'Starting a business young, it's hard not to be taken in by opinionated experts-of-everything'

STARTING A BUSINESS young has numerous benefits. It can, however, making things a little difficult at times.

There will absolutely be occasions when you will not be taken seriously, times when you just want a manager to tell you what to do – and a salary with which you’ll unequivocally know what to do.

Starting out straight after college, one thing that my business partner Elaine and I found was that it was often difficult not to be taken in by the overbearing, opinionated experts-of-everything.

Those people who make you feel your inexperience is amateurish and their method is the only way of doing things. Those whose sentences are so laden with buzzwords you can’t quite discern what thought went into what they’re trying to convey. Or if, indeed, any thought has gone in…

Sometimes, when there’s a problem, it’s easier to go with just about anyone else’s solution. In my case, there have been hours wasted listening to those more interested in the ‘big-picture’ stuff with offering any input where it matters – taking small steps towards getting the little things right.

Improper Butter's Elaine Lavery, left, and Hannah O'Reilly

The China conundrum

One example is the numerous times we’ve been told we’re foolish to not source our packaging from China. As if we’re oblivious to the fact that bulk packaging from China would save us serious cash – cash we could be investing into new product development, retail shelf space or, you know, the odd holiday.

But we want to keep tweaking our packaging as we evolve. We want to get better. At our stage, bulk buying from China won’t allow us to do that. So, instead, our packaging is printed in north county Dublin by Richard, who actually answers my pedantic emails and panicked phone calls – who takes the same care in our small packaging runs as he would any other client.

It may have taken me a whole three years, but I have recently come to the realisation that when creating something new there is no precedent in the way things are done. The only experts in how our company goes about things are my business partner and I.

We have been so fortunate to meet seasoned business people who listen, advise and help with humility and grace. These are the people we turn to and then hang on their every word. And these are exactly the people who most often tell us to stick to our guns and do what we think best.

In our experience, the noisiest, brashest business people have been the ones to disappoint. Promising just about everything and delivering just about nothing. When a so-called business adviser reviews your business plan and states “Although it’s not a box-ticking exercise make sure to tick all the boxes” you know they aren’t your kind of person.

Three years in, with newly secured investment behind us, we’ve decided to start making our own decisions with confidence. It’s easier to stand behind your own decisions – to take pride in your own accomplishments and take responsibility for your own mistakes.

It’s more difficult to rationalize a failure knowing you should have just listened to yourself. We know that, as inexperienced as we still are, we have learnt a lot and we don’t make the same mistakes twice. At times it may be difficult, but from now on we’re going to listen cautiously, act boldly and try our very best. There’s not much else we can do.

Hannah O’Reilly co-founded Improper Butter with Elaine Lavery in 2013. They have been writing about their experiences in a regular startup diary on Fora.

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