A look into how one of our amazing students is using her business skills to crochet her way to the top.

Tyla Murray is a Year 13 student here at Hamilton Girls’ High School. Tyla started her crocheting business back in 2017, when she sold handmade crochet toys at school to students and teachers, and soon after on TradeMe, and at local markets.

Tyla found a passion for creating at a reasonably young age. After upping her crocheting skills from using loom bands to yarn, she found that she was surprisingly naturally talented at making toys. Once she had created a few crochet items, she had an idea that because she was too young to apply for a job, she could sell her toys as a nice means of income. Tyla made business cards which she sent out to her friends and teachers at school and quickly started getting orders.

Tyla had a large amount of spare time after school, as well as during weekends, which allowed her to use her creativity. Because Tyla knew that crocheting was something that she was passionate about, she knew that she would be able to stay committed to tasks whether it was making orders for her business, or just making something for herself. This benefited her as she was able to do something she loved as well as make a profit from it.

Prior to starting her crocheting business, Tyla was not taking any business subjects at school. But through her experience with creating and selling her products, she gained interest in the business pathway, which led her to take Enterprise Studies, Economics, as well as Business Studies. The knowledge she has gained from these subjects, such as the importance of keeping records of spending and sales, she now applies to her small business to further enhance it and make it more professional. These subjects have given Tyla the power to put all the business ideas she has learnt in the classroom into practice and have been an asset in recent years assisting her to run her business.

Tyla enjoys being her own boss and working at her own pace as well as on her own terms, which conveniently works well with balancing her school work with her personal life. This means she can allow herself to take breaks if she has large amounts of school work, or if she feels that she is overworking herself. 

Tyla is proof that you can turn your hobbies into a small business, as long as you are committed and willing to regularly trial different things to help grow your skills and benefit your business. Tyla is one of many students at Hamilton Girls’ High School building an identity as a young woman in the business world.

Tyla currently has leftover inventory which will soon be available to purchase on her business Facebook page, beansontoastbytyla

And her Gmail is open for queries about her business @beansontoastbytyla@gmail.com

Written by Caitlyn Wasley (Year 12).