They say they were out of their depth when they began running their respective online businesses, but NSW Illawarra women Casey Allen and Tara Low have both made a success of the e-commerce game.
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Mrs Allen started her women's clothing store, Chasing Case, in July 2017 as she approached the end of 12 months' maternity leave after having daughter Edie.
The Woonona resident had worked in the corporate world, but wanted to run her own business rather than return to her old job.
Mrs Allen admitted that while she had a good overarching view of business she "didn't know anything" about e-commerce, so the experience was a "huge learning curve" but one she enjoyed.
"It's something I have really grown to love quite dearly," she said.
Social media formed a large part of her marketing strategy in the beginning, and she reached out to influencers she thought were a good fit for her brand to promote her offerings.
"That's evolved into a pretty detailed strategy around digital advertising," Mrs Allen said.
She has now grown her customer base large enough that running the business is a full-time job and she has employed a part-time staffer, who came on board last year.
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As the pandemic forced a change in people's shopping habits, Mrs Allen saw her business revenue grow by 120 per cent. Now she has her sights set on growing her team and expanding the business even further.
Keiraville's Tara Low was also trying to balance parenting and work when she came up with her business, SnackEzy, a retailer of bulk snack foods and nostalgic treats.
A registered nurse, she wanted something that would give her the opportunity to drop some of her shifts and spend more time with her baby son, Ari.
Mrs Low said she came up with the idea because similar ventures had showed there was a demand, and having worked in remote Aboriginal communities she knew buying such products was financially out of reach for many people, especially where food was more expensive.
She and husband Dave launched SnackEzy last February, just weeks before COVID-19 turned Australia upside down. They sell online and in-store, delivering across Australia.
The timing was fortuitous, as the pandemic pushed people towards online shopping.
While Mrs Low, an Indigenous woman, intended the shop to run entirely online, the shortage of toilet paper that came with the pandemic saw her open her warehouse to sell the essential product.
Now, she said, about 65 per cent of sales were made online, while 35 per cent were in-store at their Warrawong warehouse.
Like Mrs Allen, Mrs Low too said getting her business off the ground was a "massive, massive learning curve".
But in just over a year, the business has grown to the point that Mrs Low is looking to move into a retail shopfront separate from the warehouse and put on staff.
She said they went through about two tonnes of chicken nuggets alone in about a fortnight, such was the demand.
So far, the business has turned over $1.2 million, in just a year of operation.