The Curious Mummy Meets London sisters India and Hannah the co-founders of Honey Rocks. Honey Rocks is a family focused home and lifestyle brand, packed full of colour, inspiration and heart. Today Honey Rocks celebrate their one year anniversary and we talk to India and Hannah about their highlights, their tips on starting a business and their style predictions for 2018.
Tell us a bit about yourselves?
We’re India & Hannah, sisters, co-Founders of Honey RocksLondon and mothers to four little ones between us.
Tell us about Honey Rocks and what gave you both the idea to start?
We’re an online kids homewares & lifestyle brand. As you can probably tell we’re big fans of colour! After having children we wanted to fill our homes with bright, statement, colour popping furniture and accessories, we were looking for pieces that kids would love but that wouldn’t spoil our grown up interiors! There just wasn’t anywhere out there doing that, so using India’s background in homeware buying and Hannah’s in luxury PR, we decided to go for it alone.. And in March last year Honey Rocks was born!
Tells us a bit more about your wonderful collaboration with the charity FARA
We knew we wanted our business to give something back to children less fortunate. FARA charity shops are brilliant for pre-loved finds for kids – (they’re known in London as being the posh mums charity shop!). And their amazing work with poor and disadvantaged children, many of whom have lost their parents in tragic circumstances, really resonated with us. Through our exclusive partnership we developed our Rocks Ts and Peace& Love clothing collections that are raising much needed funds for their projects, we couldn’t be prouder!
Describe your typical day?
When we started out we had very little childcare so did most of our work at night when the children were asleep. That still happens, but school and nursery have really helped us dedicate more time to growing the business. So once the drop offs are done we can get on with packing orders, answering customer mails, planning marketing and social and designing our new collection… We also drink a lot of coffee and green tea!
What would you say the most important thing is in running an online business? What has been the greatest lesson you have learnt?
How powerful social media can be – ie Instagram! We’re less than a year in and still have a long way to go growing our following, but we’ve found Instagram to be a really powerful way to drive people to our website. Facebook next!
What has been a highlight of your career to date?
Appearing in the Evening Standard at the launch of our campaign with FARA charity shops gave us the start we needed, as well as gave the charity some brilliant coverage. And working with Anna Whitehouse @Mother_Pukka on our latest Peace & Love launch was pretty special, she’s an amazing girl and her #flexappeal campaign is massively inspiring.
What do you think it takes to be a Mum Boss?
Grit, determination, and lots of baby wipes!
How do you find a balance between running a successful business and raising a family?
We’re not going to pretend that balancing it is an easy ride. In fact as many mums know merging work and home life is really hard whatever your working schedule looks like. Sometimes you have to step away from either work or the children to get focused. Take time to do that whenever you can and try not to stress about all the little things that can go wrong in the juggle!
After work, how do you find time to relax?
By trying to put down our phones – so hard to do!
Working out, it really is the best therapy.
Long walks with our French Bulldog Mr Smith
What are your top five tips for starting a successful business?
- Network – use Instagram we’ve met so many amazing women who have supported us and become friends
- Don’t be afraid to ask all your contacts for help
- Don’t wait for things to be perfect to get started, or you may never begin
- Think big, there’s no reason why you can’t make a big idea happen even on a shoestring budget
- Don’t get distracted by what everyone else is doing
You have recently launched your new collection Love & Peace, please tell us your idea behind it.
Working with FARA has reminded us that Peace & Love really are the only two things that matter, especially to children. After some of the really tragic events that happened in the UK last year from Grenfell to the London attacks we felt that this collection would resonate with other people too.
What are your style predictions for SS18?
Colour! From rainbow shades to pastels.. we couldn’t be happier!
If you were to host the ultimate dinner party and you could invite anyone in the world, who would be on your guest list?
- Oprah
- Louis Theroux
- Bryony Gordon
- The boys from Rak Su – well need we say more..
- Coco Chanel
- Our mum and dad
- Natalie Massanet
- Tom Hardy
- Meghan Markel
- Kate Moss
Insta @honeyrockslondon
