The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Believe! Believe! Believe! (an Anthony Hopkins quote). The biggest challenge has been to keep on believing in what we are doing.
We decided from the beginning that we wanted to grow The Paper People slowly and organically. Keeping production local and our cards as sustainably produced as possible, recyclable and plastic free was really important too. If we couldn’t make it work without going into debt, then we had to find another idea. This has meant that while we are bombarded with stories about overnight successes, we need to keep reminding ourselves of what our values are. While people are shipping in cheap cards from overseas, we need to remain true to supporting local and keeping our business as sustainable as possible.
All of our cards are printed in Christchurch. Our envelopes are from Tawa. Our packaging is from Auckland. We could be making a far bigger profit if we imported everything, but we believe that people want quality cards made with sustainably sourced paper, printed right here in Aotearoa. We really want to support local, even though it costs more.
We also find the social media aspect of the business tough. We didn’t grow up with social media and it’s not something we are super comfortable with. We still feel that every email we send is taking up someone’s precious time, so we are learning that we have something to give and that people actually do want to hear from us – and they really love what we are offering.
We actually get a lot of emails from people from all the world saying thank you for what The Paper People are doing to make keeping in touch easier for them. We really do go out of our way to try and provide a really personal service and look after our customers all that we can.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Wondering if you will ever be able to pay yourself! Haha.
The biggest pro by far is that with two young children, our business gives us the flexibility to help out with a swimming lesson or netball game and be there when the kids need me. Also, we have the flexibility to be able to go away when we want to. We took a month off over Christmas to go camping in Golden Bay, which was just wonderful, though not great for our SEO.
Designing cards is also an amazing creative outlet that compliments my graphic design work. Being able to support my family thought my creativity is really rewarding and sometimes I pinch myself that we have actually made this work. Also, our customers are everything to us. Most of them are coming back again and again, and we can’t thank them enough. We get a lot of emails from people to say how much they appreciate how we have made their lives a little bit easier, and some lucky person’s day a little bit better. Because at the end of the day, that’s what card giving is all about right? Sending a little love to someone.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
We are going to see family in the UK later this year, so we want to be able to pass over the reins of our little company to someone else for 6 weeks. It really will be the next step of our growth as we realise that the business can run without Johnny or me doing everything ourselves.
We also have plans to extend the print range into notebooks and planners and just to have a bit of fun with creating new products. When we first began The Paper People, we loved the idea of being able to represent local artists and feature their work on our cards, so this is in the pipeline.
We are also getting more and more people asking us to design cards especially for them, so that will hopefully continue as well.
We’d like to grow our wholesale customers and maybe move into some Australian stores if they’ll have us. Ha ha. Lately, we’ve been reflecting on how far we’ve come and how much we love what we do. For us, it’s so important to continue supporting local and sustainable production by doing something that brings joy to us, joy to thousands of Kiwis who receive little parcels in the post from friends and family overseas, and joy to those who get the lovely feeling of knowing they’ve made someone’s day a little brighter with a card.
Visit The Paper People website and connect with them on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
