Kate’s fasionable idea a side project no more

KATE Sutton realised she needed to resign from her successful media career 15 years ago when her side project designing and selling jewellery became too popular to ignore.

“I had my dream job on (Channel 9’s) Getaway and had been making jewellery on the side for a long time,” she said.

“I used to take in a suitcase filled with things that I had made, and it would go around the network, and come back to my cottage empty and full of money … and that was how I sort of accidentally started my business.”

She says with the help of some former work colleagues she built a website and started selling her jewellery online.

“The accidental business was born in 2002 with that first website and within six months I had to give up my job on Getaway and become a small-business owner and operator,” Ms Sutton said.

Her business UberKate now employs 15 people including two full-time jewellers who assist her with making handmade, customised jewellery.

Some of her most popular items are Ubercircles, which are handcrafted circles of sterling silver engraved with the name of a loved one.

Ms Sutton (above), who is married with children, encourages all mothers who are thinking about starting a small business to believe in themselves and give their idea a go.

“Start slow, do a product run, get together with a group of girlfriends with a couple of bottles of wine and get them to give you honest feedback,” she said. “Give it a crack because you never know unless you give something a go, and you don’t want to live with regrets.”