Realising a vision, and turning it into a brand new business, with no customers or social media followers is quite daunting. It’s certainly no walk in the park. It takes a good story, persistence, a strong vision, attention to detail, resilience, consistency, useful content, perseverance, attracting the right audience, a little social media knowhow and a sprinkle of magic, which in my opinion is doing what you love. 

So that’s why I’m completely over the moon to have my friend and interiors expert Chelsea Bennie from Hello Trader on the show today. She was one of the first people I connected with when I moved to the Sunshine Coast, and she had a big part in making our wedding look stunning last year! Just over a year ago Chelsea launched her dream and her vision, a true extension of herself - Hello Trader. Fast forward to today she has amassed a cult following of 60,000 likeminded fans and customers on Instagram. Her retail store is thriving and her online store is going nuts. In fact, I don’t have any friends who haven’t made a purchase from Hello Trader. 

On today’s episode Chelsea and I chat about realising your vision, turning your vision into a business, developing the vision for your business on Pinterest, steps to opening a physical retail space, sourcing products, managing inventory with Shopify, POS, and TruckIt,  building a product website for future expansion, tips for opening an online store, collections and working ahead, setting up a business with no capital, staying true to your vision, creating hype, launching with an event, managing the juggle, learning not to overcommit, and lots more.

“I am a very visual person and created the business from pictures; my vision was very strong.”

“You just know. You just know in your gut. When starting a business and it feels right, you have the fire burning and you keep pushing forward and have the passion for it, you just have to do it.”

FIND HELLO TRADER

1. Hello Trader  www.hellotrader.com
2. Instagram www.instagram.com/hellotrader

FIND YOUR CREATIVE START

1. Your Creative Start www.yourcreativestart.com
2. Instagram www.instagram.com/yourcreativestart
3. Pinterest www.pinterest.com/yourcreativestart
4. Soundcloud www.soundcloud.com/yourcreativestart