- A bit about you-where did you grow up and does your family have a background in business?
I grew up in Walthamstow, in East London. My parents both worked for themselves in typical East London style – everything was a bit flying by the seat of the pants. They both worked hard, long hours and the vibe was definitely that you got what you worked for. They also really prioritised my education and made sure I got access to some of the opportunities they never dreamed of – like being able to go to University. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to “be” when I grew up. The Kids from Fame was popular when I was young and a massive part of me wanted to be singing and dancing on stage, but that didn’t seem realistic. By the time I got to uni, I thought I might be a history teacher. Art was in the background though. Forever creating and painting and doodling, I so nearly applied to do a Foundation year in Fine Art, but again, it just didn’t seem practical. If I had a time machine it’s the one thing I would change.
2. How did Betsy Benn come about, can you tell us about your interest in business, the inspiration, what motivated you, what challenges you have faced?
That’s a question that I could spend a week answering! I sort of fell into this business. I’d had a baby and so I found myself surrounded by other babies at all the groups and clubs. I also had a beautiful digital camera and had just been made redundant from a corporate job. So, I bought a fabulous Epson printer and started doing children’s lifestyle photography. The commissions worked around family life and my Mum helped with a bit of childcare, but it was a bit stop and start and I didn’t really have the time and energy I needed to get it running as a full-time business. I thought I might create a few graphic art prints and sell them online as a passive income stream to supplement the photography.
That was in March of 2010. And by November of 2011 we had the biggest selling item across the whole of the Notonthehighstreet.com platform (the personalised destination print) and had won their top award for Customer Service. I’d also needed to take on my first freelance graphic designer to support the business. It was crazy growth and looking back it was a hamster wheel that I couldn’t control.
The motivation behind it all was to create a life around my family. At the time I had one son but thought I might have more kiddos. In the end that didn’t happen for us, but when my Mum was ill and eventually passed away, being able to build my working days around her and her needs was invaluable. I would sit in her front room with my laptop while she dozed on a sofa. When she woke up I would make her a tea or a sandwich and we’d chat and then she’d doze off again and I’d carry on working.
I’ve never needed much inspiration to get creative. It’s all just “there” behind a very thin membrane waiting to burst out of my brain. Some of the very best ideas come out of a need to create a beautiful gift for a friend or family member and then they end up as products. It made Mother’s Day very tricky for many years because I’d design the thing I wanted to give my Mum and then launch it on the website but obviously months before Mother’s Day and I’d just have to hope she didn’t see it!
Challenges – oh there have been so many. I think when you start a business it’s because you are passionate about the thing you make or the service you offer. It’s never because we’re desperate to be people managers or small business accountants. I probably wasn’t an effective or very good boss when I started out. My current team have been with me for an average of 11 years now, so hopefully I got better at it! And the last five years – jeepers – between Brexit (world’s stupidest idea), Covid, cost of living crises, wars, and now American tariffs, well I think we’ve had just about everything thrown in our way. There are things you can control and influence, and then the global stuff comes along and knocks the wind out of you, and then you can only control how you respond. For anyone that has faced all that, whatever the outcome – you have my heart.
3. What still keeps you alive and inspired as a business woman?
My team. First and foremost. We bloody love working together. It’s not always harmony and bluebirds singing in the background, but we’ve been through so much together we are like a weird little family. We keep each other going.
Our role in this world (we all have one!) is another big factor. After 15 years of making personalised gifts we know one universal truth. When it matters, we want the person we are buying a gift for to know that they are seen and understood, they are loved, and they are appreciated. So our role is to enable the expression of love from one person to another. Or as a customer recently put it “I’m sending a little bit of me to a little bit of them”. That feels incredibly magical to us. If I ever have one of “those” days, I go and read the gift messages on the packing table. Seeing love in action is a remarkable thing.
4. What are the best bits of running a business?
Creating the life and the environment that works for you (and your team). Hands down. I think I’m ruined for the world of employment now.
5. We have a many people in the start-ups, what advice could you offer them?
Always the same advice. Find a tribe. Being self employed can feel a bit lonely, even if you have a team. No one understands what you’re going through quite like someone else on the same path.
Understand quickly what you can do for yourself and what you’d be better outsourcing. Bookkeeping was the first thing I outsourced as she could do in two hours what it took me all day to do. However, anything to do with my brand voice I still hold. My business is me and no-one can do that quite like, well, me.
Photo by Emma Jackson Photography
Connect with Betsy here Personalised Gifts, Prints, and Luxury Notebooks | Betsy Benn
