Hello creators! We’re back shining the light on parents who juggle being creators whilst looking after their children. For part two of our creator spotlight, we spoke to three wonderful mums – Susie from Yeti Design, Louise from Two for Joy Illustration and Kate from DaphneRosa.
Hi I’m Susie! I have been with thortful since June 2017 and have been lucky enough to sell 50,000 cards. At the time, I had a toddler and a baby so thortful was perfect flexible work to fit around a busy home life. Fast forward to now, I am a lone parent to three beautiful neurodiverse children. Thortful has been a great way to support my income when life is chaotic.
How did you get started with your own business?
I started being a Freelance Graphic Designer in 2006 with just a few customers and I have now developed my company to be more environmentally friendly with better print choices which suit my customers and support the environment.
Describe your typical work day…
Last year, I had a workshop built in my garden so once the kids are at school I can get stuck into my own creative world. There is so much inspiration with the wildlife outside and views over the Chiltern Hills. When the kids are playing outside in the Summer holidays I can watch them play.
How do you juggle your work/life balance of being a parent?
Juggling work and parenting is tricky. School holidays and children being ill, is the toughest. Normally ends up with very late nights to meet deadlines, or sharing my desk with lego, or my laptop being used for Scratch. When I have Craft Markets my kids are great at helping me put up gazebos. My eldest is becoming a good sales person and just tells people to buy everything so he can go home!
How do your family or children inspire your work?
On walks to school my children often request that I draw certain animals. One particular time I was asked to draw a Giraffe with a very long tongue. Matching that with the argument with my sister about me being younger than her, I created a card with a Giraffe poking its tongue out, with “I’m Younger than You”. This card was featured and a great seller.
What is the main challenge you face being a parent and running a business?
My main challenge is me. I was widowed in 2018. I have three kids. Income and raising my children is down to me alone. There is a lot of parent guilt making sure the balance is right. Thortful has definitely helped with me being able to have royalties coming in each month. During Covid when my whole business closed down, thortful helped me keep my head above the water.
Do you have any advice for other parents thinking of starting their own business?
My advice for anyone starting their own business, is do something you love and enjoy. Work shouldn’t be something you dread doing.
Hi! I am Louise, and I live in a little village in Suffolk, England. I’m an illustrator and indie greeting card publisher – with a full time job, and three littles. I am currently on maternity leaving having had twins earlier this year. I have been running Two For Joy Illustration for about 8 years. I have always been into illustration and surface design, and I have a degree in Decorative Arts. I got into cards properly when I was furloughed during covid, and never looked back! I now sell online via thortful, Etsy, and I sell wholesale too. I have over 150 greeting card designs.
How did you get started with your own business?
I actually used to work for a greeting card print company; I was leading their textile department, and the MD asked if I wanted to design some cards for some upcoming submissions. Shockingly I got one of my first designs into Paperchase, and that really gave me the bug to get more involved in the greeting card world. In 2018 I attended The ‘Ladder Club’ – run by a leading GC community, I attended and learned everything from scratch. I even met the CEO of thortful himself who was there as a guest speaker! During COVID i was furloughed and all the ideas i’d had finally had their time to come to fruition. I had a one year old son, and I worked during his naps to develop my first collection – Everbloom, inspired by dried flowers. My Happy Birthday Bestie card from this range is my best selling card on thortful.
Describe your typical work day…
Well actually I have to admit I rarely get a full day to work on Two For Joy Illustration. It’s grabbing an hour here and there, or after all three of my littles are in bed at night. Sometimes on the weekend my partner will take all three children and I’ll get 3-4 hour chunks. I spend a lot of time cuddling my baby and drawing in my notepad, or searching Pinterest for inspiration, such as colour palettes, adobe illustrator tutorials, and even product photography. When I actually get a chance to sit down at my Mac, its headphones on, and straight to drawing.
How do you juggle your work/life balance of being a parent?
Juggling the work/life balance is a struggle, but I think it’s important to remember, you can take things slow. You can go as slow as you like, but don’t stop. Even thinking of ideas in the shower is progress. There really is no rush. It can be frustrating to see opportunities slip away as you prioritise parenthood but it’s all part of the balance, and I’m happy to prioritise parenthood and sending out orders in the evening over new design development.
How do your family or children inspire your work?
Like most parents, I want to spend as much time as possible with our littles. I want to be able to provide for my family whilst also doing something i love, working hours that mean i can do both work and play. Every card sale does take me a step closer to that dream becoming reality. I do love my full time job, but being a Mother is my main job and I would love to be in a position to walk the littles to school everyday, come home and work, and go and pick them up again every day just like my self-employed mum did. I think just wanting to be there for them all the time inspires me to work harder on my brand.
What is the main challenge you face being a parent and running a business?
Without a doubt the main challenge is time. Putting children in childcare is eye-wateringly expensive, so just imagine what it’s like with twins. I’m currently on maternity leave so I’m only working in the evenings when everyone is in bed. Sometimes it takes a whole month of the odd hour here and there to get one idea together, but sometimes one idea is all you need to spark a range, or be a best selling design!
Do you have any advice for other mums thinking of starting their own business?
I would say, especially with cards, its super tempting to just design what you already see about, what you see being popular and appealing to the masses. But the truth is, you find the most joy somewhere between the type of design which you enjoy the most, and getting into a niche. Whether your niche be people who love camping, or it could be dog owners, it could be anything! But within this niche you will find your people, your purpose, and your style. The great thing about thortful is you can experiment with different designs and see what sells best. The other thing to remember again is there is no rush. Take your time and don’t get frustrated that things are not coming together as quickly as you’d like. It will happen – even just 30 mins a day is great to get things going.
I’m Kate and I run DaphneRosa, the home of positive and playful paper and home goods. I design colourful greetings cards, often with a focus on nature including flowers and animals.
How did you get started with your own business?
I started before I had children as I wanted to see if I could create a job I loved that would also give me the flexibility to be around for my family as it grew. I started by working part-time in my teaching job to see if I could make it work and when a maternity post I had taken ended, I gave myself 3 months to see if I could make it a full time gig, I’ve never gone back!
Describe your typical work day…
A typical work day starts early, before the kids get up. It’s the only time I can usually guarantee I’ll be able to fully focus, so I use this time to work on the business instead of in it, wherever possible. Then we get the kids up and out the door to school and nursery, leaving me home with our youngest. I try to fit in small jobs around him that don’t require as much focus and then naptime is where I pack orders or make products. School pick up and general making dinner, sorting the house etc comes next and then once the kids are in bed I often do design work or admin that I haven’t managed to finish in the day on the sofa.
How do you juggle your work/life balance of being a parent?
I try to make sure I optimise the time without the children to work on things that need my total focus and then create social media content, answer emails etc while they are around. It’s hard work but I couldn’t imagine it being any other way now.
How do your family or children inspire your work?
My eldest wants to be David Attenborough when he grows up so was the inspiration for the animal collection. The only problem is that he has a long list of new animals he wants me to add!
What is the main challenge you face being a parent and running a business and how do you overcome this?
The main challenge I face being a mum and running a business is fitting it all in and often feeling like I’m being pulled in too many directions. I take pride in my work and value the importance of my role as a mum so it can be easy to feel like sometimes you’re not doing anything to the best of your ability but I have learnt to be more realistic with what is actually possible and make sure everything gets some dedicated time each day. Although for full transparency there are plenty of days where nothing gets done and I’m in a heap at the end of the day! The true juggle.
How do you balance your workload during the school holidays?
The summer holidays have been a huge juggle with three at home! I definitely don’t have the solution but I would say going into it being realistic with what is actually possible has helped. Also, asking for help from family when needed to get the time to work, so that the rest of the time can be spent making memories with my kids.
Do you have any advice for other parents thinking of starting their own business?
My advice to parents thinking about starting their own business is to just start. You’ll never know if it’s what you want or if it will work until you get going, so just start, one step at a time and see what happens, who knows where you might end up!
Don’t forget to check out part one of our parent spotlight. Join us next time!
Team thortful
