Written in partnership with Darby Jones.
The most successful entrepreneurs have a unique ability to identify holes in the marketplace, create valuable solutions and execute their vision. These entrepreneurs take an idea and transform it into a business, providing value to consumers and other companies. Creating new jobs and opportunities, these entrepreneurs positively benefit the economy and society at large.
Since many entrepreneurs forge their path and earn money by doing something they are passionate about, many people aspire to follow in their footsteps. In fact, some entrepreneurs even achieve public acclaim and even celebrity status. Furthermore, as a handful of extremely successful entrepreneurs have been found success despite a lack of resources, formal education, or familial wealth, entrepreneurship feels attainable for the average person.
Now, as prosperous entrepreneurs can communicate directly with individuals looking to emulate their image via social media, aspiring entrepreneurs can use these platforms to learn from their role models as well as to pursue their own entrepreneurial goals. Of course, just because these figures are more accessible and entrepreneurship is piquing public interest, that does not mean finding success as an entrepreneur is easy.
Wayne Spriggs is a successful entrepreneur that any aspiring entrepreneur can learn from. Spriggs’s story is a true rags to riches story emphasizing hard work, self-awareness, risk tasking and vision. Spriggs is the Founder and CEO of Lusso, the industry-standard in luxury bathrooms, furniture, fixtures and much more. Based in the U.K. Spriggs founded the company in 2014 and has since grown the brand to $32 million of annual revenue in 2021, tripling the employee count and raising the company’s valuation to over $150 million along the way.
Despite his and Lusso’s recent success, it was not always this way for Spriggs. His professional and entrepreneurial journey is filled with lessons learned from risks taken, failures experienced and successes achieved.
True to his self-made story, Spriggs left school at the young age of 15. Despite his lack of formal education, he has always embodied the entrepreneurial spirit and had a natural knack for business.
Starting a menswear brand in 1998, Base Clothing, Spriggs became a successful entrepreneur at the young age of 24. Showcasing his entrepreneurial savvy, Spriggs was able to make an impressive living for himself at a young age with his first formal venture. Illustrating his entrepreneurial vision, Spriggs found a business partner and leveraged his early success to get involved in buying and selling ex-council housing stock. Over the last 18 years, Spriggs and his partner have bought and sold 30 properties becoming respected veterans in the space.
As the true entrepreneur that he is, when Spriggs entered a new market — real estate — he found another hole where he could provide value. As his real estate business matured, Spriggs began focusing on more expensive properties, which required high-quality renovations. Going through the painstaking process of scouring the internet for luxury bathroom fixtures and products, Spriggs eventually took matters into his own hands and travelled to trade shows in Birmingham and even Dubai. Realizing that he could facilitate higher quality renovations by becoming his own provider of quality bathroom fixtures and furniture, Spriggs also realized could not be the only person with this problem.
Recognizing the gap in the market for luxurious bathrooms at reasonable prices, Spriggs quickly created relationships at these trade shows and placed his first order for his new business venture. Once he hired a team to create a website, he officially founded his third company. Transforming the bathroom renovation process and increasing the value of the real estate in his portfolio and that of other real estate investors, Spriggs ran his first bathroom company from 2008 to 2013.
While shutting down the business, Spriggs experienced his biggest failure as well as learned some of the most important lessons in his professional life. In January 2013, Spriggs had to close his bathroom fixture business, shutting down the company’s e-commerce site as well. With the bank calling in an overdue payment and denying Spriggs any further loans, Spriggs was forced to let go of his entire staff and shut down the business. At 38 years old, this was one of the lowest times in Spriggs’s life, professionally and personally.
Even during these hardships, he trusted his gut and stayed true to his vision. As the resilient serial entrepreneur that he is, Spriggs did not lay dormant for long. In 2014, just one year after winding down his first bathroom fixture business, he started Lusso.
Spriggs understood that even though he had to close his first bathroom business, there was still a large demand for luxury bathrooms. Knowing in his bones that he could use his expertise and network to provide high-quality, designer bathrooms to residential and commercial property owners – in what would be his biggest risk to date – Spriggs actually purchased his first 38 baths for Lusso with a deposit using money from a $10,000 overdraft from the bank. Spriggs started looking for buyers for his company’s first sale in order to stay afloat. Once he successfully threaded the needle with this first deal, Spriggs and the Lusso team hit the ground running.
Now the Lusso brand is synonymous with luxury bathware and homeware as Spriggs recently diversified Lusso’s inventory after earning $32 million of annual revenue in 2021. Focusing on his e-commerce platform, U.K.’s first online department store selling its own branded products, Lusso sells its products to over 30 countries. Intending to continue to provide luxury home furniture and bath fixtures to residential and commercial property owners as well as secure a $1 billion plus valuation over the next few years, Spriggs has big plans to grow Lusso to new heights.
As his professional and personal influence grows, Spriggs finds himself reflecting more and more on his community and the circumstances he grew up in. A few years ago, he organized a virtual bike ride in order to raise money for a girl in his town who had recently lost her mother to cancer. Getting the Lusso team involved, Spriggs and members of the Lusso staff collectively rode over 5000 km raising over $5,000 for the family. Inspired by this first effort, Spriggs plans to further lean into charitable endeavors in the short and long-term.
With no plans to slow down, we are excited to see how Spriggs continues to grow Lusso’s e-commerce and physical presence as well as give back to the community.
