The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
There is a lovely lady in Auckland (Maryanna Lishman from Raised on Real Food) who runs an eczema support group and she promoted my product on her page. I’ve had an overwhelming response from parents (and adults) of children with uncontrollable eczema who’ve had amazing benefits with the tallow balm soothing their outbreaks and reducing the severity. As a mumma of four, I understand how helpless you can feel when your babies are in pain so knowing I’m helping make the day just that little bit easier for mums and bubs is the most rewarding feeling and brings me the most job satisfaction.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
My kids are older now and at school (and university!!) full time. I feel lucky enough to have been able to have been a stay-at-home mum with my babies and now try to only work when they’re at school. They like to watch and “help” with the harvesting and rendering procedures though, so as a former homeschool mum (of my older boy) I love the learning opportunities involved in the whole process.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I must admit that at the beginning I was concerned about people’s reactions to the base product!! I mean, if you’d asked me 10 years ago, a former vegan, about rubbing cow fat on my face I would have thought you were crazy!!! And people do think I’m crazy! But once they try the product for themselves and see and feel the amazing benefits, all squeamishness soon disappears!
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I really enjoy what I do. I love that I can follow my passions of nutrition and natural health to create a unique product that can benefit other people on their health journey. Being your own boss is always a bonus too and the ability to work around my family and pick and choose what hours I work so it doesn’t interfere with the chaos of everyday living.
Of course there are often struggles with self-promotion and motivation. As a woman of an older vintage, I’m still learning the ways of social media marketing and never know what to post. Not sure how many pictures of cows people want to see. Luckily I have 4 little media savvy offspring who are always ready to offer some “constructive criticism” if I’m not getting it quite right!
Hopes and dreams: What next?
We are still in the infancy stages of business and I’m full of ideas for new products! I would love to see society embrace a return to more traditional beauty products without a science experiment list of ingredients. Of course, the ultimate dream would be expanding and creating a business successful enough to support my family. Lastly, for my husband to retire and fulfill his dream of being on Country Calendar talking about rendering fat for his wife’s business would also be pretty amazing!!
To learn more about Queen of the Hill and to see their full list of unique skin balms, visit their website and follow them on Instagram.
