Founder@ Interview
Interview with Ashley Ling & James Edwards
“Give it a go! Minimise your downside where you can and don’t be afraid to put something out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you’ll keep adding to it and before you know it, you’ll have something you’re proud of..” – Ashley Ling & James Edwards
Today we feature Ashley Ling & James Edwards, the founder at Piece and Quiet. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
We are two 25-year-olds who first became friends at University, before securing Graduate jobs and becoming roommates in West London.
We’re always pitching each other on business ideas to start and finally decided to take the plunge and launch Piece and Quiet Puzzles in 2020.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
The idea for Piece and Quiet Puzzles first came during the first lockdown in 2020. We found ourselves completing puzzles as a way to relax and switch off and found it was one of the few things that made us put down our phones and take a moment for ourselves.
However, we quickly grew tired of all the traditional boring puzzle designs and thought we could create something much more exciting. James was furloughed from his day job, so used the extra time to develop a business plan and get things moving, while I supported in the evenings and weekends.
Fast forward 6 months and we’re struggling to keep up with demand and looking for ways to expand the business.
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
We launched Piece and Quiet Puzzles, an artistic jigsaw puzzle company with a focus on mindfulness and promoting talented local artists.
We work with local artists to create exciting, vibrant, and modern puzzles, where artists receive a share of each puzzle sale.
We aim to promote mindfulness by providing people with a creative outlet where they can slow down, take a moment for themselves, and feel the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing an artistic jigsaw puzzle.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
Launching a business is tough and having a co-founder makes the rollercoaster a lot less scary. We’ve launched whilst working day jobs and never put too much pressure on ourselves to overstretch and get to a perfect product immediately. Our motto is to keep the ball moving – keep iterating, keep momentum and build in small steps.
The combination of our ideas is always better than individually and we’re open enough to shoot down a bad idea or double down when we know we’re onto a winner.
We’ve recently received some great press with the BBC and GQ and received tons of lovely feedback on the product and our story.
We’ve had people reach out with no purpose other than to pass on a kind message and it’s uplifting to know that everybody wants the best for you, so don’t be afraid to try something. We want to build on this and create a community around promoting mindfulness so that others can gain the same mental health benefits we’ve found in puzzles.
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
Expect the unexpected and enjoy the process! We’ve had last-minute supplier issues and Sunday road trips to collect the emergency stock, where we’ve been shattered and questioning whether it’s worth it.
We have to keep each other going and it makes it all worthwhile when we receive positive feedback about how our puzzles helped a customer relax, or a picture of our puzzle framed on their bedroom wall. We secretly enjoy the hectic moments and if it was going to be easy, everyone would do it!
Build in delays for most things, we were fortunate enough to receive a lot of pre-orders with promised delivery dates which were put under pressure due to supplier challenges out of our control. We made it in the end, but giving ourselves more time would have certainly saved some stress between the two of us.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
We’re still pretty young with a lot to learn and a lot of mistakes to make, so not sure we are in the position to be giving advice just yet.
So far we’ve tried to take each step as a learning experience and be open to new opportunities to grow as founders and as a company, even if that means stepping out of our comfort zone.
It can be daunting putting a new product out there and wondering what people will think but would urge anyone to give it a go. We’ve found friends, strangers, and customers to be extremely supportive and everybody wants to see you succeed.
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
Shopify is an amazing product that allows anyone to become an entrepreneur in a matter of minutes. All the add-ins allow you to automate shipping, order fulfilment, etc. to make life easier. We use Teams and Trello (Project Management tool) to keep track of files and try to set ourselves small weekly tasks to keep things moving.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
Build-in delays for most things, we were fortunate enough to receive a lot of pre-orders with promised delivery dates which were put under pressure due to supplier challenges out of our control.
We made it in the end but giving ourselves more time would have certainly saved some stress between the two of us.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
Within 2 months of launching, we’ve featured on the BBC homepage and in a GQ article. It’s amazing to be written about by such well-known brands and has given us a great platform to help spread the mindfulness message and shout about our talented artists.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
We believe business is a great way to create opportunities. Jobs are a key part of everyone’s lives and if we are fortunate enough to grow Piece and Quiet or future ventures to employ people, we want to create an environment where people can enjoy being themselves at work, and grow and develop as people, as ultimately this will make them happier in their personal life.
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
Give it a go! Minimise your downside where you can and don’t be afraid to put something out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you’ll keep adding to it and before you know it, you’ll have something you’re proud of.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Piece and Quiet”
To learn more about Piece and Quiet Visit www.pieceandquietpuzzles.co.uk
Inspired by this story? Please share this story and other founder stories.
For more inspiring founders stories check out Founder Stories.
Disclaimer:
The views, thoughts, information, and opinions expressed in the text, videos, images belong solely to those of the individuals involved, and do not necessarily represent those of Founderat.com and its corporate owners, employees, organization, committee, or other group or individuals.