Well, just over a year, actually. We registered the business in August 2023, but we didn’t start selling our first product until October 2023. We’re currently going through another period of turbulence, so I apologize in advance if this reflection feels a bit negative. But, as always, I’ll be completely honest about what it’s like to be a business owner.
The Facts
In one year, we’ve salvaged 450 tents—an achievement we’re really proud of. My goal for the end of this year was 500, so I’m thrilled that we’re almost there! The downside is that our stock room is very full. We’ve pretty much accepted any waste we can get, and with sales not high enough to keep up, we’ve got more stock than we can use. I’ll come back to this later.
Here are a few more facts: We’ve had over 220 orders through our website, 20 orders via our new Etsy account, and over 1,000 items sold face-to-face at our events. Our best-seller? The sit mat, which was actually a brainchild of one of our very loyal customers.
Another awesome milestone: Our Instagram following has now reached 14k, which was no small feat! The first 7k came easily after our initial viral TikTok video, but that was pretty much all it gave us. We quickly realized that it’s not just about the number of followers you have—it’s about having the right followers. The ones who are ready to shop and invest in your brand. I’m not sure that viral TikTok video gave us that, but it certainly helped us get noticed.
A fun fact about our socials: our best-performing TikTok video has reached 8.7 million views, with 195k likes and 7,600 comments. It’s crazy, especially since the video took almost no effort to create and has the most annoying audio! I can’t say this was planned—it was completely organic and took us by surprise.
Social Media: The Minefield
Social media is a minefield, and something I don’t think you can ever truly master. The goalposts are constantly shifting. But here are a few lessons we’ve learned so far:
- Be authentic: Be honest, and speak truthfully about yourself and your brand.
- Be human: Post sporadically—don’t over-plan everything.
- Lift others up: Supporting other businesses and people in your space is not only a kind thing to do, but it also helps you meet like-minded people going through similar challenges. If you swap posts and support each other, you can influence each other’s followers too.
- Be direct: Make sure your posts are clear and to the point. If you’re selling something, include a quick link to buy. You only get a few seconds of someone’s attention, so get them to act fast!
- Don’t focus solely on the product: Hard-selling is not the key. People want to know about the process, the people behind the brand, and what makes your product special.
- Test paid ads: If you’re going to use paid ads, test the post first. If you get good engagement in the first 24 hours, go ahead and place the ad. If not, start over.
Market Stalls and Festivals: The Reality
One of our biggest sources of income has been market stalls and festivals. Honestly, though, only about 1 in 4 of them has been a success. The rest have been soul-crushing. Sitting outside in the rain, repeating your “spiel” to no one—it’s one of the hardest parts of the job. We’ve spent hours, sometimes entire days, at markets where we didn’t sell a single item.
For me, time is a big issue. As a small business owner, time is never accounted for, and you usually only get out what you put in. So spending eight hours at a stall, selling nothing, while I could have been with my two young kids, is tough. But, when it works, it’s amazing. Meeting customers face-to-face, hearing how awesome our idea is—that’s a fantastic feeling. It’s validation, a high I can’t get enough of.
One of the best events for us was Wilderness Festival. We had an incredible few days, working all day and enjoying the festival in the evening. Okay, I don’t like camping, and I ended up in the medic tent on the last day, but it was still a brilliant experience. A real highlight of our first year!
The Harder Part of Year One
Okay, now for the hard part. Ben and I really do put everything into this. We both work two to three jobs each, then spend long weekends and evenings working on Retribe events. We know that’s just the norm for a new business, but what’s hardest is the perception that we’re doing really well. Because we’ve got followers and some traction on social media, people assume we’re automatically successful. But we don’t feel successful yet.
In the past year, we’ve had to move studios, and every month, finding rent has been a struggle. By June, we had to let go of our amazing full-time staff member, Emily, which was possibly the worst experience of my career. It felt like such a personal failure. Emily was a third of our team, a huge part of our early days. We’ll admit—we tried to grow too quickly.
Our mission was to make Retribe a movement in manufacturing by starting big: with a factory space, a studio, a professional website, branding, and well-made British products. But the reality has hit hard. We’ve poured a lot of our own money into this, along with a small business loan, but the business just swallows cash. I’m sure other small business owners can relate.
We’ve tried every funding opportunity we could find, but because we’re using traditional labor methods and not anything high-tech, there’s little funding available to us.
A long and frustrating experience applying for a £1,000 grant from the council has left me deeply skeptical of grants and funding. It took six months to apply, and the money had to be used for something they deemed “eligible”—not rent, not wages (which account for 90% of our costs). We used it to buy dead stock, but here’s the kicker: we had to pay for it upfront, then wait for the grant to be reimbursed. It took four months to get the money back, and in the meantime, the business ate up every penny. At one point, we even incurred overdraft fees because we hadn’t received the grant. A complete nightmare.
The Journey So Far
Year one has been full of ups and downs, and sometimes, it feels like we’re teetering on the edge of whether we’ll make it through the month or not. It’s chaos! We’ve had so many amazing opportunities, but very rarely have we been able to monetize them. I apologize for focusing so much on the financial side, but that’s the reality of running a business.
That said, our mission and vision remain strong. While we may be adapting our business plan to pay the bills, our core values remain unchanged. We’re committed to reducing landfill waste, and so far, we’ve saved 450 tents, which is a huge achievement. We’re doing this by enjoying the process when we can, seizing every opportunity—whether it means sitting in the rain for hours, camping for weeks on end, or sacrificing every spare weekend.
We’re incredibly proud of the community we’ve built, and we’ve met so many wonderful people along the way. We’ve learned a lot, but I won’t pretend we have all the answers—we’ll continue to make mistakes, but that’s just life.
Year 2, Here We Come!