Mayocchi sets goals for the business on a six-month to yearly basis, and each day she monitors the in-store, wholesale and e-commerce sales to ensure the brand stays on track.
In the goal-setting process, Mayocchi says she has PR and marketing aims, study and production goals and retail targets.
“I guess our challenge at the moment is managing our growth and the statistical challenges, and also production efficiencies need to be addressed.
“We have a really good team and it’s about employing the right people, addressing those issues, but also from my part staying creative,” she says.
Creating a positive staff culture is crucial for the long-term success of any business and Mayocchi says she’s endeavoured to create a flexible, enjoyable workplace.
“I try and hire people who have a similar work ethic and most of them are younger than me and are really enthusiastic. If you find great staff, treat them well, have a good working relationship and hopefully it all works out.
“We have a studio here with 12 girls and one guy, there is a lot of laughter and everyone enjoys it. We’re flexible because we know people have got kids and with that flexibility there’s never any worry from our staff if their kids are sick or if they need to go to a school concert one day.
“Being a female workplace, we’re understanding,” she says.
So far Mayocchi says her biggest challenge has been balancing the creative and the technical aspects of running the business.
“Luckily, my dad has a background in accounting and had his own business for many years, and my mum has a background in the production side of things – she’s really particular and she knows a good fit and good quality workmanship.
“It’s sort of become a family business. My dad runs all of the accounting side and my mum is mostly retired from the business now, but she took last year off to look after my two year old. It’s been great having that support and not having to do everything myself,” she says.
Mayocchi’s sister Lauren is also involved in the daily running of the business as a retail manager at one of the stores and she oversees the online shop.
Mayochhi says when designing a range her inspiration comes from travelling, shows and the things around her.
“I’m inspired by everything around me. I like to travel and I like to go and see things that are on, whether it is a musical or theatre, and I’ve got a love of fabrics from my mum. She always had a sewing room in the house and I loved going in there and looking at the fabrics.
“My ideas start with fabrics and the great thing now is we’ve gotten to the stage where we can design our own prints. This is a new and exciting part of the business which gives us an extra point of difference.”
Mayocchi likes to start and end her day early, as she aims to be home between 3pm and 4pm each day.
In her spare time she says she likes to “travel and eat”.
“My favourite travel destination is New York and I just love that in Brisbane at the moment there’s a lot of growth in terms of bars and new restaurants opening all the time. I love trying the new place which has just opened and seeing what it’s like.
“Roger and I enjoy going out together and my parents enjoy looking after Oscar [their son] while we’re out. They’re very happy to have him for the night if we want to go to something,” she says.
Over the next year Mayocchi is investing more money in Maiocchi’s e-commerce site to improve its online service.
“We feel that there is still a lot more opportunity for growth online and we’re exploring digital marketing to help improve the online business. And we are still doing our best to maintain our strong wholesale customer base.
“There are a lot of challenges in physical retail at the moment and we want to continue to improve our service. We’re doing a lot of research into what other online businesses are doing and what seems to be working for successful similar stores online to help make our website more user-friendly,” she says.
As well as expanding the online store, Mayocchi is on the hunt for a new bricks and mortar location.
“It will be somewhere down south, but we haven’t actually started conducting much research yet,” she says.
In the next five years Mayocchi intends to “continue on the path to success” and maintain the “Australian made” nature of their products.
“The quality of Australian made is very important to our customer base and I guess we just want to maintain our realistic price and profit margin, as well as our brand reputation for quality,” she says.
