Enterprise Nation

Lisa Crossley launched her business, Coco Cherie, in 2006. She had previously been MD of an engineering company until deciding life as a working Mum wasn’t suiting her, and a move to France was in order. In our trip around the globe of peering in to home business windows, Lisa tells the story of how Coco Cherie began. Grab a coffee and enjoy the tale.

What encouraged you to give up the job and move to France?

Basically, I’d had my son late in life and found after a couple of years as a working Mum that I really didn’t want to “have it all”.  There just wasn’t enough time in the day, week, year to do everything I wanted to do or felt I ought to do.  I felt guilty at work because I wasn’t at home looking after him and guilty at home because I wasn’t at work doing what needed doing (manufacturing in the UK is a tricky old thing to earn a living at the best of times, and I thought I’d already seen the best of times).  So eventually I decided to cash in my chips whilst I was on top of things and moved to France (with a very understanding husband).  We sold up and left the UK at the beginning of 2004.

Was it easy to set up a business in France?

No! There is no equivalent of Business Link or many of the other excellent support networks you come across in the UK.  You have to be really tenacious just to find out how to do it, and then there are so many different forms of business structure and the bureaucracy is a real killer. 

One bewildering issue was that I couldn’t be a craft worker and a straightforward merchant within the one business, ie I couldn’t make things myself and also buy in and sell finished items all under the one business structure.  If I wanted to do both I had to have two separate companies, with all the associated doubling up of costs. 

Things have changed recently with the introduction of a new small business structure called “Auto Entrepreneur” which makes life a lot easier for fledgling businesses.  Mr Sarkozy has publically said he likes the English model of growing the economy by encouraging small business start ups, so that is useful and may potentially lead to a reduction in bureaucracy in the future.  But in the early days I really felt that the French system just didn’t like entrepreneurs; perhaps people “doing their own thing” is less easy to control or monitor for a socialist government.  I feel I’ve got the hang of it now, but if I’d been made of weaker stuff or hadn’t had a background in business I think I would have been scared off at the first hurdle.

How has technology helped you to function?

Technology has been vital for me for a number of reasons.  I did a great deal of research via the internet, both on how to set up a company in France, rules and regulations etc, but also on trends, materials, packaging, websites etc etc.  When we first moved here we only had dial-up internet so it was really quite a slow process, but once we finally got broadband in our village (2008) I was able to start work on my website.  I used an off the shelf package called MrSite (MrSite.co.uk which I would warmly recommend to any home business start up) and have painstakingly learned on the job. 

I couldn’t really manage communications with my suppliers and customers without the internet, in particular during last year when economic conditions were particularly tough.  I decided I couldn’t really afford to go to the annual international jewellery fair in Hong Kong, which is where I get the majority of my materials and have found the companies who make most of my designs, so I had to manage with a combination of email, software and scanning technology (sketches, mock-ups and photos of initial models etc).  Whilst you can’t beat face to face communication, fairly simple technology helped me to stay on track and have materials and finished items to sell throughout a difficult year. 

Getting to grips with digital photography has also been an enjoyable challenge.  I’ve got a makeshift light box over by the window of my office cum studio and whenever I get a spare moment I rush over and snap away!

I can access my website and alter it from anywhere in the world, but I confess that I am in many ways what the mobile phone companies call a “refusenik” when it comes to mobile phone technology.  Up until now I’ve had an ordinary phone, no bells or whistles at all, partly because I left the UK to get away from the mania of being in touch 24/7 and partly because we live in a valley and reception is very poor.  However, I’ve decided to use some of last year’s modest profits to upgrade to a smart phone, as I need to have my contacts and calendar more readily available to be more professional when potential clients ask if I can do an event for them (part of my selling mechanism is through pearl parties, like the Tupperware system, but to companies as well as individual hostesses).  So 2010 will see me trying to keep up with technology and not being left behind just because I am buried in deepest rural France!

How are you promoting the business?

I do events in Paris, Toulouse and locally, as well as having a small client base in the UK, so whenever possible I collect email addresses and add them to my database contained within my website, then periodically send a mail shot when I have something specific to promote.

I worry about being an email pest, so I don’t email as often as I should.  I feel that customers will only be interested if I have something new on my website, and as I am not very prolific, only having new items twice per year, I don’t feel I have a good enough reason to email more often. 

My other concern is that I changed my life to have more time with my family and enjoy what I’ve already achieved; so promotion is a double edged sword for me, if I suddenly had an explosion of interest I’d find it difficult to meet both the demand and the time required to service a larger more successful business.  You may wonder why I wouldn’t simply take on a member of staff, but that is a whole other story in France; it is an extremely expensive thing to do and potentially crippling if things don’t work out, as it is almost impossible to get rid of someone unless you liquidate your business. 

I do have some rather lovely packaging which I see as an essential and integral part of my business as well as a promotional item; in fact I had my special boxes made before I had my first range of jewellery to sell.  When I became a “housewife” and money for treats was no longer readily available, my ethos was, and is, that even if a customer could only afford a very modest treat, at least it should be beautifully presented.  My boxes are always remarked on by customers and the people who have received gifts usually comment on them when they themselves place an order. 

I try to make the most of printed material too, I use Vistaprint’s UK website, as it has more offers than the French one, and have business cards, gift cards, wish list cards and cards to advertise the fact that I do “pearl parties” through which the hostess will receive free jewellery according to the level of sales. I also subscribe to the newsletter from the very excellent Do Your Own Pr website and am going to make a real effort to make the time on a regular basis to follow their advice this year.

Describe your home office/studio to us?

I am fortunate enough to have a large spare bedroom which I have made into my studio cum office, it is where I make and design my jewellery.  It is on the first floor of the house and has a large window looking south over my garden, so is flooded with light. 

I’ve several simple glass cabinets in which I display my current range, a couple of wrought iron topiary stands from which I hang my long lariat style necklaces, several wood and glass cupboards in which I keep my materials, packaging and stock, a sofa and a glass coffee table for receiving clients at the house and finally my desk and computer. 

I’ve kept the colour scheme neutral and restful so that the crystals, gemstones and pearls stand out, but I have highlights in my corporate colours which are pale duck egg blue (cushions etc) and chocolate (sofa). 

I would like to do more but the bottom line is I need to invest what money I have in the best materials I can afford; the fact that I have a special place to work on my creations and my business is already a luxury in itself.

Plans for 2010?

An important objective in 2010 will be to build on the fact I now have a fully functioning studio and website as a shop window, and find positive but non-nuisance ways of promoting my business to achieve a more profitable level of sales.

Lisa Crossley, Coco Cherie