Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
The work and family balance has been something we have really worked hard on to get to a point where we are happy with it. It requires a lot of forward planning, good organisation and keeping to routines. We think really hard about how we prioritise our time and try our best to put it to the best use. We are also really strict with keeping our ‘work days’ for Bit by Bit and our non-work days for family and other commitments.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Our biggest challenge was breaking into a market that already had top-performing brands and believing that we could offer highly concentrated, beautiful plant-based products that would compete (as well as meeting a gap in the Gisborne market with our refillery).
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Cons: Making decisions! There have been times when we have had to compromise. We are lucky, we generally want and like the same things, so the compromises have been around minor decisions. Fitting it all in. We have overcome this to an extent but it is certainly an ongoing challenge as our business grows. We both have very high expectations of ourselves and everything that we do.
Pros: Being our own boss and truly being able to put our young families first. Being on this journey together, before we are business partners, we are best friends, so we work hard on making sure our friendship comes first. There is no way we could have done it alone. There are highs and lows, like anything, but it is incredible to be doing our bit and encouraging others to be doing theirs.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
Our short-term dream is to add more refill stations in our wonderful stockist stores around New Zealand, so customers have plenty of opportunities to refill their bottles and do their bit. Our long-term dream is definitely another store and refillery somewhere in New Zealand – we have a place in mind where we think it would be amazing! Manifest, manifest, hard work and life balance, manifest…
Visit the Doing Bit by Bit website to find out more, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
