Couple's side hustle amid double redundancy secures $13 million fortune: 'Big turning point'
Jooli Chan had her second baby in 2020, and after her husband Jag was made redundant she fully expected to return to her digital marketing job after maternity leave. But as Covid hit, she also found herself without a job.
It would have been a scary time if not for the side hustle the Chans had been working on for years. The duo sold traditional Nepalese craft products at markets all over Victoria, and they’d got themselves quite a following.
“Jag’s hometown is in Nepal, and we wanted to show all the different crafts made there,” Chan told Yahoo Finance, explaining why they got started.
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That focus changed after the 2015 earthquake that devastated the country.
“We went to Nepal a month after the earthquake, and after that, our primary goal was to help people there," the 44-year-old said
"There were some felt workshops left standing, and we decided to focus on felt products. Many of the women working there were depending on foreign aid, so selling to us was a way for them to rebuild their lives."
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Altruism plus design nous
Before the Melbourne resident was made redundant, Chan had designed a website, Tara Treasures, to sell to customers online.
“Tara is the Tibetan Goddess of compassion,” Chan said.
“We actually also named our daughter Tara, after the business.”
Weeks after the website was up and running lockdowns hit and, with no local markets operating, the Chans turned their focus to online sales.
Shortly after that, Jooli lost her job and it became their only source of income.
“It was not easy with the two of us and two kids at home, one a new baby, but I’m a digital marketeer so I had lots of knowledge there and some understanding of social media,” she said.
“We grew the business with paid advertising and social media was the big turning point. Our Instagram became this big, engaged audience.”
Chan’s design nous went further than just the website though and she started thinking about products for their felt workshops to make, focusing on toys.
Finger puppets, toy food, playmats using the solar system, cot mobiles — anything her kids, Kieran, now 7, and Tara, now 5, were into, she designed into something the artisan felt makers in Nepal could create.
Licensing deals came knocking
The products started flying off the shelves, and by September 2020, the Chans rented their first warehouse.
