Hunting For George started as a sidehustle for sisters Jo & Lucy … seven years on it’s turning over $5M per annum

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Sisters Lucy Glade-Wright and Jo Harris are the founders of homewares brand Hunting For George. Launched in 2010, it’s now turning over $5M per annum, with 5 fulltime and 2 part-time employees, it stocks 5,0000 different products, they’ve an email database of 60,000 and an Instagram following of 200K. We cover plenty of ground in this chat including building a brand from scratch, working with family, the power of creating your own product line and content strategy instead of relying on others, and plenty more.

“In the first two years we treated (business) a bit like a hobby – but when we made the decision that this is what we both want to do … everything changed. It was a mindset. Everything started to fall into place. Because if you treat like a hobby, it will always be a hobby.”

-Lucy Glade-Wright
Hunting For George

There’s loads more tips and insights just like this that will help you build that beautiful business of yours into the empire it deserves to be. Hit the PLAY button above to listen now, or subscribe free to hear the full interview. You’ll also find the full interview transcription below.

If you have questions about how to successfully build and market a business from scratch then you’ll get the answers in this interview, including:

• Where did the name Hunting For George come from?
• How did you launch it?
• What’s your approach to customer service?
• How do you build a database? And how often do you communicate with them?
• Why have you opened an experience store in a large shopping centre?
• What role does social media play in getting more sales?
• And so much more …

A little bit about today’s guests …

Lucy Glade-Wright and Jo Harris are the sister duo behind homewares brand Hunting For George. They began Hunting For George with a desire to create an online space that they couldn’t find elsewhere … something that offered more than the norm. They launched in 2010 from Jo’s psre room whilst both in full time jobs(Lucy a Graphic Designer and Jo a Nurse). One year in and with a far more impressive number of brands on board, they began to flirt with the idea of creating our own range of products. The business has been growing year -on-year ever since, and they’re now turning over around $5M online and offline.

Here’s what caught my attention from my chat with Hunting For George’s Lucy and Jo:

1. In regards to content creation “You can’t rely on others, so create your own channels”.
2. Create content that educates. Absolutely! BUT don’t be afraid to also engage and (dare I say) entertain. The How to fold a fitted sheet video is a great example of doing both.
3. The Community section on their website that includes Hunting For George Radio (linked to Spotify):
   • Hump Day Pick Me Ups
   • Motivate Me Mondays
   • Sunday Soul
   • Friday Beats

But the marketing gold doesn’t stop there, in this episode you’ll also discover:

• I’ve got an idea about you and I meeting up that I’d like your opinion on
  
• With the help of website and SEO expert Dave Jenyns, I launch a new segment called Ignite Your Site
  
• And we go back into the vault, revisiting a chat I had with Rebecca Coombes who made one small tweak to her business that changed everything

Please support these businesses who make this show possible:

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If something in this episode of Australia’s favourite marketing podcast peaked your interest, then let me know by leaving a comment below.

This post was provided by marketing speaker Tim Reid who is the host of The Small Business Big Marketing Show, Australia’s #1 marketing podcast, also heard on Virgin Airlines. Subscribe FREE on iTunes or Android.