Hi Lesley, can you tell us about yourself and what inspired you to set up your business?
Hi, I’m Lesley and I am co-owner of Doodle Bugs Ceramics and Crafts along with my mam Pamela Wall.
We started the business almost nine and a half years ago, and, although we’ve had plenty of struggles, the ups far outweigh the downs. My mam also runs her own freelance book keeping business PW Bookkeeping and has done for way longer than when we set up Doodle Bugs, so her business knowledge has been a great help to me as a novice. It is a perfect partnership, Pam deals with all the facts and figures and the backbone of the business, while I provide all the ideas and creativity.
I was actually working for my mams’ business before we set up Doodle Bugs and, while I was on my maternity leave, on a family holiday we stumbled across a quaint little ceramic cafe and loved it so much I cut my maternity short to set up once back home. Within 4 months we had our first studio open and ready to go.
After 3 years in our tiny studio on the North Shields fish quay, we felt it necessary to move closer to home as my son was ready to start nursery. Around this time my dad decided to take his redundancy package from over 30 years service on the rail way, with this money he also purchased a business, Ironing Angels (yes he does all the ironing). This was perfect for all 3 of our businesses, as the rent in Cramlington can be rather expensive for a small business. So we found a unit suitable for us all to share at Hubbway Business park making it much more viable for us to move.
Over the years we have noticed a big change in our industry, many pottery studios started to diverse into other crafts, and so did we. Around 2011 we began to notice a decline in custom, as did my dad. The recession hit us all hard, we do not have staple businesses such as a grocery store, and as a result we are surplus to requirement. So when the jobs and hours were getting cut less people were spending our way.
After 5 years of trading at Hubbway we made the hard decision to find a cheaper alternative, we were not ready to lose our businesses and without this move I do believe we would not have survived the recession.
We have now been in our premises at East Cramlington for the past 2 years and we are very pleased to say we pulled through the dip in the economy, although we are still finding our feet and trying to move and change with the way the economy moves. The business today is so different from the one we started in 2006 and we have lots of things we would like to explore and try in the future. But the one thing that has remained the same through out all the years, is a strong family bond. This is the foundation of us and all of our businesses, I believe without it we wouldn’t have made it past out first year.
What tips would you give other women who are thinking about setting up their own business?
I would definitely say do your research and check your market before you do anything else. Don’t be scared to take the leap – don’t overthink it because you will never do it.
Once you’re up and running use the resources and support that are available around you. I am on the Inspire Network in the North East and I am a member of the Northumberland Mumpreneur group – both of these networking groups provide me with ideas, inspiration, help, support and friendship from like minded people who are also running their own businesses.
Be careful what you say to people – don’t burn your bridges, a contact made now may be your biggest ally in the future.
Your pottery workshops look great fun – what are the benefits of the internet for your business?
I get an awful lot of work through my facebook page, through word of mouth and referrals from happy customers. It’s nice that, because it’s such a social, visual platform it works really well for my creative business. It’s great to keep in touch with the people who have done a pottery workshop or that we’ve done face painting for.
I’ve set up a ‘Call to Action’ on my facebook page that people can use to contact you to make booking – this has worked fantastically well for us and we’ve taken lots of bookings this way.
What are your future plans for Doodle Bugs?
I will be streamlining my products. In terms of what we do, I’m going to go one of two ways – I will either expand the businesses by taking on more space, or we’re going to get rid of the studio entirely and go mobile and expand on the piggies and face painting. Either way, 2016 will be a very exciting year for us. The things I’m learning on the Springboard Programme are really helping me to take the next leap.
Find out more about Doodle Bugs on Lesley’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Doodle-Bugs-Ceramics-Crafts .
Photographs by Rachel of RJM Photography.
Name of interviewee: Lesley Scott
Business name: Doodle Bugs
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/Doodle-Bugs-Ceramics-Crafts
Business type: Pottery, Gifts and Face Painting
Location: Cramlington, Northumberland