How to bootstrap your business, Aimee Connolly, Sculpted by Aimee

Today’s episode of How To Start Up dives into the reality of building a business from the ground up or bootstrap, so without investors, without a big marketing budget, and without a safety net. Joining us is Aimee Connolly, Founder and CEO of Sculpted by Aimee and Sculpted: The Academy, the global beauty brand she launched at just 23 in 2016 using the €10,000 she saved from her part-time job.

Less than a decade later, Sculpted is a multi-award-winning brand with over 140 products, stocked in nine countries and shipped to 68 markets worldwide - all built from a bootstrapped beginning.

In this episode, Aimee shares what it really takes to fund your own idea, stay lean while scaling, and build a global brand by relying on resourcefulness, grit, and an unshakeable belief in your vision.

Aimee’s advice:

• Grasp opportunities when they present themselves
• When starting up, take each task one at a time and don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by considering the enormity of the whole project
• Think ahead about a year so that you have resources
• Be patient, things may grow slowly
• Always have a grasp of the finances and don’t be afraid to confront the realities of demanding payment
• Play on your special strengths
• Show your authenticity by telling your own story
• Applaud yourself for each win
• Customer feedback is essential; cultivate a community in your customers (social media/direct messaging) which will help you move forward constructively
• Take care of yourself: sleep, exercise, diet all support you mentally
• Aim to have a support network where you can find advice
• The pros of being boot-strapped are that you are in charge, not just financially
• But the cons could be that you have fewer contacts and less flexibility financially
• Take care when picking partners, as although this could be a huge asset, if it were to go wrong it could be very damaging

FF&M enables you to own your own PR & produces podcasts.
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2024 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 

FF&M recommends: 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link &  Licence

Transcript

Aimee Connolly: [00:00:00] I definitely think there is a superpower in number one, a founder is a human. People buy into human,

I do think that founders.

head office teams and creators are the future of content, so no pressure.

I'll put my hands up and I will say, I can be guilty.

Because you can't have this relentless treadmill company that's just like go, go, go without actually stopping and taking stock

do I feel it's the full level of where we should be? No. But am I totally motivated to get there? Yes.

If it can go wrong, the cons are, it goes very wrong, I think.

I have to say Juliet, I had no part to playing that, so you know

Juliet Fallowfield: In today's episode of How to Start Up, we dive into the reality of building a business from the ground up without investors, without a big marketing budget, and without a safety net.

Joining us today is Amy Connolly, founder and CEO of sculpted by Amy and sculpted the academy, the global beauty brand. She [00:01:00] launched at just 23 in 2016 with 10,000 euros saved 

from her 

part-time job Less than a decade later. Sculpted is a multi award-winning brand with over 140 products stocked in nine countries and shipped to 68 markets worldwide. All built from a bootstrap beginning and still without taking external investment. In this episode, we talk about the pros and cons of bootstrapping, what you learn about yourself when you start a company, and how to work out if you are ready to bootstrap your own idea. 

 thank you Amy for coming on how to start up this morning. Before we get going into everything about bootstrapping or business, I'd love it if you could introduce a little bit about yourself and the business that you started.

Aimee Connolly: Yeah, sure. , Thank you for having me. So my name is Amy, like you said. I'm the founder and CEO of sculpted by Amy. I always joke and say how modest of myself to leave my name when the top. Title and just make it super obvious that it's mine. Um, a very brief overview of my background. I started as a [00:02:00] makeup artist about 16 years ago and I was one of those very eager beaver teenagers who just adored beauty and was given a part-time job on counter with Urban Decay in-House of Frasier at the time.

And so I had the coolest part-time job going of all my friends. 'cause I would go in and make people beautiful and sell products that I was so passionate about, but it really unlocked my love of beauty. I worked there for three years while I was in school. Went on to do Mac. In the meantime, I went on to pursue my degree, which is business in French for four years, and all the while kept up makeup part-time.

So at this stage I was saying yes to everything, like a TV slot. Have you got a show real? Of course, yeah. Let me come in and I'll, I'll try it. I had to Google what a show reel was like, literally just putting my hand up to say yes and was figuring out all the rest after. So I was very lucky to have quite a spread across beauty by the time I graduated, and I realized that I didn't wanna give it up, but I also realized that I loved business and I wanted to make it a bit more formal for me to go into full-time.

So I decided to mix my love of [00:03:00] business and beauty together and launch a brand. And one of the kind of secret ingredients before I launched the brand itself was I had found a makeup academy. So if you'd asked me as a young teen what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would've said a teacher. Um, so although I wasn't teaching kids, I was teaching, you know, makeup to those who wanted to learn, I was able to kind of scratch that itch at the same time.

But it really showed me the common concerns, the. Sheer overwhelm people had when it came to beauty and actually how I could just help to make it much easier. So my ethos was always like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, hang on a second. Five minutes fuss free. It doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

We're not solving the world's problems here. We're making ourselves feel a bit better with a few great products. So that was really the kind of ethos that I led into the brand and is still, to this day, one of our sources of truth for us is how we make it easy and how we simplify. So now eight years in sculpted is available across our main markets or Ireland and the uk.

We are across [00:04:00] retail, online, and we have four of our own stores that we call our flagships. We have a team of 124 people and we are still privately owned. And I have thoroughly enjoyed what I can only describe as a rocket ship of an eight years, and I feel like we're only getting started. Which is great.

Juliet Fallowfield: and I think you've made that sound very matter of fact. Yep. You did this, you did that, and it's a really massive success. And of course that's normal, this is not normal. You started at 23 and you had saved 10,000 euro to put into your own business. And for anyone at any age, 10,000 euro is a lot of money. you to, a, have saved that by that age is really impressive. But then to have the, the kind of confidence in yourself to go, I'm putting it all in. I'm going, what gave you that confidence to know that that was the time and that was the amount and. Fast forward to today, eight years later, you are still privately owned.

You haven't, I believe, taken any investment externally.

Aimee Connolly: No. [00:05:00] Own boss. In the true definition of this,

Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: caveat this with a massive asrate that in the founder world, everyone's like, oh, you need to get investors. You need to scale. You need to be series de da, da da. then have a whole like band of people you owe reporting to, and you have sort of surrogate bosses in a way when you take investment.

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: What gave you the confidence at the age of 23 to put that 10,000, uh, Euro in?

Aimee Connolly: So I, it's funny, right? 'cause I, I get asked to reflect on this a lot and I nearly wish I had like a dear diary journal to read back on what my mental thoughts were, but whether it was. A weird, perfect combination of naivety, confidence, whatever it was. There was just this inherent thing in me of like, but of course I'll just give it a shot.

What's the worst that can happen? But the one thing I will say is I didn't overwhelm myself in sitting down and riding at a five year business plan. That would've been like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, let's pause here. This is too much. You know, I'm just gonna give it a go. [00:06:00] Throw myself into it. I inherently believe it's gonna work, but I'm not gonna psych myself out.

Whereas I feel like when I meet entrepreneurs these days and people who are in between will I, won't I? They nearly think of the very long litany of things that needs to happen. And so the easiest way to say no comes pretty quickly. 'cause they're like, oh, I don't know half those things. So no, I couldn't bother.

And actually that's half the reason why people don't start. Whereas actually if you just break it down into the small steps, I always break everything down into small sustainable steps and then you're just ticking it off one by one. So for me, at the time it was like, okay. I have saved 10,000. I have these two products I wanna purchase.

I'm gonna Google factories. I'm gonna go and visit that. I'm gonna look at a logistics warehouse. It was, it was very big steps, but small things that I could tick off instead of thinking, and then in 10 years, I wanna be X, Y, and Z.

Juliet Fallowfield: Yes, and I think that's it. You can try and forward plan to. Much that you get that overwhelm and

Aimee Connolly: Totally. You get paralysis.

Yeah.

Yeah. 

Juliet Fallowfield: [00:07:00] Actually anything in life getting fit, saving money. If you chip away at it little bit by little bit, you cannot do it all at once. I think I saw something recently. Someone said they, they chucked a load of seed in a pot and watered it and came out the next day.

It's like, well, there's nothing there. And it's like. of course there isn't. It's gonna take a year for that to come through and it really was a really good visual representation

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: just plant the first seed. you mentioned you launched two products. want to know, 'cause I now know your entire range, you chose just those two and why just two.

Aimee Connolly: So firstly, from a cash perspective, you know, you're one of your biggest outlays at the beginning of a business. If you're in the product, business will be your inventory. So sometimes it comes down to the sheer, like what can you actually afford to launch with? And although 10,000 is a substantial sum, I think to have saved in the grand scheme, it's very small for what a business requires.

So it was very much like

exactly needs [00:08:00] must of, of what I can launch with. But outside of that, I had been a makeup artist, like I said, for those couple of years, and I was doing a lot of bridals. That was definitely my signature look. So very much like you still natural, but like the best version of yourself.

And within that, I was always obsessed with skin. And even on a more critical detail, obsessed with like how easy the sculpt on the skin could be. And we're talking about in an era now, like nine, 12 years ago, where the trend was more, is more so Instagram heavy makeup, and then I was kind of coming in a little bit unconventional to say. You don't need that much product. You don't need that many layers, like just a few simple steps and you're done. So it was interesting that my first two products, one was a simple sculpting kit, so it had three tones in it, two um, bronze glow and highlight.

And you could also double up and use it on your eyes. And then the double-ended brush was very meticulously shaped to fit right into your [00:09:00] cheekbone. 'cause the biggest things I was seeing was people were overwhelmed by the size of the brush they were using. So their contour was too low, it was too dark, or was too mucky, or was too gathered.

So it was actually really about trying to give them the, the tools in their hands to say. This is gonna make it easy for you. And I had a little how to guide inside the palace. I had a mirror and then I had like a step by step on the back. So everything was really rooted in that education of how can I make this so simple for people?

Juliet Fallowfield: And something that they then rely on and trust. 

Aimee Connolly: Yeah. 

Juliet Fallowfield: in their hand, they go, this person knows what they're talking about. I believe in them. I have to say there's absolutely no, I've not thought about this interview at all. Eight o'clock in the morning in midwinter speaking to someone on camera who's a makeup artist, and I was like, I wish we're in person because then you could show me.

Aimee Connolly: I know I actually could have done your makeup before we started, although your makeup looks gorgeous.

Juliet Fallowfield: That's very kind. But I've suddenly thought I've been doing the same makeup as far too long. Like I need her help. [00:10:00] So what was the second product?

Aimee Connolly: The second product was a brush set actually. So it was an extension of those. I think our brushes are like the dark horses of the line. I think they are exceptional tools 'cause I've always felt so passionate that your brushes should assist in what you're doing, not overwhelm in what you're doing. Um, so it was a brush set.

And then my next product was our first skin product in South Korea. Was beauty base. That was really the decider and the direction leader of the brand. So I mentioned earlier I was obsessed with skin. For me it was always the foundation of everything. Um. Again, that kind of, how can I make it easy? How can I simplify even more?

Beauty based was kind of a pioneer of its kind. It was um, SBF 30 with an actual radiant glow through it peptides and hyaluronic acid. And really the whole thing was trying to combine the few steps pre-make to make it easier for people and to make it guaranteed that they wouldn't skip SPF. [00:11:00] And being totally honest, I was the person skipping SBF.

I was like, it's a bit heavy. I'm full of glow primer around and I wanna do this and I wanna do that. And I went to one of those skin consultations, you know when you stick your face into the machine and it tells you all your terrible sins of your whole life.

And I was like 24 at the time. And they were like, your sun damage, like you need to watch your application of SBF.

And I was like, okay, how can I guarantee that I apply SBF every day and reduce the time that it takes in the meantime?

and

that was my first product.

Juliet Fallowfield: Bootstrapping your business. A lot of people when they're starting or scaling or thinking about starting a business would be like, wouldn't it be great if I could bootstrap? And it's one of those kind of jargony words in the found world that people talk about and. The, it's wonderful when you can, but it does force tough prioritization in those early days. Bearing in mind that you've not had that much work experience. I mean, you've been working at

Aimee Connolly: Hmm.

Juliet Fallowfield: makeup, you've been dealing with clients and customers for quite a while, actually doing your degrees. Um, [00:12:00] but in those early days, what did you choose to spend your money on and how did you choose where to put it?

Aimee Connolly: Well, an honest fact that you mentioned there about, you know, not having worked in many companies, I had never sat in a job interview. I had never had to prepare my CV for anyone. So even now these days when I'm hiring roles, I'm like, Googling, what would this job spec do? What would this person do? So, yeah, it was, it was definitely a, a rollercoaster shock into the world of business.

But I also loved that. Um, but in terms of, of bootstrapping, kind of deciding how much and where to spend and how rigorous that you need to be on it. 'cause like you said, it has to come with very, very clear discipline. I actually, um, I think this is how I kind of managed to save that much. I come from a small family, so it's me, only child, single mom, and my mom worked so hard, but like, I think a lot of parents or that generation, when the last recession hit, she was hit quite badly.[00:13:00] 

So I definitely experienced. Her relationship with debt and the sheer stress that that brought on, that, that has definitely started something in me of like, I don't wanna be in debt. I don't want to owe anyone, or just the kind of fear from having watched the trouble that she went through, which, you know, a lot of people did.

And it's amazing in one sense 'cause it gets your ass up off the chair and you're like, I gotta go to work and I gotta make money. And I loved that for my own independence. But it definitely made me quite good at saving and very practical. So when I was getting my paychecks and my part-time job, it was like some went straight into savings.

Some, I would obviously, you know, buy my first radio, whatever it was at the time. We're talking way back now. Um, and then when it came to the business, I wasn't aware of all of the kind of forecast calls that I had to make, but one thing I was very clear on is watching the cash cycle. So you'd spend a little bit on your inventory.

So what I did was I placed a huge, not a huge order, a big order at the time, 'cause you have to meet the minimum order [00:14:00] requirements. But then I would draw down in batches of stock so it wasn't all due for payment in one go. And then when I sold into stores, 'cause obviously I was retail, you're playing on there.

Payback dates of like 30, 60, sometimes 90 days. So I would have a color code on my laptop of invoices that were red or green and honest story. 'cause I was a one-woman band at the time, and then I was trying to be the, the charming personality that would rock in to sell the product. I found it hard to be the person who was chasing the payment.

So I used to sit on my bed and pretend to be Anne an account. And I'd be like, hello, Steven from wherever you are. Um, thanks so much for your recent order. Please see invoice attached. Payment due in 25 days. Regards Anne in accounts. Anne was the best fiction character you've ever known. She got shit done

Juliet Fallowfield: But this is great because you can also be really Py and angry Anne and Amy doesn't [00:15:00] have to be that person.

Aimee Connolly: exactly.

And there is something, whether it's like female or not, there's something in like discussing payment that just makes us squirm a little bit, particularly when the next day you have to be there. Hey, do you want more product? Here's my plans here.

You know, it's like, it's hard.

Juliet Fallowfield: it is really hard. I, I weirdly love the finance side of the business because I think in PR and podcasting, you don't get to touch numbers

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: and I'm the same as you. , We interviewed Rachel Harris accountant, she fame, and she said there's a lot of people that grow up with financial trauma and people deal with it in different ways, and you can go one way or another. But I think in business, and this is something that everybody says, is that if you are not comfortable with numbers, learn how to be.

Aimee Connolly: Totally.

Juliet Fallowfield: learning how to be, whether you bring someone in to support you or you put yourself through a course or you just face the music, you, you can't do a business without being comfortable with a spreadsheet.

Aimee Connolly: I agree, and I think that there's levels to it. Like you said, like once you know the basics and [00:16:00] you understand your numbers, you don't have to go and come out as an actual accountant. You know? That's why you hire people, but you can't hire someone that will always know more than your, your basic numbers, because then you're at an automatic.

Um, disadvantage. I actually majored in tax in my business and French degree, so I too, like you love the numbers, I love the satisfaction of like, everything lining up. I was like, this is great.

Juliet Fallowfield: and playing the numbers as well. What you were saying, it's almost like a kind of computer game with where your invoice is going out. The payment terms are coming in. And this is something that's so wretched about retail is that the, the store set the term. You can't go

Aimee Connolly: Totally.

Juliet Fallowfield: you need to pay me in a week.

And they're like, well, we have 90 day terms. It's like, who wins this? Oh, you do. You are bigger than me. Fine.

Aimee Connolly: You're like this tiny little fish in their massive pond.

Juliet Fallowfield: which doesn't support small

Aimee Connolly: Hmm.

Juliet Fallowfield: because obviously if they enabled your terms you would be able to order more and everyone would scale.

So it does seem a little bit counterintuitive. It is hard when you are sales, [00:17:00] payroll, hr, marketing. Your client, the retailer, would struggle to believe that you are this wonderful, shiny, glossy person coming in to sell a new product and the person sending the invoice

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: So you used your makeup artisty skills as your biggest asset early on.

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: can founders potentially identify and leverage the skills that they already have to reduce their costs when they're starting?

Aimee Connolly: Yeah, I definitely played into my , educator role, which to be honest, we still do as a brand, you know, eight years in. But for me, where education was such a core pillar of what we wanted to achieve in terms of how we wanted to simplify, and that came through everything from like a. The multitasking products that I was creating.

'cause I was heavy on the product side to how I was bringing it to life via tutorials or breakdowns or ingredient analysis for the customer. Um, which actually in turn. Naturally created this culture of authenticity and which, and I hate that 'cause actually to say you're authentic. You're not authentic.

But in terms of the broader scope of being really clear on what was in our products and how we [00:18:00] wanted to bring 'em to market and who we were working with, and people now love that behind the scenes. So it's something that's kind of stayed from day one to, to now. I think in terms of founders playing into where their strengths are.

They need to be really clear on firstly, what their strengths are, but secondly what they're passionate about. Because I think nowadays, when we're living in a culture where there's a lot of opportunity for founders to be at the fore, there is nothing worse than a founder being forced to be at the fore who doesn't wanna be there or who is maybe just trying their hat at something because they feel it's like.

The most recent thing to do, there's no consistency and they give it up after a week or two. And so people don't actually believe in their passion of that subject of whatever it might be. But I definitely think there is a superpower in number one, a founder is a human. People buy into human, they appreciate human stories, they like to understand the background.

There's probably a way if someone is listening to this thinking, I don't know what mine is by actually just. Telling your story [00:19:00] and showing your personality, you could be really surprised by how you could actually convert people into really engaging and listening to what your brand and product is about, particularly if there's a very true problem solve at the base of it.

So, you know, I was in the academy teaching so people can instantly understand that that was kind of a real story. Someone could find a solve in a product they've created because it didn't work on their child or something like that, and they're actually bringing that to life. Um, but I do think that founders.

head office teams and creators are the future of content, so no pressure.

Juliet Fallowfield: Well, you're speaking to someone who's in PR and broadcasting and I'm absolutely behind you on that. And I've actually really struggled with it myself, my team. So I came from a luxury brand background

Aimee Connolly: Okay.

Juliet Fallowfield: doing the brand's pr. And no one was bigger than the brand. It was about the brand. It wasn't about you.

And this was just as Instagram was coming through and we were told we couldn't post work content on our personal. Instagram accounts. Now, prs are also influencers and they are speaking on behalf of the brand. [00:20:00] As much as the influencers are doing it, the press are doing it, so are the teams. when we are looking at the media landscape, you see that brands are gonna become the new commissioners of content and they're , the new publishers. And it started with social media. You can see branded content on the website, newsletters, podcasts. Everyone as a brand is. Capable and able to create their content and be that thought leader and commission the journalists and the influencers to create that content. But you can own your narrative. You can own your story, but I really struggled with it.

'cause I don't necessarily want to have to put my face on

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: and it's another job, right? When you're doing

Aimee Connolly: Totally

Juliet Fallowfield: recruitment, sales, to do content as well. It's a big thing to ask. I think you do as a founder, have to work out what you want to do, what you can do and what you want to delegate.

For you, is there anything else in the business when you started, you love teaching, you obviously love makeup, you love helping people. Was there anything else that kind of fueled that fire and has kept that fire burning?

Aimee Connolly: I've always had [00:21:00] a very internal need. To drive forward or to succeed? I don't know where it's come from, whether it's from being an only child or from a single parent household. And you know, my mom worked really hard and it was always, um, the natural thing that I was being dropped at my mind is because she had to go to work.

So kind of really seeing that grit determination from a young age, I think definitely was very much embedded in me. So. There was always this very clear will and ambition to do something for myself and to move forward and to, you know, very much succeed at that because the expectations I would hold on myself would be quite high.

Like I was even that kid in school or that student in college where like if I didn't get all As. I would be really hard on myself. And it's funny because it doesn't come from pressure from my mom or anything. Like there's no one else standing there being like, you have to achieve this.

Juliet Fallowfield: Do you feel like you've achieved something now?

Aimee Connolly: Yeah. And, and I say,

Juliet Fallowfield: Have you [00:22:00] patted yourself on the back for the brand that you have built and

Aimee Connolly: what? You one.

One of the things I have had to learn along the way is celebrating the wins because I'll put my hands up and I will say, I can be guilty. Like a lot of entrepreneurs of like, you're onto the next thing by the time that thing has happened,

whereas.

Juliet Fallowfield: bend in the road in a corner to go around that

Aimee Connolly: Totally. And there's some fire that's gonna get in the way that you have to put out as well.

That doesn't help the stress levels. But I feel like from having the team, it's really forced me to pause to celebrate for them. Because you can't have this relentless treadmill company that's just like go, go, go without actually stopping and taking stock and taking a bit of a breather. so ensure Juliet, yes, I am really proud of what we've done.

Do I feel it's the full level of where we should be? No. But am I totally motivated to get there? Yes.

So there's a bit of both.

Juliet Fallowfield: You talk about that relentlessness I heard recently, there's a thing called a narco path, which is a [00:23:00] psychopath and a narcissist rolled

Aimee Connolly: I've never heard that.

Juliet Fallowfield: And if you look at Silicon Valley and a lot of like WeWork, Uber, all those sorts of founders, they are kind of in that narco path. 

Aimee Connolly: Wow.

Juliet Fallowfield: teams out, push people relentlessness, and never really sort of taking a moment to breathe and go, oh, this is to be cherished. So I love that you have that attitude. You can tell you are a very kind and nurturing person, and your teams will be very lucky to work with you. you've built your product range by listening closely to community. How can entrepreneurs use customer feedback as their main r and d tool when they don't necessarily have to?

Budget for formal research.

Aimee Connolly: So I'll say something quite strongly. I think if you are. A business event you saw, actually, I would say, listen to this, and you're not using customer feedback. I would say it's a very dangerous road to a quick finish because they are essentially the most integral part of feedback that you can have, and it has to be balanced because sometimes you can have [00:24:00] a very bias, obsessive, loyal community who are all in on that brand and maybe not thinking macro enough.

At the same time, they are users, hopefully very continuous of your products. And they will know in and out what they expect to come next or what can be better from the current product line, and it's their behaviors that you're ultimately trying to cater for. So listening to 'em really closely is so important.

And also it is, one of the biggest foundations of cultivating our community. So they move from being a customer purchasing group. Into a loyal community where there's two-way communication. They feel seen and heard, they feel a part of something. They know they're having an action into what the brand is about, and they actually feel like they wanna go on the journey with you.

That has been like, I would say, top two biggest successes for us as a growing brand is really nurturing and cultivating that community that have been. So mega loyal to us, like they are insane. If we could replicate the sculpt ommunity around the [00:25:00] world, we would be laughing 'cause it would just be amazing.

Juliet Fallowfield: And how have you done that? Is it DMing them or emailing them back after they've got their order? How have you physically engaged with them?

Aimee Connolly: I think social's been an amazing tool for it. I think social media allows that kind of instant communication. You know, for us where education was so big from day one, social is also an amazing visual tool for tutorials and education. So you're, you're automatically bringing conversation that way. But sometimes it can't be as simple as actually DMing back, be it in the post or in messages emailing back.

Sometimes I find businesses might go in a tick the box approach. I'd respond to the respond, like actually respond and actually listen and actually take the action. We would've done sculpted committees over like three or four years that were like different groups of focus groups in different cities, and they were amazing.

We'd just be like, what was your favorite marketing campaign that you listened to? What products would you love to see? And generally what we found is any products that the sculpted community nominate. They're typically already in our pipeline. So there's such an amazing [00:26:00] synergy between both because they are like very active and, and really like very much in the brand.

Um, to your point and kind of the wider data set, this is actually the first year that we will engage in proper market data. And like you said, it is expensive. So we're what, eight years in? And some brands will have a different view on this because. People will always want the kind of bigger sector data to, to maybe validate what they're doing.

We have a trademarked term internally where we always say, what's your data gut? So I'm so passionate about not losing like the brand champions intuition that we have. Like I would always say that I go with my gut, but obviously as you get bigger and the risks get bigger, you do need to proof that with data and with evidence.

So for us it's a balance of data gut. Um, but we're gonna get that kind of wider information now. I do think it's important to maybe look at trends that are coming because what, you also don't want to be too sidetracked by maybe a smaller initiative that your [00:27:00] community might have and you're not thinking bigger enough for how the industry is moving.

But I would also say if you have an intense curiosity, you probably are watching and reading and listening all the time, that you'll have a good inherent knowledge yourself of what's coming. Um,

so yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: when you start your one size, when you have success. You growing, you have growing pains to then get to the next level, but then become a, that tipping over to that other scale where you have to then behave in a different way. Again, the iteration of your culture, your practices, your processes. There is never a dull moment. And I blindly thought in year one, oh, by year five it will be much easier. And friends who are year 10, year 15 is like, no, Jules.

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: Harder. And I'm like, what? Okay, I didn't know that. And then everyone says, if you told me then what I would have to have done now to get to where I'm going tomorrow, probably wouldn't have done 

Aimee Connolly: Yeah, I agree. 

Juliet Fallowfield: is bliss. 

Aimee Connolly: Yeah. Honestly, that naivety, that ignorance all for it.

Juliet Fallowfield: is so [00:28:00] good. It's so nice. I remember in lockdown starting up and going blindly into it and being like, yeah, great. Put it on LinkedIn, it'd be fine. And everyone's like, Ooh, have you thought about this? And that's what the podcast came out. I was like, no, I just was made redundant. I had no choice. I'm gonna go for it. But yeah, I look back and go, , yeah, I'm quite tired now.

Aimee Connolly: Yeah, it's been a.

Juliet Fallowfield: But that is why it's so important to celebrate the wins and what you are proud of and take that moment. But on that, that multitasking part is such a core part of you as the founder and the leader of your business. How do you like manage that overwhelm and, and maybe imposter syndrome or, or whatever's coming at you from a mental health perspective?

Aimee Connolly: I think, um, over the last three years I have become far more aware of when I am. Amy's best self and Amy's best self to be the best person in work, to be the best leader, the best teammate, the best wife, the best daughter. You know, like actually, what are the simple practices that I need to do? Because I [00:29:00] will admit, like I would say for a couple of years I was just running at 190 and you know, definitely had a few health issues come up from that because you're just like, go, go, go.

And nothing else matters. And you know, you think you're young and, and. You have all the energy in the world. You don't have a family yet. So like why not just throw yourself into it? And I don't have any regrets, but I've definitely matured in the sense of, okay, what balance do I need if I am gonna go 190 in working and in life?

Um, and they're actually really simple things. So for me, I've put way more focus this year actually on sleep. I can definitely feel the benefit of that. I still need to get better, but I've actually prioritized it and acknowledged it, that it's so important. Um, exercise. I could not do a week without it if I have.

My flow, or maybe I'm traveling a lot or I'm having like late night events, early morning breakfast or whatever it might be, and I can't get my workouts in. I'll really feel it. It's like I'll feel really [00:30:00] lethargic where my mind just isn't clear. So even if it's a simple walk, I'm a huge fan of walking.

Love the odd run, love the odd Pilates, love the odd Hit class, you name it. I'll kind of give it a go. So just being active in general. And then eating well. I am a sucker for tea and chocolate, like I have such a sweet tooth, but I know the pattern myself. I would have a lot of digestive issues that if I am really busy not sleeping as much and eating on the go.

It's a car crash for me at the end of the week. So actually where I can, making those small wins of like taking my yogurt and berries with me on the plane instead of buying airport food because then when you get there, you're going out for lunch and then you're doing a dinner, you know, that kind of way.

So, um, really simple practices that have really helped, um, my wellness, which in turn helps mental health. And then when I'm having like quite a stressful time, I love to talk it out. I love to go on a walk with my husband and just be like, boo, I need to get this all outta my cell. He's like, okay. And he's so levelheaded, so he's like, [00:31:00] that's okay, Ames.

That's fine. And I'm like, yeah, it's fine actually, isn't it?

Juliet Fallowfield: Problem shared is definitely problem halved, just getting off your chest and into the world. , I don't think people realize that when you are a founder and you've got everything on your shoulders. It's a lot and you barely have time sometimes to think things through. And a lot of guests have said A walk is amazing 'cause you actually have to look up and out and think and actually that time is very, very valuable and shouldn't be dismissed as a luxury.

Aimee Connolly: Totally.

Juliet Fallowfield: that's it. If you don't have the energy for yourself, the business doesn't sound a chance. As the brand has grown, which obviously it has exponentially over the last eight years. Huge congratulations on that.

Aimee Connolly: Thank you.

Juliet Fallowfield: you maintained that sort of scrappy, resourceful mindset that you had at the age of 23 into international markets?

Aimee Connolly: I would actually say that we've maintained too much of that scrappy nature and not enough of the process driven nature. Um, it's funny, it's one of the things that always comes up when you're talking about the kind of self-funding versus investment. [00:32:00] Um, not always, but from some of my peers who have taken investment, depending on the investment firm that they partner with, they can often bring a lot of rigor and structure.

Which when you're scaling, can be a good thing.

Um,

Juliet Fallowfield: and mentorship as well. I know that is a perk with investors. If you get the right ones,

Aimee Connolly: exactly.

Juliet Fallowfield: going, uh, hang on, let me help you over here.

Aimee Connolly: Yeah. If you pick the right partner.

Juliet Fallowfield: that support elsewhere?

Aimee Connolly: Yeah, I think I've been very lucky with networks around me personally, so they maybe haven't come into the business and said, okay, let's take a look here. But if there's, you know, a topic that maybe I haven't been through before, be it opening a new market or maybe a retailer that we're discussing with, I generally have a very lovely of people around me that I can maybe pick up the phone or WhatsApp and say, are you free for a coffee?

And sometimes that coffee saves you like six months of work. Or potential failures along the way. So people are really generally giving up their time. And I have definitely been, yeah, very, very lucky to kind of cultivate a good network around me as I've grown between [00:33:00] different business networks and just general industry humans.

Um, so yeah, I think that's so important.

Juliet Fallowfield: given that you. Bootstrapped and it's still your business and that's all you've done in your adult life versus the friends that you know that have taken investment. What would you say are the pros and cons for bootstrapping or not bootstrapping?

Aimee Connolly: So I can obviously only speak to my perspective, like you said, 'cause I only know this and I, and I find it's a funny topic like. Like you said at the start, there's this kind of inherent, like when you start a business, oh, where are you getting investment from? There's an instant kind of dive into that pool, which doesn't have to be the case for everyone, but equally, there's no right or wrong.

So some people say to me like, God, you're so lucky you stayed self-funded. And I'm like, we are. But equally, it's just a different journey, you know? So some people need the cash, and when you need the cash to fund your business, you have to do what you need to do because ultimately you want the business to stay alive.

So from what I've. Experienced myself and seen from those around me. I think the pros of being [00:34:00] bootstrapped is you maintain full control, and , that doesn't just mean financial control. That means that you are at the helm, the business decision maker, so you can grow the culture, the pace of the brand in the way that you want to, instead of being maybe forced into some financial decisions that are going to better the business short term, maybe not longer term.

And so you can be at a bit of a miss there. I think, like I said, the word culture, don't underestimate that you're basically building the culture that you as a human believe and want within your business, which is very special because it can feel more like familial or like family like in a business. I think that's really, I.

Especially as you grow, particularly in a busy startup because it's where you get the, the benefit and the preciousness. I think it creates great discipline because you have to be so rigorous with your cash, so you're not just spending without any limit, particularly in things like marketing and when you are growing into new markets, that can be really easily done.

Um, the cons of bootstrapping I would say. You maybe [00:35:00] don't have the access to the contacts or the advice or the structures that an investment firm can bring. It's hard to quantify exactly what they are, 'cause they haven't tried them. But I know from some people who've had great success with it, they maybe could have opened doors sooner.

And then secondly, you don't have, I suppose, the extra cash flow to allow you to move that bit faster. So. When you are being quite disciplined, you're looking at your bottom line to be sure that you bring that back into the business, but it may be stops you from taking opportunities that could have fastened the pace of the growth.

But also hard to quantify, but I would say it's, it's probably quite likely that that's one of the cons. And then in terms of taking investment, I've heard all sorts of stories and some are terrifying. Some would make you intrigued. Um, it's hard to know what the reality is, but I think the biggest advice that I've ever been given is.

Make sure you pick the right partner 'cause you're essentially entering a marriage and you're gonna have a messy divorce if it's not right. Um, but I [00:36:00] think if you pick the right partner, they can come with amazing industry contacts, amazing skill sets within their firm with access to data and trends and people for hiring.

And it can be really magic, but obviously you, you relinquish a bit more control, but ultimately you're relinquishing more control to grow a bigger pie. So. For a lot of people, it's a no brainer. Um, but if it can go wrong, the cons are, it goes very wrong, I think.

Juliet Fallowfield: And it's knowing, I guess it's knowing what your end goal is, is like what does success look like to you with your business? What are you

Aimee Connolly: Yeah,

Juliet Fallowfield: Which I think is really hard to answer and it changes all the time.

Aimee Connolly: yeah,

Juliet Fallowfield: Would you ever be tempted to, , I was gonna say million dollar question, but would you ever be, , tempted to take investment.

Aimee Connolly: yeah. I think like the more we grow and the more our ambitions get bigger. My mind is just more open to all the possibilities of how we get there. So I think for me, I'm not so precious around maintaining a hundred percent of the business. It's more that the person or the partner that we chose to do with was definitely the right one, [00:37:00] and it would go beyond the investment that we would physically take and actually the people relationship, you know, the access and hopefully the advice that they could steer us along the way.

So I would never say never.

We're lucky that we're not in a position where we need anything right now.

Juliet Fallowfield: Yeah. Well, amazing. And if someone's listening and they want to bootstrapped their idea today, what would be the first practical step that they should take? What advice would you give them?

Aimee Connolly: I think you need to have a rough plan of how much you need to sustain that initial, say, 12 months of your business at least. So give yourself a bit of runway. So for me, at the time, it was looking at the level of product I had to purchase. The storage unit, I would have to store it in the, um, term payment dates from my retailers that I wanted to unlock the shipping costs I was also selling online.

Um, and you can actually fact find easily when it comes to these things and give yourself a rough estimate. And ultimately, that's all it's gonna be because you also don't know the pace of how quickly it's gonna sell or how quickly you're gonna need your [00:38:00] next product drop. But having a skeleton of a plan will help you to have confidence that you, A, have enough, and B, know the plan in terms of how to use that money.

So it's not, what you don't wanna do is put everything into that first inventory drop. Then you have no money for anything else because like down to the boxes that you send the product out in, they cost the labels. You know, everything has a minimum. So you just wanna have a little bit of an idea. So even do a spider web and a page, just write it all out.

Gather some information, seek some help. Like you said, if it's not your area, although you should do it in conjunction with the person you seek help with, so you're actually learning at the same time. And just sketch out kind of how much you might need to cover yourself.

Juliet Fallowfield: I love that. Thank you so much. And something that we do is the previous guest has a question for. Our next guest,

Aimee Connolly: Yes.

Juliet Fallowfield: was Michelle ler, who founded the Women's chapter, I think 11 years ago of a female business networking amazing platform and in real life events to support women in business. So her [00:39:00] question for you was, what is something that people usually get wrong about you don't know about you?

Aimee Connolly: Oh, that's such a good question.

Juliet Fallowfield: And for her, I love this question 'cause it's always different in every episode. And her thing was like, people think I'm incredibly well organized. It's like you are. She's like, I'm not. And it's her prizes people, but I've worked way around it. So for yeah. For you, what

Aimee Connolly: Well, it's so funny. I would have a similar vein where I think I would be someone who would fit a lot into my day. So if anyone kind of follows behind the scenes, you know, the, the most common question I get asked is, what supplements do you take and how do you keep going? So I'd be very much like, you know, I'd have my work at in, I'd get to work, I'd do my meetings, I'd do my events, I'd have my change of clothes, like my phone notes is just different packing things so I can get it into a case.

So in professional life, I am like, done, done. Done. Personal life. I am chaos. Like everything is messy. Everything's just organized. My husband will organize our trips. It's like I [00:40:00] completely switch off the CEO button when it comes to personal admin, and it is literal chaos.

Juliet Fallowfield: I think that's fair though, if you give it all to work.

Aimee Connolly: do

I. I'm busy enough.

Juliet Fallowfield: I would dispute this, it's the 2nd of December. I can see a very beautifully decorated Christmas tree behind you, so you've obviously

Aimee Connolly: I have to say Juliet, I had no part to playing that, so you know

Juliet Fallowfield: So you found the right

Aimee Connolly: I did. Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: Yeah. Amazing. And what would your question be for our next guest?

Aimee Connolly: My question would be, what is the one thing that you have learned about yourself in your time of scaling your business?

Juliet Fallowfield: Yes. 'cause you, I mean, I think that's the biggest lesson, isn't it? How much do you about yourself at work, 

Aimee Connolly: It's a total self discovery journey. I think running a business

because what people don't, what people, I think rather underestimate is you might start with a product or a service idea, but then as you're scaling a team, you become a HR director. No one teaches you that before you start, [00:41:00] you know, you're so focused.

Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: Hiring people and then firing them, which is inevitable. Unfortunately, when you work with people

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: you learn a lot about people. I think that's it. For me, it's, I did an anthropology degree in now running my own business in podcast production, teaching podcasts, all this stuff. It's more about people and how

Aimee Connolly: Yeah,

totally. 

Juliet Fallowfield: their invoices or don't, or how they respect you on calls or

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: to your team. Like that's, it's all people

Aimee Connolly: Yeah.

Juliet Fallowfield: people do say people is the hardest part. . What

Aimee Connolly: No worries.

Juliet Fallowfield: be to your own question?

Actually, I.

Aimee Connolly: Oh, geez, I haven't prepared that. What would my answer be? What have I learned most about myself? I think again, on, actually on the topic of people, I think I have learned that I am, how do I word this? Quite sensitive. To people in the sense of like very sensitive to enemies and tones and hopefully empathetic and maybe sometimes overly where if I'm in a meeting and I pick up on something, I'll try and, you know, jump in or do this or do that.

But actually, I think it's been a [00:42:00] superpower in understanding people as I've scaled and maybe adapting the ways in which you communicate or being self-critical on myself after, like always starting with me first instead of that. They didn't understand what I said. It's like, did you deliver the information in the most clear way possible before that person could interpret it?

So really having this whole new perspective that there are two ways to everything and two completely different thought processes, two completely different perspectives that it sounds really, basically when you see it play out in front of you and in action, you're like, oh my God, we are all so different.

And so it's so important to remember that.

Juliet Fallowfield: Yeah. That's a really good lesson. Thank you so much, Amy, for your

Aimee Connolly: Oh, thank you for having me.

Juliet Fallowfield: joy chatting to you. I feel so much calmer and I dunno if that's your energy or what, but I just feel like it's all fine. It's all fine.

Aimee Connolly: It's totally fine. All the fires are right back. It's grand. We're fine.

Juliet Fallowfield: Well, we can't see them because we've been on a podcast recording and when we go back to our inboxes and our WhatsApps, we're like, oh [00:43:00] shit. But it's fine.

If you'd like to contact Amy, you can find all of her details in the show notes along with a recap of the advice she has so kindly shared. And tune in next week to find out w Wellness founders answer to her question about what have they learned when scaling their business?