Home Business Heroes, in association
with
People who run their business from home generate £284bn of GDP.
This figure is growing daily as an extra 1,400 entrepreneurs
are launching ventures from their kitchens, sheds or living rooms
each week to join the existing 2.8million already running a
business from their home.
We feel these lone workers of the business world are the real
heroes of the British economy and we've teamed up with Viking to
find out more about them.
Name: Philippa Gogarty
Location: South Coast
Business: www.micro-scooters.co.uk
This week, we speak to Philippa Gogarty, co-founder and managing
director of Micro Scooters Ltd. Her business, started as simply
selling to other mothers in the school playground has developed
into a hugely successful company with a turnover in the millions.
Despite all this, she and her fellow co-founder Anna Gibson still
manage the business from their homes, surrounded by children and
stray toys.
How did you start selling micro scooters?
A friend of mine who's now my business partner came across the
mini micro scooter while walking on Clapham Common about six or
seven years ago. She took down the details and bought one for her
son. My son spent a lot of time with her son and of course he
wanted what his friend had, so we googled micro scooters and found
the main distributor who was based in Brighton. We just started
buying them from there and selling to friends and then friends of
friends. The UK distributors went out of business. So we went to
the manufacturer in November 2004 and persuaded them to give us the
distribution rights exclusively in the UK and Ireland.
How did you manage to convince them to give you that
exclusivity?
We were just so passionate about it and that won them over. I
genuinely think micro scooters were and still are the best thing on
the market. It changed our lives as mothers as it means you can
stop using your buggies. They are so easy for children to get the
hang of too.
How did you manage to get the scooters in
shops?
We got going in January 2005 and we made great connections in
the school playground. A friend of a friend knew the owner of
Cheeky Monkeys and after meeting with them, they started to sell
our scooters. We also managed to find the head toy-buyer at John
Lewis and persuade her to sell our scooters. We've been the best
selling toy for the last three years in John Lewis shops.
What was it like working from home?
When Anna and I first set it up we worked out of our houses in
London that were overrun by small children and we were struggling
for space. I actually worked out of the children's playroom, or the
kitchen table. Wherever I could find a spot. But that's how I like
it. Even now I still work from home, as it's the only way I can
have my children in my life. I have my PA in the house with me so
he can talk to me when I'm buttering toast for the children.
Luckily we have a warehouse to keep all the stock in now.
Was it not hard to stay focused when you had so many
distractions around you?
We'd always be speaking to buyers and each other with screaming
children in the background. But the lovely thing was, I think the
buyers and businesses we spoke to, liked it. For us managing our
children's lives with our business worked well as the children
would be out on Clapham Common on the scooters and people would
stop and ask us about them.
I used to send out the scooters by parcels. So I'd have to race
back from the pick up at nursery to meet the Parcelforce delivery
guy. In the end, I got his name and number and I'd be ringing him
to arrange how I could get the parcels to him on time.
But I've never had a problem with focusing on my job. I love the
variety of what I do and there is always so much to do, I love it.
I'm so passionate about it and it's always worked so brilliantly. I
am amazed at our success. When we started, in my wildest dreams I
thought our scooters might appear on one of the floors of Peter
Jones. I never ever imagined it to go so huge. I'm overwhelmed by
our success.
So you never got lonely then?
I'm not sure you can ever get lonely when you're running a
business. It's more you get disappointed about the things you can't
do becasue you have to turn down a lot. For instance, I never had
the time to go for a coffee with the other mothers from school. You
won't get lonely if you're trying to run a business and juggle a
family at the same time, there's just too much to do.
What's the best thing about working from
home?
The best thing is that it enables me to be involved in my family
life. I've never ever felt that I am not there for a crisis.
What's the worst?
The downside of working from home are you never really have a
day off as your workpace is your home as well so you're never far
enough away from it.
What would make your home business life
easier?
Better internet connection speeds for rural places. I just heard
that the government is going to improve urban areas even more, but
what about those of us who work outside of those areas? We
are relying on internet connections to run our business, so I'd
like our speed match that of the cities.
For more information about micro-scooters, click
here
Home Business Heroes, in association with 