Holly Dawson, a 40-year-old mum of two from Bury, has built a business turning over more than £500,000 a year after starting with just £1,000. Her company, Rock On Ruby, sells personalised clothing and accessories, and grew out of the collapse of her family's hen party supply business.
From family crash to new start
Dawson grew up in Bury and studied International Business at Manchester Metropolitan University. After graduation, she worked for a marketing agency before joining her family's hen party supply business as a digital marketer in 2010.
The business sold hen party accessories, which Dawson described as "really tacky like, you know, if you can imagine straws and things." It was growing rapidly and ranked at the top of Google search results. But a major Google update penalised the way their website was built, causing web traffic to crash.
"Our main source of our income got switched off," said Dawson. "We disappeared off the face of Google." The family had "all our eggs in that one basket" with nothing to fall back on, so they quickly looked for other ways to generate sales.
Turning a side line into a thriving business
Despite the struggle, the family still had printing and merchandising equipment used to customise hen party products. Dawson decided to take the t-shirt side of the business, buying the equipment with her last wage from the family firm. She invested about £1,000 in equipment, stock, and a website, and took ownership of it.
Still in her 20s and living with her parents, she aimed to earn a liveable wage from her own custom t-shirt and clothing company. She began blogging for Rock On Ruby and used her marketing skills to build an online presence. "I kind of entered this blogger world and then I decided, well, I can do this myself," she said. She was invited to events as an influencer, making contacts and networking.
She joined Etsy as a marketplace first, then Not On The High Street in 2015. "That really just catapulted the business to the next level," she said. "I was looking at turning over £25k in year one. That first Christmas that I joined Not On The High Street, I joined in November, and I took £50k in the first month. In a month, it was unbelievable."
Growth and current success
Rock On Ruby expanded from t-shirts to include sweatshirts, baseball caps, and handbags. "We do a lot of caps now. Personalised caps, slogan caps. We've basically become a cap business in summer," said Dawson. The company also offers personalised items, such as turning people's handwriting into stitching on clothing. This year, the business was featured on ITV's This Morning for Mother's Day as a gift idea.
Dawson runs the company with her husband Graham, 40, and employs four others. They design and produce all products in-house at their premises in Tottington. The business now brings in £500k a year in sales, and during the pandemic, they had their most profitable year to date, bringing in over £1 million.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Despite her university background, Dawson believes a degree isn't necessary to build a successful business. "I'd say there's a lot of accidental entrepreneurs out there," she said. "You need to be driven. And with a company like this, you don't ever switch off. It is not a nine-to-five." She added: "You don't need to go to university and have a degree to start a business. I would say don't ever let fear hold you back."
She notes that there are many free tools available, like Instagram, social media, and platforms such as Shopify. Both Holly and Graham encourage people to buy from independent businesses, as it allows businesses like Rock On Ruby to exist.
"It is still challenging times for small businesses," said Dawson. "We're at £500k, and it is amazing, we're doing super well to this day. But we've seen a lot of businesses close around us, and we're still facing challenges and costs."
Her advice to anyone thinking about starting their own business is to "just start." She said: "Get on with it. Get cracking, like nothing needs to be perfect. Even now, 10 years in, we're still refining what we do and making changes." She emphasised that the brand has evolved over the years, but the core of personalised clothing remains. "You're always developing and working, so I think don't pause waiting for perfection. If you get to the place where you're happy with something, and you've got your idea, go for it."
