Yorkshire festive focus: Sarah Agar-Brennan, Love Bomb Cushions

As Christmas is less than a week away, and the businesspeople of Yorkshire are preparing to hang up their stockings, Bdaily is catching up with the region’s business leaders to reflect on the highlights of 2016 and how they plan on spending the holiday period.

For the series’ next instalment, we are speaking with Sarah Agar-Brennan, founder and managing director of Leeds-based Love Bomb Cushions.

Your business

What were the three biggest highlights for your business in 2016?

Having only just launched the business at the end of 2015, 2016 has been the start of an amazing journey for Love Bomb Cushions.

Highlights included signing a license with the official Emoji company to become a supplier for the increasingly popular emoji brand and we were successful in securing a place onto the business accelerator programme, Entrepreneurial Spark, which has helped us experience further growth too.

It has also taught me to learn to face the fear and do it anyway!

What are your business’ goals going into 2017?

My key goal for the business is to bring our manufacturing of novelty cushions to the UK to reinvigorate the British manufacturing industry. I am in talks with textile growth programme in order to do this.

To support our further growth, and increase our turnover by 50%, we will be recruiting for four new roles within the company.

We also have exciting plans to launch our new app and we’re keen to rely on the support from external professionals such as MacComms for PR, WGN for accounting support and Strawberry Too for social media and videography.

Anything you/your business would have done differently over the past year?

2016 has been a huge learning curve for us and we have learnt that the devil is in the detail and there wasn’t enough in a contract we signed this year so we’ll be much more vigilant going forward.

Ideally, we should have implemented a branding and marketing strategy earlier and been more mindful of how long time development and product sign off can take.

Your region

Why do you think Yorkshire is a great place to do business?

Yorkshire has a wonderful buzz about it for business. There are lots of creative, dynamic and forward-thinking people who believe in their dreams.

There are so many businesses tucked away doing wonderful things putting Yorkshire on the map and the quality of services you can tap into for your business is world class.

Any other company/companies in the region stand out for you?

Yes, being based at Entrepreneurial Spark, I see lots of inspiring entrepreneurs. I am inspired by Paula from Fusion Design’s success and find young entrepreneur Hannah and her team from The Great Escape admirable too.

Colin Glass from WGN is truly an inspiration to me and Strawberry Too are talented and creative and we have loved working with their young energetic team to help transform our businesses brand into cool and quirky videos.

What does Yorkshire want to see happen in the future/next year?

Yorkshire needs continued support to ensure further growth of the SME market. As we employ so many people, supporting small business is critical to a thriving economy.

Yourself

What individual goals did you achieve personally/professionally in 2016?

I have grown so much as a person this year, being in the Entrepreneurial Spark programme, running Love Bomb Cushions and experiencing such phenomenal quick growth has really put me out of my comfort zone.

I have had to dig deep, look myself in the mirror daily and tell myself I can do it even when the road ahead was not clear. Having the strength to keep going even when the chips look well and truly down has revealed so much about who I am to me.

A family run business means all our income comes from one source! Keeping my nerve, pivoting when we needed to ensure we can move ahead and believing in myself even when things don’t go the way I had hoped has helped we continue to move forward.

How to you unwind after a stressful day at work?

I walk my dog in the forest every day, it helps me to wind down and put life in perspective. Going home to my children and wonderful husband grounds me; it doesn’t matter what amazing deals I did that day I am still mum which totally reassures me.

Lastly, this year more than ever I have enjoyed Yoga and eating super green and healthy. I have stepped up this side of my life as a counter-balance due to the strength I have had to have to make the business decisions and hold my nerve.

What would be the perfect Christmas gift for you?

A day off! I’ve not had many of them since starting the business more than a year ago. This Christmas Eve I’ll be working until 5pm in Birmingham at a pop up shop and then heading home to Yorkshire so hopefully if I get to bed before midnight, I might actually get Christmas day off…watch this space!

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