Sally-Anne Baker was travelling when she came up with the idea of selling hard to find household products on the Internet. So she set up Kitchen Goddess and hopes to cash in on the growing trend for online shopping.
Name: Sally-Anne Baker
Age: 29
Business: Kitchen Goddess
Type of business: E-commerce
Start date: June 2005
When did you first decide you wanted to start your own business?
I always wanted to be my own boss and over the years I had a few ideas and even went so far as writing a business plan but never turned that ambition into a reality. But, forever sitting in traffic jams is a good motivator and, on the positive side, gave me time to think about what I’d really like to do. With my thirties around the corner it was now or never so I decided to take the plunge. If you never go, you never know!
Tell us about your business
Kitchen Goddess is a website business selling gorgeous kitchen and table essentials at dangerously affordable prices with a strong emphasis on gifting. It’s aimed at women who like entertaining in the comfort of their own home and who are, more and more, shopping online.
Was it your first business idea and where did it come from?
Kitchen Goddess was my first non hair-brained idea! Whilst travelling in other countries, I realised that there are so many beautiful products for the home you simply can’t find here in the UK, this led me to come up with the idea of Kitchen Goddess.
What makes you think there’s a market for your business?
All the evidence shows that online shopping has been growing for the past two or three years, and is now becoming really mainstream. In particular, 56% of women are now shopping online because they have less time and it is much more convenient. The trend for leisure cooking and kitchen gadgets are also on the up suggesting consumers will continue to spend money on their kitchens and entertaining.
Once you’d decided to start a business, what did you do first?
I carried a notepad around with me everywhere jotting down all the ideas and random thoughts that came into my head. At that time my head was buzzing, I’m sure that’s when you get the best ideas. I also discussed the idea with my partner and then wrote a to do list of all the things I thought would need to happen before I could launch.
What research did you do?
To find out whether there was an opportunity I created a questionnaire. It was a bit rough and ready and not very statistically robust but it gave me a good feel for what consumers thought about this area. Then I sat at my computer and scoured through tons of stuff on the Internet, not all useful! I then visited a fantastic interiors exhibition in Paris to check out products available to sell.
What advice did you seek?
I found the Business Link very helpful. They checked through my business plan and recommended a free two-day course for people starting up new businesses, which was two days well spent. I attended a regional enterprise show and talked to people who had started up in the last year, that was a great insight.
What other help did you get?
I talked to friends, taxi drivers, anyone with their own business to hear what it was like from the horse’s mouth.
Does the government need to provide more help to people trying to start a business?
Information-wise I think they are about there, however some financial assistance in the first few months would be very welcome!
Talk us through the process of writing your business plan.
I tried the fancy software from the bank but in the end I just took the best bits from many templates I had found and created my own. It was good to get all those ideas down in some sort of clear fashion. Once it was on paper I felt like I was on my way.
How useful has your business plan been and do you think you’ll stick to it as your business begins to grow?
I don’t follow it to the letter every day, and things change as you go along but the principles are definitely very valid.