ARNA

Name: Arianne Ritz
Position: Co Founder
Website: www.arnaonline.com.au
Location: Sydney Australia

At ARNA our vision is to re-shape stories women see and tell about themselves. We noticed a few years ago a huge gap in the market. There were no great work or laptop bags for business women…so we decided to make our own. We initially launched with a few other Australian designers who sell work bags and have recently launched our designs. Our bags are functional and sleek for the business woman who wants to look great while making strides.

What products/services do you offer?

Womens work and laptop bags, workshops for empowering women in business and we are both keynote speakers

Why did you start your business and how long have you been running it?

My sister Tash and I have been running our business for a year. We started it because we saw a need but also an opportunity to use our voices and our skills to empower women.

What struggles do you think most businesses face in your industry and what would you say they need to do to overcome them?

Retail is struggling at the moment as consumer buying habits have changed. I think retailers need to be purpose driven as consumers want to connect with brands with a purpose or mission.

What has been your greatest accomplishment?

Launching our business! I have always wanted to start something and doing this with my sister is just the best.

What has been your biggest ‘fail’ so far?

Not having contracts up front.

What do you love most about your business?

We get to meet and speak to the most amazing women, it is very inspiring.

What do you find most challenging?

Seeing the results we want to straight away. We know we have a great product and women love it. We just need to increase our brand awareness and advertising costs money so it is a constant juggle of where to put your money and resources.

How do you promote your business (please include as many details as you can)?

LinkedIn, FB, Instagram, Events

What business skills do you have (eg. graphic design, customer service)?

Tash is a marketing expert and I am in sales full time at LinkedIn

What software did you/your designer use to create your website (eg. WordPress, Wix)?

Shopify

What are some of your favourite business tools and apps?

Canva, LinkedIn, Clipomatic

What do you like about your website and what’s not working for you?

Shopify is very easy to use with all the plugins and everything is done for you, the challenge we have is when we created images for our campaign shoot we couldn’t quite get them to fit in Shopify properly and had to pay developers to re-code part of the site

What lessons have you learnt during your time as an entrepreneur?

Keep taking action, one small action every day will help drive success. No one is an overnight success, it takes years of hard work.

What key tips for success in business would you like to share with others?

We are learning ourselves, I think keeping agile and not being afraid of making mistakes.

What is the one thing that you want everyone to take away from this post?

Make a bold move whatever that may be for you and share it with other women so we can all encourage each other to keep taking big action!