For Sally Walton, it was a combination of external and internal factors that prompted her to set up her ecological design business, Carry-A-Bag (www.carry-a-bag.com).
Sally, who is 55 and based in St Leonard’s on Sea, in East Sussex in southern England, had been working with her husband for more than 15 years, writing books on a wide range of topics, most connected with home decoration and improvement.
Five years ago, the events of 11 September 2001 effectively put an end to this business. “We were very involved with one big publisher whose books were aimed at the US market,” explains Sally. “But that year, no-one went to the Frankfurt Book Fair. The US market turned in on itself. So I had to find something else to do.”
This time coincided with Sally’s own feeling that for 20 years she’d been giving people ideas about interesting things to make and do and it was now time for her to do something for herself that she was interested in.
One of the books she had written was called Eco Deco and looked at how to created stylish items for the home from recycled materials. “I did a lot of research for the book into recycling and got very enthusiastic,” explains Sally. “So then it all came together. I knew I wanted to start a business where I was physically making something, and that could build on my existing knowledge of ecology and recycling.”
The business Sally has set up offers customers a stylish alternative to the re-usable shopping bags. Sally’s bags are made from organic, Fairtrade calico, lined with beautiful, recycled fabrics and printed using a discontinued range of fabric printing inks.
Initially, Sally sold her first few bags to local businesses, including a friend who opened a local store. She then approached her local enterprise agency, 1066 Enterprise, mainly to get advice about funding her business.
As a result, Sally went on a six-month, Learning and Skills Council NES programme. “I hadn’t thought of going on a course; I just wanted some money,” she comments. “But the agency convinced me that it would be helpful and in fact I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I completed changed my attitude and I found it very empowering.”
One of the aspects of the course that helped Sally take a more focused approach to her fledgling business was the computer studies. “We had to look at spreadsheets, which I had dealt with before, but very much on the creative side,” she says.
The course finished in February 2006 and Sally then began test trading until June. The cost of the course was free, and Sally also got £1,500 towards setting up her business, which she used to buy business stationery and towards the cost of her website (www.carry-a-bag.com).
“For the website, I used Republica Design, who were also just starting out, and my training as a designer really helped in clarifying my ideas about the website,” says Sally.
Sally invested the rest of the money in buying two second-hand but reliable sewing machines and her first rolls of fabric.
Sally has a modern approach to marketing, based on personal networking. Her four children have jobs in the fashion and media worlds, and this has given Sally a highly useful set of contacts to whom to market her products. “My eldest son is a creative director and all his friends work in the area of product promotion or fashion styling, she explains. “I realised it’s a pretty small world. I realised I knew a lot of these people and could send them a bag or information about the bags.” In addition, Sally’s husband is an artist who draws musicians, so Sally also has contacts in the musical world, and has promoted her products to them.
Targeting media professionals, as well as those in the fashion and music business, has proved a highly-effective a way of promoting Sally’s brand into her potential customer base. “My marketing strategy is entirely based on promoting my products to everyone I know and to everyone my children know in London and the media,” she explains.
“The first thing was a piece in Country Living magazine and I could not believe how much came out of that,” she comments. “From the moment the article appeared, things just went ballistic. It was fantastic. And that is exactly the customer I’m aiming at. I’m thinking of the Country Living woman and the young fashionable local shopper, in trendy places, like East Dulwich. I’m very clear about who my customers are. We were asked on the course to identify our ideal customer and mine was Jamie Oliver’s wife, Jools.”
The initial publicity has been followed by several more articles, including one in the Saturday Telegraph, and more are in the pipeline.
This has provided Sally with an excellent start for her business and she has learned the value of flexibility. “The business plan is more or less on track, but some goals have changed a bit,” she says. Originally, Sally planned to move the manufacturing of the bags out of the country, as the business expanded, but she has now decided they will be made locally. “I don’t want that sort of business,” she says. “I want the hands-on feel. I will be employing local people and I may set up a workshop.”
Sally’s biggest challenge has been staying focused on her primary goals for the business, rather than getting distracted into other projects. Within five years, she would like to have a concession within a major upmarket department store in this country and possibly in New York.
“I keep on planting the seeds,” she says. “I haven’t focused on trying to make money before, but now I am enjoying this challenge. It has been a huge change, from researching and writing books to running a business. Now that I’ve started, I would like it to be successful and being quite wealthy would also be nice!”
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