Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Martin Chesno. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Martin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission has been based on offering a superior product and service. We pride ourselves on the personal interactions that we have with our customers and hopefully helping them improve there overall sleep experience. This also offers us a great source of pride and happiness, knowing that people are getting quality product that helps with there sleep. Whether it is purely from a comfort perspective or because of the hypo-allergenic properties that Mulberry Silk offers, especially eleviating issues related to allergies.

We have worked with the ‘big box’ stores but that removed us from having direct interaction with our customers. In addition to this, you actually end up ‘working’ for them and having to cut your margins, making the project unviable.

So we went back to our core motto of providing sleep comfort directly to peoples homes. And we are proud to say we have now been doing this for 20 years!

Martin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a creative side that needed an outlet. So when I saw the opportunity to create my own brand of Mulberry Silk Comforters, I dived in with both feet. Was like a dream coming true and still is today. Silk in the East was readily available. But in the West was less popular. And that was the gap that I saw.
Added to that was the concept of selling something that can really add value to people had massive appeal.
Kind of like doing Right business. Ethical and good. Both to the planet and people.
Silk being the ‘greenest’ option in bedding.

I had spent many years in the hotel industry which gave me a good grounding in customer service, which for me is key to any business. After all, the saying ‘customer is king’ is true. I then spent about 5 years representing big brands across many markets. All these experiences created the foundation for The Mulberry Silk Co.

I was also lucky enough to be introduced to good people, whom I still work with today and without which the project would never have got off the ground. So I am grateful to all those that helped and to continue to help, so that we can deliver a superior product directly to peoples homes.
It gives me great satisfaction knowing and hearing back from customers that they are happy with our service and there purchase. And we are looking forward to many more years of success. We still believe after 20 years that we have plenty room for growth and hope to convert even more people to Mulberry Silk.
Today, I also offer Coaching to other budding entrepreneurs, helping them fulfill there dreams too.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I like to equate resilience with GRiT, the ability to Gain Results in Time. There are always ‘stumbling blocks’ to any new venture and without GRiT and resilience one won’t move forward. For us, from the smallest things, getting the design right, needing to find initial ‘seed’ funding, finding customers, being able to move beyond the naysayers and there are always those! But having GRiT and not giving up. Persevering until the design is right, investors are found, and customers are on board.
Initially we worked with the ‘big box’ stores, supplying them Mulberry Silk. At the time of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) in 2008 we had to pivot as the ‘big box’ stores decided to reduce our range in there stores. This resulted in us reassessing our structures. We gave up our warehousing facilities and changed our model to delivering direct. Creating a more bespoke item which we now offered directly online from our own online store. Our online store started as a web page and developed into our current online store which we continue to improve and work on.
The GFC resulted in us now being more independent and reliant on ourselves. It turned out to a blessing. And placing the overall business in much better position.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My initial co-founder was a friend of mine’s parent. We knew each other socially, and he introduced me to the concept of Silk from the East. Initially we looked only at producing Comforters. Only later did we introduce our Mulberry Silk Linen to complete the bedding range.
We created a partnership and put in the initial funding to get the project off the ground. But the time from conception to actually having a product to sell, took close to a year. Initially we only found a couple of independent linen stores to buy from us, and the business did not look so attractive with a slow return on investment. So he opted out.
But I persevered and it wasn’t long after that, that some of the ‘big box’ stores showed an interest and started ordering and we got into some major hotels. And overnight we turned a corner and were profitable. I suppose this was the real GRiT and resilience needed to succeed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themulberrysilkco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mulberrysilk/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/4975690/admin/feed/posts/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/artinhesno