From Side Hustle to Best Place to Buy Hamptons Furniture and Homewares in Australia
Junie Lin is the founder of Hamptons Home, an online destination for quality homewares marked by casual luxury and classic coastal style.
Named by the press as one of the “Best Places to Buy Hamptons Furniture and Homewares in Australia”, Hamptons Home has been featured by major publications and online sites across Australia such as Home Beautiful, Courier Mail and www.realestate.com.au and has formed strategic collaborations with top home builder, Metricon.
Hamptons Home has amassed a loyal following of close to 40,000 followers across our social media channels with a prominent celebrity following. Australian Idol alumnus Ricki Lee; Channel 9’s news presenter Sylvia Jeffreys; Channel 10’s Living room interior designer, James Treble; and Australian Skin Clinics founder, Deb Farnworth-Wood are some of the notable public figures who are part of its social following.
We chatted to Junie about how she came to start Hamptons Home.
Junie says: “It all began in 2014 when I fell in love with a magazine spread of a wedding photography studio decked out in Hamptons style. The studio feature blue and white gingers jars, corals and white furniture and I set out to furnish my home with that kind of aesthetic.
Harnessing my experience from multiple work trips to China, I bought a small batch of blue and white Ming ceramics with $800 out of my own pocket.
Unfortunately, having fragile ceramics at home certainly did not mix well with a young kid, so I decided to sell them off on eBay for safety reasons.
To my surprise, they were sold out as soon I listed them! I thought I saw potential for a little passive income and launched a very basic eBay store.
Back then, my little sideline was known as Junie Living. Two years in, it was rebranded to Hamptons Home to better convey the brand story.
It is always amazing to look back and what was originally was a simple intention to decorate my first home has evolved into something bigger that I can share my love of the Hamptons aesthetic through my online business with other people.
Today, I am very grateful what my business has given me – the satisfaction of saying I am a business owner and every day never feels like work.
Was there a significant turning point when you decided to work on your business full time?
Sometimes, it simply takes a bad situation to discern the doors of opportunity and change.
To be honest, I never imagine that my side hustle will ever turn into a real career. My initial job at a global multinational corporation (MNC) gave me great satisfaction, I was able to travel all across over the Asia Pacific region and was even in charge of an important benchmark portfolio in the company.
As a young mum, I thought I was ‘doing the right thing” and took on a less hectic 9 to 5 job at a local startup consultancy firm.
One week in, I knew it’s not going to work out but I stayed on for the sake of resume stability. My mojo was completely destroyed when one day, I was told that “my name was too long to be included” in an important email that was sent to all clients; even though I was one of the main contributors to the project
That situation made me realize that I needed a future in which I would have more control and foresight on the direction it would take me professionally. Fortunately, my side business was gaining traction, I decided to make the switch to focus on my business, full time.
What do you think was the biggest mistake you made in business?
Having been a first-time founder who made many mistakes, I realise in hindsight that the lack of self-awareness was hurting the business growth potential.
I was slow to recognise that taking on the day to day operations all by myself wasn’t working out, or the products I sell have too little margins to sustain our business, or that there are many competitors that are copying our success and what should we do to tackle that, etc.
While we still have a lot of work to do, the initial two years helped me learn the ropes, make mistakes, explore new market opportunities, and find alternative routes to success.
What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Feeling appreciated.
It’s a great feeling when a customer took time out of his or her day to write a positive review, or tag us on social media. It means a lot to know that my business impacted them in a positive way.
Here’s where you can connect with Hamptons Home & Junie Lin.
We Are Emersyn uses an inclusive definition “female” and “women” and we welcome trans people, women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who identify, have identified, or have been identified as female, women, or non-binary.