A woman from Leeds who “felt like a failure” for quitting a job that caused her stress and anxiety is now running a multi-million pound business through Amazon.
Omotayo (Tayo) Adebisi, 33, left the company she was working for after an “unfortunate experience” on return from maternity leave.
The breaking point came, she told BusinessLive , when her manager refused to let her leave work to take her one-year-old daughter to the hospital.
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“The whole experience was incredibly stressful, so I took some time out. I felt like I wasn’t good enough to get back into work or put myself forward for another job,” she explained.
While recovering, her husband’s cousin, who was selling products through Amazon, suggested she do the same - as a distraction.
In 2017, Ms Adebisi used £5,000 to set up her own Amazon store, Tilzmart, which is a one-stop-shop for goods, including toys, sporting equipment, electrical products, gifts and food hampers.
She was working from home at the time and the first sale she made was a ukulele.
“It was really exciting,” she recalled. “Then we moved on to fidget spinners, which were really popular back then. We got 500 and they sold out, so we decided to order 10,000.”
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But Ms Adebisi soon ran into problems. Regulation around fidget spinners changed after the order was placed and her stock was seized by customs as the company didn’t have the right documentation.
But she did not give up; instead, Ms Adebisi decided to do some training through Amazon which was being offered for free. She also joined some webinars and watched YouTube videos on selling - and the business began to thrive.
“I got in touch with suppliers and distributors and started selling those products. I was working from home at the time and there was stock all over the house - in the kitchen, in the living room, just about everywhere.
“Each sale I started to believe in myself again. I realised it wasn’t a hobby, it was a business and then we started to grow.”
In 2019, the business was expanding so quickly, Ms Adebisi took the decision to move to a warehouse. Her company, which also has its own website, has since grown to eight permanent staff and more than 30 temporary staff, and in 2021 turned over £3m.
But the last two years have not been easy; Tilzmart lost thousands of pounds when the pandemic hit.
“The pandemic was really tough and we lost a lot of money. The biggest loss came from the logistics side of things as we couldn’t deliver a lot of orders,” said Ms Adebisi.
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“A lot of orders that were shipped out to customers but didn’t arrive on time and we had to refund the majority of them. Even after the refund we couldn’t get the goods back. We probably lost around £25,000, which is a huge amount for a small business."
The other challenge, she said, was getting enough staff into work.
“Even though they were classed as essential workers, people couldn't come out. We also needed to make sure our employees were abiding by the law. We had to change a lot of processes as people needed to work separately which was really challenging. We had to test everyone, too.
“When things settled, there was so much joy and I must give credit to my team; we were able to serve a lot of customers who were really happy.”
The business started to see a rise in demand while restrictions meant social gatherings were limited.
“We were able to generate a lot of revenue because people couldn’t do family gatherings so they were gifting more instead; we sold hampers, fondues and gifts, such as chocolate. They all did really well.”
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Tilzmart now has hundreds of thousands of customers, but Ms Adebisi has ambitious plans for the firm, including international expansion. She is already eyeing North America and also the EU.
“We have a container on the way to America for Amazon USA. We want to get to Canada too. Hopefully by 2022 we will accelerate to a lot more countries,” she said.
The business is looking to purchase its own warehouse in 2022 and to have 100 products under the brand by the end of the year. It also targeting sales of at least £8m by 2025.
Ms Adebisi said the biggest lesson she has learnt on her journey is “you cannot always get it right”.
“If you put in the work, give yourself some credit. Be positive and just go for it. There are lots of opportunities out there. We just spread our wings as much as we can and not limit ourselves because you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring to your table, it’s all about today.”
Her advice to other would-be entrepreneurs is to “stop procrastinating and go for it”.
She added: “Be brave. The lessons you learn from the actions you take today will never be replaced. You won’t learn the lesson unless you take the action.”
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