A WOMAN took a risky decision to invest her entire savings into carpeting, shocking all her friends, but it paid off in the millions.
Alexandra Tanya Weller, 37, from Sydney, Australia, quit her day job, made a life-changing decision and has now revealed she’s made £13million in just one year.
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The Australian entrepreneur launched online carpet company Miss Amara in 2014 and it has been a success, not least thanks to their bestselling range of stained carpets.
Now the e-commerce company has moved out of Down Under and into the global market, with Hong Kong in 2017, New Zealand in 2019 and then the US in 2020.
Last financial year, Miss Amara spent £13 million on her ingenious products that can either wash away or repel any liquid, so banish the fear of stains.
Back in 2014, Alexandra Tanya began to notice how difficult it was to buy rugs online, while her husband Aaron witnessed the sheer volume of searches for them.
“The problem was that the experience of buying a rug online at the time was ‘terrible,'” he told Smart Company.
“Our competitors had thousands of SKUs, but they were all product photos, no inspirational photos of beautiful area rugs.”
“Most people have never bought a rug before and they’re overwhelmed and put it in a basket that’s too hard,” Alexandra added.
So with her husband, she took the leap and invested most of her life savings, £26,700, into their own company to produce beautiful rugs and deliver them to people’s homes.
“We both thought there must be something there. the current solution (at the time) was clearly broken,” the pair told Mail Online.
They started with a small delivery operation that slowed down stock from local Australian distributors before growing the business and developing their own range.
Alexandra was going to use washable rugs after having a baby, but she quickly discovered that she didn’t want to compromise the look and feel of the rug.
That idea helped her develop a relatively new luxury-looking washable range so her children could have “a nice soft landing for their little feet to play on”.
Did they know it would work? “Honestly, no, we didn’t know if it would work, as if we wanted to attack all the problems of the carpet market from all fronts.
“We had so many ideals, and it was ambitious,” the founders said.
“For five years we have not taken a salary and used our savings to live. I’m lucky that everything turned around at this point.”
These days, it’s not unusual for Miss Amara collections to sell out the day they’re launched, and the company continues to smash its targets.
Their washable, stain-resistant and hypoallergenic carpets go a long way with this, helping the company stand out from its competitors.
But the couple believe the key to their success was that “we really listen to our customers”.
“We have a whole range around our customers’ lifestyles and habits.
“All design decisions, down to the fiber specifications we choose, are based on what our customers tell us they need and the stylistic, decor styles they want,” they said.
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