This morning, 11-year-old Georgina Empringham woke to 68 orders waiting for her, less than 24 hours after starting her business. 

As spring saw 'billy buttons' – a long-stemmed golden globe shaped flower – pop up across the Empringham’s Nevertire home Belaringar, Georgina came up with an idea to sell them in small bunches. From there, Belaringar Billy Buttons was born. 

Overnight, the flower business racked up over 500 followers and Georgina and her family have already had to pause orders, with the golden bouquets in high demand across the region.

Georgina’s mother Sally Empringham said the overnight success was far from planned. 

“We just went out to collect them for ourselves - I thought she’d sell about ten bunches, but we’ve already posted about 40 orders and have another 68 to go,” Mrs Empringham said. 

To keep up with the high demand, Georgina has employed the skills of her 14-year-old sister Amelia, giving her a 50 per cent stake to manage admin, social media, and packing. 

While the billy buttons continue to bloom throughout spring and summer, Georgina and Amelia have both secured holiday gigs for themselves and are carefully planning where to invest their newfound income. 

“I thought they’d be straight on the internet shopping, but they’re too busy packing orders,” Mrs Empringham said. 

Their business model is also highly efficient, with an oversupply of billy buttons covering the flat plains around their property.

“They’re almost in every paddock - there’s definitely no risk of running out of them,” Mrs Empringham said. 

Yet within 24 hours, the two business owners have encountered their first taste of logistical issues. Dubbo’s ongoing lockdown has prevented them from acquiring more packing materials, forcing them to turn to trusty past issues of local newspapers for bouquet wrapping, and the rain over the region has forced the billy button picking to a halt for the day. 

For the Empringham sisters, youth has never been a barrier to their business ventures. Both keen horse riders, the two exercise horses for owners in the region and Amelia has also turned her hands to making horse browbands and dog collars. 

Amelia and Georgina have been busy filling orders and delivering them to local communities with the help of their mother, Sally.

“They’re very entrepreneurial, but this is definitely the most successful enterprise so far, well and truly,” Mrs Empringham said. 

While the school holidays and learning from home has allowed plenty of time to get on top of the mass of incoming orders for Belaringar Billy Buttons, the balancing act could look quite different when school returns. 

“I think they’ll probably have to get up in the morning and do some billy cutting before schoolwork. I don’t imagine it’s going to keep going crazy like this, but who knows,” Mrs Empringham said. 

An added bonus to the lucrative business model they’ve stumbled upon, Mrs Empringham said the work has been the perfect activity for them to switch off. 

“It’s quite good mindfulness - no phones, no music, no TV,” she said.