WHEN Tessa Reed came up with a business idea while having dinner with her partner, she never imagined it could be a booming business.
But in just a few months, she took the idea and turned it into a £1,500-a-week business, all from her own kitchen table.
4
4
Tessa, 30, made a simple tahini sauce from scratch to go with the roast chicken she prepared and it was so delicious she knew she needed to bottle it.
And at that moment, his business prosperous, All well dressedhe was born.
Almost overnight, Tessa began experimenting with different flavor combinations in her London kitchen and began asking friends to give them a try.
“I would make tiny little bottles and give them to my friends when I met them for dinner,” she says.
When Tessa was happy with the flavors, she decided on a brand and then prepared hundreds of bottles of sauces in her kitchen and sold them on Instagram.
“We sold about 350 bottles in about two weeks, purely through word of mouth and people ordering them online,” she adds.
She then asked people who bought her bandages to give detailed feedback on what they liked and didn’t like about the product, and decided to completely redesign the packaging after comments that it looked too “childish”.
As her sales began to grow, Tessa decided to outsource seasoning production as she was still working full-time as a chef.
“It was very chaotic trying to juggle everything, and I worked a lot of nights, early mornings and weekends,” she explains.
After finding a manufacturer, Tessa was able to grow her business and her products are now available to buy in stores like Wholefoods and Bayley and Sage.
Their dressings cost £5.99 and include Tahini and Lemon and Spicy Harissa.
Tessa says what makes All Dressed Up unique is that the brand claims to be the tastiest salad dressing on the market.
How to start your own business
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis has revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea – even more than that, be the one who bores your friends to death with it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it is the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you will be stuck. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and resolve it if you can. If that fails, find someone else who can.
- It’s okay to not get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media and remember that the Internet has leveled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
She adds: “It is a very innovative line, which uses many trending products.”
The businesswoman says that another of her priorities was to ensure that the dressings were healthy, so that they could be consumed every day.
She explains: “Ironically, many salad dressings are very bad for you.
“I wanted my sauces to taste great and be good for you too, so they’re refined sugar-free and, as a bonus, dairy-free and gluten-free.”
She added that her favorite creation so far is the Miso and Sesame sauce as it is “super versatile.”
“I never really thought this would be possible, it’s like a dream.”
Tessa
She says: “It’s something that, as a consumer, I would love to have in my fridge.
“I use it every day.”
All Dressed Up only officially launched in April this year and is already making £1,500 a week.
Tessa works around 20 hours a week on the business and juggles this with her day job.
She hopes that over time she will be able to turn her money-making side into a full-time job.
She says: “I never really thought this would be possible, it’s like a dream.
“I hope it becomes my job forever because I absolutely love doing it.”
Sharing advice for anyone thinking about starting their own side business, Tessa says: “I think if you really believe in your product, it will sell itself to a certain extent.
“But you have to hurry and not be afraid of making mistakes.
“Don’t give up at the first hurdle because it will be a rollercoaster.”
Fabulous will pay for your exclusive stories. Just email: fabulousdigital@the-sun.co.uk and put EXCLUSIVE in the subject line.
4
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25555658/google_school_time_update.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1 "Google is expanding ‘school hours’ to phones and tablets")
