Joanne Kennard — Reaping the rewards of ‘jumping off a cliff’

What is your busi­ness and how did it start?

Mums and Kids Enter­prises started in 2005. The idea was to solve a prob­lem I had with sheets, sheet bags and all the bits I had to remem­ber to take to and from Child­care! This was the start of the Kozy Koala™ Sleep­mat which is an all-in-one padded mat with attached sheet that folds into a pil­low. We now have two brands Kozy Koala™ (www.kozykoala.com.au) and Kid­dysac™ (www.kiddysac.com.au).  Kozy Koala™ has a range of new bed­ding solu­tions for chil­dren and the newly pur­chased Kid­dysac™ range which are stor­age bags for busy lit­tle peo­ple and their treasures!

What were the pitfalls?

Not hav­ing local knowl­edge of where to find sup­pli­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and retail outlets.

Are you self-motivated? What inspires you?

Yes, I am self moti­vated! I am up very early in the morn­ing (around 5am) to start my day around 5.05am (that is enough time to put on my dress­ing gown and the jug for cof­fee!) I have owned my own busi­nesses for over 12 years in a cou­ple of dif­fer­ent indus­tries and love the chal­lenge of get­ting out and not rely­ing on oth­ers to give me work. I have worked in offices through­out the world and although chal­lenged I have never felt in con­trol of my des­tiny. Own­ing my own busi­ness gives me that con­trol. With­out sound­ing big headed, I get a kick out of cus­tomers buy­ing and lov­ing our prod­ucts that we have designed. We have a lot of repeat cus­tomers who bring their friends along to show them our prod­ucts. Word of mouth is essen­tial in any business!!

Where is your main market?

Our main mar­ket for the Kozy Koala™ range, are par­ents with young chil­dren. Our prod­ucts are focused on chil­dren in day­care, as well as sleep­overs and camp­ing. The Kid­dysac™ range is directed towards preschool and pri­mary school chil­dren where we pro­vide them with stor­age bags for toys, swim­ming gear, library books etc in bright and fun colours.

What advice would you give to some­one who believes they have a great busi­ness idea?

Make sure you do your research first! Then go for it—jump off the cliff!! You only have one chance at life and if you really believe in your idea—no mat­ter how crazy—then go for it! 

What do you love about what you do? Dislike?

The flex­i­bil­ity of work­ing for myself is great, as it gives me time with my fam­ily as well as with the busi­ness. I love to cre­ate new designs and work through the process. You have to remain focused—not every­one can work from home. You can get dis­tracted easily—like doing the wash­ing, Oprah is on … you get the idea! I try and have every thing done before I sit down to work. I also try to dress like I am off to work and not stay in my PJ’s ‘til noon—it’s a mind­set thing! I like my lit­tle office— it is a place for me to think! I have no dislikes!

What do you do to relax? Any hobbi