“My parents worked hard for my education but they never gave me any pocket money so I had every part-time job under the sun.”
While studying an arts degree at uni, Carolyn Creswell would add another job title to her resume: business owner.
Carolyn was working part-time at a muesli business when her boss decided to close. Faced, with the prospect of being unemployed, her and a partner bought the business, and renamed it Carman’s.
The first few years were the hardest for her.
“For the first 10 years, I was probably the only employee, so it’s certainly no overnight success story,” Carolyn says. (She bought out the other business partner two years in.)
“These hands made the product for many years! I packed it, and delivered it!”
She also admits the cons of running Carman’s outweighed the pros for that period, mainly due to cashflow issues.
Carman's muesli bars used to be made, packed and delivered by hand. Source: Supplied
“If I could’ve gotten rid of it in the first few years, I would have, but I owed money. It was really hard.”
“I used to get my brother to siphon petrol out of my mum’s car when she wasn’t looking so I would have enough petrol to do deliveries the next day.”
Eventually, Carman’s gained enough traction and earned their first check of $1000 from a major supermarket, which Carolyn still has framed in their Melbourne headquarters.
The business has seen double-digit growth over the past 24 years, with no plans of stopping soon. Exporting to China is in the pipelines, due to the high demand of good quality Australian products among Chinese consumers.
"In China, Australian food is so highly regarded, and so there’s a really big push for our green and clean ingredients.”
Carman's health-conscious products put them on the radar for many Chinese consumers. Source: Supplied
“We think it could be potentially as big as our Australian business in the next few years.”
For someone with an arts background, running a small business was a tremendous learning curve. Carolyn says the best thing business owners can do is always ask questions.
“Some people are embarrassed by silly questions, and I just think, if I don’t know something, I’ll just go and ask someone who does.”
“I’m just always trying to learn.”
Carolyn says it's important for business owners to ask questions, especially if they don't know something. Source: Supplied
This includes hiring the right staff for the business. Rather than focusing on marketing her food range, Carolyn emphasises the importance of developing great products to begin with.
“If people see a billboard or something, it might get their attention, but it won’t make them buy week in, week out. So we put a lot more effort into the recipes and designing the product than we do in any form of advertising.”
“The real strength of Carman’s is our product team.”
Now a world away from the anxieties of living paycheck to paycheck and Carman’s turning over $82 million in revenue, Carolyn is still humbled by the opportunities she’s been given.
Carolyn attributes her success to the team behind her. Source: Supplied
“I feel honoured in Australia that you can go from working on the checkout to end up having a business that provides those products that go through the checkout. We’re lucky to live in a country where this is possible,” she says.
“I know plenty of places where this just couldn’t happen, so I live with a very grateful heart that this has been my journey.”
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