All aboard the Japanese ‘rollercoaster’ for an ‘Icon’ic breakfast

 

What a great way to start the day. A Chamber pop-up breakfast in a Japanese restaurant (Moshimo) for some light networking and the opportunity to hear the enthralling story of Carly Read’s career in which she set up and successfully ran at least three large scale businesses culminating in Icon Live.

 

Firstly the breakfast. Despite the fact that Moshimo don’t usually serve coffee they did a fine job of making sure we had coffee and juice to wake us up and get the conversations going. The breakfast itself started with a Rubik’s Cube style puzzle in the form of an ‘Onigiri Rice Ball’. A special sequence of moves involving a pull-cord and folding was required to extract this in one piece from the wrapper. A great conversation starter! 

 

The main breakfast course came in partitioned boxes. I can’t relay what any of it was called but it was really tasty, interesting and there was lots of it. My veggie version was lovely! Thank you Moshimo.

 

 

 

On to the entertainment – Carol Lewis (Chamber President) introduced the event Sponsor, Kate Peach, founder and owner of Each Peach Childcare, an award winning nursery whose giant peach sign is clearly visible at the junction of the Old Shoreham Road and The Drive in Hove. Kate in turn introduced Carly Read, our star speaker.

 

Carly is a local success story. She claims she is both ambitious and fearless. She was introduced to retail business at an early age as her grandparents ran a bakery and grocers shop in the Swansea valley. However, it was in Brighton that she founded her jewellery empire.

 

I think one of the signs of a good leader is that they can tell compelling stories and create clear images in the minds of others with apparently little effort. Carly’s delivery convinced me that she has been a great leader and must have been a powerful force to reckon with commercially.

 

 

She told us how her early years working in Esso introduced her to methods and processes that she then applied to marketing jewellery through a network of sales agents running parties in their own homes. She painted a picture of a pre-internet era when retail fashion was all about what you could do on the high street. Her big break came with the introduction of ‘concessions’ in the major retail chains which enabled her to rapidly create a large geographic footprint with no investment in retail property. She told us about the tough times, about over-trading and receivership. She told us her three key lessons from her first crash were the need for:

 

1)Cash-flow projections

2)Annual Business Plans

3)‘Lateral Thinking’

 

Phoenix-like she recovered and set up again on her own account. This time she did not run out of cash but ran into a dispute with her business partner which ended up with a second visit to receivership. Key lesson from that one: “Get a pre-nup” with your business partner at the outset.

 

She rose again from the ashes, this time using lateral thinking to identify her core knowledge as ‘concession management’ rather than ‘product’ (i.e. jewellery). So she moved into watches, with a new business partner, and despite some close calls with funding, built another successful business supplying some familiar high street names.

 

She also told us about her role supplying the 2012 Olympics with souvenirs and her trips to 10 Downing Street to meet David Cameron but I don’t have space for all the anecdotes. I took away some insight about transitioning businesses from personality-driven to accountant- driven as she described her move into retirement.

 

Afterwards I asked if she wanted to add any key lessons to pass on:

 

1)Look after your clients well – form joint business plans including sales targets

2)Talk to your suppliers regularly so they know what is going on

3)Nurture your staff and build a shared vision with them.

 

Thank you Carly.