CRAFTY BUSINESS

WHAT BEGAN AS A SIDE HUSTLE FOR TRACEY TURNED INTO A MULTIMILLIONDOLLAR CAREER

- Emma Levett

Tracey Schulz was a 40-year-old mum to two grownup kids, aged 18 and 21, and running two successful craft stores in Adelaide when life hit her with a huge curveball.

"I found out I was pregnant with a surprise baby," Tracey says. Overwhelmed, she closed one of her shops to focus on the other, but even that was challenging.

In store, there was a product she'd come up with that was proving to be very popular. She'd started pulling little craft kits together for her mum, with all the bits needed to make handmade cards. Some of her other customers had seen her doing it and asked for a similar pack, and the idea had taken off, with the kits flying off the shelves as soon as she made them.