Mum makes $3 million fortune from kids' snot-sucking device

The Brisbane mother-of-three and former schoolteacher now makes $3 million from the kids' snot-sucking device that she sells online. Photo / Instagram

Stay-at-home mum Laura Klein never thought her side hustle would turn her into a millionaire — but fast-forward six years and the Brisbane local is now earning a comfortable $3 million ($3.18m).

She launched her unique e-commerce business selling battery-powered snot suckers back in 2013.

And while Klein admitted it was a bit of a "grotty" concept, she quickly realised there was a huge gap in the market for it, reports news.com.au.

"Everyone laughs at our business name — Snotty Noses — but jeez it's memorable, and it does what it says," Klein said.

"It was simply a product I had used as a mother. I bought it thinking it probably wouldn't work, but it saved me."

The mother-of-three, who took time off work as a full-time teacher, was using the product for her children at the time.

"It was amazing," she told news.com.au, adding she had previously had difficulty extracting snot from her sick kids' noses.

Laura Klein, 44, quit her job as a teacher to run her small business Snotty Noses full-time. Photo / Instagram

She contacted the distributer six months later when she needed a new nozzle for her Snotty Noses aspirator — and he offered her to be a rep for the product.

Klein, 44, who was on leave from her day job at the time, took up the offer.

"I bought a box of stock and sold it to my friends within a week, with no website or anything," she said.

She knew she was onto something and launched her own website with the name Snotty Noses weeks later.

"I thought I would just sell a few, but you don't realise what you are capable of until you start doing it — now I have five staff in Brisbane and doing thousands of orders a month," Klein told news.com.au.

"There's 1000 babies born a day in Australia, so our target market is never running out."

She said while there were other, similar products, there was nothing quite like her battery-powered "sucker".

"You can get a manual rubber suction where you have to squeeze and release with your own hand, but this one is electric. You just need to press a button, the suction comes on, it's steady, strong and safe," Klein said. "It's also waterproof, so you can rinse it under the tap.

The Snotty Noses aspirator is a battery-powered snot sucker that clears a baby's nose in seconds so they can breathe, feed and sleep better. Photo / Instagram

"Once the blockage in the nose is removed, it also means babies are less likely to develop a secondary ear, adenoid or respiratory infection."

Klein said the reason her business had grown so rapidly was mainly because of word-of-mouth from online mothers' groups.

"Mums networks are gold. If they find that something has worked, they tell everyone about it. Similar if you pedal a product that doesn't — they will tear you down."

WHEN SHE MADE HER FIRST MILLION

Klein made her first million in 2017, saying the last 18 months have been insane.

"When I first started it was a part-time gig because I had three little kids (who are now 10, 8 and 7)," she said.

"I was still teaching part-time, so this was my side hustle — packing a few orders a week."

But then Klein gave up on her teaching career to focus on her business full-time, and that's when things took a whole new turn.

"I got a business coach, as I don't have a business degree and needed guidance (and still do)."

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In the last six years she has managed to turn over $3.3 million, with last year alone hitting $1.7 million in sales.

"I am looking at doubling that $1.7 million figure in the next 12 months," she said.

Klein, who launched the business from her kitchen bench, still works from home.

"We could potentially move to a warehouse, but that's additional overheads. The whole reason to start a business was to fit it in with my lifestyle," she said.

"We can still double the business in the next 12 months and function from home easily. I may need additional storage, but it's still doable from here."

Klein stocks her signature Snotty Noses aspirator, along with other products for good health and sleep at the bottom of her double-storey home in Brisbane.

"It's completely separate from my life. Upstairs is living, so it's a great arrangement," Klein said.

Scary leaving her day job

Klein admitted it was scary leaving her teaching job to take a punt as a small-business owner.

"A lot of women my age have a renewed creativity and desire to make a difference whether that's through a particular product or service they have a passion for," she said.

"You just need to make sure it is something you are passionate about, and the product has a place in the market."

She said people wanted to deal with a small business with heart, rather than a big corporation.

"There's great days and days of rejection. There's days when you get delivered the wrong stock,' Klein said.

"I had a batch of stock that was all faulty, and the whole lot was printed incorrectly, but those things happen, that's business. You just have to keep going."