What top tips would you give to other women thinking about starting a business?
"We would advise to seek as much help as is offered. You can’t do it alone; WBDA is a good place to go for lots of support in different areas. Starting a business is harder than you first think, there is so much more involved so it’s good to take advice from others and take on some courses to help you learn new skills."
Nicola and Catherine from Natural U
Nicola Bagheshian and Catherine Matthias: Natural U
We are both mums with young children. Catherine has worked as a care worker and Nicola has worked as a dispenser for Lloyd’s pharmacy as our previous jobs. We are both the same age, 26yrs and are very close friends. We have always wanted to start our own business but put it off due to lack of understanding and confidence but felt we could really go for it if we did it together.
A helping hand from the Women’s Business Development Agency
Catherine found the Women's Business Development Agency's details advertised so we gave them a call. We didn’t expect to get much from a simple phone call so we were really surprised to find out how helpful WBDA were right from the start and how much support could be offered.
We received help from our business advisor, Minal Sodha, who was absolutely fantastic. She really helped us to put a business plan together and to sort out what we needed to do next to move our plans forward. She really helped us out when we got stuck. We also attended some of the free workshops that WBDA run to help us with our business knowledge. The Marketing Workshop was particularly helpful. We were really worried about marketing and how to do it successfully, now we feel so much more confident.
Money has been a big barrier for us both but lack of knowledge of business and confidence has been a big hurdle, sometimes it did make us want to give up but luckily we have a strong friendship so we were always able to lift one another’s spirits when one of us were in doubt! And the support from WBDA also pushed us as they helped us believe in ourselves more and what we could do.
About Natural U
We make homemade all-natural skin care products. We use beeswax in our products and will be using it in most of our products to come. We currently have a beeswax based nappy cream, beeswax based vapour rub which smells gorgeous too and organic lip balms, again with beeswax and butters. We have much more to come too. We make skincare products that are good for your skin not dangerous or damaging.
For more information about Nicola's and Catherine's products please contact them on Natural-u@live.co.uk or check out their website http://www.natural-u.co.uk/
