It all started with a beautiful bottle lamp.
After years of being an accountant and working in the finance industry, Cheryl Marshall wanted to express her creative side and pursue her desire to help others succeed.
Realising that she kept putting off DIY, craft and upcycling projects because she felt like she didn’t have the skills or time to do them, Cheryl created Light n Crafty.
Cheryl’s “all you need” DIY kits provides her customers with amazing results and the feeling of accomplishment.
She runs her business through the principles of fair prices, having ethically sourced suppliers, and environmentally friendly packaging (She also avoids single use plastic and her packaging is recycled and recyclable). Cheryl’s suppliers are small family run businesses and makes a point to keep in touch with them and their children.
She believes that quality shouldn not break the bank and so she makes it her goal to keep prices fair for her customers, self, and suppliers.
What do you enjoy most about running your own business?
I think the things I like most are the continual learning, the flexibility, and the freedom to bring any and all of my dreams to fruition.
What three pieces of advice do you wish you’d been given when you started?
- To learn about marketing from the very very beginning! It wasn’t until I started that I realised that, though I know how to sell…I had no idea how to market myself to be able to sell. There is an art to the physiological world behind good marketing and influencing the mind. I wish I had known it before I had made my logo, packaging, website, adverts etc etc.
- To join a network like this. Starting a business is HARD! Friends and family will support you and be there to offer you wine, advice and a shoulder to cry on, but, in the back of your mind, unless they too run their own business and built it from scratch, and in the same field as you, you will always think. ” You don’t understand” “You don’t truly know what I mean/ am going through” It can be lonely and isolating. You need to surround yourself with people that KNOW.
- Diaries are not just a film prop!! You are going to have to cut yourself up in to so many pieces you could become a hashbrown! You need to schedule your time to the different “hats” you are going to wear. You wont stick to it!!! Plans hardly ever work the way you…well..planned, but, it steers and guides you. There are going to be times, correction, there will be LOTS of times when you are overwhelmed by how much you have to do. Your diary will help to remind you which hat to put on, and which pile to start on first.
What advice would YOU give someone thinking about starting a business?
To read The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. and if you still believe you want to start a business after that, go get ’em!
What skills and knowledge areas would you recommend those starting out in business get acquainted with quickly?
Definitely marketing and if they don’t already have it, fiance and accounting
What does your IDEAL business look like? Even if you’re not there yet, what would it look like if your business was ideal?
The vision for my ideal business is my own premises that is located in a beautiful tranquil location that I can run my workshops out of. It’s eCommerce side is successful globally and is managed through fulfillment centers.
I have a team across the country, maybe one day the world that run my workshops, attend markets etc to spread the personal experience that I want to be core to my brand.
What problem does being a Member of the HerBusiness Network solve for you and your business? And, how?
The resources are filling in all of my knowledge gaps and the network has already helped ease the loneliness that comes with being a solopreneur.
Learn more about Cheryl Marshall and Light n Crafty.
