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The Weekend Neos Kosmos : 13 May 2017
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16 THE WEEKEND NEOS KOSMOS | SATURDAY 13 MAY 2017 DIGITAL.NEOSKOSMOS.COM ZOE GEORGE All wrapped up With Mother’s Day fast approaching, author Vikkie Triantafyllou talks business, gift hampers, and her little daughter’s heart of gold T he story is a familiar one that many women face while on maternity leave from their careers in the corporate world: the appeal of staying home with their children longer and working from home, often overpowering that of returning to the hustle and bustle of a 9-to-5 job. Vikkie Triantafyllou had worked in human resources for many years and when the time came to start her family and take some time off, she began wondering if there was anything out there more satisfying for her. This is her success story. Vikkie is a highly organised, self proclaimed "organisational freak", who has always loved going all out for her friends’ milestones. Whenever there was something to celebrate, whether it be a birthday, a house warming or the neighbours getting a new puppy, Vikkie found herself excited by putting together a hamper to celebrate the occasion. Naturally, when brainstorming new ventures after the birth of her second child, the idea to start a gift hamper business was one that made most sense. Not knowing how to begin this new venture she just simply went out and bought inventory, without thinking too far ahead and just taking ‘baby steps’. Buy the stock, assemble hampers, take photos, set up a website, etc but it became evident quite quickly that it was much more work than she had anticipated. Vikkie decided her next move would be to look into buying an existing business, with an established client base, only to have her hopes crushed after a few phone calls to business brokers, being advised that "gift hamper businesses are a very rare business to go up for sale". Having decided to not give up, but rather, soldier on with her original plan, Vikkie was beyond excited to receive a call a few months later informing her of an opportunity to buy an existing gift hamper business from a person with a very impressive resume, including twotime Telstra Business Woman of the year finalist, author, and business mentor. Vikkie describes it as the "opportunity of a lifetime that came knocking and I just grabbed it and ran," she also describes having a "gut feeling" that she was going to be successful in attaining it. She was right, and after meeting with other interested parties, they were convinced that Vikkie was the perfect fit for their brand and felt completely confident in handing it over. The business had been established for four years with regular corporate clients and many returning personal customers, so the owner wanted to be sure she was handing her hard work over to someone that could continue the success as well as being able to take it to the next level. Vikkie took over in March 2016 after multiple weeks of meetings, negotiations, contracts, and visits with lawyers, admitting at times she felt completely overwhelmed by it all and attributes the win to the help of her husband Frank having a background in business ownership himself and knowing what was involved in tough contractual negotiations. After the first day in her new role as the owner of Gift Wrapped Up, Vikkie found herself in an excited whirlwind as the first orders began coming through, stopping to do a little ‘happy dance’ with her daughters, as every completed order went off. Those happy dances quickly
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