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How often in your everyday life have you come across a product that, with a little something different, would be much better? Most of us simply shrug our shoulders and keep on going without thinking any more about it.

Johanna Virtanen became an entrepreneur through detecting a need. When she was on maternity leave, she was annoyed by not being able to find a comfortable position without a foot rest when breastfeeding. She talked about it with other mothers and was surprised to find that so many of them also found it difficult to find a proper ergonomic position, because knees could not be lifted high enough. There was a definite need for a chair for nursing mothers.

“It all started from the non-existent foot rest. I thought how pleasant it would be to hold your baby close to you in a rocking chair, if only there was an adjustable foot rest. It would make both breastfeeding and reading to your child easier,” Virtanen remembers.

Johanna Virtanen develops her business cautiously, making sure it does not interfere with her family and the day job.

After pondering on various types of chairs, Virtanen contacted the Vaasa Region Enterprise Agency Startia, where she discussed her business idea with Business Advisor Sari Saarikoski.

“Sari was encouraging and immediately understood the problem which my product would solve. It gave me confidence in my idea,” Virtanen says.

Entrepreneurship alongside a regular job

Virtanen’s parental leave ended before she made the decision to start a business of her own. She wanted to make sure that becoming a part-time entrepreneur would not make her finances collapse should she become unemployed or unfit for work.

The Seesteliving company was started in the summer of last year. It was the starting shot for Virtanen’s efforts to get the Syli rocking chair to the markets.

“We have two small children in our family and both my husband and I work outside the home, meaning that there is only limited time for business activities,” Virtanen says.

Lack of time and finding the right contacts have made starting the business challenging. It took such a long time to find a designer and manufacturer for the chair that Virtanen was close to giving up. After the initial struggles, and with the help of a business mentor, Virtanen finally found Finnish partners who believed in the idea behind the Syli chair.

“I have noticed that contacts are extremely important in doing business. Luckily enough, I have been able to voice my thoughts at the right time and receive help from people who have given me advice on how to proceed step by step,” says Virtanen thankfully.

 Thanks to the adjustable foot rest, the Syli chair is comfortable to sit on and offers support in the right places.
It can be used both in children’s rooms at home and in offices.

A dream come true

At the moment, Seesteliving is taking its first business steps. In addition to the Syli rocking chair, the company’s online shop sells nursing pillows and padding for the chair, both made from Finnish sheep skin.

Even though the development of the chair started from the needs of a family with a baby, the Syli chair has proven extremely functional in offices and when making handicrafts, for example. It needs less floor space than a traditional rocking chair and has been tested at an IT company, as well as in a maternity ward and a children’s intensive care unit in a hospital. A couple of chairs are being tested at the Children’s Cultural Centre Rulla in Tampere.

Starting a business has so far mainly brought expenses. Nevertheless, Virtanen is glad that she put her idea into action.

“Over the last couple of years I have learned a lot about the furniture business and about being an entrepreneur. I am grateful for all the help and encouragement I have received,” she says. “I already have new ideas and marketing plans for the same product family, but I want to proceed with patience and wait for profits from our first products to begin with.”

A soft landing to entrepreneurship

Roughly a third of Sari Saarikoski’s clients at the Vaasa Region Enterprise Agency Startia are part-time entrepreneurs or plan to become one. Saarikoski says that part-time entrepreneurship is a good way of trying out one’s wings as an entrepreneur, or making use of one’s special skills.

A part-time entrepreneur needs to be careful with money: whenever his or her earned income exceeds the limit for statutory pension insurance for entrepreneurs (YEL), he or she is obligated to pay a self-employed person’s pension fees also, even if covered by the Employees Pensions Act . A part-time entrepreneur has to take care of all expenses arising from entrepreneurship, because there are no business subsidies available for part-time entrepreneurs.

Saarikoski wishes that there was a forum for part-time entrepreneurs where they could compare notes and ask for and receive advice.

“Many part-time entrepreneurs work a lot of hours in order to be able to have their business alongside their regular jobs. Johanna at Seesteliving is a prime example of a part-time entrepreneur who has worked hard to turn her idea into a product and made her dreams come true.”

Text: Johanna Haveri
Photos: Seesteliving Oy/Esa Siltaloppi, Johanna Haveri, VASEK
Translation: VASEK