TGt Meets ... Vicky Rose

As part of our Entrepreneur Week Specials, we've been speaking to Vicky Rose from Sugar oh Honey Honey.

Tell us a little bit more about your business?

My Business is called Sugar Oh Honey Honey, we hand make bespoke picture, hand stamped and ashes jewellery and 1940/50s hair accessories. Every item is hand made in Swindon. I opened my first shop when I was 19 it was a fairy shop, this was a very successful Business and I closed it when I was pregnant with my Daughter. I started Sugar Oh Honey Honey in 2013 and it has grown rapidly ever since. I opened a shop within the Brunel Centre in 2014 and helped host the big vintage weekend, I closed my shop in 2015 as I wanted local people to be able to earn money from my business. I now have a workshop at Base point business centre and have 'Sugar Reps' they have catalogues with our products in and earn commission from their sales, they also have a monthly charity vouchers that is offered through the business which is donated to local charities. 

What inspired you to set up your business?

Three years ago my Beautiful daughter Honey Rose passed away, I needed something to focus all my time and energy on, after starting a Charity in her memory 'Honey Rose's Cold Cots' I wanted her name to live on and grow so I made this business in her memory. She inspires me every day to get up and give this business 110%.

What do you think attracts people to starting their own business?

I think it is the working for yourself, having no boss or anyone to answer to, working your own hours and being in control of what you do for a living.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

I think it is hate, I made this business very personal to me and most people disagree with making business personal. Many people believe business should be separate from your personal life. I can understand why this is, as by making my business something so close to my heart it makes me as a business owner more vulnerable to hate. Everything I sell is hand made so it’s my time my creativity my energy 'blood, sweat, tears' without the blood sweat and tears if you get what I mean. It’s hard to distance yourself from negativity when you put so much of yourself in your work, but as a wise book once taught me negativity is not always a bad thing as your stirring an emotion in someone. I know if I'm creating negativity (very little in comparison to the love I receive) I know my jewellery is being seen as pieces of art or a memory and not just an object to wear. I do what I love and love what I do and I don't think I would have achieved that if I made my company impersonal.

Do you have a motto or favourite motivational quote?

Oh I have so many and they are in every corner of my workshop to be constant reminders to me. I think my favourites are 'There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs' this is one that reminds me that I am getting where I need to go it just takes a little longer than we sometimes hope. 'The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary' This one always makes me smile and keeps me going when I'm on my 20th hour of work at 3am wondering why I'm doing this. I also find that reading some amazing books on business and success are the best ways to keep motivated and sharp. My favourites are 'The Slight Edge' by Jeff Olson 'The Happiness Advantage' by Shawn Achor and 'Think and grow rich' by Napoleon Hill

What advice would you give someone looking to take the plunge and start a business?

I would quote Yoda 'Do or do not, there is no try'. You need to give it your all, the only person who will make your business succeed is you, and the only person who will make your business fail is you. Take responsibility for your business, understand that it will be hard work, long hours and failure is only failure if you do not learn from it. Be disciplined with yourself as you are the only one who has to pick up the slack. I think the hardest thing for most people in business is to stay focused when they have no one but themselves to motivate them. Take time to acknowledge your success and achievements, so many of us set goals and then when we reach them we make another straight away without taking a step back and seeing we have done a good job and we should be proud. Fall in love with what you do, people who make a hobby into a career can trap themselves into hating what they used to love, my advice would be (because I have been there) is to fall back in love with what you do, remind yourself why you love doing what you are doing and take a look at the bigger picture (who gets joy from what you do, how does it help others, how does it impact the people around you. etc.) 

What’s the biggest challenge facing business leaders today?

I think for me it is procrastination which I can bet is the hidden challenge for most business leaders and the scariest thing is it’s a challenge most of us are unaware of. Our lives have become so interactive that we have an app for everything and an alert for everything too. From Social media to Youtube it’s very easy to loose time, especially if your business relies on social media for coverage. It is so easy to get lost in little details that we do not realise how much time we are spending being very unproductive.

What’s been your biggest achievement to date?

I believe every day I wake up and get out of bed and carry on is my biggest achievement of everyday. I make myself business targets that I strive to reach every week and month but I try to focus on my biggest achievement which is one I never thought I would make and that is carrying on every day.

When you’re not busy running your business, how do you like to spend your down time?

I love to read, listen to audio books, dance and be outdoors. It is very important to have down time even if it is once a week. I find I get my best ideas for new pieces when I am outside with nature, having fun with friends and family and just living life. A piece of advice that changed my perception of down time is to never feel guilty for it, if business owners feel the same way I do it is sometimes very hard to enjoy down time as you see it as unproductive or 'time wasting' when in reality we need to realise why we run our own businesses ... so we can enjoy that down time, our family our friends and the little things that make life so sweet and happy.