Ellie Goss started her weaving business, Loominellie (www.loominellie.com) just a year ago after doing a degree and then a masters degree in weaving. Ellie designs and produces bespoke products aimed at independent department stores and has an unusual side line in combining pet hair with high quality wools so that you can now have a scarf made out of the hair of your favourite pet.

At just 26 her business has now been going a year, “I’ve never worked for anyone else and I hated the idea of giving my designs to other people to profit from. I decided if I didn’t go for it I never would and I knew I was perfectly capable.” Ellie explained.

The first home for the business was her boyfriend’s Mum’s garage for which she was very grateful, but of course it wasn’t very comfortable. Ellie therefore thought luck was on her side when her parents had to temporarily move to Russia. It gave her the opportunity of moving into the more comfortable surroundings of her parent’s house, just outside Winchester. However she encountered one major problem. The loom was too big to fit beyond the front door. Fortunately her new business landlord, being her mother, was probably a lot more understanding than other landlords would have been and good naturedly let builders dismantle the banisters to get the loom in.

Ellie’s start up costs were high, as the loom was a huge expense and she works in high quality wools such as cashmere. This was funded by friends and family but Ellie is keen to pay them back and put things onto a more business like footing. However with her parents soon moving back home she also had to find the money for new premises.

Ellie explains, “My first thought was simply to go to the Bank but then someone suggested I check on the Business Link website. There is a whole section on it about growing your business and an interactive tool to help you decide on the best source of finance for your particular business. And of course because Business Link is funded by the Government I know that the advice from the site is impartial and not trying to push a commercial product that might not be right for me.”

Another problem that Ellie has experienced is selling over the internet. “It’s taken a long time for me to get the website right, I had no idea about the techniques of getting customers to access, buy from and return to your website and I’ve been really disappointed with the amount of sales the website has generated. But when I was searching for guidance on funding I also found a whole section on doing business online (part of the IT and e-commerce part of the site). I wish I’d known about it earlier.”

Ellie loves weaving, even though it can be something she’s doing for a backbreaking 14 hours a day. Long term she hopes to subcontract some of her designs to create soft furnishing products but as weaving is her passion she hopes to continue with it at least some of the time. Ellie enthuses, “I thought when I started I would find it difficult to manage my time but I don’t I love it, I’m really driven, but I wish I’d known more about Business Link earlier.”