Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Amanda Saint, Founder of Retreat West, located in Reading, UK.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Retreat West is an online community for writers and an indie press. We run online classes, courses, and writing sessions in fiction writing. Since 2017, we have published more than 20 books and were named Most Innovative Publisher at the 2020 Saboteur Awards. In 2022, we launched a new online literary journal, WestWord.

Tell us about yourself

I started Retreat West in 2012 when I moved out of London to a rural community in North Devon. I was a learner writer then and couldn't afford to do the expensive online courses at the time, so I started running residential writing retreats in holiday homes and inviting people I wanted to learn from to come and teach classes at them. I sold tickets to other writers to pay for it, did all the catering, and looked after everyone during the retreat. From that, it has grown organically, and now I am a teacher of creative writing myself.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Bringing together writers from all around the world in our online community space, where we cheer each other on, learn together, and have fun. Writing can be a lonely and hard business full of rejections, so it's great to have a place where we can all share the ups and downs in a positive and supportive online space.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

The unpredictability of income. I can never know if/when memberships and course spaces will sell. But I also work as a freelance journalist, so I usually get by!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Make sure it is something you are really passionate about - if you're only in it for the money; you will lose heart pretty quickly as it takes a while to get things going and get people engaged.
  2. Use all of the automation tools you can to run marketing and events, or your inbox and to-do list will be out of control... I speak from experience, having started out doing everything manually!
  3. Be flexible and adaptable - everything keeps changing really quickly, and you need to be able to take things in a new direction when you have to.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.retreatwest.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retreatwest/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RetreatWest

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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