Amelia Hitchcock, Founder @ Bijoux De Mimi

So, Amelia, if you could just start by telling us a bit about your company and your role within it.

So I'm the CEO and founder of the jewellery brand Bijou de Mimi. I founded Bijou on the 30th of June 2020, so just after the first UK lockdown, and I did all the planning during the lockdown. Um, it specialises in colourful huggy hoops, cuffs, and chains.

Yeah, so if you could just, uh, tell us a bit about what you think makes your company stand out amongst your competitors?

Okay, so the main thing that makes Bijou stand out is definitely the price point and also the fact that no one else does colorful jewelry in that sense. One of the main things about it is the price point. It's affordable to everyone. The maximum you're gonna pay for a pair of earrings is £23, so they're the perfect gift. So many people now have so many piercings and they need to fill it and they get bored of using the same ones. So lots of people like bulk buy earrings and then swap them around all the time. So it— that's in a sense is different to other jewelry because when you're spending £60 on a pair of earrings, you keep them in the whole time and then they fade. And whereas people change their bijoux around a lot. Someone said to me the other day that they can't think of the color pink anymore without thinking about bijoux. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, brilliant. Um, and so it's all about the branding, whereas like Lots of jewellery brands have really minimalistic branding, like where it's like white and black and it's really pretty, but at the same time, like, I really wanted Bijou to stand out, so the point of it is it's colourful.

How important is knowing what you're good at and delegating responsibility within the company, especially when the brand is your own creation?

So I'm slightly still navigating this one because it is difficult when something's the size of Bijou, as in like it's not small enough that you're just like hiring interns and it's not big enough to hire the best, eh? Mm-hmm. So there's not really the budget of like hiring someone that's specifically brilliant at that job, whereas like everyone does a bit of everything. But I do find that as soon as I don't like doing something, like I hand it over to someone else.

So you were talking about bringing people into the team and how everyone just does a bit of everything. What is it you look for in a person to bring into your company?

So, someone asked me this the other day for our YouTube video, but if I'm bringing someone straight out of uni or straight out of school, basically everyone that works for me is young and that's really important because the brand is so young that it's like they have to suit the vibe and every time we've used a freelancer that's not, other than our graphic designer who's amazing, Every time we've used a different freelancer to that that's not basically a young female, they just don't understand the vibe. So it's really important, first of all, that I do hire people that are young, so I have no problem with them being straight out of school or uni. It's actually more preferable that they are straight out of school than uni. Mm-hmm. Because, I don't know, I love teaching people stuff from the start. But the main thing I look for is initiative. Fresh ideas, that's a big one because I've like now used, well obviously I have ideas all the time, but I've used all the good ones. Like now coming up with new stuff because I'm so used to Bijou and I'm not looking at it from a sort of like fresh perspective or a fresh pair of eyes. Getting new ideas is really important as well, so for someone to come in and be like, yeah, like this is my idea, this is my thoughts, and I've made mistakes by hiring people in my comfort zone before and then they just don't have like their brain thinks like mine anyway, so then it's like, well, that was pointless. And then the last one is familiar with the brand. That's so important that they've found that, like, if they send me like a bog-standard CV through like one of the application platforms that we use, I just like, I don't even look at it because like they have to be like a, like following the brand. And if I stalk them on Instagram and it doesn't say follow back, then it's a no for me. 'Cause they need to be familiar with Bijuu.

So you're quite a creative person naturally. That was something you've always been good at. And when was it you thought, "Oh, I wanna be an entrepreneur. I wanna turn this passion of being creative into being an entrepreneur." I honestly had no goal of working for myself ever.

And then it was, I mean, obviously, I sort of was always obsessed with being the best at the creatives in school and things like that, but I never thought, "Oh, I'm gonna work for myself." I always thought I'm gonna take something over one day. Like, I always wanted to be a boss, but like, at the same time, I always wanted to like take over like a big fashion house or something like that. That was the goal, or a magazine. In lockdown, I had nothing to do and I hate having nothing to do. Like, that's like my worst thing is like waking up and being like, "What do I do today? I don't have anything on my to-do list." I was in Paris and I came across this wholesaler and I bought loads of jewellery and I sold it on Depop. And then so sort of naturally when that happened, I was like, well, I'll just do it in that then, 'cause they clearly sold well. And I could never find anything colourful and like, I love colour.

So you've been in the industry for roughly 2 years and that's, a lot of things can happen at that time. A lot of highs, a lot of lows, and being somebody who's never done something, anything like that before, What have been some of those highs and lows?

The whole first year was a high. Like, it was incredible and it was so cool because it was just like up and up and up.

That's pretty rare.

When you look at the, um, like months on Shopify, like on the stats, it's just the graph literally just goes like that. Um, and so the whole thing was just incredible and it was just like every time I did something new it would go well and it was like an absolute dream and I thought that was just how it was always gonna be. Like, I thought like, right, great, that's my life now, brilliant, signed up and that was not the case. The best highs though have been like whenever there's a really viral TikTok, that's really fun. Any sale day like where it's been really good is really great and then like week or month where it's like it was better than the last, that's always a high. Lows. The worst low is like the cash flow and it's like if you have a really bad month and then you still have like all of your things to pay for. That's fucking annoying. And over the last year I was basically, this is a very honest way of putting it, but I was in a very rare position after last December in which I had so much cash in the bank because of how amazing Christmas had been and Black Friday and things like that. And I was like, where do I take it next? Because like, this is like the high of my life right now. And they, uh, and sort of I went and spoke to different people that had started businesses that were like ahead of me, and everyone was like, put money into PR or put money into marketing and do things like that. So I did, and I signed up with lots of agencies, but I sort of didn't expect suddenly like I didn't know that come January, like, no one spends any money. Like, it was my first year to know that. How was I supposed to know that? And then same thing happens again in February. And then it's like, it picks up again a bit later on. But like, in those 2 months, I'd then signed up for all the agencies and then sort of like put all the money into those and then been like, oh, fuck. Like, that's that then.

Yeah.

And it takes a long time to get returns from those. If any.

Sure.

Like, obviously you do get return, like you get great press and things like that, but that press doesn't get you sales. So I was really stupid with that and I think obviously I'd love to redo that again, but I wouldn't use any agencies again. Tax, 'cause you forget about that. I didn't see that coming. No one was there telling me, like my little 18-year-old self, "Oh, like careful 'cause you're about to have to pay loads of tax on that." that happened. Um, oh, and then with the brand having sort of a social media presence, it's so easy to upset people. Like, people are so hypersensitive these days, or they're on social media and you get such backlash from that. Like, you can do anything wrong, and like, how do you do something wrong with jewellery? But you can.

Okay, so on the topic of social media, you talked about You talked about the highs and how posting a viral TikTok, you know, that's a great feeling. How important for a brand or just any company do you think social media presence is? If you were to give advice for anyone wanting to be an entrepreneur in the future?

I think social media is literally the only thing you need to worry about right now, as in if you're starting a company, because it's the latest thing, but it's also, it's not even new anymore. And it's just like the only way of getting any form of organic growth nowadays. In terms of how I would recommend like starting social media accounts, like persistence is key because right now there's an algorithm on every app that you just have to keep on top of and the app changes its algorithm 24/7. So as soon as you think you've like mastered something, I promise you it'll change the next day. So you just have to like constantly try new things. Like if you're making TikToks, like if you're making TikToks, keep on top of the trends trends and just try out different things on TikTok because, like, it's a weird app. Like, you can do whatever you want on it. Like, we put on loads of Elphirs the other day and just, like, took a video of us dancing around the room and it did well. Um, but yeah, TikTok's a really weird app, so, you know, persistence is key. Try everything and some of it will go viral.

So we've talked a lot about the company and how it's been running it and actually being an entrepreneur, but I want to go back to before you were doing any of this, and you sort of said you fell into entrepreneurship, but what were the things you were doing before that, you know, be it college or work? You went to fashion college, no?

Yeah, I went to St. Martins, but only for a year.

Okay, sure, and while you were there, what were you trying to do to sort of find out your career?

Well, I was always obsessed with, like, being the best. George's and Harwood were so accommodating on letting me do what I wanted to do because they sort of— it is just my nature that if I enjoy something, I will put like 1,000% into it. I was really lucky that my schools basically like really enabled that. And so they pushed me so much in the subjects that I enjoyed. And I was like, I promise I'll get the outcomes in those, but like I'm not putting my time or effort into the others. And all of my exam results very clearly stated that because they were so neurotic. It would either be— it was like half A-stars, half like yous.

Yeah.

Anyway, yeah, so I think I've always been really driven in that sense that as soon as there's something I really enjoy doing, I'll like put so much into it. But in terms of career-wise, I was always obsessed with my career. Like I was always obsessed with it. I did my first internship when I was 14 and that was at Burberry for the summer. And so, and before that I'd done so much like work experience in random different things. I sort of knew from the age of 12 that I wanted, I was obsessed with the fact I wanted to be the creative director of Tatler, so random. But basically, I just put my life and soul into knowing that one day I want to be something really special and so I just did and I did so many internships and so much work experience and by my 18th birthday, I reckon I'd have had at least 10 jobs, probably 4 of which were in high fashion houses. So there was always, sort of like I always had to do something, and I always knew that I wanted to do it in fashion. I think I was just lucky in that sense.

Like, so I want to touch on a point you're saying about how you struggle, struggle finding a work ethic initially, and at school if it wasn't something you like. And now there is something you're passionate about, you can't almost stop working. It's very consuming, the company. What are some habits you do outside of working to keep you mentally sane and keep you productive?

I mean, I don't stop working. I mean, I do actually. I have stopped recently, but I feel really unproductive right now because I know that I've been like going out 3 times a week instead of like 24/7 working. What are some things I do? I have a dog. She's called Jalila. We go on walks all the time. It's a new thing in the office now that I'm like making everyone stop at sort of like lunchtime-y time and then we go to the park and take Jalila to the park and just like sit. Still socialise all the time. And I think because all of my friends live the student lifestyle, like, I have to— I mean, they'll listen to this and be like, no, that's just so not true. You literally never go out. But I do, just not as much in comparison to them, if that makes sense.

Yeah, sure. See, I think that's pretty good that with you, for someone like you that struggles to stop working and it's very consuming, putting those restrictions on your life, be it just a dog walk or anything, that seems to be very important and very consistent with people who are successful and happy. So I wanted to ask a bit more about this idea of imposter syndrome. You're going into an industry with all these incredibly talented and established brands and, you know, people that have been doing it far longer than you, and you're starting a business by yourself. How do you not get imposter syndrome, and how have you been dealing with it when you have felt like you're an imposter?

I think I've always been genuinely quite confident, so my way of thinking about it is if I'm in a circumstance, I mean, don't get me wrong, sometimes it's fucking awful in the sense that it's like, well, you're talking to people who know so much more than you know, but then you kind of have to look at it, well, did their brand get as successful as quickly as mine? No, so even though I know way less than them, Like, I still am up on them in that sense. Not that it's competition, but it kind of is.

About the whole thing about you just being naturally confident, is that natural, or are there things that you did? You know, you said you started doing internships when you were younger. Do you think those were formative to your confidence and your ability? You know, what gives you this confidence?

On TikTok and like talking on TikTok, it's embarrassing. And like, I hate the fact that my friends have to see that. And like, I don't know, like, 'Boys I fancied at school have to see that.' But then at the same time, there's a market of 16-year-olds that are literally like, 'Wow, that's amazing. I want to do that.' Um, and you kind of have to— like, that's so overpowering. And also, someone said this to me the other day: everyone always wants the best for each other. People are just going to be like, 'Wow, that's so cool.' And if they're not like, 'Wow, that's so cool,' then they don't actually care. So you kind of don't need to worry about that. But in the sense of when I'm in a situation in which I'm with loads of really successful people, the way I think about it is it's like, well, I'm only in a room with them 'cause I've clearly done something right and so even if it's nowhere near what they've accomplished, I'm only 2 years down the line and either were in my position or look at it like, wow, I wish I was in that position and so I think that's how you kind of have to deal with it but no, I'm definitely so much less confident than I used to be. Like when I was at school.

Oh really? That's interesting. You'd think it would be the other way around.

You'd think it would be offset. I don't know, I mean I think so. I don't love meeting new people as much as I did when I was younger, like I used to love it when I was younger whereas now it's kind of like the awkward conversation of like, if I have a conversation with my friend's friends that I haven't met before and I'm like, 'Oh like, so what uni are you at?' and stuff and then they turn around and they're like, have the conversation back and then it's like, 'Oh, I don't go to uni.' and then they're like, 'Well, what do you do then?' And it's like, "Oh, I started a jewellery brand." Then it just starts like you're flexing, sounds like you're flexing, whereas it's like you're just sort of telling the truth, and I find that always quite awkward.

So you're perceived as successful, be it the kids that talk about you or, you know, just the accomplishments your company has made. But I think what's most important is your own idea of success and how you feel about it. Are the drivers for why you're doing what you're doing the same as they were before Is your idea of success the same?

If I looked at myself now when I started Bijuu, I'd be like, what the fuck, that's incredible. But now I just compare myself to this time last year and I'm like, well, we're at the same position we were last year, why aren't you doing better than that? So no, they're definitely not the same. But like, I'd have no idea when I was So, when I started it, for example, my thought was, "Oh, maybe I'll sell some earrings," and then obviously I sold lots of earrings, and then my thought was, "Okay, my number one goal is to get into Urban Outfitters. That's my end goal." After that, it's kind of like creating new goals is quite difficult. I literally sat down yesterday and I was like, "Right, I need some more goals," because every day is just carrying on, 'cause there's, not in a depressive way, but in the sense that it's like, there's always stuff to do, but like, I'm not actually striving to achieve something because the company just needs to keep running and it needs to like—

no one's holding you to account.

Yeah, exactly. No one's holding me to account. That's such a good way of putting it. Oh, so yesterday I sat down and I wrote some goals because I was like, I really need like things to strive for at this sense because I've almost achieved everything that I like was like set out to achieve.

Then the reason why this is interesting for me to do is that no one gets to where they want to be the same way. Like, you know, everyone has a different route, everyone has a different mindset, and yours is very unique. I mean, for me, I do history, you know, it's not— I just did it because I was kind of good at school, but it doesn't lead into a certain career path. It's not like you do history, so this is what you should do.

You'll be a historian.

Yeah, exactly. That's what everyone says. It's in the bio of this podcast. With you, I want to ask, you know, about that whole accountability thing. Everyone struggles with it at university, you know, you don't have the teachers to hold you to account, you don't have the parents to hold you to account.

It's so true.

It's, it's you that's motivating yourself, and whether it's in your own company or at university, you know, it's something you've got to do. And what are some, some tips that you, you know, things that, lessons you've learned along the way and holding yourself to account?

That's such a funny, that's such an interesting way of putting it. So I definitely don't find it anywhere near as interesting as when I first found it, but that's just because this year has not been as amazing, whereas it actually has, when you look at the stats, been the same, but the growth hasn't because it's been the same as last year. So it's like when you're striving to achieve something, it's like, well, what am I striving to achieve now? It's sort of like, what's the next thing? 'Cause we've done that, and now how do I make it better? To-do lists. I cannot have, I can't start a day without a to-do list. My to-do list is how I get through my day. I can't have a day without a to-do list.

Yeah, I mean, part of it's being motivated, but the other part of it is why you're doing what you're doing, as in, with teachers or anyone, you don't even question why you're doing it because it's like you're just told to do it.

Yeah, that's so true, you're told to do it.

It's an instruction and you just do it, but after school you just lose that.

No, that's so true.

People sort of can lose their way with productivity because of that alone, and I think productivity is everything, it's everything to your success. It doesn't have to be the same kind of productivity. A really productive day for you could be designing one piece of new jewellery, or it could be having this many new client relationships, but it's not always the same. So, but as long as you're being productive, that's what's important, right? So what is it that is keeping you productive? What is it that's driving you?

Well, I think I love it and I know that I can't like let go of it because it's like, well, it's my life, it's my livelihood now. And also I've put myself in a position where I have a really nice lifestyle. And so to lose that, like the thought that that is on the line, it's like, no. But it's like, I— boy, yeah, I love it. So I just like wouldn't let it— like wouldn't let it go. But at the same time, there's been so many moments where it's like, oh my God, like how do I make it better?

At a certain age, you're told what you're talented at and what you're not.

Yeah.

And then your whole sort of early adult years is trying to figure out within the talents that you've been told what I can make a career of, but then also trying not to dismiss the things you're not talented at. And like, for you, you're a good example where it's like you were told you're good at art, but you're never told you're good at the entrepreneurial stuff or anything. No, you— so you could have easily just gone—

like, I would have loved for someone to tell me to do business at school because it would have been so helpful now.

Yeah, you sort of maybe started throwing yourself into the 'I'm gonna work for someone and provide them really good design' or really good art or whatever it was going to be. But then, you know, what, what was like the first moment you realized you could be an entrepreneur? You know, you would What was the first thing you were confronted with that you overcame in your entrepreneurship journey? I mean, I'm not just a really good artist, I'm someone that could run a company.

Well, I didn't think I was ever going to be an entrepreneur. Like, I really didn't think that until I'd started it and then it took off, and then I was like, okay, like, let's do this then. But I think I also never— like, I was always good at art, but I was never like, oh, I'm gonna be an artist. Like, no. And I also always knew that I wanted to do fashion and I wanted to say that I went to Central Saint Martins and I did fashion design but at the same time I never wanted to be a fashion designer because I was never actually that interested in it even though at school it was where my talent laid. At the same time, I loved even just at school I loved taking control of things. I always loved being form captain and things like that and I think that's obviously a massive thing. If you like taking control of yourself then you probably would be good at working for yourself.

Like, okay, so your boyfriend's told you, start this company, you should do it. Yeah. You've got these jewellery items that everyone would like to have, whether you're making them or not yet. Like, what's the first time you're like, oh God, this is something I've got, I'm not used to. I'm like, this is not a stage in my career or the idea of how I thought things were gonna go in my career. This is not what I was expecting, but I'm doing it now. And you obviously overcame it to get to where you are now. Like, what did—

My biggest concern when starting Bijou was how do I post a parcel? And everyone finds that really funny, but it actually was. And like, even now, shipping is our biggest problem because there's so many problems with shipping at the moment. But, um, like, that, that puts it into perspective, if that makes sense. Like, I was literally like, how on earth do I start a company? First of all, yeah, build a website, whatever, but how do I post a parcel? Like, what happens when the order comes through and I have to post that parcel? Like, I've always been creative, but like, now I don't look at myself and I think, oh, I'm creative. I like do not look at that and think that at all. I think like very business-minded, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

Whereas at school, like, I would like— I was so obsessed to be like, I'm so arty. But actually it's, it's just everything like changes. You learn so much more stuff. Oh, and I would really say in terms of like how to find out what you want to do, literally do so much experience because like what— even if you're like, "Oh, I wanna get a job," but no one's accepting you for a job and you might go into a job that you hate, go and just like do a week's work experience like you're 16 again at everywhere you might be interested in and like the way that you find out what you're interested in, just be conscious of what makes you happy and what doesn't and then there'll always be some sort of career from that. And obviously everyone's gonna be there and they're gonna be like, "Oh, I want to make money," but you can monetize off of everything. You don't necessarily have to start something, but you'll be able to, if you do work experience and do loads of different things, you can see how a company is run. For example, I always thought, "Yeah, I wanna go into PR." I didn't know what PR was, I just thought it sounded cool because it was like Devil Wears Prada vibes, do you know what I mean? But, and then I did work experience in it and then I was like, well, that is not what I want to do and I had no idea that that's what it was. And I feel like my friends now are going into that kind of thing, but they don't actually know what they're going into. Experience route, you'll get an eye for what you want and then you'll get loads on your CV and then from there you can be like, right, these are jobs I'm going to apply for. But also there's so much stuff you can do to just see if you like things. You can get Canva, see if you're good at graphics.

Like, if you have a big Instagram account, you know, I can massively relate to what you're saying because even with something like this podcast, yeah, I would always have conversations with people about my career because I'm very interested in it. I mean, I want to find out what I want to do, but I would never record them. And why would I not put it out? And this isn't, you know, this is with no intention of getting a job, but it will look good on my CV because I'm doing something different. And, you know, it will be an interesting thing for someone to latch onto when they're reading your CV that doesn't just say, oh, you've done the internships, you've done this. Like, it's something that it doesn't— you know, you're a founder now and you have to hire people that you'd probably find something that stands out and you're like, oh, what's this? I'm gonna look into this. Something interesting to look at on the CV compared to—

no, that's so true. Like, so many CVs I get look the same, and like, so many people have done like They have like, they've done an internship here, they've done like a couple of internships, they did well in that, they did well at school. And then it's like, well, that's great, but like, I don't really care about that. Like, tell me about you. And then I stalk them on Instagram and I always do this like, and then I stalk them on TikTok and I stalk them on Instagram and like, they have to have both because if they don't have both, then they're like not the Beechy clientele. When in the most recent job I posted for, I like sort of, I've got it wrong hiring people quite a few times. And so I was like, I know I really specifically want someone that can do all of these different things. And when people, this is just like a top tip, but when people put, if they've got skills, instead of listing your skills, put the app cover photo, like the logo of the app because I then look at that and I'm like, oh, those are all the apps that I use and I don't wanna use, as in I want someone else to do them. And it's like, well, I can do these, do you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

And also making a CV visual is so important. —like making sure your CV looks good. But also, another thing you can do, which is completely free, is just find out if you're good at everything nowadays, it's gonna be like, it's gonna have something to do with online. So like, make sure you're good at computers. You don't need to be like good at Excel, you don't need to be like an Excel whiz, but like, if you're doing something creative, dabble with graphics, like play with Canva and like the graphics apps, and that's something. Like, even now you're about to go off and like edit this, you could be a radio producer, do you know what I mean? Like, everything interlinks into each other.

Just to latch on something you were saying there, I think in terms of diversifying your CV, and this is something that I can relate to as well, it's like, you know, you might know things that you're good at but you don't think they can translate into anything that an employer would want or be beneficial to your career, but if you just think about everything you like doing and you're good at, and you sort of just research anything that could materialise into something you could put on your CV. I think that is what I've learned from just speaking to people, that's massively beneficial because you're meant to try and paint who you are before they actually meet you, and if all you've got is the internships you thought you were meant to do, then it would display nothing. But I know, what's something that stood out on somebody's CV that you've hired recently?

Example. Ask your friends what they think about you because they, I can assure you, can turn traits into like good things that would be interesting for an employer, whereas like maybe don't ask your parents because they don't— like obviously your parents know you well, but they don't know you in the sort of sense that it's like they spend every day with you and like—

I think that's a really helpful and useful point to anyone in any industry, and yeah, I just want to thank you for coming on today