Brisbane mum creates six-figure business following staph infection

A mother-of-two has revealed how a trip to the hospital helped her come up with the idea for a six-figure business.

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A mother-of-two has revealed how a trip to the hospital helped her come up with the idea for her six-figure business.

Lola Wilson was working as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer in a gym, but it was after her own workout that she fell ill.

Despite using her towel as protection from any germs on the gym equipment, she ended up with a staph infection on her arm that landed her in hospital.

“I felt like my towel was the reason I got it because I didn’t know what side was for the equipment and what side was for my body,” she told news.com.au.

Lola Wilson got a staph infection from gym equipment. Picture: Supplied

A staph infection is an infection caused by bacteria commonly found on the skin or nose, with common symptoms including boils and oozing blisters.

She was in hospital for two nights before she was allowed to leave, and the infection cleared up pretty quickly after that. However, she wasn’t allowed back in the gym for a while.

The mother-of-two realised what happened to her — and something she had seen happen to others — was a wakeup call about hygiene in the fitness industry.

Thus JYMJUNKI, her two-tone antibacterial yoga towel brand was born.

“Over the next few months, I started with a lot of samples of different materials and a lot of testing,” she said, saying she looked at 50 all up.

She said she was testing them for absorbency and also eco-friendliness, before moving on to the aesthetic of the towel. It took a year before the brand was launched in May 2023.

She was in hospital for two days with the infection. Picture: Supplied

So, she created JYMJUNKI. Picture: Supplied

“The specific type of material, it absorbs it the sweat away, almost wicking it away from the body without being wet and soggy,” she said, labelling it a “quick dry material”.

“A lot of the towels [on the market] are tiny, and they don’t even cover like your mat or the machines. So I designed it specifically so when you’re doing a sit up on the ground that you’re on the towel and not the bench.”

She also said the two-tone design was important, so people can easily see which side goes where, and making it out of recycled water bottles was a key component.

The mum has created a six-figure business. Picture: Supplied

Eventually, she launched it on Amazon US and in a year, she sold more than 5000 towels and cracked more than $100,000 in revenue. It has become the number one selling yoga mat on the platform.

She said she always hoped the idea would take off, but you never know and it wasn’t until preparing to talk about the brand where she really sat back and thought about the success she’s had.

Currently, Ms Wilson sells in Australia, the US and Canada but is hoping to expand to more markets and bring out an array of items such as gym bags.

However, despite the massive launch of the business, she hasn’t stopped teaching her fitness classes, saying she “loves it” too much.