‘I am really proud to be leading the way, inspiring more women to start businesses’
Holly Tucker MBE founded the mega online marketplace, notonthehighstreet. She now runs Holly & Co – an organisation which empowers small business owners through inspiration and advice. In this issue she talks to Pippa Duncan about the importance of women in business
It is tough as a woman to set up your own business, especially if you have children – every working day is curtailed by a mid-afternoon school pick up. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. A record number of small businesses started up during the pandemic – many of them run by women. Not only did the lockdown give women the chance to stop and think about what they wanted from their working lives, but many, being furloughed and then made redundant, had no choice.
‘I think everyone stopped the commute, had more time at home than ever before and really had a moment of ‘is this really what it’s all about’? Uncovering passions and having a moment of quiet to consider what people wanted to do with their lives led to so many businesses being created.
‘A lot of the women I spoke to also scaled up their businesses through necessity. What was once just a small side hustle, when partners lost their jobs overnight, was scaled up to become the main source of income – it really was quite incredible to see.’
Nearly 1.5m women are self-employed, many running one woman businesses on their own, whether working from home or running a shop or in business premises – designing branding, finding suppliers or creating their own art/jewellery/ceramics, building up sales, getting on top of social media, balancing the books and trying to make a profit whilst costs soar.
Having spent so many years running notonthehighstreet (NOTHS), a platform for sellers to sell in one place, Holly realised that so many newbies just had no idea about how to get things going. So she founded Holly & Co – a hub of information, advice, articles, podcasts and Instagram lives so that new businesses – mainly women, but not exclusively – can share their concerns and get support from other business owners: ‘NOTHS was not started as a predominately female platform, but is made up of 90% female partners. Holly & Co has followed a similar trend, and I am really proud to be leading the way inspiring more women to start businesses.
‘For too long it’s been a ‘dark art’ and a male dominated landscape, but if women started businesses at the same rate as men, £250 billion would be added to the economy within 4 years!’
Holly herself set up NOTHS when she had a young baby. Why does she think it succeeded? ‘Because I had the absolute belief it would, nothing was going to stop me. Did we have huge issues along the way – of course! I was paying the team on my credit card and we had no heating on… but I knew, if I could hold on long enough, it would be a success. And so, even when the going was really tough, I had no choice but to keep going!’
She understands that things are even harder now, in the current economic conditions. But she thinks we will ‘soon turn a corner and it will be the golden age of small businesses. The consumer is keen to support smalls more than ever, shunning big corporates and shopping locally and sustainably will only increase.’
I ask Holly if she thinks you have to be really confident and outgoing to set up a business as a woman? ‘Some of the best founders I know are not outgoing. It is in fact creativity, drive and determination that is the common denominator when it comes to founders. I truly believe that anyone can do it – if you have a passion, you can build a business from it. I believe it is the key to living your happiest life, when you can balance passion and profit.’
Her own inspiration comes from women such as Julie Deane, founder of Cambridge Satchel Company, Sahar Hashemi, founder of Coffee Republic and Bobbi Brown – she’s a real heroine of mine.’
Having set up the café, Holly & Co Work/Shop in St Margarets, Holly knows the ups and downs of retail life on the high street, as well as online. Does she ever feel like slowing down? ‘Genuinely, it isn’t a ‘job’ to me, it is just how I live my life. I know it sounds a bit corny but it’s true! I worked out that we have on average 29,000 days on this planet, and whilst for some that’s a rather morbid thought, for me it was fuel. Because I know that I have to make each day count, that time is precious and that I need to use it wisely if I am going to make a mark on the world in my own way. In short, it is a total privilege to fly the flag for women in business and I plan to do it until I am at least 90!’