Kelly Hemming, owner of Ribbon Design, explains why the business should win the home business category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition.
Ribbon Design started in 2007 with little research and £300 put on my credit card - probably everything wrong with starting a business. I had a little area in the corner of the bedroom and it became a bit of a hobby rather than a business.
But in 2010 I had my first child and got made redundant, and later that year the hobby became a business that had to work. Ribbon Design has been built from passion, determination and lots of hard work. In 2014, my husband converted half our lounge into a contained office so I had a proper place to work, could store plenty of stock and gradually grow the business.
It has had to work around our two children, now aged five and three. With limited childcare available, they have sometimes been a great help at packing up orders and helping put the stock away, as all work comes via the internet. Thankfully I can work at any hour, so a lot of 2am finishes or being able to answer messages with children climbing over me is now second nature.
Now another mum who works part-time helps run the website, social networking, production and customer service. She also works from her own home, allowing her to set her own hours and work around her own commitments. We hold most of our meetings over Facebook Messenger and email. The business is continually growing.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
