FOR THE PAST seven years, I worked as a nurse. It was all I had known until last year when I started taking baby steps towards leaving that world behind to dive into life as an entrepreneur.
Leaving my permanent nursing job to develop a line of kids’ clothing wasn’t something I thought I’d ever end up doing. I’ve always had a passion for fashion and designing, but now something that was just my hobby is my life.
The idea to set up my own clothing line, called Hello Bezlo, was inspired by an experience I had while trying to buy clothes for my young niece. I found it very difficult to find anything that matched her style and personality. When I go shopping for her, all I see is a sea of pink frilly dresses and princess stuff.
That’s the tradition, isn’t it? Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. But it doesn’t need to be and that’s why I’m working on a line of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) inspired clothing that breaks the trend and empowers girls from a young age.
When I first went looking for clothes for my niece, I hadn’t been in a kids’ wear shop for years and it seemed like nothing has really changed from when I was growing up.
I wasn’t alone in thinking that there was a serious gap there to be exploited. I have worked in a children’s hospital and when chatting to parents, clothes would regularly come up as a topic and a lot of them say this is something they have a problem with.
Taking the leap
My gut instinct was telling me it was a really good idea, but actually going for it was a whole different matter. I wanted to grab this chance to be creative, but I also loved being a nurse.
A few years ago, before I had the idea for Hello Bezlo, I randomly bumped into some people who were over in Dublin for Web Summit. I wasn’t attending myself and just chatted to them for a while about what they do.
They were entrepreneurs and they suggested to me that I should start my own business. At the time I thought they were crazy. I had a really close-minded view of entrepreneurship and never thought of it as a possibility.
Still, what they said stayed with me. Especially when they said, “If you have an idea worth going for, you’ll just know it and become obsessed with it.” And that’s exactly what happened, I thought of Hello Bezlo and became obsessed.
I knew there were lots of cool ideas to try out with girls’ clothes and there was definitely a market for it. That didn’t make it any easier to ditch my great permanent nursing job that I loved, but I did it.
I left my job this time last year and joined an agency so I could pick and choose my own hours, which consisted of a lot of weekends and night shifts, so I could get some money saved up behind me and also be free to go to startup events to immerse myself in this new world.
Brand new world
When I first started I thought people in the startup world wouldn’t take me seriously because I was a nurse starting a business. I was even afraid to say it to too many people and didn’t tell many of my friends at all. I kept it on the QT for what felt like a long time as I built up the confidence to actually say what I was up to.
It was only a baby step, but the company really started when I set up an Instagram account. I found it was a great platform to introduce people to the story of why I set up the company and get feedback. I was amazed by the response.
Parents from Australia, Asia, the US and other parts of the world got onto me to say they loved the idea and told me about their struggles and what they would like to see in girls’ fashion.
So, I had parents on my side and it gave me even more confidence that this was a good idea. But I was still a newbie to the startup world. That all changed when I stumbled across a startup event in London last year.
I was just walking along and someone handed me a leaflet to a startup event, so I went in and got chatting to people. I even ended up talking my way into a pre-accelerator programme that was happening in the city.
It was a week-long crash course on everything you need to know about starting a LEAN startup like product market fit and business models. It was all stuff I had never heard of.
It also introduced me to the world of investing. After a lot of grafting, I actually got my first angel investment in the past few weeks, but it has been a tough pitch at times.
When I talk to investors, my problem is they hear me say ‘clothing’ and almost dismiss it straight away without realising the hungry market that exists and the potential a brand like Hello Bezlo can achieve.
Even though my choices are narrower than your average tech startup, I don’t want to take on just any investor. I’ve tried to focus on finding the right investor that is in this space and could bring a lot more to the table than just cash.
Next phases
I came back to Ireland from that pre-accelerator event so much more focused. I was mapping out what I needed to do to actually make this all work and started focusing on the product.
I did a Kickstarter campaign last October and the main aim of that was to make people aware of the brand, get the word out there and gauge people’s opinions on the designs.
I didn’t really discover the Dublin startup scene until I did the Kickstarter. That project opened up a whole new world of connections. People were emailing me and wanting to collaborate, meet up and get behind the company.
What we had on Kickstarter was a very small snapshot of the clothing line I would eventually like to roll out in September when we plan to launch officially. Then the fun really begins.
Clodagh Connell is the founder of Hello Bezlo. This article was written in conversation with Killian Woods as part of a series on unlikely entrepreneurs.
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Written by Clodagh Connell and posted on Fora.ie
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