#FollowBoxable
A business born in the pandemic ‘Boxable’, was created by Cate O’Connor and Laura Lynam. A curated gift box service with a simple yet meaningful mission in mind: to champion Irish makers, creators and craftspeople and to help people find joy in ordinary, everyday moments. They create beautiful bespoke designs & gifts for occasions such as International Women’s Day and St Patrick’s Day and only use Irish businesses. Co-founder Cate tells us below how it all started.
To get us started - how would you describe yourself in 6 words or less?
Positive-thinking, Entrepreneurial, Kind, Motivated, Patient & Half-Mad (you’d have to be to be self-employed!)
What prompted you to start your business?
Boxable was started during the pandemic, after the first lockdown, myself and my co-founder, my sister-in-law, felt there was a gap in the market for gifts for everyday moments or for when there are no words. Not realising it, we both had a friend who was going through a tough time and under normal circumstances we would have met up with them and given them a hug, but given the lockdown we couldn’t, neither of us wanted to send flowers or chocolates and that’s where it all began, to be able to offer a range of gifts for those kinds of moments. I felt strongly about using Irish made products and supporting small local businesses by offering them another platform to sell to the general public. Our customers range from busy people who buy curated boxes from those who want to make their own, for events such as birthdays, milestones, Christmas and then lots for just “Thinking of you” moments.
Tell us a little bit more about you?
So I’m from an educational background, primary school teacher, I spent 10 years in Paris, so am fluent in French and have a great love of cheese and Fondant au Chocolat! After teaching in an international school I started my own school for bilingual children in Paris who were attending French school but wanted English lessons suitable to their ability. We operated in 9 areas in Paris and had just over 250 children aged 4-14 attending classes with us as well as holiday camps throughout the year. In 2011 I set up my second business bringing French children to Ireland for activity based language trips based in the Colaiste Acla on Achill Island. It was something I had always wanted to do. What was set up as a once-a-year trip for my students turned into a full time business when in 2012 when I came back to Ireland and my former employer at the school asked me to organise trips for their primary school children for immersion camps. By 2015 we had a number of schools in Paris coming to Achill. In 2013 I set up an Afterschool in Cork where I was living at the time, as the other work was seasonal and I needed to keep busy! That however was probably my first experience of disappointment in business as it didn’t work out, but after 2 years of trying, and barely surviving, I decided it wasn’t meant to be. I came back to Limerick, focused on The Bilingual Connection, paid off the business loan while encouraging more schools to come over. Unfortunately that business had to close due to Covid, so when Laura approached me with her idea I was just at the end of maternity leave with my first little one and thought why not, it would be good to try something new. Current interests involve juggling a business with two munchkins under the age of 3 (one who often comes with me to work in a sling), trying (and failing!) to exercise, cooking and reading, and getting out in the fresh air with the family at the weekend.,
Fill us in on your female founder journey.
My first entrepreneurial endeavour was something I was really passionate about, education and language acquisition, and at the age of 27, I was mad enough to open a school in another country with no business loan, just savings to buy books and a mad notion that this was going to work. I also met brilliant people along the way, parents of former students who had contacts for accountants, renting spaces and were a source of great advice, they became my “board you can’t afford”. The French approach helped in a way as they always say no first – guaranteed - so you are prepared to keep going back and I did until I found a solution. They also found working with a positive thinking energetic Irish woman a change from the usual French approach and strangely that was often enough to open the door. I worked a second job (as a scriptwriter for the news) for the first 2 years. I learned about my capacity for hard work, how determined I could be even though I was very quiet and lacked in confidence, I just kept at it. I learned that there is always a “worser case scenario” than what’s going on, and that pushed me forward. I dealt with teachers not turning up for camp without notice, office flooding days before camp, air traffic controller strikes in the weeks before departure on a trip and just rode it out, blindly believing it would all turn out fine in the end, it generally did! I did find at times that people were amused by you starting your own business at that age, and assumed you had a partner covering the rent but that was not the case. I had people tell me when I was single, don’t tell others you run your own business, it will make you seem really ambitious and that will put them off. I’ve learned through time and experience to be proud of achievements as well as the things that didn’t work out, you learn just as much from those experiences if you look at it from the right angle.
How did you hear about AwakenHub and what prompted you to apply for SheGenerate?
I heard about AwakenHub through a friend and started following them on social media. When I saw the information about SheGenerate I applied for the program to meet with other female founders, mainly because the idea of a community rather than a network really appealed. The SheGenerate program offered more than just networking, it wanted to help female founders grow and develop and get better at what we do.
What are you hoping to get out of the SheGenerate process?
A Business Support System. It's good to talk to other people who are doing what you are doing, albeit in a different industry, same problems, same concerns and same successes occur. Also to learn new skills and information, to help build Boxable into a sustainable long term business. I'm hoping to expand my knowledge of running my own business, to build on the skills learned already as an entrepreneur over the last 15 years in a different industry.
What does success look like to you - in 12 months and in 5 years?
Success for me is both myself and my co-founder earning a good salary from a business that keeps us interested and excited on a daily basis, I’m not asking for much! If we are still operating in 12 months, have another good Christmas and we can both pay ourselves then that would be great, and worth all the effort of the last 2 years. 5 years would continuing to have a successful business that would now hire local people on seasonal contracts and I would love to get involved in schools encouraging young girls into business.
SheGenerate is only a small part of AwakenHub - now that you have the community's attention - what can we/they do for you?
I don't have any specific ask at the moment but would love to hear from other companies who broke into that corporate market with their products or insights into how the corporate mind works.
As a founder - what are your non-negotiables?
For Boxable, I’m very insistent on supporting other Irish businesses and using only Irish products, even if that makes us more expensive. For business in general, I think you need to be hardworking and determined but I think you also need to be kind, to your co-workers, be they co-founders or colleagues, your suppliers as they are also running a small business and have tough days too, and customers as though they can sometimes be demanding you don’t know what’s going on in their life on that day. You can be ambitious and eager to succeed but you don’t need to be rude or unkind along the way. I always find if customers ask for something nicely I’m more willing to put myself out for their request, when someone demands something I’m more inclined to say no. Most importantly I think we all need to be more kind to ourselves, I’m a terror for saying I could have done better, finished the job quicker, got more done at home that week etc but if I do my best then that’s the best I can do. Words to live by? Do one thing every day that scares you!
#FollowBoxable
Twitter - @BoxableIreland
Instagram - @boxable
Facebook - Boxable
LinkendIn - Boxable
