HOW I GOT HERE

Steph Douglas, founder of thoughtful gift company Don’t Buy Her Flowers, shares how receiving too many bouquets sparked the idea for her business

Gift company owner Steph Douglas tells all

Steph Douglas never planned to launch her own business. In fact, she started out in PR, working on government campaigns. Then, when she gave birth to her first son in 2010 and received an overwhelming amount of flowers, it got her thinking – surely there’s something better new mums can be given as a gift? And Don’t Buy Her Flowers was born.

IN MY SECOND YEAR STUDYING HISTORY AT CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, I WENT TO A CAREERS TALK ON GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GOVERNMENT NEWS NETWORK.

It was one of the first jobs I heard described where it made sense and felt like something I could do, so I applied to do work experience at its Bristol offices. In my final year, they offered me a job as an information officer. Then in 2005, I moved to London and became senior account manager at the Central Office of Information, where I managed government campaigns, including the Welsh Assembly’s ‘Stop Smoking’ campaign when the ban was introduced in 2007. Two years later, I moved to EDF Energy to work on its sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics. It was in PR that I learned how to capture the attention of different audiences, which is essential to what I’m doing now.

THE IDEA FOR DON’T BUY HER FLOWERS CAME WHEN I HAD MY FIRST BABY.

I was sent loads of beautiful bouquets during a time when I was overwhelmed, and it struck me as a bizarre gift to send to somebody when they’re doing more caring than they’ve ever done in their life. I thought, ‘There are better gifts for this occasion that can offer some thoughtful TLC; sending someone tea, truffles and a magazine is so much better than flowers.’ When I went back to EDF Energy after my second maternity leave, I worked on my business plan in my lunch breaks and at weekends. I launched Don’t Buy Her Flowers four years later.

IT STARTED IN MY SPARE ROOM.

Initially, I did everything myself – packing orders, ordering stock and answering customer enquiries – for about nine months. After about a year, I hired a couple of girls who would come and help pack orders at my house, and a friend of mine, who still works with us today, to do customer services. We moved to a small warehouse in Stroud and my brother became head of operations.

WHEN WE FIRST LAUNCHED, THE WEBSITE CRASHED.

Before my business, I had a blog about motherhood and relationships, which had a good following. When I launched Don’t Buy Her Flowers, I published a post about it and everyone started sharing it. We had 30 sales in our first month, which sounds tiny now, but when you’re starting from scratch that’s pretty good – especially as we had no marketing budget.

WE WERE ON LORRAINE EARLIER THIS YEAR.

It featured our most popular packages, The Book Package and The Bestsellers Package, which includes our bestselling items of gin, chocolate and handcream. It was just before Mother’s Day and the same week we were told not to visit elderly relatives. Things really kicked off after that, because a lot of people couldn’t visit their mums and wanted to send care packages.

IT’S A TRICKY BALANCE, BEING A MUM OF THREE AND RUNNING A BUSINESS.

Sometimes I feel like I’m managing it, other times it’s a bit of a calamity. In that first year, I realised you can’t do everything you did before and add running a business on top.

‘I WORKED ON MY BUSINESS PLAN IN MY LUNCH BREAKS’

THE THING I LOVE MOST IS MY TEAM.

I knew how hard I was willing to work for my business, but the coronavirus really showed how everyone can pull together. We have messages come through from customers that are often really emotional, and the team still share them on our Whatsapp group. Everyone’s happy to be part of it, and I’ve realised now how special that is.

DON’T TRY TO DO EVERYTHING YOU DID BEFORE YOU WERE A BUSINESS FOUNDER.

That might mean your social life takes a bit of a hit, or you have cereal for dinner for a while, but that’s okay. Running a business takes a lot of energy – just remember it’s short term and doesn’t last for ever.