Have you been thinking about starting a small business? Meet three Aussie businesses and their inspiring owners who share their creative journey with Cricut! So, without further ado, we are super excited to introduce Banish, Cardigang, and Juanitur!
Meet Banish!
Lottie Dalziel, 2023 NSW Young Australian of the Year, first started Banish after she made a New Year’s resolution to “do better for the planet.” Using her experience as a journalist, she set up Banish with the goal to educate, empower, and inspire Australians to take action and reduce their environmental impact, by living more sustainably.
We sat down with Lottie to find out more about Banish and how Cricut helped the business.
Tell us a bit more about Banish. Our aim is to educate, empower, and inspire Australians to take action and reduce their environmental impact. We recycle household items that could otherwise not be recycled in kerbside bin pick up and sell sustainable alternatives. We collect, sort, and send them to Aussie recyclers who can recycle them. We are also incentivising behaviour change with vouchers to spend on sustainable alternatives like bamboo toothbrushes and shampoo bars at Banish.
“We recycle hard to recycle household items that cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin. A blister pack for example needs to go to specialty recyclers in order to be recycled.”
How does Cricut help with the operation of your business? We needed a way to clearly articulate our mission that was cost-effective, personalised, and upcycled existing materials. We used Cricut Maker 3 for internal and external store signage, labelling the containers at the drop off zone, aisles, and the education section. It was important we made the most of the materials we already had on hand to create a low-waste store that kept with our sustainable mission.
“The hub is a unique and out-of-the-box retail experience so it needs to be really clear. Using a Cricut was a no-brainer.”
Banish now sells eco-friendly household and beauty items, such as food storage, reusable cleaning supplies, pet accessories, laundry essentials, makeup, and skincare. They individually vet companies using their standards to provide people with access to information and amazing Aussie brands.
Check out Banish’s website.
Meet Cardigang!
Out of Melbourne’s 2020 lockdown, Cat and Morgan began looking for new hobbies to keep themselves occupied and connected whilst being physically apart. After falling in love with knitting they decided to create Cardigang as a side hustle, a passion project, so more people could share in the joy of making their own gorgeous creations. Flash forward 3 years and they now work full-time, to build a business that supports creativity and fun, and a lifestyle that works for them.
We sat down with Cat and Morgan to find out more about Cardigang and how Cricut helped their business.
“Being creative people at Cardigang, we’re drawn to anything that can help make being creative easier, more fun, or more accessible”.
Tell us a bit more about Cardigang. In a nutshell, Cardigang sells DIY knit and crochet kits for beginners. We give people all the gear they need to learn to make their own cosy masterpiece including easy-to-follow instructions and links to videos so even the most inexperienced person can learn to knit or crochet – and have a blast while doing it!
“We discovered Cricut earlier this year and quickly became obsessed with all the things that these powerful little machines could do”.
How does Cricut help with the operation of your business? Cricut has been so helpful to us in our business. We started working with Cricut Joy and quickly upgraded to Cricut Maker 3. Most recently we used our Maker 3 to make vinyl sticker decals that we stuck up around our stall at the Finders Keepers market. They were such a huge hit that we’re going to produce the stickers in smaller sizes to give away in orders.
“We use our Cricut Maker 3 to make everything from branded merchandise, to signage and collateral for our market stalls, all the way down to making labels to help keep our stock in order and help with our fulfilment processes.”
How do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business? Ironically, we started knitting as a way to help us make a definition between work and personal time. We’re lucky enough to be able to explore new creative avenues during a work week – whether that’s taking a ceramics course, or spending a few hours on the Cricut making something new.
“If you have a great idea, just get it out into the world and then get ready to learn, adapt, and change to the response you see in the market. There is no such thing as perfect”.
Check out Cardigang’s website.
Meet Juanitur!
Born out of a passion for creating inspiring artwork that draws on her Māori heritage, local Ipswich artist Juanita (@juanitur) found herself needing a flexible work schedule to accommodate her busy schedule with four kids and two jobs, as she had been working as the sole earner to make ends meet.
We sat down with Juanita to find out more about her business and how Cricut has helped.
Tell us a bit more about Juanitur. Over four years ago, I made the jump to open my small business and have seen rapid success selling my artwork as prints, car decals, acrylic and wood signage, and more, all with the help of Cricut.
“I’ve always loved creating things, so when a Facebook post of a picture I drew of my sister got an amazing response from family and friends, I realised then and there I could do that from home and be with my children.”
How does Cricut help with the operation of your businesses? For my art business, I’ve been able to create and sell customised prints, art banners, tote bags, clothing, stationery, accessories and more from home with my Cricut smart cutting machines. For my party planning business, I make acrylic and wood signage for birthday parties and custom decorations.
As my business expanded, my new Cricut Autopress has made it easy to accommodate larger orders of custom hoodies, t-shirts, and totes.
“I can’t imagine having my business without my Cricut products. There are so many tools and machines I rely on to keep my business running smoothly and successfully”
What do you love about running your own business the most? I get to create what inspires me and makes me happy! When I started, I would add little motivational quotes to my artwork to keep me on track. For one of them, I used my Cricut to turn it into a banner. I didn’t realise it would resonate with so many others watching me, especially single mums, because they knew I was becoming one while they were all watching my business journey.
“I get to create whatever I feel like. What makes me happy. I can stay true to myself and be an inspiration not only to my children, but the thousands of people watching me online.”
Check out the Juanitur website.
Head to our Instagram @cricut_anz to tell us how your favourite Aussie small business using Cricut!
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