Beth Leggett

Beth Leggett is the founder of Plus V Plus – a fashionable plus size clothing range which caters for women with clothing sizes 16 – 28 and has gone on to launch a new website for online retailing called Butterfly Online

Beth developed Plus V Plus in May 2010, after noticing the lack of fashionable affordable plus size clothing available on the high street. She decided that she was going to change this and bring an exciting shopping experience to plus size shopping.

Beth had a passion for fashion from a young age!  Her motivation for Plus V Plus is that she has managed to turn her childhood dream into reality.  Beth initially developed her business by selling on eBay.  She wanted to find out whether there was actually a call for plus size clothing.  After seeing that there was a demand for plus size clothing she then went on to open her own plus size fashion boutique in Quiggins, Grand Central.

Beth’s biggest challenge with setting up her own business was the fact that it was something unknown to her.  Prior to being made redundant, she had always had a steady and secure income.  The leap of faith was inevitably difficult and Beth also had to cope with everything moving incredibly quickly for her.  She was thrown in at the deep end which worked incredibly in her favour.  Through everything, Beth remained focused and gave herself weekly goals which needed to be achieved in order to get Plus V Plus up and running.

Beth had no financial support with her business venture.  She had a very small amount of savings which enabled her to buy the minimum amount of clothing and equipment needed to set up her boutique.  However, Beth had made an application for funding which has recently gone through.  She hopes this will help to develop Plus V Plus to where it needs to be.

Beth’s main difficulty has been the initial lack of money for start up costs.  However she always believes that this has had a positive effect due to the fact that it has taught her how to manager her money.

“I think my business works because I am filling a gap on the high street. Catering for plus size women who want to be able to not only buy fashionable clothes but also want to buy from somewhere fashionable. Also my passion comes through into my business, which I also think helps my business work. As my customers know that I not only care about my business but about them also.

My advice would be research your field thoroughly, you will then know exactly in which direction you should head. This will cut out the guess work of what will and won’t work for your business. My other little bit of advice would be stay focussed and passionate about your business, if you’re not passionate about your business no one else will be.

I have had great support and advice from striding out where I have been given excellent coaching sessions on how to market my business and advice on how I can help my business grow successfully.”

In 2011 Beth went on to expand with a new brand www.butterfly-online.co.uk which is going from strength to strength!