Couple who gambled their £24,000 life savings now have £12 million business
An Australian couple have revealed how they created a multi million business after taking a risk and investing their life savings.
Alexandra Weller, who is now based in Hong Kong, realised there was a gap in the market for aesthetically pleasing rugs when she was shopping for one.
At the same time, her husband Aaron was consulting for SEO company, and learnt that huge numbers of people were doing online searches looking for rugs.
When this inspired the couple to ask people they knew about their experience when shopping for the furnishings, they discovered that many had negative stories to tell.
With sizing that was confusing to understand, and colours that weren't quite right, rug shopping was not enjoyable for most.
Alexandra told news.com.au that she and Aaron realised there was a gap in the market - and this led to them starting their company Miss Amara in 2014.
Their idea was to offer a better experience, and make it easier for customers to work out how the rugs would look in their own homes, by sharing pictures of the products in-situ, so shoppers could take a snap of the room the rug would go in, and see how it would look in the desired space.
The couple, who invested $50,000 (£24,000) of their life savings into the company, implemented further ideas of how to offer a positive shopping experience.
If customers were unhappy with the purchase, a full refund was offered, and the company would pay for a courier to pick up the rug.
Speaking to news.com.au, Alexandra revealed how she would contact strangers online to ask if they would 'be willing to photograph our rugs in their stunning homes'.
This, she explained, was not a marketing tactic, but 'because I genuinely wanted to show people what was possible'. She added that while this is now known as User-Generated Content and influencer marketing, back then, 'it was just a deep desire to help customers visualise the home of their dreams'.
Being customer-focused has always been the company's main aim, and for Alexandra, this translated into ensuring that as many people as possible could enjoy their products.
'We kept hearing was that many people, especially pet owners and young families, felt excluded from owning beautiful things,' she explained.
Keeping this in mind, they launched a pet-friendly range, featuring rugs that were stain-proof and easy to clean, making them popular with those who had pets as well as parents of young children.
Their strategies worked, and 10 years after starting the brand, the couple employ around 80 people, and turned over $26 million (£12 million) last year.
However, they didn't pay themselves a salary for five years, and even now, remain cautious as they are all too aware that business success isn't something to be taken for granted.
Alexandra credited Aaron for keeping the business moving forward, describing him as 'a true entrepreneur – fearless and incredibly driven'.
Setting up the brand was difficult, with the couple hitting a number of stumbling blocks, meaning Aaron's fearless style was essential.
According to Alexandra, it was difficult to find people to work with them - and even when they did, they faced numerous objections.
Among them, they were told it would be too expensive to offer their signature virtual reality tool - where customers can test how the product would look in their own homes - would be too expensive. However, Alexandra said that giving customers the ability to visualise the rug in their space 'transformed our conversion rate and far outweighed the cost'.
In addition, their courier company said their returns policy would cost them the business - but as Alexandra said, 'fear and hesitation were the biggest blockers for customer', and so removing them was crucial.
After facing these teething products, the brand has enjoyed major success - and the couple continue to develop new products.
One of their recent popular launches is their range of 'rollie pollie playmats'. Talking about the line in a recent TikTok video, Alexandra said: 'When I was developing the playmat product, it was honestly spurred out of the same reason Miss Amara was born.
'I was looking for the perfect playmat in my lounge room, and I wanted the playmat to feel like something I could be proud of, something that I didn't have to put away when guests came over, something that effortlessly blended and elevated my space.'
She added that she wanted it to be very soft, and because small children's 'little feet are very picky', comfort was the most important thing.
Alexandra continued: 'One of my friends just pointed out that whenever my kid is in a room with a playmate, they will naturally gravitate towards the playmat, and they start jumping and rolling and they're having a great time, and I'm not stressing about it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Boomer homebuyers had to battle the highest interest rates in Australian history - but there's one reason they 'did it tougher' is a big lie
Baby boomers had it much easier than the younger generations buying a house - despite having to pay exorbitantly high interest rates. The generation born after the war were hit with massive 18 per cent interest rates back in the late 1980s. Those repayments were crippling, when they were coming of age in the seventies and eighties, but houses were significantly cheaper compared with typical incomes. That was also back when Australia's population was almost half of what it is today, long before annual immigration levels soared. Baby boomer economist Saul Eslake bought his first house in Melbourne 's St Kilda East for $105,000 in 1984 on a $35,000 salary when he was 26, after benefiting from free university education. With an $80,000 mortgage, he was borrowing little more than double his pay before tax and hits out at any suggestion his boomer generation did it tougher - despite the high interest rates he paid. 'I paid eighteen-and-a-half per cent for some of that but my first house cost $105,000 and it took me less than three years to save up the deposit,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Even though interest rates are less than half what I was paying, it was nowhere near as tough as now and I didn't have HECS debt to pay off because I was part of that lucky generation when it was free. 'My generation had it pretty easy - we got free education, we got housing very cheaply and we have made a motza out of the increase in house prices that we have voted for.' In 1980, Sydney's mid-point priced house cost $65,000, or just 4.5 times the average, full-time male wage in an era when a woman would struggle to get a mortgage without a signature from her husband. Real estate data group PropTrack estimated Sydney's median house would cost $338,000 today, or just 4.3 times the average salary now for all Australian workers, if house prices had increased at the same pace as wages during the past 45 years. In 2025, Sydney's middle-priced house costs $1.47million or 14.3 times the average, full-time salary of $103,000. But that price-to-income ratio surges to 18.7 if it's based on the average salary of $78,567 for all workers. AMP deputy chief economist Diana Mousina, a Millennial, said the younger generations were having a tougher time now saving up for 20 per cent mortgage deposit just to buy a home. 'The problem now is just getting into the market - that's what takes the larger chunk of trying to save; it takes 11 years to save,' she said. Boomers battled with sky high interest rates in the 80s - they haven't been that high since - but they had it easier because house prices were much more affordable Melbourne's mid-point house price cost just $40,000 in 1980 or 2.8 times the average male salary. If affordability had remained constant, a typical Melbourne would now cost just $205,400. But the Victorian capital's median house price of $850,000 is now 10.8 times the average salary for all workers. Brisbane's median house price cost $32,750 in 1980 or just 2.2 times what an average man earned. That would be $174,600 today if buying power hadn't changed. Queensland capital houses now cost $910,000 or 11.6 times the average salary. The major banks are unlikely to lend someone more than five times their pay before tax, which means many couples would now struggle to get a loan for a capital city house unless they moved to a far, outer suburb and had a big deposit. Housing affordability deteriorated following the introduction of the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount in 1999, just before annual immigration levels tripled during the 2000s. 'Since about 2000, you've seen home prices relative to incomes rise at a substantial amount - it's been the fact that we have been running high levels of population growth - so immigration, so more demand for housing,' Ms Mousina said. 'We have been running high migration targets, at the same time we haven't been building enough homes across the nation. 'We do have pretty favourable investment concessions for housing, including negative gearing, capital gains tax concession.' Mr Eslake said politicians from both sides of politics wanted house prices to rise, because more voters were home owners than renters trying to get into the market. 'For all the crocodile tears the politicians shed about the difficulties facing would-be first home buyers, they know that in any given year, there's only 110,000 of them,' he said. 'Even if you assume that for everyone who succeeds, in becoming a first home buyer, there are five or six who would like to but can't - that's at most around 750,000 votes for policies that would restrain the rate at which house prices go up. 'Whereas the politicians know that at any point in time, there are at least 11million Australians who own their own home; there are 2.5million Australians who own at least one investment property. 'Even the dumbest of our politicians - as the Americans say, "Do that math" which is why at every election, politicians on both sides of the divide - while bewailing the difficulties faced by first-home buyers - promise and implement policies that make it worse because they know that a vast majority of the Australian population do not want the problem to be solved.' Sydney was the first market to become seriously unaffordable as Australia's most expensive metropolitan housing market. PropTrack estimated Sydney's median house would cost $338,000 today, or just 4.3 times the average salary now for all Australian workers, if house prices had increased at the same pace as wages during the past 45 years (pictured is an auction at Homebush in the city's west) In 1990, the typical Sydney house cost $187,500 or $447,300 now if affordability had remained constant. A decade later 2000, shortly after the introduction of the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount, a typical Sydney house cost $284,950. That would translate into $544,000 today if affordability had remained constant. This would also be the point where a single, average-income earner could still get a loan at a stretch with a 20 per cent mortgage deposit. By 2010, Sydney's median house cost $600,000 or nine times the average, full-time salary, putting a home with a backyard beyond the reach of an average-income earner buying on their own. In addition, the housing affordability crisis has worsened as Australia's population has climbed from 14.5million in 1980 to 27.3million now. During the 2000s, annual net overseas migration doubled from 111,441 at the start of the decade to 315,700 by 2008 when the mining boom was driving population growth. After Australia was closed during Covid, immigration soared to a new record high of 548,800 in 2023, leading to house prices climbing even as the Reserve Bank was putting up interest rates. When it came to the stereotype of young people wasting their money on smashed avocado breakfasts instead of saving for a house deposit, Mr Eslake had a simple answer to that. 'At the very least, a highly visible rolling of the eyeballs,' he said.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Tim Wilson says Coalition won't revisit ban on working from home as ‘happy workers' are more productive
Shadow industrial relations minister Tim Wilson says work-from-home arrangements should be negotiated between employees and bosses, as 'happy workers tend to be more productive'. Wilson said Dutton's controversial policy to wind back flexible working for public servants – dumped midway through the election campaign in an embarrassing backdown – was a 'heavy solution' that the Coalition wouldn't resurrect in this term. The shadow minister said such working arrangements should be worked out in individual workplaces, based on productivity. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'If employers can find a pathway … and employees can find a pathway, together in partnership for working from home because it works in their best interest, then that would always be the baseline at which I'd approach workplace arrangements,' Wilson told Sky News on Sunday. 'It's not for me to dictate what those terms are.' Dutton's controversial policy to restrict working from home for public servants has been blamed in post-election analysis as a major factor in turning off professional women and young people from voting Liberal. Nationals leader David Littleproud, during the short-lived split between his party and the Liberals, claimed several times 'the work-from-home fiasco hurt us'. Other Liberal members have indicated since the election they were supportive of flexible working arrangements. Andrew Bragg, the shadow minister for productivity, last week said 'we believe in individual choice and back flexibility at work', citing studies showing such arrangements could boost productivity. Wilson, who bucked the nationwide trend and became the only Liberal to win a new seat by reclaiming the seat of Goldstein he lost in 2022 to Zoe Daniel, echoed similar sentiments. He told Sky News that workers should 'have a sense of ownership and responsibility of their workplace arrangements, in partnership with their employers'. 'When it comes to the politics of [Dutton's policy], I think a lot of people looked at it and ... it was probably interpreted, anyway, as a heavy solution to what should be, for the most part, a productivity managed problem between employers and employees.' Wilson said the WFH policy was raised with him 'from time to time' while campaigning for Goldstein, but that equally he had employers who felt they 'no longer had a balanced relationship with their employees and wanted redress'. 'We do know that happy workers tend to be more productive, and there's certainly circumstances where people working from home can be more productive than they might otherwise be,' Wilson said. 'Because of commute times, because of their capacity to balance out their work and family lives, based on what their needs are, but it can vary circumstance to circumstance.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion In a report last week, the Productivity Commission backed flexible working. 'Workers do not need to be in the office full-time to experience the benefits of in-person interactions. As a result, hybrid work (working some days remotely and some days in the office) tends to be beneficial to productivity, or at least is not detrimental to productivity,' the report said. 'Remote work also reduces breaks and sick days, and results in less distractions.' Also on Sunday, shadow finance minister James Paterson said he still believed Australia should boost defence spending to 3% of GDP – a policy outlined by Dutton. Dutton had committed to the figure late in the election campaign, but did not specify how it would be spent. Paterson, speaking on the ABC's Insiders, said the Coalition would provide details 'closer to the next election'. 'There's plenty of good advice out there in open source that suggests areas of investment. One is spending to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis facing the ADF. Another is to make sure that we have the munitions stockpile that we would need to survive a conflict, God forbid, if that should break out,' Paterson said. 'Other things [include] hardening the northern bases, the air and missile defence, drone defence, purchasing our own lethal drones.'
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Any day now! Heavily pregnant Abbey Holmes reveals her huge baby bump as she gears up to welcome her first child
Abbey Holmes is glowing as she enters the final stretch of her pregnancy. The 33-year-old sports presenter and former footballer took to social media over the weekend to share a stunning mirror selfie, proudly showcasing her heavily pregnant belly. Dressed in a fitted black long-sleeved top and low-slung white tracksuit pants, Abbey looked radiant as she cradled her bump in the bathroom mirror. Her sleek blonde hair was worn down in soft waves and she kept her makeup minimal, letting her natural beauty shine through. 'Going to miss my Belly. Have LOVED every second of being pregnant with you my sweet boy,' the soon-to-be mum captioned the footage. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. In January, Abbey announced she was expecting her first child, saying she and her husband were overjoyed, reported Herald Sun. Sharing the news with their family over Christmas first, Abbey went on to reveal she discovered she was pregnant after running the New York Marathon in November. 'As you can imagine, it was a bit of a shock given what I had just put my body through, but I'm in awe of what the human body can do,' she said. Nevertheless, Abbey said she and Keegan 'could not be happier to welcome our first child into the world, later this year'. 'We are so excited and grateful to be in this position, as we know how difficult it can be for so many people. We're on cloud nine and can't wait for this next chapter.' Abbey said the couple have been sharing their milestone news with as many people in person as possible, adding it's 'a really special time for us all'. She later shared a pregnancy announcement to Instagram, posting happy snaps of her growing baby bump taken by photographer Diana Brandt. The Seven star shared a heartfelt video capturing the moment she wiped away tears, overwhelmed by the achievement of completing the 42.2 kilometre challenge. 'Speechless. Proud,' she captioned the clip. 'The emotion on that finish line hit me reeeeaal hard. I am a marathon runner!' The path to the New York Marathon wasn't easy for Holmes. She had been juggling her on-screen commitments with Channel Seven, alongside marathon training. The lovers married in November 2023 in a stunning ceremony at Uluru in the Northern Territory. They wed in front of about 100 friends and family, including Abbey's Seven commentary colleagues Luke Hodge and Brian Taylor.
