One of the most rewarding things about running a business is the chance to put your personal stamp on every little thing you do.
From your website to the products you sell, it’s great to let customers know that everything has been done with love and care, in a way that reflects who you are as a person and what you do as business.
But it can be tough – knitting individuality into your business can take a lot of work, so that’s why Sarah Lou, founder of bespoke jewellery, shoes gifts and accessories business Anara Designs, turned to 123 Reg.
Sarah got her business online using Make Me a Website from 123 Reg, because it gave her the chance to make sure her ecommerce store was as unique as the products she sells.
“I am a designer and it was a fantastic way to work with 123 Reg because I was able to get exactly what I wanted. My website is so important in my business for promoting myself and what I do and trying to get that across to people,” Sarah explained.
She added: “I am a perfectionist and so to be able to have it designed it meticulously exactly how I want to be, and to be able to communicate with 123 Reg and just say: ‘Do you know what, can I just move that picture up, can I just get it a little bit smaller, can I just change the colour of that swirl’ has been fantastic.'”
This desire to place a personal stamp on her website is also reflected in Sarah’s reasons for starting a business in the first place.
“I went to art college and did all sorts of different variations in art college, but then I sort of never progressed any further than that until I started wedding photography and basically I started noticing how the market was lacking in jewellery,” she explained.
It was as if it was falling at the last hurdle. They’d have a fantastic dress and veil and then the bride would say ‘I couldn’t find what I wanted, so in the end I just had to go to Debenhams and get this or I had to just sort of make do with whatever I could find’. And I was like, ‘that’s such a shame because to me… I’m a perfectionist and there is no such thing as falling at the last hurdle’.”
“It’s either right or it’s wrong and to go to that much effort on the dress and the veil and the flowers and the day and be so beautiful and the fall at that last bit was just… I just couldn’t understand that.”
So how have Sarah’s customers reacted to her 123 Reg website?
“We’ve had a lot of comments by all my clientele saying how beautiful the website looks now that I’ve had it designed. And again that is really important to me; that my website reflects me, my personality, and also the designs that I’m creating as well because we need people to go to our website and say ‘that’s Anara Design. We can see that’s Anara Design. It looks amazing.’.”
“If I was ever going to do another website, I would definitely use 123 Reg again,” Sarah added.
Sarah also had some inspiring words for anyone thinking about starting a business of their own.
“Just push forward and have confidence in yourself and in your own product because at the end of the day that is what works,” she said.
“That is what pushes you forward. Enthusiasm, being enthusiastic, loving what you do, being passionate about what you do… because I’ve always felt like I should not be enthusiastic and not sort of announce that and sort of be very reserved about it and then I realised that when I started being enthusiastic and sort of loving what I do and telling people how much I love what I do and keeping that up, that’s when people say, ‘do you know what? I want to work with you because you’re enthusiastic, I love your passion, and I want your passion’.”
If you want to get started with the 123 Reg Make Me A Website service, you can get more details here, or you can call our team on 0333 014 4550.
If you need more information about getting started with your business online, then check out our Online Business Training courses. They’re free and feature everything you need to know to start and grow your business.
Any questions? Get in touch via Twitter @123reg or on Facebook.
