#INSPO 9 - Spring 2017

Sophie and Hannah Pycroft, sisters
from Wales, started their makeup
brush brand Spectrum Collections
in a garage with no windows. Now it’s
worth £8 millions. From barely seeing
their partners and family, to working
long hours and packing thousands of
orders themselves, Sophie and Hannah
are a perfect example of hard work
and never ending determination.
WHAT KIND OF GAP IN THE MARKET DID YOU
SEE WHEN YOU DECIDED TO START SPECTRUM
COLLECTIONS?
We thought about starting a clothing brand but the start-up
costs were too high. We saw there was a gap in the market
for trend-led beauty tools and we wanted something that
would combine our love for fashion and beauty.
WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE YOU STARTED THE
BUSINESS?
Sophie was working as a freelance photographer while Hannah
was a videographer. We both worked in media production
but always for other brands, so it helped with our
decision to start our own.
YOU CREATED SPECTRUM COLLECTIONS IN YOUR
HOME GARAGE. WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES
AND BENEFITS TO THIS STRATEGY?
We were doing everything ourselves, working 12 hours a day,
packing up to 2,000 orders a month by the time business
was starting to take off, but it was the only way would be
able to do it as we had no overheads and could invest all
of our money into stock, it meant we could do it without
business loans or investors, so we really are our own bosses
which is great.
DID YOU DISAGREE A LOT OR DID YOU BOTH AL-
WAYS HAVE A SIMILAR VISION FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
We’ve got twin syndrome, we’ve pretty much got the
same brain so we know what one another is thinking which
means no arguments and lots of mutual decisions without
much debate!
HOW HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE IN RUNNING THE
BUSINESS BEEN DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU
EXPECTED?
We had to perform many more tasks than we thought we
would have to, from designing products to packing vans,
running social media, customer service, and PR. We knew it
would be hard work and we still like to involve ourselves in
every aspect of the business, but we love it, and we know
the business inside out. That’s one of the reasons why Spectrum
has been successful as we’re so passionate and hands
on with everything, and we’ll continue to work that way.
WHAT WAS THAT BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT
WHEN YOU KNEW THAT YOU MADE IT?
It was when we released the ‘Glam Clam’ and it sold out
straight away. It generated lots of interest with press, we
were featured in magazines and people went crazy for the
brand after that.
HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR WORK AND
PRIVATE LIVES?
We rarely saw our other halves for the first two years of
running the business, while we were in the garage we were
there but not really as we were so busy keeping up with
running the business, but they often helped us by making
boxes and packing orders with us when they got home from
their day jobs. Now we still work when we get home - running
social media and checking e-mails from overseas, but we tend
to do it in between breaks while we’re watching TV with our
partners rather than being downstairs in the garage packing
orders! It is still quite a demanding job but again we love it, so
it doesn’t feel like work.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEBODY
WHO WANTED TO START A SIMILAR BUSINESS?
Google is your best friend, do your research, be prepared for
lots of hard work. Don’t think it will be glamorous for the first
few years, but if you can get through the ‘start-up’ phase by
yourself then you can really enjoy running your own business.
WWW.SPECTRUMCOLLECTIONS.COM
2017 Spring | Issue 9 #INSPO 13