Brand Series - Cublife Clothing

Mar 16

Tell us about your background and what you did before Cublife.

My name is Emily, I’m 29. I’m from Stockton which is around an hour away from Newcastle in the north east. Since my little boy Joey (8) was born I’ve always wanted to dress him in the styles that I currently sell and design. So in the July of 2017 I was waiting to start my paramedic practice course at university after studying for three years to get into it. I had a three year old and was learning how to juggle being a student and a young mum.

What was the catalyst for starting Cublife and did you ever have second thoughts?
I remember being quite bored during the long holidays from leaving my level 4 course and awaiting my paramedic course to start I wanted to do something more as a hobby really, it wasn’t until I showed people the things i had made that I thought about selling them. It took off from there, I made an Instagram account and that’s when I thought, ‘now you’ve done this, you have to carry it on now’ and I just used to stay up late for nights on end thinking of new ideas, it was so lovely being on Instagram was so new and different especially within the shop small community, everyone was so so supportive and I still speak to many of the followers who have followed me from the start. I was sitting on my uni breaks and even during lectures writing out my orders in a book and ordering stock, I think I lasted around 3 months before it was time to make a decision of what I wanted to do, wether I could carry on with a new business that seemed to have a lot of interest or continue with my degree that I’d worked years towards and dreamed of since being a little girl. To be honest I really struggled with certain aspects of the course so it wasn’t too much of a hard choice in the end, I knew I could work around my son if I continued with Cublife, it isn’t a part time thing you can’t just work a couple of days a week when you own a business, especially in the first year. If you want to do well you have to work for it. I did not stop working and I still haven’t five years on.
You're a Mum and a business owner, which inevitably means you understand the juggle or it all - how do you manage that?
It’s so much easier now as Joey is in school full time and I work from drop off until pick up and then if I’m really busy I will carry on when his dad is home from work. I do suffer with constant mum guilt as I’m sure most small business owners do, I wish I could bake and craft and have a spotless house 24/7 but I’m so glad my son will know how hard his mum worked when he gets older, he sometimes sits with me in the office and helps with little jobs like packing or even just sitting on the big chair and chatting to me whilst I’m on the computer. I have definitely got a lot more balance with my parenting and work life now compared to the first year or so.
Your branding is super strong and clear - what is your key advice to other product business owners who want to achieve this? And has this always been part of your strategy?
I didn’t actually have any real branding as such, I did always stand for monochrome as I had really struggled to find this when I was shopping for Joey, but in terms of branding I wouldn’t say it was very strong until around 3 years ago I sat one day and thought to myself that I needed a logo that represented my brand and that was a ‘cub’ and it had to be monochrome. I sat for around 4 hours one day on the sofa and the amount of hilarious sketches of bears and pandas that I drew would make anyone laugh. I knew as soon as I drew him that he would be the face of Cublife, Maurice was born. Haha. Everyone loves him and that is so special as I drew him and he is what people think of when they think of my shop. I would say make it fun. Maurices name makes me laugh still. Eye catching and fun and you’re on to a winner.
What one business decision or tactic would you say really grew your business?
I'm guessing there may be a few but if you had to name just one that helped your success what would it be? Well it would have to be accepting an investment at the start of this year to help grow my range. I didn’t have any money when starting Cublife, I lent £200 to buy what I needed and the orders used to pay for themselves. It then started ticking over and I would make enough to pay my half of the bills every month. It wasn’t a huge business and it still isn’t, I think some people believe they can start and over night they’ll make a million. I really wish that was the case. I’m now in a position I can pay staff when I need them to help and I have been able to design and purchase the products I need to give Cublife a massive injection of newness. It’s really scary as I’m not used to having so much stock I usually play it safe and only order minimum quantities but yeah it’s given me a chance to see what I’m capable of in terms of selling and creating.
What's the one thing you've learnt or advice you've received along your business journey that has stuck with you and really helped?
Never ever ever change. If you have an idea and you are genuinely passionate about it, stick with it and you will find your people, the amount of times over the years I’ve been told I should ‘add bright colours’ to my brand colour palette. Just ignore them and do you. Keep at it and people will love it because passion and determination never fails.