In this episode, we sit down with Janelle Palibrk, the founder of Myles Gray, whose journey began with a single act of love - creating a candle to help her grieving mother after the sudden loss of her father. What started as a deeply personal project has since grown into a globally successful brand, bringing comfort and healing to people around the world.
But behind the success came personal struggles. As the business flourished, Janelle faced the toll it took on her health and marriage, forcing her to make some of the hardest decisions of her life. We dive into her story of resilience, sacrifice, and the power of turning pain into purpose. Janelle's mission now is to help people feel connected and not alone.
This is an inspiring conversation about love, loss, and the strength it takes to build something meaningful from heartbreak.
We have a special treat for our LAWKI listeners - use the code LAWKI30 at checkout for an exclusive 30% discount on Myles Gray candles!
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and Instagram @LifeAsWeKnowIt.Podcast @tonitenaglia @lisacameroncoaching
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Every day brings a new story. The life isn't perfect,
but it's perfectly ours, with raw conversations, inspiring stories and
laugh until you cry moments we hit him. I'm pack
it all and figure it out together, one episode at
a time. This is Life as we Know It, Unfiltered
with Tony Tanalia and Lisa Cameron.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello and welcome. Our guest in this episode is Janelle Pellibrook,
who is the founder of Miles Gray, which is a
candle crystal and wellness company that was born after Janelle
lost her father, and she's got an incredible story to
tell us. I hope you enjoy this. So but I
am going to start first of all by saying our connection,
because I want to establish how we know each other.
(00:53):
Your husband, Nathan is my electrician, and I found him
on Facebook in the community pages. Someone said can you
recommend an electrician? Somebody put his name in there, and
I went, oh, yeah, okay, need an electrician. I kip
my call and so that's how that's how we got
to know each other. So Nathan became my electrician. And
(01:14):
then when I had the whole appendicitis crap going on,
a friend of mine had given me some money for
my birthday, because my birthday was around that time. And
I remember Nathan had mentioned to me about Miles great
and I had been following you, but not not like
I do now now I stalk you. But but yeah,
(01:35):
so I when this friend I gave me, you know,
this money, I thought, you know what, I'm going to
treat myself and I'm going to buy one of your candles.
And so I ordered the candle and then Nathan personally
dropped it off and I went for this is a service.
And you'd also given me the you know, the bath
salts that you were putting together, and they had the
crystal in it. So you'd given me one of those, right,
because you'd obviously found out I'd just come out of
(01:56):
a hospital. And that's how this started for me. So
this only for me started through finding Nathan on Facebook.
But when I started following you, I think you must
have had like two thousand followers on Instagram. Was it
was in the early days. I think you just moved
out of your laundry. And now like you guys have
an international business. You've got four hundred million thousand people
(02:19):
following you, you know, but you've got a lot that's
how we got to know each other, you know. But
I love your story, and I know you shared this
a lot on Instagram about how you got started, and
I said this to Lisa. I said, like, your business
started through tragedy, which sounds a bit dramatic, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I do tell this story a lot because it's really
important to our brand as a whole. Our brand was
founded by this story. And every time I tell it,
it's always the same and it always still stirs emotion
in me, which is while because I thought six years
on I wouldn't feel this emotional when I tell this story,
but I think it's important. So my dad passed away
(03:04):
very suddenly. He had a heart attack at work and
he was a horse trainer, and it was really traumatic
for our entire family. My son Miles, who's eight, he
was two at the time, and I was the first
one at the hospital and it was just this whole
process of trauma. I got to the hospital, I got
taken into this special room where people whose family aren't
(03:25):
going to survive they go in there, and I have
to wait for my whole family to come, for them
to even debrief us. And it was five days of
just talk black agony. So it was really traumatic for
my family. And that's a really important part of the
story because when someone dies, it can be really peaceful,
but this wasn't that. So after we'd organized my dad's funeral,
(03:45):
everyone had sent flowers because my dad was only fifty two,
so he was quite young. My brother had just turned eighteen,
so I felt really lucky. I had twenty five years, oh,
twenty seven years with my dad, but my siblings were
quite young still, so everyone had sent flowers for my mom.
They'd been together since she was fourteen, like they wow, yeah,
(04:06):
their beautiful love story.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, I know, beautiful.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And I'd been with my husband since I was seventeen
and I couldn't imagine going through life without him. So
my mom felt really supported. But then a few weeks
or maybe a week or so after the funeral, the
flowers started to die. And this is something no one
talks about, but it triggered her so bad. She was
more upset than what she was at the funeral because
it just reminded her that that comfort was leaving. Everything dies. No,
(04:35):
nothing's permanent.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I've got goose bumps now.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And from my corporate career, which I took a break
from when my dad passed away. I was a fragrance
education specialist, so I worked for Mecca Brands and I
would teach Australian and New Zealand teams and create the
course content on how to sal and smell fragrance. And
I was really lucky. I learned from some of the
world's best perfumers. They worked for Frederick mar they worked
(05:00):
for Maison Cojeon, and I got a really, really personal
education with fragrance. So I created a candle for Mum
that smelled like her house to when it was filled
with the flowers. I just bought all these random notes
that I knew would make something, and it took a
(05:20):
couple of goes and at the bottom I put crystals
because she was not into crystals at all. I was
using crystals for my mental health. And when I was younger,
we weren't even allowed to burn candles in my house.
So for her to burn a candle, it was really special.
I said, I made this for you. It's supposed to
make your house smell like it did when it was
full of the flowers, and it's supposed to comfort you.
(05:42):
I hope it comforts you. So she used that candle
in a week and then at the end, she's like
you that made me feel so much better, And it
was the fragrance, but it was the crystals as well.
So she wanted another. And that was when people talk
about their light bulb moments, that was mine. And I
was like, I need to help people who feel like this,
(06:03):
who feel isolated, who feel alone, who feel like you know,
grief is supposed to stop, but it just never does.
You have to incorporate into your life. And it was
even awkward for people to bring up my dad and
I wanted to. I want to talk about him. He
was such a beautiful man. My theo. My youngest is
five and he talks about his grump every single day
(06:23):
and he's never met him.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So I just grief is hard and when you go
through it, you realize how hard it is for other
people as well. So that's our story. That's how we started.
It was this one product to help people and to yeah,
make people feel less alone and supported, and that's the
basis of our brand. So when we talk about our
(06:47):
brand as a whole, we don't really have a tone
of voice. We don't have like a brand tone document
or anything like that. We know specific colors that we use.
We just have this thing that we want to make
people feel because it's not about what you look like
or who you are. The thing that people remember is
how you made them feel exactly. And that's really important
(07:07):
to us as a whole, as people and as a brand.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So, yeah, the candle you created for your mum, is
that now Knavrey?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yes, it's Navray.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, that's one of my favorites, you know. Do you
know the funny thing because that's the candle of grief
and the amount of people I have given that candle
too who've lost a loved one. And this is the
great thing about all your candles too, is that they.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
They target, they'll have it in a certain meanings.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes that's a better way than what I just said,
thank you, But you know, but like even Christmas Christmas time,
you had this amazing sale and you had the jumbo
candles and I bought two for my two closest friends,
and it was Lalon, which is the candle of friendship,
and like even if it's just sitting there and they're
not burning it, you can still smell it. And they've
(07:55):
both said how much that that smell. They just love it. Yeah,
so that's the thing. You've brought the candles in for us.
We've got CiCe and this.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
One passion and igniting like a flame. It's really good
for then.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
And it's a cherry smell. But I'm just just sitting
there smelling little crystals at the top. I sit there
at home, and I just will past my office and
I'll go in and grab a box and.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Just how many candles have you got on your shelf.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I'll have to send you a photos, Janelle.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I've seen a photo sometimes when we are low in stuff,
the five customers that I think I could message and
ask for stock and buy it back, and I would
get it in perfect condition and be able to resell it.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
The funny thing is you put up a post not
that long ago where Janelle had made a comment about
some of her customers wardrobes or cupboards had more stock
than her warehouse. And I was looking at that and
I started to laugh, and then I commented and I said,
come re what I said? Now?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I saw you laugh. Were you laughing because you thought
of me? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
That's right, because you laughed at us. And Janelle said, yep,
you're thinking of you when I said that. But I
just love them, you know, and I just I do
burn them. I've got candles in every room in the
house and they're always burning best. They're so relaxing.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Yeah, Janew I want to ask you something that's really
interesting actually that you brought up that you don't want
people to feel alone. A couple of years ago, Tony
Steph and I we did this thing with a friend
of ours where we were working on our whiye for
why we started the podcast, and without even knowing, we
all came to the word alone. We didn't want people
(09:40):
to feel alone, and we were shocked.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
We were like, oh my god. We thought we were.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Just having a chat with each other and sharing stories,
but that was what was underneath it. And just you're
speaking about that. I found it really interesting a posts
that you shared and you said, can you believe it
was the first year since owning Miles Gray that I
didn't cry every day? I hid that well in the
last three years. Okay, the podcast is this thinking about
(10:12):
not wanting others to feel alone.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
So this is something that I've been working through for
maybe the last eighteen months. And Nathan can attest to
this that when our business was scaling and growing, and
from the outside it looked so incredibly exciting, and it was.
It was probably the loneliest time in my life. So
it was it was really really difficult. I had two
(10:37):
young children at a really supportive husband who was there
for me all the time. But every single day I
would go home and I'd cry in the shower, and
I remember Nathan would tell people. They'd be like, oh,
how's your Like, how's the business going up? So amazing?
And we'd go to parties or birthdays and everyone just
wants to talk about the business and what's so amazing.
He's like, yeah, He's like it is. Janelle was amazing.
(10:58):
She works so hard, but it's really hard. She really struggles.
And everyone kind of like left that sentence.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I don't know what to say. Yeah, like what do
we say now sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, and this is a time where our business was
so incredibly successful, like we did there was an article
about this, but we did one hundred thousand dollars in
seven minutes.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I remember that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
We were making millions of dollars a year and we
had at one point we had about seventeen staff and
Nathan was on board, and we just business owners will
understand this, but there are just so many things behind
the scenes that happened daily where you realize you're putting
in so much effort for your staff, and you know,
we were always the last to eat, we were always
(11:44):
the last to get paid. You put so much forward
and then you realize that you don't get anything back,
and even for our customers, and we still do a
lot for our customers. But I've had to create some
boundaries because going home, I was a shull of a person.
I was not dealing with my grief. I was not
dealing with my postpartum depression after having THEO. There's a
(12:07):
photo on Instagram where I'm boasting. Look at me, I
just had a caesarean and I'm back on my laptop
two hours later.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Wow, And like I look back at that.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I'm like, what an idiot? Like why that's not something
to be proud of. I'm a very hard worker, but
I have to create boundaries now because otherwise I will
push myself. And the people that deserve the most of
my attention are my kids, and they were getting the least.
They were getting dragged to the office they were getting
(12:37):
taken on beautiful holidays, but mummy was working the entire time.
So yeah, So this year, lots of people have said,
are you still doing Miles Gray, I haven't seen much,
and we're still doing incredibly well. We're probably more profitable
now than we were when we were making millions of
(12:57):
dollars because we have the hindsight of of having an
established business now and I have boundaries in place, and
we're just coasting along and it's really nice right now.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Oh, that's so good to hear.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
So that's been the turnaround for you where you don't
feel like you need to cry?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah every day?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Oh you still No, No, I do not need to
cry every day. I don't think I cried in a
really Look, today's probably the first time I've cried in
a while. Sorry, it's okay. A cry in the shower
is good for the soul. Cleanses the soul.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I say that all the time. And you have good
cry cleansing your soul.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, I just realized I didn't even answer your question
of how I turned it around. But I had a
couple of health scares and at this it was last year. Maybe, yeah,
I think it was last year. I was in hospital
for like five or six days and I ended up
(13:53):
I went to the women's and then I got transferred
to the Royal Melment and that's the hospital my dad
passed away in. And watching Myles walk in and thinking
I was going to die.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I was so so is that moment that I was like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, I don't cry today. But I don't feel like
that anymore. I don't feel alone. Like business ownership is
lonely in itself. Even when you have a whole team
of people, no one understands what you are going through
as the founder. But yeah, now I've got lots of
friends that I talk to, and yeah, and I feel
that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Having that support around you and having the right people
around you that you feel safe talking to. It's just
so important, you know, especially when you're going on that journey.
I mean, like, you know, you've got a young family,
and like you said, like you were bringing the boor
is into work with you, and you know, like people go, well,
you've probably got to do that to start with, to
(14:46):
get the business started. Yeah, and look, you know they're
young enough too that they've probably gone this is fun.
I'll go into mummy's work.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yeah, absolutely, And it's about sacrifice, but it's about picking
the sacrifices you're willing to make. Like they're here with
us today in the boardroom and they just had a
little podcast session.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Was so cute.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Dinosaurs incorporating them into seeing you know, Mummy and Daddy
work really hard and sometimes it's really fun and sometimes
it's not so fun. But it's that, Yeah, if you
want to go on holidays and if you want to
you know, Santa comes at Christmas time. He sends us
an invoice.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I love that Sander sends an invoice. It's awesome.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Yeah, but I just love the you know, like your vulnerability.
And you know, something I've shared on the podcast before,
like last year, I spent every day crying. I get
emotional again.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And me and Tony is going on in Yeah, somebody
play the room with something. Hang on, have a smooth
smell of the candle that might.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
What it is.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
We're all feeling very passionate.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
And I was just and I talked about this in
a podcast we did not long ago, and you know,
she's like, where are you at? And I'm like, yeah,
so not seeing my boys. So I'm divorced, and my
two oldest sons live with their dad. And it sucks,
it really does. You know. I see them when I can,
(16:19):
but they're you know, one's seventeen and one's twenty, so
obviously they're at that age as well, but not seeing
them just in the mornings, like getting up and making
breakfast and seeing them with their friends. And I'm like,
this is the most stupidest thing in my life. And
you know, people are like, had, how do you cope?
And well, you know, and I said to Tony, I
(16:40):
mean I just you have you cry in the morning
and then you just get up and do what you've
got to do, because that's the reality of my life,
you know, And that's you know, one of the outcomes
of getting divorced is that your children might want to
live with the other parent, and you know, so yeah,
so you know, I can totally relate to you. I mean,
(17:01):
obviously you know different circumstances, but just that feeling of
like because you feel it deeply, right, but it means
a lot to you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I think everyone talks about different circumstances and whenever we
talk about how do you do it? And I always
think about people with sick kids. It's my go to
thing for my gratitude, Like I'm so lucky that I
have two healthy children. And then one of our friends
has a sick child and like, how do you do it?
(17:32):
Like I because I have to. I literally have to
get out of bed. I do this. And we talk
about these different circumstances, but at the core of them,
it's all the same emotion that we all feel. It's
you know, we feel vulnerable, we feel alone, we feel
we feel like why is this ourt life? Like why
is it this path that we're on? And it's always
for a reason you don't know it at the time,
(17:55):
but yeah, we all have that core. We're so emotional
as humans that we can't think about all the situation.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
We just want to feel connected to each other and
it's connection.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
And we're probably the most disconnected ever. Go on a
tyrant and social media has built our business, but and
it's built beautiful connections with our customers who are far away,
and we try and host in face to face you know,
connection events and things like that. But it can it
can really foster connection, but it can really make you
feel alone, yeah, or not not as good and you
(18:31):
know you're not doing enough, and I wake up at
four o'clock. I do all these things and get up
at four. You see people like I wake up a
four o'clock. I go to the gym for two hours
and then I make my kids a buffet breakfast. I
have seven and the poor cereal.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Okay, this is it is refreshing.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
This is real life. Yes, And this is the thing
I love about you know, you're not scared to show
your real life in your socials. I mean, like you know,
like Miles, great, isn't just a candle company, right, Like
it's it's it's being part of a family because you
share so much about your life. You know, you've got
(19:16):
your kids. I mean, this is the other thing I
love that you know when you sometimes when you do
specials and it's like you know you'll get a bonus candle.
And I love watching it when you go okay, theo okay, Miles,
grab a candle that we're going to put and the
boys run off and go grabe something and go here
you go like they're a part of what you're doing.
You know, it's not it's not just a business. It's
it's family.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Well, it's our life. Yeah, like it is our life.
This business is our life, and it's it's really important
to me. I remember when we were scaling, I had
this business coach and she was like, you need to
stop being the face of the business because you don't
have enough time to do all this shit.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Sorry, no, it's okay.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And I was like, yeah, you're right. I need to
stop being the face. I need to like make other
people like do the socials and stuff. And I can't
do that because there's no connection and our business is
built on that. I don't want people messaging and saying
like I would have friends message the business page and
be like, Hi, just wondering if you can pass this
message onto Janelle. And at the time we had a
(20:14):
social media manager and she was great. She was like, hey,
your friend.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And I call them and be like, why you message?
Just call me? But I've done that myself. Yeah, messages
not knowing how are you going to see them? Or
is someone else going to read it? And because in
my mind, I'm thinking that person doesn't know the connection
I have with you guys. Are they going to go
or she's just a customer, you know, whereas you have
that personal connection with all of your customers yeah, I do.
(20:40):
Everybody feels connected to so now.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Like over the last few years, it's spent. You know,
if your message you're going to get me like, I'm
the one responding.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
So do you still have seventeen stuff? So how many
of you got now?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
None? Which is Janelle? Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I can't explain, and I don't want this to because
this is something I've never actually spoken about because when
we Nathan and I had a really serious conversation, we
had a really rough year in our marriage and we
were like business or marriage, Like, we have to kind
of pick one because it was affecting everything, and we
(21:20):
chose our marriage because we've been together since we're seventeen
and we have.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
This choice just quietly.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Well, it was hot, it was it was a few conversations,
and it seems really silly now that it was a
few conversations, but.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's where you were a out at the time.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
We figured out distresses and we were like, okay, so
we do we sell Miles Gray or do we keep
running it? And I can't sell Miles Gray. It's it's
my life. So we looked at that and then we thought, no,
we're going to scale back a bit. Because we can
still offer a really great value product. We can still
offer the same community and things like that that we
(21:57):
that we have, and we can make it less stress
like less stressful. So we slowly. It was two and
a half years because I remember when we hired our
first team member, I said, I will never ever make
someone feel like a piece of shit when I'm their boss.
I will never make them feel alone. I will never
make them I remember we had all this COVID stuff happening,
(22:19):
and we had a team member who was pregnant, and
it was the time where you had to get the
job or not work. Like we were calling lawyers and
we were like, how can we get this team member
around getting vaccinated? Because I knew if I was pregnant,
I wouldn't have wanted to get vaccinated like I got vaccinated,
you know, but if I was pregnant, that would have
been a different story. So as a boss, I was
(22:40):
really like, I really advocated for my team. So we
had this conversation with them and we're like, we're going
to scale the business down. You guys need to look
for new careers, but it's going to be two years.
When I give you two years, like nothing's going to change.
The business is still running as normal. We're not going
under nothing like that. But for my mental health, for
(23:01):
my physical health. There was one day at work my
mom had to come and take me to hospital because
Nathan called her and she thought I was having a
heart attack.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
So it was just it was one of those things
where we and it was just a panic attack.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Would have been triggering for you as well. Yes, yeah,
because that your father and from a heart attack.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
He was there running the business while I'm in hospital
because he's like, I don't know, like yeah. So we
scaled back and we over two and a half years,
we removed our staff, which was I hate to say,
but it was such a blessing because it made us
have a second to really evaluate what we were doing.
We didn't need to run sales because we had to
(23:43):
pay wages. We didn't need to. We weren't forced to
bring out products because when we started that was never
the concept. We were always going to bring stuff to
market when I felt like it was necessary. The La
Loon candle, the candle of Friendship. We brought that out
during COVID so you could send it to a friend
and you could lad it at the same time, and
it was a really beautiful message that we wanted to share.
(24:06):
So yeah, so we have just me. We actually bought
a farm last year.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
I think some people call it blowing up your life,
life crisis. We're calling it reverse retirement. So we bought
a farm and we our warehouse is on the farm now.
Because the other thing is I hate authority. If you
tell me to do something, I would not do it. No,
I having a landlord.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Because because your business very quickly shifted as well, Like
you went from being in your laundry and I think
you just came out of your laundry and I got
to know you guys. But within like I think it
was two years, you moved warehouse three times.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Oh my god. Yes, so in the space of literally
in the space of this has happened. In the last
three years, we've moved to warehouse five times. And I
when we're moving to the farm, we're like, this is
the last move. We have a beautiful, huge warehouse. It
was already on the farm. Like we were so lucky
that we found this property. We go there. I go
(25:10):
there twice a week, so it's an hour and a
half drive at the moment.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Oh yeah, fine, so you're not actually living there at
the moment, right.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Eventually, Yeah, I've got a build a house first, but
it's really nice to go and to We've got a caravan,
so it's like camping every week. And yeah, and having
two boys. We were talking about, you know, Nathan works
really long hours and I work pretty long hours, but
I'm alone most of the day because I run the
business and then I do morning drop off and pick up,
(25:41):
and then we do after school activities and then it's bedtime.
Like when do we actually connect with our kids? When
does that happen? So I feel like we've been give
We've we've created this business as a blessing to our family,
and we can we can operate it. We don't have
to have the stress of all the overheads that we
had when we were scaly. We've learned all the hard lessons,
(26:02):
the hardest lessons.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
We've learned them all.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Yeah, I'm going to say that touch Wood, please don't.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I don't need anyone give them a break.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Like, I'm just admiring your just commitment and dedication to
be going, because I would be like, oh.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
This is too much.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
That was me a couple of years ago. Yeah, it's
a lot of work, but I feel even even people
that I don't even know will come up be like
you look so bright. You lost weight, that's the first.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
But you do, like Jesus so bright and beautiful, like
stressed out.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, yeah, I feel.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
You know, I'm really happy. I feel more vibrant. Yes,
I think, And that's you.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Can honestly see it in your eyes, like they're so healthy.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yeah, and like this year we have so many new
products coming because for two years I just felt really foggy.
It was just really hard.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Welcome to my that was menopause for me.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
I can relate as a candle for that.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yes, but do you.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Actually do you make these yourself or so you're doing
all of that the candles, yeh wow.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
And we're not a small business, like we're still we
do hundreds of orders a month. Snaith will help whenever
he has a chance. He's the Beast's like a witch
with a cauldron.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Should see photos on Instagram or even when you put
up reels sometimes and there's like just rows and rows
and rows of the candle holders and they're being poured
and it's just amazing.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Have you seen Leanne Rhymes? No, you know the singer
Cushion well working music. She's got her own candle business
and some of the videos that she shares are beautiful.
She sings while she's making the candles and same, so
she lines them all out. However, you guys do them
and then she's there singing them and like, bless.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Single, get one of those candles. I'll send you one
of their videos. Yeah, yeah, start singing. Honestly, the singing videos.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Now, we sage them, so we do big lots at once.
So we'll make like a whole batch of navare and
we'll put the intention in for healing and then stage them. Okay,
so once the crystals go in and they're heated, no
one touches the crystals at all, and then we sage
and once the candle goes in the box. It's it
because some customers will Most customers say that when they
(28:27):
open a past so they feel like there's like magic inside,
like they feel the energy. I'm one of my friends
is a psychic medium and he's like, I actually do
feel the energy in your products.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
So when you say you put the intention into it,
what's your process for doing that, it.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Kind of changes, like we don't have an actual process,
so we'd pour the candle, add the crystals. Heat, So
we heat the crystals so they can sink into the
top of the candle, and then we let them set
and then I'll go back in on my have to
be on my own. There's people in there. I can't
do it, yeah, and will. Sometimes it changes, so sometimes
(29:06):
I do it before we box them, or other times
I'll do it once their box but the lids are open,
which I just go through with normally. Palo Santo becausage
sounds quite strong.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, dope, I was sound was like marrin right.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I love it, but I don't want anyone opening a
candle and getting black.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
As sage, ripping cones like candles.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
My god, yeah, I just I just cleanse give the
intention of healing. Navre always think about my dad confidence ones.
I think about when you know, when I feel really
sexy or confident or yeah, and when it different. Cant
has a different vibe.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So your core candles, because because you've got a core
range and then you have your specialties you put around them.
So the core candles, there's is it twelve all.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Long there's ten. Now there was twelve, said the right number?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Which one? Which ones? Gone from the call? Right?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Got rid of NCNT, which is the candle of fertility.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
You don't mean that one, man.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I think that was how I felt pregnant with THEO.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Okay, there's so many images gone through my man right now,
I think we need to go there that that candle.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Is a really beautiful is a beautiful candle. And we
it's not something that I publicized, but we have people
message when when we did have it in stock and
they would say I felt pregnant and I contributed one
percent to this candle. Wow, And I'm like, that's crazy.
The reason we discontinued it is because we had a
couple of people bring up the fact that it was
called like the candle of fertility, And then we spoke
(30:40):
about masculine and feminine energy, and it's a thing. Masculine
energy is a thing and feminine energy is a thing.
But then when people were reading the text, they're like,
what about same sex couples? What about you know? And
I'm like, so true, like so true, I totally get you.
So after a little while, after a bit of thought,
(31:02):
after some conversations, with my friends who are in same
sex relationships. I was like, I'm going to take it off,
and when I feel like it's the right time to
bring it back, I will because it is an important candle.
I think that, you know, we've got so many friends
who are going through IVF and struggling, but we just
need to message it in a different way. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
And then the other one was Fear, which is yeah,
pride candle. We brought that out for the LGBT. We
raised a lot of money and the only reason we
took that off the shelves was because I want to
rebrand it because it was all it was all rainbow,
and it just would irk me every time I'd look
at our core range. It needs to be one color
and I just don't know how to incorporate it as
(31:43):
one color. But that will come back. And then this
year we're actually bringing more into our core range because
I want to have more of a core offering so that.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
You do want some suggestions, absolutely, do you make a
look at my favorites and please do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
This is the best thing about having such a open
community because I you know, if someone has a problem,
I want to fix it. The best. Before I worked
at Mecca, I worked at Bunnings and I was an
education consultant for Bunnings. So my customer service comes from
that Bunnies philosophy when it was really good. So if
someone has a problem, we always turn it around and
(32:19):
fix it, and they become the best customers because they're
not afraid to tell you what they think. They're free
market research and they'll always they'll tell you when your
stuff up so you can fix it, but then they'll
praise you when you do really well, and they're really
loyal customers. So I feel so blessed with our community
because I never have to pay for market research because
I'll reach out to a couple if they haven't already
(32:40):
told me what they think, and then I say, what
do you think about this? And I'm like, I like this,
don't like this.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Well, there's been a couple of times that I've messaged
Nathan just when I've had a couple of issues with
my candles, and then I feel guilty. I'm like's a problem,
there's one, but you have any time that there's been
an issue, because I know you went through a stage there,
or there's this one little time where there was a
problem with the wax or something, and I was trying
to burn these candles, thinking am I doing something wrong
(33:07):
here because they weren't quite burning properly. But I mean,
you guys fixed it straight away, and that's you know,
that's what customer service is all about. As well, there
we go. I'm pretty sure I'm on the best customer list.
We have another episode which now is still to come.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You've been listening to Life as we Know It Unfiltered
with Tony Tanalia and Lisa Cameron. If you liked this episode,
please leave us a review or drop a comment on
our socials. We love hearing from you. You can also
come hang out with us on Instagram at Life as
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as we Know It. And please see that follow button
(33:40):
on your favorite podcast app. If you're not following us yet,
catch up with you in our next episode.
Every day brings a new story. The life isn't perfect,
but it's perfectly ours, with raw conversations, inspiring stories and
laugh until you cry moments we hit him. I'm pack
it all and figure it out together, one episode at
a time. This is Life as we Know It, Unfiltered
with Tony Tanalia and Lisa Cameron.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello and welcome. Our guest in this episode is Janelle Pellibrook,
who is the founder of Miles Gray, which is a
candle crystal and wellness company that was born after Janelle
lost her father, and she's got an incredible story to
tell us. I hope you enjoy this. So but I
am going to start first of all by saying our connection,
because I want to establish how we know each other.
(00:53):
Your husband, Nathan is my electrician, and I found him
on Facebook in the community pages. Someone said can you
recommend an electrician? Somebody put his name in there, and
I went, oh, yeah, okay, need an electrician. I kip
my call and so that's how that's how we got
to know each other. So Nathan became my electrician. And
(01:14):
then when I had the whole appendicitis crap going on,
a friend of mine had given me some money for
my birthday, because my birthday was around that time. And
I remember Nathan had mentioned to me about Miles great
and I had been following you, but not not like
I do now now I stalk you. But but yeah,
(01:35):
so I when this friend I gave me, you know,
this money, I thought, you know what, I'm going to
treat myself and I'm going to buy one of your candles.
And so I ordered the candle and then Nathan personally
dropped it off and I went for this is a service.
And you'd also given me the you know, the bath
salts that you were putting together, and they had the
crystal in it. So you'd given me one of those, right,
because you'd obviously found out I'd just come out of
(01:56):
a hospital. And that's how this started for me. So
this only for me started through finding Nathan on Facebook.
But when I started following you, I think you must
have had like two thousand followers on Instagram. Was it
was in the early days. I think you just moved
out of your laundry. And now like you guys have
an international business. You've got four hundred million thousand people
(02:19):
following you, you know, but you've got a lot that's
how we got to know each other, you know. But
I love your story, and I know you shared this
a lot on Instagram about how you got started, and
I said this to Lisa. I said, like, your business
started through tragedy, which sounds a bit dramatic, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I do tell this story a lot because it's really
important to our brand as a whole. Our brand was
founded by this story. And every time I tell it,
it's always the same and it always still stirs emotion
in me, which is while because I thought six years
on I wouldn't feel this emotional when I tell this story,
but I think it's important. So my dad passed away
(03:04):
very suddenly. He had a heart attack at work and
he was a horse trainer, and it was really traumatic
for our entire family. My son Miles, who's eight, he
was two at the time, and I was the first
one at the hospital and it was just this whole
process of trauma. I got to the hospital, I got
taken into this special room where people whose family aren't
(03:25):
going to survive they go in there, and I have
to wait for my whole family to come, for them
to even debrief us. And it was five days of
just talk black agony. So it was really traumatic for
my family. And that's a really important part of the
story because when someone dies, it can be really peaceful,
but this wasn't that. So after we'd organized my dad's funeral,
(03:45):
everyone had sent flowers because my dad was only fifty two,
so he was quite young. My brother had just turned eighteen,
so I felt really lucky. I had twenty five years, oh,
twenty seven years with my dad, but my siblings were
quite young still, so everyone had sent flowers for my mom.
They'd been together since she was fourteen, like they wow, yeah,
(04:06):
their beautiful love story.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, I know, beautiful.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And I'd been with my husband since I was seventeen
and I couldn't imagine going through life without him. So
my mom felt really supported. But then a few weeks
or maybe a week or so after the funeral, the
flowers started to die. And this is something no one
talks about, but it triggered her so bad. She was
more upset than what she was at the funeral because
it just reminded her that that comfort was leaving. Everything dies. No,
(04:35):
nothing's permanent.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I've got goose bumps now.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And from my corporate career, which I took a break
from when my dad passed away. I was a fragrance
education specialist, so I worked for Mecca Brands and I
would teach Australian and New Zealand teams and create the
course content on how to sal and smell fragrance. And
I was really lucky. I learned from some of the
world's best perfumers. They worked for Frederick mar they worked
(05:00):
for Maison Cojeon, and I got a really, really personal
education with fragrance. So I created a candle for Mum
that smelled like her house to when it was filled
with the flowers. I just bought all these random notes
that I knew would make something, and it took a
(05:20):
couple of goes and at the bottom I put crystals
because she was not into crystals at all. I was
using crystals for my mental health. And when I was younger,
we weren't even allowed to burn candles in my house.
So for her to burn a candle, it was really special.
I said, I made this for you. It's supposed to
make your house smell like it did when it was
full of the flowers, and it's supposed to comfort you.
(05:42):
I hope it comforts you. So she used that candle
in a week and then at the end, she's like
you that made me feel so much better, And it
was the fragrance, but it was the crystals as well.
So she wanted another. And that was when people talk
about their light bulb moments, that was mine. And I
was like, I need to help people who feel like this,
(06:03):
who feel isolated, who feel alone, who feel like you know,
grief is supposed to stop, but it just never does.
You have to incorporate into your life. And it was
even awkward for people to bring up my dad and
I wanted to. I want to talk about him. He
was such a beautiful man. My theo. My youngest is
five and he talks about his grump every single day
(06:23):
and he's never met him.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So I just grief is hard and when you go
through it, you realize how hard it is for other
people as well. So that's our story. That's how we started.
It was this one product to help people and to yeah,
make people feel less alone and supported, and that's the
basis of our brand. So when we talk about our
(06:47):
brand as a whole, we don't really have a tone
of voice. We don't have like a brand tone document
or anything like that. We know specific colors that we use.
We just have this thing that we want to make
people feel because it's not about what you look like
or who you are. The thing that people remember is
how you made them feel exactly. And that's really important
(07:07):
to us as a whole, as people and as a brand.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So, yeah, the candle you created for your mum, is
that now Knavrey?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yes, it's Navray.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, that's one of my favorites, you know. Do you
know the funny thing because that's the candle of grief
and the amount of people I have given that candle
too who've lost a loved one. And this is the
great thing about all your candles too, is that they.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
They target, they'll have it in a certain meanings.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes that's a better way than what I just said,
thank you, But you know, but like even Christmas Christmas time,
you had this amazing sale and you had the jumbo
candles and I bought two for my two closest friends,
and it was Lalon, which is the candle of friendship,
and like even if it's just sitting there and they're
not burning it, you can still smell it. And they've
(07:55):
both said how much that that smell. They just love it. Yeah,
so that's the thing. You've brought the candles in for us.
We've got CiCe and this.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
One passion and igniting like a flame. It's really good
for then.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
And it's a cherry smell. But I'm just just sitting
there smelling little crystals at the top. I sit there
at home, and I just will past my office and
I'll go in and grab a box and.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Just how many candles have you got on your shelf.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I'll have to send you a photos, Janelle.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I've seen a photo sometimes when we are low in stuff,
the five customers that I think I could message and
ask for stock and buy it back, and I would
get it in perfect condition and be able to resell it.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
The funny thing is you put up a post not
that long ago where Janelle had made a comment about
some of her customers wardrobes or cupboards had more stock
than her warehouse. And I was looking at that and
I started to laugh, and then I commented and I said,
come re what I said? Now?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I saw you laugh. Were you laughing because you thought
of me? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
That's right, because you laughed at us. And Janelle said, yep,
you're thinking of you when I said that. But I
just love them, you know, and I just I do
burn them. I've got candles in every room in the
house and they're always burning best. They're so relaxing.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Yeah, Janew I want to ask you something that's really
interesting actually that you brought up that you don't want
people to feel alone. A couple of years ago, Tony
Steph and I we did this thing with a friend
of ours where we were working on our whiye for
why we started the podcast, and without even knowing, we
all came to the word alone. We didn't want people
(09:40):
to feel alone, and we were shocked.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
We were like, oh my god. We thought we were.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Just having a chat with each other and sharing stories,
but that was what was underneath it. And just you're
speaking about that. I found it really interesting a posts
that you shared and you said, can you believe it
was the first year since owning Miles Gray that I
didn't cry every day? I hid that well in the
last three years. Okay, the podcast is this thinking about
(10:12):
not wanting others to feel alone.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
So this is something that I've been working through for
maybe the last eighteen months. And Nathan can attest to
this that when our business was scaling and growing, and
from the outside it looked so incredibly exciting, and it was.
It was probably the loneliest time in my life. So
it was it was really really difficult. I had two
(10:37):
young children at a really supportive husband who was there
for me all the time. But every single day I
would go home and I'd cry in the shower, and
I remember Nathan would tell people. They'd be like, oh,
how's your Like, how's the business going up? So amazing?
And we'd go to parties or birthdays and everyone just
wants to talk about the business and what's so amazing.
He's like, yeah, He's like it is. Janelle was amazing.
(10:58):
She works so hard, but it's really hard. She really struggles.
And everyone kind of like left that sentence.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I don't know what to say. Yeah, like what do
we say now sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, and this is a time where our business was
so incredibly successful, like we did there was an article
about this, but we did one hundred thousand dollars in
seven minutes.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I remember that.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
We were making millions of dollars a year and we
had at one point we had about seventeen staff and
Nathan was on board, and we just business owners will
understand this, but there are just so many things behind
the scenes that happened daily where you realize you're putting
in so much effort for your staff, and you know,
we were always the last to eat, we were always
(11:44):
the last to get paid. You put so much forward
and then you realize that you don't get anything back,
and even for our customers, and we still do a
lot for our customers. But I've had to create some
boundaries because going home, I was a shull of a person.
I was not dealing with my grief. I was not
dealing with my postpartum depression after having THEO. There's a
(12:07):
photo on Instagram where I'm boasting. Look at me, I
just had a caesarean and I'm back on my laptop
two hours later.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Wow, And like I look back at that.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I'm like, what an idiot? Like why that's not something
to be proud of. I'm a very hard worker, but
I have to create boundaries now because otherwise I will
push myself. And the people that deserve the most of
my attention are my kids, and they were getting the least.
They were getting dragged to the office they were getting
(12:37):
taken on beautiful holidays, but mummy was working the entire time.
So yeah, So this year, lots of people have said,
are you still doing Miles Gray, I haven't seen much,
and we're still doing incredibly well. We're probably more profitable
now than we were when we were making millions of
(12:57):
dollars because we have the hindsight of of having an
established business now and I have boundaries in place, and
we're just coasting along and it's really nice right now.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Oh, that's so good to hear.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
So that's been the turnaround for you where you don't
feel like you need to cry?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah every day?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Oh you still No, No, I do not need to
cry every day. I don't think I cried in a
really Look, today's probably the first time I've cried in
a while. Sorry, it's okay. A cry in the shower
is good for the soul. Cleanses the soul.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I say that all the time. And you have good
cry cleansing your soul.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, I just realized I didn't even answer your question
of how I turned it around. But I had a
couple of health scares and at this it was last year. Maybe, yeah,
I think it was last year. I was in hospital
for like five or six days and I ended up
(13:53):
I went to the women's and then I got transferred
to the Royal Melment and that's the hospital my dad
passed away in. And watching Myles walk in and thinking
I was going to die.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I was so so is that moment that I was like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, I don't cry today. But I don't feel like
that anymore. I don't feel alone. Like business ownership is
lonely in itself. Even when you have a whole team
of people, no one understands what you are going through
as the founder. But yeah, now I've got lots of
friends that I talk to, and yeah, and I feel
that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Having that support around you and having the right people
around you that you feel safe talking to. It's just
so important, you know, especially when you're going on that journey.
I mean, like, you know, you've got a young family,
and like you said, like you were bringing the boor
is into work with you, and you know, like people go, well,
you've probably got to do that to start with, to
(14:46):
get the business started. Yeah, and look, you know they're
young enough too that they've probably gone this is fun.
I'll go into mummy's work.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yeah, absolutely, And it's about sacrifice, but it's about picking
the sacrifices you're willing to make. Like they're here with
us today in the boardroom and they just had a
little podcast session.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Was so cute.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Dinosaurs incorporating them into seeing you know, Mummy and Daddy
work really hard and sometimes it's really fun and sometimes
it's not so fun. But it's that, Yeah, if you
want to go on holidays and if you want to
you know, Santa comes at Christmas time. He sends us
an invoice.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I love that Sander sends an invoice. It's awesome.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Yeah, but I just love the you know, like your vulnerability.
And you know, something I've shared on the podcast before,
like last year, I spent every day crying. I get
emotional again.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And me and Tony is going on in Yeah, somebody
play the room with something. Hang on, have a smooth
smell of the candle that might.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
What it is.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
We're all feeling very passionate.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
And I was just and I talked about this in
a podcast we did not long ago, and you know,
she's like, where are you at? And I'm like, yeah,
so not seeing my boys. So I'm divorced, and my
two oldest sons live with their dad. And it sucks,
it really does. You know. I see them when I can,
(16:19):
but they're you know, one's seventeen and one's twenty, so
obviously they're at that age as well, but not seeing
them just in the mornings, like getting up and making
breakfast and seeing them with their friends. And I'm like,
this is the most stupidest thing in my life. And
you know, people are like, had, how do you cope?
And well, you know, and I said to Tony, I
(16:40):
mean I just you have you cry in the morning
and then you just get up and do what you've
got to do, because that's the reality of my life,
you know, And that's you know, one of the outcomes
of getting divorced is that your children might want to
live with the other parent, and you know, so yeah,
so you know, I can totally relate to you. I mean,
(17:01):
obviously you know different circumstances, but just that feeling of
like because you feel it deeply, right, but it means
a lot to you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I think everyone talks about different circumstances and whenever we
talk about how do you do it? And I always
think about people with sick kids. It's my go to
thing for my gratitude, Like I'm so lucky that I
have two healthy children. And then one of our friends
has a sick child and like, how do you do it?
(17:32):
Like I because I have to. I literally have to
get out of bed. I do this. And we talk
about these different circumstances, but at the core of them,
it's all the same emotion that we all feel. It's
you know, we feel vulnerable, we feel alone, we feel
we feel like why is this ourt life? Like why
is it this path that we're on? And it's always
for a reason you don't know it at the time,
(17:55):
but yeah, we all have that core. We're so emotional
as humans that we can't think about all the situation.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
We just want to feel connected to each other and
it's connection.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
And we're probably the most disconnected ever. Go on a
tyrant and social media has built our business, but and
it's built beautiful connections with our customers who are far away,
and we try and host in face to face you know,
connection events and things like that. But it can it
can really foster connection, but it can really make you
feel alone, yeah, or not not as good and you
(18:31):
know you're not doing enough, and I wake up at
four o'clock. I do all these things and get up
at four. You see people like I wake up a
four o'clock. I go to the gym for two hours
and then I make my kids a buffet breakfast. I
have seven and the poor cereal.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Okay, this is it is refreshing.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
This is real life. Yes, And this is the thing
I love about you know, you're not scared to show
your real life in your socials. I mean, like you know,
like Miles, great, isn't just a candle company, right, Like
it's it's it's being part of a family because you
share so much about your life. You know, you've got
(19:16):
your kids. I mean, this is the other thing I
love that you know when you sometimes when you do
specials and it's like you know you'll get a bonus candle.
And I love watching it when you go okay, theo okay, Miles,
grab a candle that we're going to put and the
boys run off and go grabe something and go here
you go like they're a part of what you're doing.
You know, it's not it's not just a business. It's
it's family.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Well, it's our life. Yeah, like it is our life.
This business is our life, and it's it's really important
to me. I remember when we were scaling, I had
this business coach and she was like, you need to
stop being the face of the business because you don't
have enough time to do all this shit.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Sorry, no, it's okay.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And I was like, yeah, you're right. I need to
stop being the face. I need to like make other
people like do the socials and stuff. And I can't
do that because there's no connection and our business is
built on that. I don't want people messaging and saying
like I would have friends message the business page and
be like, Hi, just wondering if you can pass this
message onto Janelle. And at the time we had a
(20:14):
social media manager and she was great. She was like, hey,
your friend.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And I call them and be like, why you message?
Just call me? But I've done that myself. Yeah, messages
not knowing how are you going to see them? Or
is someone else going to read it? And because in
my mind, I'm thinking that person doesn't know the connection
I have with you guys. Are they going to go
or she's just a customer, you know, whereas you have
that personal connection with all of your customers yeah, I do.
(20:40):
Everybody feels connected to so now.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Like over the last few years, it's spent. You know,
if your message you're going to get me like, I'm
the one responding.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
So do you still have seventeen stuff? So how many
of you got now?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
None? Which is Janelle? Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I can't explain, and I don't want this to because
this is something I've never actually spoken about because when
we Nathan and I had a really serious conversation, we
had a really rough year in our marriage and we
were like business or marriage, Like, we have to kind
of pick one because it was affecting everything, and we
(21:20):
chose our marriage because we've been together since we're seventeen
and we have.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
This choice just quietly.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Well, it was hot, it was it was a few conversations,
and it seems really silly now that it was a
few conversations, but.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's where you were a out at the time.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
We figured out distresses and we were like, okay, so
we do we sell Miles Gray or do we keep
running it? And I can't sell Miles Gray. It's it's
my life. So we looked at that and then we thought, no,
we're going to scale back a bit. Because we can
still offer a really great value product. We can still
offer the same community and things like that that we
(21:57):
that we have, and we can make it less stress
like less stressful. So we slowly. It was two and
a half years because I remember when we hired our
first team member, I said, I will never ever make
someone feel like a piece of shit when I'm their boss.
I will never make them feel alone. I will never
make them I remember we had all this COVID stuff happening,
(22:19):
and we had a team member who was pregnant, and
it was the time where you had to get the
job or not work. Like we were calling lawyers and
we were like, how can we get this team member
around getting vaccinated? Because I knew if I was pregnant,
I wouldn't have wanted to get vaccinated like I got vaccinated,
you know, but if I was pregnant, that would have
been a different story. So as a boss, I was
(22:40):
really like, I really advocated for my team. So we
had this conversation with them and we're like, we're going
to scale the business down. You guys need to look
for new careers, but it's going to be two years.
When I give you two years, like nothing's going to change.
The business is still running as normal. We're not going
under nothing like that. But for my mental health, for
(23:01):
my physical health. There was one day at work my
mom had to come and take me to hospital because
Nathan called her and she thought I was having a
heart attack.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
So it was just it was one of those things
where we and it was just a panic attack.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Would have been triggering for you as well. Yes, yeah,
because that your father and from a heart attack.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
He was there running the business while I'm in hospital
because he's like, I don't know, like yeah. So we
scaled back and we over two and a half years,
we removed our staff, which was I hate to say,
but it was such a blessing because it made us
have a second to really evaluate what we were doing.
We didn't need to run sales because we had to
(23:43):
pay wages. We didn't need to. We weren't forced to
bring out products because when we started that was never
the concept. We were always going to bring stuff to
market when I felt like it was necessary. The La
Loon candle, the candle of Friendship. We brought that out
during COVID so you could send it to a friend
and you could lad it at the same time, and
it was a really beautiful message that we wanted to share.
(24:06):
So yeah, so we have just me. We actually bought
a farm last year.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
I think some people call it blowing up your life,
life crisis. We're calling it reverse retirement. So we bought
a farm and we our warehouse is on the farm now.
Because the other thing is I hate authority. If you
tell me to do something, I would not do it. No,
I having a landlord.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Because because your business very quickly shifted as well, Like
you went from being in your laundry and I think
you just came out of your laundry and I got
to know you guys. But within like I think it
was two years, you moved warehouse three times.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Oh my god. Yes, so in the space of literally
in the space of this has happened. In the last
three years, we've moved to warehouse five times. And I
when we're moving to the farm, we're like, this is
the last move. We have a beautiful, huge warehouse. It
was already on the farm. Like we were so lucky
that we found this property. We go there. I go
(25:10):
there twice a week, so it's an hour and a
half drive at the moment.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Oh yeah, fine, so you're not actually living there at
the moment, right.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Eventually, Yeah, I've got a build a house first, but
it's really nice to go and to We've got a caravan,
so it's like camping every week. And yeah, and having
two boys. We were talking about, you know, Nathan works
really long hours and I work pretty long hours, but
I'm alone most of the day because I run the
business and then I do morning drop off and pick up,
(25:41):
and then we do after school activities and then it's bedtime.
Like when do we actually connect with our kids? When
does that happen? So I feel like we've been give
We've we've created this business as a blessing to our family,
and we can we can operate it. We don't have
to have the stress of all the overheads that we
had when we were scaly. We've learned all the hard lessons,
(26:02):
the hardest lessons.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
We've learned them all.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Yeah, I'm going to say that touch Wood, please don't.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I don't need anyone give them a break.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Like, I'm just admiring your just commitment and dedication to
be going, because I would be like, oh.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
This is too much.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
That was me a couple of years ago. Yeah, it's
a lot of work, but I feel even even people
that I don't even know will come up be like
you look so bright. You lost weight, that's the first.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
But you do, like Jesus so bright and beautiful, like
stressed out.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Yeah, yeah, I feel.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
You know, I'm really happy. I feel more vibrant. Yes,
I think, And that's you.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Can honestly see it in your eyes, like they're so healthy.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yeah, and like this year we have so many new
products coming because for two years I just felt really foggy.
It was just really hard.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Welcome to my that was menopause for me.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
I can relate as a candle for that.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yes, but do you.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Actually do you make these yourself or so you're doing
all of that the candles, yeh wow.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
And we're not a small business, like we're still we
do hundreds of orders a month. Snaith will help whenever
he has a chance. He's the Beast's like a witch
with a cauldron.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Should see photos on Instagram or even when you put
up reels sometimes and there's like just rows and rows
and rows of the candle holders and they're being poured
and it's just amazing.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Have you seen Leanne Rhymes? No, you know the singer
Cushion well working music. She's got her own candle business
and some of the videos that she shares are beautiful.
She sings while she's making the candles and same, so
she lines them all out. However, you guys do them
and then she's there singing them and like, bless.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Single, get one of those candles. I'll send you one
of their videos. Yeah, yeah, start singing. Honestly, the singing videos.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Now, we sage them, so we do big lots at once.
So we'll make like a whole batch of navare and
we'll put the intention in for healing and then stage them. Okay,
so once the crystals go in and they're heated, no
one touches the crystals at all, and then we sage
and once the candle goes in the box. It's it
because some customers will Most customers say that when they
(28:27):
open a past so they feel like there's like magic inside,
like they feel the energy. I'm one of my friends
is a psychic medium and he's like, I actually do
feel the energy in your products.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
So when you say you put the intention into it,
what's your process for doing that, it.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Kind of changes, like we don't have an actual process,
so we'd pour the candle, add the crystals. Heat, So
we heat the crystals so they can sink into the
top of the candle, and then we let them set
and then I'll go back in on my have to
be on my own. There's people in there. I can't
do it, yeah, and will. Sometimes it changes, so sometimes
(29:06):
I do it before we box them, or other times
I'll do it once their box but the lids are open,
which I just go through with normally. Palo Santo becausage
sounds quite strong.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, dope, I was sound was like marrin right.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I love it, but I don't want anyone opening a
candle and getting black.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
As sage, ripping cones like candles.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
My god, yeah, I just I just cleanse give the
intention of healing. Navre always think about my dad confidence ones.
I think about when you know, when I feel really
sexy or confident or yeah, and when it different. Cant
has a different vibe.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So your core candles, because because you've got a core
range and then you have your specialties you put around them.
So the core candles, there's is it twelve all.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Long there's ten. Now there was twelve, said the right number?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Which one? Which ones? Gone from the call? Right?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Got rid of NCNT, which is the candle of fertility.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
You don't mean that one, man.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I think that was how I felt pregnant with THEO.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Okay, there's so many images gone through my man right now,
I think we need to go there that that candle.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Is a really beautiful is a beautiful candle. And we
it's not something that I publicized, but we have people
message when when we did have it in stock and
they would say I felt pregnant and I contributed one
percent to this candle. Wow, And I'm like, that's crazy.
The reason we discontinued it is because we had a
couple of people bring up the fact that it was
called like the candle of fertility, And then we spoke
(30:40):
about masculine and feminine energy, and it's a thing. Masculine
energy is a thing and feminine energy is a thing.
But then when people were reading the text, they're like,
what about same sex couples? What about you know? And
I'm like, so true, like so true, I totally get you.
So after a little while, after a bit of thought,
(31:02):
after some conversations, with my friends who are in same
sex relationships. I was like, I'm going to take it off,
and when I feel like it's the right time to
bring it back, I will because it is an important candle.
I think that, you know, we've got so many friends
who are going through IVF and struggling, but we just
need to message it in a different way. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
And then the other one was Fear, which is yeah,
pride candle. We brought that out for the LGBT. We
raised a lot of money and the only reason we
took that off the shelves was because I want to
rebrand it because it was all it was all rainbow,
and it just would irk me every time I'd look
at our core range. It needs to be one color
and I just don't know how to incorporate it as
(31:43):
one color. But that will come back. And then this
year we're actually bringing more into our core range because
I want to have more of a core offering so that.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
You do want some suggestions, absolutely, do you make a
look at my favorites and please do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
This is the best thing about having such a open
community because I you know, if someone has a problem,
I want to fix it. The best. Before I worked
at Mecca, I worked at Bunnings and I was an
education consultant for Bunnings. So my customer service comes from
that Bunnies philosophy when it was really good. So if
someone has a problem, we always turn it around and
(32:19):
fix it, and they become the best customers because they're
not afraid to tell you what they think. They're free
market research and they'll always they'll tell you when your
stuff up so you can fix it, but then they'll
praise you when you do really well, and they're really
loyal customers. So I feel so blessed with our community
because I never have to pay for market research because
I'll reach out to a couple if they haven't already
(32:40):
told me what they think, and then I say, what
do you think about this? And I'm like, I like this,
don't like this.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Well, there's been a couple of times that I've messaged
Nathan just when I've had a couple of issues with
my candles, and then I feel guilty. I'm like's a problem,
there's one, but you have any time that there's been
an issue, because I know you went through a stage there,
or there's this one little time where there was a
problem with the wax or something, and I was trying
to burn these candles, thinking am I doing something wrong
(33:07):
here because they weren't quite burning properly. But I mean,
you guys fixed it straight away, and that's you know,
that's what customer service is all about. As well, there
we go. I'm pretty sure I'm on the best customer list.
We have another episode which now is still to come.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You've been listening to Life as we Know It Unfiltered
with Tony Tanalia and Lisa Cameron. If you liked this episode,
please leave us a review or drop a comment on
our socials. We love hearing from you. You can also
come hang out with us on Instagram at Life as
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as we Know It. And please see that follow button
(33:40):
on your favorite podcast app. If you're not following us yet,
catch up with you in our next episode.
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