Just under 2 years ago, I took my passion for creating and started my online business ‘Makyla Creates’ selling digital sewing patterns.
This has since grown into a large online community of likeminded people who want to learn about the skills required to be self-sufficient homemakers.
Prior to this I was a Fashion Buyer for one of New Zealand's well know fashion lines. My dream job! After completing a 3 year fashion diploma in order to land my dream job I quickly discovered that the typical, overworked, underpaid, under appreciated, 9-5 job wasn’t for me.
I was feeling uninspired, tired, and overall lost with where I was heading with my career. My passion for sewing was diminishing and I felt like there had to be more to life than this.
My partner Sean and I decided it was time to save up to go travelling. I decided to leave my job (an easy decision), and we packed our bags. Unfortunately, in March 2020 New Zealand went into a full lockdown, I was left unemployed and unable to find a new job.
I had rent and typical bills to pay, so I needed to plan my next move quickly.
How to Find Opportunity in Tough Times
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity” - Albert Einstein
With the number of lockdowns happening around the globe, I noticed a huge surge of women learning how to sew.
They were sharing pictures of their outfits and what sewing patterns they were using with their followers on Instagram.
My passion has always been creating and after studying pattern making and design, I knew this was an exciting time to put my skills to work.
I began designing and drafting up sewing patterns that I felt beginner sewers would enjoy making.
I launched my first pattern in April 2020.
Since then, I have sold 100’s of digital sewing patterns to women all over the world, allowing me to generate a passive income, while I continue to build my business and work part time.
I started to learn that people were wanting more than just sewing patterns, they wanted to learn life skills, that will save them time and money Being stuck at home, facing supply issues and being afraid of going out was opening a world of forgotten skills perhaps our great grandparents used daily
So, I decided to speak to Sharyn, my mother-in-law, who was already dipping her toes in the online world. She encouraged me to start a YouTube channel and try my hand at blogging.
Believing In Yourself Is the First Secret to Success
It hasn’t been easy, I’ve made mistakes, wasted money, time and I’ve had a lot of self-doubt.
Starting my business with the need to make money fast was hard. I put so much pressure on myself and I spent all my time trying to learn everything as quickly as possible. It was exhausting, overwhelming and unsustainable.
I knew I needed to rethink the way I was working and stop stressing about things that were out of my control. As my dad always says, “Don’t stress it, money will always come if you believe in yourself, and you do a good job.”
This has really helped me to rethink the way that I work. When I stopped panicking about money, and I began to put my energy into believing in myself and growing my business, things started to change.
I have now built an amazing community of almost 9000 people on Instagram, 4000 on YouTube and I reach an audience of over 1.1 million on Pinterest every month.
I didn’t get here by luck or some secret hack, I was unemployed, and stressed but I knew I had something good to share with the world.
New Opportunities
I’m blessed to work from home with my wonderful mother-in-law, Sharyn and beautiful sister-in-law, Shania. Plus, our family doggy’s! Having each other for support, to bounce ideas from and to encourage one another has been life changing for me.
With Covid causing so much uncertainty we felt the need to share our knowledge with you to help you start making a living online, like we have.
Here you can learn how to create a healthy work/life balance, what mistakes to avoid making, how to save time and money, inspiration for your workspace and even ideas for what to make for lunch!
We’re here to encourage you to start living lovely too!
