5 minutes with...

Please provide a brief introduction to yourself and My Christmas Pyjamas

I launched My Christmas Pyjamas 5 years ago now (where has time gone?!) after finding a gap in the market. I was living in Australia and was coming home back to the UK for Christmas, and so was my brother. We were going to be back together again for the first time in 2 years, and we were all so excited! I said to my Mum that we must get matching pyjamas, but the problem was… we didn’t know where I could get them from! And that’s where My Christmas Pyjamas was born. I knew it was a bit of a craze in America at the time, but it hadn’t quite made its way to the UK yet and so I worked day and night to find prints and patterns that I loved. I soon became obsessed with the idea of being in matching pyjamas with loved ones, at the most wonderful time of the year (and later added matching sets for dogs too)!

Give us the inside scoop, what is your favourite part about being a business owner?

Being my own boss! I love the freedom and also love making all the decisions (although that can be a little stressful sometimes)! But I feel that I get directly rewarded for my hard work, and I love that.

What made you decide to start your business?

I absolutely LOVE Christmas and so this is the perfect business for me.

I’ve always wanted my own business, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do… And then this all just fell into place for me. I was living in Australia at the time, so I wouldn’t say the timing was perfect but sometimes you’ve just got to go for it when you have the opportunity, and I did exactly that! Had I waited, I think a lot of the bigger retail stores would have beaten me to it, and perhaps My Christmas Pyjamas wouldn’t have been so successful.

What is your number one top tip for growing a large Instagram following?

Just be authentic. I’m always myself on my own Instagram and really try to engage with my followers on both my personal and business account. I think being consistent is also important, especially with business accounts. I try and make My Christmas Pyjamas aesthetically pleasing, so that people want to see more of what we’re posting! I also try and post a lot of customer photos.

Tell us about any exciting plans you have coming up for the rest of the year?

I plan to restock Pyjamily (the non-Christmas sister company) very soon, and there will be a big push on that in the new year which is exciting! I will also be at the Ideal Home Show for the first time at the end of November, which I can’t wait for!

Tell us a fun fact about appearing on The Apprentice!

Each task is filmed over 2-3 days! When you watch it on TV, it seems about a couple of hours but the days are long and there’s lots of elements involved in shooting a program on that scale!

It’s all fun though, and production are great!! They always make sure you’ve got a coffee!