Mum’s baby product side hustle now earns her $20,000 a month

The Melbourne mum came up with the clever idea when watching her baby struggle to pick up food #IWD

When Jade Wood’s second daughter, Piper, was born, the Melbourne mum was forced to make a major decision that would affect their lives forever. 

The 38-year-old had chosen to quit her “50-hour-a-week” job of the past 10 years as a secondary teacher, and with part-time options not available, she began something she had never, ever done before: start her own business. 

“I knew that it wasn’t possible to continue with my old career with the life that I wanted for my family, so this gave me a sense of purpose to create a new one,” Jade tells Kidspot. 

“I had to make it work, I had no choice. That was my motivation.” 

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The mum is passionate about easy and safe products for kids. Image: Supplied

The beginning of a successful business

So in 2017, when baby Piper was six months old, Jade came up with a design for a silicone teething toy, which was uncommon at the time.  

Despite taking care of her baby and then three-year-old daughter Eliza full time, it took just three months for Jade to have her first product - a shooting star teething toy - ready for sale on her Little Woods website. 

“I would work during breastfeeding, naps, and mostly at night up until late,” Jade, who worked out of the room that used to be Piper’s nursery, says. 

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While she admits she sacrificed many bedtimes and story reading in the business’ first year, Jade has no regrets.

“I did miss a lot but with my husband at work all day, that's what I needed to do to get work done.”  

As well as giving up a successful career, the mum-of-two also risked $20,000 of the family’s savings to launch Little Woods.

“I was confident in the idea and had positive market research to back it up, so I went for it.” 

Mum Jade came up with the clever idea after watching her daughter try and grab food. Images: Supplied

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A risk that has paid off... and is still paying!

It took a while, but Jade still remembers the thrill of her very first sale. 

“My cousin was the one who bought it,” she says. “I remember wanting to keep the money from that and not spend it because I was so proud of it.”

As she began to sell the teether, Jade’s next product idea came from watching Piper trying to navigate the first months of eating solids through baby-led-weaning. 

“She was getting frustrated with the fork I had, so I knew there had to be a way for her to be able to pick up chunks of food more easily.” 

It took two years of perfecting the product design and meeting strict safety requirements to come up with a uniquely-shaped silicone utensil which has a spoon on one end and thick-pronged circle-shaped fork on the other. 

“It works well because babies randomly stab food, and with this style, the food gets caught in the cavity between the prongs, allowing them to bring it to their mouths more easily,” Jade explains. 

“And then they keep doing that until they can use a proper utensil when they get older.” 

A clever double-ended fork that grabs food easily. Image: Supplied

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Never looking back

Jade’s patience and determination paid off in 2020 when the business began making more than $20,000 per month in sales online and via wholesale orders to stores. 

“It was such a great feeling after having done so much work that the products were resonating with parents,” she says proudly.  

The First Utensil has been Jade’s most popular item - selling more than 15,000 units - and she now has eight products (all of which she designed) that include silicone tableware and accessories sold via her website and in stores. 

As her business grew, Jade went from being the sole employee for the first two years and sending product from her home, to now being able to outsource some of those duties to contractors and moving her stock to a NSW warehouse where it’s shipped to stores and customers around Australia every day. 

To date, Little Woods has racked up more than $700,000 in sales ($300,000 of that in 2021 alone), and the astute businesswoman has projected this financial year’s figure will be in excess of $500,000. 

The best part, says Jade, is that it’s all been achieved in the time that she has chosen to work around her family, which has been no more than 20 hours-a-week until five-year-old Piper joined her eight-year-old sister Eliza at school this year. 

“When I can go to my child’s assembly or pick them up from school when they’re sick, those are the moments that I feel lucky that I can do what I do.” 

Kids are put to work. Image: Supplied

Originally published as Mum’s baby product side hustle now earns her $20,000 a month