Since April is Earth Day month and we’ve been talking about eco-friendly solutions this month, I thought it would be appropriate to learn more about running a cloth diaper business.
I’m thrilled to have Eva Van Strijp of Oz Baby Trends share her experiences and expertise in managing an eco-baby boutique:
Remember, if you’re work-at-home mom who’d like to share her experiences, drop me an email and you could be featured here!
Over to Eva for some kickass advice on running a business in a small and competitive niche:
1.What does a work day look like when you have a cloth diapering and eco-friendly baby product business?
As a mother of 4 under 6, my day invariably starts with one or more children jumping into bed for early morning cuddles, story-telling and dream-sharing. I love hearing that my children have dreamt about fairies, pirates and our new chickens. I tend to dream about nappies. Usually the clean kind, with tags still attached.**laughing**
After breakfast, I do a quick check of emails at about 8 am and a few social media updates, then it’s back to the children for home-ed, reading, playing and craft until lunch time.
During this time with the children, I keep the computer on with email open so that I can check and answer emails as they arrive. This helps to eliminate a back-log and lets me create a running sheet of tasks so that my solid blocks of work can be more productive.
After lunch, the children go down for quiet time and I spend my first solid hour of the day working on invoicing, customer service enquiries, marketing, blogging and advocacy strategies.
At about 2 pm, we all head out to the warehouse where the kids play trucks in the dirt or make doll hospital beds out of my packing boxes and I pack orders for an hour or so.
After the bath and dinner routine, my husband puts the children to bed while I log back online to book all my orders in for dispatch the following day.
Because I have my children home with me during the day, I have to break my week up effectively. As I really only get 1-2 hours of unbroken work in each day, I allocate Mondays for blogging, Tuesdays for social media and so on, with the normal everyday tasks (emails, invoicing, order preparation, etc) slotted in between those key jobs.
2. How challenging or easy it is to kickstart working from home as a boutique owner?
The biggest challenge has been striking a work/life balance. {Note from Prerna: There’s an awesome giveaway by celeb life coach Lisa Haisha for work-at-home mamas struggling with work/life balance. Enter it NOW!}
It wasn’t a major issue in the early days, but as the business grows, we’ve had to look at ways to ensure the children receive the time and attention they deserve while the business gets the TLC it needs from me.
It was relatively easy to enter the market – all I really needed was a website, some stock and the motivation to start! Staying in the market and actually finding our niche within it was somewhat harder.
We specialize exclusively in the wholesale distribution of several brands of natural parenting products, with our hero range being Close Ltd – a UK brand that manufactures an award-winning range of modern cloth nappies and baby carriers.
I love these products and use them daily, so the passion is inbuilt.
However, I’m a teacher by profession and so my business brain has developed over time, with varying degrees of trial and error. I’ve discovered that you need more than just passion for a product in order to have a successful business. Learning this has been part of the fun.
3. What does someone who’s wanting to start a cloth diaper boutique or eco baby product business need to know or have?
In this industry, it’s important to have a deep understanding and knowledge of the products and it’s vital that this knowledge is acquired through both use and education. It’s also important to remember that cloth nappy use is still reasonably resisted within the wider community and advocacy efforts are part and parcel with the service you will provide.
You absolutely must have a clearly defined point of difference. Think about what you really love about cloth nappies or eco baby products. Think about what you’re exceptional at. Try and bring those two things together as your point of difference.
If your plan is to retail, don’t try and be everything to everyone. Stock only those products that you know and love. Do a few products really well. Your customers will love your for it.
If you have what you believe is an award-winning design, do what you need to do to protect that design.
Brand it. Own it. Stand by it.
If you choose to wholesale, choose the brands wisely. Look at their track record, ask questions, learn. Figure out who your target market is and learn how to offer them the very best customer service.
4. What advice would you have for a newbie entrepreneur, especially if she wants to start something similar to your niche?
The cloth nappy industry is not an easy one to break in to. For a relatively small market share, there are a lot of players and unless we all collaborate to increase that share of the market, there will never be enough room for all the creativity that passionate mums can bring to the table.
Start by doing some market research. Find out if there is a market for your product or service.
If you believe there is a market for your product or service, do a long, hard SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Be honest with yourself and get a close friend to analyse your analysis! It can be easy to miss things when you’re passionate about a product, which is usually the reason people start cloth nappy or eco baby businesses.
Most sales don’t come easily in the cloth diaper boutique industry. They are time-intensive and require a significant degree of follow-up. Develop a business plan which factors in these intangible overheads.
A professional and educational social media presence is a must. Don’t just use your Facebook business page to sell, sell, sell. Add value to your customer’s experience of your products and build a relationship with them through social media.
5. Tell us a little about your work-at-home business and whether a mom entrepreneur can reach out to you for advice?
I love the direction our business is headed; my focus is on trade customers and I love having the opportunity to make their day. They work so hard to serve their local communities and it makes my day knowing that we can somehow improve their experience of the industry and make their job easier.
I’m more than happy to share more of my own experiences in the industry with those considering starting up. Education is the most vital component of success in this industry and if you know your stuff and are passionate enough to share it with others, you may just find yourself with a successful and profitable eco baby biz!
Thank you SO much, Eva! You can reach Eva at:
Website|Facebook|Blog|Pinterest
Want to know how to make YOUR life as a work-at-home mom entrepreneur totally awesome? Check out my 70-page eBook, How to be a Work-at-Home Mom: The Happily Ever After Guide to Living the WAHM Life for everything on productivity, home management, staying healthy AND managing your money and business, pitching clients, promoting your work and LOTS more!
