My First Dance - our first Fund101 beneficiary
Posted: Tue 13th Sep 2011
"I'm going to spend the money on a half-page advert in the annual wedding brochure done by one of the top venues in Hertfordshire," reveals Candy Scott, founder of My First Dance, which has become the first business to receive funding from Fund101. "From talking to other suppliers, it's the top one that generates the most business. I'm quite excited about it." Though £300 may not sound a great deal, it can make quite a difference to a small business finding its feet. In Candy's case, it means catching the eye of many more brides and grooms-to-be who want to make sure their first dance as a married couple is a memorable one - in this case, a dance that's been professionally choreographed. "I've done Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' with some of the moves, and we also did a Charleston to Paolo Nutini's 'Pencil Full of Lead'," Candy laughs. "Take That's been very popular over the last year. If I have to do another Take That, though, I'm going to"¦ I don't know what I'm going to do! "No-one's ever the same, though," the former professional dancer continues. "We take into account the dress, the theme of the wedding, the couple's personalities, how the audience is standing and so on. I try to create something totally unique that's made for them."
The advert will be a major boost to My First Dance's marketing. Until now, the business has grown slowly from its roots as an occasional engagement into what is now a full-time venture that has 45 choreographers on its books.
"I've purposefully been doing it slowly because half of my business comes from reputation and I want to make sure that's there," Candy explains. "I've promoted myself so far mostly on Google Places and through word-of-mouth."
"But I do want to get bigger now," she stresses. "My husband's got me thinking about franchising, so that's something that might be in the pipeline."
Well done Candy - and thanks for voting, everyone. There are plenty more great small businesses seeking funding from Fund101. Take a look for yourself.
How Candy got the cash
"I set my application up on Facebook as an event and emailed everybody in my address book. I also sent it to a couple of friends who work at big organisations."
How she plans to capitalise on her success
"At the moment I'm working with someone to write a press release. We're going to call up all the local papers ourselves and the wedding publications and use this as a springboard to get more publicity."
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