When Sarah Lee was made redundant she found what she thought was an ideal business opportunity that also allowed her to work from home. She tells Startups.co.uk how a simple wallpaper design started the whole thing rolling.

Name: Sarah Lee
Age: 41
Business name: Queenshill.com
Nature of business: Retails soft furnishings website
Number of employees: 2
Turnover: £100 000 per annum

What made you take the plunge and startup your own business?
My children are growing up and I identified a successful a business opportunity that could be run from home.

Where did the idea for your business come from?
It all started with Wallace and Gromit and a roll of wallpaper. I had seen the Wallace and Gromit design but couldn’t remember where. Hunting through book after book of samples in shop after shop left me frustrated and in the end I found it by accident. It wasn’t the manufacturer I thought it was, the cover of the book wasn’t even the colour I’d imagined it was.

I decided it would have been brilliant if you could have found it on the internet. So we aimed to set up a site that gives an ever-increasing choice and we will shortly be improving our search engine to help customers narrow down that choice.

Where did you get the funding to start your business?
I was made redundant and I was looking for a business opportunity. I was the main driving force behind the company and my role has been everything from arranging photography, talking to suppliers, bank, credit card merchandisers, bookkeeping, order processing and design of the site. My husband is an IT Project Manager specialising in e-commerce has overseen the development of the web site.

How long did it take from your startup idea to your first day trading?
The initial design period was eight weeks and then the selection of content management system and subsequent creation of templates took a further 12 weeks. The time consuming element of the whole development was the creation of the digital assets.

What jobs did you do before you started your own business and did they help you?
I have been a mother, housewife and bookkeeper over the last 14 years and before that I worked in the IT industry. I believe you can always apply experience from any walk of life.

What skills and personal characteristics do you need to start your own business?
You need to be self-motivating and keep persevering. There is often no one to hold your hand or help you through problems. However you always have the satisfaction of knowing the success is all due to you.

Tell us about your website. How important is it to your business?
We only sell through our website, we do not have a high street shop. For this type of product the clarity of the photography and the fresh look of the site are essential. We are sure we have achieved this and we have also had a lot of feedback saying how easy it is to use.

What's the single most important thing that has helped your business succeed?
Quality products and a high level of customer service. We offer free samples as well as free delivery.

How many hours a week do you work?
More than 35 hours, as much time as I could spare but the industry is very seasonal so I do not always do 5 days in the summer.

What has been your main business problem?
Firstly, not having a previous account with a credit card merchandiser meant no one was prepared to give us an account for transactions where the customer was not present until we had traded with them on a customer-present basis for 6 months. Obviously as we were only selling online this would not be possible. Fortunately, my husband had had business accounts with Lloyds and the bank manager was prepared to give a reference to the card company.

The second obstacle we found was that suppliers wary of dealing with a company that only wanted to sell online and many manufacturers didn’t want to upset existing retailers. It appeared that suppliers at the budget end of the market would sell at any price to anybody, but others wanted to remain exclusive. They worried that Queenshill.com would discount fabrics, undercutting traditional outlets, and didn’t want them to ship abroad because of existing export agreements.

However we were able to convince many suppliers that they would be helping to develop a quality site and which would show off their products to a new audience, but sadly some design houses still wouldn't agree. Since the business started trading in August 2001 it's noticeable that manufacturers' attitudes have been gradually changing as the internet has gained acceptance in the mass market and several now have their own sites.

Was there ever a time when you thought you were close to failing - and what did you do to overcome that?
We have never been that close to failing, but we have spent quite a lot of money advertising in magazines with no great response. Most of our customers find us by recommendation or using search engines.

What is your top tip to anyone wanting to startup his or her own business?
Decide on a budget, get some professional advise, use an off the shelf e-commerce package such as Actinic and thoroughly plan the site and business processes surrounding it.

Is there anything you would do differently today?
Only now are we adding products where good images already exist because producing images has been a huge drain on our resources.

Where do you see your business in a year's time?
Hopefully we will be slowly expanding by adding more and more products.

Are your main ambitions financial (to make a lot of money) or lifestyle based (to enjoy what you do)?
It would be nice to have the luxury of purely doing something for enjoyment. I set up Queenshill.com as an alternative source of income, but I enjoy running the company and the flexibility of being able to work from home.

Would you start another business?
If I saw another good opportunity I would start another business tomorrow.