Bright Star Kids’ founders Nigel and Susan Cooper at Susan’s university end of year exhibition. Photos: Supplied.
What began as a university project for Susan Cooper has grown into Bright Star Kids — a multi-million-dollar e-commerce business based in Unanderra, selling kids’ name labels and stickers around the world.
Alongside her husband Nigel, Susan has taken the brand from a garden shed to a large warehouse operation with international success over the past two decades.
She believes if she can do it, others can too.
Irish-born Susan met her Aussie husband Nigel in Ireland at a “dodgy nightclub”, where they bonded over her being a graphic designer and he a signwriter.
Not satisfied with her graphic design job, she planned to do her master’s degree in Dublin but Nigel encouraged her to travel home with him instead to study at the University of Wollongong.
“I had no intention of ever leaving Ireland,” she said.
“Then I ended up getting a half scholarship for the University of Wollongong and I was like, ‘Why not? I’ll do a bit of travelling and see how it goes.’”
She said that during the degree, students were given complete freedom to choose the project they wanted to work on.
“Nigel was always the entrepreneur. He was the one who wanted to do this sticker website,” she said.
“He didn’t like school, wasn’t motivated, and so he left school when he was only 16 and did his sign writing trade.
“He went from being a kid who just barely got by in school to acing everything in his trade.”
Nigel, who worked with his father as a signwriter, had a little label machine that was barely used and knew if he created a sticker website he’d be able to sell labels.
So it was decided the university project would be developing the sticker website business, which initially targeted everyone from small business owners to parents.
“I did my first presentation to my lecturers, and I thought I’d done such a good job, but they said it lacked focus and creativity which, for a graphic designer, was like a dagger through my heart,” she said.
“So I cried the whole weekend, but afterwards I realised he was right and the most creative thing to do would be to focus on the kids section of the website.”
Susan said with that new focus, within six months she created the website, all the products and outsourced the e-commerce setup, finally launching it in December 2005.
She said since then the range had spanned cute, durable and practical lunch box name labels, school bag tags, clothing iron-on labels, school supplies, bedroom wall stickers and more – all for families and kids to stay organised.
“Nigel had been supporting me throughout uni and building the site – I didn’t get an actual job – so my intention was I would go to Sydney and get a proper job doing graphic design so I could support him in his little venture of doing this sticker business,” she said.
“But when it turned out to be for mums, that’s when he said, ‘I can’t deal with all the mums ringing me up, so can you please do this with me?’”
Bright Star Kids staff, some of whom have been with the company for more than a decade.
With finances tight initially, they had to move to the little country town of Holbrook, nearly five hours south of Wollongong, and operate from Nigel’s parents’ garden shed.
“When I finished uni, we had around $500 left and we were so broke,” she said.
“We had no choice but to move to Nigel’s parent’s house, who had retired in Holbrook.
“We packed everything up and I remember Nigel being terrified about whether he’d have enough to pay the petrol bill.”
However, it was only temporary, and they eventually returned to Wollongong.
She said all the while they were systemising their business from production to marketing and customer service, to the point any 15-year-old could walk into the business and within a few hours know what to do.
“We systemised as much as possible, so that now, nearly 20 years later, I literally can have a bath in the middle of the day if I want,” she said, laughing.
“My team is doing all of it for me, and what a joy for me that is.”
Susan said that freedom of time had become more important now, allowing them to be there for school sports carnivals and special moments with their son.
She said some of those staff had been with them for 13 years, and each January they could attract more than 700 applicants for its peak back-to-school season.
“They love working with us, because they keep coming back year after year,” she said.
“One of the perks they say of working with us is the free toast,” she said, laughing, referring to the freezer full of bread.
Susan said the business had only continued to grow, having partnered with a US-based licensee who handled all printing and shipping of American orders, and expanding beyond children’s stickers, launching a dog tag brand and a business-to-business sticker service.
However, all that growth hasn’t been without its challenges.
“I know we’re so fortunate to have a lot of financial freedom now and we don’t have as much stress as we used to have,” she said.
“My goodness, we had so much stress over the years, nearly going broke many times.”
She said a big part of that was not understanding until five years in that it was a seasonal business that came to the fore during January’s back-to-school period.
“We’ve made all the mistakes you can possibly imagine and that’s why I’m so keen to inspire other women especially,” she said.
“If we can do it, with enough determination, focus and the ability to do a bit of research and learn as you go, then anyone can.”
Susan’s next project is an e-commerce course to help other entrepreneurs learn marketing skills.
Learn more about Bright Stars Kids.
