Gippsland business owner Taylor Peatling has been named a finalist in the prestigious Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
Taylor’s Maffra-based business Arch Beauty has been recognised for its excellence, selected as a finalist in the Lash and Brows category from a pool of more than 2500 entrants.
“I entered the awards on the last day (July 21), thinking, ‘why not, I have nothing to lose’,” Taylor said.
“On the 2nd of August, I was getting coffee at Raymond Cafe and was going through my emails and saw that I had been picked as a finalist.
“I nearly started crying; I didn’t think I was going to get in at all.”
Walking into Taylor Peatling’s house in Sale a little more than 18 months ago, motherhood and business merged.
Three-year-old Archer sat among myriad children’s toys on the lounge room floor, faint chattering from colourful cartoons emanating from the television. Eight-month-old-old Alby clung to his mum’s hip, fresh from an afternoon nap.
A laptop rested ajar on the couch’s edge, and a work diary splayed across the table among stacks of empty post boxes ready for packing.
In January 2022, Taylor successfully balanced it all; babies, brows and business. Today is no different.
While much has changed in the past 18 months, Taylor continues to balance babies, brows, and business with Arch Beauty’s selection as an Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards finalist, negating historic toxic working mum stereotypes.
For too long, society has stigmatised working mums with erroneous stereotypes like women can’t simultaneously be good mothers and be good at their jobs, culminating with the overarching belief that women must choose between professional success and having children.
Taylor Peatling invalidates these preconceptions, valuing motherhood and family while finding professional success, contradicting antiquated patriarchal societal beliefs that continue stigmatising working mothers.
While Taylor’s business continues to flourish, Arch Beauty’s journey to success has not been without challenges.
The young mother of two knew it would never be easy to establish her own business with the arduous act of balancing work and motherhood, further challenged in the early days as COVID arrived and Australia was suddenly amid a pandemic.
Arch Beauty opened its doors to clients in July 2020, with challenges associated with COVID among the hardest Taylor has faced throughout her business journey.
“One of the biggest challenges, definitely COVID,” Taylor said.
“We got shut down about a million times with absolutely no funding given out and still paying your insurances while not operating, meaning you were at a loss, so that was super hard, just to keep going forward through that because there was no certainty that we were going to open back up.”
Childcare has also posed a challenge.
“I don’t have family here, so not having people to look after my kids, family to help has been a challenge,” Taylor said.
“So say if they’re sick, I have to have the day off, or Brad (Taylor’s husband) has to have the day off.
“There were also some mental health issues, and just dealing with them.
“Stress and even postpartum, I had Alby in COVID, which was really hard, but you get help. Don’t suffer in silence.”
In the beginning, Taylor envisaged Arch Beauty to focus solely on makeup; however, clients were sparse with consistent restrictions and reoccurring stay-at-home orders suspending the demand for makeup services. As a result, the new business owner found herself in a sink-or-swim position.
Taylor began diversifying her services, offering brow treatments.
“I thought because of masks, everyone would want their brows done,” she said.
“I also started body waxing, eyelash lifts, anything I could do with a mask on.”
Arch Beauty quickly gained traction on social media, leading clientele numbers to rise.
With Taylor’s services in high demand, the young mother sought to advance her skills and capabilities, enabling Arch Beauty to offer clients a more comprehensive range of services.
Despite ongoing pressures from the pandemic, a rambunctious toddler and a rapidly growing baby belly Taylor remained dedicated to expanding her horizons, travelling to Melbourne in December 2020, where she attained her eyebrow tattooing qualification.
Taylor gave birth to her second son, Alby in May 2021; barely two months later, Arch Beauty was back in business.
In late November 2021, while maintaining a prospering business and caring for her newborn and toddler, the supermum launched Arch Beauty Brow Soap.
“I really wanted to make my own product, so I just did it,” Taylor said.
“I made all the soap by hand on the kitchen stove. A friend from school who is a graphic designer helped me create the labels, which I individually stuck on every product and packaging.
“I tested the product for months, wearing it everywhere to bed, to the gym. I wanted to make the best product possible. I put my heart and soul into it.”
By January 2022, a little over a month after the product officially launched, Arch Beauty Brow Soap received its first wholesaler order, with online demand for Taylor’s latest product skyrocketing.
Taylor’s client list continued to grow throughout 2022, and in August, Arch Beauty relocated, today operating out of the Collective Hq in Maffra.
“I just wanted home to be home and work to be work,” Taylor said.
“I wanted that drive to work, to hang out with people and not always be by myself.
“I love it here.”
In February, Taylor launched 1:1 intensive brow and lash training services.
“I’ve now trained over 20 students,” Taylor said.
“Four in the Gold Coast and the rest here in Gippsland.
“I’ve got three more training sessions this month here, spots are already booked for next month when I get back from my holiday, and then in November, I am training someone in Canberra.”
In June, Taylor launched Browd.e, her very own product range for creating perfect brows.
Beginning Arch Beauty with an almost non-existent client base, that number has surged to more than 1000 in just three years, a testament to Taylor’s diversification, consistent upskilling, hard work and personability.
Taylor, the flourishing Gippsland businesswoman who never imagined she would be where she is now, finds Arch Beauty’s sudden success surreal at times.
“I didn’t think I would ever have my own brow range, let alone have a loyal stockist who buys my products and sells them on his website,” Taylor said.
“I also wholesale to a lot of my students who do my training.
“That’s another thing, this time last year, I didn’t think I would be training people in brows and lashes, so that is a huge and unexpected milestone.”
With Taylor celebrating three years of Arch Beauty on July 3, being named a 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards winner would undoubtedly be an unforgettable belated birthday present.
