From a uni room to the world: The story of Bohomoon

Bohomoon is a British chrome steel jewelry model based in 2014 by Katie Lynch when she was a college pupil learning at Kingston in London. The shortage of selection on the excessive avenue led her to assume exterior the field and purchase a field of fifty moon charms on-line to create her personal jewelry. She didn’t comprehend it but, however this may be the second that her enterprise started, utilizing social media to unfold the phrase and get the enterprise off the bottom. So, how did Bohomoon develop into as profitable as it’s right now?

Whereas the intention was by no means to begin a enterprise, Lynch realised pretty shortly that there was a possibility when she made £30,000 in a month whereas nonetheless packing orders herself at college. With some assist from her dad and mom, she was in a position to full her diploma whereas starting to show Bohomoon right into a bona fide model.

“It obtained to the purpose the place I used to be making an attempt to pack the orders exterior of lecture occasions, and I bear in mind ringing my mum and pa and saying, ‘I’m quitting uni, I can’t do all of this.’ I had a dissertation to do, and I had tons of of orders to pack. I couldn’t do it.

“My dad got here and picked all of it up and took it house and stated, ‘Your mum will pack it in our spare room,’ which took all that burden off me, permitting me to complete uni and concentrate on the product—shopping for extra and making it extra right into a model, yeah,” Lynch says.

“As a result of my time wasn’t spent simply packing orders, it gave me time to concentrate on the product. I believe doing that basically helped it develop. I used to be simply placing each penny I made again into the enterprise as a result of I actually loved it and wished to broaden our providing.”

Leveraging social media

In some respects, Lynch says she entered the trade on the excellent time. She was in a position to run a reasonably rudimentary enterprise whereas utilizing social media to unfold the phrase about Bohomoon. Within the mid-2010s, social media was not as developed as it’s right now, so the weather that made up submit for a enterprise had been far more cost effective than they’re now.

“It was the very best time to be on Instagram [for a jewellery brand]. I actually simply had an Instagram profile and an internet site, and that was it. No matter I posted that day could be the highest vendor of the day.

“After I was doing it, Instagram didn’t want an ideal image. I actually simply took a fast picture and posted it. Typically, I didn’t even have excellent nails, whereas now I really feel like you need to tick plenty of packing containers to even compete,” Lynch explains.

Scaling up

As soon as Lynch realised that there was a marketplace for her product, it was time to scale up. One of many largest challenges that founders face is handing over parts of the enterprise they’ve constructed to different folks after they not have the power to be throughout every thing. For Lynch, this was one of many hardest issues to do.

“I need to have oversight on every thing. I need to see how the orders are impacting the warehouse. I need to see the social media posts going out. I need to see what the e-mail replies are.

“However since changing into a mum, I’ve employed some senior administration—like a head of promoting, head of operations and head of finance—which have all actually helped take lots off my plate so I may concentrate on what I need to do within the enterprise, which is the product,” she says.

Lynch states that she was in a position to efficiently navigate this problem by selecting the correct folks, but in addition by understanding the place she wished to focus her time and what gaps this would depart. Having began out as a one-person operation, Lynch was additionally in a position to assist new recruits match into the enterprise and her imaginative and prescient as, in her phrases, she had completed all their jobs earlier than.

“It’s exhausting, however I believe as a result of I’m within the workplace each day, I’m with everybody. I’ve completed everybody’s job, so it’s straightforward for me to inform them how I would like it and train them, as a result of I’ve completed it.”

What does the longer term maintain?

Right now, Bohomoon has workplaces in Telford that sit above its warehouse. Between 2020 and 2024, the corporate noticed a 401% improve in orders and 108% development in 2024. The corporate additionally handles its third-party logistics (3PL) in-house, giving it one other string to its bow in comparison with a few of its rivals. Trying forward, Lynch hopes that the corporate’s profitable enlargement within the UK will enable it to enter the US and rebuild the promote it had in Europe earlier than Brexit measures took maintain.

She additionally desires to consistently enhance the product and proceed to provide clients items they need to put on.

“We need to proceed with our new product drops as a result of our USP is that we’ve got plenty of new drops. Our clients come again time and time once more, and we all the time need to have the newest traits and one thing new for them to purchase.

“We need to actually concentrate on product after which simply broaden so we’re extra recognized all around the world,” she concludes.