"I quit my job in banking to make toy boxes - and my business is thriving"
- last year
A woman who quit her banking job to craft bespoke toy boxes in her mum's spare room - now runs a thriving business - with a two-month-long waiting list.
Rosie Connor, 27, worked in a high street bank for five years, but left because she felt underappreciated.
She started making toy boxes for children in the nursery where her mum worked while looking for new job in 2018.
But her fledgling 'business' literally took off and Rosie is now selling more than 1,500 toy boxes-a-year.
Rosie's product is a 3ft x 1.5ft Ottoman-style toy box that comes with a cushioned top with soft-close hinges.
It comes with a custom design and lettering and costs approximately £200.
Rosie turned her mum's spare room into a mini workshop and quickly started working "every hour under the sun" to get the business going.
At the beginning the business grew slowly, Rosie would regularly start the day at five am and not return home until midnight most days.
Now the hard work has paid off and her annual turnover has doubled year-on-year since she started and employs one person to help her in the workshop.
But her efforts paid off and she sold 400 toy boxes in 2019.
Rosie, from Worcester Park, Surrey, said: "I had always loved art in school, but just never focused enough to get the grades and actually do the work.
"In the beginning, making money and getting the first sales was hard.
"I posted in every single Facebook group you could imagine.
"I did competitions and worked every hour under the sun both in the week and on the weekends, driving any order to its destination even if that meant four hours away."
As the business grew, so did her social media following, and it acted as a catalyst for growth.
"I remember hitting 10,000 followers in March 2020, this is honestly still one of the best days of my life, I remember watching it change and crying," Rosie said.
"I was aware at the time this was tiny to some, but it was HUGE to me and a real piece of evidence that my hard work was paying off."
In May 2020 during lockdown, she moved the business from her mum's spare room to an actual workshop and even hired an employee to help out.
The orders kept piling up and demand surged, so in November 2021 she had to rent a 500-square-foot unit to store her stock.
Rosie went from selling 400 boxes in 2019 and 2020, to nearly tripling that in 2021 with 1,200 boxes sold.
Last year, Rosie saw an increase in sales again, with 1,500 boxes sold and is on course to smash that in 2023.
Rosie now has nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram and the business has a two-month-long waiting list for orders.
Rosie added: "I had a lot of doubters in the beginning.
"Small businesses who originally ignored me asking for advice, now ask me and I cannot believe my eyes sometimes."
Rosie now plans to develop the business further and expand her operation to whittle down the waiting list - as stock sells out within 24 hours every time it is replenished
Rosie Connor, 27, worked in a high street bank for five years, but left because she felt underappreciated.
She started making toy boxes for children in the nursery where her mum worked while looking for new job in 2018.
But her fledgling 'business' literally took off and Rosie is now selling more than 1,500 toy boxes-a-year.
Rosie's product is a 3ft x 1.5ft Ottoman-style toy box that comes with a cushioned top with soft-close hinges.
It comes with a custom design and lettering and costs approximately £200.
Rosie turned her mum's spare room into a mini workshop and quickly started working "every hour under the sun" to get the business going.
At the beginning the business grew slowly, Rosie would regularly start the day at five am and not return home until midnight most days.
Now the hard work has paid off and her annual turnover has doubled year-on-year since she started and employs one person to help her in the workshop.
But her efforts paid off and she sold 400 toy boxes in 2019.
Rosie, from Worcester Park, Surrey, said: "I had always loved art in school, but just never focused enough to get the grades and actually do the work.
"In the beginning, making money and getting the first sales was hard.
"I posted in every single Facebook group you could imagine.
"I did competitions and worked every hour under the sun both in the week and on the weekends, driving any order to its destination even if that meant four hours away."
As the business grew, so did her social media following, and it acted as a catalyst for growth.
"I remember hitting 10,000 followers in March 2020, this is honestly still one of the best days of my life, I remember watching it change and crying," Rosie said.
"I was aware at the time this was tiny to some, but it was HUGE to me and a real piece of evidence that my hard work was paying off."
In May 2020 during lockdown, she moved the business from her mum's spare room to an actual workshop and even hired an employee to help out.
The orders kept piling up and demand surged, so in November 2021 she had to rent a 500-square-foot unit to store her stock.
Rosie went from selling 400 boxes in 2019 and 2020, to nearly tripling that in 2021 with 1,200 boxes sold.
Last year, Rosie saw an increase in sales again, with 1,500 boxes sold and is on course to smash that in 2023.
Rosie now has nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram and the business has a two-month-long waiting list for orders.
Rosie added: "I had a lot of doubters in the beginning.
"Small businesses who originally ignored me asking for advice, now ask me and I cannot believe my eyes sometimes."
Rosie now plans to develop the business further and expand her operation to whittle down the waiting list - as stock sells out within 24 hours every time it is replenished