This article is a shout out to our friends at AusPost who nominated us for this award. We were so thankful to be recognised as a Local Business Hero in our region for 2022 along with 50 other businesses from all over Australia. It was such an honour to be chosen, and has opened up so many business opportunities for us that we would never have had access to without this award. Although it is almost 12 months on from receiving this recognition, we thought we would take the time to share a little bit of what this award has opened up for us as a small business.

Our local AusPost business manager nominated us for the award; and this in itself was very exciting. We have gone from knowing very little about shipping and logistics to feeling very confident navigating the many challenges that arise through shipping fragile furniture in all shapes and sizes all over Australia and Internationally.

While it has been something that never had a straightforward pathway, our local AusPost team have been guiding us at each step along the way. We really love the great business relationships we have with our local AusPost business centre, in addition to other members of the greater AusPost team who have been instrumental in working with us in our e-Commerce business. Running a small business is challenging enough, so having other businesses around us that are great to work with is so important to us. Australia Post is a huge business, but is successful because of the local people on the ground so to speak that care about the experience we have with them.

At little bit of behind-the-scenes insight into our day to day running of Jemmervale Designs greatly involves shipping and logistics. We are always talking about cardboard boxes, environmentally-friendly packaging, dispatch dates, shipping times and tracking numbers! After trying many shipping companies to deliver our product we are convinced that AusPost is the best fit for us, and also offers the most reliable service for our customers. While there is the occasional issue with an International parcel, especially through the challenges that Covid provided, we have never once had a parcel damaged or missing via the AusPost standard domestic and express service! So you can be assured, that we have selected the best possible shipping option for you to receive your Jemmervale Designs product. We are also really impressed by the timeliness of their delivery times and comparative to other shipping providers, they have a proven track record of things arriving undamaged and on time.

As part of the support provided in the Local Business Hero award, we were also awarded business coaching sessions through Small Business Australia. This was a huge help to us; as much as we love what we do and enjoy the learning-as-we-go process, being able to receive expert advice from those who have run numerous successful business is just priceless. A special thanks must be given to Bill Lang, the Executive Director of Small Business Australia, for his wealth of knowledge, generosity of time and genuine passion for the success of our small business that he shared with us. We would absolutely recommend engaging the services of Small Business Australia for those looking to start, grow and build small businesses. You won’t be disappointed! Bill Lang helped us develop some key goals and strategies to scale our business, along with some very practical ideas to ensure our customers have a great experience with our brand and are completely aware of the Jemmervale Designs difference. We hope that you are enjoying getting to know more about Jemmervale Designs behind-the-scenes, and that you know exactly what you are purchasing, where it was made, who made it and everything about it!

In addition to the breadth of knowledge shared with us from both AusPost and Small Business Australia, the award has given us huge exposure nationwide. We were humorously surprised one day to discover that our faces were on a billboard at the Noosa Airport as part of the AusPost Local Business Heroes promotions! We never expected anything like that to happen to us! We also appreciate AusPost backing the small businesses that use their services by providing us with lots of background help and assistance. We have forged many excellent business relationships in the last 12 months, thanks to this award, and we look forward to what the partnership between Jemmervale Designs, MyPost Business AusPost and Small Business Australia will provide going forward from here.

If you are a small business looking at your shipping options then reach out to your local AusPost team. They really are motivated to see small business succeed!