I AM IN AWE OF THE MANY INCREDIBLE MUMS OUT THERE, DOING A FAB JOB OF RUNNING THEIR OWN SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES WHILST SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING DOWN THE FORT AT HOME. I’M FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE ‘MET’ MANY OF THESE LADIES ONLINE AND CAN’T WAIT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME NEW FACES AND THEIR AWESOME ENTREPRENEURIAL ENDEAVOURS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED AND HAVE YOUR BUSINESS FEATURED, PLEASE SAY HELLO! MELISSA@THEBESTNEST.CO.NZ
This week on Say hello! we meet a lady whom I’m pretty happy to call a friend. Penny is the writer behind Little Housewife and one of the most professional, focused bloggers in New Zealand. She has such a clear vision of her brand and her blog and this translates across all of her social media accounts.
Penny continuously inspires me with her integrity and her unwavering drive to push her blog {and now business!} in the right direction. She manages to do this whilst remaining true to herself and respecting the creative boundaries of her peers.
Her latest project – Custom Vinyl Labels – is something she’s been pottering away on for a while, and when she announced that all systems were go, I think I had my order to her within 5 minutes lol! Nixon has just started two wee mornings a week at our gorgeous local kindy so I needed some labels for his lunchbox and drink bottle. Penny’s labels are such fantastic quality, are super easy to apply, look amazing and are stuck fast! I can see a potential labelling frenzy in my future!
Let’s meet Penny, in her own words;
Hello! I’m Penny – the wife of a very hard working, wonderful man, stay at home Mumma to 5 year old Madeline and 2 year old Maisie and the writer of Little Housewife.
1. Exciting stuff is happening at Little Housewife! Tell us about your new venture:
I’ve been cutting adhesive vinyl labels for my own personal use for a while now. They weren’t meant to be for anything other than my own home but when I shared photos of my labels on Facebook and Instagram they got a great response and lots of comments asking how to order so I ordered some extra supplies to meet the demand.
2. If there’s anything I know about you Penny, it’s that you don’t do anything by halves and you have super high standards. How does this help/hinder(?) anything that you’re bringing to market?
Haha – Yes I do have high standards (good enough will never do in my books!) which is great for the anyone wanting to buy my labels! I’ve sourced the best supplies, trialled countless fonts and tested their wash and wearability for over three months to ensure my labels are a quality product that will go the distance. But my high standards mean it’s hard for me to stick with one idea and commit to it. It makes me fickle, always thinking I can improve on what I’ve done and then it doesn’t get completed.
3. How are you aligning your labelling business with your blog?
I love things to be homely and cozy, and I love organizing and making things look nice. Not flashy, showy or perfect but tidy, homely and aesthetically pleasing yet effortless. I’m organised by nature and I like things done well. I like things but not clutter. So my vinyl custom cut labels are a natural extension of myself and what my blog is all about. When I decided to organise my pantry I pulled out my little handheld label maker to start stickering all of the new containers but it wasn’t looking as “nice” as it could and was not doing my shiny new containers justice. So I ordered some adhesive vinyl and cut my own. That extra effort made a huge difference.
4. Let’s talk about blogging, what’s you view on the current commercialization that is whipping NZ bloggers into a product-hungry frenzy? It’s wearing me out to be honest!
Oh wow! This is a huge topic which I could talk about for ages! I’ve been blogging since 2009 but the last 18 months has been a steep learning curve in terms of public relations and commercial relationships. It’s very easy to get swept up in all the freebies that can come with writing a blog. It can be very flattering when businesses contact you wanting to send you product to feature on your blog. But I’ve learnt that a lot of the time they aren’t interested in you personally, they want to reach your followers and readers. I think no good can come from “buying” your readers with giveaways. It’s better to have a smaller number of like minded, genuine followers than a big group who have no interest in what you actually do, which is the essence of your blog. Never forget why you started blogging in the first place – it wasn’t to receive free stuff – well I hope not anyway! The commercial or sponsored blog posts, Facebook giveaways, Instagram posts etc are extremely time consuming and you need to stop and think – do I really like this product or do I like it because I’ve been sent it or I’m being paid to write about it? Sometimes I have found myself swimming so deep in PR and it is so all encompassing that I can’t remember the last time I actually wrote a blog post about crafting or shared a recipe. I love PR and the commercial relationships that I have created through it. It’s a real privilege to be privy to some of the latest and greatest products coming to market but I think it is really, really important to remember why you started blogging in the first place and be choosey – only support the brands and products you truly love and that fit with you and your readers. If you’re honest in that way then you will become an authentic voice who your readers will know they can trust for your opinion or reviews. I saw this quote the other day and I loved it. I summed up how I feel about all of this “I am in competition with no one. I run my own race. I have no desire to play the game of being better than anyone, in any way, shape or form. I just aim to improve, to be better than I was the day before. That’s me and I’m free”.
Amen.
5. What lies ahead for Little Housewife? I’m sure you’ve got a few more ideas up your sleeve right?
Yes, I always have heaps of ideas. My brain is like having 500 internet browser tabs open at once! I’m going to focus on getting my labels established for a while and then I’ll be releasing a range of hand cut wooden frames which I am very very excited about. The response to the sample frame I shared a little while ago was incredible so I’ll be working hard to get them ready. I’m also in the process of redesigning my website and even thinking of a wee name change to better reflect the direction my blog has taken but I’m still not sure about that so watch this space… xxx
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