The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I feel like I could write a book. Obviously the challenges I mentioned earlier of going into lockdown when our business was only 3 months old, finding out we were pregnant and going on to move house at 20 weeks pregnant while still trying to keep our business going.
We are based in Whitianga, which is a seasonal town. The lockdown was lifted for us earlier than Auckland and greater Waikato, but we didn’t have the traffic flow we had been seeing, and it definitely affected business. We then found out we were expecting twins, which took me a long time to come to terms with especially as I had planned to homebirth, which freaked a lot of people out – we actually had an amazing, supportive midwife but she stopped practising with mandates. I was angry about that for a long time.
It wasn’t until I was about 32 weeks pregnant that we found someone to employ to work the storefront side of the business and I was really struggling to get through the days. I would come home every night in so much pain and cry. We thought we would just have to close until I’d had the twins and was able to return to work. My midwife kept saying twins are born premature and not to overdo it but I was literally on my feet and lifting heavy things all day – that was a really stressful time.
When the twins were 5 months old, my dad’s health declined quite rapidly, and he passed away. I am still processing that, and it took a lot out of me mentally and emotionally.
A couple of months later, we had extreme weather which cut off access to the Coromandel Peninsula and we once again noticed a decrease in traffic through our town, which affected our revenue. After Cyclone Gabrielle the business was really struggling, I had gone into a really dark place and wasn’t keeping up with my admin. I had lost my passion and drive. My husband and I decided to call it quits on our brick and mortar and move the business solely online. I have taken a couple of weeks off to wrap up the admin and have a break, but I am excited to see the business take a new direction.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Flexibility is a pro. I spent so much time travelling from Whitianga to Auckland to be with my dad in the last few weeks of his life. If I was in employment, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. It also means I can be available for my children and husband more in the running of our home. My children are in childcare for some of the week, but I still have them at home lots too and I am grateful for that. My husband is also self employed so we get to take those long weekends and enjoy family time on our terms.
The con is being accountable to yourself, balancing finances and keeping organized; otherwise it can spiral out of control really fast – I know from experience. There’s no paid leave and no days off. Sometimes at night, I’m lying in bed and an idea will pop into my head or I’ll remember I never emailed someone back or I’ll get interrupted in the middle of paying bills. When you are responsible for running a business, you wear the success as much as the hardship. You can’t take a holiday or weekend off and truly leave it behind. There is flexibility but it requires structure too.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I’m really excited to see us take off in the online space. I am working on building up relationships with more suppliers with closed-loop systems to create a more sustainable way of consuming for our customers and rewarding people who choose to participate in those kinds of systems. I’d also love to continue growing a supportive space through our social media for women and mothers to connect. I love cooking and creating affordable family recipes, inspiring people to live a life in connection with Earth, nature and encouraging mindfulness around the way we participate in consumption.
We already work with some amazing New Zealand-based, women-led and B-Corp certified businesses so finding more like-minded suppliers to work with and maybe in the future adding a few of our own products to the mix. I have so many ideas but at this stage I am trying to practise what I preach and be mindful in the way I approach business by taking it slowly. That may seem counterintuitive but it’s important to me that I remain authentic in this space.
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