The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Owning a business is a bit of a rollercoaster to be honest, especially in this space where we are creating products for such a precious and vulnerable age group. One of the biggest challenges that my husband and I have had to overcome is the unpredictable and unknown criteria that we abide by, being a distributor of infant foods. This is a high-risk category because we are dealing with such a vulnerable and precious age group. The nature of our business is very much unchartered territory, not just for us but as a business model in general. There are very few frozen baby foods supplying direct to consumer and in particular that are using such nutrient-dense and nutritionally intentional ingredients as we do.
There is no “How to Start a Baby Food Business” handbook so we have had many lessons along the way, and it has cost us a lot of time, money and resources (not to mention the mental and emotional rollercoaster) to the point we have wondered if we would be able to keep going. But we have gotten through so far because we genuinely believe that we have something that is so needed in households around Aotearoa.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The biggest pro is 100% getting to spend more time with my daughter, slow mornings and chatting over breakfast, being there to hold her hand while she sleeps whenever she needs me, without having to get up and head out the door for work. Yes, that means a lot of work outside of my time with her but for me that is totally worth it. I also absolutely love the messages I receive from parents thanking me for creating these products and telling me just how much their little one is loving them. I love hearing parents tell me how they are enjoying feeding times rather than feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. This is how we want our Made Whole parent to be feeling – like we have taken a load off and left them with more time for the fun stuff.
One of the hardest parts I find is the social media and marketing side of things. I am not a flawless mama with perfect hair and flawless make-up. I am that girl living in sportswear with a mum bun. Social media often makes me feel nervous, but I want to be authentic and my true self so that’s exactly what I do. Social media also portrays things to be so different to reality. Owning and running a business isn’t easy and I really don’t like that the buck stops with me (and Jesse indirectly). Anything and everything that needs doing begins and ends with us (maybe one day we won’t have to do everything ourselves but for now that’s how it is). It’s a 24/7 kind of gig, much like parenting.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
Ooooh I don’t want to give away too much…firstly, we have the arrival of our dreamy new addition in early January (Surprise! We have got pēpi no.2 on the way). Jesse and I are beyond excited to see Macie-Awhi become a big sis! So that is going to definitely require our village and plenty more figuring it out as we go along.
We have also set a few goals and focuses for the next 12 months that we are going to be working toward. We want to be building relationships with our audience as we share our journey with our two babes and our emerging business. We are also hoping to broaden our reach and get our gorgeous Made Whole product into a few select stores around the country. (Feel free to message Made Whole via social media if there is anywhere you would like to see our products). Our focus will also remain on the quality and standard of our products and services. From the moment you shop our online store, we want our community to feel seen and genuinely cared for. We truly want to help parents on this incredible, challenging, and all-consuming journey of parenting that we are doing alongside them. We want to continue to normalise whole food ingredients, real flavours and therapeutic nutrition. Our next generation needs this more than ever!
Let’s normalise whole food flavours. Let’s normalise nutrient-rich foods. Let’s create adventurous eaters.
Visit the Made Whole website to find out more, and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
