Lin Forward, The Crazy Light Company

Shedding some light on the matter

“The Faster Women social media workshops are an extremely useful part of this fantastic scheme for local business women. Having set up The Crazy Light Company at the age of 45, I’m well aware that the younger generation might be a step ahead at using Facebook and Twitter to market their businesses. The workshops showed me that I was actually already on the right track and gave me useful pointers on how to enhance my knowledge and practices even further.”

The Crazy Light Company is the brainchild of Lin Forward of Linton in rural Herefordshire. The home of Dog-E-Litz, Boot-E-Litz and LED rucksacks, Lin’s fun and eye-catching LED light accessories are designed to keep you safe whilst walking your dog, horse riding, cycling and jogging or simply to look cool and glowing at the next summer festival, Halloween, Bonfire or Christmas party.

That lightbulb moment…

From its conception as a product that would keep people safe in the dark whilst being fun to wear, and following a successful Dragon’s Den style pitch to pet superstore chain Pets at Home two years ago (with Lin’s dog in attendance!), The Crazy Light Company now sells its Dog-E-Litz and LED rucksacks nationally at retailers ranging from Countrywide, Pets at Home, and Waitrose to Argos and Mothercare.

While the Dog-E-Litz and LED rucksacks are distributed and managed by manufacturing companies, Lin uses her website and social media sites to also market and sell the Boot-E-Litz arm of her business herself. Already having some experience with using social media to spread the word about The Crazy Light Company, Lin realised that attending the Faster Women workshops would enhance her knowledge and give her the opportunity to network with local business women in a similar situation to herself.

Lin said “Having launched the Boot-E-Litz at Glastonbury Festival last year I know that they have the potential to sell well. As I work from home it was a great help to meet other local business women, pick up tips from those who were a bit more savvy than myself at using social media and share ideas with others who were just starting out.

“It’s been great to meet like-minded women and share stories about the trials and tribulations of setting up our own businesses. Using social media to successfully market your business isn’t something which happens overnight and the workshops have given me a good grounding that I can confidently build on myself. I would absolutely recommend them.”