I had absolutely no idea about wills or a power of attorney and their importance until I was named in one. Believe it or not, I had never dreamt of building a successful and thriving business empire until that one fateful day when everything changed.
I was your average Joe, living and going about my daily routine. Life was ordinary and predictable. I had bills to pay, so I had to make money with my day job, working at a travel agency.
Even though I was working at a travel agency, I had never been anywhere outside the UK; call it the sad irony of my life. Little did I know that lady luck had her ways of favouring me in the most unexpected ways.
An Unexpected Surprise from Gran
My mother called me out of the blue at six in the morning, sobbing over the phone, telling me that my grandmother had passed. I was heartbroken. I only went to see her for Christmas a month ago, and we spent hours sitting and talking about the times I had spent as a child at her house. She was very fond of me, and I was one of her favourite grandchildren.
The funeral was held in her garden, where all her children, their spouses, and grandchildren gathered to pay their last respects. It was a sombre occasion, bidding farewell to the last of her generation. The fact that she was no longer with me, with all of us, had still not sunk in.
On the ride back home, I couldn’t help but reminisce about the playful laughter that filled the room when she heard a good joke. She loved a good joke and also enjoyed playing harmless pranks on the most unsuspecting grandchildren, including me. She was a staunch supporter of the Royal family and made sure to attend every public event or at least catch it on the telly whenever she could. I can’t forget the day when she enthusiastically brought the entire neighbourhood special Union Jack hand-waving flags for the wedding celebration of Prince William. My gran was always so full of life!
Although she surprised me in some ways, I did not anticipate that she would leave me an enormous inheritance!
More Money, More Problems?
Gran had been generous with Christmas gifts (she once gifted me the latest PlayStation Portable), but this was beyond generous! She had left me a huge sum behind, enough to buy a posh home in upmarket London! I didn’t quite know how to react to this. The news of losing my grandmother was yet to sink in. My mother suggested we put the money in the savings account until I could figure out what I planned to do with it.
I mulled over it while sitting in my office. I reminisced about how my gran used to always encourage and push me to accomplish my dreams. I recalled the business plan I had designed years ago for setting up a travel accessories business. Perhaps this was her unique way of pushing me to finally start my own business.
Starting Up
After work, I headed home and looked for the business plan. Even though I had no clue how to set up a business from scratch, I was excited and nervous! I flipped through the pages of the plan and understood immediately that it needed more finetuning.
I updated the travel accessories product catalogue to include luggage too. I wanted to offer luggage that was unique, like hippie luggage, bohemian suitcases, and the like.
Many things had changed since I had written the plan years ago. I also needed to study the market, update the financial costs and projections, and refine the marketing strategy. While at it, I would also need to get a functional e-commerce website up and running. Thanks to Gran’s generosity, getting the investment to fund all these tasks was not a problem.
In a few weeks, I conducted primary and secondary market research and tweaked my business and marketing plan some more. It was not an easy thing to do along with my regular job at the agency. Starting a business is one thing, but sustaining it is a whole different story. I knew I couldn’t do it all alone and decided my business needed a partner and a co-founder.
Partnering Up
My childhood friend Alex was the first person that popped into my head when I asked myself, “Who can I trust to be my cofounder and business partner?” Through school and college, we had been through thick and thin growing up. We knew each other inside out, so without a doubt he became my natural choice.
I met him and explained what my business plan was all about. He was working with a local firm providing IT support in Leicester and knew all about building and maintaining e-commerce websites. I knew, even if he turned down my proposal, I could always pick his brains on all things tech.
It took me some time to convince Alex that he was the best person for the role, and he finally agreed to partner with me. With that, we set off.
Get the Ball Rolling
Eventually, both Alex and I quit our jobs and set out to start our travel accessories business. While Alex had all hands on deck with the setup of the website, e-commerce platform, online marketing and other important tech bits, I was researching and meeting suppliers to curate my line of travel products. For the first few weeks, both of us were neck-deep in work, trying to get our business up and running. It was difficult trying to find the right supplier who could provide everything from suitcases and backpacks to passport holders and luggage tags.
But my in-depth research paid off. I narrowed it down to a manufacturer who could put bright and impressionable designs on the travel accessories and ship them internationally. Within another two months, we had ticked everything else off our setup checklist. Our website, Viola Travel Accessories, a tribute to my Gran, was up and running and ready to accept orders. We were officially in business!
Scaling Up Surprises
Our initial business launch was modest and understated, with friends, family and well-wishers in attendance. Streaming the website launch live on our social media channels created a lot of excitement and generated a lot of traffic to the website. Within a few weeks, we saw enough buzz for our products that they were instantly flying off the shelves. Alex and I were proud that our business was taking flight. It only meant one thing – it was time to scale up.
Over the next few months, we hired a team to look after the day-to-day operations. While I took care of the product development and marketing aspects, Alex looked after the tech and operations bits. We worked well together as a team, like we’ve always had, one complementing the other.
The turning point of our business came when Beyonce posted a picture with our signature luggage tag that went viral on Instagram. We were flooded with so many orders and enquiries that our website almost went down. We had witnessed the power of social media virality in all its glory.
Our other products piggybacked on the post, driving conversions and leading to all stock being sold out. Not to forget, our social pages grew by leaps and bounds in followers! It was time to expand, and quickly!
To Sum Up
It has been three years since I started my business, and I can proudly say that Viola Travel Accessories has grown into a thriving business empire. For a person who had never thought of starting something on their own, I was sitting pretty on a thriving and growing business. Our products are loved by scores across the UK and globally. It was heartwarming to see pictures and posts on social media with people sharing travel stories with my brand of travel accessories.
I realise that I have not just created a business off my inheritance but built a community of sorts. With her name as my brand, I know my grandmother’s indomitable and cheerful spirit lives on in every product and every connection I make.
It has now made me realise that the real inheritance wasn’t the money my Gran left me. It was the courage to believe in myself and transform my dreams into a living, breathing reality.
