relax? 
Glass of great wine, obviously! Ideally with a book, in the sunshine.
Aid to well-being? 
Er, wine, of course. Aside from that, rooibos tea and as much sleep as possible!
Fitness activity? 
Swimming, again, ideally outside in a warm climate!
Wine? 
Too impossible to choose! There are so many brilliant wines. All I can say is that I don’t drink wines I don’t like or that I don’t think are very good. It’s a cliché, but life really is too short.
Food? 
Mushrooms!! I could have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Song? 
Let’s Hear It For The Boy by Deniece Williams, from Footloose!
Hero? 
Nelson Mandela
Quote?
I have loads of quotes I love, most of them wine related. But I think my favourite is one more akin to my other hobby: 

And finally... what piece of advice would you give to entrepreneurs to inspire them to give their dreams a go?

• I might be showing my age a little here, but I’d say take the Doctor Pepper view of life – "what’s the worst that could happen?!" If the worst isn't something disastrous like losing your home, i.e. if you have the financial ability to do it, then just go for it! 
• There will always be a million reasons not to try, but write down or talk about the reasons to do it instead, and don’t listen to the gremlins in your head that say you’re not good enough, or don’t have the right experience or contacts. 
• Having enough self-belief was and is still one of my biggest challenges. Get your friends and family on board from the start so they can support you. If there are any regrets, it’s always better to regret what you have done and not what you didn't do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love to enjoy a glass of wine (especially with my mum & sister!) but I also get very agitated if I'm not trying new things too, life is for living after all! However, as much as I want to venture into trying a bottle of something new, I find the prospect quite overwhelming as I stand in the supermarket aisle, and almost always go for a trusty old favourite. Not anymore. 

A really great feature of the site is that all of the wines in the Hattie’s range have been independently reviewed by three different writers, all of them wine lovers, consumers and great writers who want to share their love of the Hattie’s Wines, including creator of the Knackered Mothers' Wine Club, and new wine expert on The Alan Titchmarsh Show Helen McGinn. 

However we don't always have the time to invest in researching the little, but lovely things in life, so Hattie's Wines have cleverly made it easier than ever to find a new potential favourite by doing the Hattie's Shuffle which presents you a selection of wines you may like after using a few simple filters to input your likes and dislikes.

Do the shuffle for yourself and find out all about Hattie’s Wines here. Stay in touch with the team on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest too as they inspire you each day with new wine favourites, delicious recipes and fun hat-wearing competitions! 

Katie x