Member Spotlight: Juliana Piper of PiperMache Webdesign

Welcome to the first post in our new Member Spotlight series! This series will help you get to know the members of Madison Mompreneur as we ask them questions about their personal and professional life as moms who own businesses in Madison, Alabama. We are kicking off this series with the spotlight on Co-Founder Juliana Piper, Owner of PiperMache. Enjoy!

1. What’s your Name
   Juliana Piper
2. What’s your Business Name
   Well, grab a chair, I have a few. Webdesign is my main business over at PiperMache Webdesign. I also have a little Digital Shop where I create Printable cards for teachers called Notes on PiperMache (I’m rebranding as I called that business Pipermache Digital Art previously, so it could be either name depending on when you reading this). Lastly, as you probably already know, I am the co-founder of Madison Mompreneur.
3. How does your business help people?
   I help people have a better digital life. Either by creating cards that parents can print at midnight before a major event at school (you know you’ve been there, I certainly have), or by developing visual experience through websites to increase my clients business growth.
4. How long have you lived in Madison?
   Since 2012
5. What inspired you to start your business?
   Notes was born out of necessity lol.
   I started PiperMache just before I turned 40. I had been newly diagnosed (officially) with ADHD and decided to follow my brain’s gift and do what I was passionate about. In 6th grade I fell in love with creating Letter Engineering Drawing. While everyone else thought that was the most boring assignment in middle school, I was having dopamine sparkles and keep doing it on my own just for fun. Unfortunately at the time, I had no idea how one could make a living with a passion for drawing letters.
6. What sets your business apart from others in the industry?
   Besides the fact that I am a business nerd, and have experience working with a variety of industries and business sizes, from Fortune500 Companies Oil Conglomerates to small Homemade jewelry’s business. I am highly empathetic which gives me an advantage to having a keen eye for client’s experiences.
7. What do you consider to be your biggest success so far?
   Having the courage to explore what my biggest gifts are and use that to help others.
8. How does your business contribute to the local community?
   I love helping local businesses grow digitally, specially women owned business.
9. How do you see your business evolving in the next 5-10 years?
   I am currently expanding my webdesign services to e-commerce websites, and I hope to expand to creating website in multiple platforms.
10. Who are your typical customers, and how do they find you?
    My customers are small business owners or managers, and I meet them online or I am refereed to them.
11. What do you enjoy most about running your business?
    I love exploring more efficient ways of doing things, I am often trying new platforms to automate things. That is good and bad, but I guess with my line of work it helps me to know multiple platforms that can help my clients be more efficient online.
12. How do you stay up-to-date with industry trends and changes?
    I’m almost always enrolled in one or two different courses or certifications.
13. What advice would you give to someone interested in starting a business in your industry?
    Just go for it, there are a lot of courses out there that can teach you even if you are not academically trained. We all have something special to offer, and if designing is a passion of yours, you can only go wrong by not trying it.
14. What product/service would you like for us to highlight at this time?
    I just started offering Website Audits, and I am really excited to do a deep dive into many different businesses, I like looking at the data and providing suggestions for improvement. I am excited to see this service grow. I actually offer a Quick Free website audit at the moment so anyone can have at least 3-5 tips on how to improve their website.
15. Do you involve your kids in your business? If yes, how so?
    Yes, to some degree. My daughter is very well versed in Canva as she loves to create digital art. My son likes to make potty jokes’ stickers. I haven’t been able to monetize that one yet. lol
16. What do you find is the most difficult part of balancing mommyhood and business life?
    I run out of time constantly. There’s just isn’t enough time to be a mom with so many requirements, and a business owner. Boundaries have been really key if I want to do my best in either job.
17. What business in the Madison Area is your favorite?
    I have changed my health by attending Barre classes in the past two years, so I would have to vote for Pure Barre.
18. Do you have a business bestie?
    Lauren is definitely my bestie at Mompreneur. I am so thankful she is invested in the idea as much I am. She has been a great partner and I have learned a lot from her.
19. Anything else you would like for us to highlight?
    I want to encourage anyone that having a business doesn’t have to be scary, you just have to be willing to ride the waves. It doesn’t matter how big of a lesson you’ve learned today, you will always have an opportunity to bring that lesson with you and try again the next day.
20. Where can people find you?
    Website: https://pipermache.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piper.mache/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=pipermache

I hope you enjoyed reading about one of our members, please support our local Madison mom-owned businesses.