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Hello, Iím Alan Kerlin and Iím with the
Australian Government team in Canberra
that manages the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme.
NEIS is an incentive that started way back in 1985,
helping unemployed Australians to start new businesses
ómore than 135,000 of them to date through those 27 years.
Today weíre going to meet Mignon Prider,
who started a business called Nittens and Patches,
selling handcrafted goods from the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.
Thanks for joining us Mignon.
Thank you for having me Alan.
Can we start off by looking at how you came to be on NEIS?
I understand you and your husband have had several butchery businesses in Queensland,
then you moved to South Australia to start a new one,
when the wheels kind of fell off that plan?
Yes they did fall off in a big way.
We started, as you said, we had some businesses in Queensland
and then for family reasons we decided we needed to move back to South Australia.
And we started a butcher shop here, actually in Victor Harbour,
which was going really well.
But we didn't realise that the cold weather
that you get down here in South Australia
is not good for heart patients.
So less than 12 months into it,
almost up to our first anniversary of the business,
and Lindsay's health just sort of took a turn for the worse.
He was forced to retire basically, he was told he had to stop working.
That put him on a pension, which of course put me on Centrelink payments.
Having been a stay-at-home mum all of my married life,
I had very few skills, or usable skills as such, to go out to the workforce.
So it was a really big challenge,
and particularly also living in a regional area
óa little bit limited with opportunities for employment.
I heard about NEIS through Centrelink.
Because we'd been self-employed for so much of our married lives,
the whole idea of being self-employed wasn't a daunting one for us.
And it had actually been probably nearly 12 months
from when we had to sell our business to when we went to Centrelink.
And in that time we had been trying to come up with ideas of what we could do,
mostly sort of Lindsay was thinking of things that he could do,
because he's always been the breadwinner.
It sort of took a little while to get into the idea that maybe I could do something.
We had heard from Centrelink about the NEIS program,
and so then with the JSA agent, sort of started to pursue that as an option
once I came up with an idea of what I could actually do.
So I assume you tested the market a bit with what you were working on
and seeing if your products would find buyers.
How did you move then from that into NEIS
after the JSA provider referred you?
Well as you said, yes I did a test run over Easter through Ebay.
Ebay was never going to be the long-term goal
because I knew I wanted more a sort of high-end market,
whereas Ebay's more...people go there for a good bargain
rather than good quality necessarily.
So after I sort of did a little test run,
and thought well yeah people do seem to like the idea of handmade toys
and that sort of thing.
I approached the JSA agent and talked to them further on how NEIS works
and what was involved and the process of it all.
The agent that I was dealing with at the time suggested
because of my situation with living in Goolwa and having...
I've actually got two people at home with chronic health conditions...
so needing to sort of not be out of the home as much as possible was a big issue.
So he suggested BRACE, because they had an online option,
which suited me down to the ground.
It also saved me a lot of money.
Because of where we are, the closest...
I think it was about Murray Bridge I would have had to travel to.
That's about an hour and a half drive for me and approximately $20 in petrol per day.
I think it was about a three day a week course that we had to do if I did it in-house.
So you imagine being on Centrelink payments and a Disability Support Pension,
having to drive three hours a day and $20 a day in petrol would add up.
It just wouldn't have been cost-effective, so doing the online option was perfect for me.
So you started that with BRACE in August 2012ólast year.
We loved following along in NEIS Central as you blogged your journey,
and I don't know if you knew we were doing that...
[Laughs] Had absolutely no idea...
...but it was great to read and we were excited for you
when you wrote about passing the course in November.
What were the key points for you?
Probably the highlights as far as studying
was just the fact that I could do it online.
There were a lot of challenges, particularly with the financial side of it
because I'm not very good at that sort of thing,
but I did have my husband who is good at finances.
So he helped a lot and of course Peter who was the lecturer for the finance.
So self-motivation was not really a problem,
also because of being in business you have to be self-motivated to do that.
Yeah I mean all the guys from the officers to the lecturers,
they were all really great and just made the whole experience
a fun time as well as educational.
So after 12 months out of work,
getting into that almost full-time loading of the NEIS training,
did you find that set you up for expectations
of getting back to work in your business itself?
Yes. The first few weeks, maybe the first month, it was a real juggling act...
Struggle?
...Yes, trying to fit in all the work that I would have to do...
the paperwork for the course,
as well as still being Mum and doing all the housework sort of stuff,
you know homey stuff that you have to do.
But yeah it was good, because as you said it sets routine,
and I was aware from the beginning that through the course a lot of what we were doing
was setting that foundation for having a home business.
And even now as we're working through the NEIS program
from this side of running the business,
we have monthly reports and quarterly reports,
which I can see are a reflection of when you're running your business
you do need to keep a very regular check on your paperwork,
make sure it's always done and if you're doing BAS statements,
they have to be done every quarter.
So I can see the whole foundation of the scheme is to
give you the best advantage, hopefully be successful.
It helps I think a lot of people filter out if they're not suitable as well.
Yes. Yes it would do.
So before you get fully on into it, and commit a lot of your finances to it,
if you can't cut it through the training,
then you're probably not going to be so good in the business itself.
Yes.
So youíve been up and running for a while now. Howís it going?
It's...yeah challenging...it's a massive learning curve for me,
from the perspective of it's all online.
We've always had bricks-and-mortar type businesses.
So they're a lot of aspects to running a business online
which are very very new.
All the social media side of it, which...
I had a Facebook page before but like everyone had a Facebook page,
so I signed up to check out what it was
and it's like OK I don't really understand what weíre doing here.
But now with the business, I have to learn what this is all about and how to do it.
So thatís a big challenge for me,
every week Iím learning something new.
I opened an Etsy store as well, so I have two outlets now.
Iíve got two stores to feed,
as well as learn all the different things,
and Etsy is a much more complexÖ
itís much greater opportunities I think with it
because itís much older, more established,
and thereís a truckload of help out there,
theyíve got tutorials and forums and everything,
but thereís just a lot of little nuances with it to learn.
Everything comes with stats on it,
which is really handy if you can understand what theyíre all about
óI just like watching the little charts climbÖ
As long as theyíre climbing the right wayÖ
ÖThatís it yeah! And I checked on my blog this morning to get the figuresÖ
Iíve noticed particularly over the last three months my blog viewings have jumped.
I started off I think it was March was about 69,
last month was 112 so that was a big jump there,
and this month already and we havenít quite finished was over 140.
I think thatís partly because Iím getting better at doing that as a medium.
Iím getting better at my titles, Iíve realised itís a bit like being a journalist,
youíve got to come up with a catchy headline that will attract people
to think ìoh that might be an interesting article to read.î
Iím seeing some very positive turns
and things are increasing and slowly building.
Those first few words in a blog post really are critical to bringing people over.
So thatís something that we kind of nag people about
on the NEIS Facebook Page quite a bitó
getting into blogging and videos and things like that as a way
to really connect with your clients and convince them
about the quality of your product and why itís worth paying what youíre asking.
Yes.
Youíre blogging several times every month now,
your numbers are on the increase
and theyíll continue to go exponentially Iíve found with blogs.
Do you see the blog as a vital part of your whole mix now?
I think so, because itís a way of communicating,
as you say, with your potential customers and clients.
Itís a way of just sharing a little bit about yourself,
because youíve got to try and build a rapport with your customers.
In a bricks-and-mortar store, people come in,
you can say good morning or good afternoon,
maybe just have a little bit of a chat about the weather,
how I feel today, whatever.
All of that helps to create a rapport with your customer.
With an online store itís nothing.
Itís just...yeah...hereís the store, hereís what I sell,
and itís very easy not to have a connection with your customer.
And from the customerís point of view,
they need you to almost start to develop a relationship with who they are,
in order to trust them,
because youíre asking them to part with their money
before theyíve actually even touched the item,
much less received it and sort of can claim it as their own.
So thatís a huge trust barrierÖ
Particularly with a touchy, feely kind of product like yoursÖ
Yeah. So the blog and your Facebook, all of these different mediums
are the way that you build your relationships to say to people
ìLook Iím a human being, Iím a mum just like you, or you can trust me,
send me your money and Iíll send you a teddy!î
Good-o! Now youíve also got Pinterest happening in a pretty big way,
probably a lot more than Facebook? How is that going for you?
That has taken on a life of its own! [Laughs]
Itís funny, because I know when I first signed up to Pinterest,
everyone was talking about Pinterest I thought oh OK I should go and check this out.
So I went and had a look, I had a look at a few different peopleís boards,
and some would have just a handful and other people just had
what seemed like hundreds of boards.
I looked at them and though goodness sakes
who would have so many boards? Why would you even bother?
So I thought OK this sounds good, I mean itís all images,
and Iím very much an image person, more than words.
So it was a platform that I took to very very easily.
So I opened up my account, and I started.
I knew that I wanted one board there that I could put all the images of the things that I make.
The core of this is to encourage people to get the name out there
and to say look here I have something you might like to buy.
As for other boards, I really didnít know, I thought weíll just see.
I mean animals? Who doesnít want a board on there of all cute kitties and puppies,
and so I knew thereíd be a few like that.
I think there are something like 89 boards now.
Theyíve just grown bit by bit as Iíve gone on.
For example, Iíve got embroideryó
I started off with just one board for embroidery and then as I got through
and I was finding different things, I thought this is getting really big, itís going to be really hard for me to findÖ
because thereís a lot of resources there,
I find Pinterest really good for resources and inspirationÖ
so I needed to split this up.
So now Iíve got four or five embroidery boards:
one for inspiration, one for videosÖand thatís sort of how itís grown.
And itís gone from 200 followers to about just over 500 followers in a month.
And I actually donít spend a lot of time on it anymore.
I did initially. I spent probably a little more time on there than I should have.
But these days as I said, itís taken on a life of its own.
And can you see the links between that and your trade?
Yes you can. As I said before everything has stats on it now,
and so I can see where people are coming from,
whether itís coming from the blog or from Pinterest or Facebook,
which is very handy because you can look at that and seeÖ
and Iím still learning how to read the stats, butÖ
I can see where theyíre coming from.
I can also see how long they stayed there.
Especially in the early days Iíd see maybe they came in from Pinterest but they had a bounce rate of 100%,
which from what I understand of how to read bounce rates
is suggesting that the majority of people that are coming in,
hit on the initial link that you have and think yeah no thatís not what I want
and leave without looking further.
So you can look at that and think well OK why are they doing that?
How can I encourage them to stay longer, have more of a look around?
So as I said, it's all a growing curve, Iím still very much learning it all.
Youíre on the right track. I mean with the Pinterest boards,
itís very much like a blog: youíre weaving a tale about you
and building up that rapport in a visual way,
as opposed to with words, but itís all about that trust,
and as you said itís online, so youíve got to work differently
from being smiley and friendly when people walk in your door.
So just going back to the business, and how itís going with NEIS,
we find NEIS is a great solution for people with disability,
or caring for somebody with disability,
because with your own business itís got the flexibility
to work around your restrictions, your requirements, your available time.
How is that working for you?
It is very good, in that regard.
That was always one of my biggest concerns with finding a regular job.
From my perspective of OK if I go and say to someone well look I can work for you
but then phoning up and saying sorry so and soís not well today I canít come in.
That makes it hard, after a while you know youíre going to lose your job
because they need someone whoís reliable.
So working from home gives me that flexibility.
I have found it can be a little bit challengingÖ
some days you get a good run at the work,
other days thereís always things going on, people need to talk, whatever.
And I found in the early parts I was getting a little bit frustrated
and thinking oh look Iím not getting time
because Iím just getting all these interruptions
and I was a little bit worried I wasnít putting in the amount of time I needed to.
So I actually started in my diary I had,
when I sit down to my computer or the sewing machine or whatever,
Iíd mark what time I start, and then if I had an interruption
whether itís lunch or what have you,
Iíd just sort of mark OK that was when I finished.
So at the end of the day I can sit down and there might be an hour here,
half hour there, three hours that was a good run,
and I can see at the end of the day, I actually did a good amount of work today.
Maybe not as much as I would have liked,
but I have actually put some time in.
I found before then I was getting a bit frustrated and cranky
because I was feeling I wasn't putting in enough.
By the same token you can see if youíre maybe not putting in enough time, so then you can adjust.
For example, in the beginning I realised I was putting in a little bit too much time on Pinterest,
because it can be a little bit addictive! [Laughs]
Bit of a rabbit hole!
It is! And you think OKÖIím going to stop doingÖ
and emailsóemails are another place that you can just get lost,
and you go half hour: Iíve got a half hour and quickly go through them all.
Two hours later you go OK that just didnít work,
Iíll have to not do that next time! But having that diary helps.
Itís probably a good tool for the sorts of people who end up
with their families saying to them ìall you ever do is your business,
what about us?î kind of thing, to put it in a little bit of perspective
and help them realise if they need to wind a bit.
Looking at a bit of 20-20 hindsight,
how different do you think your path would be without NEIS?
A lot more stressful.
I was finding it very stressful for that 12 months that I was on Centrelink payments
because youíre there because you need to find a jobó
itís not a long-term solutionó
theyíre not just going to pay to sit at home and make lunch for everyone, which is understandable.
But it was stressful when you know youíre looking at it
and you think look I donít have any skills or qualifications,
because of a lack of experience, that people want,
but you still have to be applying for jobs.
I spent a lot of time looking through them
particularly through the internet because there are only so many doors you can knock on
in a small community, even if you go around every week thereís still only a certain amount you can do,
you have to look elsewhere.
So Iíd go onto the online facilities that there are.
And you start off at Goolwa and then you branch out to the regional areas
and surrounding towns and then itíd be South Adelaide
and sort of I pretty much stopped at Rundle Mall
because I figured THAT was far enough to go from here!
I think so!
Thatís challenging, itís difficult,
itís frustrating when you look through the job lists
and think there is honestly nothing that Iím actually qualified for.
Iím not a doctor, Iím not a vet, Iím not a nurse,
but you have to find something to put down.
Itís also depressing when you do put in applications and nothing comes back.
And then thereís the concern of OK if I do get this job,
that means I have to travel down to Adelaide every week or every day.
Thereís a lot of time, a lot of expense.
Howís that going to affect us financially, howís it going to affect us as a family,
because it means Iím going to be out of the house for eight, nine, 10 hours of the day.
It would have beenÖwell I donít really want to think about itÖ
I am very very grateful for the NEIS scheme.
Itís really given me that break that I really needed.
And youíve turned it around and are really making a go of it,
which is wonderful to hear. Itís a great story.
Thank you Mignon for sharing your NEIS journey with us, and please keep us posted?
Absolutely!
People can find Mignonís blog at nittensandpatches.wordpress.com
(thatís Nittens with an ëní)
and her products are for sale on madeit.com.au/NittensandPatches
and nittensandpatches.etsy.com.
For any NEISies watching this whoíd also like
to share their NEIS story,
please drop us a line in the YouTube comments,
or via Facebook at facebook.com/neisgovau,
via Twitter at twitter.com/neisgovau
or via Google Plus at gplus.to/neisgovau
See you next time.