PRIME business club

A group of crafty over 50s have proved that four heads are better than one, by setting up creative resource website www.makeitandmendit.com. Clare Flynn, Clare O’Brien, Anne Caborn, and Hillary Bruffell joined forces in January 2009, and have since established a strong following of almost 2,500 people on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.‘The business is all about living sustainably and creatively by making things and mending them instead of buying and binning’ says Londoner Clare Flynn. The website is a collection of stories, resources and forums. You can learn how to make chocolate cookies, renovate bathroom tiles, knit a bag or go rubbish skip surfing (looking for gems to recycle.)

Flynn explains, ‘we want to pass on the skills we learnt when we were young - knitting, sewing, making jam. Today’s generation watch TV and go drinking, but these things do not relieve stress or give you a sense of achievement.’

‘Make it and Mend it’ earn their money via advertising and affiliate sales. They sell other companies’ goods and receive a percentage of the purchase cost. Clare Flynn says: ‘At first we measured our income by its equivalence in Primark shoes, but then the money started to come in.’ The recession has meant that reusing, recycling, and ‘make do and mend’ has got a lot more popular in the news and media.

Clare O’Brien says ‘I remember waking up at 6am to the voice of John Humphreys on Radio 4. He was about to do a feature on wartime slogan ‘make do and mend’. I jumped out of bed thinking “Not without a comment from me, you’re not!” Clare Flynn posted a comment on the Radio 4 website forum with a link to makeitandmendit.com. That day we received a huge surge of traffic and sign-ups.’

Starting up

‘Make it and Mend it’ came to life when the four friends were having lunch. The conversation turned to all the remarkable things that could be made with a little guidance. The ladies then decided to make some money out of the idea.

The four set themselves up as a private limited company. This means that the company has a different legal identity to that of the owners, unlike a sole trader or a partnership where there is no distinction. In this case the four businesswomen each own 25% of the business.

‘Make it and Mend it’ set up their first website for less than £100. ‘We pushed it as far as it would go,’ says Flynn ‘but we looked about as good as any other blog’. In July 2009 the team wrote a brief and gave it to four website designers to pitch. The ladies bought the current website from D3R for £7,500. ‘We liked the people, their work, and the fact that they stood up to us and put in their own ideas.’ Flynn explains. ‘As soon as it went up, people began to take us seriously. It was definitely worth it.’

Business support and networking

Clare Flynn attended a Business Link exhibition at the Business Design Centre in London. She saw two useful presentations, which covered sources of funding, and how to tender contracts for the Olympics. The group are now discussing both of these subjects as options for the future.

Flynn also registered with PRIME and was sent a free self-employment pack: ‘It was useful knowing all the bureaucratic legislation and what we need to apply for’.

Online resources have proved invaluable. Problogger.com runs a free program called ‘31 days to build a better blog’, which provides hints and tips to writing web content, while www.thirtydaychallenge.com teaches how to discover and exploit a niche market by finding keywords, monetising, and getting traffic to your website.

All four women are experienced networkers, and are comfortable in a crowd. Anne has a journalist background and runs a business in website content management with Clare O’Brien. Clare Flynn has 30 years experience in marketing, and Hilary runs a media production business. The ladies have a lot of knowledge, and a lot of contacts to further the business.

One tactic is to invite people round for lunch, and then quiz them for ideas. Another is to strike up individual conversations on Twitter.

Flynn explains ‘Hilary will say, “I have some crab apples, what should I do with them?” Recipes and suggestions will flood in, and Hilary will end up getting an article out of it. Plus the talk means that traffic is brought to the website.’

Problems

None of the ladies have skills in finance or technology. The team makes up for the former by hiring an accountant. Up until now ‘Make it and Mend it’ have used affiliate networks, and learnt the basics to manage the technical side of the business. But the team are now considering taking on an apprentice from www.enternships.com. Like interns, enterns offer their services for free while gaining entrepreneurial experience.

Another problem is time. Anne says, ‘the most difficult moments are when you run yourself in - when you find yourself working at 2am.’

Communication

The group know that communication is paramount. They meet every fortnight over lunch, and meet in pairs every week. They also talk daily on free video conferencing system Skype. There can be disagreements, but the group always confront them and talk them through.

Anne says, ‘It is frustrating when you can’t carry out all your ideas. But most of it is terribly upbeat. We are like The Beatles with knitting needles!’

Contact

Make it and Mend it
Clare Flynn: 0208 582 5372
Email: info@makeitandmendit.com
Website: www.makeitandmendit.com