About

HELLO! WELCOME TO LITTLE CHIQUI PAPERIE!

Experts say that the “about” section of your website should let your audience know what your site is all about. It should be inviting and professional. Personally, I only hit the “about” page when I want to be nosey. If you’re like me and you like to learn about the person behind the brand in addition to their brands story then scroll down and take a read.

Growing up I thought you needed a university degree and a whole load of money to own a business. Whilst my school friends were heading off to college and mapping out their careers, I was working a full time job in the local supermarket. I had to give up my Art & Design placement at college in order to help my family financially. My dream was to be a Graphic Designer and I never ever let go of that dream.

At 17 I managed to quit working in retail and embarked on, what turned out to be, a fairly successful (and well paid) career in the finance industry. I even managed to emigrate at the ripe old age of 23. Somewhere in between I found a love for paper crafting, card making and scrapbooking and this is really where it all began. I made a few bob here and there mainly selling to friends, family and work colleagues. At the same time I started blogging and learned everything I could about WordPress and Web Design. I even taught myself a bit of code in the process. At the same time I taught myself Adobe photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. 

A series of live events between 2012 and 2015 turned what started as a side hustle into a business. In 2012 our first little boy was born. I longed to stay home with him and I believed I could make enough money from my side hustle to make this happen. Unfortunately in 2013 my mum passed away and with footing just about everything financially I was forced back to work.

In 2015 we found out we were expecting our second bundle of joy however this pregnancy was extremely high risk. After a very complicated birth and after learning just how lucky we both were to have survived, I decided that life was far too short to sit dreaming about what I wanted for the future. In April 2016 I resigned from my job and I officially registered Little Chiqui Paperie. 

Little Chiqui Paperie started off as a Cottage Industry business where I sold handmade Pregnancy Journals, Memory Keeping Scrapbooks and keepsake frames. I worked my business around my family and it worked well until there was a major change to local business law. The change meant that Cottage Industry businesses were no longer recognised and could no longer be operated from home. I had two choices - give up and quit on my dream and go back to the rat race or continue to work hard to make my dream work. 

Since selling physical goods from my home was no longer possible I started thinking outside the box.  I wondered if selling digital or printable versions of my creations would work. On a whim I decided to upload a PDF of my Pregnancy Journal to Etsy. This was the start of Little Chiqui Paperie as it is now known.

Today Little Chiqui Paperie is run around my family commitments from the tiny desk in my bedroom and my dining room table. Not only do I sell printable planners and memory keeping journals but I openly talk about entrepreneurship, motherhood (mompreneurship) and life in general in hope to inspire others. I like to help people get organised with their lives (not necessarily their homes because I hate housework with a passion), find their purpose and passion in life and discover/rediscover themselves outside of their life roles (like mum and wife). Despite having achieved the dream of quitting the rat race to own my own business I am still very much on my own journey. 

With that out of the way all that is left from me to say is, thank you for taking the time to stop by. I hope you enjoy your adventure here as much as I have enjoyed dreaming it and building it.