Corner of the Garden
We are off to Northern NSW and stopping in to visit Lisa, the creator of a stunning collection of home linens.
As a small business owner, I feel so blessed to be chatting with Lisa about her business and the fantastic advice she has to offer.
Please tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Lisa and I was born and raised on a broad acre farm of cropping and cattle in the North-West of NSW. I am married and live on a much smaller farm growing Turf. For my 18th birthday my Mother bought me a sewing machine and I taught myself to sew, making all my own dresses and fixing horse rugs. Many machines later, I still love the satisfaction of creating things from scratch and now have a business out of it. I have 2 children - my son is in Melbourne and my daughter is in NYC.
Where did the idea for your business come from and how has it evolved?
Corner of the Garden began about six years ago, when I started to feel a little creative itch! I love outdoor dining in our garden and gardening as well so I began with painting pots with little designs, making succulent art, vertical gardens and herb-stands outside in my garden (hence the ‘Corner of the Garden’) as a part-time passion project and I gave them as gifts to family and friends.
After a while and an interest from a few people, I took them with me to my first local market, along with some handmade tea-towels, tablecloths and gardening gloves and loved the response. Our climate is perfect for Alfresco entertaining and I wanted to incorporate Linens as well. As my stall started to do well at markets, I noticed that my most popular items were all those home linens and soft furnishings, so I focused on those. It was also starting to be a burden trying to keep plants alive during the endless drought. My range has expanded from the early days and now includes Food Covers, Aprons, Cushion Covers, Table Runners and Shopping Totes as well. I never imagined that my part-time hobby and love of creating, styling and sewing could become a full-time business for me, but am so happy it has. ‘Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life!' they say.
Can you tell us about the challenges you have faced within your business and what has helped you to overcome them?
In the beginning, it was incredibly exciting, but a lot of work for one person, especially market days! Thanks to the exposure from Buy From The Bush, and a growing online community, my sales have often-time been through the roof - which is always thrilling - but I haven't always been able to manage the workload by myself. Learning to ask for a little bit of help from friends and family and knowing when to bring other people on board to help me out and lighten my load and keep the job fun was an important step.
Photography and marketing through visuals and having an appealing and easy to use online store is a very important part of running any online business. In the beginning, I didn't really know what I was doing when it came to this. My daughter helped show me how creative and fun photographing my products can be and my son is a whiz with technology and helped set up the shop. I feel I’m getting better at capturing what my business is all about every day - it’s very rewarding and I love being able to showcase it all.
Where do you see your business going in the future?
With the current situation of COVID 19 there has certainly been a huge adjustment required. No longer can we attend festivals, expo’s, pop up’s and markets. Thankfully my website was very well established before the Pandemic. I will continue to create new products and add them regularly as I source beautiful new fabrics to keep my online store fresh. I do look forward to some face to face contact in the future as I love meeting new customers at quality days around the Country.
Any advice for small business owners in rural and regional Australia?
Social media is really the best way to engage with your community and customers who might not normally stumble across your business and products otherwise! Especially thanks to the brilliant #BuyFromTheBush, who put a spotlight on the importance of supporting, small regional and rural businesses, I feel the desire for Australians to 'shop small' continues to grow! I've found so many great online communities of like-minded people, customers, and followers through social media and the use of hashtags. Doing a workshop or online course learning and keeping up with the ever changing social platforms is paramount for us. Also, I think other small businesses supporting and promoting each other can make a huge difference.
We are so lucky to have the beautiful Corner of the Garden tea towels in our Wattle I Gift Homestead Hamper. It’s the perfect gift for any occasion. Check out the full collection of home linens at www.cornerofthegarden.com.au or within our Wattle I Gift hampers.
