In 2015, a seed was planted in Ashleigh Pengelly's mind to start a business.
The CEO and founder of Little Black Duck, wanted to share her culture through Aboriginal ceramic art.
"My intention of starting Little Black Duck was to share my culture with as many Australian homes as possible," Pengelly tells Mamamia. "My signature item is my hand-painted teapots. I just find them to be a great conversation starter – and sharing a cup of tea has a big significance to Aboriginal culture as well."
Before Little Black Duck, she admits she had never considered herself an artist, but her business came about through her professional career.
"I was running a creative program and working with Aboriginal creatives to turn their hobbies into a business," Pengelly explains.
Part of the program required them to hold a market stall and gain more insight into what it could take to run their own side hustle. As such, Pengelly noticed only big-ticket items were available.
"We needed something at a lower price point, an alternate to canvas'," she says. "I did some quick research, and no one was doing hand-painted teapots at the time."
Pengelly tried to give the idea away, but no one was interested. So, Pengelly did it herself.
"I said, I'm gonna do this," she laughs. "I just find it funny that I tried to give Little Black Duck away. It's turned out to be really lucrative for me."
Eight years since starting her own business, Pengelly has been working with and around her community to promote her culture to Australians around the country. Her successful business has been a labour of love and tough lessons.
Below Pengelly shares five lessons she's learnt since becoming her own boss.
Make life as easy for your customers as possible.
As a small business owner, it's important for Pengelly to have as many options available as possible for her customers.
In saying that, she's become reliant on making sure her processes run smoothly.
That's where the CommBank Smart Mini payment reader comes in.
"I do market stalls a lot," she says. "And, I need to be paid on the day. So, having a device like the CommBank Smart Mini is not only necessary, but mandatory. It has a low 1.1 per cent transaction rate with no lock-in contracts."
"That's money in my pocket at the end of the day," Pengelly adds. "It's really helpful. I was recently selling my goodies at the Marramarra Aboriginal markets, and 99 per cent of my sales were via card. So, if you don't have a portable device like the Smart Mini, then customers are just passing you by."
"Portable ways to pay are key," she says. It gives people access to her products immediately.
Networking is incredibly valuable.
Admittedly, Pengelly is not a social butterfly – but that doesn't mean she isn't up for a good challenge.
"It's something I struggled with, but on the other hand, I'm not afraid to try something new," she shares. "I went to a business networking meeting and that's where I noticed the lack of diversity. So, I did what I could do to be involved in that."
Pengelly has since joined their mentoring program.
"I did that to get my name and business out there and to be like, we're here," she says. "You walk into a room like that and there are a lot of non-Aboriginal people around all the tables. It was just so important for me to be there."
Her advice to those wanting to start a business, or are in the early stages, is to swallow your fear and put yourself out there.
"Networking is so important to me," she explains. "It is also really soul-enriching with other Black-owned businesses as well."
Attend the meetings, Pengelly advises, and connect through social media, events and pop-ups.
Don't be afraid to go into the unknown.
Understandably, it is terrifying to take risky chances – but Pengelly is telling small business owners to take the shot and have fun.
"There will always be your crowd," she says. "You will always have your customer base and people who will want to support you as a small business. So, have fun with it."
This year, Pengelly made the jump from making Little Black Duck her side hustle, to her main source of income. She was afraid to make the leap despite making more money from her own business.
"It's scary – to be honest, it's still scary. But, the fulfilment I feel now is more important than anything. That fear is a driver," she says.
"Remember that there are so many options out there. It's okay to fail and try again."
Outsource! Outsource! Outsource!
Pengelly has big plans for Little Black Duck since hitting the ground running and going full-time with her business.
One of her goals this year is to expand her business and further her reach across Australia.
To do that, Pengelly says she plans to outsource more. As someone who would prefer to manage every aspect of her company, it's admittedly not an easy task to do.
"I am a bit of a control freak," she explains. "The only thing I outsource right now is my accounting – and sometimes a photographer. But, I will be doing larger campaigns as time goes on. I want to have creative control as much as possible so I need to outsource."
Pengelly's main goal is not only to sell more of her art locally and promote creative workshops but to also create more of a presence for Aboriginal-owned businesses in general.
"It's the bigger companies that have much more of an appearance in the market with Aboriginal products," she notes. "I'm hoping to get some big-scale collaborations happening in the next year or two. I want to become more of a name in business."
Do the research and find your niche.
It's terrifying to jump into the world of entrepreneurship, but one way to prepare if you're a business owner is to do the research, find your niche and understand your market.
It's one lesson Pengelly is eager to tell potential business owners because it is the cornerstone of success.
"Being a business owner was never modelled to me growing up. It was something brand new and it was a bit scary having to detach from that," she says. "But, I realised that I could actually still benefit my community in an entirely new way."
"Make sure you do your research on your product and the market at the time," she continued. "It is getting really hard for creative small businesses, and especially for Aboriginal businesses because it's becoming trendy to have Aboriginal art on a wider range of homeware products. It puts us in direct competition with large conglomerates with massive manufacturing and advertising budgets."
Pengelly notes that unfortunately, it's these large non-Aboriginal owned companies that are benefiting off the sale of Indigenous work, which is why it is so important for people to buy blak, support blak owned businesses and be more conscious of where they are spending their dollars.
"So, do your research and find your niche. Learn the basic skills needed for your business. Become a Jack or Jill of all trades. That's what I've done," she says. "I do everything on my website. If you can learn basic skills like your financial systems, graphic design, website design and other things that benefit your business, it will save you on costs, especially as a start-up whilst also increasing your business literacy’.
For Pengelly, she wants financial freedom and success, as well as to build generational wealth for her family too. Being prepared, making smart decisions and knowing your customer base is paramount to achieving that, she says.
"I want to model financial freedom for my six-year-old son and financial literacy as well," she says. "That's how I'm finding succes – by creating that."
She adds, "It's scary and it's exciting, but that contentment and that happiness is more important than anything."
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Feature Image: Supplied.