Interview with yard family organic rugs

Product: Yard family organic rugs

Description: organic cotton indoor and outdoor rugs

Creator: sisters Emily and Alice

Can you tell us a bit about your brand, how you chose yard family as the name and what inspired you to create your rugs range?

Yard Family is Emily and Alice, and we are sisters and mums. We each have multiple children and live on the Gold Coast, Australia with our husbands and families.

We wanted to have a creative outlet for our combined skills and ideas, but also wanted a business that we could fit in with our families and kids. As sisters we were raised in a family where we had very little television and artificial amusement, but were encouraged to use our imaginations, get outside and have adventures, and be active as much as possible. These are all qualities we try to instil with our own children. We believe that society, as a whole, needs to get back to the basics of good, old-fashioned, outdoor fun. The family unit benefits hugely from quality time spent together, and there are long-lasting benefits both intellectually and physically for children to be active outside, exploring, playing make-believe, running, jumping, and all good things that can be done in the great outdoors.

As a jumping-off point, we designed the Yard Blankets, whose designs capture our love for the outdoors, as well as incorporate some style and sophistication for the fashion-savvy family. The size was important for us. We wanted a product that could accommodate a whole family or large group of friends, or simply one or two people with luxurious amounts of space left over. We obviously had our own large families in mind when we did this!

Yard Blankets will make a soft spot out of any patch of grass, beach, bench, chair, or even back patio.

The fact that the Yard Blankets are machine-washable is very appealing to busy mums who want to be able to enjoy a day out, then come home and throw theirs in the washing machine if the kids have been particularly messy that day. We deliberately did not make the blankets with plastic backings for this very reason.

Yard Blankets are also very versatile for uses other than on the ground. We have customers telling us how they use theirs as a nursery play mat, a throw over a chair or bed, or a blanket to snuggle under on chilly nights.

Yard Blankets are not just ground blankets – they’re very multi-purpose and functional in other areas too, wherever you need a soft spot or some styling!

What roadblocks and challenges have you encountered while creating Yard family?

It sounds cliché, but what they say really is true – you just have to be determined to not let the setbacks get you down and persevere with your ideas. We had our first entire batch of Yard Blankets turn out to be faulty, and we had a second supplier let us down completely and we lost thousands of dollars of investment. Yet we believed in our product enough to keep calm and carry on (Well, we weren’t so calm initially but we definitely carried on!)

Another uphill climb has been getting our name out there – getting people to know and trust our brand. Good customer service is an absolute must, even if you aren’t entirely at fault. A satisfied customer may tell one or two people, but a dissatisfied customer will tell everybody! Receiving positive feedback and reviews from our customers is what we live for!

How have you juggled family life, working and developing your brand at the same time?

We honestly believe that family takes precedence over everything else. We try to put the needs of our families before the needs of the business, and thankfully we both have very supportive husbands who are happy to fill in in the times where we have obligations or deadlines. Part of the appeal of having this business was being able to stay at home with our youngest children and work around the family. There is definitely opportunity to make Yard Family a lot bigger than it is, but at the end of the day, there’s no point having a business with the intention of making a more comfortable life for your family, when you never have time to spend with your family. So for us, it’s daytime hours when the kids are at school or napping, and evenings!

What’s your biggest motivation for continuing to work on Yard family?

Knowing that people love our products. We couldn’t continue to work on something we were half-hearted about, or that we didn’t love ourselves. But we genuinely love our Yard Blankets. We put countless hours of time and money into perfecting the product and getting the standard of quality up to where we were proud to send one to a customer. And as I mentioned, the hugest compliment for us is having someone send us a thank you letter, or leave us a review, or even better, become a repeat customer! (like yourself! X) There’s no greater compliment than a repeat customer. And so that is why we continue with Yard Family, because we know that our customers will love their Yard Blankets as much as we do!

What’s next for Yard family? Any more products? :)

We are currently finalizing two new designs which we are very excited about! Again, it’s taken months and months of planning, communicating with our supplier, and sampling. But They’ll be worth it! We will probably stick with what we know range-wise. We would rather do one or two things and do them really well than try and spread ourselves too thin. Quality over quantity every time!

You obviously have amazing work ethic and strive to deliver quality in your brand, what is the biggest lesson you’d like your kids to learn from you?

I suppose it comes back to “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” which is a Bible quote but also a life principle we should all live by. We would want our kids to put themselves into a customer’s shoes – how would they as a customer want to feel when they opened a package, looked at their purchase, used their purchase? If they had a complaint or problem come up, how would they want the business to treat them and handle their issue?

What would you tell others who are also looking to create their own product line and brand?

Go for it. The hardest part is getting started, the second hardest part is keeping on going when things don’t go right. Don’t let the setbacks discourage you. Believe in your brand and products and people will believe in them too. Pay very close attention t quality. It’s rare to find truly high quality products in this consumable society! Form good relationships you’re your suppliers and collaborators. Be friendly and likable. People will want to work with you simply because you are NICE! Again, I would emphasize outstanding customer service, and letting your customers get to know you on a personal level – let them know you’re a hardworking stay-at-home mum, etc just like them. People love people they can relate to!