I'm sitting in my daughter's nursery, revisiting my time on Dragons’ Den. Any week now, the show will air and I'm intrigued to find out which parts of the hour-long pitch the producers will decide to show. After 10 years working in the media and entertainment industry, I know how these things go.
But without doubt, a guaranteed section they will leave in the edit is the dragons saying no.
Rejection is a part of life, especially an entrepreneur's life, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear. So what did I do after I walked out of the den? I took the lessons I had learnt from the experience with me, helping to fuel the next chapter of what the business could be.
1). Beginner status is nothing to be ashamed of
I started Secondhand Styling as a passion project. I had just moved to Manchester and wanted a reason to connect with like-minded individuals. I've always been a workaholic and found that my best relationships and connections came from work projects. I started a blog that expanded into videos, which turned into a content hub and then this string of swap shop pop-ups. I was a beginner in business, but I knew there was an opportunity to create something the market wanted.
We had no business plan, no previous investors, no way to track my success and what I was doing. We were just on a roll because I was generally loving the fact that I was creating something I believed in, and that others wanted. That all changed when Dragons’ Den contacted me. A researcher had seen an article written on SHSUK in a business magazine, and wanted to find out more about the business. Dragons’ Den helped speed things up. I suddenly had to put together a business plan, ask tough questions about the industry, measure our progress so far, fine-tune what we were doing and explore the opportunity that existed.
What they don't air on the show is all the paperwork, due diligence and checks that are needed before you can be considered to even step in front of the dragons. That's one of the many reasons that makes getting as far as we did such a huge achievement.
Secondhand fashion has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. In an hour-long session in front of the dragons, however, I realised how much it takes to understand the challenges of building a business. I had no choice but to admit that I was a beginner. But at that moment that was the best thing I could be, and that was okay
2). It's okay to disagree - even in a room full of experts
I may be a beginner in business, but I am confident in my skills as a marketer, presenter and stylist. I have spent over 15 years in the creative field, and I know what consumers want. My background encouraged me to challenge the dragons. I asked questions they didn’t necessarily expect to hear.
What they were expecting was a confident pitch, not a conversation. But sustainability deserves a conversation. It’s complex. That’s why there are so many opportunities to make the industry better.
To be disagreeable doesn't mean you aren't listening to the feedback (otherwise this blog wouldn't be titled Top Three Lessons I Learnt From Dragons’ Den). Being disagreeable means that you are determined, and once you put your mind to something, it’s hard to deter you. Even when you don’t get the response you had hoped for or the odds are stacked against you, you stay focussed on your passion and the end goal, and you take steps to achieve the desired outcome.
My experience on Dragons’ Den helped me to realise that the steps we needed to take to become a profitable business were a lot more involved than I had first thought. But the reasons why we are doing this remain the same.
3). You only know what you know
Hindsight is such a wonderful thing. But the hard truth is you only know what you know. Post-Dragons’ Den I took a step back. I took everything the dragons had shared with me and decided to reset the business model. I had learnt so much from my experience, and now it was time to figure out how I could fund the business myself.
Since the show we pivoted and took everything online (for now.) SHSUK is an e-commerce platform offering a circular clothing service where people can swap, shop and style their ready-to-love-again fashion with other members of our community. We have also been successful in the B2B sector, producing pop-up shops in corporate offices as part of their employee appreciation programs, helping companies to lower their carbon footprint.
In the end, failing in the den was the best thing that could have happened to me. I became even more resilient and even more focused than ever before, and I realised that the number one investor you need to make a business idea work is you. If you don't truly believe in what you are doing and the reasons for doing it, then you will always be selling a movie without a script.
Very excitingly, since the den we have put pen to paper and are writing the first scene of Secondhand Styling UK, which includes nationwide swap shops, an online platform, podcast and ongoing media coverage. Alongside this, I am now a mother to a beautiful girl resting on my lap as I finish this article.
Building a business is not just about me, it's about doing something better for the next generation. And that to me, is a good enough reason to want to make a business work, dragons or no dragons.
