The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
In a lot of ways, Tundra Kids exists because of post-natal anxiety and depression. I’m a work-from-home mum, dabbling in a variety of jobs, and juggling looking after my son while my partner works two jobs. My pregnancy, birth and post-partum period were traumatic, and nothing felt like it was in my control. I couldn’t even get the washing dry! It took a long time for my PND to be diagnosed because I was stuck in that cycle of thinking everyone had it like this, and to just soldier on. I also have a lifelong anxiety disorder so it was hard to tell which was which! My son was not a sleeper, and the sleep deprivation sent me to some very dark places. After a lot of therapy and medication, I started to come out of the fog, and around the same time, I had the idea for Tundra Kids. In a way, it’s a lovely distraction, but more importantly, I control every single aspect: ordering, social media, packaging, the works. No one tells me what to do (apart from the customer demand and COVID, of course), and my successes or otherwise are completely my own. Having a little control back in my life has worked absolute wonders for my mental health.
PND aside, there have been some other huge challenges. I’m not a photographer and have had a nightmare taking good photos – half the time I rely on parents with good cameras to send me photos of their children in the products.
The sizing in Nepal is different to NZ and it’s SO HARD to communicate that well to customers. I just have to be comfortable with the knowledge I’ve done my best.
COVID also smashed me – Nepal went into lockdown about a month after my first delivery, and the second one never turned up. I had no communication with my supplier because he was locked down and unable to get to his computer. I ended up having to google Nepal to find out what was going on. My second order arrived a week after their lockdown lifted, but I’ve been waiting months for the third (they’re in lockdown again). With COVID uncertainty happening in NZ as well, it’s hard to be reliable with my release plans when I’m at the mercy of international post. But I believe in transparency and just let people know what’s going on as I know, which helps to create a lovely understanding village within the Tundra Kids community.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I’m good at prioritising and I can juggle work with illness/weekends and more. I don’t have any other schedule to stick to except my own. That being said, I also answer to myself, so if one of my campaigns doesn’t go as planned, I only have myself to blame or troubleshoot with. Breaking even was the first goal, but then I needed more clothes, so the finance side of things has been a big learning curve. Finding storage for everything in our small house has been interesting, and dealing with customers and questions has also proven to be a task – I have 15 years of customer service under my belt but parents are a new breed entirely. Mostly though, I love it, and love working hard to see my results!
Hopes and dreams: What next?
When I started, my first goal was to break even. My next goal is to be able to pay the weekly mortgage with my income. It’s actually a reasonably chunky goal so that’s probably the next. We’re working on building a studio for my partner at the moment (he’s a musician) and when that’s finally done I’ll actually have a real home office to myself – I’d like to get enough stock to keep my website going all the time rather than relying on releases. But with the world as it is with COVID, honestly just being able to keep getting these stunning clothes out there is the biggest dream of all. One of my secret goals is to see my clothes out in real life unexpectedly.
Visit the Tundra Kids website to browse their gorgeous range of kids’ clothing, and keep up to date by following them on Facebook and Instagram.
