Month: September 2024

“My unique selling point is one of the reasons I left the larger national company, I felt like my matchmaking clients needed a more tailored experience. In terms of matchmaking dating is not one size, fits all. And I felt like I wanted to give my clients unique experiences where I was able to coach them in their matchmaking experience and in their dating.

I take the time to get to know them better and understand their life history, relationship history, preferences, priorities, and deal breakers before I actually set them up on a date.”

Brigitte spends a lot of time with her clients, and asks a range of questions to really delve into who they are. This, she noted, was a huge part of her process. I was honored that she shared with me some of the important questions she asks clients like:

• Where did they grow up?
• Who they were as children?
• What their family life was like?
• Relationship history
• What are they looking for moving forward?
• Do they have specifics they’re looking for in terms of match?
• What is important to them?
• How do they see their life a year from now?

These are just some of the techniques Brigitte uses to shape her understanding of her customers. As I was later to find out, she also uses almost therapeutic techniques to coach people into happy, healthy relationships.

“I come from a lot of longevity in terms of relationships, my grandparents on one side were married for 76 years. My grandparents, on the other side, were married for less years, they got married during the war and developed a beautiful love. Also my parents are now celebrating their 59th anniversary.

So I’ve been surrounded by a lot of long-term relationships and I think to me it’s something that is incredibly special, and I’d like to help other people have the same experience.

The best part of the work I do, is when I get a text or an email from somebody and they say, oh my gosh, I totally forgot to tell you that, so-and-so and I are still together or I’ve been meaning to tell you that the guy that you set me up with three years ago, we are now engaged. Those are definitely the best moments of my day.”

“My coaching programs are tailored to whatever somebody actually needs to get them back on the dating scene or to become comfortable while dating.

When I take on a matchmaking client, there is a reasonable amount of coaching that comes along with that process. There’s two different ways you can work with me; I take you on as a private client or I take you on as a date coaching client, or we do a combination of both.

If somebody came to me and said, I would like to hire you as a matchmaker, but I have some commitment issues. I need to work through those first for a few months. The question is always, why?Why do you feel that way? What are you afraid of? Let’s break through that first before I start setting you up on dates.

A lot of clients come to me and they don’t want the coaching. Nobody thinks they need coaching. Everybody thinks I know how to date, I’ve done this before, I know what I want. And nine times out of ten, I drag them into the coaching room because they actually do need that.”

Yeah I can imagine many people not being aware of the need for coaching. What were you doing before that led you into your business?

“I’ve been coaching for over 25 years in the wellness space. I started out as a food coach, where I helped people figure out how to reach their weight loss goals without giving up all of the foods that they loved.

I had a blog for many years called, I Hate Celery Sticks, which was based on the premise that we can eat whatever we want and still reach our weight loss goals. Without giving up the foods we love or going on crazy diets or over-exercise routines, or following any fads. I started actually coaching a few years ago within the dating and relationship community.

I’m a small boutique matchmaker. I generally don’t take on more than 10 clients at a given period. My matchmaking packages range from 15 to 25k per client, but depends on the separate hourly costs.

I think the biggest realization was how important coaching was to the matchmaking process. When I first left the national company, I assumed I would focus only on matchmaking but when I started to build the website, and I started to add more to it, I realized how mandatory the coaching piece is to have a successful matchmaking business.”

Further Information

• How to Start a Wellness Business: inspired by Brigitte to start a wellness website? Here is our informative guide.

“One of the couples whose photograph is on my success page,had a long list of priorities. One of them was that she wanted to be matched with somebody who makes her laugh. And then all of the other priorities were were about physical qualities.

But I knew this guy and he cracked me up. And every time I spoke to him, he would make me laugh. I just had a really strong feeling that there would be a connection there. Some of the work I do, there is a methodology to it, but there’s also some intuition as well. And I presented him to her, she out right refused to even meet the guy, absolutely not! 

I kept on nudging her a little bit, and after two or three good dates with other individuals. She learned to trust me. And I talked her into going out with this guy and what happened?

She has a ring on her finger, and they are engaged. They’re getting married in the Cayman Islands in May, they’re gonna have a big family party over the summer which I will go to, that’s probably one of my favorite success stories. Because there was so much resistance. She really thought he did not look like the person that she imagined herself to be with.”

Do you think that blocks a lot of clients? The aspect of just focusing on appearance, rather than the contents of someone’s character?

“Absolutely, positively, yes. So you asked me about my favorite success story. I’m going to tell you about my favorite unsuccessful story, because there’s such meaning in this to me. I share this one with a lot of my clients too.

I took on a client who was very adamant of the person that she wanted. She wanted somebody who’s well educated, was professional and that came from a good family. And I set her up with somebody that I had date coached.

A gentleman who was professional attorney in private practice and done very well for himself. He came from a very prominent family, and I introduced the two of them over dinner. I also curate the entire date.  So I have both my calendars in front of me, I know when one and the other is available. I set up the date and make the reservation. I let them both know where they’re meeting.

I set up the date in a lovely Italian restaurant down in Soho, and they went on a date, so excited! I mean, I couldn’t sleep that night because I couldn’t wait to get the email from both of them!

The next morning I didn’t get an email, I got a phone call… A screaming phone call from my client who basically said, what were you thinking? How could you set me up with somebody that orders spaghetti and meatballs?

I thought it was a prank. I thought I was on like, matchmaker candid camera! I said, but what do you mean? And she said, how dare you set me up with somebody who ordered spaghetti and meatballs? I don’t want a commoner. First of all, this was a lovely, Italian restaurant. I guarantee the spaghetti meatballs were $30 a bowl, it was a beautiful establishment. She also didn’t like that he showed up in a t-shirt, probably a $100 t-shirt knowing him.And that was the end of what could have been a really good relationship.

The challenge with these expectations is that we don’t leave any room for surprises to happen. Maybe the person of one’s dreams does not have an Ivy League degree. Maybe they don’t have hair, maybe they have a couple of extra pounds. When you have those expectations, you immediately eliminate 80% of the population.”

“What a happy relationship looks like could be different for everybody, but I will tell you that the majority of relationships that I set up are people that clearly want to see each other again. Sometimes I’ll get a text simultaneously in the bathroom, like the men’s room and the women’s room. Both like oh my God, this is amazing. Thank you so much.

I have learned what qualities I want them to look for. For example, two people don’t need to make the same amount of money to be in a good relationship.But they have to have the same idea of how to spend their money. If they agree then they have a really good chance of having a good relationship. If not, that’s where the tension comes in.

Also how people relate to their family, right? I have couples where they first get together. And one person says, Thanksgiving let’s go to the Bahamas, and the other says, what Thanksgiving? No, I do that every year with my entire family. So when you have people that can agree on certain key issues such as vacation time, free time, money spending, work ethic, politics and religion –these are markers of areally good chance of a stronger connection.”

What do you think is the reason people can struggle to find the right relationship?

“I think a lot of people don’t find partners because they think their partner is gonna fall out of the sky, or they’re gonna meet them over the tomatoes at the Farmers Market. The white horse is gonna walk in with the shiny Prince and those things only happen on television and in the movies.

They don’t often happen in real life.

I encourage my clients to be open to the world around them. What I found is that you need to be intentional about what you really need.

Everybody’s so unique. It’s almost impossible to generalize which is what I really love about the work that I do. But some general rules are, before you go on the date I think it’s important to know what is important on that list. I suggest to my clients that they leave the list at home, and they go out on a date and they just be open. I generally do not suggest asking a ton of questions on the first date. I think the best experience is just to be yourself and talk about your day andtalk about yourself, but not necessarily turn the date into 20 questions.

Also don’t come from work, go home. Take a shower, change your clothes, put your date mode on, and go out and have a good time. Try to think that you are looking to meet somebody new and interesting, not necessarily looking for the man or the woman of your dreams.”

I often hear we bring baggage into new relationships, what are your thoughts on that?

“You know, baggage can be replaced by life experience. We don’t get into our 30s, 40s, and above without having experiences. Those experiences are what make us interesting and unique. They should be celebrated and not looked at in a negative way. If there are certain realities that are triggers for certain people, the more that we know ourselves and the better that we can share our vulnerabilities with our partners – the more success we can potentially have in a relationship.

So baggage to me is not intimidating, it’s just part of who we are. Unless you grew up in a bubble by yourself, and you didn’t have parents, siblings, a community, home, or a school, it just doesn’t exist. Nobody’s a clean slate.”

“I think the ease of the platform made it very simple for me to navigate. It’s very user friendly or at least it was Brigitte friendly, which means that it has to be extra user friendly! I felt like GoDaddy answered the question before I had it. And when it didn’t the phone support helped me, they would spend ages on the phone walking me through each step I had to take.

I know there are some features that I’ve not yet explored, some of the marketing features that I see and Google Analytics. I haven’t paid attention to that at all, but that’s on my list of resolutions for this year.

Any advice for new start ups I would say, to borrow a very famous term, just do it!

One barrier to a lot of businesses starting is that we spend too much time thinking about little things like, should the font be this, or should I make this red? I would say don’tspend too much time on the small steps, don’t sweat the small stuff. It can always be changed later.

The bigger decision is that you have an idea. You’re letting people know about your idea, you’re making yourself available to people. You’re not going to make a break your business, as far as I’m concerned, whether your logo is, you know, black or blue.”

Further Information

• GoDaddy Review – take a look at our comprehensive review if you’re thinking of using it to build your website.
• GoDaddy Ecommerce Review – want to build an online store? Then this read is a must.
• How To Build a Site With GoDaddy – ready to learn how to build a website with GoDaddy? Take a look here to find out how.

That’s wonderful advice, do you have any tips for those wanting to start a matchmaking business?

“I would say speak to other matchmakers and network with other matchmakers. The matchmaking community is beautifully collaborative, a community of people like myself. Who have small businesses. We need each other to share ideas, information, and networks. I’m part of two national matchmaking communities, one of them is the Matchmaking Institute and  Matchmaking Alliance. I’m certified through both of those.”

In many ways, Brigitte’s biggest lesson on love is similar to her thoughts on business. She told us, “the biggest lesson is to be open. Emotionally open. Physically open. Psychologically open. Open to falling in love with somebody that you did not expect.”

It’s my personal thought that we need to be open in business too, open to the possibilities, to our ideas, and to feedback and iterations along the way.

Jim and May’s story began with Jim needing to learn Spanish, through a language-learning website. Hestarted learning Spanish with May which eventually led to her inviting him to Mexico to meet her.

“And so, I went down to Mexico, for the first time I was leaving the country by myself. And we had this fantastic experience. I mean, not only did we fall in love, but she showed me around the country and taught me about her culture and taught me Spanish, it was really just this fantastic experience,” Jim told us.

“[May’s] a language teacher, and I’m a music producer. My background is in audio and video production, and so we thought, well, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could start a business where we could provide this experience for other people? Where we could be a bridge for people to experience Spanish-speaking countries, and have a much more authentic experience while traveling abroad.”

This led the duo to begin crafting a podcast, which wouldn’t meet the light of day at first – because, as Jim explained to us that after doing their research, the ecommerce world was raving about YouTube instead.

Jim explained: “So early on we thought we would start as a podcast. So this is back in like 2011. It was really early on but we never published the podcast episodes that we released. Not sure exactly why, maybe I was a little embarrassed of my Spanish at the time because it was early on. 

But we ended up going to a travel conference for creators and bloggers. We went there and there were a couple of sessions focused on bloggers, then there were sessions that werereally pushing the idea of getting creators to get on YouTube, because Google owns YouTube.” 

The decision to move towards YouTube would prove to be the right call, as they managed to grow itfrom zero to 160,000 subscribers! Aiming for the awesome 200,000 subscriber milestone for 2023, Jim and May have also hit an incredible10 million views on their YouTube channel in a little under seven years – so we delved into the details of how they achieved these milestones.

“With theSpanish and Go YouTube channel, I remember just getting to 100 subscribers that was like, wow, we got a hundred people following us. And then it was a 1,000, and then 10,000, and then a 100,000. All of those little milestones were huge for us.” 

Jim noted that with YouTube, you not only get the video which you can post on your YouTube channel and website, “but you also have the audio [for the podcast] and you couldconvert a video into a blog post. So you could kind of have a little bit of everything, just in one form of content. So we decided to start a YouTube channel. And when we really started the business in full force in 2016, we launched our YouTube channel and started producing mainly video content.”

Jim and May started with ideas for evergreen content, the kind of YouTube content that will always provide value. But Jim also stated that consistency is key with YouTube.

It’s a wonderful thought to travel the world and start a business with your significant other, but we were curious about the working dynamics and how that might affect both your business and your relationship. We were delighted to see that May and Jim have been able to capture a lovely balance.

“You know, I was still living in Minnesota and when we met, we had to figure out how we could even be together to start this business. So we got married and then went through the immigration process to get May up to the States. Then together we worked for a while with the goal of saving up enough,” Jim tells us, so that they could test to see where there business would go in two years.

Jim explained that it was at a really early stage in the relationship that they came up with their business idea, just a few months of having met in person. He said that before they even discussed marriage they had the idea, due to May showing him around Mexico, as for him it was a “truly a life-changing experience.”

Working with your significant other he notes, “can be a little tricky. It has its challenges occasionally, but for the most part we work really well together. You knowMay is primarily responsible for the language instruction and cultural content so she does a lot of the research for us.”

May grew up in Mexico so she has the inside scoop into the culture and locations to visit, whileJim’s role is the more technical aspects of the business. Jim is responsible for “getting things up on the website, the audio and video production,” as well as marketing and email funnels. The duo alsowork with two others who handle editing, podcast management, and manage the immersion retreats. 

Their accomplishments are all the more impressive when it’s such a tight-knit team, in our opinion.

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TheSpanish and Go website is the central hub for everything they offer to their 160K plus audience. We wanted Jim’s honest opinion of what it was like building the business with Squarespace, and whether it was worth our readers building with it.

When we asked Jim why he created a website he said,“The biggest impact of having the website was we learned early on from travel conferences that you have to find away to convert your audience into a newsletter.Early on that was one of the primary reasons why we had the website. And so that’shelped us grow our email list tremendously over the years. [Our audience] watch a video and see that we mentioned that we have a PDF and then they can sign up and get that as a download.” 

Jim noted that the best part of working with Squarespace is itsflexibility and how quickly you can create content. Making it easier to sell their immersion retreats, having had to use Teachable to host the podcast membership and their language course before. 

“It’s nice that we can easily create a new product and update our inventory and add discount codes. Those are huge advantages and it’s just easy to maintain. I don’t think we’ve had much if any downtime at all with Squarespace. And it’s just been easy to implement our brand colors and have aconsistent look across our website.”

On the success that Squarespace has provided Jim and May, Jim stated, “I think it’s the integration of forms, we’ve used that to get people on our newsletter and that’s been fantastic.” He told us that it was an easy way to let people know that they could get free extra learning materials and tell them about the services they provide.

“Overall, I would say. We absolutely could scale considerably more with Squarespace. However, there is a major disadvantage of Squarespace that I see, and it’s just that it’s terribly slow. And it seems like no matter what we do in terms of optimizing images and trying to make everything as lightweight as possible on our end, we can’t keep load loading speeds down.”

Jim and May ran into some trouble with site speed, with help and support directing them to their image sizes multiple times. Despite their efforts to resolve the issue, they still have slow load times – which you should be aware of if you’re planning to create a website with Squarespace. Video and image optimization is there to greatly reduce load speeds. But sometimes, like in this case, it’s just due to the providers’ capabilities. 

When asked if Jim regrets using Squarespace due to this issue, and whether he should’ve opted for a WordPress blog, where you have more control over the backend, his response was unclear. On the one hand, he notes that it could’ve been better to have full control – but that when they began it was just the two of them, and it was an easy way to start the business.

Despite the pandemic dampening the duo’s efforts to create an amazing experience on their retreats over the last few years, the future for Spanish and Go looks bright, continuing on their mission to visit every Spanish-speaking country (21 in total). “And we want to provide useful content for audience, about the culture differences, language differences, and in slang.”

They’ll be continuing to innovate content on theSpanish and Go podcast, to provide excitingSpanish immersion program, their epic climb to YouTube’s 200k subscribers, and provideblog readers with some top notch learning resources. If you’re interested in learning Spanish authentically then Jim and May are there with friendly guidance.

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“I’m Lisa and I’m the founder and co-owner of The Wrinkly Elephant Company Ltd. I now work alongside my husband Stuart, making handmade soap, bath, and body products. We pride ourselves on making products with natural ingredients that are good for your skin and encourage that self-care that everyone needs.

I started in 2017, perfecting my recipes and having them assessed and registered with the EU portal which has now been replaced by the UK portal. I originally started from my self-contained soap room at home – a converted garage that is linked to the home. I set my website up and started selling in 2018. To begin with, it was mostly at craft fairs, but I quickly started to build up a community on social media, mostly Instagram.

COVID hit and craft fairs stopped but, fortunately, my online presence through Instagram meant we continued to sell. We had incredible growth over COVID and Christmas 2020. It continued into 2021 so we moved into a unit. We were there for two years and, at the end of 2022, we won a Worcestershire Small Business Award for product development.

However, with the cost of the rent, car park charges, and energy rising, plus a fall in sales, we decided to move the business back home where we originally started in the part of our garage that is converted into a soap studio. We still mainly sell online, but craft fairs are beginning to pick up again, so we’re doing a few of the larger ones to grow the brand again.”

Setting Your Own Schedule

“The best part about my daily work is that I’m in control of what I want to do that day. What I love most about it all is that I love being creative with my products and packaging and knowing that it’s something I put together myself. It’s such a strange feeling when I get customer reviews of how they love the products or pictures of my products in their bathrooms. It’s a very proud moment and probably one I need to think about more often.

On a daily basis, I try to start my day by doing something for myself. My products are all about self-care so I need to practice it myself – I love to start the day with an exercise session. It sets me up for the day and then, of course, showering with one of our lovely products. Then it’s generally checking emails and social media first while having breakfast.

Stu, my husband, will then package up any orders that have come in overnight or from the afternoon before and get them taken to the Royal Mail delivery office. Then, depending on what stock I have I will probably spend a couple of days a week making soap. Sometimes this may be every week, sometimes I do a week of just soap making so I then concentrate on the other products the rest of the month. It depends on how orders are coming through, and which products are popular. I would say I generally finish mid-afternoon, but will probably spend time on my laptop researching or updating myself on what’s happening within the industry. Fridays are normally the day that I catch up on admin – this can be anything from planning my social media content for the following week, answering more in-depth emails, updating the website, taking new pictures of products, or experimenting with new scents or new products.

Once a month, Stu and I will sit down and think about what events we want to do the following month or even for the next few months. Christmas ones have to be booked early!

We do have a business plan that we try to update on a yearly basis, but we try to set some quarterly targets so that we have a plan of where we want to be. Within this, we will set meetings that will decide on seasonal offers and products and when we’re to launch any new ones.”

Finding Family Time

“I have three boys who are all adults now so when I started this business it was really something about “doing something for me”. I was fed up with working for someone else and wanted to be able to do what I wanted when I wanted. I had always had good feedback that I was a hard worker, so I knew I could do things for myself.

What I enjoy most about working for myself and maintaining that work/life balance is that I can control it. I work when I want and take time off to be with my family when I want. That’s the beauty of it now, I find it much easier to maintain that work/life balance. Don’t get me wrong – I do put the hours in and I have to be careful that I make sure I switch off as I can be on the computer or doing social media at 10 or 11 at night. But, on the flip side, I can take time off in the day to go out for lunch with friends or a shopping trip with family. So, it does even itself out but I can control it.”

“There is so much waste in the packaging industry, and I didn’t want to be part of that. I’ve tried to keep my packaging as plastic-free as possible. My soap bars just have a cigar band around them as they legally need to have certain details on the packaging, and this was enough to get all those details on. However, this sometimes plays against me as I have contacted retailers about stocking my brand and they want the soap to be covered in a box or fully wrapped.

Generally using ingredients that are not tested on animals is straightforward as we have rules in place in the UK. Palm oil-free is becoming an issue now because of the war in Ukraine. We’re being told by suppliers that there’s a shortage and that, if there is any, it’s being used in the food industry. So, this is obviously having an impact on either not being able to source any or the price being ridiculously high. I am still standing by these principles, but it is having an effect on the cost of items at the moment.”

The Wrinkly Elephant’s products and packaging focus on being environmentally friendly.

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“This is where I have tried to work hard at building up, not just a brand, but a community. In the early days, I spent many hours on Instagram and showing behind-the-scenes footage of the ingredients and the products, building up relationships with customers and other accounts. I fiercely believe in my products so I would also send out samples for people to try as I was confident that they would love my products as much as I love making them. Of course, they did, and the recommendations started.

Customer service is at the heart of the business, so I always answer DMs and emails within 24 hours where possible. I encourage customers to contact me with questions and I will happily recommend products. I have tried to build up a trust between us. When packing products, although we want to be eco-friendly and use recyclable packaging, I don’t feel that the packaging has to be compromised. From when a customer places their order to actually unboxing it, I want it to be a pleasurable experience, as if it was Christmas Day every time they receive a parcel.

The products are wrapped nicely, and a personalized note is handwritten, even if it just says “Thank you for your order”. I want the customer to feel part of the Wrinkly family and not just an order number.

When they message me on Instagram, I try to remember what they’re saying – like if they’ve had a bad week and then they’ve just placed an order. I would then write something like “I hope your week has got better”. I’ve had such good comments about how they receive their happy post, and they look forward to it so much – the unboxing as well as using the gorgeous products.”

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A Note on Newsletters

“This is an area that I need to improve. Generally, at the moment, they usually go out saying what our soap of the month is, or what offers we have – occasionally a little update on what we have been up to. I sometimes do offers exclusively for email subscribers to encourage more people to sign up. I need to develop this more as this is an area I want to get better at.

Social media is great but if I lost my account, I would lose my followers. I’m trying to be more proactive in encouraging people to sign up for the newsletter so that I have more control over being able to contact my customers.”

Social Media Success

“I’ve dabbled with all platforms but have found my niche more with Instagram, closely followed by Facebook. My products and videos are very picture and video-friendly, so this suits the sort of style on Instagram. It’s very hard to keep up with the algorithms and posting consistently. I use Instagram to show how the products are being made, the ingredients we use, and behind-the-scenes footage. The customers love to get to know the face behind the brand.

I publicize my offers here too once the email subscribers have been notified first. I also try to collaborate with other businesses and influencers to try and gain more visibility for the brand.”

“I’ve had many photographs from customers with before and after pictures of skin problems, such as eczema or psoriasis. After a couple of weeks of using my natural unscented soap or Natural Oats soap bar, their skin condition improved immensely.

[The business has] enabled me to give up my job working in education and bring the same salary in. We saw incredible growth during COVID and have over 3,000 customers. The business is profitable but like any business at the moment, sales have dropped due to the cost of living crisis – but I still have many regular customers returning. We’re now seeing the signs of it improving once again and ready to take the business to the next level.”

“Well, firstly there are a lot of legal hoops to jump through when you’re bringing a product to market that comes into contact with the skin. When I originally started, we were in the EU so had to comply with EU rules. When Brexit happened, the UK continued their rules but has their own system now that we have to register our products through their new site which – obviously being new – had teething problems, plus we lost some overseas customers.

Also, getting brand visibility is hard but I was fortunate in making some contacts on Instagram so that initially helped a great deal. The problem is now continuing to gain visibility so that we can attract new customers, so marketing is always at the top of our agenda.

We didn’t face many struggles during the pandemic apart from coping with the number of orders – which was a good thing! We did have a couple of moments of there being a shortage of packaging boxes, but we managed to work through it and got our orders out in plenty of time. The war in Ukraine is beginning to affect us now as prices of some ingredients have tripled or even quadrupled. This is hard. We did have a price increase last year to try and offset this, and we have also reduced outgoing costs down to the bare minimum to try and not have to pass any further increases to our customers. This is obviously an area that we’re monitoring closely now.

We’re also struggling to obtain some of the palm-free ingredients. A new product was about to be launched but I’ve had to put it on hold because of this shortage. It’s no good launching a new product until I’m sure I’m still going to be able to get this particular ingredient at a reasonable price.”

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“I wanted to be able to control my own sales. I didn’t want to be controlled by some of those selling platforms where they dictate conditions and when they pay you, as well as taking a huge percentage. I think it’s also a necessity nowadays as most customers expect to be able to find you online and it looks more credible if you have a good website.

I fell upon Shopify and loved their free themes and the ease at which I could set the website up, as well as having an amazing customer helpdesk. There were lots of tutorials and support available to help me alongside different options for themes for the website to be built on, which all seemed fairly straightforward. I had plenty of free choices in how the layout could be set up as well as paid options if I wanted something more advanced.

We chose the Basic Shopify plan as it offered everything we needed it to do. However, on occasion there are more detailed reports that I feel that I need – for example, when approaching Christmas I like to look back at the last Christmas and see what our bestsellers were. I can upgrade my pricing plan to the next level to enable me to do this. I do it for the month that I need it and then revert back to the Basic plan. I love the flexibility of being able to do this.

The variety of apps that integrate seamlessly into the site are great. I have a customer review one, and a subscription service one, and have just recently launched a loyalty program. These were all so easy to install and, if I have queries, these too have had great customer service helpdesks. There’s a huge choice – for someone like me who knows nothing about building websites, these have been great add-on features to a free theme.”

“We want to scale our business and I definitely think there is potential with Shopify.”

Browsing Builders

“Do your research and look at more than one builder. Look at reviews and also what they offer. Does it meet your needs? Can it do what you want it to do? If your business is successful, can the builder grow with you? If you’re a product-based business, do you know how to add a new product? Can you do it yourself or are you always having to ask for help with this?

The main actions need to be simple. For me, adding products easily was key. I didn’t want to have to pay someone to do this every time I wanted to add a new product or new scent. Take advantage of the free themes and play around with them. Ask lots of questions and use their helpdesks – that’s what they’re there for. Speak to other small businesses about their experiences, but try to remember that every business is different. What worked for them may not work as well for you.”

“There’s always something happening – new offers and new products. We are currently just signing off our Christmas range so look out for new gift sets and some new products.

We’re still committed to growing the business further and growing our customer base and want to be a brand known for its gorgeous soap and products that encourage self-care.”

The Wrinkly Elephant has expanded its product range from natural soaps to other complementary items, like bath salts.

“Go for it. I wish I’d done it sooner but don’t be afraid of hard work and asking for help. You can’t know the answer to everything and there are always people out there that know more than you do. Also, don’t be afraid to learn from your mistakes.

And, research, research, research. It’s a minefield of legal documentation that you have to ensure you follow if you’re bringing a product to market. Be consistent with your brand message and what you want in your product line. Don’t just follow fads, stay true to what you believe in. Join different forum groups that are knowledgeable in the area and make those connections. There are some very supportive communities and groups that help each other out, even if we are all competing in the same market. Finally, always make sure you get your products cosmetically assessed!”