Our Reality of Running a Small Business as two Stay Home Mamas.

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We entered this journey together not only being childhood best friends but being stay home mamas. Having both previously worked in the Early Childhood setting, we knew the best learning for children is through play. We quickly came to realise most baby play mats in New Zealand had no sensory elements at all, we decided to create our own, this is what formed the making of Nosey Toesie. It definitely didn't happen overnight and it really is still only the beginning for us. A lot of dedication and passion goes into everything we do for Nosey Toesie.

When you scroll past a photo of our beautiful Touch 'n Go Play Mat or see a product launch pop up on your feed, it can look polished, simple, and effortless. But behind every post, every new product, and every package leaving our little HQ's is a whole lot of time, love, and sacrifice.

Running a small business as two stay-at-home mum's is a dream we hope to achieve in many ways, but it’s also one of the hardest things we have ever done, well in second place to becoming mums.

The Hours You Don’t See

Most of the time we are working early mornings and late nights, once our boys are in bed. Or then in those tiny quick moments of quiet during nap times. Every social media caption, product photo, email, and design decision takes hours of thought, time and energy. Being a small family business, means we do it all ourselves to save costs where we can. It has also meant becoming content creators, trying to think of ways to show who we are, and what our products stand for, all while competing with social medias algorithim's which we still don't understand. So yes it means long nights and early mornings - because when you’re both mama and business owners, you never really clock off.

Where the Money Really Goes

Here’s the truth a lot of small business owners don’t talk about, profit isn’t instant. Every dollar that comes in goes straight back into all the business costs- stock, packaging, shipping costs, ads, safety testing, and further product development. It’s definitely not about quick money for us, it’s about building something long-lasting, something meaningful and something that is going to be safe plus provide purposeful play and learning opportunity's for babies and toddlers.

Why We Do It Anyway

The dream behind Nosey Toesie is much bigger than just creating sensory based products and trying to establish a family business that hopefully helps us to remain staying at home with our boys. What we truly wanted was to create a high-quality sensory play mat, and other products that nurture little ones in their most important years. The first three years of a child's life is so important and impactful on how they then perceive and interact with the world around them. Nurturing children's growth and resilience through play is priceless.

Although our products do have the great benefits of supporting independent and imaginative play, we do love how they can also provide opportunities for parents to play alongside their babies and toddlers. For us it is so important that parents soak up the magic of parenthood. This can often become lost so quickly with the busy world we are living now, and all the extra things we also commit too.

The Heart of It All

So while you may not see the sleepless nights, the financial juggle, or the countless hours poured into bringing these products to life, please know this: every interaction with our community, and every order means the world. We appreciate and value every like, comment, and share, for us it is encouragement to keep going.

Behind every small business is a big dream, family, and a whole lot of heart. 💛

If this is your first time coming across Nosey Toesie, be sure to check out our instagram https://www.instagram.com/noseytoesie/

and our website! Thank you so much for all the continued support and encouragement, it means so much to us.

Much love

Penny and Nicole

The Nosey Toesie Team x

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