We caught up with Alison Bolakis of Mums Who Make to find out what inspires her to create a vibrant small business and discovered a passion for crafts, making friends online and growing her own enterprise.

Tell us a little about yourself, what’s the day to day life like for a small business owner of mums who make and who makes up the team?

Mum of three gorgeous kiddies - one at school and two at home with me every day. I have been an avid crafter my entire life and for almost three years I have run my other small candle making business.

It’s hard to work in the day around the girls and most of my work is done between 9 pm and 2 am - tiring but its the only time I get!

Mums Who Make is run by myself and in the last fortnight Deone from Long and the Short has been helping keeping up with our busy Facebook page and sales. 

What (or who) inspires you, that encourages you to reach out and make things happen?

Most of my inspiration is through myself and after going back to working full time from when my son was six weeks old I vowed to not want to do that when our girls came along - so alot of my motivation is purely based on work/life balance and getting to experience all I missed out on with our son.

I have always been a go getter anyway and I much prefer to be run off my feet than watch a movie!

What do you enjoy most about the running mums who make?

All the people I get to chat to and hear their stories - I have made many good email friends on the Mums Who Make journey.

I also enjoy seeing my ideas become reality and work.

You obviously have a passion for crafts, what are your favourite ones to dive into?

My candles and melts business is my relaxation although over the years I have tried a huge variety of crafts - succeeded at many and also had many failures!

I can’t crochet to save myself and hope one day to learn to sew ( I have done alot of hand sewing over the years) but am super envious of the gorgeous creations I see around from people that can sew!

What’s been the hardest part or experience you’re had since starting the business?

I am a messy worker - so I have paper work everywhere so for me a hard part was getting more organised!

I am also learning now to give myself more time out - for six months in the lead up to the web launch I worked everyday until ridiculous times in the morning - the three days prior to the launch I had about seven hours total sleep - the night before launch a whole hour! So I am learning that although I work for myself I still need a day off!

What’s been the best thing for the business that you just stumbled upon?

I guess I did not just stumble upon it but I did struggle with it and that was self belief - I knew what I created was needed but it has taken me a while to be proud of what I have achieved so far - and since this my networking skills and self promoting skills have improved drastically!

What do you think has been the most successful promotional activities you’ve explored to getting the word out about mums who make?

I think so far its our print media advertisements - it reaches a dedicated market for my business and the magazine advertisements so far have been very successful.

You have a flourishing number of followers on facebook – what do you think has been the best way of getting your name out there on Facebook?

I have tried to not set rules as to posting on mums who make - as I understand people have different days they work etc and may not get to post on only one day of the week and I think this has kept our numbers flowing of giving businesses the freedom to post when they want to - not when I say!

What do you think been a really important regular activity with your social media that’s helped you grow?

Keeping followers up to date - letting them know what’s going on - telling them real web traffic figures - showing our magazine advertisements and just sharing with likers that what I say is happening with mums who make really is!

What are the hopes and plans for mums who make this year?

I have a few ideas floating around to implement into the website - and to continue to increase the awareness of mums who make - I think the lead up to Christmas will be huge!

What would be your top 5 tips you’d give to someone starting out?

Stay original - a niche product in the market will far out perform something copied.

Have faith in your business - know your product.

Old fashioned customer service - and be professional - calling people on your page mate or writing in slang i.e. sumfin is not a good business image!

Take good pictures - and if you can’t, seek out a local photographer to help you out - some even work for a small fee and product swap

You have to spend money to make money - seek good places to advertise your business - ask for real traffic numbers - and there are plenty of great places to advertise for free!