A mum-of-two turned her fortunes around and made a £1million business selling sponges, cloths and bin liners after receiving a devastating diagnosis.
Laura Harnett was just 39-years-old when she discovered a cancerous lump in her breast.
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The news was devastating for the mother of two young children, from West London.
But after a life-saving double mastectomy, Laura used her ordeal as inspiration to start up her own business and is now a millionaire.
“When I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, it was undoubtedly a challenging part of my life, but it served as a profound chance to reflect and figure out what I really wanted to do,” she said.
“I never thought I would be an entrepreneur as I thought that was just for crazy young people with nothing to lose.
“But when something like this happens, you realise you only have one life and actually anything is possible,”
“It was a pivotal time, it made me stop and think about what I wanted to do with my life and I decided I wanted to do something different.”
FINDING THE IDEA
Laura, now 46, says the lightbulb moment for her came when she was pushing a trolley around her local supermarket and stopped at the cleaning aisle.
She felt disappointed with the cleaning accessories on display, such as sponges and cloths, being plastic and old-fashioned.
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“I knew I was willing to pay a bit more money for something not plastic or ugly, so I didn’t understand why there was nothing for me,” she said.
“Then that idea then lodged in my mind, and I spotted an opportunity to create sustainable alternatives for unsexy household items like sponges, cloths, and bin liners.
“I just lost the fear, and my business Seep was born in 2020.”
Laura’s husband Paul, 47, backed her idea, which gave her the confidence to just go for it.
GETTING STARTED
Using her knowledge from her previous job working in digital products at Selfridges, Laura enlisted the help of a numbers-savvy friend and set herself a three-month deadline to conduct customer research.
She also looked into how other people had set up their own businesses and put in an order for the sustainable products she wanted to sell by using her savings.
The end result was Seep, a business creating plastic-free, biodegradable household cleaning products.
“I started with £12,000 which paid for my first batch of products – sponge scourers and a plant-based microfibre cloth, plus a website and some branding,” Laura said.
After setting up the business with just those two products and getting initial orders in, Laura started selling on Amazon in 2022 and says it helped her to expand her reach.
“That’s where people are searching for eco-cleaning products and we started to get some unbiased feedback,” explained.
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FUTURE PLANS
Seep now generates an annual £1million in revenue and has 80-90% year-on-year growth.
Laura says Seep is on a mission to eliminate 1billion plastic cleaning items from landfill sites by 2030.
Its zero-plastic, natural tools aim to create a healthier planet through a clean home.
But despite her business’s huge success, Laura says there were a few bumps in the road.
“The first batch of products that we ordered was a nightmare. It arrived in cardboard packaging and the cardboard packaging got soggy from the container’s journey by boat,” she said.
“The sponges absorbed lots of water and then released it on the packaging, so it went all soggy. I got my daughter Una, 11, and son Rafa, 13, to help and we repackaged it all.”
Laura said she comes from a risk-averse background with parents who saved very carefully, so she had to get comfortable with taking risks and spending her savings.
“It’s not all been plain-sailing, it’s been a steep learning curve,” she said.
Seep now has 12 products and having raised £750,000 in investment through Venture Capital Funds last year, she has now been able to invest in more luxurious packaging.
Her business won sustainable brand of the year in The Start up 100 earlier this year.
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Now, Laura is on a mission to turn her £1million business into a £50million business.
“I want to shake it all up – I have very big ambitions.”
Laura’s top tips for starting your own biz
IF you’re thinking of starting your own business, entrepreneur Laura has some top tips of her own.
- Collaborate: Talk to other founders, do joint marketing, and learn from both their successes and mistakes to help you make better informed decisions.
- Get product feedback: Initiate feedback from customers through surveys and reviews, or from your Amazon listings, so you can constantly improve your product range and brand experience.
- Don’t run before you can walk: Build steadily and sustainably, and make sure you prioritise. Don’t go for all the opportunities that come your way – choose the ones that will get you the best return or impact.
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