Susan admitted last night that she originally worked for someone on the market who sold skin creams and saw how much money there was to be made and therefore set up her own stall doing the same thing. (presumably in the same market as she only ever mentioned Greenwich)
While this may seem admirable to some I was appalled by this statement. Had she worked for a company then this would be regarded as theft. If she has stolen any ideas for the creams then there may be some Intellectual Property issues too. I can't see L'Oreal allowing something like this to happen!
Also I have a question about the time she spent on the market stall. She admits to working all weekend to raise £1,000 (which is fine). If that is true then when did she find time to "develop" all her creams and potions etc.
She obviously used established suppliers and just bought stock. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, her website says different, and she has alluded to creating the stuff herself a few times on TA.
The good news is that what she does takes guts, but equally, with the right contacts/suppliers, it shows that anyone can set up this business as long as you have a market stall. I wonder how she'd feel if we all sold at Greenwich Market

The week perhaps?

When she was a full-time student?

She obviously clocked the fact, whilst selling skin care products, that it would be a good idea to market her own but there's nothing to suggest that her products were the same as the ones she sold for someone else. She's a clever, enterprising girl.

OP, where do you get the idea from that Susan "stole" her product ideas?.

Have you a crystal ball perhaps that told you this?.

Yes, she told Margaret Mountford in last night's show.

I presume you are appalled by any company set up by people who decide there's room in the market for their products, then. Or by any entrepreneur who isn't an inventor of something entirely innovative.

It's normal. Products are in competition with one another. As are retailers who sell them. Part of business, really, isn't it. I find it hard to believe you are being serious.

As for the comment about how she'd feel if we all sold at Greenwich market, well, that's more than a little disingenious. Decent retailers/companies often welcome competition... it gives them impetus to improve and develop. Plus, any of us opening a market stall in Greenwich would be utterly irrelevant to Susan, considering that she now runs her business though online orders and promotes the company through trade shows.

No it wouldn't.


Anyone can make a knock-off of anything else. You can patent an ingredient, but you can't patent or copyright a recipe.

All of which is irrelevant, because there's absolutely no indication that she "copied" anything other than the idea of selling on a market stall.

Whilst it may be enterprising it also shows a very ruthless side to her. You may admire her but I feel sorry for the person who employed her at the market. How must they have felt?
I would not personally employ someone who had these ethics, others are welcome to have a different opinion.
I just feel that if she was prepared to do this at 16 then perhaps she has no moral boundary's. As I have stated this is a personal opinion and as I have also said, if she adopted this business plan in the larger market, I'm sure she would be sued.

I accept that people develop under the guidance of people in business and may then want to set up on their own to do the same thing, plumbers, hairdressers etc. My understanding is that they sign contracts that prevent them taking customers or working in the same geographic area for obvious reasons.

Stop making things up OP.

She said that she had worked for the guy, NOT used the same products.

Please try to keep it in the realms of reality.

Well put.

Susan has every right to open her own stall, and would never be considered "stealing" an idea.

If you are fine with her using your ideas and experience to set up in direct competition to you then that's ok.
As I stated, this is my personal opinion. I was shocked and I thought she crossed a line but if you feel that it is an open market and anything goes and you're fine with that then we don't have a problem.

Ever trained anyone OP?.

I have, and know that these same people may become senior to you one day. Would you then refuse to train them knowing this?.

To think otherwise is naive.

Yes I have trained people and in a corporate field it is not an issue.
We are talking about a small business. I now work in the creative/design area and although my ideas are copyrighted it does not stop people stealing them and marketing them as their own. As I said, this is a personal view. It is my opinion. Perhaps everyone else thinks what she did is ok? Maybe I am the only one. If so it doesn't change how I feel about what she did.

I expect they thought "fair enough". It's what happens in business and is in no way unethical.


She'll be raping people at knife-point next.


If you're sure of that, then all you're demonstrating is how little knowledge of business you have.


Sometimes this is true. But a) it's highly doubtful that Susan signed such a contract in order to work one weekend on a market stall and b) she could not have stolen any customers by setting up her own market stall. Unless you're really confused about what the term "stealing customers" means in this context.

I think the OP has the timeline wrong.
Susan worked on the market and saw how profitable selling beauty products was and so went off to set up her own. It was years later that she formulated the products she wanted to develop with LAS.
The products she sold at 16 would have been off the shelf at the wholesaler.
Using the OP's logic then Gavin 'stole' the opticians business idea when he noticed how profitable they were and set up his own...

We're not talking about copyrighted ideas, we're talking about the idea to sell cosmetics on a market stall.

She wouldnt need the knife to molest me.......

I don't understand. If someone is selling beauty products on a market stall, does that mean nobody else can? Because for all I can see, that's all Susan has done. She worked for someone else, thought she could do better by herself and so sold her own products (i.e. not her former employee's) on her own stall.

There is nothing at all wrong with what she's done.

I haven't heard of that. A senior sales account manager at a company I worked for recently went independent and took three sales staff members with her, and convinced six major accounts to switch from her former employer to her own company. A book editor left for a rival publisher and took three authors with her. An agent went independent and twelve clients followed him.

I would have thought you knew this as it happens almost all the time in the design, advertising, publishing and marketing industries.

Well, if she was making £1,000 a weekend I think Inland Revenue might be interested in her. Anyone with an income of £50,000 should be paying tax and NI. Her employees might have been students who were below the tax threshold, but she certainly wasn't.

Where does it say anywhere that Susan isnt paying tax on her takings, because if you can find it a link would be useful.

I didn't get that line of Margaret's questioning. Surely they weren't employees at all, since she simply hired them for one event? In effect they were therefore freelancers and should sort out their own tax affairs.

I take it you have a degree. A full time student? Maybe she made use of the 3 days a week that students have spare to watch countdown, get lashed and break windows in the city.

Owned!!!

OP you're just putting 2 and 2 together to make 5. Nowhere does it say she was selling the exact same products.