Cesca Maurice Williams - The Urban Garden

Posted: 28/11/2011

Was in:

City firm, Solicitor, London

Now in:

Went about it:

I left law and set up The Urban Garden, an online store for all your stylish garden and indoor needs. I was extremely unhappy as a lawyer. I found the work dull, repetitive and very limiting - there was no outlet for my creativity. I knew very early in my legal career that I had no desire to be a partner, although it took a little longer to work out that being a lawyer in-house wasn't for me either.

I was motivated into leaving law as I knew that it wasn't viable to be that unhappy in a job. You spend most of your time at work - you might as well do something you enjoy. Had I loved working a a lawyer, I would have stayed a lawyer.

I did a lot of research into various businesses, for a couple of years, prior to leaving the law. When I left S&S, I was ready to hit the ground running. I made contact with my local Business Link, in the Portobello and they were invaluable about providing advice and common sense.

In terms of the practicalities of starting an online business, I sourced a graphic designer - this was probably the most difficult area as it was challenging to find someone whose work I thought was brilliant, whom I could work with and who had vision. I did a lot of research into which CMS system to integrate with the website and then visited lots of companies to see their systems in action. I also visited lots of fulfilment companies - ie companies to whom you outsource the warehousing, picking, packing & dispatching of orders. I visited trade shows, contacted suppliers about being a potential stockist. I found a good photographer to photograph the products for a catalogue, which I designed with the graphic designer.