The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I’ve experienced many challenges but nothing I couldn’t find a solution for. I feel the biggest challenge has been creating a new product with nothing for customers to compare it to. If you were to sell a chair, people would understand its use straight away – it’s familiar. With our BHOOMI Feeding Blankets, you don’t have many customers searching for the specific product, so for us it was about getting the concept out there and when we did, the phrases we’d hear constantly were “Oh wow, I wish I had something like that when I was breastfeeding” and “I needed something like this when I was breastfeeding”. First-time mums need a little more educating; second-time mums just get it.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
You may work a lot of hours but for me there is flexibility in running your own business. The harder or quicker I work, the more family time I have and currently that is my number one priority because you can’t get the lost time back. I also love having the final say in the creative aspects and decisions and learning lots of new things along the way.
The cons are having to take on the risk, wearing too many hats at one time, and having to find the self-motivation to get the mundane tasks done… because no one else will make you do them.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I wish for BHOOMI Babe to be a household name – one where Oakley’s story is spoken about and where people feel okay speaking about all kinds of loss openly. I would love to add more innovative and helpful postpartum products to our store and be stocked in major retailers across Australia and overseas.
We often focus on the baby during postpartum but I want that focus to change. If the mother’s cup isn’t full, how can you expect her to then care for her child(ren)? Creating products that help mothers to focus on recovery and connect with their little loves is something we will strive to continue to do.
Our dreams are simple: we want to grow, grow, grow because that means more money donated and hopefully more mums educated!
Visit the Bhoomi Babe website to find out more and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram. You can also send them an email at hello@bhoomibabe.com.
