Ruth Treacher — From Interior Design to Garden Design
“After six months, I was loving it so much! I just thought: Right, this is it. I’m going to hand in my notice.”
At 50, Ruth Treacher made a bold choice. After 21 years in interior design at a large architectural practice, she decided to start over. ‘Lockdown had quite a lot to do with my wish to have a career change’, she says. ‘I enjoyed working from home. I enjoyed being outside more.’ A garden design course at Capel Manor College in Enfield sparked something. ‘After six months, I was loving it so much! I just thought: “Right, this is it. I’m going to hand in my notice.”’
The early days were slow. ‘Starting from scratch and trying to find clients was the main challenge’, Ruth recalls. Her first garden design work was for a friend at a minimal fee, just to build a portfolio. She created her own website using Google Sites. And she started leafleting locally — which turned out to be ‘surprisingly effective’. Her persistence paid off. ‘Now I’m finding I’m having to do very little marketing because I’m getting recommendations from clients.’
Mentoring support
Ruth discovered Trampoline’s Business Support Programme through Southwark Council’s newsletter. ‘I saw that the programme offered a small start-up grant at the end of it — and I was really interested to take part.’ What kept Ruth going was the mentoring support element of the programme. ‘Having those regular meetings, where someone was holding you to account, really made me do the things that I’d been putting off.’
As her workload increased, Ruth brought in another freelance designer who was also on the same support programme offered by Trampoline. ‘It worked pretty well’, she says. ‘I knew Carol, we were friends, and it was lovely working with somebody else. And also, she had different experience to me, so we complemented each other.’
“If you are really new to running a business, then doing this kind of programme is extremely useful: it gives you a framework and really builds confidence.“
Ruth finds the work most rewarding when she helps clients solve specific problems. She recalls designing an accessible garden for a client in Brixton with mobility challenges. ‘We made a completely level garden for her with lots of island beds that she could easily access. It’s made a huge difference to her ability to garden and to enjoy the space.’
For others starting out, her advice is simple: ‘If you are really new to running a business, then doing this kind of programme is extremely useful: it gives you a framework and really builds confidence.’
Ruth’s confidence has grown and grown. In her first year, she managed to pay herself a good salary which exceeded her own target for those 12 months. ‘That gave me such a boost about the sustainability of the business’, she says. And now Ruth is setting her sights even higher and wants to take on bigger projects in the future. ‘I don’t like to turn work away — but I have to be very mindful that I can’t do everything myself. I think the future for me is delegating more work to like-minded collaborators. It’s all very exciting.’
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