Speaker 1: Small businesses now. They are the backbone of our country
Speaker 1: and I know firsthand how tough it is. Long hours,
Speaker 1: constant hurdles, and too often feeling like you're in it alone.
Speaker 1: And what I keep hearing from you is that small
Speaker 1: business owners don't feel heard. My team and I are
Speaker 1: paying close attention to our small business community and the
Speaker 1: feedback that comes to us through the Mental podcast. Now,
Speaker 1: one thing is clear. You want to hear from more
Speaker 1: businesses beyond Sydney, from across the country, and especially those
Speaker 1: that are doing it tough. That's why my team and
Speaker 1: I are launching the Small Business call Out. The Small
Speaker 1: Business call Out, which will be under the Mental Channel,
Speaker 1: will talk to business owners all over the country every
Speaker 1: single week, no matter where you are. We want to
Speaker 1: hear from you. What's working, what's not working, What do
Speaker 1: you need from the government to actually succeed? What other
Speaker 1: things can you enlighten us about what it's like being
Speaker 1: in the small business community. This is your chance to
Speaker 1: make your voice count. We want to hear from all industries,
Speaker 1: from those struggling, from those who feel overlooked, or those
Speaker 1: who have something to say but haven't had the platform
Speaker 1: to say it. I'm going to continue hosting the Mental podcast,
Speaker 1: but the Small Business call Out will be uploaded between episodes.
Speaker 1: So let's get into this week's edition of the new
Speaker 1: Small Business call Out. What's the name of your business
Speaker 1: and in simple terms, what does your business do?
Speaker 2: So it's Kate English Designs and it's English with an I,
Speaker 2: not an E. I get it all the time, all
Speaker 2: the time. So I am a baby boutique. Up until
Speaker 2: so the last fourteen years, I've been Keating's Design's baby boutique,
Speaker 2: and then we had a beautiful retail shop down the
Speaker 2: ste South Coast, and then in December I shut that
Speaker 2: after nine years and I'm now exclusively online. But I
Speaker 2: am still a baby boutique, but focusing more on my
Speaker 2: baby hampers. It was just I noticed sort of the
Speaker 2: last eighteen months it started to drop in sales and
Speaker 2: the walkthroughs, and it just kind of got to the
Speaker 2: point where I would have had to sign on for
Speaker 2: another three years, and the current economy and the lack
Speaker 2: of spending just scared me and I just couldn't commit
Speaker 2: to another three year lease, just not with not knowing
Speaker 2: what was going on in the future. Yeah, so we're
Speaker 2: going from about twenty five to thirty people a day
Speaker 2: in store, which is fabulous, but then on the bad
Speaker 2: days it dropped to about four, and then on a
Speaker 2: good day you might have had about ten. So it
Speaker 2: was quite a dramatic drop, and it had been happening
Speaker 2: over time, but I just thought, I can't start twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five again just not knowing, and it was starting
Speaker 2: to take a bit of a hit on my mental health,
Speaker 2: and I just decided to drop it all and just
Speaker 2: continue going online.
Speaker 1: Where was your business founded and where is it located?
Speaker 2: So we're in the Narrow CBD, so it's about two
Speaker 2: two and a half hours south of Sydney. Originally found
Speaker 2: it in my garage and then we went from there
Speaker 2: and then I did local pop ups, and then I
Speaker 2: did my six years of market stalls every weekend, which
Speaker 2: was a lot of work, but that's how I got
Speaker 2: my customer base and I got my name out there.
Speaker 2: And then I moved into a pop up shop, which
Speaker 2: I outgrew within eight eight months. And then I moved
Speaker 2: into my dream shop and then actually outgrew that as well.
Speaker 2: And then I moved directly opposite the other shop into
Speaker 2: a bigger space, which is great but then I out
Speaker 2: grew that, so I knocked the wall down in between
Speaker 2: two shops and I expanded that as well. So we've
Speaker 2: done the progression over the years.
Speaker 1: And what inspired you to start your business.
Speaker 2: So for me, I was living in Narra, away from
Speaker 2: Melbourne where I grew up, and my husband at the
Speaker 2: time was in the Defense Force, so he was going
Speaker 2: away on trips, so I was up by myself in there,
Speaker 2: and then every time i'd go to work, i'd get
Speaker 2: a phone call from school for my daughter's day care
Speaker 2: to say she's said you need to come and get hers.
Speaker 2: So then I'd have to say to my boss, I'm
Speaker 2: really sorry I can't work today, and it just wasn't fair.
Speaker 2: So in the end I sided, well, let's just do
Speaker 2: some things on printing and some hampers and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: and then it just took off from there. I didn't
Speaker 2: expect it to, but it just went gang buses from there.
Speaker 2: So then I started doing more hampers and hampers for businesses,
Speaker 2: so got my name up that way, and then we
Speaker 2: started at markets, which is great. But then when my
Speaker 2: daughter was five months old, she was diagnosed with a
Speaker 2: rare form of epilepsy, so I took a bit of
Speaker 2: time off, and when I came back, I'd realized that
Speaker 2: the flashing plastic toys that you can get weren't suitable
Speaker 2: for her and her epilepsy. So I started to do
Speaker 2: old fashioned wooden toys. And when I first started, there
Speaker 2: weren't many people doing that side of the business, so
Speaker 2: then I grew from that. So everybody wanted, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: I had this for my grandchild, or I had this
Speaker 2: when I was a little girl type thing. So that's
Speaker 2: how it all sort of took off from there as well.
Speaker 1: What is one thing you wish you knew before you
Speaker 1: even started your business?
Speaker 2: Small business owners we were all talking and we were
Speaker 2: just like, what are we going to do? How are
Speaker 2: we going to survive? How can we survive our small
Speaker 2: business and keep it alive? And it was so incredibly hard.
Speaker 2: But I was very, very fortunate to have Sam Mack,
Speaker 2: who I know has been with Mark shout me out
Speaker 2: on Sunrise, So that was an incredible milestone. So for that,
Speaker 2: I'll be forever grateful for Sam for that. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's not a lot of people had the opportunity, but
Speaker 2: a lot of people really struggled through that.
Speaker 1: What is the most rewarding part of being a small
Speaker 1: business owner?
Speaker 2: How to say, meeting people. Some of the people I've
Speaker 2: met have been absolutely incredible. Watching for me being the
Speaker 2: baby industry, watching people come in and tell me they're pregnant,
Speaker 2: and then watching their pregnancy develop, and then watching them
Speaker 2: or not watching them have their baby. But they've come
Speaker 2: in after they've had their baby, and then they're saying,
Speaker 2: we're pregnant again, So you're watching that whole milestone. So
Speaker 2: I've been a part of many, many lives within that
Speaker 2: and creating beautiful gifts for them to pass on to
Speaker 2: other family members. So that's been wonderful for me. When
Speaker 2: I'm creating, especially a baby hamper, it's especially if they're
Speaker 2: ones where I get full creativity. So if people can
Speaker 2: come and say, I trust you, here's the budget, here's
Speaker 2: a gender, I want you to create something beautiful. I
Speaker 2: think that for me is the most rewarding thing because
Speaker 2: they don't know what they're receiving, so it's all on me,
Speaker 2: and I think that's very exciting, and I get to
Speaker 2: put my passion towards creating something beautiful that they'll pass
Speaker 2: on to though ither keep for their children for when
Speaker 2: their adults and having their own children, or they'll pass
Speaker 2: on to friends and other family members. So I think
Speaker 2: that's very, very exciting. So I do get a major
Speaker 2: buzz out of doing that. And then also when people
Speaker 2: send me their gender reveals and I do the little
Speaker 2: gender reveal boxes, it's literally myself and the scenographer or
Speaker 2: the doctor that will know in the whole world of
Speaker 2: what their gender of their baby is. So that's I
Speaker 2: do get emotional when I do these, but that's you
Speaker 2: opening up the end velope and then you see that
Speaker 2: it's a boy or it's a girl, and then you're like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I get to create this beautiful thing.
Speaker 2: And then knowing that these parents are opening up this
Speaker 2: hamper on their day of finding out the general's baby
Speaker 2: and they'll never have that moment again, and I want
Speaker 2: to make it super special. So that's really rewarding for
Speaker 2: me as well. I've been finalists in quite a few
Speaker 2: business awards, so that's been lovely as well, just showcasing
Speaker 2: my hard work. And obviously the whole scenario with Sam
Speaker 2: mcin Sunrise was out of this world, so that was great.
Speaker 2: But meeting lots of people and finding out all different
Speaker 2: ways of life for different people has been probably a
Speaker 2: wonderful thing.
Speaker 1: What challenges have you faced as a small business owner
Speaker 1: and how do they impact your business.
Speaker 2: There's been a few. Obviously, lockdowns was a big one,
Speaker 2: and increasing in like finding once my family star members
Speaker 2: that were great, but then obviously we just went up.
Speaker 2: Electricity went up, then all of our rent went up,
Speaker 2: and then just little bits and pieces, you know, you
Speaker 2: stock supplies, everything like that all went up. But then
Speaker 2: being a retail space, there's not a lot of room
Speaker 2: for movement with some things because you've got to be
Speaker 2: able to be selling enough online that you're not comparable
Speaker 2: with other businesses. So that was been a bit tricky
Speaker 2: and just constant amount of cash flow, always cash flow.
Speaker 2: It's like it's such a big thing. But when I
Speaker 2: first started, I was like, oh no, who got this?
Speaker 2: But then laid on down the track, You're like, oh no,
Speaker 2: you actually really do think that it is one of
Speaker 2: the biggest things for small business and me personally, I
Speaker 2: have found the good old shopping network TEAMU has definitely
Speaker 2: affected a lot of businesses and I know it's hurt me,
Speaker 2: and then I know for a lot of people, their
Speaker 2: artworks and all that have been good to tread carefully
Speaker 2: what I say, but yeah, there's a few businesses that
Speaker 2: have found their products on certain websites which are their
Speaker 2: originals and stuff like that. So that's been really hurtful
Speaker 2: and that's been sad to watch businesses stuffer that as well.
Speaker 1: And how did you overcome them?
Speaker 2: Mainly for me, yeah, we're in fight mode. You're in
Speaker 2: absolute fight mode. So you could have the morning where
Speaker 2: you feel pity, but then by the afternoon you're like,
Speaker 2: snap out of it. This isn't going to get you anywhere.
Speaker 2: What are we going to do? So then you write
Speaker 2: another plan. So I'm forever writing out plans. Okay, this week,
Speaker 2: we're going to do this, and they know that didn't work,
Speaker 2: Let's try another one. But yeah, I know lots of
Speaker 2: people are taking everything back on board, back in house
Speaker 2: so they can try and save some money, either to
Speaker 2: put it towards the grocery bills at home or other bills.
Speaker 2: But once you start learning things, and for me, I've
Speaker 2: been watching lots of YouTube videos so that's definitely helped
Speaker 2: with things. But then just reaching out into your business
Speaker 2: groups and saying, hey, I need some help. Is there
Speaker 2: anybody out here who can help me with this thing?
Speaker 2: And then you'll find that lots of people are like, hey, yeah,
Speaker 2: I actually know that, Yeah, I can help you. I
Speaker 2: was always having to put myself on my business products
Speaker 2: on sale, which was detrimental, like, I don't like doing it.
Speaker 2: I used to do a sale once a year and
Speaker 2: that was great and everybody knew that and they would
Speaker 2: shop up big for Christmas and everything. But then when
Speaker 2: you're having to compete with other places that I've seen,
Speaker 2: you know, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, all of that, and
Speaker 2: then constantly on sale, You're like, well, how am I
Speaker 2: going to stand out amongst all of that? So it
Speaker 2: became a little bit tricky. So I've been on sale
Speaker 2: more times than I would have light and better. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then stuff like Australian posts like that's that is
Speaker 2: quite a lot of money into our profit. So if
Speaker 2: you charge nine ninety five, it's never nine ninety five.
Speaker 2: You might lose out two dollars, three dollars, ten dollars
Speaker 2: up to on each order, so that's all your profit
Speaker 2: gone as well. So yeah, it's very tricky.
Speaker 1: How confident are you in this Australian government's ability to
Speaker 1: support small businesses effectively zero.
Speaker 2: I don't have any yeap, there's nothing. I don't feel.
Speaker 2: I think the small business of Australia have been totally
Speaker 2: forgotten about. And I see things in the numbers on
Speaker 2: TV in the morning and saying, oh, this is up,
Speaker 2: customer spending is up. I'm like, where where is it?
Speaker 2: Because everybody's Every small business owner that I know at
Speaker 2: the moment is gay. Where are other people? There's just
Speaker 2: nobody around. So no, I don't have a lot of
Speaker 2: confidence at the moment, and I don't feel there's enough support.
Speaker 2: And I don't know how to really answer that in
Speaker 2: the ways of support, because at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: people just don't have the spare money by the time
Speaker 2: they pay for groceries, mortgage, petrol, daycarefee, school fees. There's
Speaker 2: lots of people there's just nothing left at the end
Speaker 2: of the day.
Speaker 1: How's your business doing right now?
Speaker 2: It's struggling. I'm not gonna lie about it. I don't
Speaker 2: lie about the things that I face within business. I'm
Speaker 2: always very honest. But it's hard. Like we've had Christmas,
Speaker 2: We've had January February back to school New Year's all
Speaker 2: the credit cards are coming in for people and then
Speaker 2: you've had all the school fees. But just I think
Speaker 2: everyone's waiting to see if there's an interest rate cut,
Speaker 2: and I think that will just start to give people
Speaker 2: a bit more confident and just a bit more breathing space.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's been it's been hard. So I've had
Speaker 2: to let my marketing team go and now I'm doing
Speaker 2: all my own marketing just to try and save money
Speaker 2: where I can. Yeah, but yeah, just being able to
Speaker 2: talk to another small business owner just say it, look,
Speaker 2: actually I'm not coping. I'm actually not okay. This is
Speaker 2: not a good day for me. But then you can
Speaker 2: check on another person next week. I'm like, oh my gosh, yes,
Speaker 2: I feel so much better, clarity. I went for a walk,
Speaker 2: I did something, took a bit of a step back
Speaker 2: from the business, and now you can sort of see
Speaker 2: see a bit clearer. So I think talking like, I've
Speaker 2: got a good group of business owners that we talk
Speaker 2: quite often and just a major sounding board. So we're
Speaker 2: there for each other when the times are good, but
Speaker 2: we're also there for each other when the times are bad,
Speaker 2: and we can all understand So if you can sit
Speaker 2: there and go, today I had one sale, You're like, yes,
Speaker 2: that's fantastic. But then other days you'd be like, I've
Speaker 2: had nothing for a whi and everyone's like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: me too. You haven't paid myself this week, goah blah
Speaker 2: blah blah. So yeah, I some small business owners, oh,
Speaker 2: I mean all Smith's business owners, we all get it.
Speaker 2: We're all kind of in the same boat. So I
Speaker 2: think you just keep talking to each other, and you know,
Speaker 2: you can put on this thing to say, yep, everything's perfect,
Speaker 2: everything's great, but underneath you're like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 2: cried in the shower today for an hour because I
Speaker 2: couldn't physically get out. So everything just gets a lot.
Speaker 2: So instead of trying to keep it all into yourself,
Speaker 2: talk to another person. You know, another small business understands
Speaker 2: another small business. So I know, for me, sometimes if
Speaker 2: I talk to my family, they're like, okay, yep, we
Speaker 2: don't quite understand that. But when you've got another small
Speaker 2: business person, you can bounce things off. Oh they're relief.
Speaker 2: It's so good when you can find somebody that you
Speaker 2: can talk to things about. I know when I've done
Speaker 2: Google searches. I've been able to find videos or pod
Speaker 2: casts and everything like that have had some really helpful tips.
Speaker 2: So I think there is a good amount of information
Speaker 2: out there. It's just going out to look for it,
Speaker 2: because not everybody can afford a business coach or to
Speaker 2: have that thing behind them helping them along the way.
Speaker 2: So a lot of small business owners will find a
Speaker 2: way to do it and google YouTube podcasts. There's a
Speaker 2: lot and there's a lot of business podcasts out there
Speaker 2: as well with other small business owners who talk daily
Speaker 2: about things. So yeah, I found that helpful.
Speaker 1: If you could advise the Australian government on one action
Speaker 1: to take to better support small businesses, what would it be.
Speaker 2: Oh, this is a tricky one because I don't really
Speaker 2: do politics. Yeah, it's a tricky one. It's band team, Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's yeah. I really really can't answer that one. Yeah, No,
Speaker 2: I really can't answer that one.
Speaker 1: What is the one thing you wish more people knew
Speaker 1: about your business?
Speaker 2: One thing? I'm really really good at creating baby campers,
Speaker 2: and I'm funny. No, I am incredibly good at what
Speaker 2: I do, and I have a clear passion for creating
Speaker 2: beautiful baby hampers. And keepsake gifts and yeah, I've just
Speaker 2: I've been as I said, I've been doing this a
Speaker 2: long time, so I know what I'm doing and I
Speaker 2: just hope that people if you need a quality gift,
Speaker 2: I have all the bits that you need.
Speaker 1: Let us know where can people find you and your business?
Speaker 2: Yep. So my business name is Kate English Designs and
Speaker 2: it's English with an I not an E. Catches everybody out,
Speaker 2: So just think of kid and then it's Kate English Designs.
Speaker 2: I create beautiful baby hampers and keep say gifts. And
Speaker 2: my website is www dot Kate English Designs dot com
Speaker 2: dot au and my Instagram is Kate English Designs as well,
Speaker 2: but we do lots of fun things on Instagram. I
Speaker 2: am known for my quirky reels. Also my version of
Speaker 2: the Retail Diaries where we have retail moments that are
Speaker 2: called out. So they are one of my big hits.
Speaker 2: And thank you so much for having me