Help to Grow: Management helps family-run framing firm see the big picture

“I helped out in the business on an ad hoc basis for many years, but came fully on board around ten years ago when my stepdad got ill and my mum needed some help running things, and I found it so much fun. I was able to bring my background to it and add some real value by bringing some of that fine art sensibility. I did lots of research around new mouldings and new suppliers, and helped with broadening the scope of the business, and it was really satisfying.” 

While her enthusiasm and knowledge were crucial to moving the business forwards, Zoe admits she was lacking the business acumen to help things grow in a controlled way. 

“I’m an artist, a sculptor, a maker. I don’t have a business background. So, while it was a good business, a busy business, we never really treated it in a very strategic way. 

“The more we added to it, the busier and more unmanageable it became. We started to offer too much.” 

By early 2023, the business had six employees and, with her mum taking more of a back seat due to her age, Zoe was feeling the pressure.  

“I remember, on one occasion, realising there were just six of us with 700 jobs on the go. We were all working far too hard. I mean, 700 jobs is not a small business anymore. All I was doing was just damage limitation every day, just reacting.” 

Knowing things needed to change, Zoe came up with the idea of changing the business structure – retaining the bespoke framing element but creating a simpler, cheaper ready-made frame business for customers who didn’t need such an extensive service. 

“I had the epiphany that we should just cut the business down the middle. Keep the bespoke but do something more standardised too. I didn’t quite know what that would look like, but I knew having a clearer strategy would help, then somebody told me about the Help to Grow: Management Course and I thought, ‘That's exactly what I need!’ I needed someone to help me unpick the business.” 

Zoe enrolled on the course in 2023 at the London South Bank University (LSBU) Business School and soon found the confidence to push her new idea forwards. 

Zoe believes the success of the new business is a direct result of her time on the Help to Grow: Management Course. 

“We’d had the beginnings of an idea, but the course really cemented it and made it real. I genuinely don't think we would have made the change without it.  

“It gave me a really solid foundation. I came with no experience, no language, no nothing. I'm an artist. I’d never discussed business growth with anybody, even my mum, but the way the course was structured was perfect for me.  

“Every single module made complete sense at the right time. It was like ‘Are they doing this just for me?!’ It was like they were inside my mind.”  

Gaining the perspective to look from the outside of the business in was one of the most valuable parts of the course for Zoe. 

“Before, we never really had proper meetings, we never really checked in with staff properly, but we always make sure we make the time to do that now. We have a workshop manager now too, whereas before I was always running between the two and it was just untenable. 

“Understanding more about cash flow and finance has been a game changer too. It made me realise we had to pivot very quickly to taking up-front payments. We’d never done it in 40 years of running the business, which was fine when lead times were a couple of weeks, but we’d got to the point where the increased demand meant we were looking at 12-14 week lead times. Not getting any money until the end of that just made no sense.  

“It was one of those things I’d known we ought to be doing for a while, but the course helped me to actually take that action. 

“Just being able to access some of the language and strategy around growing a business has helped us so much.” 

Zoe has already sent the manager of the new ‘What the Frame?’ shop on the Help to Grow: Management course too, and the company has big ambitions for the future. 

“We really want to support art practice and showcase local artists, and we’re talking about ways we can do this. We’d like to expand ‘What the Frame?’ into more areas and open more shops.  

“A lot of our staff are artists too and we’d like to move to a four-day week to allow them to have more time to work on their art.  

“We want to continue adding value, by using really good material in a standardised way, so that there’s minimal waste.” 

There are also plans to explore new technology to help make the production of frames more efficient, but much of this will depend on access to funds – something Zoe is now busy exploring. 

“That’s another thing that’s been great about the course, they’ve signposted me to events and resources that will help on that front too. I think a lot of small business owners just aren't financially savvy, we're just doing things by instinct, so to have this constant drip of sign posting to more support  is brilliant.”  

Find out how the Help to Grow: Management Course can further your business here.