Today Nicole is joined by serial entrepreneur Hayley Southwood, founder of Southwood Social, Southwood Living, a lifestyle & interiors ecommerce business and Hayley has just recently created a beautiful events space that can be hired in the Norfolk area. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Hayley opened her very first Ice Cream business in 2002 but when her mum was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer her world turned upside down. A year after she sadly passed away in a moment of madness, Hayley bought an old ice cream van off eBay and started the business in 2009. Doing up the van became a form of therapy for Hayley. 
• Hayley won Country Homes New Business of the year in 2010 after scribbling on an application form and the prize entailed £6000 worth of PR and marketing and 6 sessions with a business coach called Jessica Rogers.
• That little van changed her life forever. Hayley was featured in over 100 publications and had the best time attending parties and weddings all over the UK. The van was used for films, massive brand campaigns in the summer and in the winter, Hayley started helping other brands with their social media strategies.
• Southwood Stores was born on Hayley’s kitchen table in 2013 and then progressed to a lodge in the garden. Whilst this was very fulfilling, she often felt huge waves of loneliness and felt overwhelmed and often out of her depth. Hayley didn't have anyone to vocalise her concerns and challenges to. She had created an amazing job but didn't have anyone shey could connect with who could identify her journey.

BEST MOMENTS

‘It all looks like stepping stones now I look back on it’ 

‘Schools don’t do enough to harness that entrepreneurial spirit’ 

‘It felt like a reflection of who I was, not just a business’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.southwoodliving.co.uk

www.southwoodsocialhub.co.uk

www.instagram.com/southwoodsocialhub

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Are you neglecting your email marketing? Not really sure what you should say or how to engage with your customers. Then today's podcast is for you. Nicole is joined by Loren Nally, who has 25 years experience in ecommerce and digital marketing. The topics they cover include email marketing, why you need it, how to use it, how often to use it, what makes a good email that converts among other things. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Email marketing is important for all businesses but especially retailers and product businesses. It can make up to 20% of your overall sales and is so easy to set up. Social media marketing has the problem of algorithms changing all the time, but with email you just go directly into their inbox.
• You can be emailing your prospective customers before you have even launched your product. 
• A nurture sequence is an automated series of emails that someone receives when they subscribe to your email lists. It starts to build trust with your subscribers. Loren recommends having more than one different welcome email because sometimes people purchase before signing up, and this avoids then getting the same email twice. 
• The best kinds of welcome emails are one that shows who you are, one that shows your values, and one that might offer a discount, but remember it’s not always about sell sell sell. 
• Loren’s tips for getting people engaged with email marketing and converting are. 1. Just start, but do it in the right way, being GDPR compliant and double opt in. 2. Have your welcome email, if you do nothing else, get this right. 3. Clear out your lists 3 or 4 times a year, it’s quality over quantity. 4. Segmentation. Get the right message to the right people at the right time. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I don’t think I could even convey how important email is’ 

‘I find welcome emails having the highest conversion rate of any email’

‘If they’re not clicking on Black Friday type sales, they’re not going to buy from you’

‘You must preview what it looks like on a mobile version’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Website - https://www.retailmarketingacademy.co.uk/

Free masterclass on the 18th May 2022   https://www.retailmarketingacademy.co.uk/accelerator-masterclass/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/retail_marketing_academy/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/theretailmarketingacademy/

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

The fashion industry is worth 31 billion in Africa and there is a rise in the number of UK and European retailers importing from Africa. Jacqueline Shaw is an expert in African sourcing and founder of Africa Fashion Guide and new platform Fashion Africa Trade Expo. She joins Nicole this week on Start Scale Succeed to tell you everything you need to know about sourcing from Africa.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Sourcing from Africa differs from the Asian market because of the processing supply chain. In Asia supply chains are common but in Africa they are much more limited across the continent with the raw products shipped out before being processed.
• Big retailers such as Gap, Tesco, H&M, and TK Maxx have been sourcing high street products from Africa.
• The main challenge with sourcing from Africa is logistics, it’s not set up in the same way most of us are used to and is highly priced in comparison. If you want some samples you have to order enough to make it worthwhile with the high cost of shipping with reputable carriers.
• Another issue is to do with access to materials, you might think it was a quality issue, but the access to the right materials is more complex. You might have wonderful fabric, but the zips they can source are of a lower quality or maybe the fabric is only available for a limited time.
• A lot of sourcing to Africa is from Dubai so you’ll see a lot of African manufacturers set up over there.
• Places like South Africa, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Mauritius will typically do the 3000 minimum piece orders.
• Jacqueline’s platform Fashion Africa Trade Expo serves small to medium sized businesses. The Fashion Africa Trade Expo (the F.A.T.E.) is the African clothing, textile, leather and accessories go-to sourcing platform for B2B users. It provides an opportunity for producers from the African continent to showcase their product and trade their services to new markets, creating exposure for them to new markets.

BEST MOMENTS

‘It’s about sourcing in Africa, making in Africa, trading with Africa, and building in Africa’

‘You get wonderful African print fabrics that you don’t find anywhere else’

‘Unless you’re going to do the quantity, you will be challenged’

‘People think oh poor Africa, it’s going to be cheap’

‘Going to the continent is going to be a major thing’

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.africafashionguide.com/

https://fashionafricatradeexpo.com/

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Masterclass training

https://jacquelineshaw.lpages.co/4-step-framework-webinar2/

Free guide to get started

https://jacquelineshaw.lpages.co/7-top-african-fashion-business-ideas-guide/

www.jacquelineshaw.co.uk

Author: Fashion Africa published by Jacaranda Books available on Amazon.com

Director: www.africafashionguide.com

B2B sourcing agency: 

www.fashionafricatradeexpo.com

Coaching and training:

www.fashionafricabusinessacademy.com

Business trips:

www.fashionafricasourcingtrips.com

Events 

http://www.fashionafricaconference.com/

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line.

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM)

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme: thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk

Email [email protected]

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

As a small business owner you are the one that is often spinning all the plates, you’re the social media manager, the content creator, the designer, the buyer, the packer, but what about when your business starts to grow and you need to think about hiring staff? Today Nicole is joined by Mandy Hamerla, founder of modernhr.co.uk, the go to hr expert for when you are scaling your business when the business can’t function with just you anymore. We are going to talk about how you know if it's the right time to hire staff. What to look for in your new hire. And what do you do if it doesn’t work out?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You know it’s the right time to hire staff when you have too much work on your plate and are reaching burnout, when you need to match your ambitions, and when you need a skillset you don’t currently have. 
• People often ask if they can afford to bring in another person, but you should ask yourself how you can afford not to bring someone in. If you outsource one thing, how much time is that saving you and what can you invest that time into. 
• There are three types of people you can hire, a freelance contractor who is self-employed, employees which can be full time or part time or fixed term, and there is a worker which is in the middle of the two. 
• When thinking about hiring someone be really clear about what the outcome will be. Where is that return on investment going to be? 
• Make your contracts easy to understand. Make sure it is clear to everyone involved what is required and expected. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Just because you outsource something once doesn’t mean you have to do it every time’

‘Some people see hiring as a cost, I see it as an investment’ 

‘Hire your weaknesses’ 

‘You need to hire to grow’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Free Hiring Cheat Sheet - https://go.modernhr.co.uk/free-hiring-cheat-sheet/

Popular Hiring an Employee Bundle - https://www.modernhr.co.uk/products/hiring-toolkit

Premium Contract Templates - https://www.modernhr.co.uk/collections/contract-templates

https://www.modernhr.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/modernhruk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandyhamerla/

https://www.facebook.com/ModernHRUK/

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Social media ad specialist Aggie Meroni works with ecommerce businesses to grow their customer base and increase their revenue through ads. She joins Nicole this week on Start Scale Succeed to discuss how to create ads that work and what you need to have in place to give them the best opportunity for success. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Aggie found her love for social media ads after retraining in digital marketing. 
• You need to make sure you have everything in place before you even spend a penny. Don’t be put off. You can figure everything out, yes the techy side can seem like a minefield but you’ll get on top of it eventually. 
• You need to have your Facebook pixel installed on your website. If you use shopify then this is reasonably straight forward. 
• Your conversion rate should be at least 2%. Anything under 1% then you shouldn’t be advertising. 
• To increase your conversion rate make sure people have an easy experience. Have multiple payment methods that suit the user. Have genuine reviews posted on your website. And have all of your delivery info and returns policy easily accessible. 
• You should invest in a product photographer because good photos will help sales. 
• People don’t decide if they want to buy from a Facebook ad, they decide on the website itself. The ad is just there to get them onto your site. 
• Make sure you know if there is a demand before you advertise. You should already have sales to prove it’s a product people actually want. 
• There are five things you need to do to have a good ad. Building the ad itself is the easy part, it’s the planning that's hard, these tips should help you in that stage. 1. What’s your messaging and your hook? 2. Is your ad creative? 3. What is your objective? 4. What is your offer? 5. What is your budget?
• Grabbing attention is key. User generated content is a great marketing tool, it’s like word of mouth but in a visual medium. Aspirational photos and unboxing videos can also help grab attention. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Your website has to be a high converting machine’ 

‘It’s not how many followers you have, it’s how engaged they are’ 

‘Ads don’t work forever, you need to be proactive’

‘The lifetime value of customers is the most important thing’

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

Link to freebie: https://whitebeedigital.com/free-facebook-ads-set-up-checklist/

Website: https://whitebeedigital.com/

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

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

True testament to starting a lean fashion business is Leigh Unwin, founder of The Style Attic which as the name suggests, did actually start in her attic in 2015 to fit around the needs of her family. This Start Scale Succeed episode is a recording of an Instagram live Nicole did with Leigh. Some of the topics discussed are: Starting a business around the needs of a family. Juggling a side hustle, full time job and family. Running the business through word of mouth and Facebook in the early days. Overcoming obstacles. And engaging customers through being authentic, honest and truly themselves. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Leigh has gone from strength to strength selling womens clothing and did eventually open a bricks and mortar store followed by her own website in 2020. It's now a true family affair with both her mum and sister involved in the business. 
• Leigh found it hard being a new mum working a job which wouldn’t let her do less than one minute of her contracted hours. 
• Covid was actually a benefit to some small businesses and The Style Attic had the best summer in terms of sales. Before the pandemic Leigh was selling online through Facebook but needed a website for May 2020 and when it launched sales were great. 
• There is always a challenge being taken seriously when you run a business from home. Although in the post Covid world, this has become more common. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘We just want to sell clothes to the people like us in situations like ours’ 

‘We just try and be real’ 

‘I want to grow but I don’t want to grow too quickly’

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

https://thestyleattic.co.uk

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

As a fashion start up one of the challenges that is often faced is finding the right supplier for your business particularly one that can manufacture smaller minimum quantities. Today, Nicole is joined by one of the founders of Resource Fashion, Ziqi who has established Resource Fashion to help combat that problem.

The 4 main stumbling blocks when you are starting your brand are:

• Minimum Order Quantity 
• Quality 
• Timelines
• Communication 

Tatiana and Ziqi have established Resource Fashion, an online platform that helps solve those issues and enables you to work with manufacturers in the Far East with quantities as low as 10 units!! How? Well listen to the podcast to find out, but it's a service that is run like a subscription membership that you can cancel out of at any time. Also if you use the service and quote Nicole100 you will get a $100 dollars of your subscription fee. The team personally chat to you before you come on board to understand your needs so no more trawling through Ali baba, Google, etc to find your suppliers for fashion.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  You usually find that you never know the status of your orders from overseas. Resource Fashion offers real time tracking and progress updates to keep customers informed about where their products are on the supply chain. 
• Shipping by air has become more and more expensive, and we can see from the recent troubles with sea shipping, that things can easily go wrong there. 
• Resource Fashion is a subscription based model with over 95% retention rate. 
• Resource Fashion is all run off of a system where the customer can review all fabrics, designs, etc and do everything they need to do in one place. 
• You might not know that when you negotiate a lower price, that could lower the quality of the product you receive from some manufacturers. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Everything that can go wrong, will often go wrong’ 

‘All the brands were telling me it’s incredible that we have this system where they can do it all in one place’

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

www.instagram.com/resourcefashion

www.resourcefashion.co

To receive $100 off your fee with Resource Fashion use the code Nicole100

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Tatiana and Ziqi have established Resource Fashion, an online platform that is run like a subscription membership that you can cancel out of at any time. The team personally chat to you before you come on board to understand your needs so no more trawling through Ali baba, Google, etc to find your suppliers for fashion.

A production supply chain specifically designed for emerging fashion brands.

Small batch: Many clothing manufacturers require large minimum orders. We offer true small batch manufacturing on demand.

High quality: Quality fashion doesn’t just happen on its own. Our team has over 20 years of experience in production.

Short lead time: An easy online supply chain management platform gives you total control in real time, on time.

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

When I worked in retail we were very fortunate to have access to numerous trend websites that were all targeted at big business from a price and a content point of view. But if you are a small business, where can you get that information and how can you interpret it to ensure it's relevant to your business and customer. The answer is the better trend company. Today I am joined by Natalie and Louise, founders of The Better trend company specifically established to support independents and small design businesses to access trend reports and design strategies. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• During the pandemic, examples of trends are people investing in skin care products, but not make up, and buying comfort wear, but not evening clothes. 
• A small business can start looking at trends by looking at who your target customer is, what are they doing, what are they buying, what are they looking for. You can take it from there and tailor your designs to that. 
• You can use trends as a brief to work towards instead of just being lost in endless possibilities. Set yourself a goal of designing something within those boundaries. 
• Remember that your brand is your opinion, it shows your values and your aesthetics. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘It’s just authentically connecting with people and enjoying life’ 

‘When you’re bombarded with so much, you feel a lot of self doubt’ 

‘When you’re a small business you’re juggling so many plates’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

www.instagram.com/thebettertrendsco

www.thebettertrendscompany.com

ABOUT THE GUEST

“The Better Trends Company is a trend and design agency with a difference. We empower Indies and small businesses with our affordable and accessible trend reports, consultancy and design strategy.

Our mission is to demystify trend forecasting and share design knowledge to support those locked out of trend and design resources, enabling them to make confident and informed business decisions.

Our focus is on responsible and ethical trends and design direction. We promote eco values, community and feminist retail to create better futures for people and planet.”

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com
IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk
Email [email protected]
Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

This week Nicole is joined by Annabelle Mazu, the founder of Luxurious lingerie brand Ihuoma. Ihuoma celebrates the beauty of women of colour, with exquisite, sensuous lingerie with the aim to enrich, empower, and be bold about your sensuality and the possibilities that arise from living your true self, unapologetically! Find out the challenges Annabelle faced and what advice she would give an aspiring entrepreneur. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Annabelle found that the lingerie brands that were aimed at women of colour were in the mid and lower price ranges. She saw this gap in the market and decided to start Ihuoma. She felt that black women are typically shown that they’re not deserving of luxury, Annabelle wanted to say the exact opposite with her brand.  
• Annabelle wanted to create unique pieces that are considered works of art. She didn’t want something that seems generic, she wanted the people who wear Ihuoma to feel like goddesses.
• Ihuoma launched during the pandemic, which might have actually been a bonus with people wanting something nice and unique for themselves after having a pretty rubbish time stuck at home. 
• Ihuoma had a huge boost when it was featured on Beyonce’s stylist’s blog. They went from 400 followers to 2400 overnight. 
• The biggest challenge Annabelle faced was self belief, believing that she could do it and believing that someone else would look at the brand and say yes I think this can succeed. 
• Annabelle couldn’t have started up without a Virgin Startup Loan, which she is very thankful for as she found it next to impossible to get a loan from a bank. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I was working with all these great brands and realised there was something missing’ 

‘This is going to launch when it’s meant to launch’ 

‘You have to deal with imposter syndrome on a day to day basis’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

ihuoma.co/

www.instagram.com/by.ihuoma

ABOUT THE GUEST

IHUOMA is a luxury lingerie brand that celebrates the beauty of the modern Black Woman. The aim is to enrich and empower women of colour to find their divine femininity, be bold about their sensuality and the possibilities that arise from living their true self, unapologetically!

The collections explore themes of self-love, empowerment and sensuality with the ultimate desire to show women how incredible they are in their skin by complimenting and enhancing the inherent beauty of all black women. Created by a black woman, IHUOMA, at its core, is a luxury brand aimed at Black Women, but not exclusive to her.  The collections are for all women, wanting to connect to their spirit, their divine feminine

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com
IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 
Email [email protected] 
Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Sarah Helppi is the founder of fashion resale platform Eskadi, which is the largest preloved  boutique. 3000 designers from Chanel to Rixo, mid market to super luxury fashion. Sarah joins Nicole on Start Scale Succeed this week to discuss Eskadi’s belief that a business leaves the world a better place than they found it and how Eskadi brings beautiful preloved pieces to more people more often. As well as finding out more about Sarah and the business, we are also going to talk about resale as a business opportunity

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Within the next 10 years,  resale is going to be a bigger business than fast fashion at about $64 billion.
• Eskadi is the only search engine dedicated to pre-owned designer fashion. They offer a technology based solution to the challenges shopping in the pre-owned market today, making it quicker, easier to find that pre-loved item. It allows you to search multiple resale sites at once, compare prices easily across platforms, keep track of items in a single wishlist and save time understanding authentication with an authentication score for each platform.
• The younger demographic tend to use resale in the same way other people use fast fashion. They’ll want something to wear once, but don’t want to pay the fast fashion prices. They’re also more likely to recycle their wardrobes more often, selling on resale sites and buying new outfits from them too. 
• Eskadi works without having payment on their site or holding any stock. This avoids the inevitable issue of buyer seller disputes. For example if something is sold through Ebay, it’s Ebay who deals with the dispute. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Even if it’s 2 years old you won’t see someone walking down the street wearing the same thing’ 

‘Rental is great for occasion wear, but if you want to update your wardrobe or find that piece,  resale is better’ 

‘The more you can focus on the problem you’re solving and the value you have, the more successful you will be’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

www.eskadi.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelppi/

https://www.instagram.com/search.eskadi/

https://medium.com/@EskadiSarah

https://www.tiktok.com/@search.eskadi (if that’s your thing!)

ABOUT THE GUEST

“Before launching Eskadi, I worked at eBay for 7 years in marketing and finance. Prior to that I spent 3 wild years in the capital markets throughout the 2008 financial crisis, and have an MBA from the Ivey Business School in London, Ontario, Canada. 

On the eve of #internationalwomensday I put a digital pen to paper about what it looks and feels like to face fundraising and starting a business when you are a solo parent.

We all know that a mere 2% of VC money goes to female founders and now I've seen first hand one reason why: the lifestyle and cash flow of a startup founder is simply not suited to a household on one income, in an expensive city, with small mouths to feed. The stakes are enormous, the risk is huge, the impact of failure unfathomable. 

Statistically, amongst split families, it is women who bear most of the child rearing responsibilities and therefore, the challenges in the fundraising path that disadvantage solo parents are hitting a lot more women than men.”

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com
IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk
Email [email protected] 
Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall