BIZZY-BEADZ is a family business, which was kick-started by young entrepreneur Jess
What’s the story behind your name?
Bizzy-Beadz is a collection of ideas: “bizzy”as in being busy, “bizzy” as in a business and “beadz” as in beads. The whole name is also a play on words on the phrase “busy bees”, which is especially relevant to us, as we are always busy and we are from Greater Manchester, which has the bee as its symbol. We also think it’s a rather catchy name!
Who runs your business? Do you have time to do any other jobs or is this full time?
I run my business with the help of my mum Louise and Nick. I started it when I was 11 and it’s really grown since then. As I’m now at Uni, you’re more likely to find my mum and Nick at markets than me!
What do you make?
A huge range of colourful, funky designs made from plastic Hama beads. Our range includes coasters, place mats, fridge magnets, mobiles, 3D models and 3D cube/tealight holders. We also take commissions from customers and have produced some really massive framed bead sprites – we can make just about anything a customer might suggest!
Where do you get your inspiration?
A lot of my inspiration comes from video games and comics (I’m a big fan of both!) and also classic video games, which are fairly simple to adapt to bead designs because they’re already pixelated. I also get a fair amount of ideas from customer suggestions.
Where can people find you?
Bizzy-Beadz has been around for over 8 years now and, in that time, we have taken part in well over 500 markets, festivals, craft fairs and Comic Cons all over the North West and sometimes a bit further afield too. We have an online presence on the main social media platforms and craft event organisations. We’re planning on joining Worker Bee Markets in Bramhall, Reddish and Marple Bridge in 2021.
We’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Stallfinder.
Do you have any tips for anyone wanting to start their own creative small business?
Find something not only that you can do well, but something you enjoy doing: it’s not worth it if it’s not fun for you to do. Also try and do something new and unusual, not something everyone else sells. You need to be well organised, look ahead for events and just be bold and use your imagination
What have you been upto during the pandemic?
Jess Brett started Bizzy-Beadz in 2013 at the tender age of 11.
Fast forward to the start of 2020: Jess – now aged 18 – was offered a place at university to study for a maths degree. After taking part in literally hundreds of craft fairs, Comic Cons and artisan markets, Jess came to realise that he now needed to focus his attention on his university studies, so he decided to take a step back from the business.
That’s when I (Jess’s mum) and my partner, Nick, made the decision to take over the business from Jess…..but you’ll be pleased to know that he has kindly agreed to remain on board as our “Geeky Consultant”, so he is still there in the background!
Almost immediately after this change of direction, Covid 19 reared its ugly head and suddenly – as all small business owners will no doubt agree – times got really tough, as all our events for the year were cancelled one after another.
Not to be deterred, we decided to focus our attention on online sales and building up stock, whilst remaining optimistic that live events would eventually be allowed to start up again.
In July 2020, we opened our Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/bizzybeadzstore and also took part in several social-media based “virtual” markets.
It’s safe to say that we have definitely been very busy throughout 2020 with stock making, online markets and also coming up with new product designs, including our fabulous new range of framed bead sprites (check out our social media pages to learn more!)
By the time live events were allowed to start up again towards the end of the year, we were raring to go and we had some incredible experiences at the Worker Bee markets in the last months of 2020. It was clear to see that it wasn’t only the traders who were pleased to get back out there! We really missed the camaraderie and community spirit at these markets, not to mention all the lovely food and products on sale.
Having just enjoyed a fabulous – and very hectic – couple of months of live outdoor markets at the end of 2020, we started the new year with the country being plunged into a third lockdown. This was so disappointing for us, as we have come to realise that selling online doesn’t give our customers the same experience as live markets because they miss out on seeing our fabulous, colourful market display, as well as the chance to buy delicious food whilst browsing the stalls.
We are therefore eagerly awaiting news of when live events can start up again. We have made lots of new stock and we’re booked in for several Worker Bee events in 2021, so we are really looking forward to seeing our trader friends and customers again at this year’s markets.
Discover more of our Worker Bee traders HERE
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