A brother and sister dream team are about to make their first million after starting their arts and crafts business with just pennies to spare.
Katie Williams, 28, and Evan Townsend, 34, started their greeting card and gift company, Arrow Gift Co, in Netherley with just £50 between them in late 2015. Now the pair are making six figures selling hundreds of thousands of cards, mugs, coasters, and novelty wine labels online.
Evan, from Childwall, said: "We could only afford to purchase the most basic equipment, which made production extremely slow. We also had no space to work out of - our greeting card printer was sat in the middle of Katie’s living room and we’d work from the dining table in her one-bed flat.
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"As we began to grow, the workload became a lot to handle - at Christmas time we’d be so busy that we’d start making orders at 7am and wouldn’t stop until around 3am the next morning, then we’d wake up and start it all over again."
Before launching their business, Katie worked an office job, and Evan was an optical lab technician.
Katie said: "I hand-draw all of our designs and artwork. We have a lot of silly and fun designs, so my work day is never boring. It’s easy for me to stay motivated and passionate when I truly enjoy my job.
"The first few years of running the business were extremely difficult - we couldn’t afford to cover our rent and monthly bills. We would work all day and night just to keep the lights on.
"During this time, we had nothing in our personal bank accounts and would withdraw £20 each from our Etsy store per week just to get some shopping in.
"After the covid lockdown we found ourselves struggling financially - we were literally selling our personal belongings and furniture from our home just to keep the business afloat.
"Over the last year or two we have worked hard to restructure the business and we’re now making six figures and even looking to expand into larger premises and hiring more staff.
"It was a very long journey to get to the point we’re at now. Although we’d always have seasonal peaks where we’d make a little more money, the day-to-day was often a struggle for years. In the past year we’ve seen our hard work pay off and have managed to grow the business to the point where we have a very steady income all year round. We’ve now sold over 260,000 products on Etsy alone."
She added that the company would not have thrived without the relentless support of their mum, Jackie Dyer.
She said: "Our main inspiration is our mum, her strong work ethics and relentless “never give up” attitude has been what’s kept us going throughout a lot of the struggles and lows of running our business.
"The three of us run the company together and we could never have been in the position we are now without her."
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