Twickenham based Holly Tucker MBE, founder of the small business advice hub, Holly & Co, and the hugely successful Not On The High St online marketplace, is a force of nature for small businesses. In the first of a two-part special, she talks to Pippa Duncan about why it’s important to support independent businesses (she’s written a book about it), her creative café in St Margarets, and why it’s still a pretty good time to be a start up
If Holly Tucker’s husband thought she might slow down after she stepped back from the juggernaut that Not On The High Street became, he couldn’t have been more wrong. She set up Holly & Co, which supports small businesses, offering advice and inspiration hubs for those starting up and campaigning to get them recognition. She also opened Holly & Co Work/Shop in St Margarets – a place where creatives meet to discuss ideas and buy from locals. Oh, and she also has a Sunday Times best-seller, Do What You Love, Love What You Do – sharing what she has learned from inspiring more than 100,000 entrepreneurs. Phew!
While she supports all small businesses, she specialises in micro-businesses – those with 0-9 employees. As she says, they might be small, but their impact is huge: ‘There were 5.3 million micro businesses in the UK in 2021, accounting for 95% of all businesses. And in London, they account for almost 99% of businesses and nearly 50% of the capital’s employment.’
Holly has always championed small businesses. In her 20s she set up an events company, selecting independents for fairs she held in town halls across London. But footfall couldn’t be guaranteed and income fluctuated, so with then business partner, Sophie Cornish, she came up with a brilliant idea to have an online marketplace for all those small makers and creators of jewellery, clothes, interior decoration and gifts who had limited options to sell their wares. ‘At the time I set up, the only other marketplaces were Ebay and Amazon and at that time Amazon still only sold books!’ Not On The High St now partners with more than 5,000 creative businesses, and is worth an estimated £200m.
But seven years ago she left NOTHS (although she’s still on the board) and set up Holly & Co: ‘I knew the magic of what small businesses create; the colour and creativity they bring to our world and I had dealt with connecting them to customers, but where were they going for inspiration and advice? There was nothing out there for them. The government website certainly wasn’t personifying these incredible founders. And once I knew that, I couldn’t unknow it, so I set about building an entire landscape for incredible small businesses to exist.
‘I’ve spent the last five years building this landscape, which includes a podcast (Conversations of Inspiration), our online advice hub which is full of articles, daily Instagram lives and content, a supportive Facebook community, an online inspirational blog and events.’ Her book, Do What You Love, Love What You Do, aims to give advice to those starting up – something she didn’t have when began Not On The High Street.
Small businesses are ‘the backbone of the UK economy’ and Holly set up her own café, Holly & Co Work/Shop, as a place for creatives to meet, get inspired and share ideas, so that she, too, could be part of the high street: ‘I knew so much about online businesses through NOTHS, but if I was to help all small businesses with Holly & Co, I needed a high street space to really ‘walk the walk’. Our retail space sells only small businesses’ products and produce – right down to the milk in the coffees! I passionately believe in an independent high street. This is not just down to the governments or councils – although there is a lot they could do to help – but is also down to founders to bring retail theatre. So, each month, we totally design the Work/Shop with a different theme, which includes redecoration and a new menu of themed cakes! It’s these touches of magic that bring the space to life.’
Even with consequences of Brexit, the pandemic, increasing prices and war, Holly still thinks there are advantages to setting up a business in 2022: ‘Yes, it is a tough climate, but small businesses have a huge opportunity against the big corporates. They are more easily able to adapt and react at speed to consumer changes, and where the big brands are losing ground, the nimble and agile small brands are stepping in and filling that space.’
In our interview in the next issue, Holly Tucker shares her ideas on why women make successful entrepreneurs
Holly’s top 5 tips for a start to succeed
- Have passion – a ‘gap in the market’ can get you so far. But passion will be the fuel that drives you when the going gets tough.
- Trust your instinct – you’ll need to rely on your internal compass, I am still perfecting this, as we all have a tendency to believe someone else knows the answer better than you – but I promise you, they don’t! It’s your business, your gut instinct will be the right way to go.
- Be clear on what success means to you – so often we don’t ask ourselves this question, it’s different for each of us, there is no ‘right’ answer and knowing what success is to you will help determine many of the choices you make along the way.
- Have a plan – but you don’t need a business plan (unless you need to see your bank manager for a loan), but you do need a rough plan of your next steps for the next week, month, three months, 12 months and 24 months.
- There’s never a perfect time – much like having a baby, there’s no perfect moment, so just go for it!
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