In our ‘Inspiring small businesses’ series, we share and celebrate great stories from small business owners who started and run their own business. By bringing you closer to these inspiring businesses we hope that you find motivation, tips, and ideas for building yours. For our next interview, we spoke to Julianne Ponan Founder and CEO of Creative Nature.

What is it that you do?

I’m the Founder and CEO of Creative Nature. Creative Nature creates delicious without doubt food. We do a range of baking mixes including a squidgy banana bread, snack bars, superfoods and our new snacking sensation Gnawbles (A 39% lower sugar vegan Malteaser)!!

Our baking mixes including our decadent chocolate cake have just launched in Tesco stores and are already stocked in Sainsburys, Asda and Ocado. We also export to over 12 countries worldwide, bringing the top 14 allergen-free products to the masses.  For us it’s personal  so we have created an accessible natural food company where everyone is welcome to enjoy the purity and pleasure  of good food.

What's the story behind your business?

The reason I started this business is because I suffer from anaphylaxis and i’m allergic to all tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, lentils, chickpeas. Some of these foods I could not even touch which made eating not the easiest of things.

My anaphylaxis affected my life on a daily basis as my parents constantly had to make things from scratch for me, rather than pick up quick snacks if I was hungry when out. My mum was incredible at this but it did mean she had to spend so much time looking at labels constantly to ensure every single ingredient in her cooking from free from all my allergies.

Understanding how to control my anaphylaxis was key too as I needed to learn this very early in my childhood. I could not just try different things, I couldn’t share sweets or snacks with any other child and yes, they did have an allergy table at school which made me feel left out. Unfortunately, schools at that stage allowed children to still have peanut butter and just tried to segregate the ‘allergy kid’. 

This led me to start Creative Nature, my own brand to cater to the top 14 allergens which is why we have a top14 allergen stand to ensure all our ranges of Baking Mixes, Snack bars and new snacking sensation Gnawbles are always delicious without a doubt. I wanted to be able to make it easier for people who do suffer like me or have friends that do, to be able to enjoy food again. Creative Nature’s baking mixes, Brownies, Banana and even an indulgent chocolate cake perfect for birthdays are stocked in Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda!

What inspired you to start your own business? 

I have always had a passion for doing something that will be remembered, doing something that will create a solution, make people’s lives easier.  Little did I know that allergies would play such a big part.

What is the most difficult aspect of running your own business?

I would say at the beginning loneliness is a big factor. When you are starting out and your friends don’t really understand what you are doing or why you are doing it. You get asked to go out but you constantly turn it down because you are working on getting a product launched, or a new marketing strategy. In the end, your friends stop asking you as you are on very different paths. This can take its toll on you seeing posts on social media. 

People never tell you how lonely it can feel being an entrepreneur, but surrounding yourself with other entrepreneurs really does help, it not only builds an incredible network but they really get what you are going through.

There are many other challenges I have faced along the way such as failing a crowdfunding round publically, learning from it and then going on to run a successful campaign that overfunds to over half a million in 14 days.

To find out more about Creative Nature, visit their website or follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.