From baby steps to thriving bush retail business

That's exactly what Jane Robertson did when her son James, now 11, was at walking age.

"I was looking for little leather shoes that he could put on himself, that weren't velcro," she said.

Little did she realise at the time, her business would pivot from children's shoes to running a thriving e-commerce company from her farm, 10 kilometres from Coolamon.

And she did this through drought, tough retail and economic headwinds while juggling three children and a working farm with her husband Andrew.

At the end of 2017, Jane, who had no retail experience, created and launched her shoe brand Millwoods - the name of the road her farm is located on - with her first children's line, a moccasin.

"Once the kids had them on you couldn't get them out of the shoes," she said.

But at $80 a pair, she said it was a hard sell for parents.

What she did find was that the parents she was targeting were instead looking for comfortable stylish shoes for themselves.

It was a make or break time in her fledgling business - continue on and have a crack in the women's range or give up.

'We talked to our accountant about shutting the business down but thought we would give it one more hit with women's shoes," she said.

"I've never done things the easy way."

Jane discovered if you create something good that people genuinely want and need - and make it easy for them to get it - the hard work pays off.

So she forged ahead to design a leopard linden loafer (still available today) and placed a small order for the shoes.

She launched this line in 2019 just two months before Buy from The Bush (BFTB), a rural retail initiative to promote buying from regional areas in the drought went viral.

Jane took the loafers and remaining children's shoes to the first BFTB Pitt Street Mall market in Sydney and sold out what she had in stock as well as 50 per cent of the forward stock for the next shipment she had.

"It went quickly after that," she said.

"I put into line other loafer colours and another pointed flat."

Then COVID-19 hit and she remembers standing in her family kitchen talking to her husband about their investment in the business.

"We were so fortunate when every door closed another door opened, I just trusted my gut," she said.

She rallied to put her efforts into social media campaigns and it just grew from there.

They went from two pairs in 2019 to now 22 variations for this season, including adding boots and slippers to the collection,

"We store, pick and pack everything on farm...so it keeps us busy," she said.

At the house there were two four bay garages, which she sealed and insulated to make vermin proof to store her stock.

"Where to now? That's the $64 million question," she said.

"We've done everything to grow."

In the next 12 to 18 months, Jane wants her business to tackle the US market.

While she designs the shoes on the farm, about 40 per cent of her stock is made in China and the remaining between Portugal and Spain due to no manufacturing resources in Australia.

"We are looking a lot about the future of consolidating our processes and procedures and reinvesting in our community," she said.

'We might have to look at moving to a third party logistics company in a capital city as the only prohibiting thing to keep it here is transport costs.

"That's not due to the post, it's transporting costs to get the shoes from Sydney when the ship arrives to our place.

"It costs more to get them home from Sydney than it does getting them from overseas to Australia."

Although Jane is excited about reaching more international customers, Millwoods will always be, at its heart, a regional business.

She wants to build the business in Coolamon to help boost the local economy with jobs.

"It will become more financial to have to play the game but I'm prepared to invest in regional Australia," she said.

Between Millwoods and another business in Coolamon, Jane said the amount of product they send through the privately-owned post office had meant the employment of three people in a town of 2500.

"I'm passionate about creating jobs, keeping people in regional Australia and really putting money back into the area," Jane said.

"Some people might think building a brand and a business with no shoe design or retail experience, while raising a young family might be a daunting prospect bordering on insanity, but I've always had a have-a-go attitude.

"Like so many regional women making a huge difference, not only in their own communities, but also across the entire country and even the world, we roll up our sleeves and get on with it. It's a trait that serves us well.

"If I wasn't in a rural community, it would have been harder to do, the community connection and support has been vital to our success."