Brindabella BabyBrindabella Baby (www.brindabellababy.com.au) is committed to making a better world for baby by helping parents choose eco-friendly and fair trade. The shop has Canberra's best range of baby slings and carriers, the biggest range of modern cloth nappies, biodegradable disposables, plus shoes, toys, books, and skincare.
I started Brindabella Baby in July 2006, when I had a baby and a toddler. At first, I was dealing to support my own addiction – I have an impressive stash of cloth nappies and baby slings. But I also wanted to create a business that would make it easy for parents who care about these principles to connect with each other. In order to justify the time it takes to do this, I needed the business to be financially viable.
When the business started, I was still working full time in IT at Defence. With no retail experience, I recognised that I was going to make mistakes. I launched the business part-time as a market stall and online retail store, allowing me to make mistakes on a smaller scale. I started a monthly seminar series, Bush Babies, giving parents an opportunity to listen to some great guest speakers and connect with other families. I learned about the kind of products my target demographic were looking for. I discovered that some paid advertising is more effective than others. I learned the importance of presentation.
I also learned (and sometimes need to remind myself) that it may be worth paying someone else to do a job you could do yourself. For example, I am perfectly capable of maintaining my website completely by myself. But it's a better use of my time and money to pay Agileware to do it for me. I much prefer spending time with my customers, which means I neglect basic website maintenance tasks. Other tasks, like financial paperwork, I have continued doing even though it is not fun. It helps to set aside a specific time to do it, and prioritise jobs based on the importance to my business.
Not long after I started the business, I was pregnant with my third baby. While on maternity leave, I realised that going back to my old job was no longer workable (lack of childcare), and I'd lost my passion for public service IT management. I continued to grow my business as an online retailer, until childcare became available and I felt ready to open a shop in April 2009. This raised new challenges: finding and keeping staff, marketing a local shop rather than an online shop, merchandising, stocking products that suit Canberra families. Running a bricks-and-mortar and an online shop is like running two separate businesses.
One thing that helped in the transition to opening the shop was going back to the business plan I wrote when I first started Brindabella Baby. It opened with this statement:
My reasons for starting this business are to work with products I feel passionate about, in a way that builds community relationships and helps others, and in a way that is supportive of my family lifestyle.
Three years later, my reasons for being in business hadn't changed. The shop was just a different implementation of the same core principles. I re-wrote my business plan with this in mind, thinking carefully about the challenges of running a shop. Knowing that I couldn't think of every problem before it presented itself, I also planned for flexibility. If the shop turned out to be a mistake, I didn't want to be stuck with a multi-year lease or huge debts.
Running a small business is all about marketing. While I'd love my work to be all about helping parents, the reality of owning a small, independent shop is that my work is all about making sure there's a steady flow of customers coming through the door. I can't help people if they don't know I exist.
Something that has helped me enormously is having a group of other business women to share the journey with. Being able to talk through problems or share positive moments with my Daisy and Dandelion peer group means I don't have to take it all home to my partner. The other business women that I talk to have given me great ideas on everything from marketing to banking. I've been able to ask for advice and help from family and friends – accountants, shop owners, and graphic designers – and call on my qualifications and skills from my former career. I am also very upfront about asking other business owners what has helped them succeed. Provided you aren't asking your direct competitors, most people are happy to talk about what they've learned.
By taking small steps, regularly reminding myself of my goals, and constantly looking for ways to improve, I hope to be in business for many years to come.
Posted April 2010
