It was love at first sight when we discovered The Sunday Notes. We were instantly drawn to the sleek and sylish style of the stationary brand. It's clear Karly is highly detailed and has a knack for producing elegant designs that are high-end, functional and practical. What particularly caught our gifting eyes were the Dakota laptop sleeves - the colours, the simplicity, the gold hardware and the buttery soft vegan leather. It was an immediate yes from us.

We wanted her and we wanted you to gift her. A perfect gift for your on-the-go creative, business owner and boss bestie. The icing on the cake? Getting to support another female founded small business.

The product development for the Dakota Laptop Sleeve was a long one. From designing the intricate details to finding a manufacturer that would create something as high quality as I had hoped took a lot of time. We went through a few different manufacturers to get the perfect product, making several adjustments to the design along the way. Creating the Dakota Laptop Sleeve was a lot of work but so so rewarding as every person who uses the sleeve loves it and can see the detail that goes into it.

Being a full time nurse and running a business is honestly harder than I’d first imagined. It takes a lot of discipline and determination for the business to be successful. I have found it very difficult coming home from work after a long day to have the motivation to work on The Sunday Notes and this is something I am still working on today. It takes a lot of organisation to schedule social media, post orders, work on customer service etc and doing this all after work or on days off can be tiring. Seeing customers love our products gives me the motivation to keep going and improve every aspect of the business.

One thing that surprised me about running my own in the best way is all the support that I have received from other business owners in the industry. It is so amazing when other businesses that you aspire to are so kind and generous in giving advice, hyping you up and motivating you to keep going. When I see content creators posting with our products this is so amazing and makes me so happy. I appreciate every post and story that I see, and this helps out with growing the brand so much.

As this is the first business that I have run, I didn’t realise how many hats you have to wear as the business owner, particularly in the beginning. As the owner of The Sunday Notes, there are so many different roles that I am responsible for, and working full time on top of this is quite challenging. It takes a lot of organisation and prioritisation to make it work, but it is worth it when I see the outcomes of the business.

When I am not working on The Sunday Notes or nursing, I love to spend my time with my friends, usually we spend our time together trying out new restaurants. I love food, and living in Melbourne I am so fortunate to be able to constantly be finding new amazing places to go. I also love cooking and baking at home so when I have the time I love to try baking new things and trying out new techniques. I also love going for walks, spending time with my family and doing puzzles.