Are you obsessive about natural ingredients in your products, and those you use on your children? Are you passionate about bypassing chemicals in favour of organics? Are you sensitive to even some “natural” products and seek only the most gentle of ingredients? In a world full of natural ingredients, how do you know which products are safest? If you are looking for TRULY natural products, then look no further than Honestly Natural. Founder Nonie Lewicki is absolutely passionate about living a natural and holistic life. After becoming frustrated at the amount of “greenwashing” going on (using “natural” and “organic” as a marketing gimmick), and struggling to find a store that only stocked truly natural products, she decided to start her own. We spoke to Nonie to learn more about her fabulous business.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
When I became pregnant with my daughter in 2014, I really started to notice that when it comes to natural products, there was a lot of greenwashing going on. Looking for face creams, shampoos and products for myself that were safe and wouldn’t put chemicals into my own system was a lot harder than I thought. Not all natural products were as natural as they appeared and I could not find a space that stocked only the safest options. They all had a mix of some completely natural products and others not so much. Just because a product says “organic” or “natural” didn’t mean a thing once you read the ingredients. I didn’t want preservatives or known skin allergens which are still found in so many natural products these days. It was becoming increasingly frustrating for me, having to spend such a long time to go through ingredients, look in books and look up ingredients just to find a safe product. I thought there had to be other people as frustrated as me, so I decided to create a space with the strictest ingredients policy and that was Honestly Natural. A space where customers know they are getting the very safest choices for their families without sifting through the ingredients of thousands of products on other sites to find the best options.
Looking for face creams, shampoos and products for myself that were safe and wouldn’t put chemicals into my own system was a lot harder than I thought. Not all natural products were as natural as they appeared and I could not find a space that stocked only the safest options.
The Launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
For some time I sat on the idea, I thought of names and ummed and ahhed about starting my own business. I researched other companies similar to what I wanted to create and luckily for me I wasn’t able to find anywhere that was as strict as I wanted to be. I was also lucky to have family to help me and support my decision to jump in and see what happens. I am passionate about living a natural and holistic life and my friends would often ask for advice which I love to give. I love to learn the latest research and findings on living this way. I have always taught my kinder children (I’m also a kindy teacher), when you love something you should always keep doing it. I took my own advice and gave it a go!
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough for Honestly Natural was being able to see the vision that would set us apart from other stores. When beginning Honestly Natural, I knew I wanted the safest products but I found it hard to get across to our customers how we were different. Working that out was a huge breakthrough for us, to really showcase our specialty when it comes to being so strict and so natural.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
That is such a tough one. My husband works shift work so I am never able to get into a routine. Any spare second I get, I work on the business, whether it be for 5 minutes or if I’m lucky I’ll get an hour. I try to spend as much time with the family as possible but being a one woman business that can be tricky. We make sure we get out as a family once a week and go for bike rides or the park whenever we’re all together. It’s about being able to let some things slide, like the dirty dishes or the laundry for a day. If leaving something means you have the ability to spend extra time with the family it’s worth it. Dishes can always wait. To be honest thought I still have to work on balancing it daily.
