Joyful Selling for Creatives

Hello! My Name is Polly and I am the founder and proud owner of Little Bit Margate, a gifts, treats & clothing shop in Margate Old Town.

In 2017 I set up Little Bit as a labour of total love of colour and immersive experiences. I wanted to make a happy little shop that changed peoples mood for the better upon walking thru the doors. It also fed my spirit of ‘play’ and discovery and that runs strong thru all we do at Little Bit. We stock a mixture of our own brand of clothing and gifts and a carefully curate selection of awesome indie designers and makers. The one rule is ‘if it doesn’t make me smile it is not allowed in here! After the success peoples response to the shop we felt bold enough to go one step further and created its sibling Big Bit an immersive place to stay right in the heart of Margate. Colour makes you happy. It inspires me every day, to be a little bit braver and bolder, and I hope Little Bit infuses that into others too.

Here is my Indie Biz Horror Story...

Website: https://www.littlebitmargate.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlebitmargate/

Indie Roller Festive Showcase: https://indieroller.com/the-indie-roller-festive-showcase/

It's spooky season which means it's our Indie Biz Horror Story series mwahahaha! Join us in October for a series of jaw-dropping tales from brilliant Indie Biz owners who kept going!

Our first guest is Bex a graphic designer and paper artist who splits her time between the UK  and the Netherlands. She specialises in the field of quilling and uses strips of paper to create pieces of wall art ranging from unicorns to pet portraits. Working mainly on a  commission basis, Bex loves the challenge that each piece brings. She is quite tenacious and has never turned down anything. Where people who draw/paint see things with pencils and brushes, Bex see's things with pieces of paper.  Alongside the wall art, she has also created a range of beautiful quilled snowflakes for decorating your home with at Christmas.  

Find Bex on Insta -https://www.instagram.com/thebeehivedesign

Bex's Website - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheBeehiveHandmade

Find out more about the Festive Showcase: https://indieroller.com/the-indie-roller-festive-showcase/

Yarn Whisperer is the #yarncolourist #stashenabler creative outlet for Andrew,  and he first began research and development dyeing for Yw in September 2019  (after a trip to Spain inspired his first collection of brightly coloured yarn!) and opened his online shop in January 2020. 

Andrew dyes mostly British bases (although some world yarns are now appearing in some base blends) including Lace, 4ply, DK and Chunky weights, along with his popular (and HUGE!) 500g Guernsey ‘Sport’ hanks, across 3 current collections, along with ‘special event’ and limited seasonal releases. He  

also runs a bespoke ‘Dye to Order’ service and has plans for ‘Dyeing to Learn’  courses - once a teacher, always a teacher! 

He is inspired by colour, and the way the dyes mix in the water, and uses this in his process to create bold and bright yarns that are sure to be a feature of your next yarn adventure. 

Find Andrew on Insta - https://www.instagram.com/the_yarnwhisperer

Andrews website - www.yarnwhisperer.co.uk

Indie Roller - www.indieroller.com

"My Name is Nicola and I'm The Secret Crocheter – to be honest this is possibly the worst kept secret of all time! 

I live in Wiltshire with my husband Frank and, as well as crochet, I love cups of tea, chocolate biscuits and bird watching. 

Crochet is definitely in my blood; both my mum and nan can crochet - it was actually my mum who taught me when I was about 9 years old. And thank goodness she did, as I really don’t know where I’d be without it. 

I’ve never really considered myself to be overly artistic or creative but being a primary school teacher for the past 16 years, I suppose I must have been! I started to crochet as a kind of stress reliever from the pressures of the day job. 

And so, The Secret Crocheter was born. 

Fast forward a few years and these days you’ll find me in The Crochet Cabin teaching other people how to crochet or running my own workshops (I knew all those years of being in education would come in handy one day!)"

Find Nicola on Insta - www.instagram.com/the_secret_crocheter

Nicola's Website  - www.thesecretcrocheter.com 

Indie Roller - www.indieroller.com

Indie Roller Membership Sign up  - https://indieroller.com/indie-roller-annual-membership/

Nia is an eating disorder recovery and mental health advocate. She started her business, Self Love Tool Chest in 2016. Self Love Tool Chest is meant to inspire people in the world to know they are loved and that they are allowed (and strongly encouraged) to take care of themselves. She has spent much of the past 3 years documenting her recovery from Bulimia, OCD, PTSD, and Bipolar Disorder on Instagram and her blog.

You can find Self Love Tool Chest on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/selflovetoolchest

Online at https://www.selflovetoolchest.com/

Indie Roller - www.indieroller.com

Ronke is the founder of Love your Look. A sustainable clothing brand inspired by vintage nostalgia. Ronke prides herself on the unique prints they offer, wide range of sizes, colourful and diverse lifestyle brand. Each design is created to embrace her customers form and bring confidence to them, because everyone deserves to feel fantastic 

Ronke recently launched an exciting new business platform. The Creative Business Bootcamp which see’s her using her knowledge from 10 years of fashion buying, 5 years of university lecturing and supporting small start ups, plus launching 2 successful international companies. Check out her website www.creativebbootcamp.co.uk

Find Ronke on Insta - https://www.instagram.com/loveurlookclothing

and Ronke's website - https://www.loveurlook.co.uk

Indie Roller - https://www.indieroller.com

Ramat Tejani is the heart behind The Inspiration Box, which is creating spaces online and offline to encourage people to keep growing through the good and the bad times that life can throw at us. She calls herself a realistic optimist and wants The Inspiration Box to act as your pocket cheerleader whatever stage of life you are at. 

Her experience across a variety of sectors including recruitment, charity, design and technology; has helped her develop a unique understanding of the best way to tell stories. She works with businesses and individuals to understand how best to share their stories. Whether that's in her capacity as a Marketing Strategist in her day job or her capacity as a confidence coach (her night job) helping individuals to reach their goals. 

Find Ramat on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theinspirationbox

Ramat's website - https://www.theinspirationbox.com

Indie Roller - https://www.indieroller.com

Lucy Werner founder of The Wern and author of best seller Hype Yourself 

Lucy founded The Wern in 2014 after becoming disillusioned by the traditional PR agency model not supporting independent biz and founders. Today, along with her partner Hadrien Chatelet, they are a PR & design agency helping with all things brand building for small business. 

Today, Lucy tries to make publicity as accessible as possible with many hats from speaking, teaching, workshops, online courses, consultancy and her best-selling book Hype Yourself. Lucy is currently working on a new project to combine the DIY and one-to-one element to be announced soon. 

Find Lucy on -  www.instagram.com/wernchat

https://www.facebook.com/wernchat/

Indie Roller - www.indieroller.com

Sofaya Hussein is a makeup artist and model passionate about cutting through the beauty industry bullshit of how you should look and how you should do makeup in order to bring fun, creativity and play to your beauty routine! Through sharing her own body-posi attitude towards makeup and fashion in her content, one-to-one sessions and workshops, she inspires others to do their own thing, give less fucks and be bold in their choices. 

Find Sofaya on Instagram - www.instagram.com/headblush

Sofaya's Website - www.headblush.com

Indie Roller - www.indieroller.com

Photo Credit: Fanny Beckman https://www.fannybeckman.com/ and clothing by https://www.plusequals.co.uk/