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​Sellfmade was created by entrepreneurs who know what it really takes to build, grow & rebuild a business while everyone’s watching.

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​Sellfmade was built to give founders something too many of us go without - honest support, advice from lived experiences & a reminder that you’re not the only one embarking on an entrepreneurial journey.

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At its core, Sellfmade is about voice, making sure entrepreneurs are seen, heard & understood. That’s why it's a hub for not only tools & guides, but also stories, reflections & a place for founders to speak in their own words.

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To show you the foundation this space is built on, we sat down with our founder, Chloe  for a conversation about the lessons she’s learned, the challenges she’s faced & the impact she wants Sellfmade to have for every entrepreneur it reaches.

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You’ve lived through the highs & lows of building a business from scratch. What first pushed you to become an entrepreneur?

Like many, the instinct was always there, but the real turning point for me came when the company I was working for for closed down overnight. That sudden loss of security made me realise that I never wanted to be at the mercy of someone else’s decisions in that way again. At first, I thought I’d attempt to build something small on the side, but once I started, the process of testing myself, growing quickly & facing challenge after challenge became quite addictive & suprisingly instinctual. Every obstacle I faced was forcing me to adapt & learn so quickly to the point I realised that I wasn't going to be able to walk away from that kind of learning & growth now that I had started.

Once you’ve had that kind of autonomy, it’s incredibly difficult to go back.

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Since you’ve built a business committed to sustainable reuse at scale, what has running that taught you about resilience & decision making?

Resilience as an entrepreneur is everything. You quickly learn that whatever you’re battling today will be replaced by a new challenge tomorrow, so the only way forward is to keep moving. It’s just part of the journey & so the quicker you can process, adapt & move on, the stronger you get. I think of it like very setback is literally moving you a level up. Decision making is the same, you can’t afford to sit in limbo, you’re better off making the wrong call & learning from it than freezing in indecision. The key is knowing when you’re acting from gut instinct versus pure emotion. Gut can be trusted, emotion tends to cloud things considerably. If emotions are driving me, then I’ve learned to give myself space, even one night’s pause to stop that from taking hold the the steering wheel - no longer.

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Every founder hits breaking points. What was the moment you thought about walking away & what kept you going?

There was a point where the business grew faster externally than we could build the infrastructure internally. Demand was outpacing capacity, we took on more space, more staff but the foundations weren’t keeping up & it was overwhelming. I didn’t once consider walking away so much as I feared the whole thing might collapse beneath me. What kept me going during this time was realising you can’t ever really go back to the beginning because once you’ve built something so far, you carry that experience with you & you have the tangible asset which is your business. The only choice you have is to take what you’ve learned, strip things back to the core values & rebuild differently. You must learn not to panic, but to focus.

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A lot of business advice online is surface level. What truths have you learned the hard way that most never cover?

One of the hardest truths is how difficult it is to command respect as a founder, especially if you’re doing something people haven't seen before. Customers, staff, even people close to you - everyone has opinions its normal human instinct & curiosity but many will underestimate the weight you carry. You end up making things look easier than they are in the pursuit of survival but that in turn can create resentment or misunderstanding. Another truth is that growth isn’t always about having more. The loudest advice is always to scale up - more staff, more products, more sales but sometimes the real growth is in doing less, but doing it better. Whether that's protecting your values, adjusting your model or cutting back to scale smarter - those are lessons that have kept me in business. That isn’t the most glamorous advice, but it’s real.

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What do you think founders get most wrong about sustainability & purpose driven businesses?

Too many still lean into trends & buzzwords. True sustainability isn’t about what’s fashionable this year, it’s really about designing your business so it can hold up for decades, not months. Too many treat purpose as a trend & they build it into the branding but not into the real life decisions. A honest, purpose driven business has to be willing to change course when the model itself becomes unsustainable. For me, that meant recognising to when things that looked “good for growth” on the outside were slowly eroding the core values of the business & it sustainability long term. If you’re serious about purpose, you can’t just perform it, you have to protect it - even when that means making harder choices. It will pay off.

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Why did you create Sellfmade & what do you want it to give founders that you didn’t have?

Over the past 12 years of building & running my businesses, every challenge has forced me to adapt & learn quickly & those lessons are what shaped Selfmade. During my own journey, I didn’t always think I needed guidance in the traditional sense - I trusted myself, but I did notice when something was missing, the moments that woke me up sometimes were small but powerful things like a customer sharing my work, a friend showing genuine interest, a piece of feedback that reminded me why I was doing it. Sellfmade is built to provide that kind of backing, it’s about celebrating entrepreneurs, making them feel seen & heard & reminding them their work is not invisible. Because you often feel like even your own customers or family don’t really understand what you’re doing or why. A single moment of recognition can make the difference between giving up & pushing forward. Sellfmade exists to create more of those moments.

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You've grown a sustainability led business to tens of thousands of followers. How has that experience & process shaped the advice you now share through Sellfmade?

Building that platform has taught me that numbers are really only one part of it. Yes, a following shows that people believe in what you’re doing, even if it takes them months or years to become customers but what really drives growth is the clarity of the mission & consistent communication. People don’t just buy the product, they buy into the purpose. That’s the perspective I bring into Sellfmade, growth isn’t theory for me - it’s lived & that’s why Sellfmade has been created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, not by someone who studied business & decided to teach it, that has it's place, but it's not truly authentic. If your audience can feel your purpose, they'll follow it. 

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Looking forward, what impact do you want Sellfmade to have in the next five years?

Right now, Selfmade sometimes feels bit like a living journal, a way of processing my own journey while creating something that supports others. In the next five years, I want to see it grow into a community where founders don’t just receive support, but actively help each other - creating opportunities that lead to real contracts & growth. Think of the cake maker meeting the wedding planner or the furniture maker linking up with pub owners. Connections that bring opportunities as well as solidarity.​ I also want it to be a place where my own lived experience & that of others translates into support for others, through guides, mentorship & tools that actually help businesses survive & thrive. Beyond that, I’d like to see Sellfmade recognised as a space where raw honesty about business is valued as much as strategy. A place where setbacks are reframed as growth, where advice comes from those who have had real experience & founders can walk away not just inspired but also well equipped to build something enduring & resilient.

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Sellfmade is a space for founders to feel seen, supported & equipped with real tools  & connections that make a difference. It’s also a spotlight for entrepreneurs themselves, through our Voices series & community features, we make sure your experience is part of the bigger picture.

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Explore our guides & mentorship if you’re ready for practical support or join the community on Instagram @wearesellfmade

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