Name: Jack Griffiths
Name of Business: Snuggy
What does your business do? Snuggy is an online loungewear brand. We design & sell our unique, cosy products to homes all over the world.
Please provide a short summary of where you went to school and what jobs you did before setting up your business
I attended Billingham South Primary School & Northfield Secondary School.
I had always been interested in earning money for myself, but in most cases you need money up front to invest, which resulted in me having a few jobs & saving up before I gave business a good crack.
I worked in Dominos, on the pizza production line.
I worked in a call centre for a year, calling members of the public to conduct surveys for large companies.
What inspired you to set up your own business?
Since a young age I was always keen on making money, the whole buying something for one price and finding someone to buy it off me for a bigger price fascinated me.
I never minded working under someone else & having a boss, but at the same time I felt the urge to go and do my own thing, it kind of came naturally to me to want to earn my own money, work my own accord & have that independence.
What do you enjoy most about running your own business and what don’t you enjoy?
A common misconception about owning your own business is that you can work when you want and however much you want to, which to a degree is true, but in order to succeed and do business well, you need to be prepared to work every hour the day gives you, especially when you are just starting out.
The most rewarding thing for me is seeing something you have created, loved and used by other people. Whether it’s a product you want to offer or a service, having someone hand over their hard earned money to you will never get old.
Business is a rollercoaster, it is a constantly evolving cycle of challenges & changes. For example if you decide to take up a trade like Brick laying, you would stick in at it for 5 years and be pretty clued up on everything there is to know about it. Whereas in business, the competition is so fierce, sales techniques, ways to advertise, customers to target, everything is fast paced, you don’t have time to rest because if you do you will miss out on key opportunities to grow & you will be left behind.
What are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Determination – you need a strong mind frame to deal with the highs and lows of business, it’s easy to want to give up when things don’t go as planned but you must stick at it.
Good work ethic – no one is going to gift you anything in this world, so be prepared to work hard at all times. The harder you work, the more successful you will be.
Be a good listener – I am very much the quiet one in the room, I prefer to sit back & listen, as opposed to being the loud one sharing information. Keep yourself to yourself, listen carefully to people you want to learn from & don’t be scared to ask questions!
What advice would you give young people who are thinking of setting up their own business?
Do not be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid of failure. Do not be afraid of failure. I say it 3 times to hopefully hit home & make it stick with you.
The biggest risk you can take is not taking any risk at all. Not giving a business idea a go because you are scared of failing and what people might think is the biggest risk of them all.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a good chance you will start a business and it will fail miserably, but the secret to business is learning how to not let that loss stop you from starting again. If you can teach yourself how to learn from the failed business, ask yourself why it failed, what you would do differently etc, then take that information into your next business, you will have a much better chance at doing well.
I still start businesses today that fail miserably, but I don’t let it make me think that I shouldn’t be doing business. I just learn from my mistakes and make sure they don’t happen again in my next venture.
If anything, the failures and losses in business are more important than the success and wins.
