Meet The Founder: An Interview with Laura Stearn, Founder of Fold and Seal

Where did the idea for your business come from? Tell us how and why you get started. I have always loved stationery and could never walk past a stationery shop so when I left my previous career with redundancy (thankfully) I decided to do a start your own business course with a stationery shop in mind and that was it. It is also a little bit different as I personalise some of the stationery too (pencils & notebooks) and I have my own Fold & Seal range
What's a typical day like? It’s a real mix between packing orders, emails, PR and then once my two children are home from school it’s homework, dinner, usual family life and then a little bit of work in the evening when they go to bed.

What is the best part of having your own business? Making decisions, getting good customer feedback and working to my own timetable
What's the hardest part? Making decisions and sometimes the responsibility of delivering good quality products that customers will be happy with.
What’s your best selling product? Definitely the Personalised Pencils & Notebooks – I personalise using my hot foil printing press, customers love this.

If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be? Engage with your audience as much as you can
Let's talk tech. Which softwares do you use in your business? ( Online store, email marketing, scheduling tools, video apps, accounting & banking apps etc)If you're on Shopify, I'd also love to learn your favourite apps. My website is Wordpress, I use Storycutter for my IG stories and Mailchimp for my Newsletter.

Which social media platform works best for you? Instagram

What business book/podcast/courses would you recommend? I’m terrible I don’t read any business books … but I do listen to podcasts , my favourites include The Futurist with Jo Linehen , Let’s Talk Shop with Therese from the Small Business Collaborative and most recently I have started to listen to Work, Actually with Kate Chaundy
I am also the Community Manager for REALWORK which is the online co-working space for Women, founded by Fleur Emery. This is not a course but I absolutely recommend being part of it if you are a female founder or business owner.

Where can people find you? www.foldandseal.ie @foldandseal [email protected]