In response to lockdowns across the country, The Finders Keepers is hosting a snap two-day Springtime Online Market from today until 9am tomorrow (Saturday 4 September) to show support for small creative businesses across the country.
Salsa Verde
Fans are invited to cruise the curated virtual aisles of the Finders Keepers Online Marketplace, a 24/7 eCommerce platform launched to support makers online and snag exclusive event-only specials.
object Co
From ceramics to hand-sewn sustainable fashion, local art and new launches across the site, the Springtime Online Market is an opportunity for conscious consumers to throw their support behind small Aussie businesses at a time when it’s needed most.
The Keeper Bag
And there’s plenty of homewares to be found for interiors addicts!
The Finders Keepers is Australia’s largest curated marketplace of makers, designers and entrepreneurs. Proudly partnered with Australian creative business Inke Packaging.
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Like many people, interior designer Lynda MacDonald found herself out of a job when COVID-19 hit in March 2020. After a long career working for large companies such as the Rug Collection, Orson & Blake, Coco Republic and Robertson’s Furniture, Lynda was shocked to find herself without a job, with less than a day’s notice. “Fast forward a year and a half and it was actually the best thing that has happened to me,” says Lynda who feels the experience gave her the push she needed to set up her own interior design business, The Design Chaperone.
Interior designer Lynda MacDonald
“I had to scramble to figure out my next move. Unfortunately, I was at a poor stage in my life financially having had a few large moves in the previous years. I didn’t have any savings to draw from or a partner to lean on. I was on my own. But this is where I thrive!” says Lynda who had been working under a probationary period and thus had no leave or payout entitled to her.
But in just three months, Lynda established her business – she learnt to build her own WordPress website, did an online marketing course through The Modern Marketing Collective and set up a profile on Houzz. “I got my first client through Houzz and then I was on my way, and I haven’t looked back!” says Lynda who has built a niche clientele within the Gold Coast and Northern NSW regions, as well as a steadily growing Instagram following.
Gold Coast apartment project
Now 18 months on, Lynda has absolutely no regrets. “I believe COVID gave me the opportunity to reflect on what I really wanted to do and the time I needed to spend in lockdown at home creating it. If I was working full time, I really wouldn’t have had the time or energy to do it all at night. It was the push I needed to go out on my own and I absolutely love it!” says Lynda who started by offering very simple furniture plans but now does full scale renovations that start with the first stages of floorplan analysis and move through to styling. Lynda will also be adding ‘renovation toolkits’ to her offering soon, designed for clients wishing to go through the renovation process on their own.
Broadwater apartment project
“In my first year of business, I was taking any job that came my way and would work with all clients no matter what their style direction was. Through this I have learnt that my love for contemporary interiors with a lean towards ‘modern farmhouse’ is the style I want to be known for,” says Lynda. Her recent Maison Cruz residential renovation project, completed on the Gold Coast, showcases this aesthetic.
Lynda’s Maison Cruz renovation
And while Lynda has hit some major milestones in a relatively short period of time, she has solid plans for the near future that include hiring a senior interior designer, moving into a studio space, and working alongside her mother. “My mother has finally been able to come back from Dubai and she is being trained up as my assistant so it may turn into a family affair! With so many businesses struggling through COVID and so many negative stories in the media, I have turned my disappointment into the best year of my life!”
Before & after: COVID-19 inspires family to reclaim holiday home
Located on the NSW south coast in Jervis Bay, this home was purchased 20 years ago and tenanted until recently when the owners decided to give it a glow-up under…
When Skye Donaldson, owner of the ethical brand The Young Folk Collective, was pregnant with her first child, she didn’t know searching for an elusive natural product would completely change the direction of her family’s lives. Her search for a natural newborn sleep space led her to Ghana in West Africa.
“I had stumbled upon weavers in Bolgatanga, home of the classic Bolga market baskets. Having used these baskets, I knew the material (elephant grass) was extremely high quality – ideal for a baby basket,” Skye explains. “When talking to family and friends, it became clear that this gap in the market was real and could transform into a business.”
The Moses Basket and Stand
Taking a leap of faith, she and husband James invested their modest savings of $5000, and The Young Folk Collective was born. This move proved a highly successful one, selling out of their first collection within days. “We were overwhelmed by the immediate response,” Skye says.
Fast forward four years, and the company is now a successful family run business, with a large selection of products, handmade by artisans around the globe and an annual turnover of well over a million dollars and growing.
The baby change basket
Their baby baskets are safe, ethical, and look gorgeous. With many of us looking to bring natural elements into our homes, their elephant grass items are a perfect choice. Plus, you don’t have to hide them away once your baby moves into a new bed. Their signature baby baskets grow with your child, functional as a sleep basket, a doll cot, or a unique storage space.
“Our pieces have become a huge hit for those who love aesthetics,” Skye says. “Our baskets are the storage solution that people don’t need to hide.”
Quality craftsmanship is another cornerstone of The Young Folk Collective. “As each piece is handmade, with unique characteristics, they really are a functional piece of art for your home,” Skye adds. “We feel there has been a major shift in people searching for authentic products, with a real story behind them.”
The play mat in Into The Ocean
Their offerings have expanded to include play mats. Skye found that many play mats on the market were too cartoonish to fit into a main living space, and that others sacrificed the bold and contrasting colours that promote childhood cognitive development. The Young Folk Collective’s mats are designed with both form and function in mind, so both you and your children can enjoy their play space.
“Our playmats fit harmoniously into your existing decor, complimenting your style, rather than clashing with it.”
Skye and her family, with one of their Moses baskets
Skye believes in providing a heartfelt customer experience. “To this day, I still hand write thank you notes for every order. This is usually late into the night after our children are in bed,” she says. “In recent times, the world has come to appreciate the important things in life more. Being able to work together alongside my husband while raising our children has been invaluable.”
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As a small business owner, this global pandemic has sure been a rollercoaster. For me personally, March and April were pretty scary months as pretty much everyone (bar one extremely loyal longterm advertiser and another new one) pulled their marketing spend with Interiors Addict. I totally got it, people were more concerned with keeping their employees in jobs. But it was scary nonetheless.
Rebecca Tyndall
Emma Blomfield
Andrew Algar
These 3 business owners have learnt a lot more about their businesses since Covid
I started thinking about mortgage pauses and using our savings and whether blogging would even still be a viable business in the new normal. Fast forward a few months and I’m thrilled to say that business is back and things are feeling so much better. But I had to seriously tighten my belt, do two people’s jobs for a while and for much of the time with no childcare.
I know I’m not alone and I’m not looking for pity. What I did learn from going back to basics, was what I really needed to spend money on and also, by going back to doing most things myself, I took a good look at all our systems and what worked and didn’t. I also did a lot more writing content and enjoyed it (I’m a journalist by trade after all!) and thought more about what our readers want to read about. All really useful stuff. Not to mention I had a bit of headspace to work on a new arm to the business which I’ll be able to tell you more about later this year; one which will hopefully provide an additional, and perhaps more predictable and recurring, revenue stream.
I thought I’d ask some other small business owners in the industry how they survived Covid and what they learned about their brands in the process. And while none of us is brave or silly enough to rest on our laurels and declare everything’s back to normal, it’s great to hear some positive stories.
Andrew Algar owns Contents International Design, an independent furniture and homewares store in Sydney’s Supa Centa Moore Park. As a bricks and mortar retail business, COVID hit hard in the beginning. “Like everyone else, it was the uncertainty that was the hard part. If you knew it was going to be for a certain period of time you could at least plan to batten down the hatches knowing the tap would turn back on,” he said.
Inside Contents International Design
“We closed the shop doors for general thoroughfare in April and were operating by appointment with the option of taking individual pieces to clients’ homes to assist. JobKeeper was also a big help. Everyone was working remotely and did their best to help wherever they could so I’m very thankful for them.”
Their online business rose to the occasion which helped pay the bills as well as having the processes in place to be able to work remotely if/when needed. But it was really amping up customer service, which they had always prided themselves on, which allowed them to make great connections to each and every sale and customer. “It felt more necessary to be thankful for them, and this has had a huge flow on effect which we are so appreciative for.”
Thankfully, foot traffic in the store is back up now. “A lot of people are spending more time within their homes with lockdowns, and not going out or away. It’s been a good time for people to take some time to realise that their home is their own sanctuary and making it nice means spending more time in it isn’t a chore,” Andrew says.
Andrew Algar
There were lessons learned too. “It was similar to going back to the start again and being able to run the business off the smell of an oily rag! It allowed us to re-look at a few things that we thought were making a difference or adding to the business but were just costing for not much gain. Now we know this should be something done on a regular basis not just in a time when that’s necessary.
“The silver lining for me was that it made me take stock of what was the way forward and what to be appreciative for. There are things to worry about every day running a business but with something like a pandemic totally taking everything out of your control, you can only do what you can control.”
Interior stylist and designer Emma Blomfield, has been offering e-decorating since 2011 but the last few years have seen her doing much more in-person consulting. That all flipped during the first few months of Covid. “Since lockdowns have been relaxed I’ve been back out meeting with clients but have noticed follow-up consults tend to happen online where we meet on Teams or Zoom and I share my screen, showing the design work and getting instant feedback from my clients. I was very thankful for taking the time earlier on in my career to set up that service properly which meant I could just run with it when the online consults started rolling in.”
Emma Blomfield
She also used the extra time at home to work on a new business. “It had been a long time coming, I just never carved out the time for it before. Having some extra time on my hands at the start of the year meant I went all in on my plans for Decor Library (a project management platform to streamline the way interior designers work with their suppliers and clients) and now it’s a fully fledged business we’ve just launched a few weeks ago. If it wasn’t for lockdown, I may never have started the business.”
Emma said she’s never been more grateful to be self-employed with the flexibility to pivot and change as needed, and be in control of her own destiny. “It was 100% up to me to keep the business running once Covid hit and I’m pretty proud to say it’s been a mega year for me in terms of revenue when I thought I was headed for total disaster back in March.”
She admits she used to be quite slack at checking in on her financials but this has now changed! “At the end of March, I spent about a week reviewing every single inch of my business from website wording through to analysing every single expense. I now set time aside every month to review all of those things again and am better at meeting my monthly revenue targets.”
So now her advice for other business owners is simple: “Don’t get too busy working in the business that you forget to work on the business.” Emma suggests finding yourself an accountability buddy and meeting with them once a month. “Having someone else to talk through your goals and financial stats with is an absolute game changer. As a solo business owner it’s easy to ignore those things but that’s the worst thing you can do for the future of your business. Pay attention to all the little details, it pays off!”
Melbourne-based business Willow & Wood, who make and sell off-the-shelf mudroom solutions, managed to move interstate to the Gold Coast in July, in between lockdowns! They’ve used the time to really fine tune their niche and to bring all manufacturing on shore.
Rebecca Tyndall of Willow & Wood
Co-owner Rebecca Tyndall, who runs the business with her dad Russell, said: “We are completely making in Australia now. We moved our workshop to the Gold Coast in July and we’ve been super busy in the last three months. We are making a real push to get this business growing because we are the only one that specialises in mudrooms and I don’t want to lose that edge before we can grow and be known for what we do.”
For now, she’s still in Victoria while Russell and the team are busy making up north. “It’s particularly hard when I can’t even travel to my workshop but we are making it work.”
In the New Year, they’ll be discontinuing their popular Bookworm kids’ bookshelves and introducing new mudroom options to really hone in on that side of the business. “We don’t want to do fitted, built-in joinery because that’s what joiners specialise in. We’ll be sticking with our off the shelf products, adding more options, and really hoping to see the business grow in 2021.”
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This week, our publisher, Jen Bishop, was honoured to be named #43 in a list of Australian female entrepreneurs under 40 by Startup Daily.
“It was a huge surprise,” she said. “But definitely makes all the late nights and hard work and juggling worth it. I feel very lucky to love what I do and the growth of Interiors Addict since I became a full-time blogger two years ago has been really rewarding. It was particularly nice to get this honour the day after International Women’s Day. Now I need to work out how to juggle running a business with becoming a mum in a few weeks’ time and proving you really can have it all! Wish me luck!”
Earlier this year, Jen launched sister site Reno Addict and an online store with her own homewares range is launching later this month.
We love supporting small businesses in the interiors and homewares industry and last year, one couple (in love and business) stood out. They were Crystal Bailey and Mitchel Lindsay from Design Twins and we are a bit smug with ourselves for having been the first blog to feature their gorgeous concrete wares!
Crystal and Mitch of Design Twins
The business was in fact, only launched six months ago in June. “The adventure has become a dream come true,” Crystal says. “We spent the start of the year working on original designs that no one had ever seen before and decided to make them all out of an industrial obsession with concrete! It turned out to be so much fun that we would start selling them at the markets. We started to gain a fair amount of interest on social media when we started participating in Interiors Addict’s 7 Vignettes challenge (thank you for being the reason I woke up so early, half asleep in my PJs to take a styled shot!), so setting up a website seemed like a natural thing to do. Once our website was live, our orders were so huge, that we had to move out of our tiny little apartment and into a home with a workshop. It was bittersweet, because we still miss that cute little place on the beach!”
A few weeks later, the couple started receiving a large amount of interest from stockists around the country and decided to move Design Twins into a warehouse, where they juggled business with other jobs and family and then Crystal found out she was six weeks pregnant on her 30th birthday!
(I told you they had a big year!)
“The following month, we moved home and our warehouse again, but it all finally works perfectly and we are working on a brand new collection,” says Crystal. “It’s definitely the hardest we have ever worked, but everything has been so worth it. We have had our products featured in our favourite magazines such as Real Living, Marie Claire and Inside Out and currently have our products stocked in the most beautiful homewares stores such as Fenton & Fenton, Ahoy Trader and The Minimalist. We were also invited to teach sold out concrete classes at The School by Megan Morton.”
In October, Design Twins exhibited at Grand Designs Live and they had a sale event on Temple & Webster.
“All of this, with huge amounts of online orders, and it’s been one crazy, fun, exhausting but rewarding year for us! Everything happened so naturally that we actually can’t explain how it all happened, but we have always remained inspired by others, constantly designing and true to ourselves.”
Crystal credits stylist Megan Morton for the initial inspiration to launch the business, after attending one of her workshops, which she described as life-changing.
I love a new start. I always LOVED getting a new pencil case for the new school year and starting off a new notebook with the neatest handwriting. Ring any bells? So I love the chance to start afresh that a new year brings, as well as the opportunity to look back over the previous one, celebrate successes and identify weaknesses to improve on going forward. Being a business owner, I now do this twice a year; in January with everyone else, when I usually vow to lose weight/eat better/sleep more/read more, spend less on shoes etc, and then again in July, when, as a new financial year starts (on my birthday), I assess and make promises to myself about my business life.
So, it’s been my first full financial year as a self-employed business owner and it’s been a massive one. I’m looking back with a lot of pride but also full of ideas and hopes for 2014/15. So, what did I achieve this year? I took on my first employee, I made more money than I did in a year in my previous job as an employee, and I proved that it is possible, with the right technology and the right support team, to run your business (well, my business) from anywhere. Traffic, which is the big indicator of success as a blogger has climbed and climbed and last month, happily, saw my biggest month ever, with more than a quarter of a million page impressions and more than 85,000 unique browsers in just 30 days (Did I mention I’m big on transparency? No fudging figures here!). It still blows my mind, believe me.
We now post four times per day Monday to Friday (this figure was sometimes only once a day a year ago). We had three reader events, all sellouts with wait lists (ok, they were free to attend, but you get the point). On a more personal note, I was honoured to help ghost write interior designer Greg Natale’s book, The Tailored Interior, due out in November.
So, this now brings me to what I’d like to achieve in the next 12 months (and I do feel a little anxious about publishing it to the world here)! I’m a great believer in the power of accountability, so I like to put these things out there so other people know about them and to keep myself on track too. Write this stuff down, people! Don’t just keep it in your head!
I’d like to increase unique browsers to more than 100,000 per month, I’m going to open an online store selling homewares, which will be attached to the blog (there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes on that front for months!) and we’re going to have even more events and take them to places other than Sydney and Melbourne, due to popular demand. I’m also going to give you video content (I said this last year and didn’t follow through, sorry!) and I want us to start posting seven days a week, every week. And, of course, I want to make more money!
I’d also like to sleep more (I do believe this is related to my work life as well as my personal life), I’d like to switch off from my constant connection to the internet one night per week (let’s keep it realistic!) and I’d like to get better at, and more organised with, the financial and accounting side of running a business.
There’s a part of me that cannot wait to get back to Australia and back to working full-time. Bring it on, 2014/15, I’m ready for you!
What are YOUR business goals for the next financial year? Do you make them? Do you write them down and tell other people about them?
I’m grateful for many things in life (great husband, supportive friends, healthy family) but the thing that makes me pinch myself on a regular basis is doing what I really, truly love, and that is writing this blog. For me, this is not just a hobby but a full-time job, my small business, my hopes and dreams for the future and hopefully something I can one day work around having a family.
Until you do what you love, you don’t realise how unfulfilled you were in your previous jobs or what a rare privilege it is to be in such a position. So often, people tell me they’d love to be doing something else but for whatever reason (age, family commitments, mortgage, what other people would think or the feeling of obligation to look after other people first) they think they’ve left it too late. I have become quite evangelical about telling people it’s never too late.
