OK, so here’s the bad news: you didn’t get to go to the latest Stylist Network event, which was all about starting your own business (unless you were there, in which case, hi! Hope you had fun!). But here’s the good news to lift you out of your FOMO: we took plenty of notes, and can thus share some key takeaways from the night with you. 

The event, in partnership with Google, kicked off with a keynote speech from Lottie Whyte, the co-founder of sports recovery brand MyoMaster. Whyte is seriously impressive, and credits a great deal of her success to receiving a cash grant from Google as part of the company’s Black Founders Fund. She also appeared on Dragons’ Den. Ahead, we’ve recapped the five lessons Whyte shared while speaking at our Stylist Network event. You’ll want to play close attention, as it’s this wisdom that Whyte says helped her to build a six-figure business.

“In a world where very little is completely different, the art of storytelling and sharing why you do what you do has never been more important,” said Whyte. “A friend of mine started a plus-size tights business, but she doesn’t sell tights. She sells body positivity. I’ve got another friend who made a travelling prosecco bus. Guess what? She doesn’t sell prosecco. She sells making sure you have the night of your life. Nike doesn’t sell you trainers; it sells you inspiration and the belief that you can do anything. 

“The minute I stopped talking about how my handheld massager was the strongest and most powerful on the market, and started talking to athletes about their fitness goals, our business skyrocketed. Because people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. 

“Remember, you’re unique. Nobody else on Earth has walked in your shoes. And the reason you started is totally unique. Think about the brands you love. You buy them because they represent something: an aspiration, a belief system, a group of people. When you’re starting out, it’s crucial to think about what you stand for, what you believe in.”

Rather than trying to make your business a crowdpleaser that absolutely everyone likes (which isn’t a realistic goal, let’s be real), aim to be something that a select group of people feels truly passionate about. Or, as Whyte puts it, “be fucking Marmite”. 

“If you speak to everyone, you speak to no one,” Whyte said. “Don’t be afraid to exclude every other audience at the expense of speaking to the audience you’re obsessed with capturing. 

“Really think about who you want to target, who you’re building your business for, and become obsessed with that group of people. Follow them online, invite them to events, hang out where they do. In the last few years, I’ve spent my weekends stood at the finish line of nearly 100 races. Why? Because that’s where my customer is. Get obsessed with your customers and proudly exclude everybody who isn’t them.”

Whyte warned: “Running out of money is the single biggest reason businesses fail. I often get asked by budding founders about raising investment. I get it. It’s exciting, and it tends to dominate the headlines. But I want to be clear, less than half a percent of businesses raise money from VCs and I share this stat not because it can’t be done, but because raising money really isn’t meant for every business. The most powerful business you can build is one that is profitable. One that doesn’t rely on outside people and investment. 

“It’s really common as founders that we get blindsided by revenue and how many sales we’re generating, but it just means very little if you aren’t making any profit and there isn’t any cash left at the end.”

There are three tips Whyte gave to take this lesson to heart: 

• Learn to run on a shoestring budget
• Negotiate absolutely everything
• Understand your profit from day one

“I was not prepared for how many times I was going to completely fail on this journey,” Whyte said. “In the early days, the failures broke me. I thought I wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t smart enough, my idea wasn’t strong enough, I wasn’t working hard enough. I’m a few years in now, and I’ve overcome every obstacle. 

“I look back at every single one of those failures, every single rejection, and I just know it was part of the process. If I’m not winning, I’m learning. Because building a successful business is really just a series of failures stacking so high that you finally start to get it right. Please don’t let the fear of failure be the thing that holds you back. Because the only real failure is not trying at all.”

“Going it alone, like most things in life, is a game of self-belief and relentlessness,” Whyte shared. “This game isn’t really about your idea, your experience or your knowledge. It’s about how determined you are to make it happen, how hard you’re willing to work and your refusal to quit.”

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Images: shotbyfarheenxo