August 24, 2024 • 50 mins
Getting a good night’s sleep is high on the priority list for many people, and superior bedding made with strong wool from their Southland farm is a new venture for Nicola and Tom Wylie.
A range of bedding essentials, pillows and duvets, are being marketed and sold online as Lora & Flok.
Website: www.loraandflok.co.nz
Facebook: lora & flok (2) Facebook
Instagram: @loraandflok Lora & Flok (@loraandflok) • Instagram photos and videos
A range of bedding essentials, pillows and duvets, are being marketed and sold online as Lora & Flok.
Website: www.loraandflok.co.nz
Facebook: lora & flok (2) Facebook
Instagram: @loraandflok Lora & Flok (@loraandflok) • Instagram photos and videos
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to down to Earth, brought to you by a
Young Country.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is the podcast for the go getters. The big
dream is the innovators of the primary sector. I'm your host,
Rebecca Greeves, and we're taking a closer look at young
people in the primary industries who have dared to think big,
pushed the limits and give it a go in business.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We'll be asking how they got to where.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
They are now, what they've learned along the way, and
what their advice is to other aspiring Egrey innovators. So
settle in and listen up as we serve you a
healthy dose of inspiration, motivation and maybe even challenge.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Your thinking a little.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Welcome into this episode of down to Earth and I'm
very excited to be joined by Nick Wiley. Today. Nick
is doing it and her family doing some very exciting
things with Will. This is a new business, so we're
going to be hearing all about how we've got started
here in what these guys are doing with woll So
welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
NAC Hi, Rebecca, thank you, thanks so happy to me come.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Along, No no worries. I'm excited to talk about this
because I spotted you guys on social media and I thought, wow,
what a great use of will. So the business is
called Laura and Flock. Can you tell me what you
are doing?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah? Sure. So we are making or we have made
a range of betting essentials with air wall from a
farm down here in Southland, and we are marketing them
and selling them online for people to buy. And really
the main thing we're trying to do is spread the
message on what makes wool such a superior choice for betting,
(01:54):
because it really is the top performing product to have
inside your pillows and is the fill in your duvets
for a better night's sleep. So at the moment it's
a fairly small range. We've only got three products, but
we've got big ambitions to extend that range as well,
so we'll just see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Exciting. Okay, well that's a good place to start. You're
talking about spreading the message on what makes will a
superior choice for bedding, So what does make will a
superior choice for betting? Will sell it to me?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, yeah, I mean there is a lot of brilliant
aspects to wool and they don't all apply to bedding,
but largely they do. So one of the aspects. I
should explain that we've actually created two products that we
use in their bedding. So one of them is our
loose fill, which we call our flock fill, and some
people might have heard of wool knops before, and that's
(02:50):
when the wall's been engineered in a factory to increase
the bulk and that helps with resilience, So we're using
it in a pillow so that we've got a lovely, lightweight, springy,
resilient plate that's not going to go flat. And then
on top of that, so that's sort of increasing the
performance of the wall. But then of course we've got
(03:11):
all the benefits of wall with it being a really
great body temperature regulator, so for hot sleepers in particular,
it's going to keep them cool so they don't get
a sweaty head. And on top of that, it's odor
and dust might resistance, so that's great for bedding for hygiene.
It's sticking with the pillow, it's great for people with
(03:35):
allergies because of wall's hypoallergenic benefits. And then if we
look at the douvet, that's what we've created with our
flock web, So we've taken the wall knots and we've
sort of spun them. We're not really spun, but tangled
them up with some of our other wall and created
a nice soft web that won't shift throughout the douve
(03:58):
and it creates a lovely lightweight for all because of
the knots, which is something you don't traditionally get with
will betting. So we've tried to find a sweet spot
between the benefits of wall betting, which I just spoke about,
and the lightweight aspect of our feather and down do vague,
which a lot of people will enjoy, and brought it
(04:19):
together so that you've got that lovely soft feeling, but
you've got all those benefits of war as well.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Okay, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's just really cozy, really cozy, really comfy.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Everyone likes to have a cozy company Night's slate, right, absolutely, yeah, Okay,
So it sounds like you've done a fair bit on
the product development side, and we'll get into that a
little bit later. But if we just backtrack a little bit,
could you tell me a bit about you've said you
guys are in Southland. Can you tell me a little
bit about your farm and your what you're doing on
(04:51):
the farm other than creating wool. But what's the farming
business itself and how long have you guys been there?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, sure, so we've been here since actually my family farm.
We've my family has been here for be the fifth generation.
So it was actually celeb one hundred and fifty years
last year, which was pretty awesome. And we're we're down
in the Laura Gorge which is about fifty k at
it Inficago. We farm sheep obviously, but we also have
(05:22):
deer and we have about three hundred velveting stacks as well,
and then we trade cattle in the summer as well,
so we've got hands and a few pies there. We
do a bit of dairy praising over the winter as well,
and now we're doing the wool brand.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Okay that that would keep you fairling. But what's the
size of the farmer and what's the contour like there?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yes, it's quite gentle, rolling hills type for the majority
of it. We do have a lease block, so we
are own Laura Valley. Obviously, we've brought that off my
parents went through succession. We leased some of the farm
from them still, but we also have a couple of
lease blocks, one being a neighboring property which is more
(06:10):
native bush, less developed than our own property. And then
we have another one about twenty k away that's altber
a bush as well, but more gentle rolling hill country
as well. Yeah. Sorry, So we're fifteen hundred acres here?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
What's that? And he is, don't ask me, I'm not
good at numbers.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, and then we lease about another six hundred acres
as well.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Wow, Okay, so that'll keep you guys fairly busy. And
so you and your husband are running net together?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah one, I mean Tom does the majority of it,
to be fair, Rebecca, I help out we needed and
always have, and I enjoy doing a little bits like that.
But I'm not on the farm every day, and I
think it's best that i'm not. Tom and I probably
work better when we're we have our own projects to
both lead instead of one of us taking orders from
(07:06):
the other one or direction from the other one. So yeah,
we actually we have two staff full time as well. Okay,
so that helps a lot. That's great having those stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, and so the will project is kind of your baby.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah it is, Yeah, I mean Tom was We thought
up the idea together and had been thinking of what
we could do in that sort of area for a
long time together, and he's been really supportive of it,
but he's got enough on his plate, so it was
very much my project and my thing to run with.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, and as well as the will baby, you also
have three human babies, or maybe not quite babies, but
you've got three children.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I think, yeah, yeah, that's right. So yeah, no, they're
well past the baby stage. They're all at school now.
So that was another motivator for getting going with Laura
own Flock. I think we sat started thinking about it
in twenty twenty when middle child had sort of just started.
It was just about to go to school and we
(08:08):
still had one at kindy and things like that and
at home, but I was starting to think of what
we could really be doing, or what my role was
going to be doing on the farm or whether it's
going to be off farm once they were all at school.
So yeah, they're all at school. That keeps things easy,
but at school holidays at the moment, so yeah, being
(08:29):
helpful as shit home.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, I do appreciate you making the time to speak
to me because I know that yes, it is school holidays,
and also that you guys are kind of in the
thick of docking I think, or tailing you would say, down.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
There, Yeah, Taylor, that's right. We had our first day
tailing use today. We actually used to be very lucky
or very fortunate and have a tailing again come in
and do the majority of it, and we sort of
got to go out and help a little bit because
Tom actually had a tailing contract business prior to us
coming back to the farm, so when you sold that,
(09:00):
he's lent the gear. So we managed to get a
pretty good deal with their tailing for quite some time.
But that's finished up this year. So we were the
B team probably or the C team probably all going
out yesterday to give it a crack. But the kids
did really well and we had a beautiful day. So
we'll carry on with that, see what goes next week.
(09:21):
I did tell Tom to be a little bit more
patient because obviously we're not running to the same level
as his staff that he's used to from his time contracting.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yes, well, I guess when you're doing it yourself and
there's children involved, it's it's possibly not as fast as
it would be when you've got again just you know,
smashing it out.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, they all want to do there, But that's what
it's all about too. So yeah, I got to slow
down to keep the kids into it, don't you.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah? Absolutely, and hay im. And it's free labor, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Oh No, they've started telling me how much that should
be getting paid per lamb, but we we're trying to
keep it free. Ah.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
They're onto it. They're onto it. They're business people like
their parents.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I think some of the dad's running off maybe.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, Okay, so that's cool. That's a great background on
the farm and your family and what you guys are
doing there. So you said you sort of first started
thinking about the idea in twenty twenty. How did you progress,
Like did you have a range of things that you
came up with, and then how did you choose the
bedding is the option or and when did you sort
(10:28):
of start actually like when you go, yep, this is
what we're going to do. I'm going to really take
this and run with it.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, we did have a range of things, or at
least we didn't have a seat product in mind at
the beginning, Rebecca. We had a vision of doing something
worth air wall and getting a bit of a return
on it. Obviously, and we just didn't really know what
that was going to be to start with. So I
spent a lot of time looking at what other options
(10:58):
were already in the marketplace, what other farmers were doing,
because you know, there was a lot of cool products
out there that other farmers and women in the rural
industry were already making. So we looked at those kinds
of things, looked at what could be done in New Zealand.
I had some kind of pipe dreamed type ideas on
(11:20):
what to do as well, but looking further into those,
they weren't really going to be an option for us.
So yeah, it took a long time. We probably spent
twelve months just sort of not spending lots of time
on it, but spent probably twelve months thinking about, you know,
what could this be like and looked into it a
little bit, made some calls and then sort of thought,
(11:42):
oh maybe, and then moved on to the next thing.
And yeah, it was a bit of a bit of
a mess to be for it at the start, trying
to figure out what we could be doing, and then
I think it was probably ended twenty one can remember
how it came about, but we sort of I wanted
to get a bit clear on really what direction to go,
(12:05):
probably had a bit of analysis paralysis going on, actually,
so I sort of stopped and thought, well, right, what
can we do in New Zealand Because one product idea
we had we really couldn't do in New Zealand and
it just wasn't an option for us with their budget
and things like that to try to go offshore initially,
So we thought, what can we do in New Zealand?
(12:25):
What characteristics do air will have that leaned towards a
particular product, because we didn't want to try to make
it into something it wasn't. We didn't want to compete
with other products that we were quite keen to make
sure it was going to be sort of a top
performer for whatever product we were making, and went from there,
which is probably the way we should have started out
(12:46):
with everything. But one of the characteristics with their war
was that it's quite a high bulk wall, which leans
really well, even though predominantly our wall goes to carpet.
Being higher bulk does lean really well into the bedding,
like a high loft type product. So that was a
tip towards bedding, and obviously we could get bedding manufactured
(13:09):
in New Zealand, and then we're doing a bit more
digging in the bedding industry. I came across the Wallnock
process and a business in christ Church that does that
that we're keen to give us a crack and speaking
with them more and meeting with them and things like that,
I realized that they actually had some really cool ideas
(13:30):
on new technologies they were developing all the time too
to actually do bedding, but in a bit of a
different way to what was probably in the market, or
at least direct to consumer market in New Zealand already.
There wasn't much of it around when we started to
move forward with it.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, that's really interesting, you know. It obviously was quite
a long process and something that you've put a lot
of thought into, which is great to hear. So just
to be clear your will as you're producing strong will obviously.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah it is. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, And we all know the story about strong will
and the prices and the way it's been for quite
some time now, let's be honest. And I always think
it's really fascinating because, like you said, there are actually
a lot of farmers that are doing some really interesting
things with strong will, and I feel like maybe the price,
(14:28):
or the continually depressed price for such a long period
of time has actually kind of driven the right word.
But he has actually motivated a lot of people to go, Okay,
we're not just going to accept this. What could we
do ourselves to increase our return? You know, like, do
(14:48):
you think that that the way the will industry is
and with the price and things, do you think that
that has actually driven more innovation in the sector amongst
farmers themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, definitely. I mean, the price that we're getting at
the farm gate isn't reflective at all of the true
value of wool. And consumers know that war was a
luxury product and are prepared to pay for it. But
for a long time, the farmers just missed that, missed
that profit, missed that price. And I mean, obviously the
(15:25):
more people that can do it, the better. Definitely, because
I think there's a real push and demand from consumers
to actually have that story told with their product and
a more direct link back to the product and things
like that or where it's grown from and stuff. But
you know, farmers need to farm too. They can't be
spending all their time trying to make new products and
(15:47):
stuff like that either. So I think definitely that's been
the motivator for a lot of people. And I mean
the hope is that by putting these products out there
and educating more people and get more people aware of
the benefits of choosing wall because there's so many of them,
that that will help increase the price back to the
(16:09):
farm gate. But in saying that, yeah, that's that's the
outside my scope on how that will really work, because
it seems to be it's the end product that that's
getting there, the true value, the true price with the
will not not the farm gate price. Yes, it's something
(16:31):
needs to change in the actual you know, in the
proper process of how that happens to make their work.
That's not really.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
That's a big question. It is a good question address. Yeah,
And I think I've spoken to a number of people
that are doing these kind of really innovative, interesting value
add things with their will, and I think I guess
at the end of the day, most of and you
can me if I'm wrong in terms of your own motivation,
but I think at the end of the day, most
(17:03):
of the people that are doing these things probably realize
that they're not necessarily going to have a huge impact
on shifting the dial for the entire whirl clip because
there is so much of it, and you know how
many doubts and pillows will you be able to sell?
But I mean you may be able to do something.
Obviously you're hoping to do something for your own return.
(17:24):
But what I think it is about that people that
are doing these smaller projects. The great thing about it
is you guys are the cheerleaders, like you are the
cheerleaders for strong will. You're out there raising awareness, You're
on social media, you are singing the praises of the
qualities of will, and I think that's where the real
benefit is, you know, educating people, educating consumers. Do you
(17:48):
think that's a fair comment.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, because then we've got more people passionate
about it too, you know, and then more people might
start to raise their eyebrow and think, well, why aren't
we choosing wall for other products as well? So definitely, yeah,
i'd agree with that.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah. Cool. Okay, So let's talk about the process a
little bit more because obviously, yeah, you've got a couple
of products that you've created, like your flock fo and
things to make your products. What was the process like
to actually get to a point where you had, you know,
products that you were happy with, you know, and what
was the developmental design process? Is it all being done
(18:28):
through one company.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Or Yeah, in comparison to probably a lot of wall
products that are made air process is probably reasonably straightforward.
But it's easy to say that now once we've got
the product finished, because it was certainly not smooth sailing
and there was a lot of challenges and things like that.
But a wall needs to be Obviously, it's shorn here
(18:50):
on the farm, and then it goes up to Timoru
to be scared. It gets scared twice, which is done
for bidding for hygiene purposes and things like that, and
then it carries on it up to christ Church and
the factory we're working with in christ Church then create
those two products for us, the flock fill and the
flock web for douvets and air pillows. They also make
(19:14):
the pillows and the douvet and within their own factory
and then they send them back to us on the farm,
so there's not actually too many places for it to
go through. It's on the farm. It's a scare and
then it's at the factory and it's back to the farm.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That's that's actually pretty good. I was expecting a few
more steps in the process.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
There, Yeah, because a lot of obviously, you know, for
woolen jerseys and blankets and things, they need to be dyed,
they need to be spun and things like that. But no,
we've got a fairly fairly small chain, I.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Guess, yeah, which is great because you have lived moving
parts and you're more able to I'm getting a little
bit of feedback. I'm not sure where that's going to.
You're more able to keep control of everything in the
quality thing.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yes, yeah, and you're dealing with a lot of these
people aren't here, so it's it's good.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
We're up in christ Church and we can see the
product and get things fine tuned exactly how we want
them and know that it's not going where else. It's
just coming straight back to us after that.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
So okay. And so once it comes back to you,
you're doing all the marketing yourself and the logistics and
you know, posting out of orders. How did that work?
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, we are so. I had some help definitely at
the start with the branding side of things. I was
quite I knew what I wanted in that respect, and
I've always enjoyed doing that type of thing myself. But
I also can be pretty bad worth making decisions and
getting stuck on the fine details with things, so I
(20:59):
knew I needed to get someone to help me with that,
otherwise they'll be spending far too much time on it.
But now, in terms of what we're doing with social
media and trying to get messages across and things like that,
just doing it when I have time at home, really yeah,
just through Instagram and Facebook and Canvas seems to be
(21:20):
a great tool that I've been using that I really
enjoyed as well.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, canvor is because your social media does look pretty slow,
that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
It's definitely a learning process. And I'm very conscious too
that with something like social media, you know, only it's
such a small I mean, we've only got a tiny
audience anyway, but such a small portion of people actually
see what you're putting out there. So trying to be
very conscious because I do probably have a tendency to
(21:54):
want things to look, you know, quite detailed, and I
wouldn't say perfect, but I do have an eye for
the detail, Like that, so I want to make sure
I'm not spending too much time on something that only
such a small people, small portion of people are actually seeing,
because you know that time could be spent better elsewhere
as well, So you don't want to get caught up
(22:15):
in the little details too much, otherwise we won't make
traction elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
So you're just selling online at the moment.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we do have plans to go
to a couple of faiths and shows and things like that,
which will be awesome because people do like to see
the product, especially when you're sort of talking about something
a bit different. But yeah, just online on air website,
which I think that that was another challenge we launched,
and their website wasn't actually googleable that's even a word
(22:46):
to start with. So we've had a few people coming
back saying, oh, how do we find you and things
like that, but social media obviously directs them or to
their websites and yeah, we'll we'll see. I mean, it'd
be great to get into stores and things in time,
but it's also good to be that direct, had that
direct line with your customers as well when you're starting out,
(23:08):
so that you actually get to learn about who your
customers are and things like that too. So yeah, we'll
see how we go. We're lucky we've got some big
sheets on the farm because it would have been easier
at making something like slippers. You know, it's pretty hard
to store too many to do bas and pillows and
things safely. Yeah, when you're dealing with such a large,
(23:28):
large product. That's just the posting internet.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I had even thought about that. Yeah, you wouldn't need
a bit of space.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah, yeah, we do. But that's so good. It's all sorted.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
So are you just promoting on social media at the
moment or have you got Are you trying to reach
an audience through other memes or just focusing on social
media for the start.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, I mean we're focusing on social media. We're pretty limited.
You know, we're running with a pretty tight budget, to
be fair, Rebeccas, So for social media is great because
it's free. We've been fortunate. We had a stuff article
the other day which was awesome, and we've spoken with
a couple of rural magazines and things that are loving
(24:14):
what we're doing and came to spread the word two,
which is great. But yeah, we don't have a marketing
budget per se to start doing advertising in other ways.
So we're just starting small.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, well everyone has to start somewhere, don't they. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
I did see that article on stuff. I was reading
it actually before we came on the podcast, just to
get a bit of research, and that was a great
article and lovely photo of you guys as well. So
I mean that that all helps, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, yeah, it was great, It was great article. I
don't know about the photo. That was the day before
the jolly floods that we had last week, and it
was horrendously windy. We had trees falling down everywhere. We've
got always school on the farm, which georgeous, and a
great big gum tree fell down right by the school
actually took the spoutings off, but luckily the school didn't
(25:09):
get damaged itself. But yeah, we look like we're getting
blown over in there photo. We nearly did get blown over.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Oh that's quite cool. So you have a school on
the front, an operating school. Is that the school that
your children attend?
Speaker 1 (25:22):
No? No, no, So this is the school that my
dad went to, but it closed I think the year
my uncle, his younger brother finished school. So it's been
closed a long time, but it's Kigwi School and the
Lori Gorge School. And yeah, it was another thing actually
that I thought of as being a great option for
doing something, you know, for myself on farm, turning it
(25:46):
into we B and B or something like that. But
we haven't gone there yet, but it's so still in
the mind. It'll be some nice bedding in there anyway,
when we do manage to do something with it.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yes, well that's a good start. Well, that sounds really cute, cooler.
I think that's really special to have Heaven Old School,
even if it's not still open, but to have then
on your farm is that's quite unique.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty cool. There's a lot of
history around the Gorge actually. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah. Okay, so when did you when did you actually
officially launch your products into the into the world.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yeah, just back on the fifth of September, so yeah,
it's not even a month. So we're very new, very green.
But it's been going good. Yeah, so we've had really
good feedback from people. Orders are going out really well.
There was something that was really tricky, which a lot
of people will be able to relate to. Just trying
(26:44):
to figure out quantities and things like that starting out
having no idea really. You can you can estimate, but
having no idea really about demand and things. So I've
got to make a call today to wear christ Church
factory to get some more product made up because we've
a bit low on some things. Which is great, but
it's also a bit tricky when you're starting like that.
(27:05):
You know, you need to be consistent with what you've
got available for people.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Yeah, that is an interesting one. What's the time frame
you know, if you bring up and order some more product, Like,
how long does it take for them for it to
actually arrive back to you and be able to be
sent out to people.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well, because we've only really had the one run so far,
it's a bit hard to answer that because a lot
of what we did was product development as well, so
it was quite time consuming. It depends a little bit.
They've got a lot of orders at that factory that
they do internationally. That's the majority of their works going
off shore, so those orders come in pretty big. It
(27:42):
will depend on what else they've got on at the time.
But I spoke to them the other day and hopefully
just a couple of weeks as long as we've got
well they're ready to be processed and turned into product,
which we do at the moment. So yeah, I need
to get onto it. But it shouldn't be too long. Well,
I guess they're coming from christ Church. Sorry continue, I
(28:04):
said it's only coming from christ Church, so it shouldn't
be too bad.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah. Well, I guess I was just about to saying
that's the positive thing about manufacturing in New Zealand, doesn't it.
You don't have that shipping, you know, you're not waiting
for something to come from some far flung country.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, so we've kept everything in the South Island,
so we couldn't probably be too much more handy in
that respect.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeap, Would you have gone off shore if you could
have or was it important to you to say that
it was, you know, New Zealand made New Zealand manufactured,
because I've talked to other people who have actually had
that as a bottom line.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That's a good question, I think. I mean, it wasn't
really an option for us, especially starting out to go
offshore with the sort of quantities you'd have to be
dealing with and the price and things like that. And
I guess from air respect, not having confidence in what
kind of quantities and demand we'd have. We're happy with
(29:06):
how we've got things running at the moment, so to
be able to keep a wall here in New Zealand
is ideal. Yes, So I wouldn't really look to send
it offshore unless things changed and made it more of
a feasible option or made it something we had to
look at. But there's enough places in New Zealand manufacturing
(29:29):
and things like that that I don't think that would
be an issue. We obviously need to get the cotton imported,
and there's no cotton farms in New Zealand, and that's
where it got a bit tricky. Initially we had to
bring in cotton to obviously create the products, and that
ends up being a lot more expensive than getting the
product made off shore and then sent in. But it
(29:51):
seems to be working so far.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Well. I mean, like you said, there wasn't there wasn't
an option for you. But I kind of feel like
that's also a selling point to say that it's completely
you know, made in New Zealand, like legit.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, I mean being New Zealand made. I mean a
lot of things that I buy, I try to buy
things in New Zealand, made to support New Zealand and
have that trastability and stuff, and a lot of our
story is all around being grown and made in New Zealand.
So yeah, it is. It is definitely a strong selling point.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Yeah cool. I know, not that you're you know, at
the start of I don't like the word journey. It's
a bit contrived. But you know, you're at the start
of this process and you're less than a month and
to launch. But in terms of the process that you've
been through to date, you know, what do you think
(30:46):
you've learned? Like, what are your biggest sort of learnings
out of everything that you've done so far?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Biggest learnings there's probably been hecks for them, to be fair,
and it's it's good to be going now because you
learn a lot more once you're up and running than
you can when you're you know, googling and looking into
research and things like that. Definitely, just getting started is
(31:18):
probably a big learning. I mean, I spent a lot
of time researching, like I said, and trying to get
things perfect and things like that, when really you just
need to test the waters and get going to actually
know what people are after. In that respect other learnings,
(31:39):
just learning things every day. But your shipping has been
an interesting one, learning the process around that, which I
couldn't really do much about until I was actually shipping product.
I wasn't able to figure out much about that process. Obviously,
(32:00):
lots of different sized boxes we have to be dealing with,
depending on whether people are buying one plo three pillows,
duvet and pillows, all that sort of stuff. I'm still
learning all the financial stuff. That's definitely Tom's strength, not mine.
We're actually going to the accountant today, but that's for
our end the year financial kind of stuff, so we'll
be chatting to them a bit about that today. There's
(32:23):
aspects there that we're still figuring out.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah, okay, Yeah, it's a little bit of a hard
one to learn, because you know, it's not like you're
a few years down the trick and you could look
back and say, oh, I would have done this differently.
But I think essentially what you're saying, it's just getting going,
and I guess there's an element of you have to
be in it doing it to kind of figure things
out in a way.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I do feel i'm a bit
too to new to be able to having anything to
share in that respect for other people listening on what
we've learned.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Yeah, OK, so the next thing, and again keeping in
mind that it's early days, there's a lot of people
out there who have had great ideas, but maybe they
don't necessarily know how to get started, or they're not
sure how to take that leap of faith. You know,
what advice would you give to other people that are
(33:20):
kind of in your position back in twenty twenty when
you're thinking I'd like to do something, but I don't
know what it is. You know, like, what would you
say to other people who have a great idea but
they don't know where to start.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, I think speak to other people that are doing it.
Doesn't need to be the same industry or the same product,
but speak for other people that are doing similar things
that are a bit further along on the journey to
get their feedback and their advice. I did speak to
a couple of other women doing wall products and things
(33:54):
like that, which really helped to get a bit of
an idea. I also spoke to a of an aged
agency down here in Southland. They were great at helping
point me in the direction of a few things, and
they did a we course we workshop with them, which
was really helpful backing yourself. But also I would definitely
(34:16):
hop on Google and research your idea, have a look
at who else is doing it, like make sure you
know who your competitors are, and try to get a
bit of an idea of who your target sort of
market would be to make sure that your product's going
to align with that. Probably my advice don't be afraid
(34:41):
to tell people what you're doing to a degree. You know,
a lot of people think they have to be quite
secretive about what they're doing in that respect. But yeah,
I think New Zealand's such a small country. You know,
we really are quite a little We're doing great, amazing
(35:02):
big things and everything, but I think people are much
more willing to help in the industry than you might realize.
So yeah, i'd look to absorb some of that knowledge
from other people. Probably, I think it's really great advice.
Like you say, New Zealander is a small country, and
I think the temptation when you have a great idea
it could be to be like.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Oh, I can't tell anyone. I have to I don't
want anyone else to steal my idea or I don't
want people to, you know, to put it out there
and then someone might get ahead of me. Everyone's got
to go through a process to get an actual furnished product.
So I suppose there's more to be gained by seeking
advice and help and letting people in on what you're
(35:42):
up to and to a degree.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah, yeah, to a degree definitely, yeah. Don't be afraid
to ask for help and to let people another say, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Okay, cool, Look, I really love this chair. It's been
really interesting and I think this is a really good
place to dive into our The way that I kind
of finish up the podcast is to ask you I
call them fast facts, but sometimes they're not really that fast.
And if you've listened to some of the other episodes,
you may have noticed that we sort of finished up
(36:15):
with this so that the first question in the fast
Facts is what is one app that you need to
run your business or that you find really useful in
terms of running the business?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
One app? You know, I did actually listen to one
of your podcasts and heard some of these, but I
should write them down one app. To be fair, it's
probably a bit boring, but we're very new and everything
like that. But I would say it's got to be
Instagram or Pinterest because we are on Pinterest as well
and Facebook as well. So yeah, social media type stuff
(36:50):
because their whole vision I guess or brand is around
building air story up and we need to be able
to get that across to customers and audience and stuff,
which social media is, you know, the best way to
do that. So yeah, i'd say social media as Facebook
(37:14):
and Instagram in particular.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Yeah. Yeah, not on TikTok. Oh we might see some
sheep some sheep TikTok videos in the future.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
And I noted earlier you did talk about Camber, which
isn't so much of an ap but obviously something that
you're finding really useful to run the business.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, I do. Although I only use it on my desktop,
I find it really fairly on my phone. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Yeah, Now I use Cambra a little bit as well,
and I'd have to agree with that, but it is
it is a helpful one for design and things, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah. Yeah, you can spend a lot of time, you
can waste a lot of time maybe on it actually
or my my personally does anyway, But yeah, I do.
I do love Kender.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Okay, cool, okay. So the second question that is, I'm
sorry to put on the spot with this, but what's
the best advice you've ever received or can you think
of something that kind of sticks with you.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Your best advice. It's probably come from Tom actually, although
a lot of other people or other people have said it,
and I've read it as well, probably in one of
the books that Tom's given me. So there you go.
That would be just not to wait and have everything perfect,
just to get going and get started, because, like I
(38:32):
said earlier, like I have a tendency to overthink things
and want things to be absolutely perfect, but you're not
getting anywhere when you're doing that. So I think it
was in the forty two below Journey by Jeff Ross
that he said that as well, Yeah, don't wait to
have everything perfect because it's never going to be perfect.
(38:55):
Things are always going to change. So just get going,
just get started.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah, that's great advice, and it's definitely something that's been
said by a number of people that I've interviewed for
this podcast. So you're not alone there, but I think
you're probably not alone in a tendency to overthink either
and to want things to be perfect, because of course,
when we put things out there in the public arena,
we want them to look. You know, you have an
(39:19):
idea in your head everything's going to look, and you
do want it to be perfect, right, it's human idea.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
So third one, is there a business or maybe a
person in business who you look up to.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Oh, this probably hates for them to be fair. I mean,
there's lots of other women in the rural industry like
farmers and doing amazing things, not just with wool, but
lots of different women and brands in that respect that
I've folowed along for a long time and have helped
(40:00):
motivate me and inspired me to actually do something. And
probably in terms of a bigger brand, it would be
All Birds actually and food two below vodka, but just
their way of trying to do things differently with the
messaging and their marketing. So you know, obviously the bedding industry,
(40:20):
in particular duvets and pillows, it's pretty boring really, it's
not really a product to get excited about. It's not
sexy or anything like that. So we're trying to make
it a bit more fun. So those brands. You know,
I'm pretty motivated by by what they do. You know,
(40:41):
they've they've done really cool things and built out really
good brands.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah, okay, I do. I disagree that betting is not
sexy because I feel like, you know, we all sleep right,
everyone's sleep well hopefully unless you've gotten some there or
you know. But also sleep is a big issue in society.
You know, a lot of people don't get good sleep.
So I think there's a lot to get excited about
(41:06):
about the idea of a product that is going to
give you a cozy, you know, good night's sleep or
may help you to gain that elusive good night sleep.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's what we're trying to do. We're
trying to get people excited about it, make them realize
that really sleep is you know, one of the best
things you can do for your well being, for your health,
and yeah, just just make it. You know, a lot
of the time it's all about the fun dove cover
or the pillowcase, the bidding that goes on top that
you see, and not what's on the inside. But really
(41:39):
it's what's on the inside underneath those covers that really matters.
So we're trying to get those products seen as being,
you know, something you should be thinking more about.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, yeah, well you can have the lovely looking dove cover,
but if it's not a cozy, warm snuggling then it's Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
There's nothing quite like getting into a beard with a
good dobet I reckon, but I'm probably Yeah, you don't
need to convince me, But obviously there's other people who
need convincing.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah. Yeah, definitely snuggling up underneath.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Yeah, especially the women we've been having lately. Gosh, anyway,
I'm getting a bit carried away with my thoughts about
what we blue bays. I think it's a great idea,
by the way, Hence, while we're talking, the fourth question
is if you could change one thing, And this doesn't
necessarily have to be in this particular process or this
(42:35):
particular business, but in life, maybe if you were talking
to younger Nick and giving her some advice, you know,
if you could change one thing, what would it be.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, there's one that sticks out pretty pretty clearly. I
don't want to actually say too much about it because
it is something we're going to do, but I had
some other plans for a doubt on what I want
to do initially, and again limited with product development and
(43:06):
price and things like that, we decided to keep things
pretty simple. But I'm feeling already that I wish I
had stuck with my guns and probably backed myself a
little bit more into doing something a wee bit different.
It hadn't been done because I think it'll be really
well received, But it's early days. We were only three
(43:28):
weeks in or whatever, so we've got plenty of time
to change that. So yeah, I'm not going to tell
you what that is, Rebecca, but there's something that I'm
thinking of that I think it comes back to the
idea of having confidence in what you want to do
and backing yourself.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Yeah, okay, so mind are wishing that you'd possibly stuck
with your original plan. But it sounds like this is
something exciting that we could be seeing in the future.
So I look forward to I look forward to discovering
what this thing is.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Sorry, I don't think I really answered your question at all.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
No, No, that's all right. No, that's quite all right. Finally,
and this is a very important question. Does pineapple belong
on a pizza?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
No? No, no, well Tom would say it does, but no,
I'm firmly believing that pineapple should be I love pineapple
as long as it's fresh and like a salad or
just on its own, but not not hot. No way.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yeah, okay, cool, we can, like I said to people
when they give me this answer, we can be friends. Yeah,
I'm not a pineapple lover, as anyone who listens to
this podcast will probably have figured out by now. Look, Neck,
I'm so happy to have had a chat with you today.
I've I think it's a fabulous idea. As I've said,
I hope it's a raging success for all the listeners.
(44:51):
Can you just tell us, you know, if they want
to go out and buy some amazing we'll doves or pillows,
where can we find you give us the jurors?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah? Yeah, So obviously we've got an account on Facebook
and Instagram and handle for that. I guess if you
call it a handle, I think is what they call
it is just Laura, which is about l A and flock,
which the flock. We've dropped the C so it's f
l okay and that's their website as well. So dub
(45:25):
dub dub dot Laura and flock dot co dot nz dub.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Dub dub dot Laura and flock dot co do inded,
So you need to get over there. Just on that note,
why did you drop the C?
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Well, this funny interesting conversation there. So we struggled for
a long time on a brand name, coming up with
what we wanted. We didn't want to just have our
farm name. And the lady that I had helping me
with my design and branding and things like that, I
actually looked to her for some help and she came
(45:59):
up with it actually, and it's it's pretty obvious now
when you think of the name Laura and flock, like
combining the farm with the sheep. But I think it
was from a design perspective, it looked more pleasing to
the eye to have four letters with the Laura because
their farm names apout L I, A, and then four
letters with the flock okay, just making it modernizing it
(46:24):
a little bit. So I've gone with their expertise in
that one.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Rebecca Okay.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
That's interesting because I was wondering and I thought maybe
it was something to do with the way the fill
was made or that that was like because it makes
me think of flocking maybe, But then I was like, flock,
you know, a flock of sheep with a Z. So anyway,
I'm glad that you have enlightened me. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
Look, I know that you're you'll be busy and your
kids have done very well watching some TV and not
interrupting us. Well we've been doing this podcast, so I
wish you all the best, and everyone jump online and
check it out and thank you so much for your
time and enjoy the rest of the tailing.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah perfect, Thanks very much Rebecca for having me on,
and yeah, have a good, good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
Thank you. Well that's a rap on season two of
the Down to Earth podcast, brought to you by a
Young Country. That was a cracker of an episode to
finish off with there Nick Wiley from Laura and Flock.
(47:37):
They are farming down in the Southland and making superior
bedding products with the strong woolf from their farm. It
is a new business, so Nick is not too far
down the track with the business. But I do still
think there were some really great messages there from her.
Some of the things that I really got out of
it were speaking to other people, reaching out, talking to
(48:00):
people who are doing similar things. She talked to a
lot of other women who were doing businesses with will
or maybe with other products. She talked about googling, you know,
helping on and google researching your idea. But essentially that
comes down to it. She spent a year working out
what she was going to do, But it's all about
knowing who your competitors are, what they're doing. You know
(48:20):
your unique positioning in the market, who are who is
your target market, and making sure that your product really
aligns with that. So I think she also said, you know,
that's an interesting one not to be secretive about it.
I think sometimes if we have a good idea, the
tendency can be to or I can't tell anyone about it.
But she found that it was better to put it
(48:40):
out there and get that feedback and get the advice
and get help from other people. She's using social media
and relying on it quite heavily. They've got a pretty
tight budget when it comes to the marketing and promotion
side of things, which is not unusual for a startup. Obviously,
social media is free, so she's really using that utilized
it a lot to build their story and get that
(49:04):
across to their audience. I really liked the end where
she talked about the best advice that she'd been given,
you know earlier, she said she suffered from a little
bit of analysis paralysis, which I think many of us
can relate to. It's that tendency to overthink things. But
the idea is that you just need to get started,
So don't wait until everything's perfect, Just get going, Just
(49:25):
get started. If you want to check out what Nick
and Tom Wyley are doing with Laura and Flock, you
can head onto their website. We'll put the social media
handles and the website in our show notes, so if
you're into a good night's sleep, make sure you check
them out. And obviously support a farming family that are
doing trying to do something and have that conversation about
(49:47):
will and it's really superior qualities. Thank you to all
of our listeners for tuning into this season of Down
to Earth. We really appreciate all of you and we
hope that you've taken something away from this season.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Then all the Bedco
Welcome to down to Earth, brought to you by a
Young Country.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is the podcast for the go getters. The big
dream is the innovators of the primary sector. I'm your host,
Rebecca Greeves, and we're taking a closer look at young
people in the primary industries who have dared to think big,
pushed the limits and give it a go in business.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We'll be asking how they got to where.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
They are now, what they've learned along the way, and
what their advice is to other aspiring Egrey innovators. So
settle in and listen up as we serve you a
healthy dose of inspiration, motivation and maybe even challenge.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Your thinking a little.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Welcome into this episode of down to Earth and I'm
very excited to be joined by Nick Wiley. Today. Nick
is doing it and her family doing some very exciting
things with Will. This is a new business, so we're
going to be hearing all about how we've got started
here in what these guys are doing with woll So
welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
NAC Hi, Rebecca, thank you, thanks so happy to me come.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Along, No no worries. I'm excited to talk about this
because I spotted you guys on social media and I thought, wow,
what a great use of will. So the business is
called Laura and Flock. Can you tell me what you
are doing?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah? Sure. So we are making or we have made
a range of betting essentials with air wall from a
farm down here in Southland, and we are marketing them
and selling them online for people to buy. And really
the main thing we're trying to do is spread the
message on what makes wool such a superior choice for betting,
(01:54):
because it really is the top performing product to have
inside your pillows and is the fill in your duvets
for a better night's sleep. So at the moment it's
a fairly small range. We've only got three products, but
we've got big ambitions to extend that range as well,
so we'll just see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Exciting. Okay, well that's a good place to start. You're
talking about spreading the message on what makes will a
superior choice for bedding, So what does make will a
superior choice for betting? Will sell it to me?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, yeah, I mean there is a lot of brilliant
aspects to wool and they don't all apply to bedding,
but largely they do. So one of the aspects. I
should explain that we've actually created two products that we
use in their bedding. So one of them is our
loose fill, which we call our flock fill, and some
people might have heard of wool knops before, and that's
(02:50):
when the wall's been engineered in a factory to increase
the bulk and that helps with resilience, So we're using
it in a pillow so that we've got a lovely, lightweight, springy,
resilient plate that's not going to go flat. And then
on top of that, so that's sort of increasing the
performance of the wall. But then of course we've got
(03:11):
all the benefits of wall with it being a really
great body temperature regulator, so for hot sleepers in particular,
it's going to keep them cool so they don't get
a sweaty head. And on top of that, it's odor
and dust might resistance, so that's great for bedding for hygiene.
It's sticking with the pillow, it's great for people with
(03:35):
allergies because of wall's hypoallergenic benefits. And then if we
look at the douvet, that's what we've created with our
flock web, So we've taken the wall knots and we've
sort of spun them. We're not really spun, but tangled
them up with some of our other wall and created
a nice soft web that won't shift throughout the douve
(03:58):
and it creates a lovely lightweight for all because of
the knots, which is something you don't traditionally get with
will betting. So we've tried to find a sweet spot
between the benefits of wall betting, which I just spoke about,
and the lightweight aspect of our feather and down do vague,
which a lot of people will enjoy, and brought it
(04:19):
together so that you've got that lovely soft feeling, but
you've got all those benefits of war as well.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Okay, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's just really cozy, really cozy, really comfy.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Everyone likes to have a cozy company Night's slate, right, absolutely, yeah, Okay,
So it sounds like you've done a fair bit on
the product development side, and we'll get into that a
little bit later. But if we just backtrack a little bit,
could you tell me a bit about you've said you
guys are in Southland. Can you tell me a little
bit about your farm and your what you're doing on
(04:51):
the farm other than creating wool. But what's the farming
business itself and how long have you guys been there?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, sure, so we've been here since actually my family farm.
We've my family has been here for be the fifth generation.
So it was actually celeb one hundred and fifty years
last year, which was pretty awesome. And we're we're down
in the Laura Gorge which is about fifty k at
it Inficago. We farm sheep obviously, but we also have
(05:22):
deer and we have about three hundred velveting stacks as well,
and then we trade cattle in the summer as well,
so we've got hands and a few pies there. We
do a bit of dairy praising over the winter as well,
and now we're doing the wool brand.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Okay that that would keep you fairling. But what's the
size of the farmer and what's the contour like there?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yes, it's quite gentle, rolling hills type for the majority
of it. We do have a lease block, so we
are own Laura Valley. Obviously, we've brought that off my
parents went through succession. We leased some of the farm
from them still, but we also have a couple of
lease blocks, one being a neighboring property which is more
(06:10):
native bush, less developed than our own property. And then
we have another one about twenty k away that's altber
a bush as well, but more gentle rolling hill country
as well. Yeah. Sorry, So we're fifteen hundred acres here?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
What's that? And he is, don't ask me, I'm not
good at numbers.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, and then we lease about another six hundred acres
as well.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Wow, Okay, so that'll keep you guys fairly busy. And
so you and your husband are running net together?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah one, I mean Tom does the majority of it,
to be fair, Rebecca, I help out we needed and
always have, and I enjoy doing a little bits like that.
But I'm not on the farm every day, and I
think it's best that i'm not. Tom and I probably
work better when we're we have our own projects to
both lead instead of one of us taking orders from
(07:06):
the other one or direction from the other one. So yeah,
we actually we have two staff full time as well. Okay,
so that helps a lot. That's great having those stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, and so the will project is kind of your baby.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah it is, Yeah, I mean Tom was We thought
up the idea together and had been thinking of what
we could do in that sort of area for a
long time together, and he's been really supportive of it,
but he's got enough on his plate, so it was
very much my project and my thing to run with.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, and as well as the will baby, you also
have three human babies, or maybe not quite babies, but
you've got three children.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I think, yeah, yeah, that's right. So yeah, no, they're
well past the baby stage. They're all at school now.
So that was another motivator for getting going with Laura
own Flock. I think we sat started thinking about it
in twenty twenty when middle child had sort of just started.
It was just about to go to school and we
(08:08):
still had one at kindy and things like that and
at home, but I was starting to think of what
we could really be doing, or what my role was
going to be doing on the farm or whether it's
going to be off farm once they were all at school.
So yeah, they're all at school. That keeps things easy,
but at school holidays at the moment, so yeah, being
(08:29):
helpful as shit home.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, I do appreciate you making the time to speak
to me because I know that yes, it is school holidays,
and also that you guys are kind of in the
thick of docking I think, or tailing you would say, down.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
There, Yeah, Taylor, that's right. We had our first day
tailing use today. We actually used to be very lucky
or very fortunate and have a tailing again come in
and do the majority of it, and we sort of
got to go out and help a little bit because
Tom actually had a tailing contract business prior to us
coming back to the farm, so when you sold that,
(09:00):
he's lent the gear. So we managed to get a
pretty good deal with their tailing for quite some time.
But that's finished up this year. So we were the
B team probably or the C team probably all going
out yesterday to give it a crack. But the kids
did really well and we had a beautiful day. So
we'll carry on with that, see what goes next week.
(09:21):
I did tell Tom to be a little bit more
patient because obviously we're not running to the same level
as his staff that he's used to from his time contracting.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yes, well, I guess when you're doing it yourself and
there's children involved, it's it's possibly not as fast as
it would be when you've got again just you know,
smashing it out.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, they all want to do there, But that's what
it's all about too. So yeah, I got to slow
down to keep the kids into it, don't you.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah? Absolutely, and hay im. And it's free labor, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Oh No, they've started telling me how much that should
be getting paid per lamb, but we we're trying to
keep it free. Ah.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
They're onto it. They're onto it. They're business people like
their parents.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I think some of the dad's running off maybe.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, Okay, so that's cool. That's a great background on
the farm and your family and what you guys are
doing there. So you said you sort of first started
thinking about the idea in twenty twenty. How did you progress,
Like did you have a range of things that you
came up with, and then how did you choose the
bedding is the option or and when did you sort
(10:28):
of start actually like when you go, yep, this is
what we're going to do. I'm going to really take
this and run with it.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, we did have a range of things, or at
least we didn't have a seat product in mind at
the beginning, Rebecca. We had a vision of doing something
worth air wall and getting a bit of a return
on it. Obviously, and we just didn't really know what
that was going to be to start with. So I
spent a lot of time looking at what other options
(10:58):
were already in the marketplace, what other farmers were doing,
because you know, there was a lot of cool products
out there that other farmers and women in the rural
industry were already making. So we looked at those kinds
of things, looked at what could be done in New Zealand.
I had some kind of pipe dreamed type ideas on
(11:20):
what to do as well, but looking further into those,
they weren't really going to be an option for us.
So yeah, it took a long time. We probably spent
twelve months just sort of not spending lots of time
on it, but spent probably twelve months thinking about, you know,
what could this be like and looked into it a
little bit, made some calls and then sort of thought,
(11:42):
oh maybe, and then moved on to the next thing.
And yeah, it was a bit of a bit of
a mess to be for it at the start, trying
to figure out what we could be doing, and then
I think it was probably ended twenty one can remember
how it came about, but we sort of I wanted
to get a bit clear on really what direction to go,
(12:05):
probably had a bit of analysis paralysis going on, actually,
so I sort of stopped and thought, well, right, what
can we do in New Zealand Because one product idea
we had we really couldn't do in New Zealand and
it just wasn't an option for us with their budget
and things like that to try to go offshore initially,
So we thought, what can we do in New Zealand?
(12:25):
What characteristics do air will have that leaned towards a
particular product, because we didn't want to try to make
it into something it wasn't. We didn't want to compete
with other products that we were quite keen to make
sure it was going to be sort of a top
performer for whatever product we were making, and went from there,
which is probably the way we should have started out
(12:46):
with everything. But one of the characteristics with their war
was that it's quite a high bulk wall, which leans
really well, even though predominantly our wall goes to carpet.
Being higher bulk does lean really well into the bedding,
like a high loft type product. So that was a
tip towards bedding, and obviously we could get bedding manufactured
(13:09):
in New Zealand, and then we're doing a bit more
digging in the bedding industry. I came across the Wallnock
process and a business in christ Church that does that
that we're keen to give us a crack and speaking
with them more and meeting with them and things like that,
I realized that they actually had some really cool ideas
(13:30):
on new technologies they were developing all the time too
to actually do bedding, but in a bit of a
different way to what was probably in the market, or
at least direct to consumer market in New Zealand already.
There wasn't much of it around when we started to
move forward with it.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, that's really interesting, you know. It obviously was quite
a long process and something that you've put a lot
of thought into, which is great to hear. So just
to be clear your will as you're producing strong will obviously.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah it is. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, And we all know the story about strong will
and the prices and the way it's been for quite
some time now, let's be honest. And I always think
it's really fascinating because, like you said, there are actually
a lot of farmers that are doing some really interesting
things with strong will, and I feel like maybe the price,
(14:28):
or the continually depressed price for such a long period
of time has actually kind of driven the right word.
But he has actually motivated a lot of people to go, Okay,
we're not just going to accept this. What could we
do ourselves to increase our return? You know, like, do
(14:48):
you think that that the way the will industry is
and with the price and things, do you think that
that has actually driven more innovation in the sector amongst
farmers themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, definitely. I mean, the price that we're getting at
the farm gate isn't reflective at all of the true
value of wool. And consumers know that war was a
luxury product and are prepared to pay for it. But
for a long time, the farmers just missed that, missed
that profit, missed that price. And I mean, obviously the
(15:25):
more people that can do it, the better. Definitely, because
I think there's a real push and demand from consumers
to actually have that story told with their product and
a more direct link back to the product and things
like that or where it's grown from and stuff. But
you know, farmers need to farm too. They can't be
spending all their time trying to make new products and
(15:47):
stuff like that either. So I think definitely that's been
the motivator for a lot of people. And I mean
the hope is that by putting these products out there
and educating more people and get more people aware of
the benefits of choosing wall because there's so many of them,
that that will help increase the price back to the
(16:09):
farm gate. But in saying that, yeah, that's that's the
outside my scope on how that will really work, because
it seems to be it's the end product that that's
getting there, the true value, the true price with the
will not not the farm gate price. Yes, it's something
(16:31):
needs to change in the actual you know, in the
proper process of how that happens to make their work.
That's not really.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
That's a big question. It is a good question address. Yeah,
And I think I've spoken to a number of people
that are doing these kind of really innovative, interesting value
add things with their will, and I think I guess
at the end of the day, most of and you
can me if I'm wrong in terms of your own motivation,
but I think at the end of the day, most
(17:03):
of the people that are doing these things probably realize
that they're not necessarily going to have a huge impact
on shifting the dial for the entire whirl clip because
there is so much of it, and you know how
many doubts and pillows will you be able to sell?
But I mean you may be able to do something.
Obviously you're hoping to do something for your own return.
(17:24):
But what I think it is about that people that
are doing these smaller projects. The great thing about it
is you guys are the cheerleaders, like you are the
cheerleaders for strong will. You're out there raising awareness, You're
on social media, you are singing the praises of the
qualities of will, and I think that's where the real
benefit is, you know, educating people, educating consumers. Do you
(17:48):
think that's a fair comment.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, because then we've got more people passionate
about it too, you know, and then more people might
start to raise their eyebrow and think, well, why aren't
we choosing wall for other products as well? So definitely, yeah,
i'd agree with that.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah. Cool. Okay, So let's talk about the process a
little bit more because obviously, yeah, you've got a couple
of products that you've created, like your flock fo and
things to make your products. What was the process like
to actually get to a point where you had, you know,
products that you were happy with, you know, and what
was the developmental design process? Is it all being done
(18:28):
through one company.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Or Yeah, in comparison to probably a lot of wall
products that are made air process is probably reasonably straightforward.
But it's easy to say that now once we've got
the product finished, because it was certainly not smooth sailing
and there was a lot of challenges and things like that.
But a wall needs to be Obviously, it's shorn here
(18:50):
on the farm, and then it goes up to Timoru
to be scared. It gets scared twice, which is done
for bidding for hygiene purposes and things like that, and
then it carries on it up to christ Church and
the factory we're working with in christ Church then create
those two products for us, the flock fill and the
flock web for douvets and air pillows. They also make
(19:14):
the pillows and the douvet and within their own factory
and then they send them back to us on the farm,
so there's not actually too many places for it to
go through. It's on the farm. It's a scare and
then it's at the factory and it's back to the farm.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That's that's actually pretty good. I was expecting a few
more steps in the process.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
There, Yeah, because a lot of obviously, you know, for
woolen jerseys and blankets and things, they need to be dyed,
they need to be spun and things like that. But no,
we've got a fairly fairly small chain, I.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Guess, yeah, which is great because you have lived moving
parts and you're more able to I'm getting a little
bit of feedback. I'm not sure where that's going to.
You're more able to keep control of everything in the
quality thing.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yes, yeah, and you're dealing with a lot of these
people aren't here, so it's it's good.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
We're up in christ Church and we can see the
product and get things fine tuned exactly how we want
them and know that it's not going where else. It's
just coming straight back to us after that.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
So okay. And so once it comes back to you,
you're doing all the marketing yourself and the logistics and
you know, posting out of orders. How did that work?
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, we are so. I had some help definitely at
the start with the branding side of things. I was
quite I knew what I wanted in that respect, and
I've always enjoyed doing that type of thing myself. But
I also can be pretty bad worth making decisions and
getting stuck on the fine details with things, so I
(20:59):
knew I needed to get someone to help me with that,
otherwise they'll be spending far too much time on it.
But now, in terms of what we're doing with social
media and trying to get messages across and things like that,
just doing it when I have time at home, really yeah,
just through Instagram and Facebook and Canvas seems to be
(21:20):
a great tool that I've been using that I really
enjoyed as well.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, canvor is because your social media does look pretty slow,
that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
It's definitely a learning process. And I'm very conscious too
that with something like social media, you know, only it's
such a small I mean, we've only got a tiny
audience anyway, but such a small portion of people actually
see what you're putting out there. So trying to be
very conscious because I do probably have a tendency to
(21:54):
want things to look, you know, quite detailed, and I
wouldn't say perfect, but I do have an eye for
the detail, Like that, so I want to make sure
I'm not spending too much time on something that only
such a small people, small portion of people are actually seeing,
because you know that time could be spent better elsewhere
as well, So you don't want to get caught up
(22:15):
in the little details too much, otherwise we won't make
traction elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
So you're just selling online at the moment.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we do have plans to go
to a couple of faiths and shows and things like that,
which will be awesome because people do like to see
the product, especially when you're sort of talking about something
a bit different. But yeah, just online on air website,
which I think that that was another challenge we launched,
and their website wasn't actually googleable that's even a word
(22:46):
to start with. So we've had a few people coming
back saying, oh, how do we find you and things
like that, but social media obviously directs them or to
their websites and yeah, we'll we'll see. I mean, it'd
be great to get into stores and things in time,
but it's also good to be that direct, had that
direct line with your customers as well when you're starting out,
(23:08):
so that you actually get to learn about who your
customers are and things like that too. So yeah, we'll
see how we go. We're lucky we've got some big
sheets on the farm because it would have been easier
at making something like slippers. You know, it's pretty hard
to store too many to do bas and pillows and
things safely. Yeah, when you're dealing with such a large,
(23:28):
large product. That's just the posting internet.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I had even thought about that. Yeah, you wouldn't need
a bit of space.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah, yeah, we do. But that's so good. It's all sorted.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
So are you just promoting on social media at the
moment or have you got Are you trying to reach
an audience through other memes or just focusing on social
media for the start.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, I mean we're focusing on social media. We're pretty limited.
You know, we're running with a pretty tight budget, to
be fair, Rebeccas, So for social media is great because
it's free. We've been fortunate. We had a stuff article
the other day which was awesome, and we've spoken with
a couple of rural magazines and things that are loving
(24:14):
what we're doing and came to spread the word two,
which is great. But yeah, we don't have a marketing
budget per se to start doing advertising in other ways.
So we're just starting small.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, well everyone has to start somewhere, don't they. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
I did see that article on stuff. I was reading
it actually before we came on the podcast, just to
get a bit of research, and that was a great
article and lovely photo of you guys as well. So
I mean that that all helps, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Yeah, yeah, it was great, It was great article. I
don't know about the photo. That was the day before
the jolly floods that we had last week, and it
was horrendously windy. We had trees falling down everywhere. We've
got always school on the farm, which georgeous, and a
great big gum tree fell down right by the school
actually took the spoutings off, but luckily the school didn't
(25:09):
get damaged itself. But yeah, we look like we're getting
blown over in there photo. We nearly did get blown over.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Oh that's quite cool. So you have a school on
the front, an operating school. Is that the school that
your children attend?
Speaker 1 (25:22):
No? No, no, So this is the school that my
dad went to, but it closed I think the year
my uncle, his younger brother finished school. So it's been
closed a long time, but it's Kigwi School and the
Lori Gorge School. And yeah, it was another thing actually
that I thought of as being a great option for
doing something, you know, for myself on farm, turning it
(25:46):
into we B and B or something like that. But
we haven't gone there yet, but it's so still in
the mind. It'll be some nice bedding in there anyway,
when we do manage to do something with it.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yes, well that's a good start. Well, that sounds really cute, cooler.
I think that's really special to have Heaven Old School,
even if it's not still open, but to have then
on your farm is that's quite unique.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty cool. There's a lot of
history around the Gorge actually. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah. Okay, so when did you when did you actually
officially launch your products into the into the world.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yeah, just back on the fifth of September, so yeah,
it's not even a month. So we're very new, very green.
But it's been going good. Yeah, so we've had really
good feedback from people. Orders are going out really well.
There was something that was really tricky, which a lot
of people will be able to relate to. Just trying
(26:44):
to figure out quantities and things like that starting out
having no idea really. You can you can estimate, but
having no idea really about demand and things. So I've
got to make a call today to wear christ Church
factory to get some more product made up because we've
a bit low on some things. Which is great, but
it's also a bit tricky when you're starting like that.
(27:05):
You know, you need to be consistent with what you've
got available for people.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Yeah, that is an interesting one. What's the time frame
you know, if you bring up and order some more product, Like,
how long does it take for them for it to
actually arrive back to you and be able to be
sent out to people.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well, because we've only really had the one run so far,
it's a bit hard to answer that because a lot
of what we did was product development as well, so
it was quite time consuming. It depends a little bit.
They've got a lot of orders at that factory that
they do internationally. That's the majority of their works going
off shore, so those orders come in pretty big. It
(27:42):
will depend on what else they've got on at the time.
But I spoke to them the other day and hopefully
just a couple of weeks as long as we've got
well they're ready to be processed and turned into product,
which we do at the moment. So yeah, I need
to get onto it. But it shouldn't be too long. Well,
I guess they're coming from christ Church. Sorry continue, I
(28:04):
said it's only coming from christ Church, so it shouldn't
be too bad.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah. Well, I guess I was just about to saying
that's the positive thing about manufacturing in New Zealand, doesn't it.
You don't have that shipping, you know, you're not waiting
for something to come from some far flung country.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, so we've kept everything in the South Island,
so we couldn't probably be too much more handy in
that respect.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeap, Would you have gone off shore if you could
have or was it important to you to say that
it was, you know, New Zealand made New Zealand manufactured,
because I've talked to other people who have actually had
that as a bottom line.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
That's a good question, I think. I mean, it wasn't
really an option for us, especially starting out to go
offshore with the sort of quantities you'd have to be
dealing with and the price and things like that. And
I guess from air respect, not having confidence in what
kind of quantities and demand we'd have. We're happy with
(29:06):
how we've got things running at the moment, so to
be able to keep a wall here in New Zealand
is ideal. Yes, So I wouldn't really look to send
it offshore unless things changed and made it more of
a feasible option or made it something we had to
look at. But there's enough places in New Zealand manufacturing
(29:29):
and things like that that I don't think that would
be an issue. We obviously need to get the cotton imported,
and there's no cotton farms in New Zealand, and that's
where it got a bit tricky. Initially we had to
bring in cotton to obviously create the products, and that
ends up being a lot more expensive than getting the
product made off shore and then sent in. But it
(29:51):
seems to be working so far.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Well. I mean, like you said, there wasn't there wasn't
an option for you. But I kind of feel like
that's also a selling point to say that it's completely
you know, made in New Zealand, like legit.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah, I mean being New Zealand made. I mean a
lot of things that I buy, I try to buy
things in New Zealand, made to support New Zealand and
have that trastability and stuff, and a lot of our
story is all around being grown and made in New Zealand.
So yeah, it is. It is definitely a strong selling point.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Yeah cool. I know, not that you're you know, at
the start of I don't like the word journey. It's
a bit contrived. But you know, you're at the start
of this process and you're less than a month and
to launch. But in terms of the process that you've
been through to date, you know, what do you think
(30:46):
you've learned? Like, what are your biggest sort of learnings
out of everything that you've done so far?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Biggest learnings there's probably been hecks for them, to be fair,
and it's it's good to be going now because you
learn a lot more once you're up and running than
you can when you're you know, googling and looking into
research and things like that. Definitely, just getting started is
(31:18):
probably a big learning. I mean, I spent a lot
of time researching, like I said, and trying to get
things perfect and things like that, when really you just
need to test the waters and get going to actually
know what people are after. In that respect other learnings,
(31:39):
just learning things every day. But your shipping has been
an interesting one, learning the process around that, which I
couldn't really do much about until I was actually shipping product.
I wasn't able to figure out much about that process. Obviously,
(32:00):
lots of different sized boxes we have to be dealing with,
depending on whether people are buying one plo three pillows,
duvet and pillows, all that sort of stuff. I'm still
learning all the financial stuff. That's definitely Tom's strength, not mine.
We're actually going to the accountant today, but that's for
our end the year financial kind of stuff, so we'll
be chatting to them a bit about that today. There's
(32:23):
aspects there that we're still figuring out.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah, okay, Yeah, it's a little bit of a hard
one to learn, because you know, it's not like you're
a few years down the trick and you could look
back and say, oh, I would have done this differently.
But I think essentially what you're saying, it's just getting going,
and I guess there's an element of you have to
be in it doing it to kind of figure things
out in a way.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I do feel i'm a bit
too to new to be able to having anything to
share in that respect for other people listening on what
we've learned.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Yeah, OK, so the next thing, and again keeping in
mind that it's early days, there's a lot of people
out there who have had great ideas, but maybe they
don't necessarily know how to get started, or they're not
sure how to take that leap of faith. You know,
what advice would you give to other people that are
(33:20):
kind of in your position back in twenty twenty when
you're thinking I'd like to do something, but I don't
know what it is. You know, like, what would you
say to other people who have a great idea but
they don't know where to start.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, I think speak to other people that are doing it.
Doesn't need to be the same industry or the same product,
but speak for other people that are doing similar things
that are a bit further along on the journey to
get their feedback and their advice. I did speak to
a couple of other women doing wall products and things
(33:54):
like that, which really helped to get a bit of
an idea. I also spoke to a of an aged
agency down here in Southland. They were great at helping
point me in the direction of a few things, and
they did a we course we workshop with them, which
was really helpful backing yourself. But also I would definitely
(34:16):
hop on Google and research your idea, have a look
at who else is doing it, like make sure you
know who your competitors are, and try to get a
bit of an idea of who your target sort of
market would be to make sure that your product's going
to align with that. Probably my advice don't be afraid
(34:41):
to tell people what you're doing to a degree. You know,
a lot of people think they have to be quite
secretive about what they're doing in that respect. But yeah,
I think New Zealand's such a small country. You know,
we really are quite a little We're doing great, amazing
(35:02):
big things and everything, but I think people are much
more willing to help in the industry than you might realize.
So yeah, i'd look to absorb some of that knowledge
from other people. Probably, I think it's really great advice.
Like you say, New Zealander is a small country, and
I think the temptation when you have a great idea
it could be to be like.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Oh, I can't tell anyone. I have to I don't
want anyone else to steal my idea or I don't
want people to, you know, to put it out there
and then someone might get ahead of me. Everyone's got
to go through a process to get an actual furnished product.
So I suppose there's more to be gained by seeking
advice and help and letting people in on what you're
(35:42):
up to and to a degree.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah, yeah, to a degree definitely, yeah. Don't be afraid
to ask for help and to let people another say, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Okay, cool, Look, I really love this chair. It's been
really interesting and I think this is a really good
place to dive into our The way that I kind
of finish up the podcast is to ask you I
call them fast facts, but sometimes they're not really that fast.
And if you've listened to some of the other episodes,
you may have noticed that we sort of finished up
(36:15):
with this so that the first question in the fast
Facts is what is one app that you need to
run your business or that you find really useful in
terms of running the business?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
One app? You know, I did actually listen to one
of your podcasts and heard some of these, but I
should write them down one app. To be fair, it's
probably a bit boring, but we're very new and everything
like that. But I would say it's got to be
Instagram or Pinterest because we are on Pinterest as well
and Facebook as well. So yeah, social media type stuff
(36:50):
because their whole vision I guess or brand is around
building air story up and we need to be able
to get that across to customers and audience and stuff,
which social media is, you know, the best way to
do that. So yeah, i'd say social media as Facebook
(37:14):
and Instagram in particular.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Yeah. Yeah, not on TikTok. Oh we might see some
sheep some sheep TikTok videos in the future.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
And I noted earlier you did talk about Camber, which
isn't so much of an ap but obviously something that
you're finding really useful to run the business.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, I do. Although I only use it on my desktop,
I find it really fairly on my phone. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Yeah, Now I use Cambra a little bit as well,
and I'd have to agree with that, but it is
it is a helpful one for design and things, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah. Yeah, you can spend a lot of time, you
can waste a lot of time maybe on it actually
or my my personally does anyway, But yeah, I do.
I do love Kender.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Okay, cool, okay. So the second question that is, I'm
sorry to put on the spot with this, but what's
the best advice you've ever received or can you think
of something that kind of sticks with you.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Your best advice. It's probably come from Tom actually, although
a lot of other people or other people have said it,
and I've read it as well, probably in one of
the books that Tom's given me. So there you go.
That would be just not to wait and have everything perfect,
just to get going and get started, because, like I
(38:32):
said earlier, like I have a tendency to overthink things
and want things to be absolutely perfect, but you're not
getting anywhere when you're doing that. So I think it
was in the forty two below Journey by Jeff Ross
that he said that as well, Yeah, don't wait to
have everything perfect because it's never going to be perfect.
(38:55):
Things are always going to change. So just get going,
just get started.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah, that's great advice, and it's definitely something that's been
said by a number of people that I've interviewed for
this podcast. So you're not alone there, but I think
you're probably not alone in a tendency to overthink either
and to want things to be perfect, because of course,
when we put things out there in the public arena,
we want them to look. You know, you have an
(39:19):
idea in your head everything's going to look, and you
do want it to be perfect, right, it's human idea.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
So third one, is there a business or maybe a
person in business who you look up to.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Oh, this probably hates for them to be fair. I mean,
there's lots of other women in the rural industry like
farmers and doing amazing things, not just with wool, but
lots of different women and brands in that respect that
I've folowed along for a long time and have helped
(40:00):
motivate me and inspired me to actually do something. And
probably in terms of a bigger brand, it would be
All Birds actually and food two below vodka, but just
their way of trying to do things differently with the
messaging and their marketing. So you know, obviously the bedding industry,
(40:20):
in particular duvets and pillows, it's pretty boring really, it's
not really a product to get excited about. It's not
sexy or anything like that. So we're trying to make
it a bit more fun. So those brands. You know,
I'm pretty motivated by by what they do. You know,
(40:41):
they've they've done really cool things and built out really
good brands.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah, okay, I do. I disagree that betting is not
sexy because I feel like, you know, we all sleep right,
everyone's sleep well hopefully unless you've gotten some there or
you know. But also sleep is a big issue in society.
You know, a lot of people don't get good sleep.
So I think there's a lot to get excited about
(41:06):
about the idea of a product that is going to
give you a cozy, you know, good night's sleep or
may help you to gain that elusive good night sleep.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's what we're trying to do. We're
trying to get people excited about it, make them realize
that really sleep is you know, one of the best
things you can do for your well being, for your health,
and yeah, just just make it. You know, a lot
of the time it's all about the fun dove cover
or the pillowcase, the bidding that goes on top that
you see, and not what's on the inside. But really
(41:39):
it's what's on the inside underneath those covers that really matters.
So we're trying to get those products seen as being,
you know, something you should be thinking more about.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, yeah, well you can have the lovely looking dove cover,
but if it's not a cozy, warm snuggling then it's Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
There's nothing quite like getting into a beard with a
good dobet I reckon, but I'm probably Yeah, you don't
need to convince me, But obviously there's other people who
need convincing.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah. Yeah, definitely snuggling up underneath.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Yeah, especially the women we've been having lately. Gosh, anyway,
I'm getting a bit carried away with my thoughts about
what we blue bays. I think it's a great idea,
by the way, Hence, while we're talking, the fourth question
is if you could change one thing, And this doesn't
necessarily have to be in this particular process or this
(42:35):
particular business, but in life, maybe if you were talking
to younger Nick and giving her some advice, you know,
if you could change one thing, what would it be.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, there's one that sticks out pretty pretty clearly. I
don't want to actually say too much about it because
it is something we're going to do, but I had
some other plans for a doubt on what I want
to do initially, and again limited with product development and
(43:06):
price and things like that, we decided to keep things
pretty simple. But I'm feeling already that I wish I
had stuck with my guns and probably backed myself a
little bit more into doing something a wee bit different.
It hadn't been done because I think it'll be really
well received, But it's early days. We were only three
(43:28):
weeks in or whatever, so we've got plenty of time
to change that. So yeah, I'm not going to tell
you what that is, Rebecca, but there's something that I'm
thinking of that I think it comes back to the
idea of having confidence in what you want to do
and backing yourself.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Yeah, okay, so mind are wishing that you'd possibly stuck
with your original plan. But it sounds like this is
something exciting that we could be seeing in the future.
So I look forward to I look forward to discovering
what this thing is.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Sorry, I don't think I really answered your question at all.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
No, No, that's all right. No, that's quite all right. Finally,
and this is a very important question. Does pineapple belong
on a pizza?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
No? No, no, well Tom would say it does, but no,
I'm firmly believing that pineapple should be I love pineapple
as long as it's fresh and like a salad or
just on its own, but not not hot. No way.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yeah, okay, cool, we can, like I said to people
when they give me this answer, we can be friends. Yeah,
I'm not a pineapple lover, as anyone who listens to
this podcast will probably have figured out by now. Look, Neck,
I'm so happy to have had a chat with you today.
I've I think it's a fabulous idea. As I've said,
I hope it's a raging success for all the listeners.
(44:51):
Can you just tell us, you know, if they want
to go out and buy some amazing we'll doves or pillows,
where can we find you give us the jurors?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Yeah? Yeah, So obviously we've got an account on Facebook
and Instagram and handle for that. I guess if you
call it a handle, I think is what they call
it is just Laura, which is about l A and flock,
which the flock. We've dropped the C so it's f
l okay and that's their website as well. So dub
(45:25):
dub dub dot Laura and flock dot co dot nz dub.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Dub dub dot Laura and flock dot co do inded,
So you need to get over there. Just on that note,
why did you drop the C?
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Well, this funny interesting conversation there. So we struggled for
a long time on a brand name, coming up with
what we wanted. We didn't want to just have our
farm name. And the lady that I had helping me
with my design and branding and things like that, I
actually looked to her for some help and she came
(45:59):
up with it actually, and it's it's pretty obvious now
when you think of the name Laura and flock, like
combining the farm with the sheep. But I think it
was from a design perspective, it looked more pleasing to
the eye to have four letters with the Laura because
their farm names apout L I, A, and then four
letters with the flock okay, just making it modernizing it
(46:24):
a little bit. So I've gone with their expertise in
that one.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
Rebecca Okay.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
That's interesting because I was wondering and I thought maybe
it was something to do with the way the fill
was made or that that was like because it makes
me think of flocking maybe, But then I was like, flock,
you know, a flock of sheep with a Z. So anyway,
I'm glad that you have enlightened me. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
Look, I know that you're you'll be busy and your
kids have done very well watching some TV and not
interrupting us. Well we've been doing this podcast, so I
wish you all the best, and everyone jump online and
check it out and thank you so much for your
time and enjoy the rest of the tailing.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah perfect, Thanks very much Rebecca for having me on,
and yeah, have a good, good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
Thank you. Well that's a rap on season two of
the Down to Earth podcast, brought to you by a
Young Country. That was a cracker of an episode to
finish off with there Nick Wiley from Laura and Flock.
(47:37):
They are farming down in the Southland and making superior
bedding products with the strong woolf from their farm. It
is a new business, so Nick is not too far
down the track with the business. But I do still
think there were some really great messages there from her.
Some of the things that I really got out of
it were speaking to other people, reaching out, talking to
(48:00):
people who are doing similar things. She talked to a
lot of other women who were doing businesses with will
or maybe with other products. She talked about googling, you know,
helping on and google researching your idea. But essentially that
comes down to it. She spent a year working out
what she was going to do, But it's all about
knowing who your competitors are, what they're doing. You know
(48:20):
your unique positioning in the market, who are who is
your target market, and making sure that your product really
aligns with that. So I think she also said, you know,
that's an interesting one not to be secretive about it.
I think sometimes if we have a good idea, the
tendency can be to or I can't tell anyone about it.
But she found that it was better to put it
(48:40):
out there and get that feedback and get the advice
and get help from other people. She's using social media
and relying on it quite heavily. They've got a pretty
tight budget when it comes to the marketing and promotion
side of things, which is not unusual for a startup. Obviously,
social media is free, so she's really using that utilized
it a lot to build their story and get that
(49:04):
across to their audience. I really liked the end where
she talked about the best advice that she'd been given,
you know earlier, she said she suffered from a little
bit of analysis paralysis, which I think many of us
can relate to. It's that tendency to overthink things. But
the idea is that you just need to get started,
So don't wait until everything's perfect, Just get going, Just
(49:25):
get started. If you want to check out what Nick
and Tom Wyley are doing with Laura and Flock, you
can head onto their website. We'll put the social media
handles and the website in our show notes, so if
you're into a good night's sleep, make sure you check
them out. And obviously support a farming family that are
doing trying to do something and have that conversation about
(49:47):
will and it's really superior qualities. Thank you to all
of our listeners for tuning into this season of Down
to Earth. We really appreciate all of you and we
hope that you've taken something away from this season.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Then all the Bedco
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