Launching your own business can require making sacrifices, as Nidhima Kohli, founder of MyBeautyCompare.com discovered when she started her business two years ago. “I left my six-figure job and moved back in with my parents,” she says. Kohli was employed in a senior position in finance, but started studying for an international beauty qualification in her spare time. She came up with the idea for a beauty comparison website that would help women find personalised products.
“I was struggling to find the right product for me. Every time you go to a shop, they always recommend the latest product because they get a commission,” says Kohli.
Moving back in with her parents was a sacrifice Kohli made to save money for the startup. She set up the business and attracted some clients. “Then I thought: ‘That’s it, I’m moving back to London.’” But back in a place of her own, she had to adapt to limited space. She turned her living room into a bedroom-cum-office and let out the bedroom to help support her new venture. “In my cupboards I have folders instead of clothes, on my shelves I store beauty products, and my dining table is covered in laptops.”
Kohli has four members of staff: two who build and improve the website, one who works on content and one who’s involved in marketing. She says they enjoy the flexibility that a startup offers: they can work at Kohli’s office, but can also work from home.
Within the first six months, MyBeautyCompare.com gained 60,000 fans, without the backing of a marketing budget. Kohli says social media have been a big help in gaining followers and she takes a proactive approach to using them for business.
“I’ve stalked experts in the area on Twitter,” she admits. She also uses them to gain an insight into new trends. “I use social media a lot to listen and we use it to build relationships – 50% of what we post is not about us. We may recommend products that are on our website, but also products that are not.”
In the past year, the business, which now has 85,000 users, has been nominated for, and won, several awards. Kohli says she has received two offers to buy it, which she turned down.
She describes running a business as a learning process, including knowing when and when not to use outside help. “In the beginning we outsourced our tech. We were with one agency, then another – we were using about three or four in one year, only for them not to deliver work on time. I started to hire in-house and hired our first tech person a few months ago.”
But contacts are still important. When Kohli needs to catch up with a client or make a new connection, she’ll meet them in a coffee shop.
Like many business owners, Kohli doesn’t get a lot of free time, but her previous experience in strategy helps. “The main thing is planning – you have to be strategic about everything. With my social life I tend to plan two weeks in advance, who I’m meeting and when; I have one evening a week for socialising. I force myself not to work on Saturday mornings. I’ve had four days off in total in 2014.”
Business is personal for Kohli and she has big plans, including sourcing funding to expand the company. She says she has always been driven: “This has been the most stressful part of my life. I gave it my all and built a team. You have to make it work, no matter what.”
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