In our ‘Inspiring small businesses’ series, we share and celebrate great stories from small business owners who started and run their own business. By bringing you closer to these inspiring businesses we hope that you find motivation, tips, and ideas for building yours. For this weeks interview, we had the pleasure of speaking to Cecily Henderson owner and co-founder, along with Katherine Rhodes, of PomPom a stylish and sustainable children’s brand.

PomPom is an online shop for unusual and stylish designs for babies and children. With toys, gifts, games, playroom ideas and tableware, PomPom has it all.  The home of the indoor climbing triangle. We are proudly plastic free from product to packaging making it impossible not to do the right thing!

What's the story behind your business?

Katherine and I have 4 children between us. We met at university and are old friends, we share a love of travel, culture, arts, theatre, books and now children.  We set up PomPom in response to the plastic crisis, as parents we were drowning in colourful plastic and finding good looking, long lasting plastic-free designs took time, energy and thought.  (None of which we had!). 

We started trawling local shops and online.  The mind boggles with options - how to tell what works, what breaks, what leaks, the "mumma blogs" are a world within themselves!  Then of course, half the options are ugly. The inconvenient truth rears its head again.

So slowly we made time. We shared tips. Our friends started asking us for recommendations, their friends started asking us for tips.   We realised that we could answer those questions; what if the plastic free choices were made easy without sacrificing aesthetics? What if those choices kept your life original and imaginative but ethical?

PomPom was born! 

What inspired you to start your own business?

Plastic.  Freedom.  Curiosity.  Hubris!  

What is the most difficult aspect of running your own business?

From a practical point of view, technology.  The complex web of the internet and the power of Google.  We were taken for a ride early doors by an SEO company who promised the world and we foolishly believed them.  Once we discovered they had merrily spent our marketing budget with no results, it was time to grip it and bring it in house.  So, I have learnt terms I never knew existed, I have learnt skills I never knew I would have to learn - from basic coding to SEO to Facebook advertising.  Basic knowledge is relatively easy to grasp but to catapult a business to the next level takes a lot of learning!  

From an emotional point of view - work has become very personal.  I don't bring work home, work is at home.  With a baby, nap times are sacred and so are the evenings.  My husband jokes that despite Coronavirus we barely see each other!  

What is the best thing about running your own business?

Flexibility.  Adrenaline.  Learning.   

How has your business been affected by coronavirus and how have you adapted?

Unsurprisingly our indoor climbing triangle became a success story overnight, it saves the sofa and the kids climbing the walls! Children have an innate need to climb. It is a great sport developmentally for kids, both physically and emotionally.  It increases strength, endurance and flexibility while encouraging patience, stamina, confidence and trust in themselves.  Climbing offers that X-Factor which is so rare these days – risky play! 

With adjustable heights and reversible ramp/slide, children as young as 6 months use it up until they are 5 or 6 years old, so perfect for siblings stuck indoors too.   

Coronavirus really highlighted the need to keep our supply chains closer to home and we are bringing production of the triangle onto British Shores.  We are currently in the late stages of development of a new triangle, which we designed and tested through Lockdown.  As you might imagine, wood supplies are limited, large workshops are closed - it's been quite the rollercoaster! 

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own business?

Learn basic SEO before you start.  Optimise your website from the ground up - it is so easy to do at the beginning and so. Much. Harder. To do retrospectively. 

Courage. I had endless conversations about failure.  If I fail what does that look like? Is it embarrassing? No. Is it a reflection on your capabilities? Not necessarily. Is it expensive? Could be. Invest what you can afford to lose. Learn to do what you can't afford to pay for.  

And of course, enjoy it!  

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PomPom was created by Cecily Henderson and Katherine Rhodes in October 2019.  Since then it has been featured in The Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, MyBaba, Little London, Coast, Reclaim Magazine and on BBC Cambridgeshire, BBC Kent and Channel 5.  

To find out more about PomPom visit their website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.