{"id":281559,"date":"2022-08-25T18:04:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T08:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/?post_type=au-pro-education&p=281559"},"modified":"2024-11-22T13:56:48","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T02:56:48","slug":"lala-design-envelopes-to-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"au-pro-education","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/pro-education\/lala-design-envelopes-to-entrepreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"Envelopes to entrepreneur: How innovation saved Lala’s business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not just a stationery business \u2014 the founder of Paper & Ink Studio<\/a><\/strong> (Formerly Lala Design) has many feathers in her cap. We caught up with Lala Macnab<\/strong> to find out how innovation became her COVID lifeline and how a listening ear launched her platform as a business coach.<\/p>\n

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Lala Macnab, of Paper & Ink Studio (formerly Lala Design) and her A4 wedding planner product.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paper & Ink Studio is one of Australia’s leading <\/span>wedding invitation and stationery<\/b> companies. The 20-year-old business specialises in designing and printing custom bespoke invitations and stationery for couples who love gorgeous stationery for their wedding day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing about running your own business is the power to create the business that <\/span>you <\/span><\/i>want,\u201d says Lala Macnab, the self-professed \u201cqueen of stationery\u201d and owner of Paper & Ink Studio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my main focuses in starting my business was that I\u2019m very customer-focussed, and I found there was a bit of a gap in the market for customer-focussed business in the wedding stationery industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A little bit of love goes a long way, Lala says. \u201cIt\u2019s always the little extra steps that we take. Our couples are gifted a keepsake invite and also a beautiful card that they give one another on their wedding day as a gift from us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong social media presence, the Perth-based entrepreneur uses innovation in her business communications \u2014 something she believes sets her apart from many other wedding suppliers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat separates us from other wedding businesses is that we\u2019re probably one of the most visible ones on social media that spend a lot of time educating and empowering couples when it comes to planning their wedding \u2014 not just with stationery, but I\u2019ll often be on there talking about other things,\u201d Lala says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome wedding vendors get really stuck \u2014 they don\u2019t adapt their socials, they don\u2019t rebrand. I often respond to emails with Loom videos so I can do a \u2018show-and-tell\u2019 instead of a long-winded email. That way, the client can see what I\u2019m saying on the screen and also hear the excitement in my voice. Or I use a voice message on Instagram.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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COVID a catalyst for innovation<\/h2>\n

When COVID shut down weddings in Perth, Lala knew she needed to innovate. So she doubled down on her wedding planners \u2014 physical A4-sized folders comprising 135 pages of fully-tabbed worksheets, to-do lists and budget trackers, to help couples plan their engagements, hen\u2019s parties, weddings and honeymoons – and everything else in between.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The stationery vendor already offered the personalised planners for some time, but when COVID hit, Lala ramped up the marketing to not only keep the business afloat, but to also help instil hope in the thousands of engaged coupes suddenly left with their wedding plans in limbo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking, \u2018what would I like if I was getting married? I would like some hope, some happiness and some joy, and something to do\u2019. So I took the last bit of money I had in the bank and created Facebook ads with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She went from selling five planners a month to 50 in the first week of the marketing campaign.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time. So when you buy something like this you\u2019re usually at the beginning of your wedding planning journey, and it\u2019s something physical that you can get excited about \u2014 apart from your engagement ring \u2014 and go \u2018Oh my God, we\u2019re getting married!\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wrapped like a present \u2014 with lovely thick paper and florals on it and all sorts. We just go crazy. It\u2019s exquisite. I\u2019m so proud of it when it goes out. And when people get it, they just geek. We\u2019re constantly getting Instagram DMs and stories from people saying \u2018Oh My God, it\u2019s wrapped like a present!\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from the wedding planners, the pandemic was also the catalyst for Lala to diversify as a business coach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat Friday, when Perth shut down weddings and we [the business] lost 98% of them, I went \u2018right, ok. This is going to be one of the most stressful periods of my life – what do I need to do to get through it? I need to go into the community to help.\u2019 \u201c<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI went on the Lala Design Instagram page and shared a link for people to book a free 30-minute mentor session to chat with me about anything at all. And I got 68 bookings in two weeks – mostly from Perth businesses and wedding businesses. But from doing those 68 free sessions, people wanted to pay me to be their business coach.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And Lala For Business was born.<\/span><\/p>\n

She had already considered someday branching out to become a business coach, but the pivot came about five years sooner than expected.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t just coach in the wedding industry, I coach across all types of businesses. Because I\u2019m completely self-taught, my knowledge covers all fundamentals of business,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lala\u2019s 5 Top Tips for business success<\/h2>\n

1. Look at how you\u2019re communicating with your couples.<\/h3>\n

Your product may be an everyday transaction for you, but don\u2019t forget that for your couples, their wedding is the sole focus of their world right now. For each and every person, it is the most exciting experience they\u2019re ever gone through. Sometimes vendors disconnect from that and that experience doesn\u2019t get delivered, which can put a dampener on the industry as a whole.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Send out your sample pack with a little love<\/h3>\n

Is there any discount offered? Is there a hand-written note, did you include an extra freebie? Are you excited? The effort you show when sending out your sample pack should be an example of the level of effort you\u2019re going to put into their actual invites.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Show your worth<\/h3>\n

Marketing yourself well on social media and educate couples about your value and what you can offer. Vendors can sometimes complain that they spend so much time quoting and the couple didn\u2019t want to pay the price. But that comes down to educating them on the value you are offering.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. \u2026then keep showing your worth<\/h3>\n

The biggest mistake wedding suppliers often make is not being consistent with marketing all year round \u2014 not just during the quiet times. I often see \u2014 particularly with wedding vendors – when they start going hard on social media, it\u2019s because they\u2019ve gotten quiet. But they should have been marketing 24-7. And that includes engaging, not just posting.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Recognise when you\u2019ve lost the joy<\/h3>\n

If business becomes taxing and emotionless, recognise that you\u2019re at burnout stage. Accept it and work on doing something to reconnect with that passion. Otherwise, look at an exit strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

For a closer look at how Easy Weddings has helped super-charge Lala’s business, download the Paper & Ink Studio Case Study, here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Curious to see how your business could grow with Easy Weddings?\u00a0<\/i>Tell us a little about yourself in this online form<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and we\u2019ll reach out for a no-obligation chat.<\/i><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":281566,"template":"","au_pro_edu_tags":[],"class_list":["post-281559","au-pro-education","type-au-pro-education","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","au_pro_edu_categories-marketing-tips","au_pro_edu_categories-supplier-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education\/281559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/au-pro-education"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"au_pro_edu_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au_pro_edu_tags?post=281559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}