A few minutes with Rosie Neave - Pheasant Plucker & Son

This week’s ‘a few minutes with…’ is all about Rosie Neave from the fun and fabulous Pheasant Plucker & Son. You might have seen her gorgeous products with fun prints on Instagram, that’s how the business first caught my eye, but there’s a lot more to it as Rosie explains…

Tell us about you and your background

I’m Rosie and I recently moved back to Lincolnshire where I was born and brought up. I’ve spent the last 15 or so years living in big cities like Leeds and London so it’s good to be back. I originally trained in Multimedia and started my career as a graphic designer but somewhere along the way, I fell into working in marketing and PR for arts organisations such as English National Ballet and the Royal Opera House.

What made you want to start a business?

I’ve got two small children who are now four and three and I started thinking about starting a business when my youngest was a baby. My mum has always run her own businesses so it didn’t feel too intimidating and I really wanted to have the flexibility of working for myself. I liked the idea of making decisions for me rather than someone else.

How is Pheasant Plucker & Son different?

As a small business, Pheasant Plucker & Son is really ‘hands on’ and I’m closely involved in everything that goes into it – designing the products, sourcing the packaging, doing the marketing, product photography, dealing with customers, overseeing the orders, you name it! It means that when people shop with us, they’re ordering from real people so we’re able to offer a much more personal service. For example, someone ordered some candles the other day for her Mum who is going through chemotherapy – she dropped us a note with the order and we made the parcel extra special for when her Mum opened it. I think it’s little things like that that sets us apart from other larger businesses.
What makes your products special?

Our products are special because although they have a very country feel, they’re quite contemporary and bold – I like to use a lot of bright colours and strong typography in the designs. Everything is made in the UK and nothing is mass produced; they’re usually made by other small businesses that I try to build on-going relationships with. When I’m designing our products, I try to imagine different people using them so I hope they have a broad appeal.
If you had to sum up your Pheasant Plucker & Son in five words, what would they be?

Fun, quirky, colourful, practical, stylish

Do you have a motto or ethos? Not as such but a friend has a framed print in her house that says ‘work hard and be nice to people’ and that always seems a good thing to aspire to.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring business owner, what
would it be? Work your ass off and stick at it… and try not to get too discouraged when things get tough.

One thing that helps you run your business more effectively The support of my family – I couldn’t do it without them.

Best thing about running a business? There are so many brilliant things about running a business! Some of my favourites are being creative every day, having new ideas in the middle of the night and my phone making a ‘ker-ching’ noise when an online order comes in!

Worst thing about running a business? The hard days when it’s difficult to prioritise what to do first and you have a gloomy feeling that you’ll never have another customer again.

Top business blog you follow – I get Seth Godin’s daily emails. There’s often a real nugget in there, which makes me think differently or inspires me.

Top business book you’ve read – I really enjoyed Anything You Want by Derek Sivers. I read the whole thing cover to cover in one evening.

One thing we might not know about you- I’m obsessed with my chickens.

Top business achievement – I haven’t achieved it yet. I’m always looking forward for the next step.