A few years back I was perusing the streets of Mona Vale on Sydney’s Northern Beaches (as one does), and I chanced upon what looked like from the outside, a little stationary store. However once I stepped inside I was transported to a magical place of all things beautiful, cute, colourful and considered. Yes there was stationary, but oh my there was more…. Little Paper Lane is the love child of Jayde Leeder, and trust me, it is all that and more. But not only does she have the most adorable store around, she also has a killer Instagram account (get familiar if you’re not already) where she provides the must belly laugh worthy accounts of life as a business owner, a mother, and ‘keeper’ of a somewhat neurotic Husky named Coco. She’s straight up, honest, hilarious and witty as hell. It was a privilege to find out a little more on what makes this lady tick…
OC: WHERE ARE YOU + WHAT’S THE TIME?
JL: At home in Avalon, Sydney and its 12:09am
OC: TELL US A BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU DO
JL: I own Little Paper Lane, a stationery and gift boutique in Mona Vale, Sydney. We specialize in custom Stationery and invitation design for all events like weddings and parties, as well as sign writing for chalkboards, and window display design as well as business branding and social media set up and training.
OC: WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
JL: Helping other people to build their brands and the connections and friendships I make with customers, clients and the online community we have built. And ordering pretty products. It’s like Christmas every time new products arrive J
OC: WHAT SACRIFICES HAVE YOU HAD TO MAKE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR?
JL: Having very little social life, and not much time out. You have to be constantly working when you u have your own business, and you have to work hard to make it work. But we love what we do, so its all worth it.
OC: WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?
JL: Seeing my kids happy. If they are having the best day then we all are having the best day. Happiness and laughing is infectious. As far as being happy professionally, I think hearing from clients and customers that what we have designed or help them create is working for them. Its always an amazing feeling when you have helped to shape someones business and they are doing well.
OC: TELL US ABOUT A HIGH POINT IN YOUR CAREER
JL: Being asked to style a mock window display for Life Instyle was a very awesome moment for us. The stylists who had done it before us, I really admire and are very well known within the industry and so I was really chuffed to be asked and we had a lot of fun doing it.
OC: NOW TELL US ABOUT A LOW POINT
JL: The low times don’t happen too often because we run everything in a very positive way. So even when stuff has been a bit crap we try really hard to use it as a lesson. It was really hard to not be in the actual shop when I was pregnant with Minty and when she was little. I had to take a back seat and let Steve (my husband and business partner) and my Mum who works 2 days in the shop run things. I don’t incubate my babies well. I have a lot of pain daily and so the combination of pregnancy problems and my chronic pain meant I had to learn to delegate better. It was actually a good thing because it meant I had to learn to communicate better with my team, and they are so capable of looking after things that now because majority of my work is not physically in the shop, I don’t actually sit worrying at all about how the shop looks, or how the customer service is. They are amazing. And our casual Rin and our casuals in the past have all been extremely well currated. We are a very small team and even as we grow, our team will always be people who we think of as family, even if they are not. We have to have staff that treats LPL as their own. Or I will just have panic attacks worrying.
OC: WHAT’S YOUR COFFEE ORDER?
JL: Flat white with 2 sugars (coconut sugar if its available)
OC: WHAT KICK ASS DAILY HABITS DO YOU HAVE IN PLACE?
JL: I usually run through facebook and social media every morning. I have to know what is going on in the world and what trends and what is happening and being created in life to have a better business, so I usually eat breaky or have my coffee with a phone or my laptop in my face so I can get an idea of what the day will bring make sure I have detox water because I eat lots of pain killers to get through life so I make sure I flush my body with a good detox water and read my emails. My days are never the same because I usually have Minty with me or I have social media lessons or I have to create a new window display so every day is different but I usually don’t ever start it without looking at Pinterest, even if its 3 minutes, just to get the creativity started.
OC: HOW DO YOU GENERATE NEW IDEA’S?
JL: I keep notes in my phone and my planner, and anytime (usually while trying to go to sleep) and sometimes a small idea will come to me. It could be as simple as ‘paper flower’ I always write it down. So that when I am feeling very uninspired I look through my lists and usually the sparks start in my mind reading over the list. Pinterest is always a great place to gain inspiration and ideas. And magazines always seem to get the creative juices flowing.
OC: IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO START YOUR CAREER OVER AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY?
JL: I honestly don’t think I would change much. I really think the way we started the business was the right way for us.
OC: IF YOU COULD SHARE ONE PIECE OF BUSINESS ADVICE WITH OTHERS WHAT WOULD IT BE?
JL: Organically grow your business. Work hard and be honest about what goes wrong and change it gently. Learn from your mistakes, don’t keep trying to perfect the mistakes, change things up and don’t be stubborn. Sometimes when we are helping to re brand someone who hasn’t had much success with their business, we try to show them ways to grow the business on their social media, and show them why their social media isn’t working, and because they are set in their ways, and like the way they are doing things, they don’t want to change. There are so many ways to grow and evolve without dramatically changing yourself, but you need to always be flexible and open. You wont grow If you don’t explore new ways of doing things when your old ways are not helping you.
OC: GIVE US THE 3 WORDS OTHER PEOLE WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE YOU
JL: Fun, BossLady (that’s one word cos I decided it was), kind.
To visit Little Paper Lane, and get your hands on some of Jayde’s incredible design goodness head over to her website >> littlepaperlane.com.au >> and be sure to check out her fabulous Instagram account >> instagram.com/littlepaperlane