About Bec
If you’ve found your way here, I’m guessing you make something. Maybe it lives on the kitchen bench between school lunches, or in a corner of the spare room that’s slowly taking over the house. People keep telling you that you should sell it, and part of you wonders if they’re right. The other part wonders who you’d be to try.
I know that feeling well, because I was sitting right there.
Across my maker businesses
I was a graphic designer who wanted more creativity in my week. My first machine was a Silhouette Cameo, and before long I was hunting for acrylic shapes to make with. All I could find were squares and circles. I couldn’t stop thinking about everything that wasn’t out there, so I begged my husband Tom for $10,000 to buy a hobby laser and some acrylic.
He said yes. I still think about that yes.
That little laser became Laser Blanks, and Laser Blanks grew into Australia’s largest craft blanks supplier. One laser became six. We moved warehouses twice and built a team of 15. It was seven years of the steepest learning curve I could have imagined, and I loved (most of) it.
I’d seen a gap I had the skills to fill, and I wanted a business that let me leave my 9 to 5, stay home with my kids and still make a difference. From day one to somewhere past day 2,500, the aim never changed: add real value to the lives of our customers and the people who worked alongside us. Between Laser Blanks and Happy Print Hub, the print business Tom and I still run today, we’ve hired around 25 people. Those businesses paid mortgages and rent, fed families, and let me be a mum in every part of my kids’ lives.
I don’t take that lightly, and it still means more to me than any revenue figure.
I didn’t get everything right. In the early days I ran the business from home with no real boundaries, and customers would turn up to collect orders at all hours, well outside the times we’d listed. I’d never do it that way again, and it’s one of the lessons I’ll make sure you don’t have to learn the hard way.
I’ve spent more than a decade in graphic design and web development, and I’ve been a Shopify Partner for nearly as long. Through my agency I’ve helped florists, builders, landscapers, wholesalers and countless online stores get found and get chosen. Across my own maker stores we’ve shipped around 100,000 orders and turned over more than $3 million, and one of those businesses alone served over 35,000 customers.
I share that not to impress you, but so you know everything here has been tested with real money and real customers.
A little while ago I sold Laser Blanks so I could step into a slower season with our youngest. With some room to breathe, I realised how much I’d learned that nobody had ever handed to me. That’s why Business of Making exists. I love chatting, teaching and sharing, and I’d love to save you some of the guesswork.
Maybe you want a small side business that pays for itself and gives your creativity somewhere to go. Maybe you want to quit your job and build something that fits around your family. Both are worth doing well. The creativity you’ve been given has value, and you don’t have to build something enormous to build something extraordinary. You just need the right foundations and the willingness to keep showing up.
If you’re ready to take a first small step, grab my free Quick Price Calculator so you know what your work is really worth. If you’re ready to go all in, From Hobby to Business walks you through everything from planning and pricing to insurance, boundaries and launching.
Whatever you make, it deserves to be seen. I’m really glad you’re here.
Bec x
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