{"id":10319,"date":"2021-11-23T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=10319"},"modified":"2026-01-29T09:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:32:40","slug":"colleague-box-how-it-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/colleague-box-how-it-started\/","title":{"rendered":"How it started: Furlough. How it\u2019s going: We made \u00a31m in revenue in five months"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGrowth & Customers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow it started: Furlough. How it\u2019s going: We made \u00a31m in revenue in five months\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tKelly Dent<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Faced with furlough and all the challenges the pandemic brought with it, Natalie and Adam Bamford turned a thoughtful idea into a million-pound business\u2014all from their spare room. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleague Box has exploded from one version to 60 boxes and counting, with a selection to suit every taste and occasion. But just how did they do it, and what\u2019s the plan post-pandemic?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what we cover in this article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleague Box fact file<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you come up with Colleague Box?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you realise that you had a budding business on your hands?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did either of you have any experience running a business, or was it a completely new adventure?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much cash did you need to get started? Did you need any investment for this sort of thing?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you took your side hustle full time, how many hours did you put in on average?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever had any moments of doubt? Any moments where you thought you might give up, and if so, what made you turn that around?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you build your customer base?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have you used social media?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could you tell me a bit about some of the success that you’ve seen a year down the line?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the Colleague Box vision for the next six to 12 months?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your piece of advice for anyone dreaming about taking their side hustle full time?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of How it started, how it’s going for tips and advice on what year one of business is really like<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Colleague Box fact file<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Business name: <\/strong>Colleague Box<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founders:<\/strong> Natalie and Adam Bamford<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year started:<\/strong> May 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location:<\/strong> Derby<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you come up with Colleague Box?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Adam and I worked for the same company, and I was put on furlough in May 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the middle of the pandemic, and a lot of my colleagues were forced to work from home. Our CEO wanted to send something out to everybody just to put smiles on people’s faces and boost morale because it was such an uncertain time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had this wonderful idea<\/a>, but he didn’t know how to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brief was a letterbox-friendly gift box full of some treats and exciting things that he could personalise, and put a message in from the CEO that would just put a smile on people’s faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might sound like an easy ask, but in the middle of a pandemic\u2014when you couldn\u2019t just nip to the shop, and we didn’t have suppliers or anything at this point\u2014it was difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to find something that can fit in a letterbox-sized box as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we got it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. A business that we sponsored got wind of what we’d done because quite a lot of our colleagues had put it on their social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They got in touch and wanted to do the same thing for their furloughed staff. It just snowballed from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you realise that you had a budding business on your hands?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I think it was when we sent them out to the Lincoln City Football Club\u2014that was pretty big. A football club like that could have chosen anything, but they chose our boxes and loved what we were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They even wrote a press release for us to talk about who we were and what we’ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, we kind of just thought: \u201cLet’s go with this because it’s definitely got legs, even if it’s just for temporary, there’s something in this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But remote work seems here to stay, even if that\u2019s in a hybrid capacity. Staying connected is as important now as it was when we started; that was a big part of what we want to achieve through Colleague Box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of How it started, how it’s going for tips and advice on what year one of business is really like<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Did either of you have any experience running a business, or was it a completely new adventure?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No, we had no e-commerce<\/a> or retail experience whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we just got so excited by the initial feedback from the first batch we sent out and, then the demand came organically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learnt about things like social media marketing and e-commerce on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when over Christmas we had a huge amount of cardboard to recycle, we had to think about the best way to navigate that. And that\u2019s something that we didn’t think about before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you kind of learn by responding to situations like that\u2014it’s a continuous learning curve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much cash did you need to get started? Did you need any investment for this sort of thing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I suppose it’s a bit skewed for us because those initial boxes that we sent out were paid for by the company that we worked for because it was in-house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We only purchased very little stock to begin with, so we didn’t have any overheads at that point because we were just working from our home office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we didn’t need to have masses of money to get started<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when we got further down the line, we looked at wholesale suppliers to keep the costs down for the products that go in the box. But we didn’t need any investment or loads of cash in the bank to start with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, I think that’s the best route, because if you’re starting with heaps of debt, you feel that pressure immediately to claw that back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even now, it’s all self-funded. The money that we make, we put back into the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you took your side hustle full time, how many hours did you put in on average?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It got to the point where I was even dreaming about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It still happens sometimes, but I honestly felt like it didn’t ever stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m always thinking about new contents, new products, or new ways to shout about us on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early on, I would work on the business during the day, and in the evening Adam and I would just talk about it and then I’d go to bed and dream about it. It was because I was so excited about it, and so passionate about growing the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m quite fortunate that I’m able to\u2014most of the time\u2014fetch my little girl from nursery at five and take my eldest to school. So, it’s like a nine to five for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam works more than that, and at some points last Christmas he was working 14-hour days and coming home for three hours a night, and then going back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the warehouse that we’ve got obviously we can have access to it whenever we want, so yeah, coming in for three hours, having a quick sleep and then coming back down to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of How it started, how it’s going for tips and advice on what year one of business is really like<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever had any moments of doubt? Any moments where you thought you might give up, and if so, what made you turn that around?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. Particularly over Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had one bespoke order of 23,000 and it was really, really great. A big box, an Advent box, so 12 gifts in this bespoke order, and 23,000 of those 12 gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of that, we had customers asking for different bespoke boxes and we just said \u2018yes\u2019 to them all in October because we thought it\u2019d be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But everyone ended up wanting their boxes at the same time, what with virtual Christmas parties happening around mid-December\u2014I think that was another 14,000 order on top of the 23,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were times when I just hated it, because I felt overwhelmed and out of my depth and I don’t know how I got through some days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the same time, I didn’t want to let people down whether that was our colleagues or the customers, Adam, myself, or my kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a business owner you’re thinking: \u201cWhat I really want to do is just go home and go under the duvet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I knew we could get through it, it was just going to be tough for a couple of weeks and then we\u2019d be back to the fun bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we came back in January and it was quiet, I craved that buzz again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you build your customer base?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I think with us, every recipient of the box is a potential customer. So, it\u2019s mainly word of mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great example is one lady who received a box from her company. Her husband owns a company and seeing her reaction to this box from her employer\u2014seeing how happy it made her\u2014made him want the same for his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s almost a ripple effect that every box we send out, the more customers we get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have you used social media?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s pretty much our only form of marketing, which does make me feel quite a lot of pressure, because I do our social media!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that is where most people hear about us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even though we don’t have a huge amount of followers, they\u2019re genuine followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know you can buy lists and follows for Instagram, but I don’t want to be that way. I want our followers to be authentic people who actually want to engage with us and get excited about what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People hear about us through there, and then they go on to contact us, or purchase through our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are times when I think I’m not the right person for this. We need an expert in, we need someone who knows what they’re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the same time, it’s working for us. And I enjoy it because I feel connected to our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could you tell me a bit about some of the success that you’ve seen a year down the line?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hitting the \u00a31m mark after five months was just unreal. I still don’t quite believe it. When we set out, our accountant at the time said we needed to sell 7,000 boxes to break even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve sold over 100,000 and counting. And that just blows our minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re really grateful of the support we’ve had and the way the business has been received by companies all across the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a great customer base in Derby where we’re based now, and Lincoln where we were originally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colleague Box is seeing orders from all over the UK now, with many returning customers which is lovely for us to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are coming back to us time and time again, and not just for their colleagues anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of How it started, how it’s going for tips and advice on what year one of business is really like<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What’s the Colleague Box vision for the next six to 12 months?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We’re getting a custom, bespoke website built, which will really help us expand our corporate gift services to include, for example, where we include higher-end hampers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re also looking at offering more subscriptions and experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We currently offer a monthly beer tasting one called Beers & Business Club<\/a>, which is Adam\u2019s baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s something people can enjoy remotely\u2014you get sent a box with different beers in local, independent breweries, as well as snacks from a local shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You get a Zoom link and sit down for an informal chat with a surprise guest, a business leader who\u2019ll share insights from their journey so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope to take these kinds of experiences face-to-face at some point too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as the beer subscription we have also launched an Office Snack Box subscription for companies to order for their team to enjoy over the week, a fab little staff perk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing we\u2019re expanding into it more are \u2018experience\u2019 type boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, we have an Escape Room Box where the recipient has to crack the codes in the puzzles to discover who the sender is and what their message is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we are launching Craft Kits, Cook Along kits and Mindful boxes too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are always looking for new, exciting innovations that still fit in with our ethos and core aim of delivering happiness and putting smiles on people\u2019s faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s really exciting that we are established yet small enough to quickly adapt and change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your piece of advice for anyone dreaming about taking their side hustle full time?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t have to take a lot of cash or risk to start, so use your expertise and those of the people around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask for favours, trades, or if you can have a chat over some beers to pick someone\u2019s brain about your product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to building your customer base, be reliable, deliver what you promise and shout about your successes. And be ready to adapt in an ever-changing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, most importantly, don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How it started, how it’s going<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Want to know what year one of business is really like? A group of business owners share their stories and advice to help you navigate the start of your entrepreneurial journey.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload your free guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Man\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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