Page 45 - February 2023
P. 45

WORK/LIFE



 My 9-to-5  The best part of my job is…
        I like meeting new people. The push for
        sustainability  is  great  to see.  There  are
 The founder of Musselburgh-based   lots of companies who manufacture
 S’wheat, Jake Elliot-Hook, shares   their  products in  China  and  have  noticed
 his daily life and career path.  delivery  delays,  so  it  has  been  beneficial
        for us that people are choosing UK-based
        manufacturers.
 Where do you call home?
 I live in Tranent but work in Musselburgh.   My most memorable career moment
 It’s only five minutes on the City Bypass. The   is…
 benefit of having an office in Musselburgh   We  recently  had  our  biggest  order  with
 is that our printers are across the road from   Aston Martin – they used our bottles for on
 us. We work with companies who buy our   and off-track events because they found   About Musselburgh
 bottles with their company logos on it and   attendees were coming with single use   Musselburgh is located on the south
 hand them out at events.  plastics and leaving them there.  shore of the Firth of Forth in Scotland at
                                                the mouth of the River Esk, approximately
 My day starts with…  After work I…             six  miles east  of  Edinburgh.  It  is  East
 My alarm goes off at 7.05am and I go to the   Go to the gym which helps me relax as it’s   Lothian’s biggest town and is a good base
 gym for an hour before work – the gym is   a stressful job and you’re always looking   for people who want to live near the city,
 across the road from the office. I then head   for the next big order to come in. I also   but also want easy access to countryside
 to the office for a 9am start. My day mainly   like cycling and going for walks – there’s a   and coastline. Activities in Musselburgh
 consists of meetings and talking to possible   lovely walk along the Esk River.   include one of the busiest racecourses in
 clients, and making digital mock-ups of        Scotland, for both National Hunt and Flat
 bottles with company logos on them.   If I wasn’t the founder of S’wheat I’d   meetings. The town also has its own rugby
        have been…                              club, BMX track and two golf courses.
 I got my job…  At  university  I  studied  psychology  so  I
 I started the business in my last year of   my classmates had reusable bottles that they   would probably be working within that   £237,639 average selling price
 university with my co-founder Amy. Lots of   replaced every few weeks and I wanted to make   field.  Lots  of  my  classmates  went  into
 a truly circular bottle with plant-based materials   teaching so I might have gone down that
 so it can biodegrade in landfill. The wheat straw   path or become a counsellor.
 we use for the bottles is left over from farms so   105.9% of Home Report valuation
 there’s a zero-waste element to it.  What’s the best piece of career advice   attained
        you’ve been given?
 Since I was just out of university, I had no money   It’s important to make mistakes. Lots of   The median time to under offer is
 to start the business. We launched a pre-sale   people are scared to fail. We did everything   16 days
 Crowdfunder with a goal of £10,000 in 30 days.   ourselves. as we had no funding. We didn’t
 We managed to double the funding goal and   outsource and had to learn new skills
 raised £22,000 which got us off the ground. We   ourselves.
 then got our first office which was behind an   (Figures are based on properties marketed and sold
 Aldi in Tranent. It was freezing and very small,   through ESPC. Home Report valuations relate to
                                                properties where the Home Report was available on
 but  we  packed  up  our  first  orders  there.  We   espc.com. Figures relate to the three-month period
 moved out of there and to Musselburgh two   You can find S’wheat on swheatbottle.com or    ending on 31/01/2023).
 and a half years ago.  @swheatbottle on Instagram.

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