Our founders, Purdy Rubin and Charlotte Figg, were running their popular workshops to teach people how to create their own eco-friendly cleaning products before lockdown put things on pause. Thanks to some quick thinking and agility, they were able to adapt the business to manufacture their own premium hand sanitiser.

Charlotte and Purdy and certainly learnt a few things along the way, here they share some of their top tips for budding entrepreneurs...

Identify and focus on your business goals and ethos

It is important to have a clear, easily articulated ethos or goal for your business and what you stand for. For Purdy & Figg, this is our emphasis on minimising the use of toxic chemicals we use on our skin and in our homes as well as reducing the use of single-use plastics in cleaning products. These two goals feed into the brand’s mission of transforming the experience of cleaning. The clarity of these goals gives us a clear brand identity, while also allowing room to grow and to adapt.

Be flexible and open to new opportunities

It's also incredibly important to maintain flexibility in your business plan, this allows you to seek out opportunities and change direction in order to meet them. 

As the UK entered lockdown and social distancing measures were put in place, Purdy and Charlotte found themselves facing months of cancelled cleaning workshops. They had even been about to launch their cleaning products retail line but lost their entire supply chain capacity to the high street supermarkets due to Covid-19 demands. Ever the entrepreneur, Purdy Rubin saw her friends in hospitals around the country complaining about dry hands from poor quality hand gels and realised there was a huge opportunity right in front of them. Charlotte and Purdy were able to pivot their business and focus on producing a beautiful, eco-friendly, natural hand sanitiser that moisturises while it protects. 

Focus on quality over quantity 

Purdy & Figg has scaled up gradually in order to maintain the quality and integrity of their product, focusing first on word-of-mouth and digital advertising, before growing their plan to include broader marketing campaigns and more traditional Public Relations and influencer marketing. They’ve also kept their focus tight, choosing to initially specialise in one product  in order to build trust and understanding with consumers.