Leonie Struthers, Fashion Designer and Small Business Owner,

p: +61 3 6223 4949 |  themakerhobart@gmail.com | The Maker | Love and Clutter

Leonie says…”So it all started with Love and Clutter (opened in 2005) that was the original store and then The Maker came along much later, about 5 years later, L&C started really as an outlet to primarily sell the work that I was making, ladies clothing and children’s clothing, I realised that there was a need for other independent makers to have an outlet for their work as well, in Hobart at that time there wasn’t really any place where people could sell their work if they weren’t already an established artist…”

“When I first opened I was a little bit nervous, what we were offering was a probably a little bit left sided, I wasn’t really that confident that it would be well received by Hobart, because Hobart’s changed a lot, particularly in the last 5 years, but it (Love and Clutter) was really really well received, our actual location we’re sort of on the periphery of the CBD, close enough to be accessible, were fortunate our location being on Murray St is really the thoroughfare between Salamanca and the CBD, we get a lot of tourists but also people walking between the two, the location thoughts were an afterthought, it was really just a shop that became available…”

“My two biggest dislikes, concerns are that their both very niche, businesses and consequently the type of products that we sell are very niche and therefore the sourcing of those products is really really difficult, so getting a product that is independently made, still has quality and uniqueness and a sense of design about it is really really difficult, and then if it is made really well and really well recieved by the public then it can very quickly go mainstream, so for us to then keep that product is really tough…”

“My other major concern about being in small business, being in small business all the legislature and business rulings that we have to deal with are not designed for people in small small business, it’s really hard to look at hourly rates, basic wage and then superannuation, it’s all those things that you don’t consider when setting up a small business, it’s a real struggle being in small business, they’re two different sets of skills, your required to be an artisan or a designer but then your also need to have these business as well and very few people at least start with those, you acquire them along the way by often taking the difficult path, it’s a very steep learning curve…”

“I guess I thought to some degree that I could be a business person, but I never really knew exactly what that encompassed, the skill base that you need is just so broad, I don’t think anyone has a full understanding of that when they  start out in small business…”

“I’m really happy with where my two stores are at and my business is at, I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved and what I have to offer people, if I were to do it all again I would start with all of those basic business thing intact right from the start, they make all the difference in running an efficient business which ultimately becomes a successful business, it’s very hands on running a small business, it’s 24/7, probably the things for me that I’d do differently is to have the infrastructure in place, to have an accountant, to have a book keeper, to have those financial systems running right from the start, when you start everything very tight but investing in that infrastructure right from the beginning does save you time and money because you’re not making all those mistakes, some of those mistakes a re pretty costly…”

“I love that I can work in something that I’m totally passionate about and it’s all encompassing, I love what I do, it comes with flexibility as well, there’s lots of dreams that take place in my head, 6 years down the track I’m only just making it onto the world wide web (laughs) so we’ll see what the future holds, I’ve always been a bit anti the online world just because I believe in the old fashioned approach to business, it’s very much about service and investing in the customers, about it being an experience coming in here, the regionality of the shop is that what you get is what you experience by coming to The Maker or coming to Love and Clutter, (our online presence) will be more than an extension of what we offer in here, so many of customers ask if we have an online presence, I think they want to continue their experience after they have left here, they may not necessarily want to buy anything they just want to be part of our story, that’s what I think the online presence will offer for both of our stores…”

“I really want them (the customers) to take away the idea that what we offer is both high quality in designs and workmanship, and service, service is really important to me, we don’t advertise in either of our stores, our stories built buy our people talking about us…”

If you own a small business in the Hobart area please contact me if you would like to be included in my Re-Tales Photo Essay.

Rebecca Roth, Independent Jewellery Designer,
p: +61 3 6223 5787 | m: 0414 518 739  | bec@rebeccaroth.com.au  | www.rebeccaroth.com.au

Bec says… “Started purely as a hobby back in 2003, started off threading beads and making necklaces, that grew into a market stall at Salamanca Market (Saturdays – Hobart, Tasmania), it wasn’t until 2009 where I threw everything up in the air and thought right am I going to go with this business decision and open a shop, worked pretty hard for 12 months prior to that (opening a shop) building it up to a point where I had 25 stock-ist around Australia, saw them as my foundation to grow the business from there, then the opportunity came up here with the shop…”

“I don’t see myself as a retailer I see myself as a working artist and I spend time in this space and I can manipulate this space to whatever I’m working on at the time, in summer it’s a good money spinner which can then carry me through the winter, all I’m thinking about right now in the middle of winter is summertime, always 6 months ahead of myself…”

“It’s great for me to actually sell my products to the people that buy it in the shop, it’s the feedback, it’s the talking to the customers about what they want, what they wear, what they consider works and what doesn’t, very very important for the next step I take…”

“This time of year (winter) it’s just slower, (there’s a) peak period and a low period, in the first week of spring I sell truckloads of bangles, it’s about people taking layers off and seeing colour, they come out of winter and they want colour, colour, colour…”

“There’s certainly love hate there, paperwork, it’s that laborious tax of running your business…”

“The lease that I have her is a 5 year lease, my thoughts are is that I’ve been here for 18 months and that I’ll travel down this road for the next 3 and half years, hopefully then my business will have grown more and I’ll start exporting overseas, pick up lots more stock-ists, time is my biggest challenge, there’s lots of things I want to do and there’s not enough hours in the day, I hope at the end of this three year period that I love it as much as I do now…”

“What I think is really important is that the people I represent here in this space including myself that you have to have the lines of communication open all the time, talk to them about the feedback they get on their work, as much as I like hearing feedback on my work, if you create a good relationship with those people then ultimately that makes your business a better business…”

If you own an independent small business in the Hobart area please contact me if you would like to be included in my Re-Tales Photo Essay.