Janine Manning is an experienced business professional with a proven track record in leading startups and early-stage companies to successful outcomes. As a qualified Chartered Accountant (CAANZ), with an MBA and MSt in Social Innovation from The University of Cambridge, Janine has a broad range of financial, management, strategic and practical skills. Janine has a real appreciation of what it takes to grow and scale a business and is recognised for her ability to develop long term quality relationships with a diverse group of stakeholders. www.rebecca-page.com 

Can you tell our readers about your background?

After university, I qualified as an accountant and quickly discovered that I enjoyed ‘rolling my sleeves up’ and working in fast-growing, early-stage ventures. To build and broaden my skills, I completed an MBA 10 years later, and more recently an MSt in Social Innovation from The University of Cambridge. I’ve been a business angel for seven years and I mentor a group each year for the New Zealand Women’s Network in London. In 2018, Rebecca Page was a mentee in my start-up group. She was exploring whether she could turn her sewing hobby into a business, and at the end of the 12-week program, we co-founded Rebecca Page Ltd.

What inspired you to start your business?

Rebecca had a compelling vision to digitally disrupt the traditional home-sewing market by building an online B2C business that sells sewing patterns, products, and services to a global underserved community with highly specific demographics. We are both New Zealanders, we share the same values, get on well, and have complementary skill sets. Rebecca has a double degree in Computer Science and Psychology so she’s in charge of tech, marketing, and the team. I’m responsible for finance, capital raising, and projects.

Where is your business based?

 We are incorporated in the UK, although only 15% of our revenue comes from here. 45% comes from the US, 10% from Australia, and 30% from the rest of the world. Our team all work remotely and are based in 11 countries.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

We started in April 2018 and bootstrapped and self-funded for the first year. We then raised £400K from our New Zealand network in March 2019 and £150K in a SEIS round in the UK in March 2020. We are proud that we are bucking the trend with over half of our investors being female. We also have an all-female board of four.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business? 

We have only been in business for two years, during which time a combination of e-mail marketing to our database and Facebook (organic and ads) has worked well with our target demographic of women aged between 35 and 55 years. In saying that, our fastest-growing demographic is women in their twenties, and these followers respond well to Instagram.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? 

Both our biggest challenges relate to growing and scaling quickly in a global context. Firstly, how to grow and manage a team who are based all over the world in different time zones, and secondly, selecting new geographies to enter and target for growth.

From a team perspective, we have a weekly Zoom call on Mondays at 5 pm BST, which focusses mainly on us getting to know each other better. After a quick work update, we share the creative projects that we are working on, which is a lot of fun. Knowing each other better helps us to communicate effectively and efficiently for the rest of the week.

For global growth and scale, we closely follow the ‘Lean Startup’ methodology. This has meant that we test on a small scale before we fully launch into new geography. This has worked well for us. We also like to ‘do things ourselves’ before passing a task over to someone else to do.

How do you stay focused? 

There’s no problem focusing when you know where you are going and what you need to do to get there.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Both online and bricks & mortar home sewing businesses are predominantly local ‘cottage’ industries. We stand out because of our ability to build an inclusive and engaged global community.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

We regularly offer our customers ‘freebie’ patterns and sewalongs, which has been a great way to build our community (currently over 370,000 and rapidly growing). There is a strong correlation between follower and revenue growth.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Consciously decide to become a life-long learner. Keep an open mind and an agile mentality.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

I prefer books, so I’ve chosen three:

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries – a tried and tested process to follow to build an excellent business.

The Founder's Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth, by Chris Zook & James Allen – a practical, no-nonsense guide to navigating the inevitable problems that come with growing business at speed.

The Monk and the Riddle, by Randy Komisar – a beautiful explanation as to why we should reject the deferred life plan that most people live.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why? 

My iPhone – it goes everywhere with me and has everything I could need (at least in the short term).

Who is your business role model? Why?

My business role model is Susie Barr, my friend who lives in New Zealand and is a gemologist and jewelry business owner (https://www.mwdiamondjeweller.co.nz/). Susie started in the industry as a teenager and has always had an unwavering passion for her calling. She loves her clients, her team, and her business and is the hardest working person I know. And she is always a ton of fun.

How do you balance work and life?

It’s easier now that our four children have grown up! You’ve got to be well organised and have the ability to prioritise so that you don’t miss out on the good stuff.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

During the lockdown, I’ve started sewing again after about a five-year break. I really like a productive hobby with an outcome.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

Plans are up in the air at the moment because of COVID-19. We have a new product launch coming up soon that we believe is going to be a game-changer. We’re keeping it under our hat for the moment so watch this space!

How can our readers connect with you?

Email:               janine@rebecca-page.com

LinkedIn:          https://www.linkedin.com/in/janine-manning-71b6a41b/