Inspiring Small Businesses: Dib Dab Art Club

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 this week’s interview, we spoke to Jo Mitchell Founder and Director of Dib Dab Art Club, an art club for children that offers a range of classes, workshops and after school clubs.

What's the story behind your business? 

We are a children’s art club offering children from the age of 10 to 16 years classes and workshops. We run baby and preschool classes and afterschool clubs. We now operate in seven schools, both state and private offering creative after school clubs. We are passionate about helping to make Art more accessible for all children. 

What inspired you to start your own business?

Our business was founded because I felt there was a gap in the local area for art classes for preschoolers. As a designer I was keen to engage my young son creatively, so when a local soft-play asked if I knew of any kids clubs I decided to run one myself with a friend. Parents and kids loved what did so we approached Pizza Express and asked if we could run classes in their restaurant before they opened and we would include a kids lunch in the class. We wanted to give our parents a good experience too. Pizza Express got on board and that kick started the business. With our pre-school classes running, parents asked if we did after school clubs - so we ran our first term in our local Squires garden centre.  We were then invited into our local school and parents asked if we ran holiday workshops and parties. We now operate in 7 schools both state and private and run baby and preschool classes in the day. Last year we won a SBS award and opened our first class out of area in Twickenham and now classes every day and parties at weekends.

As a professional graphic designer I had always been surrounded by creativity and most of my days are filled with making or designing. After I had my son and moved from London to Surrey I was very aware our local area lacked any creative art classes for babies and pre-schoolers. I truly believe it is so important for a child’s development to be involved in creative activities from a very young age, so I started to think about the idea of running my own classes. When my son was at a local nursery I volunteered as a Teaching Assistant to gain some teaching experience and this coupled with my creative profession inspired me to take the leap and launch the business! 

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

As a small business the most difficult aspect is recruiting a flexi-creative team who can grow with the business. I am very lucky to have an amazing business partner who has been with me since the company was founded and who is my right hand woman. Growing a small business is all about "wearing lots of hats" and understanding every aspect of your business so there never seems to be enough hours in the day to do everything.  I do struggle to switch off from the business and I am always planning ahead and I need to learn how to turn on an out-of-office response from time to time!

What is the best thing about running your own business?

The best thing is being able to run a business that we truly believe in and feel passionate about. Knowing if we put the hard work in to the business not only do we benefit as the business grows, but so do all the children we teach and all the creativity we share week on week. Also, as working mums we are able to manage our time around our own children and still show up for important school events and work less in school holidays and more in term times. 

To find our more about Dib Dab Art Club, visit their website or follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.