Counting blessings (part 3 - Learning / Experience / Knowledge / Skills)

Continuing with the luck audit, our formal education was only marginally relevant to the formation of Look-in-the-Bag.  I have a background in library and information management, which makes me good at looking things up (always useful) and placing books in order (so far, no call for that skill in LitB).  

Neelam’s degree is in fine arts.  Her appreciation of Carravaggio’s use of light however, has been less useful to LitB than her skills as a designer and illustrator.  Give her a paintbrush, a pencil, a stick of charcoal, or a finger dipped in ink, and she will put it to good creative use.  Her repertoire ranges from the realistic and detailed to the quirky and cartoony.

It was these skills that helped her in advertising.  Having an eye for colour, an eye for style and an eye for design meant that (1) she has too many eyes, and (2) she was the right person when it came to directing product shoots and accessorising the models used to help sell the products.  It also makes her a very good person for planning and designing our ‘Looks’

Counting blessings (part 2 - Fitness & Health)

Last month I compiled a list of questions that I think should be explored by anyone about to start a company.  They are a way of working out where people's luck relates to the company they are thinking of starting.  The first questions:
"Are you fit & healthy?  What health issues might affect your business?" encourage people to consider whether (and how) their choices are affected by any health issues.


I once went for a walk on the Cuillin Ridge on Skye.  It was led by a man who was aiming to climb the highest mountain on every continent.  When I met to him, he only had Everest and Vinson to go.  Some time later, I heard that he had broken his ankle near to the top of Everest (and survived).

When I went walking with him he was stick thin and could run double marathons.  He had, he told me, an identical twin brother who took no exercise and was overweight.  How and why they were so different I never learned; but choices create choices.  Only one of the brothers chose to climb mountains. 

Health was a factor in the starting of Look-in-the-Bag only in that (luckily) it didn’t prevent us from making company-related choices.  The next question in the luck audit was far more pertinent.

Counting blessings (pt 1)

Some time ago I blogged about luck and discussed big luck and small luck.  Big luck (such as winning the lottery) is hard to do anything about (beyond buying a lottery ticket).  Small luck though, is easier to manage.

I spent part of last year teaching information skills to students with an interest in business.  Most of what I taught was fairly basic, but what made it interesting was the different ways in which the students approached the challenges of the course.  These can best be summarized as three questions:

• Where can I find sources of relevant information?
• What should I select from those sources?
• How should I use what I select?

One of the frameworks they used to help decide what information to use and how to use it, was a PESTEL analysis.  In a PESTEL analysis, the analyst sifts through information and categorises it according how it relates to the environment in which the business is being established. (It’s a process called environmental scanning).  The categories used are Political, Economic, Social & cultural, Technological, Environmental and Legal.

After setting up Look-in-the-Bag it occurred to me that, in making our choices, we had been influenced by a lot of small luck.  As well as considering the environment therefore, it would have been a useful exercise to consider ‘luck’ factors.

I usually begin an analysis by trying to work out what questions I want it to answer.  If, therefore, one of my former students was attempting a luck audit for a new business, I would get her/him to consider the following:

• Are you fit & healthy?  What health issues might affect your business?
• What learning / experience / knowledge / skills do you have that might be useful?
• What sort of person are you? How might your character affect your choice of product or service?
• How much time can you dedicate to establishing and developing your business?
• What property / belongings / resources do you have?
• Where are you based?  How does your location affect any opportunities you may have?
• How well aimed are your efforts?  How sensitive is timing?  Are you ahead of your time / too late / or just right?
• What is your social and family network like?

Flowers and farewells

I like flowers.  It’s not the sort of thing men normally admit to, but it’s true.  Years ago, I confessed the fact to a girl I rather liked.  I was sitting beside her at the time.

She smiled. “That’s nice” she said.  “It shows you’re in touch with your feminine side.”

“I’d rather be in touch with your feminine side”, I said.

Her smile vanished. “Why do you have to spoil it by being so... male?” she said disdainfully, and left.  I was young.  I had a lot to learn about talking to women.

Another time, in another place, with another girl, I was standing beneath a cherry tree on a blustery spring day.  Pink petals swirled around our feet. Cherry blossoms, whisked from the branches, caught in our hair*.  

She smiled.  “Isn’t it lovely?”

I was doing a botany course at the time and was anxious to show off my knowledge.

“You do realize” I said, with a superior air, “that flowers are basically sex organs.”

Her smile vanished. “Why do you have to spoil it by being so... biological?” she said disdainfully, and left.  I was a bit older, but I still had a lot to learn about talking to women.

I eventually learned enough about talking to women to persuade Neelam to marry me. After we got married I made it a regular habit to buy flowers, and I do so most weeks.  But every time she goes to India I stop buying them.  Somehow, they seem too gaudy when she’s not around.  It’s a bit like the shirt you buy when on holiday in a sunny country.  Back in Britain, without the sunshine, it no longer seems bright, it just seems loud.

Neelam flew out to India on Sunday to produce the next Look-in-the-Bag collection.  I won’t be buying flowers for the next few weeks.

*Back in the days when I had hair.

Something tasteful and affordable

Amongst the gifts I have given Neelam over the years have been DVD’s of David Attenborough documentaries and a fascinating book by Olivia Judson. The book, called “Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation”, describes some of the weird and wonderful practices associated with mating that are found in nature .  At times the book reads like science fiction.  Some creatures (black sea bass for example), change sex when they reach a certain age.  For other organisms, having only two sexes (regardless of the occasional change) may be considered highly conservative behaviour. Some species of slime mold have up to thirteen sexes!

All in all though, these gifts were a BAD MISTAKE.  Neelam has been made aware of the lengths to which some males will go in order to woo their mates, and I do not always compare well.

The most familiar of such lengths involve the clashing of horns, the flaunting of muscles, lots of posturing, and occasional grunting.  A quick glimpse at my physique would show that I come low in the ranks of horny, muscular, posturing specimens (though I can manage the grunting); but fortunately that doesn’t bother Neelam much.

Another set of strategies involves sacrifice of some sort.  Occasionally, the sacrifice is of a body part (including some fairly intimate ones).  I’m relieved to say that Neelam has not shown an interest in such gestures.  However, the giving of gifts is a common form of sacrifice amongst males seeking to impress females, and this is a practice that does appeal to Neelam.  Gifts in Nature range from the presentation of tasty morsels and colourful baubles to the construction of a designer residence.  My gifts tend to come at the low budget end of this range, and with Valentine’s Day looming, I’m on the look-out for something tasteful but affordable. 

Much as I would like to present her with a Look-in-the-Bag, she already has a full collection, so it's not an option open to me; which is a shame because if I don't come up with an equally good alternative, there may be threats involving the sacrifice of at least one body part.

Meeting Yorkshire's Favourite Reprobate

Friends who read the articles about Look-in-the-Bag mentioned elsewhere in this blog pointed out that they did focus rather more on me than on Neelam.  The reason for this is that the articles were about PRIME as well as about Look-in-the-Bag; and Neelam, being a mere stripling of twenty one and a bit*, is not yet eligible for PRIME’s assistance.  I was grateful therefore, when Radio Sheffield’s Jenny Eells interviewed us back in August and gave Neelam the opportunity to take centre stage in the feature.


*A very big bit!

Mother of Necessity

It's always intriguing when something that began as a contingency becomes a driving force.  

In the case of Look-in-the-Bag, that happened because we couldn't afford models.  We would have liked to use photographs of LitB customers, but when we were developing the website we didn't have any, so that wasn't an option. 

Fortunately that's changed in the last year, and some of our customers have allowed us to feature them on our Facebook page.  

However, when setting up the website, we wanted to show our products being worn, so Neelam decided to draw some models and to dress them in Look-in-the-Bag accessories.  The result was a quirky and colourful collection section that makes our website a bit different from most other fashion sites.

People liked the collection section and began to express views on their favourite models.  So that we knew which ones were being referred to, we gave them names.  With names came characters and back stories.

Our models have now begun to take on lives of their own and have just come back from travels*.  Being fictional models though, they were able to go to some rather unusual places.





*Their travel stories will pop up once a week between now and Christmas.

Throwing scarves at Murdo (pt 2)

Despite his numerous accolades, Murdo proved to be engaging and entertaining - which is just as well, since I spent the next four hours posing for him.  Neelam spent the next four hours throwing things at him.

Murdo began by setting up a bank of reflectors outside the front window of our house. Associated with each was a powerful flash unit that helped to make up for the lack of daylight, and caused our neighbours to wonder whether a lightening storm was on its way.

Murdo, it turns out, likes to introduce a sense of frozen action into his images.  If he can’t do that, he goes for a touch of the surreal. Ideally, he does both.  Fortunately for Neelam, Murdo didn’t ask her to pose with bird skulls or hollowed-out fish.  Instead, he asked her to throw scarves at the camera.  Initially she threw them straight up into the air and Murdo clicked away as they drifted to the ground.  He tried that several times, then switched to another approach.  He taped a 5p piece to the corner of the scarf and asked Neelam to throw that end towards him.  She did so, enthusiastically.

After a couple of hours of Neelam throwing scarves and me smiling fixedly at the camera, Murdo decided to take some photos in our garden - just in case the magazine editors wanted something more conservative.  Sadly, despite Neelam’s aching arms, that was the shot they went for.

All in all though, it was a memorable day.  It took several hours for my cheeks to feel normal again.  Neelam's arm muscles suffered even more, but if the Indian Women's Cricket team ever needs additional bowling talent, she may be worth considering.

Throwing scarves at Murdo (pt 1)

I finished my teaching contract with University of Sheffield on 30 June this year.  The last working day was Friday 28th June, which I took as leave.  

The last day of any contract tends to be gloomy.  Concerns about the future are highlighted, and regrets about past choices surface afresh.  On this last day, the weather got into the spirit of things.  The sun failed to break through low-lying clouds and gloom prevailed.  Neelam and I however, were not feeling gloomy.  Thanks to PRIME’s publicity machine, we were expecting a visitor who came equipped with sunlight (well - an electrical substitute).  

Not long beforehand, we had had a phone call from Saga Magazine.  They were running an article on PRIME and wanted to include some case studies.  Look-in-the-Bag was selected (along with LinchpinPA).  Saga phoned to ask if it was alright to send round a photographer. I thought about the somewhat chaotic state of our house and the even more chaotic state of our garden and suggested meeting the photographer in a local beauty spot*.  Sadly the suggestion was declined.  We were informed that the photographer, one Murdo Macleod, preferred to shoot subjects in their natural habitat, and would arrive at 10am.

I googled Sheffield-based photographers by the name of Murdo Macleod but didn’t find any.  The only photographer I found by that name was an Edinburgh-based, award winning press photographer.  To our amazement, it turned out to be him.

Despite his numerous accolades, Murdo proved to be engaging and entertaining - which is just as well, since I spent the next four hours posing for him and Neelam spent the next four hours throwing things at him.

*Yes - Sheffield does have beauty spots!

First Choice

Look-in-the-Bag's 2013 brief sparkle* in the media began in January.  Neelam picked up the phone one day and was taken aback when the well-spoken woman at the other end announced that she was phoning from the office of Prince Charles.

The caller explained that PRIME wanted to use LitB as a case study.  Were we happy to for them to send our details to the press?

We managed to overcome our concerns about media intrusion, the paparazzi, and phone-hacking and agreed.  Shortly afterwards, we received a phone call from Marcus Duffield.  He wanted to interview me on behalf of Choice Magazine.

They run a regular feature (called New Directions) about people who have a radical change in life.  Marcus sent me an example from a previous issue.  It nearly put me off doing the interview. 

The example dealt with the experiences of an RAF engineer who traded a life amongst Harriers and Phantoms for one amongst the skiing fraternity of the French Alps.  My experiences seemed decidedly mundane compared to such a (literal) high flyer.

Still, Marcus was encouraging.  We chatted over the phone for half an hour or so and he managed to turn my ramblings into a coherent article.  I never got to see who featured in Choice Magazine's next "New Directions" article, but I can't help feeling that I was an easier act to follow than my predecessor.


*We're aspiring to a media blitz but we all have to begin somewhere. 

The cost of publicity

Look-in-the-Bag learned something about the cost of publicity when we placed a small ad in Good Housekeeping Magazine last December.  Our website was new and shiny and we wanted to attract customers for Christmas so we paid out £300 for an advert in the classified section.  It led to a small jump in visits to the LitB site (around 60) but no sales.

One problem with trying to sell things through advertising is that people know that adverts are biased.  Of course, biased information is not necessarily untrue information, but it’s not surprising if people question what an advert says about the product being advertised.  The same isn't necessarily true of a product mentioned by a brand ambassador or used in a film or a TV show.  For example in the Bond film Skyfall, when Bond downed a beer in place of his usual vodka martini, the audience were more likely to think “After what he’s been through he deserves a beer” than to think “How much did Heineken pay for that plug?”  

The kind of person cynical enough to ask such a question would probably be cynical enough not to be surprised by the rumour that Heineken payed around $45 million to reach the plots other beers couldn’t reach.

Clearly, the most valuable sort of publicity is good publicity that isn’t paid for.  Thanks to PRIME, Look-in-the-Bag has been brought to the attention of a couple of magazines (Choice and Saga) and the local press.  We even had the undivided attention of a top press photographer, which is something I’ll blog about in a few days time.

A useful piece of small luck

I've blogged about various organisations that have helped Look-in-the-Bag in our 18 months of existence. There was the late, lamented Business Link, the bacon-scented Sheffield Enterprise Agency, and (by royal request) PRIME.  Somewhat unexpectedly, we also managed to get help from University of Sheffield Enterprise (USE). 

Around four years ago I completed a post-graduate diploma.  I began the course thinking that it would be interesting and would improve my career prospects.  I ended it feeling frustrated by the lack of structure and guidance, and with worse career prospects than when I began.  All in all, it seemed to have been a complete waste of time.

I was so disillusioned by the time I finished that I forgot to make arrangements to pick up the certificate.  Eventually I received it in the post and filed it away under "Useless Qualifications" (I have quite a collection!)

Around that time Neelam and I were in the early stages of setting up Look-in-the-Bag.  Someone at the university suggested I should check out USE. I did, and found that they supported students up to five years after graduation.  I graduated from Sheffield as a mature student in 2000, so assumed that I was well past their 'help-by-date'.  As an after-thought though, I mentioned my diploma, dated November 2011.  To my delight, I learned that, yes, it counted.  As a result, Look-in-the-Bag was entitled to use USE as its registered office, as well as gaining access to marketing and legal advice.  My certificate got refiled - away from "Useless Qualification" and into "Unexpected Business Opportunities".

Meeting the Target Market

On July 19th 2012, I made my way to Hillsborough Jobcentre to begin PRIME's Preparing to Run Your Own Business course.  I entered the building and found myself in a room full of women.  I don't know what this says about mature male* entrepreneurs in Sheffield, but for Look-in-the-Bag, it was a great piece of luck.

Having done courses at Business Link and at Sheffield Enterprise, I was familiar with much of the material (though on PRIME's course it was covered in more depth and eventually led to a Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI) accredited Level 2 Certificate).  As far as I was concerned though, the main advantage of the PRIME course was that it brought me into contact with a fascinating group of women willing to share a wide range of experience and some extremely useful insights.  Many of the insights were relevant to business in general, but as far as LitB was concerned, we hit a rich seam of advice and ideas when it came to potential customers for fashion accessories.

* I know quite a few women who would say there's no such thing.

The Right Age!

I'm used to being the wrong age.

Most recently, I've been the wrong age for a career in research.  I've spent years doing it, but historically research has not been a career.  Rather it was an apprenticeship that had to be served by anyone wishing to be an academic. In the last few years efforts have been made to help researchers in the early stages of their careers, but I dropped out of all qualifying categories for "Early Career Researcher" a long time ago.

I'm also the wrong age for a lot of business advice and help.  Much of it is targeted at entrepreneurs under 30, and I passed that milestone a couple of decades ago.

I was therefore delighted when, one morning in May 2012, I heard an interview on Radio 4's Today Programme with a man who made cases for musical instruments. Rod Boyes set up Pinegrove Leather after he was made redundant at the age of 50 (an experience I was shortly to share).  He had been helped by the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise. PRIME was established in 1999 to support prospective entrepreneurs over 50 who were threatened with unemployment.  Finally, unlike Neelam (a mere stripling in her 40s) I was the Right Age.

Bacon sandwiches are good for business

Business connections in Sheffield are lubricated by bacon fat. 

Once a month (usually the second Tuesday), SENTA (Sheffield ENTerprise Agency) holds a business networking breakfast.  Entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs gather to talk about business and to engage in the kind of juggling that usually goes on when people try to stand, talk, eat and drink, all at the same time.

I contacted SENTA at the recommendation of someone who had set up a consultancy a few years back and had found them to be helpful.  They were.  The course that Neelam and I attended offered similar material to Business Link's, but it was less formal and there was more opportunity to engage with the tutors, and the other people attending.  

Best of all though (from my point of view) were the bacon butties at the networking breakfasts.  Neelam (being vegetarian) is less keen.  Somehow croissants and Danish don't have the same appeal. 

Goodbye Business Link

In Autumn 2011 Neelam and I attended our final Business Link workshop.  Business Link was a business advice service funded by the UK government.  It offered excellent online resources and a generous free training and mentoring programme employing experienced and interesting business people who, in my opinion, it used poorly.

Business Link's training programme ended in November 2011 and everything went online, where it survived until October last year (it's now been replaced by Gov.uk).  While I'm a huge supporter of online resources, the virtual world is not yet so rich that it can fully substitute for real interactions.  Sadly though, in the case of Business Link, that's not as much of a loss as it should be. 

Sally and John, the two tutors I met, clearly had a lot of experience, which they were happy to share.  However, the sessions they took consisted of standard Business Link PowerPoint presentations.  These were informative, but didn't really need people to present them.  At the time, I remember commenting that they would have been more useful (and more interesting) if the sessions had followed a university tutorial model.  In other words, everyone who registered was asked to work through the presentations and accompanying exercises prior to attending, and used the sessions as an opportunity to consult a Business Link advisor, and to learn from other prospective entrepreneurs.  As it turned out, this is the model adopted by two of the other organisations from which Look-in-the-Bag has benefited: the Sheffield Enterprise Agency and PRIME.

Small business - big hopes

"Most new businesses fail within three years."
It's something we often heard as we were starting up Look-in-the-Bag.  We went to a lot of networking events, business start-up seminars and marketing days, and we learned a great deal about what new businesses did wrong that caused such a high failure rate.   

It's a well known fact that 92.3% of statistics are made up. Despite assertions to the contrary, most of us use a lot more than 10% of our brains, we are often more than six feet from a rat, and we don't need to drink two litres of water a day.

As it turns out, according to an OECD survey of start-ups that began in 2006, most made it past their third anniversary - despite the recession.  Businesses that began in 2005 probably had a higher survival rate.  According to Professor Jonathan Levie of the University of Strathclyde, they had a median life longer than the median tenure of a new job in Canada or the UK.

However, concern about the frailty of new businesses has no doubt played a part in encouraging governments, local authorities, universities and charities to offer help to people starting, or thinking about starting, a new business.

The odds of a new business surviving may be better than they're sometimes made out to be, but it can still be nervewracking thinking about how much it could all cost; and it's certainly confusing working out who needs to know what about your business.  At LitB therefore, we were happy to take all the help we could get and we came into contact with some very helpful people and organisations that I'll blog about over the next few days.

Campaign for Real Success Stories

I find few things more demoralising than motivational speakers.  Every time I hear another story of a dropout who left school with an NVQ in bird feeding*, a heart full of dreams, and a great idea, I cringe.  When I then learn that the great idea took root, grew and blossomed into a worldwide business empire, I just want to give up. 

Such people are exceptional.  Some are exceptionally talented, others are exceptionally lucky.  Either way, I would question the value of lessons based on exceptions.  It is highly unlikely that our business will turn us into billionaires.

[A chorus of motivational speakers addresses my inner ear:  You gotta belieeeeve Brother!  Believe the dream!  Cast out negative thoughts.  You too can make millions.  You just gotta belieeeeve!  Banish the doubt!  Stamp it out!  Know you can do whatever you want!]

Anyone setting up a business wants it to succeed but few people enjoy the staggering success of some of the examples routinely mentioned in business talks.  Examples based on more modest, less exceptional success would be less discouraging.


*OK - cheap shot.  NVQs are easy targets and not always fairly so.  I found my NVQ level 3 surprisingly challenging.

The cost of getting LitB on the go

It's amazing how many things you need to buy just to package and market the stuff you're selling, and it's frightening how expensive it can all get.

As well as getting scarves, bags and jewellery organised, we also needed to get business cards, address labels, product tags, and labels to stitch into things. 

One of the most surprising expenses was business insurance if we wanted to sell to the USA and Canada.  When we found out that it would cost an additional £500 we decided that North America could survive without Look-in-the-Bag products for a year or so.

The most annoying expense to date though, has been a recent hike in delivery charges.  We had found an excellent source of boxes that we thought were just about the right size for us (320x220x80mm).  They were - until 2nd April.

A recent survey organised by the BBC found that the UK's traditional three classes have now split into seven.  This development is being reflected in Royal Mail policy.  Our postal service used to offer a basic 1st & 2nd class service.  In recent years though, classes have multiplied.  For a while we've lived with big 1st & 2nd class, and small 1st & 2nd class (for both letters and parcels).  On 2nd April 2013, Royal Mail introduced medium parcels. 

When we took a package for despatch from the local post office and asked for a stamp, we were told to push it through a slot in order to determine its class.  It was tantalizingly close to fitting.  The package went part way, then stuck.  I asked at the counter how much more it would cost if we sent our box as a medium parcel instead of a small parcel.  "Three pounds" I was told. 

I gulped.  Our current postal charge of £4 barely covers our expenses as it is.  The box was stuck in the slot.  I pushed harder.  The post office woman shook her head.  "Sorry,"  she said, "it'll have to go as a medium."  I groaned, paid the postage, and wondered what to do with a large pile of boxes that are no longer quite the right size for us.

Beach Fantasy

Sand between your toes, the sun on your back, 

and the blue-green of a tropical sea.  

Wrap yourself in a daydream and relax.

The first time I ever tried snorkelling was nearly the last.  No one showed me how to ensure that the snorkel fitted properly, and within seconds I was coughing out seawater and desperately trying to understand the appeal.  I was persuaded to re-don mask and snorkel and put my face back down in the water.  I’m glad I did.  

I usually prefer mountains to beaches, but this particular beach was a short swim from a coral reef.  I’ve been an avid fan of natural history programmes since I was a  child, so the chance to (literally) immerse myself in one of nature's most stunning ecosystems was too good to miss.  

The experience of floating above intricately sculpted corals and shimmering fish is magical, but it is even better if it is followed by the experience of stepping out of crystal waters onto a sunlit beach and walking on soft white sand.  Unless of course, one stops to think about where the sand came from.