Pressman PR

Franca Hood: "More Little Red Riding than Robin."

Franca Hood is the entrepreneur behind online gift site Something Divine (see www.somethingdivine.co.uk). The company supplies beautiful giftware to private and corporate buyers with clients including Derby County Football Club. In an exclusive interview with the Pressman PR news blog she revealed the truth about why women love jewellery…

Tell us About Something Divine. What is it exactly and why is it divine?

Something Divine is a design-led luxury gift company supplying both private and corporate clients with boutique style products which are stylish, high quality and quirky, yet affordable.

It is divine because most of the products can’t be found easily on the high street, so it makes buying gifts a pleasurable experience. Elegance is standard, rather than an optional extra.

What led to you launch the business?

I was finding it increasingly difficult to find high quality luxury gifts for my friends and family on the high street, and I found that because we all lead such busy lives, buying gifts, cards and wrapping paper always seems rushed and last minute.

By offering a service which does everything from handwriting the card to wrapping the gift and sending it directly to the recipient, it takes the pressure out of buying gifts and makes it a more enjoyable experience because it is effortless.

My wife has a birthday coming up. What should I buy her?

You should consider what sort of lady your wife is. Is she hearts or stars; bling or plain; black, pink or silver? The answer to those questions will give you the perfect gift that she will adore. Add a card with a personalised message, some luxury gift wrap and the job is done for you.

We also offer a service called “Never Forget” which is an email reminder service. Simply enter your memorable dates and we will send you an email reminder at a frequency decided by you. You will never forget a birthday or anniversary again.

What’s the deal with women and jewellery? Why do they like it so much?

Jewellery is adored by women because it allows them so much personal expression. Whether it is light and discreet or heavy and bold, it enables ladies to express themselves and has a fantastic feel-good factor. We all love to feel special and we can do that by accessorising with our favourite jewellery. The other thing with jewellery is that we can never have enough of it. So there is always that fantastic little something that someone can buy for us to make us feel extra special and to earn them Brownie points.

What was your first job? Did you enjoy it?

After a paper round and working in Boots as a Saturday girl, my first job was as a children’s nanny. I did the job for five years and loved it largely because I’m so bossy. I then developed a love for paperwork and organisation and so moved into office work and became a PA. Basically bossing bigger people around! I love to be organised. I’m very OCD like that; open my cupboards and all of my tins face the front!

What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done for money?

When I was 19, I helped raise some money for Esther Rantzen’s charity, Childline. A group of us dressed in fancy dress and spent the day in Derby City Centre collecting money. I was dressed as a fairy, in the most divine little white tutu. I have to admit that I loved every minute of it, it was so much fun, and we raised lots of money for a very worthy cause.

Is the recession impacting your business? How so?

I started Something Divine just as the country was entering recession, so the impact it is having is that it is not growing as quickly as it would have if we were economically buoyant. However, I feel that by starting out during these difficult times, I have never had any room for complacency which I actually feel is a healthy attitude to have towards business. I have never taken anything for granted, and am grateful for every contract I gain.

What do you think businesses can do to survive the economic downturn?

The first thing many businesses are doing is looking at how to make savings and improvements internally in order to cut their costs and improve their own efficiency. This will of course be beneficial in the long term anyway, but now is a great time to evaluate and measure and ensure that every single activity is vital for productivity. Hard times force us to strip out the things we may be doing which are a waste of time.

Your name is Hood and you are from the East Midlands. Do you think robbing the rich to feed the poor is a good idea?

I would consider myself more “Little Red Riding” than “Robin” so am perhaps more wary of wolves than Sheriffs, but no, I don’t consider robbing anyone to be a particularly good idea!

How important do you think PR and good publicity are for business?

PR and good publicity are vital for business. I strongly believe that people buy from people they like, and to build a good reputation is paramount to gaining trust and respect in your particular field. PR and good publicity can only help this.

Would you be more or less inclined to use a PR company that guaranteed national media coverage or your money back? Why?

I would be more inclined to use a PR company which offered a guarantee of national media coverage as it shows that they have confidence in their own ability which in turn would instill a certain level of confidence in me. Especially if the guarantee was money-back. You almost can’t lose and with marketing budgets being very tight, I think that some sort of guarantee makes it a very attractive proposition.

What have been the personal highs and lows of your business career?

My own personal high during business has been winning the contract to exclusively supply Derby County Football Club with all of their corporate gifts and trophies. It showed enormous belief and confidence from the club in the quality of Something Divine’s products and service, and our ability to meet their own very high standards. I am very proud of that achievement.

Lows I think have to be the occasional feelings of loneliness. Having to make my own decisions can sometimes be difficult, as I came from a background of a very large organization, but then I think of all the benefits of being on my own and the lows soon disappear.

What single piece of advice would you give to someone starting out in business today?

Plan, Do, Check, Act. It’s cyclical and vital to an evolving business. PDCA. Similar to YMCA only without the leather chaps.

Thanks Franca and best of luck with Something Divine.

Hi Graeme, what was your first job? Was it any good and did it pay well?

My first job was as a freelance Marketing consultant working for myself. It was great as I had no direct boss and when I won business the value was high seeing I only had one mouth to feed. However the realities of all the other stuff linked to running your own business soon sunk in. Things like credit control, accounting and legal regulations soon made me realise it was not easy being a one man band in the consulting sector

Did you go to University? How important do you think education is to

entrepreneurs?

Yes I graduated from the Cardiff Business School which is

part of the University of Wales. It was a great life experience and I really

enjoyed my time at University and I think it teaches you many skills you use

throughout your life. I was fortunate that at the time Cardiff Business

School was won of the top 10 in the country and I had one or two really

outstanding professors (one of whom has sadly passed away recently) who were world renowned and leaders within strategic marketing. Their teaching and interaction certainly helped me. Having said that, I don’t think it is essential to have gone through this type of education to be a successful entrepreneur, it just helped me.

Is Caspian Learning your first business venture?

No, as I said my first job was an entrepreneurial venture. Caspian is however my first real VC backed company which is another whole kettle of fish from being a sole trader or partnership organisation.

When did you launch Caspian Learning and why? What was your inspiration?

Caspian was actually launched by a husband and wife partnership (both of which had academic qualifications in cognitive psychology) in 2002 who having seen what the US military were doing with high-end simulations and games, had the inspiration of attempting to build a specific engine to bring the power of 3D games within reach for mainstream training and education. I was approached in 2003-4 to invest in the company and become its figurehead.

I decided to do this simply because I had run sales and training functions for major FTSE companies and had never seen a training capability like it. I believed that it could and still can change the face of learning. This meant I would be responsible for building a robust business plan, organising our organisational capabilities and most importantly for a technology company, getting good quality VC’s to invest in the vision.

Can you tell us what’s different about your company?

Caspian has developed a unique technology platform called Thinking Worlds. This engine is unique in a number of ways, however what makes it special is it is the only true web deliverable 3D simulation engine designed to improve learning experiences.

This engine can be used by teachers, trainers, designers with no programming skill or graphics and 3d skills to develop there own highly engaging 3D simulations for themselves. These simulations deliver more engaged learners, better outcomes and cost improvements.

Has the credit crunch had a positive or negative impact on your business?

If we were just a professional services company I think the impact would have been huge. If someone commissions us to create a simulation then they are at the innovative edge of teachers and trainers. This innovative type customer has undoubtedly been hit by the recession. We however have diversified out into being a tools provider which means whilst the recession is real we have a very attractive offering to anyone wanting to develop 3D simulations for themselves which is proving recession proof.

When you started the company how supportive were family / friends?

Very, you cannot be an entrepreneur especially in the technology sector without positive and supportive people behind you. My wife has been and remains a rock.

How important do you think PR and good publicity are to a business?

PR has been the single most important factor in building the brand of Caspian. I have been a writer of many articles, I have spoken at hundreds of events and Caspian has been profiled every month in online and print media, this has left us as the UK’s leading Serious Games company.

Are you a workaholic, a chocoholic or an alcoholic?

All of the above I am afraid.

Nico, welcome. Tell us about yourself, name, nationality, anything else you’d like to share?

Toby Reid is an entrepreneur with a successful track record of founding, growing and selling a business. At the end of 2007 he became the operations director of the Growth Investment Network (www.ginem.co.uk) - an initiative aimed at assisting East Midlands businesses to access funding and achieve growth. In an exclusive interview with the Pressman PR news blog he reflected on his time at Growth Investment Network and on the challenges facing business today…

Toby, you took on a three year role at the Growth Investment Network at the end of 2007 just as the credit crunch was beginning to bite. Has the role been more challenging than you expected?

No, not really. If anything, increasing pressure on companies’ cash flow and the difficulties associated with raising finance have made it easier for us to raise our profile and more important for us to do our job.

Is this a good time to be an entrepreneur?

Yes. That is not to say that it is a good time to be a business owner. Surviving and thriving in these times requires a company to be flexible, adaptable, lean and fast moving and a business owner must have tenacity and an eye to spot opportunities - of which there will be undoubtedly be many. True entrepreneurs and their companies possess these attributes and so will benefit. Those business owners that aren’t and don’t, won’t.

What would you say were the biggest challenges currently facing East Midlands businesses?

The most immediate and obvious one is the reduced availability of bank funding. That is not to say that banks aren’t lending, some are. But overall there is less money and more companies competing for it. Businesses need to anticipate these problems, appreciate that banks aren’t the only form of finance and they need to understand the full offering available in the region. Because of the competition they also need to understand what it takes to be best placed to successfully raise finance.

Longer term, I would say that a challenge facing the East Midlands as a region is how do you raise the ambition and aspirations of SME businesses within the region. SME’s that can take advantage of opportunities now and aren’t scared to get the finance they need to do so will have the chance to become major players in the region over the next few years. To do that, a lot of businesses have to raise their sights.

How important do you think PR and good publicity is for businesses?

Is it important. Yes. How important it is, I find difficult to quantify. I do believe that traditional forms of advertising are of little to no use to SME’s and therefore the attractiveness as PR as an alternative is increasing.

What do you think are the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make? How can these be avoided?

Focusing too much on their product and/or service at the cost of making sales. Most entrepreneurs sell first and then work out how to deliver it afterwards. Make sure you have a laser narrow focus on creating and driving revenue.

Growth Investment is launching new networks for B2B services and entrepreneurs. What is the thinking behind this move?

The main network at Growth Investment is made up of organizations that can either fund businesses or support them in the fund raising process. However, our events and other activities have attracted interest from a range of individuals and other firms, interested in growth and growing companies. They don’t fall into that ‘main network’ category so we have created 3 new associate networks to allow them to get involved and be profiled. See http://www.ginem.co.uk/home/members/members-associate-network.aspx

What other initiatives has Growth Investment got coming up?

Summer holiday for me, more networking for the network members and some exciting speakers at our autumn events.

You left a career in civil engineering to set up lifestyle company Heath Reid and People which you and your partners successfully sold in 2007. Are you concentrating solely on Growth Investment now? What’s next for Toby Reid?

No, Growth Investment is my main focus but I have other business interests outside of it. I also do a small amount of business development strategy work for SMEs.

Not sure what the long term future holds but I love working with and in early stage businesses and with other entrepreneurs so it will doubtless be in that area.