Passion, Patience
& Persistence – 3 qualities that entrepreneurs need
“Write this on
a post-it and stick it on your laptop so you will ask yourself every day,
‘Is
this the very best thing I could be doing for my business right now?’ If the answer is no, then why are you doing
it? Just doing the job you like won’t
lead to a successful business.” This
advice was given to Emma
Manley, Owner & Creative Director of the Manley clothing and jewellery
range by her ‘big sis’ Louise, when she started her label and she still asks
herself this every day.
This is the
longest blog I’ve written but I wanted to share Emma’s inspiring and very
honest speech at last week’s presentation of the David Manley Emerging
Entrepreneur Awards.
As Emma has
just moved beyond her first 3 years, it was apt that the attendees heard her
story as the Awards honour arts, business and social entrepreneurs whose
businesses are all 3 years old or less. Also, Emma is the daughter of the late
David Manley – in whose honour the Awards were set up in 2002.
‘Aras’ Perfume!
She started
her first business at 10 years of age – ‘Aras’ perfume – which she described as
a great idea – but ‘it smelled terrible’!
Her second start-up was at the ripe old age of 13 – a jewellery
range. Read below how Emma negotiated
her first business loan – for €80 and how her mum, Shelagh gave her a lesson
about wholesaling while her dad, Dave asked how she planned on upscaling the
business!
(See below for
more on this).
Emma set up Manley three years ago having worked as a stylist, done
an internship in New York with luxury sportswear label VPL and then a year-long
internship in London with the great Alexander McQueen Emma’s dream for Manley
when she launched was not only for a womenswear line, but for a brand that
offered a suite of products.
Below her speech includes the importance of the 3 P’s – Passion,
Patience & Persistence, how she thought it would be easier and results
would come quicker and the challenge of being creative whilst running all other
aspects of a business.
But look how far she has come in 3 years - last week Manley SS15 (Spring
Summer 2015 collection) launched in Arnotts and Manley Jewellery orders were
shipped to boutiques across Ireland.
Emma’s AW15 collection launches in March and this will feature another
new line - Manley Knit. In September, Manley will release SS16 and the new Manley
Accessories. David would definitely be
extremely proud.
See more of Emma’s speech below.
INSPIRATIONAL WINNERS OF
2015 DAVID MANLEY AWARD WINNERS
Pat Divilly, who began his
fitness business in May 2012 training five people on a beach in Barna, Co.
Galway and who now, each month, trains 800 people online and 200 in his Galway
studio, last week won the 2015 David
Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Award.
A
year to the day of starting on the beach, Pat opened his first studio and
signed a deal for his first book '21 Day Jump Start' which became the
best-selling health book of 2013. His
vision is to be the “Jamie Oliver of the Fitness Industry” and he was
recognised by Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg for his story and use of social
media. Pat’s recognition of the 165
‘missing hours’ led him to develop an online platform to support his fitness
clients outside of the 3 hours a week that they trained with him. Pat also won the Business category of the
Awards.
The
other Category winners were Sarah Davis-Goff and Lisa Coen of Tramp Press (Emerging Arts Entrepreneur
winners) and Stephen Cluskey of wheelchairtaxi.ie. (Emerging Social Entrepreneur winner.)
David
Manley Media Award:
Adrian
Weckler, Group Technology Editor, Independent News & Media, won the sixth
David Manley Media Award. This Award
honours one journalist every year for his or her inspiration for and commitment
to regular coverage of entrepreneurs.
Head of the judging panel, Dr. Chris Horn said, “Since moving to the
Independent, Adrian has broadened his writing from reviewing technology
products to covering companies including start-ups and those in the tech sector
and we believe his work is
doing much to inspire new entrepreneurs.”
Disclosure – I am a sponsor of
and do the PR for the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards.
EMMA MANLEY’S SPEECH
(EDITED)
(Age 10) Emma’s
first business – Eau de …… Áras!
Emma says, “My first business sadly didn’t make it off the ground.
It was a perfume making business I set up when Mary Robinson was our President
and I was ten years old. The idea being I would make the perfume from the
flowers in the Phoenix Park {they were free} and it would be called Áras. Women
around Ireland would want to wear the same scent as their President. It would
sell in duty free and tourists would lap it up. The Americans won’t be able to
get enough. Great idea but I got the basics all wrong, in short it smelled
terrible.”
(Age 13)
Emma’s second business - Jewellery
“I had much more success with my second business. What would be
the first of my Jewellery businesses! Then Mum and Dave wanted to sit down and
have a chat about my business. Mum a fashion designer herself, gave me my first
lesson in wholesale and how I could go about buying my supplies in bulk for
less. Dave gave me my first lesson in the economies of scale. After which he
questioned how I could upscale my business with the resources that I had.
Part of me wanted to say chill out, dude I’m thirteen but then
there was a bigger part of me that was lapping all the info up and wanting to
put it into practice immediately. That conversation led to an £80 loan for me
to buy my string and beads wholesale with the promise that I had to pay back
the £80 in eight weeks. With a 60% increase in profits thanks to Mum and Dave’s
lessons, I paid off my debts within a couple of weeks and I had the ready cash
to buy as many fashion magazines as I wanted and to hit the Leisureplex slot
machines with my friends!
THOUGHT IT’D BE EASIER
& I’D SEE RESULTS MORE QUICKLY
“When I set up Manley, I don’t believe I fully knew what I was
getting myself in for and honestly … I feel that it was for the best. Naivety
allowed me to dive in headfirst and by the time I realised what I had done,
there was no other way out than to succeed. For one, I thought it would be
easier. I thought I would see results more quickly. And I thought I would make
less mistakes. I’m still making mistakes now but I know I’m doing something
right because I’m making a lot less than I did when I started. Making mistakes and
learning from them is better than faking perfection!”
BIG CHALLENGE
– BEING CREATIVE & RUNNING A BUSINESS
“One of the biggest struggles for me was and still is to be that
inspired creative. Designing new and fresh collections every 6 months is a full
time and challenging job but trying to do this while running a business at the
same time, is tougher than I imagined. I suppose my understanding of running a
business was fairly 2d, the realisation of how multifaceted it was hit me like
a train when the first collection was designed and it was time to sell. Selling, designing, material sourcing,
sampling, production, embellishment, quality control, sales appointments, trade
shows, accounts, cash flow, budgeting, invoicing, PR and all the rest. These were
all on my head, the buck stopped with me. If I didn't attend to each and
everything myself, it just didn't get done. These elements were what was
keeping Manley alive but in the same breath, what was sucking the creativity
out of me.”
PASSION,
PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE
“The first three years of Manley taught me about what I now call
the three P’s. Passion. Patience. Persistence. Passion, each of us
entrepreneurs have in bucket loads for what we do. I ate, slept and breathed
Manley because my passion and belief in Manley knows no bounds. I learned to be
patient, to understand that not everybody is so quick to believe. And for those
that didn’t – persistence kicked in - I banged down the doors season after
season. Slowly but surely those doors began to open. Perhaps not a quickly as I
had first imagined or would have liked, but they did open.“
Early 2014 also tested Emma when her first and longest stockist
dropped them. They were moving in a new direction and Manley was not part of it. Emma’s grit showed through and she acquired a
new boutique stockist, launched an online shop – which now accounts for 20% of
her sales - and secured distribution with Arnotts!
TO SUM UP……
“Life is about the journey, not the destination. And this is what
excited me about Manley. The journey. Bumps on the road and all. I hope I’m
making Dave proud in what I am achieving and how I’m doing so. One thing I
know, is that he would agree, that it’s the journey that counts.”
