WHEN Kerry Bilson was in her early twenties, she landed her dream job flying around the world working as cabin crew with Virgin Atlantic.

However, after quickly realising that it “wasn’t for her”, she ended up in recruitment, but wanted to find a way to make a difference for people around her.

• Worry Angel, £15.99 from Etsy – buy now

When the pandemic hit, Kerry spent £250 of savings to launch her bracelet business, Letterbox Love, from her home, and is now on track to make her first £1m just two years later.

Speaking exclusively to Fabulous for our Bossing It series, Kerry, now 28, revealed how she turned her small side hustle into a successful full-time business that supplies over 350 shops.

Derbyshire-based Kerry said: “I wasn’t really good at anything at school, honestly I was Little Miss Average. 

“I worked for Virgin Atlantic, that was always my dream, but it just wasn’t for me.

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“I just thought ‘what on earth am I going to do now?’”

Kerry said it was “never on the agenda” to start her own business as she “didn’t think” she was capable, but she felt the urge to at least give it a go as Covid gripped the nation.

She said: “It’s going to sound really cringe now but I was sat with my partner Liam and it was all a bit uncertain and it wasn't a very nice place, it was so scary.

“I just wanted a way we could send something to someone to pick them up in the post that’s not edible, and not flowers because sometimes flowers can be quite expensive.

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“I want something that really meant something that was affordable and could be a keepsake.

“The idea for bracelets, it already was a thing, of course it was, the gap we found was a really meaningful element to it.”

With every one of Kerry’s bracelets, she decided she would include a poem she had lovingly written. 

She added: “All of the poems that are written on the cards are written by myself with genuine people in mind.”

I wasn’t really good at anything at school, honestly I was Little Miss Average. 

In April 2020, Kerry forked out £250 of savings buying the initial materials to make her first batch of bracelets, and Letterbox Love was formed.

She also bought a laptop and printer to make her poems, and created a website and Etsy shop to start listing her products.

Kerry started selling in July 2020 and she remembers her first sale very vividly.

She explained: “I was employed in recruitment at the time, but it was something to do for me in the evenings and weekends.

“I was sat on the living room floor and I literally screamed across the living room.

“We finally had an order from a stranger and I was crying my heart out.

KERRY’S TOP TIPS FOR RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL ETSY BUSINESS

• NAIL YOUR KEYWORDS: With Etsy it’s all about long keywords and it’s all in the title, description and photography.

• STAY RELEVANT: When you are on Etsy you have always got to be current and think about what people are searching for and current sales and that changes week on week.

• ADD GRAPHICS TO YOUR LISTING: If you are uploading a product and want to be more description, don’t go into too much detail in the description, try and upload it as a graphic so it more user friendly, it is really quick to read. 

• OFFER FREE SHIPPING: We offer free shipping as well. It puts a lot of people off.

• ADD YOUR PERSONALITY AND STORY: I think people love a story. On Etsy we try and write about us and how I set the brand up and more values and what inspired me as people like to know the face behind the brand.

• PUT YOUR RESEARCH IN: I’ve really had to study Etsy hard to get to grips with the algorithm.

“I must have wrapped it 17 times, I had to make sure it was perfect. 

“Within the first few days we were making sales, and I was doing five trips a day to the post box because I was so excited to get an order out.

“I didn’t want to let anybody down.

“It came in and then was out the door.”

At first she only had one bracelet, the Worry Angel, which was aimed for people who struggle with anxiety. 

I just wanted a way we could send something to someone to pick them up in the post that’s not edible, and not flowers because sometimes flowers can be quite expensive.

But Kerry invested everything back into the business and brought out more and more designs for her shop.

Her bracelets are now priced from £8.99 for her cheapest designs, rising to around £15.99 for more elaborate pieces, and £27.99 for her gift boxes.

Kerry also got to grips with how to improve sales, and said: “With Etsy it’s all about long keywords and it’s all in the title, description and photography.

“When you are on Etsy you have always got to be current and think about what people are searching for and current sales and that changes week on week.

“We offer free shipping as well, as paying for it puts a lot of people off.

“Within six months of being on Etsy we ended up being in the top 0.01% of Etsy sellers worldwide and that was just unreal.”

By Christmas Kerry had launched around 70 different products because she kept “churning them out”.

She continued: “I just kept writing and writing.

“By Christmas all of the sales had tripled and at that point I thought this business has really got legs. 

“I could really see myself doing this full time.”

In January 2021, Kerry decided to take the plunge to quit her recruitment job and run her business full-time, but admitted it was a “scary” move.

The entrepreneur said: “When we started selling it was always going to be a bit of a side hobby and I just wanted something to enjoy. 

“As soon as the sales started to come in, I was just so overwhelmed that people believed in my business.

I just thought life is far too short and if it completely doesn’t go to plan then I’ll find another job.

“Some might say quitting my job was quite premature, it was scary. I didn’t have another source of income.

“I was completely fresh to it, I’ve never run an ecommerce business in my life. 

“I remember just being terrified.

“I just believed in it so much that I thought ‘I know I can do it.’

“If you believe in something that much, you do make it work.”

And it seems her leap of faith paid off, particularly thanks to one bracelet in particular that she launched in February 2021.

Kerry said: “I launched a bracelet called Miss You which was just very specific to the pandemic.

“It was such a hard winter, we couldn’t see anybody, and I wanted a gift that was completely affordable. 

“It ended up selling out three times over and we sold nearly a thousand.

“It was the best selling product for about three months.

“That did wonders for us, and that elevated us again.”

At this point, Kerry was selling her numerous products in high volume and they needed to move the business out of her home.

Her husband Liam, 30, also left his job in construction to work full-time with the business doing the accountancy and the operations side, and they also have contracted help.

She said: “It was by June or July of 2021 that we moved into our first premises and that is when it completely changed the game.

“From then on we have not slowed down, the business has increased month on month.

“We are now in our second premises as we outgrew our first and we are now outgrowing this one to be honest.”

In their first year, Kerry had predicted that, if they were lucky, they would make £30,000, but they surpassed this and made £50,000.

In their second year they turned over a whopping £250,000 and it is predicted this figure will be in between £500,000 and £1million for their third year.

One way she helped take her business to the next level was every week ringing shops to see if they would stock her bracelets.

She said: “It was January 2022 that I realised I wanted to go down the wholesale route.

“We wanted to start selling in gift shops.

“We got in touch with the brands CardZone and Hallmark and we went to meet with them.

“We ended up getting stocked with them in May and they rolled us out in their UK stores.

“That was just down to calling and emailing and I did it myself, we didn’t have any sales agents at this point.”

As well as 150 stores in the UK, they are now also stocked in 200 shops in America and some in Europe and Australia too.

Kerry added: “By the end of every week I made sure I’d rang the businesses I wanted the product to be in.”

In another business highlight, Kerry was asked to supply Pride-themed bracelets for the VIPs of the Capital Summertime Ball 2022,

She also provided bands for athletes of the Commonwealth Games.

Although many would deem the business a financial success, Kerry insisted that it’s not about the money for her, and she mainly wants to “make people smile.”

Speaking of her business, Kerry said: “I just thought life is far too short and if it completely doesn’t go to plan then I’ll find another job.

“I will be forever kicking myself if I don’t give myself a chance.

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“It was the worst time in the middle of the pandemic but I thought ‘no this will work’.

“I wanted to do something in my job that was so rewarding and I wanted to give back to people.

“I’ve never done anything like this before and it was a real, real learning curve and I’m still learning every single day.”

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