Bharti Lim
Founder
ByBee.com
Bharti Lim
Founder | ByBee.com
Bee and I met a few years ago when we both joined a masterclass on social media and branding. This led to a wonderful and very large whats app group of female entrepreneurs being set up and it is still going to this day. The support women have for one another in business is something I have found incredibly joyful and Bharti is no exception. Always willing to help, share and support others, I am delighted to be able to feature her journey here.
My business now donated to the counselling foundation, they allow people that are on low incomes to be able to access affordable therapy. I believe counselling changed my life but it is not cheap and it is not short term.
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to setting up ByBee.com?
Yes of course. I originally started bee-utifulcreations by bee when I was on maternity leave with my 1st child. It was the lead up to Christmas and I was just making baubles to give me something creative to do whilst looking after my son and it was just more of a hobby. I un-expectedly had more sales then I had planned for and suddenly needed a business name so I could invoice people and that was when my business was born. I was originally making lots of craft items, frames, wine glasses, children’s t-shirts all personalised and smaller scale then now. I went back to work at the end of maternity leave so the business was not really my focus and was just bubbling along in the background. I had yet another successful Christmas and suddenly a lot of wedding orders in the new year and I become much busier then I had expected. At this point I was due with my 2nd child and eventually closed the business for a while once he was born. I nearly closed the whole business down until I had a conversation with a very successful mum who runs her own business and then my business was really born. The business that I run now really only started finding its feet about 2 years ago.
Wow, that’s a lot to juggle! What inspires or motivates you?
The biggest inspiration for me and what has motivated me ties in to why my business in my head only really only started two years ago. I suffered quite severely from perinatal and post-natal depression and was the reason I nearly closed the business but also became the reason I didn’t. I had a conversation with Laura from the modern nursery and realised my passion was not just being creative but wanting to do more for awareness of maternal mental health. I then relaunched the business selling more clothing for mums/women and focusing on positivity and charity. My business now donated to the counselling foundation, they allow people that are on low incomes to be able to access affordable therapy. I believe counselling changed my life but it is not cheap and it is not short term. I wanted to be able allow other people not just mums access to therapy ad also use my platform to share my story, other stories and to educate about mental health.
I’m sure there have been many challenges along the way, but what has been your biggest?
My biggest challenge has been and still is working around my day job and children. I often end up working on the business late at night which then eats into and downtime I could have had. I have to be very careful not to go too far the wrong way as it can really affect my mental wellbeing. It is a full on juggling act.
How I balance this is I work 3 days a week in my day job, I have the younger child on one day and one day is a business focussed day or a day I take for down time. I try to plan out all my social media for a week on the weekend and post once a day. I have a longer lead time on my products and my customers have been amazing and will happily wait which means I can work in burst giving me some time off in-between. I exercise in the morning before I begin work and I batch cook meals to save me cooking every day. Also I have a wonderful husband who picks up the slack so I can run the business too. Its sounds crazy but it works!
For anyone reading this and thinking of setting up their own business, what would be your advice to them?
My advice to anyone starting out is it’s harder then it looks but if you really enjoy something then it makes it worthwhile. Find what inspires you and the purpose of why you want to run the business. Money is always generally the first answer but if you get a real joy from doing what it is your business does then even the hard times when its not so busy won’t feel as bad.
My plans for this year actually are to not over work myself. During the lockdown I made over 600 t-shirts all raising money for materials for PPE. Alongside that I co-ordinated 2 groups of people making PPE and distributing it. One team made it for ICU units in London as part of the Visor Army – make a visor save a life. The other team made them for local care homes, schools, emergency response units and also sent them out across the country. It was a very busy lockdown and it wiped me out. In addition to this I raised money for AgeUK, Black minds matter and Refuge with t-shirt sales also during Covid-19 as well as raising money for my normal charity The counselling foundation. So I am being kind to myself and taking it easy after a very strange and unexpectedly busy year, well as easy as I can during the Christmas lead up.
My business has grown up a lot and so it is time that a few other parts of my business grow with it. I am super excited to see what the year ahead brings.