About Lizzie
Let’s talk a little bit about whether I am the right person to coach you through the transition from simply selling your products to your own audience (retail), to adding a new income stream by selling to new potential stockists (wholesale).
Most importantly, I love coaching creative people and supporting them in making their dreams of running and growing their small business a reality. Sharing my knowledge, experiences and insights in order to help and inspire others on their journey as small business owners is so very rewarding. A lot of the feedback I’ve had with regards to my coaching, is that I have a special ability to create safe spaces where people can be open, honest and even vulnerable where needed. This allows those involved to have breakthroughs and mindset shifts that move them forward, not just with their practical learning but in their self development as creative entrepreneurs. I love to see people making good money doing what they love and do not believe that it is necessary to chose one over the other.
In 2009 I founded SMUG, a bricks and mortar design store in north London’s Islington. For over 10 years, I grew, developed and ran that business, including our website and later, a workshop space, podcast and my own product collection, Lizzie for SMUG.
Over that decade I was, among other things, the buyer. I heard from hundreds of designers every year, reaching out both by email and in person, asking me to stock their products. I know first hand as a buyer, the mistakes that designers make time and time again, that make it much less likely for them to connect with the buyer and store and to get their products on the shelves.
I know exactly what needs to be in place in order to make saying yes to stocking a new designers work easy. Buyers are often inundated with designers reaching out in the hopes of having their work carried in a store. It’s so easy for that work to fall between the cracks and go unseen if you don’t know how to present it in a way that will 1. get the buyers attention and 2. leave them with no reasons not to say yes and place an order. Buyers and store owners do not want to be having to email back to ask for further information or to negotiate a more realistic margin.
Buyers will scan these emails very quickly and see many a day. In order to get stocked, a designer needs to both stand out and tick all of the boxes that are in the back of that buyer’s mind. I can even take you through the ‘cherry on the top’ elements that a. stockists will find so appealing that they want to work with you asap and b. moves them to get that first order emailed over right away.
I’m currently a stay at home mum with little to no childcare (Covid). So you might occasionally see my son Stan on a live call or maybe I’ll need to tweak or change something in the course in terms of timings or something else, in order to make sure he has what he needs. I might be slower to get back to you than I originally expect due to his changing needs. So I guess it’s important that you get that and that him being my priority is cool with you.
So, it’s down to you to decide if I sound like a good fit for you. You’d be getting my feedback on your work each week and would find yourself part of a group of other designers that I will hold space for, encourage, challenge and celebrate. Would you value that feedback and advice? Would you like to be part of this community of designer makers and budding wholesalers? Let me know. Feel free to reach out with any questions using the form above. You can also find me on Instagram if you’d prefer to chat there.
Lizzie x
