Crafting a Successful Small Business. Joanne Dewberry

      Hello! My name is Joanne Dewberry – I’m the founder of Charlie Moo’s (www.charliemoos.co.uk), a craft business that sells handmade party bags and accessories. I live in rural Dorset, with my long-suffering partner David and our three wonderful children Charlie (b. 2007), Megan (b. 2008) and Olive (b. 2011).

      When I became pregnant with Charlie I decided to leave my successful career in childcare to raise my family: I could not see the point in looking after other people’s children while someone else was looking after mine. But six months in I was bored and missed the mental stimulation my managerial role had given me.

      Through our local toddler group we had made lots of friends and Charlie’s social life soon needed its own diary. And I began to notice a continuing theme as we went from party to party. I was disheartened by the party bags that Charlie started to receive. Not only did the items – and the bags themselves – break straightaway, but the contents were often very age-inappropriate. At one party he received near-enough a whole bag of chocolate.

      It always became a stressful end to a nice afternoon. Charlie would wander out of the party tightly clutching a plastic bag and we would then fight with him to get rid of the bits he could not have; normally he would be left with a balloon and some bubbles.

      I wondered whether other parents felt the same. So whilst I was pregnant with our second child, Megan, I spent the summer selling wooden and traditional party bag fillers at local fêtes and fairs. I gathered valuable market research in order to see if I had a market for phase one of my business idea. I then took the plunge and launched a website after Megan was born in August 2008.

      This was phase two, as being home with a baby and a one-year-old I knew fêtes were out of my remit for a while. I became very adept at typing with one finger whilst breast-feeding at 2am. In fact this has become a continual theme as I have written most of this book whilst breast-feeding my youngest daughter, Olive.

      Once I knew there was a market for wooden and traditional party bag fillers, I wanted to develop the bags themselves. A crafter made the first 100 for me but these sold so quickly that I knew it made better business sense to make them myself. After a shaky start I am now proud to send my handmade bags out to my customers.

      Phase three is still very much in the pipeline and that will see my award-winning fabric bags being manufactured on a larger scale, which is obviously something I cannot do myself. I am keen to keep with my original ethos and ensure all bags are handmade in the UK but it’s trickier than you would think. Currently, large-scale manufacturing mostly happens in China and India. But I am a great believer that things will happen as and when the time is right, and – at the moment – I still enjoy making the party bags. Once the enjoyment factor diminishes and it starts to feel more like a chore, I shall push harder to find manufacturing help: a team of UK sewers running our own production line.

      As a multi-award-winning business mum, I enjoy sharing my business knowledge and expertise with other small business owners – especially mums. For me, running my own business has been a way to develop new skills, meet new people and still enjoy being a full-time mother. After writing a successful interactive blog for the past year, I knew this book was inside me. I just needed the courage to let it out!

      I work around the busy schedule of three small children and running my own business allows this. No one is saying it’s easy, but I love the fact that I can take a ‘day off’ to enjoy a trip to the beach with the children. It may mean that I have to put a few extra hours in once the children are in bed, but it is worth it to know that we have the freedom to be a family. It is hard work: I am the woman hanging out her washing at 9pm. I know my role in life, what my dreams and aspirations are and how I will achieve them. But I am also a happy mum and I would not change that for the world.

      Awards and Achievements

      Thanks to …

      So many wonderful people have helped me with writing this book, from all my case studies to all my Facebook fans (www.facebook.com/joannedewberry.co.uk) who have answered my questions and given me a great deal to think about; Viv Smith, Nadine Thomas, Laura Renton, Erica Martyn, Jo Fazel, Jamie Fry, Andrea Palluch ... I hope I haven’t missed anyone!!

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