When you run a small business, helping another one that offers a similar service might sound counterproductive.
But home-based baker Jacqui Spadavecchia is among a cohort of businesswomen who have found collaboration with competitors is helping their enterprises thrive.
The mother of three had been trying to juggle her small business with a part-time job and was finding it “very overloading and quite stressful” to keep up with customer demand.
“Around the two-year mark, I was getting so busy and I had to think outside the box,” she said.
“I thought, ‘Obviously other people are doing it [baking], I don’t know how busy they are’ … but it was better if we did it together.”
So instead of turning customers away, Ms Spadavecchia began referring them to other home bakers.
Jacqui Spadavecchia did not want to turn customers away when she was booked out. (ABC North & West SA: Viki Ntafillis)
“It really just clicked to me that … people wanting this stuff would only just see my products,” she said.
“But if we got on top of everyone helping each other, cakes would be out there and people would be like, ‘Where did you get that from?’, so it makes the demand a bit higher.”
Her other collaborations now include supplying sweets to local cafes and shops, which enhanced their offerings and increased her income.
“Since collaborating, I’ve dropped my part-time job to casual-only work, four hours a week, because I’m just so consistent with my business now,” she said.
The cupcake collaborators
Ms Spadavecchia is part of the small business community in Port Pirie, about 230 kilometres north-west of Adelaide in South Australia’s Mid North.
Ashlee Bowman and Monique Tuohy were two of the women she befriended in the community and began referring customers to.
Ms Bowman said food business referrals worked because of the ongoing demand.
“People have them [food products], and then they want more,” she said.
“If we keep that cycle going and we’re supporting each other, then I think that’s just a really wonderful thing.”
She said it helped to have a “balance between having products that are similar but still having little niche products” and “a little bit of individuality”.
“I offer a fudge-stuffed, loaded cookie … other people might do a Nutella-stuffed cookie,” Ms Bowman.
“I’ll still buy from them, and they’ll still buy from me.
“The collaborating and supporting one another just blows my mind every time.”
Ms Tuohy, Ms Bowman and Ms Spadavecchia are in a group chat with many other small business owners in Port Pirie who all support each other. (ABC North & West SA: Viki Ntafillis)
The women have been involved in collaborations with other local businesses in Pirie, such as creating gift boxes for Father’s Day and a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation, which involved more than 20 local businesses.
Ms Tuohy said support in the community spanned from referrals to sharing supplies, which had been a huge help as the increasing cost of living continued to impact supply prices.
She said she felt “pretty proud” of the local business community, and that it could lead by example by supporting local.
“Essentially that’s what drives our community … if we support local the money is going back into local businesses, it’s going back into local clubs and our kids,” Ms Tuohy said.
“Our community is our home, so if we’re not supporting local, why would we expect our community to support local?”
Reversing drought misfortune
On the Eyre Peninsula, Workshop26 elevated Kimba’s creators by gathering their products into a single store.
Co-founder and maker Heather Baldock said it had brought “strength and vibrancy” to the town — and with that, tourists.
“That’s bringing outside dollars into our community, our whole community, and that’s really important,” she said.
Heather Baldock in her small business’s shipping container at Workshop26 in Kimba. (Supplied: Jade Norwood)
Ms Baldock said Workshop26 was born from a need to reverse “a severe downturn in the fortunes of the community” following several years of drought.
It caused five women to get together and discuss the town’s options.
“There was a little bit of despair and despondency in the community,” Ms Baldock said.
“[The idea] was formed one evening, as we sat around the kitchen table discussing what we could do.”
Inside Workshop26 and its shipping containers there is an eclectic mix of local makers and products. (Supplied: Hannah Puechmarin)
Workshop26’s permanent businesses pay rent to be housed in open shipping containers in-store, while non-permanent creatives pay a commission on their sales.
“We prefer local, and we prefer homemade … it needs to fit Workshop26,” Ms Baldock said.
‘The lifeblood of small communities’
Around two hours and 40 minutes’ drive north-west, another group of women was inspired by Workshop26, and the 54/31 Collective in Orroroo was born.
Management board member Kate Pearce said it had uplifted the town.
Kate Pearce (far right) with the rest of the management board of The 54/31 Collective in Orroroo. (Supplied: Alicia Sparks Photography)
“There’s so many times you see in small towns that the main street is kind of fading away, and there’s lots of empty shop fronts,” Ms Pearce said.
“Our aim was to come in, add another aspect to the street … that might appeal to tourists and get people to stop, but also to complement the existing businesses.”
Ms Pearce said The 54/31 Collective was uplifting local women with small businesses by supporting “off-farm incomes” and providing a social outlet for volunteers.
“Our small businesses and the people that run them are the lifeblood of small communities,” she said.
“That’s who we want to be supporting, the people that are giving back to our community, not the ones who don’t have any idea that our communities even exist.”
Small businesses, big impacts
Business Port Pirie’s business manager Aimee Squire said the rising cost of living was causing more small businesses to look for new ways to make money, and collaborations were just one example.
“What we are seeing is a lot of them saying they maybe can’t rely on the customer base that they were relying on so much before, or they are definitely looking at ways to pivot their business,” Ms Squire said.
“We’ve also seen quite a few of them having to do an increase in their fees.
“With everything else going up, it’s really hard for a small business to absorb those costs within themselves.”
Aimee Squire says the cost of living crisis is causing more small businesses in regional South Australia to “pivot”. (Supplied)
She said small business collaborations helped regions by driving economic growth and creating advocacy opportunities.
“It also means you are coming together as a collective to advocate for something that you as a business community might want, when it comes to changes that you might want to see within your region,” Ms Squire said.
“Whether that’s from a council perspective or a government perspective, 150 businesses coming together to advocate of that versus one makes a very big difference.”
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