International Women's Day 2022: Bellbrook raised entrepreneur, Emma Mitchell, reflects on two years of Ironstone & Co

However, Bellbrook raised Emma Mitchell more than bucked that trend two years ago when her beloved 'Ironstone & Co' was founded.

Born out of a how to make candles Christmas present from her parents, the now 20-year-old's business has gone from strength-to-strength.

"Being an apprentice, I wanted to buy a house when I was young so I needed to make a side hustle," Emma said.

"I started out making candles with two fragrances; monkey farts and lime and coconut, and my family and friends started buying them.

"I watched heaps of YouTube and my aunty got me onto suppliers.

"It started off really rookie with trial and error to see what worked."

As the obsession grew, the demand for product increased and an expansion into more home-wares began. However, that style of business wasn't what Emma was looking to actively pursue.

"I thought it was getting too girly for me, home-wares wasn't the direction I wanted to go," she said.

"Then my parents bought me a jacket for Christmas that had the logo on the back.

"I started wearing it around and people said 'oh my god you're doing jackets now'.

"I said 'yeah, do you want one?'"

From there jackets started, before hats and t-shirts became apart of the staple.

A rural focus is how she envisages her business expanding with the young entrepreneur setting future goals.

"I want to keep it very rural - I aim in the big scheme of things to have branches in Gunnedah, Quirindi and Dubbo with some unique little country shops," she explained.

While the journey has been enjoyable, the usual business challenges have presented themselves.

"The financial aspect was one - there's a lot of stuff no one tells you," Emma said.

"I struggled a lot with whole concept of 'it's not your business, your parents helped start it'.

"That was a personal struggle but I decided to not listen to that because I know it's coming out of my bank account."

Work-life balance has also been a challenge Emma's looked to manage effectively.

"I have a really good partner, he's very understanding," she said.

"I try and block out (any issues) and do my normal routine.

"It's important to have the switch where you can turn it off and ignore it.

"I didn't have that for a while and I'd be at a group event, on my phone doing posts and people would get cranky and I'd get cranky.

"I've learnt to have that switch on when it's business time as well as know when I need to actually socialise."

While COVID presented challenges for many businesses, Emma used it as an opportunity to reach new audiences.

"COVID sent me flying," she said.

"Everyone was bored in their house and I was lucky enough to be isolating in Bellbrook where we carried on like normal and I started doing day in the life videos on Tik Tok and I think my top one had 160,000 views which resulted in 200 orders.

"I just packed orders and made videos and everyone was lapping it up.

"The marketing side is my favourite part of business along with doing pop up shops.

"My Instagram feed is just photos of what I do on the weekend, I want to see people follow me for the lifestyle not just the fact I'm a small business that sells products. There's a bit more to it."

Another growth opportunity for Ironstone & Co presented itself at the 2021 Macleay Valley business awards in the shape of an award for excellence in retail services.

"A friend sent me a link and asked me to nominate," she said.

"I was in Darwin at the time, I wrote the entry form on a boat to the Tiwi Islands.

"When I got there and saw the businesses I was up against I thought I didn't have a chance.

"At that stage I only had 500 orders, if that.

"I took one friend - mum, dad and my partner didn't even come - I said 'don't worry about it but then it happened'.

"I was shocked and stoked - I didn't expect it at all.

"That opened a lot of doors for me. It was a defining point of everyone realising it's not a hobby, it's a business.

"That's the thing I've been trying to break through for ages - that was the pinnacle of I can compete with other retail stores. I know I'm doing it out of my office at home but I pay taxes, I do all the stuff everyone else does."

With products around the Macleay Valley, Emma is thankful for the local support she's received along with assistance from her close family and friends.

"I have items in Kirstie's Skinsational Beauty Therapy, Gladstone pharmacy and one of the furniture shops in Frederickton," she said.

"It's fantastic - every single one has reached out to me so that's even better.

"The aim is to get into more businesses, but then again I don't want to have every shop, they've asked me and I want to give my full support and thank you to them.

Ironstone & Co's clientele isn't just limited to the Macleay Valley with orders sent to every state in Australia.

"One client is a return client of eight times from Tasmania," Ms Mitchell said.

"When we went to Darwin, I had this marketing idea of take a photo from where you are wearing our product and tag us in it.

"If someone has gone on a holiday and is wearing a hat in Dubbo, I don't know they're there, but it's really cool I've got a hat in Dubbo.

"I also did a Tik Tok when I was excited after getting an order from SA, I printed out a map of Australia and highlighted places I'd sent orders to."

While Emma is the sole employee of the company she said the expansion wouldn't have happened without the support of family and friends.

"My mum helped me a lot and she helps me pack orders late at night," she said.

"I'm dyslexic, not that it matters, but I get confused very quickly, so the role I call her is quality assurance.

"She double checks everything before I pack it, helps me wrap, keeps me calm, and helps me pack my car every morning. My partner is really supportive too.

"I have two younger neighbours from when I was living in Bellbrook, they were acting as my models in return for free lifts from school."

With plenty of ideas for the future, Emma is looking to ensure sustained growth is the order of business.

"I've got things happening with more winter-ware, I'm expanding into kids clothing and broadening my colours," she said.

"I have bigger dreams further down the line by seeing what similar business like Dust N Boots are doing and keep going down that way.

"At the moment I'm moving one direction at a time and not getting too carried away."

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