For mum of three Hannah Stolarski, finding time to rest in the midst of motherhood sparked a business idea. She created Smell the Roses and its monthly Resting Boxes to help mums pause, recharge and enjoy a little time to themselves. With a creative activity, something to eat and drink and words from fellow mothers, each box offers a thoughtfully planned moment of rest amid the beautiful chaos of family life. Building a business while raising three young girls has brought its share of challenges, from self-doubt to an ever-growing to-do list. But Hannah is taking it one step at a time, driven by the joy of creating something she loves and helping other mums find the rest they need. Here, she talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind her business and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
It was the end of the day. I threw myself onto the bed in one of those moves that makes you feel like a breaching whale, and a memory flashed: a question my university professor once put to us fresh marketing students: “If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?” And my next thought was, “I’m too tired for this.” In that moment, I fell asleep… Kidding, I actually sat right back up and thought, “Hey, that’s a thing I could solve!” From there I got to work finding out the why. Why don’t we mums get enough regular, consistent rest? Or if we do, what are we doing with it that doesn’t quite leave us feeling refreshed?
One step led to another, and I created the Resting Box, a monthly box designed to help mums find rest in the middle of motherhood. Because life is messy and full with three girls, five and under, my rest times are often unplanned, most of the time non-existent or simply not consistent enough to actually keep me sane, so I created something that felt like it was planned and put together just for me. A little solo-date box.
The Resting Boxes are inspired by things I find beauty and joy in. Inside, you’ll always find a fun activity with all the materials and instructions, something to eat and drink, and a blog written by mothers all over Australia. So every month you get to read, craft, journal, eat, drink, and breathe.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I started the hard yards of building a website, becoming an Instagram influencer just to grow an audience, and went on to create my first ever Resting Box, which I used as my first giveaway. I did my first Meta ad and grew my Instagram following into the hundreds within a month, my email list to over 100 sign-ups, and then I did it. I launched. And within the first month I made five sales. I was soooo happy! And excited that someone would think my product was worth their money. And then the next month, I had crickets. It’s fair to say my heart has been on a roller coaster as I experience failure, criticism, fear, feeling like an imposter and trying to keep up the positive self-talk. And just like motherhood, I have endured the gruelling task of acknowledging my own limits and of accepting the journey of personal growth. And honestly, it continues as I focus my efforts on growing a business I hope helps to bring rest to many mums.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
Is it too honest to say I’m still working on it? I launched this year, and well, I’m still trying to work out the kinks, the main one being: how do I grow? It’s one of the reasons you’re reading about me right now. I’m out here giving it a go and telling everybody I know about it. I literally pitch these Resting Boxes to almost everyone I meet. Cringe, maybe? Confident, yes! All this to say, I’ve definitely overcome lots of challenges, but I feel the BIG breakthrough is to come. And who knows how close it may be?!
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I saw a meme that said, “If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the cleaning and laundry, the mothering, and the lack of sleep, then maybe you should start a business.” And honestly, that seems to be exactly what I did. I’m not sure why I thought I had the time to start a business, because I barely make it through my normal to-do lists anyway, haha! I find it particularly hard to maintain the mental capacity to run the home, care for the kids, and keep up with social media posts, advertising deadlines, designing the Resting Boxes and ordering the products in. The sheer load, accompanied by the desire to do this well, is rather intimidating, but my magic motto is, “Just put one foot in front of the other.”
One of the biggest things that helps me remember the balance of work and family is asking, “What is the most important thing?” And that is my husband and kids, every single time. Yes, this business is for them, but I’m sure they would rather have me and the memories of a present mummy than an absent one. We do a ton of other things to help the home run smoothly, like cleaning schedules, meal plans, and keeping an updated calendar between my husband and me so we minimise decision fatigue and the sudden, “Wait, when was the bathroom last mopped?!” This isn’t to say I get this right, or that we have such a beautifully structured life where we take care of it all, but at least we are here, trying and working hard to create a life we can be proud of.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
The biggest challenge has been overcoming the little voice in my head that says, “This will never work.” “This is crazy.” “You’re just going to fail at this.” Ooft, even writing them on paper hurts. I love a famous quote by Nelson Mandela: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the triumph over it.” It reminds me that I don’t have to have it all together before I take a step, make a decision, build a business. There is hope in that alone because wow, I don’t think I would have even started Smell the Roses if I waited for “together” to happen.
On the practical side, I learnt how to design and print a multi-page booklet from my home printer so I could test out how to include the instructions, guide to beginning your rest, the blog, etc. in a pretty, easy-to-read medium. You can’t just print page one, two, three when you’re doing double-sided pages and then folding it into an A5. It was really hard, I promise, haha! I also built a website and an Instagram following from nothing. That took many, many hours and so much more time on screens than I ever expected. These may sound like small challenges, but I want to be real and honest about how this all looks. And that it’s absolutely okay to give things a go! Like starting a business, haha!
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
One of the biggest pros is I get to build and create something that makes me “sing”, makes me buzz with excitement. What a special thing it is to run with ideas, putting them into action, and feeling really alive with inspiration. The other side of the coin is the constant stream of thought that comes with feeling inspired, always wanting to implement something new, work on something that needs my time, or the crushing feeling of having a never-ending to-do list that needed to be done yesterday. As a mum who can easily get bogged down by the mundane tasks of cleaning the kitchen for the fourteenth time that day, working on Smell the Roses and dreaming up the next idea for next month’s Resting Box is actually really fun!
Hopes and dreams: What next?
Years down the road, I hope to have grown to a point where I am employing a few others to share the load of packing boxes and handling social media tasks, and where I can see the foundation of work I’m laying now be built upon. In the short term, there is so much to look forward to! I’m quite excited for the Christmas period and coming up with fun Christmas-inspired Resting Boxes. Getting published by The Natural Parenting Magazine is also a first for me (how exciting is that?!). And how precious it is to be sending these Resting Boxes to tired mummas who are trying to set healthy rhythms of rest so they can continue to pour out for their family, friends and community. It is a joy to support you amazing mums who work so hard, hold so many job titles, and love those around you so much.
Visit the Smell the Roses website to find out more, and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
