I started a side business with 50 cents and turned it into a six-figure business
WHEN Bethany Holland picked up a 50p scarf from a charity shop, she had no idea it would be the catalyst for her own six-figure business.
The 29-year-old now earns £15,000 a month from her fashion brand and has quit her day job to focus on her passion full-time.
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After the modest scarf received a number of compliments, Bethany decided to wash it and sell it to a friend for a profit.
“I realized there was a business opportunity,” she told Fabulous.
She then scoured charity shops and vintage shops for more similar items and started selling on Depop and at local markets alongside her job as a paramedic for the NHS.
Bethany is a big fan of country and western clothing, so she decided to make this her niche and call her brand The Country Ladies Closet.
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As her business continued to grow, Bethany from Poole, Dorset, met a leather bag seller whose family made bags abroad.
“Being a big country fan, I love them, so I invested my money from the vintage business into the cowhides and designed a few bags,” she said.
“That was the start of my career.”
She then decided to launch her own online retailer, called Bethany Rae, where she sold the leather bags, among other country and western style goods, and ran the business from a small warehouse on an industrial estate.
After five years, the company had grown so large that Bethany was able to quit her day job and focus on it full-time.
She started selling her clothes at festivals and events, and in 2023 she was fortunate enough to open her own brick-and-mortar store, Lavender Moon, in her hometown.
She said: “I really believe in the current of bricks and mortar.
“After five years of running Bethany Rae from a room on an industrial estate, I was thrilled to open my own shop on the city center high street.”
After a year in her first shop, Bethany was invited to move her shop to Poole’s Kingland Crescent, which has gained an international reputation for its ambitious regeneration through Legal & Generalpartly funded by Nest pensions.
After receiving a support package to grow her business, her monthly turnover ‘exploded’ from £4,000 to £15,000 in just six months.
Her new store is three times the size of the old building, and the bride-to-be was able to use the extra money to plan her dream wedding.
How to start your own business
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for aspiring entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest obstacles aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs face is a lack of confidence. You have to believe in your idea – more than that, be the one who bores your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, the confidence to make decisions is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you stand still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if possible. If that doesn’t work, find someone else who can.
- It’s okay to not get it right the first time. My experience making bad decisions helped me develop my self-confidence, which made me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember that the Internet has leveled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
She said: “I am so proud of what I have achieved and it is amazing to think it all started with a 50p scarf.
“Lavender Moon is blooming like never before. Having a bigger store has opened so many doors for me.”
The rise of the ‘Cowboy Core’ trend has not only benefited from the prime location of her new store, but has also contributed to Bethany’s skyrocketing growth.
“Country fashion is all the rage this year, and so am I
I have really seen the impact of that on my sales,” she said.
“Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album have made my business the trendiest on the block.”
Bethany’s journey hasn’t all been smooth sailing, however, as she suffers from premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a rare condition that causes severe depression, irritability and tension in the week or two before a period.
She revealed that the condition, which was highlighted by Married At First Sight’s Vicky Pattison and Kristina Goodsell, often makes running her business a struggle.
“One week a month I am unwell,” she explained.
“With self-doubt, bad moods, anxiety and brain fog, running a business during those times is difficult, to say the least.”
I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved and it’s amazing to think it all started with a 50 cent scarf.
Bethany Holland
“But my business gave me purpose and drive and I’m pretty sure it’s one of the biggest things that gets me through every month!”
Sharing advice with aspiring entrepreneurs, Bethany said it’s important to mark products with a significant amount.
“Everything costs more than you think,” she said.
“My best tip for others who have…
A case like mine is to identify all the costs associated with your product and multiply by 2.5.
“This gives you a rough idea of how much you should sell it for. If you do less, you risk making a loss.”
Bethany is now able to employ a small group of people to help her run her shop, allowing her to achieve a good work-life balance.
“Part of the motivation for wanting to grow my own business was to work flexible hours that suit me,” she says.
“I spent a lot of my twenties with health problems and I needed something that gave me passion but also work in my life.”
