How Jo Robertson Stepped Outside Her Comfort Zone To Start Luxury Clay Experiences

I felt compelled to introduce clay into other people’s lives. I became so passionate. Using and building with our hands is incredibly therapeutic and I believed it was the outlet we all needed.

Of course, I wanted more….

After lockdown, I wanted to continue to help others, so embarked on the idea of opening a studio. However, the reality was, I didn’t have a job, so financially it was next to impossible.

This is when “Clay Mobile” was born. It hit me that no one was offering Clay Classes and Events Mobile anywhere, could we be the first business to offer this mobile I was so excited at the prospect. I knew I had something special; this could see us in homes, holiday properties, retreats, venues and business across the South Coast and NSW. 

After 5 weeks my corporate position was reinstated back to my role. By this stage I had done a couple of workshops locally and they were very well received. I had only just dabbled in the idea, so I decided to take the security and return to work. I quickly knew that I didn’t want to be there. I was miserable. I had a fire in my belly and wanted to help people and by going back to this role I clearly couldn’t achieve that. 

Within a week of being back at my corporate position, Studio 10 contacted me to do a feature on the business. I was going to turn it down but my husband kindly implied that I was crazy if I didn’t take on this opportunity. I took an hour lunch break to set up the workshop and went back to work. 

The Studio 10 feature aired on the Friday, and I had two weeks leave booked on the Monday so instead of taking that leave I took a big gamble and resigned from my position.

We now work with some incredible high-end holiday properties on the South Coast and NSW. They offer our in-house clay experiences to their guests. It’s win-win because guests get to enjoy the beautiful property and have a great experience in-house without having to go anywhere. We now see ourselves in Businesses across NSW where we collaborate where they get the food and beverage side of things, and we get the venue to hold our experiences. We are also booked for wellness retreats which is a perfect pairing. 

We now hold baby showers, birthdays, mothers groups, family experiences, corporate team building events and our most popular bridal showers. 

We are extremely passionate about the environment and the impact our business has on our clients and the planet. Which is why most of the materials we use are organic, recycled or recyclable, this is how our business keeps our carbon footprint low to reach our sustainable goals, We will continue to make improvements and we will continue to implement ways in which to be a more sustainable business. 

We have been lucky enough to become a finalist and winner of numerous awards and secured features in several magazines and newspapers. I am so very proud of where we have come in such a short amount of time. 

And our biggest achievement yet is that we have franchised our business and sold our first franchise in Canberra. We hope to see our franchises in each capital city by offering it to couples or Mums looking to join the workforce and own their own business. We are all about lifestyle and work life balance and our franchises offer people to stay at home and work one or two workshops a weekend and be at home the rest of the week enjoying their families. I was so passionate about helping women get back into the workforce and owning their own businesses so they could feel empowered. So many of us lose ourselves along the way whether that be in positions we feel unappreciated or after having our babies we sometimes get lost along the way. 

When I initially started my business, the biggest hurdle was my own self sabotage. I didn’t have a crystal ball, so I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make this work. 

My family, my friends and ex work colleagues were my biggest cheerleaders, they also believed that I had a great product and I had so much support that I had to give it a go and push through those boundaries of self-sabotage and doubt. At the end of the day, I was leaving a secure position to take on something that I didn’t know would be well received. 

Knowing what I know now, when I first started out, I would choose more carefully! Not everyone is your friend, not everyone is going to be on your side, your competitors won’t always support you how you want to support them. I would tell myself to stay focused and stay in my lane and everything will fall into place authentically. 

My biggest tip for other women who are thinking about starting their own businesses is to JUST DO IT!!!! There is nothing to lose and you won’t know if you don’t try. Most of us procrastinate about the possibilities and never take the step into following their dreams. 

Don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone, no one becomes successful by procrastinating. You will always make it work when it’s your own. If you believe in it so will others and remember you just need to start even if it’s small steps, just start the process and the rest will follow.