From idea to reality - Milestones
It’s October 2024 and we are turning 10 years old! 🥳
It’s unbelievable that TEN years ago, on 14th October 2014, Jim launched Little Woodworkers™ at a Teacher Network Meeting. 🚀
From the SEED of an IDEA in August 2013 to the BIRTH & LAUNCH of Little Woodworkers™ in October 2014, fighting through the challenges of a Pandemic and winning the Creative Industry Business Exclellence Award two years in a row in 2022 and 2023… 🏆
What a roller coaster, to say the least!
And now I have it all documented, all our milestones in black and white, so we won’t forget it, leaving no (mile)stone unturned!
When I showed it to Jim, we were both surprised, "Wow, we actually did all that!?" 😲
It's amazing how quickly you forget the most challenging time through the years of 2020 and 2021 and picking up the pieces for a further few years after that...
But it ultimately resulted into us growing and maturing as a business, picking ourselves up from needing a panic button every day to getting stronger and stronger, rethinking EVERYTHING...
Basically starting from scatch, restructuring, thinking outside the (woodwork) box 📦 and, to use the word of the year 2020, PIVOT, resulting into us offering ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS for children all over Australia!
MILESTONES TIMELINE:
9TH AUG 2013
Jim facilitates a Show & Tell for his daughters’ Kindergarten group, making a workbench with 22 four-year-old children “helping” him.
5TH AUG 2014
Jim takes a leap of faith and resigns from his day job (making designer furniture at JARDAN) so both he and his wife, Kerstin, can focus on turning his idea into reality.
14TH OCT 2014 🚀
Jim attends a Teacher Network Meeting. Little Woodworkers™ is introduced to the world.
4TH NOV 2014
Our first ‘pancake version’ of a website was officially launched. Eleven months later, on 14th October 2015, this would be replaced by a much better version and new website host.
8TH DEC 2014
We receive our FIRST booking. Five more bookings arrive for the START of 2015. Little Woodworkers™ is born, takes root and is starting to grow. Six months later we have 115 bookings in our calendar, covering 11 councils!
1ST JUN 2015
We launch Little Woodworkers™ Birthday Parties and are voted as one of the THREE BEST BIRTHDAY PARTIES in THE WEEKLY REVIEW Bayside & Port Phillip.
We have since discontinued Birthday Parties and replaced them with a great alternative!
SEP 2015
We are featured in the Community News LEADER after faciliating a woodwork incursion at St James Kindergarten in Box Hill South. (It was our 93rd incursion.)
1ST AUG 2016
We have 100 incursions booked AHEAD in our calendar.
30TH JUN 2017
Almost 10,000 children have experienced our Little Woodworkers™ incursions.
1ST JUL 2019
Well over 20,000 children have now participated in our woodwork incursions, learned about sustainability and made their own wooden toys. 🌿
19TH DEC 2019
We facilitated ONE THOUSAND Little Woodworkers™ incursions translating into 25,000 children making their OWN wooden toys and learning about the importance of trees & taking care of their environment!
13TH MAR 2020 😷
The Pandemic takes hold and the Lockdown Saga begins for Victoria. On 16TH MAR a State of Emergency is declared to combat COVID-19. Everything stops. All bookings are cancelled. The Pandemic well and truly hits Australia.
23RD SEP 2020
We launch woodwork experiences for 6 to 12-year-olds. A choice of various Woodwork Projects for PARENTS to purchase online for their little woodworkers at home.
OCT 2020
We offer our “Contactless Incursion Packs” (now Woodwork PACKS) to a selected group of teachers, who had asked if we had ANYTHING to send them. The lockdown keeps being extended, no visits to kindergartens allowed, and teachers are looking for things to keep their groups entertained and learning.
5TH NOV 2020 🎁
Launched our Contactless Incursion Packs (now Woodwork PACKS) with fun engaging VIDEO tutorials, shipping Australia-wide. We are soon inundated with orders and quickly implement a short ORDER FORM for a much smoother ordering process.
Recent edit: The feedback from teachers was instantly amazing, the Woodwork PACKS became increasingly popular with both teachers and children alike and are since a well-integrated part of our services.
20TH AUG 2022
Little Woodworkers™ is NOMINATED for the SHE-Com Awards 2022 Eco & Sustainability Products for Kids, NSW.
22ND AUG 2022
We are approved as AUSTRALIAN MADE & OWNED LICENSEE for all our products. (We were always Australian Made & Owned, but it was nice to make it official! 😉)
14TH SEP 2022
We are announced FINALIST in the SHE-Com Awards 2022 Eco & Sustainability Products for Kids.
14TH OCT 2022
We won the HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Award in the SHE-Com Awards 2022 Eco & Sustainability Products for Kids.
19TH OCT 2022 🏆
We win the Mornington Peninsula Business Excellence Award in the Creative Industry, the highest award a business can receive on our Peninsula.
2ND DEC 2022
We are featured on mpbusiness.com.au in their article Creative Champions Celebrated.
“Winning the Award felt like an official stamp of validation for what we worked so hard for over the last 8 years. Building a business can be a 24/7 task and can feel lonely and isolating. The award was a huge boost and helped us get to know and connect with like-minded business owners here on the Peninsula.”
26TH JUL 2023 🎙️
We are invited to a Radio Interview with 3MP Music to talk about winning the Busines Excellence Award in the Creative Industry in 2022. Listen to it here 👉 littlewoodworkers.com.au/radio (4 mins)
15TH NOV 2023
We win the Creative Industry Business Excellence AWARD for a second year in a row! 🏆
“The 2023 Mornington Peninsula Business Excellence Awards recognised outstanding performances in the local business community where businesses were showcased for sustainability, innovation and business excellence. ”
“The Business Excellence Awards honoured the achievements in innovation, sustainability, and outstanding performance within our local business sector.”
MAR 2024
As part of winning the Creative Industry Morn Pen Business Excellence Award, we have the opportunity to showcase what we do in this month’s edition of the Mornington Peninsula Magazine.
28TH MAR 2024
In a bit to further reduce our carbon footprint, we start offering a limited stock of conveniently sized bags of clean & untreated Premium Pine Softwood shavings perfect for small pet bedding.
29TH APR 2024
We launch our first Professional Development Program, Little Woodworkers™ TRAIN THE TEACHERS, to upskill & empower EDUCATORS to integrate woodwork easily & effectively into their every-day teaching, enhancing Children’s learning experiences and fostering stronger COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS. 🌿
9TH MAY 2024
We are invited to ‘The Local Business Sessions’ Podcast launched on 27th June. Our episode was on ‘Value Proposition: Defining What Sets You Apart’. Listen to it here 👉 littlewoodworkers.com.au/podcast (24 mins)
29TH AUG 2024
We are invited as Panelists at the Business Excellence Panel Networking Event, the final wrap-up event of this year’s Mornington Peninsula Small Business Festival.
Click here to listen on the website →
Click here to listen directly on Omny.fm →
It’s been a long way from where we started back in 2013!
We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for YOU, our customers, from enthusastic passionate teachers, embracing what we do, to the children delighting in making their own wooden toys & learning valuable (and environmental) lessons along the way… 🌱
To now, as of 2024, also offering Face-To-Face Workshops for EDUCATORS with our Professional Development Programs!
We are excited to see what else the future has in store. 😇
Thank you to everyone for booking us, placing an order, referring us, talking about us, tagging us, recommending us and believing in us. (Or even just liking our Facebook page. Or following us on Instagram.) We appreciate you!
