How to grow a Multi-Million pound business!

Read how Laura Tenison has grown JoJo Maman Bébé from a small company to a million pound company...

What is your background?

I started with a small company making and selling haute couture mens cothes. I then decided I would like to start a mass market clothing company but did not have the capital to do so. To raise the capital I launched a property and building agency selling houses in Brittany to British clients. After 3 years I sold the French company, giving me the start-up capital to launch JoJo.

What inspired you to set up JoJo Maman Bébé? Who is JoJo?!?

JoJo is our trade name and chosen as a brand name which would work well on women's wear and children's wear.Maman and Bébé are French for Mother and Baby and describe our product range. Following the sale of my French business I was looking for a new gap in the market. I then had a very bad car crash which left me in hospital for several weeks. My neighbour in the bed next to me who was long term sick and had two small children, complained bitterly about the lack of good mail order companies from where she could fit out her baby and toddler. On leaving hospital (in a wheel chair and with my mouth wired shut due to a broken jaw bone!) I carried out extensive market research and found that people where crying out for interesting maternity wear as well as a new baby and children's collection.

How did you go about sourcing wholesale clothes initially? Was the information easy to find?

We have always designed our own clothes and the difficulty was in finding factories who would make up the small quantities I needed to get started. In the early days we only made around 50 pieces per style. It was impossible and I spent a lot of time visiting factories and begging them to help out. I used trade associations to get lists of factories and travelled to visit them myself. We work mostly in Portugal and Turkey.

Lots of Mums are interested in setting up Children's Clothing shops – either online or in the High Street – but don't know where to start – what research do you think is essential?

The best way to start is to check out the competition in your area. You need to be careful if there is no competition at all - this may mean there is no market! Ideally you should have some competition, but not too much and a huge market. If you are thinking about a website be well aware that you need to allocate a hefty budget to promoting the site - you cannot rely on people just finding it by chance.

In the early days did you do all the work yourself?

I started JoJo with just two part time employees - one working in the warehouse (which was really a small storage room) in Pontypool, South Wales. The other employee was a trainee in London who was at college. I did everything from designing the clothes to taking the orders and when our warehouse lady was on holiday, I even went to Wales to pack the parcels!

When did you know it was time to recruit an employee and what position did you recruit for first?

Our first catalogue was a huge success and I immediately employed two more people when the orders started coming in - they are both still working with me! Carol started helping in the warehouse and she is now our Training Manager, travelling round all the stores and ensuring our employees really understand the company brand values and the high levels of Customer Service we require. The other employees is Barbara who is now our stock controller.

How did you manage Accounts and Tax at the start? Did you do it yourself?

I spent two days on a Princes Youth Trust training scheme which taught me the basics of bookkeeping and VAT returns. For the first two years, I did all the bookkeeping myself. When we had our first VAT inspection the poor man had to stay with us a week! My systems were very efficient but I seemed to change them a little each Return and would then forget how I had worked it out. However, once he had checked it all he could only find an under claim for £269, poor man! After that I employed a freelance bookkeeper.

How did you finance the initial company?

I had no capital of my own but I had raised about £50,000 from the sale of my French business and the bank agreed to match this with an overdraft. When I started my French business no bank would lend me any money due to lack of track record. So I started the business while still working during the day and ran the business at night. I worked part time and gradually gave up work when I could support the business. One of my brothers also lent me a couple of thousand pounds to use for marketing. I paid him back with interest within six months.

What was your first piece of marketing activity?

The market research survey I did to decide exactly what people wanted. I typed up the survey and offered a holiday in my cottage in France (bought while I was working out there) as a prize for completing the survey. In my wheelchair I went to Baby Shows, Shopping Centres and even stood outside Mothercare in Oxford Street! I went anywhere where I could reach mothers with young children. I gathered about 5,000 names and addresses - which made up my first mailing list.

What is the best free bit of PR or Marketing the company has had?

We have always been very pro getting PR and I spend a lot of time talking to journalists to encourage them to understand the ethos behind JoJo - why we are different. We have had so much press coverage over the years but I expect the very best was when a Saturday Telegraph journalist described us as "Probably the best baby catalogue in the world"!

What has been the biggest hurdle to you've had to overcome in terms of business success?

The biggest hurdle is getting other people to understand that we are totally passionate and committed to quality and service. I cannot stand poor service and my fellow Directors are as committed as I am. We have a huge team of employees who really do follow this company ethos — but as we grow it is harder and harder to find those dedicated people. We now have a four week training program in place for all new recruits.

Did you have a good support network around you when you set up JoJo Maman Bébé – in terms of childcare?

I started JoJo long before I had children. But when I did have my first son the company was still small enough for me to bring him to work. He used to sleep under my desk in his carrycot and sometimes I would have a meeting with the other person not realising I had a baby under my desk! I have never minded breastfeeding in public and people just had to accept that if my baby was hungry I would feed him.

How do you separate working time and family time?

I tend to juggle all the time when I am at home. This is being written with the supper on and the children doing their homework! To make sure the children get 100% of my attention I take quite a lot of holidays, either to my cottage in France or far away where my mobile does not work and I cant get emails. We have just come back from half term in Rajasthan.

What has been the biggest benefit of you being self-employed to your family?

I can hold down a demanding job but still take the children to school most days and pick them up a couple of time a week. I have a live-in male nanny who can double up as many other things such as computer engineer, DIY man, driver, etc. This makes life a lot easier - having someone who can help you juggle and the children love him to bits as he has lived with us for years. Being self-employed I can set my own rules and work times to suit but that does not mean I work less than if I was working for someone else - I probably work a 60 hour week.

What is the best bit of business advice you've been given?

I'm guessing employing a bookkeeper was a really good piece of advice. I was also helped by so many people along the way who have shared information.

Any other comments/advice you think would be useful to Mums thinking of starting in business?

I think the best piece of advice I can pass on is to have the confidence to just try. I have taught myself so many things and it is amazing what one can do it you put your mind to it. I knew nothing about marketing, garment technology, e-commerce, sourcing, commercial law etc, until I had to learn. Get the book and just teach yourself. When you start a small company you cannot afford to keep outsourcing - to this day we do not outsource. All areas of the business are kept in house which keeps our overheads down and means we can control the service we give.

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