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Old 17-06-2011, 10:37
kevsman
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No one in their right mind would buy a product online from a company that under "contact us" did not list their address, email and telephone number?

having a website means nothing and i would seriously doubt they (she) get any orders.

She also calls her self the managing director. Which other directors does she manage and what staff do the directors oversee?
The link was a video to her selling at exhibitions. And the contact page says that she will call them within 48 hours if customers want to be called. And there are plenty of businesses online that doesn't list their phone numbers.

Her email address and postal address are also listed online. There is even a contact form to make contacting the company easier.

It seems that you desperately want this girl to be unsuccessful, regardless of the facts, perhaps it makes you feel better I don't know.

I don't think her company is massive, but her products look nice and I'm sure she gets business, especially from the Apprentice publicity.
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Old 17-06-2011, 10:55
Zoltan Smith
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The link was a video to her selling at exhibitions. And the contact page says that she will call them within 48 hours if customers want to be called. And there are plenty of businesses online that doesn't list their phone numbers.

Her email address and postal address are also listed online. There is even a contact form to make contacting the company easier.

It seems that you desperately want this girl to be unsuccessful, regardless of the facts, perhaps it makes you feel better I don't know.

I don't think her company is massive, but her products look nice and I'm sure she gets business, especially from the Apprentice publicity.
You are talking rubbish. If you can find the time, why not? Rather that, than wasting my time with computer games.

There are quite a few young entrepreneurs out there building online busineses and using their part-time earnings to fund their education.
name 3
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Old 17-06-2011, 11:00
kevsman
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For a start Mark Zuckerberg, founder of facebook started it at University and there is no contact phone number on their website.
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Old 17-06-2011, 11:03
Carman
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How did Susan make a success of her business without ever having to pitch?

And on the subject of pitching, she point blank refused to do it, so why did she pretend she put herself forward?
Susan did not point blank refuse to pitch. Jim asked her if she had given pitches of a professional nature before and she replied 'never'. All three of them were as reluctant as each other to do it and agreed that Jim would be the best person to do it to win the task.
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Old 17-06-2011, 11:04
Zoltan Smith
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For a start Mark Zuckerberg, founder of facebook started it at University and there is no contact phone number on their website.
Why, what are they selling?

and not a good example as he is not in retail
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Old 17-06-2011, 11:21
Vegeta
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I can't remember, but I know there are. My point is, there is no reason why anyone can't a start business while in education or working. Just have a read at some of the success stories http://www.startups.co.uk/success-stories and you realize that anything is possible.
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Old 17-06-2011, 11:26
Zoltan Smith
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I can't remember, but I know there are. My point is, there is no reason why anyone can't a start business while in education or working. Just have a read at some of the success stories http://www.startups.co.uk/success-stories and you realize that anything is possible.
And most fail and f up their studies.

Play the percentages
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Old 17-06-2011, 11:31
Shrike
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I can't see how spending a few hours a week on your own business is any different to spending a few hours a week working in a bar or restuarent.
Of course when I was a student we had full grants & no fees so my time was spent on the drinking side of the bar
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Old 17-06-2011, 12:03
Zoltan Smith
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I can't see how spending a few hours a week on your own business is any different to spending a few hours a week working in a bar or restuarent.
Of course when I was a student we had full grants & no fees so my time was spent on the drinking side of the bar
How do you spend a "few hours a week" running a 24 hour a day online business?

Orders every day, posting, stock, questions, site maintenance, returns, customer issues..
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Old 17-06-2011, 12:18
Jepson
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How do you spend a "few hours a week" running a 24 hour a day online business?

Orders every day, posting, stock, questions, site maintenance, returns, customer issues..
You don't know the exact nature of her business when she was at uni.

Just because the web site runs 24 hours a day does not mean that someone has to be supporting it 24/7.

If she was selling, say, 5 items a day she could easily handle that expending just an hour. And there is no reason why she could not have had someone helping her. There are many people running small Ebay or Amazon Marketplace businesses on that basis.

It seems you have absolutely no idea about the range of sizes a business might be nor the amount and distribution of time needed to run them.
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Old 17-06-2011, 12:34
Zoltan Smith
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You don't know the exact nature of her business when she was at uni.

Just because the web site runs 24 hours a day does not mean that someone has to be supporting it 24/7.

If she was selling, say, 5 items a day she could easily handle that expending just an hour. And there is no reason why she could not have had someone helping her. There are many people running small Ebay or Amazon Marketplace businesses on that basis.

It seems you have absolutely no idea about the range of sizes a business might be nor the amount and distribution of time needed to run them.

And your "if she was selling, say, 5 items a day" is based on what?


I run my own online business and have done so for 9 years. I can spot a billy bs from a mile off. Her included..
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Old 17-06-2011, 12:51
Jepson
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And your "if she was selling, say, 5 items a day" is based on what?
It wasn't 'based' on anything, it was a specification for a hypothetical.

I run my own online business and have done so for 9 years. I can spot a billy bs from a mile off. Her included..
Except that you evidently cannot. You are presumably one of these people who assumes that because your business works in a certain way everyone else's must be just the same.

I have a friend who has a very small Ebay business that sells around 10 items a day and he reckons to spend less than half an hour a day on it. Add to that his wife making a round trip to the post office every couple of days at half an hour a time.

At a net profit of around £4-5 per item it's a nice, easy, little earner for them and would be something that anyone could handle quite easily whilst pursuing full time education.
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Old 17-06-2011, 12:55
manforktorch
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Her business hasn't always been online. It started in a market stall and markets often have fixed days trading. The idea that it was impossible for her to run a stall once or twice a week while studying is ludicrous.
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:07
kevsman
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She also did very well in her education as stated on her personal website. That's something you cannot lie about.
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:11
Jepson
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She also did very well in her education as stated on her personal website. That's something you cannot lie about.
Well you can, but after what happened to Lee (I mean the shame of being found out, not getting hired), anyone would have to be a complete basket case to try it.
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:26
anactoria
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And most fail and f up their studies.

Play the percentages
And since Susan clearly didn't 'f up' her studies (as evidenced by her 2.1 from UCL), doesn't that perhaps indicate that she has more to offer than the typical young entrepreneur? Or are you suggesting that she succeeded solely through luck?
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:34
kevsman
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Well you can, but after what happened to Lee (I mean the shame of being found out, not getting hired), anyone would have to be a complete basket case to try it.
Oh yes, I do remember something about Lee...what did he lie about again?
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:40
Jepson
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Oh yes, I do remember something about Lee...what did he lie about again?
He claimed he'd spent longer doing a course than he had.

Quite honestly they should check these easily verifiable things out before accepting candidates because:

a) It make the producers look seriously incompetent if it takes a thiord party to discover the discrepancy.

b) it makes Sugar and the whole programme look bad if people lie and get away with it. (Even if I did, personally, have considerable sympathy for Lee).
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:47
Zoltan Smith
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And since Susan clearly didn't 'f up' her studies (as evidenced by her 2.1 from UCL), doesn't that perhaps indicate that she has more to offer than the typical young entrepreneur? Or are you suggesting that she succeeded solely through luck?
That is because she was not running a business, she had created a website and perhaps sold 10 bottles of shampoo in a year.

Someone who did 2 car boot sales in their first year at uni could claim the same.

The proof is in the numbers and she will, if she gets there, be ripped apart in the interview stage
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Old 17-06-2011, 13:54
capekdeh
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Can you start a small business while you're doing your university degree? of course you can. You don't necessarily f*** up your study or fail your business.

I did not start a business while I was studying. However, I had 2 jobs. 3 days a week doing admin works for a PR company (only for 3 hours everytime I worked) & 3 days a week (evening plus weekend) doing a cr*p call centre job. The reason was purely financial. I needed money then. I got First-class from one of Russell Group Universities.

I personally know some young entrepreneurs who started their businesses while they're still at uni, i.e. Dr Thomas Whitfield from Oxford.

If you remember, on Dragons' Den, there was a female rower who was still a student then, and she came up with something brilliant. If I am not mistaken it was something related with sport equipment but it can be used by other industries as well.
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Old 17-06-2011, 14:12
Zoltan Smith
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Can you start a small business while you're doing your university degree? of course you can. You don't necessarily f*** up your study or fail your business.

I did not start a business while I was studying. However, I had 2 jobs. 3 days a week doing admin works for a PR company (only for 3 hours everytime I worked) & 3 days a week (evening plus weekend) doing a cr*p call centre job. The reason was purely financial. I needed money then. I got First-class from one of Russell Group Universities.

I personally know some young entrepreneurs who started their businesses while they're still at uni, i.e. Dr Thomas Whitfield from Oxford.

If you remember, on Dragons' Den, there was a female rower who was still a student then, and she came up with something brilliant. If I am not mistaken it was something related with sport equipment but it can be used by other industries as well.
I think the thread should make a point of difference between starting a business which you could do in a morning, building a website, which may take you a day and running a business that makes you a profit and turns over a decent tick.

Susan constantly implies the latter. We shall see very soon...
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Old 17-06-2011, 14:19
anactoria
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That is because she was not running a business, she had created a website and perhaps sold 10 bottles of shampoo in a year.

Someone who did 2 car boot sales in their first year at uni could claim the same.

The proof is in the numbers and she will, if she gets there, be ripped apart in the interview stage
On her website, she states: "Because of my business, I was able to completely fund my own way through University, help my mother pay off her mortgage and buy my first London investment property at 21."

Either she's lying outrageously, or she's managed to sell slightly more than ten bottles of shampoo a year. (and if you are suggesting that she's an outright liar, then there's really no point in debating this, since you could just respond to everything with, 'she's LYING.')
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Old 17-06-2011, 14:21
Helena Handcart
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Perhaps her business is now reaping the benefit of a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar?
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Old 17-06-2011, 14:23
Jepson
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That is because she was not running a business, she had created a website and perhaps sold 10 bottles of shampoo in a year.

Someone who did 2 car boot sales in their first year at uni could claim the same.

The proof is in the numbers and she will, if she gets there, be ripped apart in the interview stage
I think the thread should make a point of difference between starting a business which you could do in a morning, building a website, which may take you a day and running a business that makes you a profit and turns over a decent tick.

Susan constantly implies the latter. We shall see very soon...
It's clear that you very much hope that Susan has been exaggerating her business success but there is no way that you can know, any more than anyone else here.
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Old 17-06-2011, 23:21
Si_Crewe
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Worth reminding people that (IIRC) one of last years contestants claimed to have started a business and grown it until it was a big, profitable, enterprise and it turned out that what'd actually happened was that he'd started a business and then his dad had handed over a business of his own to the kid (probably for tax reasons) so he could change the name slightly and claim it as his own.
I forget the exact details but it was uncovered because of something to do with sponsoring an offshore powerboat racing team IIRC.

Never underestimate the ability of people to bullshit.
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