The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
A few times over the past year, we have experienced shortages of clay and raw materials from our suppliers, which has happened suddenly without notice. Without tonnes of these materials, we are unable to meet our quotas. Although incredibly stressful at the time, it pushed us to increase our skills and think outside the square. For example, we now recycle all the raw clay offcuts or fails, and we have a healthy stockpile of raw materials if shortages happen again.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
A con is that no matter how hard and long you work, there isn’t usually pay for the hours we put in as owners if it’s not within the businesses budget – quite often this is the case when setting up. A pro is that we get to create the work vibe, environment, and our companies’ values, for us. We enjoy being at work, even though it’s physically demanding, and the to do list is never ending. We want to have fun, laugh and enjoy the company of our team members while we work. Another pro is that we are able to make beautiful ceramic water purifiers. It’s rewarding seeing them made before they are posted.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
At the moment, our workshop is just a workspace for us to produce the water purifiers – 97% of our sales are made on our website and shipped Australia wide. We have a small shelf rack for face-to-face sales. We plan on building a gallery onsite, which we are currently designing and planning right now. Some other hopes and dreams I’m keeping secret until we commit to them. We need to prioritise even when it comes to actioning dreams, as we cannot spread ourselves too thin.
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