I thought I would share this little interview with you, it gives a little bit of background to the whole SPLODGE concept, hopefully you will see what this little biz means to Karen and I and how determined we are to continue to grow!
what is your story? what prompted you to start this little biz?
We started Splodge as a bit of a hobby about 3 years ago. We couldn’t find a company providing parties with craft activities so we decided to do a few ourselves; the feedback was amazing. As we realised the potential we began to focus on splodge as a serious business and grew into the Events and Weddings market.
tell us about your little business.
Our business is Splodge - Children's Entertainment. We provide crafty fun birthday parties, event and wedding entertainment, face painting for children of all ages and Kindercraft workshops for under 5’s where we hire church halls and community centres or go along when invited to mums groups, playgroups or community events
where did you get your ideas for your brand: biz name, logo, ‘look’ etc?
We just played around with lots of names and looks. We wanted something fun and messy so when we looked at the word "splodge" it seemed to fit. I drew out the design idea myself and then took it to a graphic designer who made it up on the computer for us.
do you have much competition from other businesses? do you find this difficult to deal with?
There are lots of companies doing parties which is great, Mums should have a good choice and it keeps us on our toes. We just try to stay focused on providing a great service.
what is the thing about your biz that makes it stand out from the competition?
Children don't need to be artistic to enjoy our parties, events and workshops. Splodge is about fun, textures, colours and mess! Even the parents can't resist getting involved.
what has been the most challenging thing for you so far as you have been building your biz?
All the "business stuff" - staff, insurances, book keeping, marketing etc. Karen and I don't come from a business background, so learning these new skills whilst building the business has been a challenge in itself.
what aspect of building your little biz do you like working on the most?
Creating new projects. An Event Organiser will give us a theme or topic for their upcoming event and we have to theme all the projects and games around it, we love it! After a couple of hours in the workshop we come out covered in paint, sticky tape and glitter but we always create something unique and fun for children to make.
what is next for you?
We would like to grow the Kindercraft side of our business as we haven’t really had time to focus on that. Kindercraft has amazing potential and has received some great feedback. It focuses on all the fun crafty mess but also encourages development of fine and major motor skills and hand eye co-ordination.
what advice do you have for other mums who are thinking of or trying to build their own little biz from home?
Look at it as a serious job and other people will see it that way. If you treat it as something you slip into between washing and ironing - thats all it will ever be. Allocate a seperate area for the business and give youself a title Manager/Director/CEO, and start using that in any job description. Talk about your business as your job rather than a bit of a hobby.
is there anything else you would like to add?
Splodge recently won the BEC/Hewlett Packard National award for best home based business in Australia. This has really re-enforced for us the fact that we are doing well. We would never have dreamed of being nominated for an award like this never mind actually winning, so it just goes to show hard work and belief in what you are doing does pay off!
wow! that is great. congratulations! how were you nominated? have you found BEC to be a useful organization?
BEC (Business Enterprise Centres) nominated us for the award and we then provided a bit of history of ourselves. BEC has been a life line to us and we would thoroughly recommend any small business get involved with their local office.
Interview by Karen from Build a little biz
*** i just wanted to add that from the minute i heard from splodge i just loved their name, their logo, and their concept. such a great biz idea! the day after i heard from them, i happened upon a splodge event at my local shopping centre! what luck! my kids LOVED the activities and made me take them back the next day for more. it was well worth the glitter that lives in the boot of my car now. thank you ladies! =) karen ***
