Joanne O’Brien’s beautiful baby clothes

Joanne O’Brien (31) is a business woman. Unhappy with the selection of baby clothes online, she set up her own business. She lives in Saggart with her husband, Joey, who plays football for Shamrock Rovers, and their two-year-old twins — Cian and Nevaeh

These days, the sun shines into the room like a natural alarm. I start my day at 6.15am. I live in Saggart with my husband Joey and our two-year-old twins — Cian and Nevaeh.

Joey plays for Shamrock Rovers now. He had been playing for West Ham

United and his contract finished up after he was injured. Our twins were born in London and then we came back home to Ireland.

Joey maintained a level of fitness and then he started training with Shamrock Rovers. He lives and breathes football and he’s doing his coaching badges, too.

In the morning, I have a coffee and put on the washing machine. Once you have kids, the washing is never-ending. Then I do a workout. I used to head to the gym, but now I do it at home. I get a few drills from my husband. I was never very good with a football but by the end of this [pandemic], that might change.

The kids get up at 7.30am. People ask me how I do it, and I tell them that it’s routine. Gina Ford’s book A Contented House with Twins really works. They don’t disturb each other much and if one of them hears the other crying, they know it’s their twin.

I have their breakfast ready before they come down. By 8am, they are playing and by 9am, they are dressed. Their dad takes them out to the garden and they play football.

Then I work from 9am until 10.30am. Last year, I set up Petit Avenue. It’s an online business that sells baby clothes up to four years and nursery furniture. It’s been a fantastic year and we’re constantly growing.

I set up the business because I noticed a gap in the market for baby clothes. I was ordering stuff for the children’s nursery and I couldn’t find the range that I would have found in London. Any of the companies that I contacted about nursery furniture had huge shipping fees, so I

thought, ‘I could be doing this’. I studied business and marketing for four years and then I became a model. But I’ve always been business-minded and I’ve always had ambition. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do, so when this came about I thought, ‘This could be a goal’.

In Ireland the selection was much smaller than in the UK, and then when I’d go online to order something from the

UK, I’d have to wait for it to arrive. I couldn’t get any next-day deliveries. That’s the beauty of my Irish company.

My business is aimed at gifting. My pieces are special — beautiful kids’ clothes for a wedding or a birthday. Some of the prices are high, but the items are designed to last.

Before I set up the business, I started researching and going to trade shows. I reached out to different suppliers and began gathering information. Some of the labels are exclusive in Ireland, and one is Spanish.

When you sell branded items, you need to have a relationship with the supplier. They know I have children and that I work on the go. They understand, because a lot of them have kids, too.

When you start a business, you don’t know if it is going to get the reaction you want. I decided against having a launch party. I kept my start-up costs low. I invested in my stock, I launched online and I asked everybody I knew to share it online. I set up lots of Facebook ads and did some marketing online, and that was it.

It’s been a complete learning curve and I’ve learned so much. You don’t just open online and people purchase. I’m constantly trying to remind people that our website is there. I’m constantly running targeted ads. Each Sunday, I set out my objectives for the week — who am I targeting and what products I need to sell? This planning time is crucial because the hours just whittle away with the twins.

Since Covid-19, I’ve noticed an increase in our clothing sales, especially newborn gifting. I’m almost afraid to say it because I know it’s not the same for a lot of other businesses. A lot of the big stores are closed, so that business has come my way.

There are babies being born and people want to gift them something nice. Grandparents can’t see their grandchildren, so they’ve been sending gifts instead. A lot of grandparents are on Facebook and that’s where we do ads. A lot of older people have disposable income for gifting. Also, they want to send birthday presents.

One of the new things that I decided to do since Covid-19 is deposit payments. This works well, especially with the nursery furniture. People can pay 30pc deposit and then they pay two more instalments before it arrives.

“Sales are up with gifts for newborns. Grandparents can’t visit so they are sending gifts”

We manage our working lives around the kids. I’m on the phone and answering emails, then my husband does his Zoom football training class. The twins go down for a two-hour sleep in the afternoon and that’s when I do some more solid work. The orders are dispatched. Later, it is bath-time and dinner, and we’re getting ready to get them to bed. Then the two of us wind down from our busy day.

I go to bed pretty early. I’m probably in bed at 9.30pm. I used to read the papers online before I went to bed, but I don’t do that any more. It was creating more anxiety before I slept.

Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I’m actually enjoying the pause button. Sometimes it’s the other bits in life that get in the way, rushing around, but it’s nice just being at home.