YourBusinessWithJamesCaan2016 - 89

MARCIA
ROBINSON, 44

OPENED THE FIRST UK
FRANCHISE OF THE ITALIAN
BAG BRAND 'O'. HER SHOP,
THE O BAG STORE, IS IN
LONDON'S CROUCH END
It will be all-consuming!
I wish I'd been more
prepared for the amount of
time I'd have to invest to
the detriment of myself and my family.
I used to regularly go on holiday, go for
a run and socialise but since starting my
own business, I've worked more hours
than ever. Prepare yourself that you no
longer work 9 till 5 as there's no set
start and end to your day. I'm slowly
striking a balance. I realised I was
giving others flexibility but not myself.
It's hard to let go in the beginning but
I've tried to be more organised, found
the right people to support me when I
need them so I can still pick my son up
from school and take him to football.
Spend your money
wisely I went from working
in finance to owning a shop
and yet had very little
knowledge of the retail industry. I didn't
anticipate just how challenging it would
be to get publicity and attention for the
brand and drive business to my London
shop. I had no links with any fashion
magazines and no real insider
knowledge which made it so hard to get
any media coverage. It was difficult to
know where to start. I later learnt that
you can pay celebrities to endorse your
products so I now wish I'd saved the
money I spent on advertising and PR,
found the right person for my product
and invested on them helping me
market it instead.
Location, location,
location I love Crouch End
in north London - it's my
home and it's such a
supportive community, but with
hindsight I would have opened my shop
somewhere else. It's made it very hard
to shut off. I wanted to bring lovely
things to my high street and of course
I had a good idea of my clientele but it's

In the bag: Marcia wishes
she'd done more research
into the retail sector

sometimes hard to just be Marcia rather
than 'Marcia who owns the bag shop'.
I also wasn't prepared for the invasion
of social media. Admittedly I'm always
checking my business Instagram and
Facebook pages to keep up with likes,
followers, comments and to upload. It's
a fantastic tool to connect with new and
potential customers but I do feel bad
when my 10 year old tells me off for
always being on my phone.
Be realistic about your
turnover I felt I'd done lots
of prep - I had a solid
business plan and cashflow
forecast but I still overestimated the
projected revenue. Losing the stability
of a salary every month is hard and
certainly something you miss but I
wasn't scared to leave my secure job to
start a new journey and I know my
ultimate goal is to work towards even
more financial security.

Understand what it
means to own a
franchise In hindsight, I
wish I'd done more research
into franchising so I'd have known what
questions to ask about the level of
support to expect. I assumed I would
get some level of marketing, PR and
financial support but the reality for me
was there was nothing. Another thing to
realise about owning a franchise is that
it's never really yours. If you are
someone who just likes to get on with it
and try out ideas, you are somewhat
restricted and this can be frustrating at
times. That's worth bearing in mind if
you are thinking of taking the plunge
but I haven't looked back. It was a good
decision to strike out on my own.
To find out more, visit
obagnorthlondon.co.uk;
facebook.com/obagfactorylondon;
instagram.com/obaglondon

89
http://obagnorthlondon.co.uk http://www.facebook.com/obagfactorylondon http://www.instagram.com/obaglondon
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