- Sector:
- Creative Services
- Region:
- Cardiff
I run the fashion brand, Finley’s House. I specialise in designing and making latex clothing.
Starting my own business came from me taking lots of little aspects of life experience I had and realising I could put them all together to make my own job. I have always favoured a creative pathway over a traditionally academic one. With being a creative person comes sometimes feeling as though the only option is to make it up for yourself. So I did just that!
I’m inspired by a huge amount, I would say attributes of a person that I can take inspiration from are those who are tenacious, driven and go against the grain. But I’m also inspired by people watching. It inspires me seeing two strangers interact on a busy train. Or seeing someone perfectly balance their shopping at the till so they don’t need to buy a bag. I guess the mundanity of life inspires me. I like to think up a story or an idea to go along with it, and that in time will often turn into an idea for a design that turns into a product I sell
Throughout running my brand I have found myself in a lot of situations where I have needed to problem solve things I didn’t know how to deal with before it happened. Recently there has been a new policy in the EU called GSPR, which stops any business trading to the EU without EU representation. I had to decided to stop selling their and learn as fast as possible what this policy meant for my company so I was able to open sales back up in the EU. I overcame this by reaching out to other businesses, doing my own research online. Through this I have been able to find a representative, I understand further into selling overseas and feel confident when something like this may happen again in the future.
Being able to manage my own time is one of my favourite things about being my own boss. I also enjoy the creative freedom it gives me.