Meet the Maker
MEET MEAGAN - OWNER AND CREATOR OF FAWN AND FINCH
Behind every great business is a person. A person who started somewhere and worked tirelessly, passionately and creatively to produce the brand that we all know and love today!
This month we are featuring none other than the amazing Meagan Greenland, owner and creator of Fawn and Finch (swoon). We are so excited to have Fawn and Finch join the Darlings of August family!
We asked the beautiful Meags some questions about her brand.
- Meagan, what inspired you to start Fawn and Finch?
I started Fawn and Finch in 2014 when my firstborn was six weeks old, you know that period of time when they sleep! I have always been a very restless person and really like to challenge myself and stay busy so this was my way of doing that. It started on my dining room table and I was cutting and sewing topknots. I splurged for $200 worth of fabric from Spoonflower and once it arrived I had my templates ready to go and I was ready to start sewing! From there we started to import some small fringe moccasins and then the creative side of the business really started to blossom once I started to design my own shoes. This was first released with our old Ballerina style and then our bootie moccasins came next.
Slowly the business started to take over every corner of our house and we knew that we would have to do something drastic to give it the space that was required to grow.
I guess when it all came down to it, the thing that inspired me most to start my business was my daughter Willow. I was hopeful that I would be able to create something that would allow me to stay home with her and work from home with her and this is exactly what the business has allowed me.
- Did it take long to get Fawn and Finch off the ground?
It did take a couple of years for the business to get to a place where I was able to take a wage from it and make it something that was profitable and sustainable for me and my family. Before that I was working as a teacher part-time to help pay the bills and once the business got to the point where I was able to pull wage from it, I slowed down on the teaching side of things.
- What is your favourite thing about being a “Boss Business Mumma”?
The thing that I love most about being my own boss is being a role model for my children and showing them that they can have the flexibility of working for themselves. It definitely comes with it highs and lows working from home with the kids in tow, but I really am so lucky that I get to pick them up from school every day and drop them off and if there is something that comes up with school I am able to volunteer my time to be there with my children. That is something that really is so priceless to me and something that I really wanted to be able to give not only myself but them.
There have also been many beautiful friendships that I have been able to forge from having my own business and meeting a lot of other like-minded women in business via social media. This is something that I am so grateful for and each and every one of those friendships that I’ve made via our platforms is something that is so special to me.
- Has your business given you any surprises or experiences you never expected?
Absolutely! I have found most difficult to manage the stock levels of what we offer. We have quite a few shoes and quite a few sizes and quite a few colours so it really does get quite difficult to manage the stock levels of things which is why I’ve found it easier to manage them seasonally. So typically we will house quite a bit of summer stock during the warm months in Victoria and then consequently house a lot of our winter stock over our Victorian winter is well.
I have found it quite hard to implement boundaries when it came to my business, because I work from home and have such flexibility in working from home I often find myself working all the time, whenever I get a few seconds, I’m out in the office doing something, catching up on something, packing up orders or just little bits and pieces here in there but they really do add up. I find that if I don’t stick to the boundaries I set myself with my business that I end up causing myself to burnout and that is something that I’m still working on to this day, some days I have a great balance but on others I have a terrible balance.
- If you could pick a favourite one of your stunning shoes, what would it be?
My favourite shoe from our range would have to be the Bootie moccs; this shoe was designed after my father’s work boots that he used to wear to work everyday. They were the first real pair of shoes that I designed and they have been a staple item in our range since they were first launched four years ago now.
- What does the future hold for Fawn and Finch?
We have so many things in the pipeline for our business, I hope that I will still be here in five years time designing things that I am passionate about and things that I would love to see my children wearing. I hope that we’re able to develop the range of women shoes that we offer and increase the styles and range that we offer to our women customers. I hope that’s this business will, in many years time, still give me the flexibility to be home with my children and also be doing something that I just love to do.