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Annabella Forbes

Annabella Forbes

London, United Kingdom
www.bedandfed.co.uk

Looking to sell or partner Bed&Fed with a fantastic, enthusiastic, hard-working individual or business. Please get in touch for more info.

Escape Profile
Escape Profile

Running an online B&B directory

Annabella is the graduate entrepreneur founder of http://www.bedandfed.co.uk/">Bed and Fed, a directory of B&Bs. She has some really useful advice based on what she has learned so far. Best of luck with everything and thanks for sharing your experiences with Esc!

ESCAPED FROM

  • Education

ESCAPED TO

  • Consumer
  • Adventure / Travel

ESCAPE ROUTE

  • Start a business

Currently...

I am running http://www.bedandfed.co.uk/">Bed and Fed, an online directory of informal, affordable, 'home-away-from-home' dinner bed & breakfasts all over the UK and Ireland. This takes a lot more than you think! The admin involved in running a website is sizeable.

On top of this, because it is a startup, I also do all the PR myself which is a challenge but also quite exciting at the same time when you get results! I also design the site and make the films on there.

Before I escaped...

Before this I was a student at Durham, then travelled and worked in theatre and film.

My moment of truth...

I have wanted to run my own company for a long time. I thought of this particular idea while I was at uni but it took a long time to get around to getting the site made.

I talked about it a lot with all sorts of people and took some business courses with http://www.bgateway.com/">Business Gateway which were very useful.

The moment of truth was probably when my neighbour said, "why don't you just do it and see what happens instead of talking about it?!"

Planning for it...

Can't say I did a huge amount of planning - have learnt an awful lot along the way as the business has developed. I have certainly made mistakes, but I ask anyone and everyone for advice (not just people in business) and learn along the way.

Financially, it was initially using savings from work I had done in catering.

The worst and best bits...

Hardest part: Actually getting the site working! This was very difficult and there were many technical problems but it's now all fixed!

Best part: Job satisfaction! Instead of just talking about the idea, people can now actually go to the website and view the 100s of bed&fed places to stay!

Best advice...

ASK FOR ADVICE!!!

Really ask anyone and everyone - the man on the bus might have a good idea or your friend's younger brother - anyone and everyone!

Also BE ADAPTABLE - businesses do change and adapt all the time - be flexible.

Employ a good web developer from the start.

Useful resources and information...