Nick Brogden, the founder of Earned Media, joins Carlotta and Georgie to unpack their recipe for success for their sustainable French linen brand.

Video transcript

David Koch:
On Kochie’s Business Builders, we learn from two great entrepreneurs how to build a business through word of mouth, and then we help them with a blueprint to expand overseas. Plus, a business bloomed during COVID and the rules for going into business with friends.

Welcome back to another episode of Kochie’s Business Builders. I’ve always said a good night’s sleep is the secret to success. Hollywood superstars Matt Damon and Chris Hemsworth agree as they’re big fans of this Aussie luxury linen brand, which has built a great business locally through word of mouth. Still, they want to launch overseas, and our experts are here to help.

Georgie Cavanagh and Carlotta Casale started their French linen and homewares business, Carlotta & Gee, in late 2018 as a side hustle, finding time before and after work and on the weekends to develop the sustainable brand. Nick Brogden joins them to unpack the recipe for their success so far.

Nick Brogden:
Georgie, you’re in the business of sleep. You run a successful French linen business. How did all this happen?

George Cavanagh:
We are in the business of sleep. In the morning you have a coffee. You have a good night’s sleep at night, and it just started as a side hustle and a bit of a conversation.

Fast forward a few months, we started just telling our friends and within, before we even had a website, we had about 50 to a hundred pre-orders. We were working full time, and then on the weekends, we would do the Paddington Market and come Monday morning, we were back at our desk working for someone else. We resigned just before COVID hit, which was a very scary time.

Nick Brogden:
But at that time, though, e-comm had a big spike, right? So it would’ve been scary, but you probably got to take advantage of the e-comm spike through COVID?

George Cavanagh:
Exactly, exactly. And because we are in homewares, everyone was at home as we know and just wanted those more minor touches to make you feel still special while we were all stuck at home. Right from the start, though, our local community supported us.

Nick Brogden:
Having a good local community to help out when you’re first starting is essential because that’s where your roots are. That was a really smart way to get started. What was the next step?

George Cavanagh:
We pride ourselves on our socials, and it doesn’t happen overnight, as you would know. We had great local support from our customers and businesses that supported us right from the start.

Nick Brogden:
That’s a clever way to do it because if you involve the community that you’re working within and if you can get them to take part in what you’re doing and then credit them for what they’ve done, then they’re also going to promote it, so you get additional exposure from including those people.

You’ve nailed what you’ve been doing so far. You’ve set up your socials well. You’ve managed to collect a fantastic email database. What were the challenges? Did you run into any major problems along the way?

George Cavanagh:
A couple of problems along the way were good problems to have when we had Matt Damon buy our linen, and he’s still buying our linen today.

He put in an order, and it was a big order, and this is where we first realised that, wow, we have to have enough stock now for people to be out to buy the product. That’s been a big challenge, inventory management and keeping up with that.

Nick Brogden:
Do you have any tips on how you overcome the problem?

George Cavanagh:
Just learning. Learning, learning all around Shopify and still, we haven’t nailed it. It’s still a learning process.

Nick Brogden:
If you can really, Shopify especially is great for inventory management. It’s a hassle to get it set up correctly, but if you rely on the data of what you’re selling and the timeframes.

Then you can work out what you need to buy and what stock levels you need to hold. Now, a year ago, being everything that’s happened with COVID and leaving your role to go full-time, would you do it again?

George Cavanagh:
I pinch myself every day now to think that I get to talk about sleep for a living, and I encourage many friends that ask me just to do it. Make that commitment, and then it will lead to the bigger picture.

David Koch:
If you’ve thought about diversifying your product range or expanding overseas, stay tuned as expert Nick Brogden shares his advice with Carlotta & Gee. Plus, you don’t want to miss Sabri Suby’s tech tips to optimise your performance at work.

Nick Brogden:
What’s next? What’s on the cards?

George Cavanagh:
We just looked at what our customers do from a day-to-day perspective. They sleep, but the other thing they do is eat. Everyone’s at home. You can’t go out and have beautiful meals, so that’s where a new product range established being tableware. That has just grown a lot, with napkins, placemats and tablecloths.

Nick Brogden:
That’s smart doing that because that’s exactly right. The people buying your products for the bedsheets and the linens are obviously going to be the type of people that would also like to have nice things all around the house. They’re not just going to have one location; basically, you can use a similar product supply chain or maybe the exact same supply chain.

George Cavanagh:
We did start small, so we started talking to some of our loyal customers, and they said, “No, definitely, definitely give it a go.” And this is something we’ve realised that it has done well, so we will expand on that.

Nick Brogden:
That was a smart move. And also, starting by selling to your existing customer base is the best way to do that. Because, as you said, you could do small tests with people that would give you really honest feedback and that were obviously your target demographic, and then you know, can scale out to pretty much target the same audience with all the products. That was a good move.

George Cavanagh:
Well, last year was a big year for us. We grew 260%, so now it’s just about keeping that momentum and continuing to scale.

Nick Brogden:
That’s an interesting point you said there is continuing that momentum. It is often a challenge for many businesses I’m working with because the next level is often a little bit more complex, and that’s when more advanced marketing tactics and business structure comes into play. Have you built a team around yourself to cover those bases?

George Cavanagh:
One thing we’ve always talked about is creating a good stable of people around us so Carlotta and I can continue just focusing on why we started the business. We’ve got great accountants, we’ve got staff now, and we’ve got a great solid warehouse. We are also looking to expand overseas as well.

Nick Brogden:
Expanding overseas is always good for a business that is a global opportunity. How would you go about it in different countries with different mindsets on what they would buy? Do you have to recreate your marketing strategy now?

George Cavanagh:
I suppose it is back to square one and looking at how we did well in Australia and how we can use those learnings in Europe.

Nick Brogden:
Europe’s a big market, but the problem with Europe is that there are many different languages. Are you also targeting America, where you could probably transition what you’ve built already much more accessible to an American audience?

George Cavanagh:
Yeah, the States is something we have our heart set on expanding to. We had Matt Damon buy our sheets. I think he’s a pretty good first customer to have, and I’m sure he’ll also help spread the word.

Nick Brogden:
Well, from speaking to you, it’s no doubt that you will have great success. I mean, you’ve diversified your product range, built a strong team around you, and built a community following. There are a lot of people who can learn from the way that you’ve built your business.

George Cavanagh:
Thanks, Nick.

Sabri Suby:
It’s Sabri Suby, the founder and head of growth at King Kong, Australia’s number one fastest-growing digital marketing agency, and I’m here today with my three top tech tips.

Tip number one is to make sure that you have a specked-up computer. I’m talking about top-of-the-range in the category that you operate in. I have found that minor input and computer delays create a big lag in how much you can get done daily.

Tip number two is a Chrome plugin called Loom. What Loom allows you to do is record your screen and audio, so instead of having a long, drawn-out meeting, you can sit down and just make a short Loom video that will get your point across in a much more efficient manner.

Tip number three is to have somebody like a data scientist come into your business and establish the key metrics you rely on to operate your business and set up a couple of key metrics on some dashboards that you can monitor that will tell you the health of your business.

David Koch:
Fantastic advice there from Sabri and Nick. If you want to learn even more from Nick Brogden, sign up for a Business Booster online course, a free course to help you supercharge your sales or marketing. Sign up on kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au.

If you need to supercharge your sales and marketing, go no further. Kochie’s Business Booster online course is here to help. In partnership with Monday.com, it’ll give you a clearer understanding of how to market your products and services, increase sales, and ultimately drive growth. So what are you waiting for? Simply sign up for free today.

Well, now it’s time to see what drives this week’s entrepreneur in the spotlight.

James Wall:
Hi, I’m James Wall, one of the owners here at Garden World in Braeside, Victoria. It’s a bit like a mall here. We’ve got five different businesses all working together, providing different products, and we sell all things horticultural. Plants, seeds, potting mix, pots, you name it, and we’ve probably got it.

Probably what I’m most proud of in running a nursery is finding and supplying plants for people who want those particular plants, who get lots of joy and go home and put them in their own gardens. It is a great industry to work in.

We’ve got some great relationships with our local customers, and many of them come in weekly, bring in plant samples, and plunk them down on the counter. I feel like I’m a doctor sometimes trying to tell them what is wrong with their plants, and they keep coming back, and we love having them.

Look, I guess the business change from when I started here 13 years ago has definitely been online. The effort goes into photographing a plant to put on Instagram or pleasing people on Facebook, telling them about events and utilising that space a lot more than we were in the past.

COVID was a difficult time for everyone, and for us, there was initially a lot of business because it was only ourselves and hardware stores that were allowed to open. And, of course, we had to shift our business from a retail to a click-and-collect business and a delivery business, so it was a massive change for us.

Because of the thing with plants and potting mix, courier companies don’t want to know about us. We’re fiddly, we’re heavy, we’re odd shapes, plants dip over, dirt comes out. We had to do it ourselves.

We realised we were going to be doing a lot of little deliveries and lots of them, so we tried to find a vehicle that would suit the Peugeot, which I was always a bit of a fan of, stood out to me as fitting into what we needed. It was a pleasure and still is a pleasure to drive. It’s a very quiet engine, remarkably fuel efficient.

And, of course, it had the barn doors, which anyone with the nursery needs just to slip the odd little pallet inside. We even had to think about how we picked the orders because we’re not a warehouse with a pick path. We’re crisscrossing throughout the nursery trying to find different products, so it wasn’t super efficient, but it was our only means of getting a sale, so we had to do it.

External challenges for our business would be price pressure from chains, back yarders selling directly at markets and other places that don’t have the same costs as us. For us trying to maintain our service and the quality of plants is very important to differentiate us from these competitors.

Post COVID, we’ve seen the opportunity online, and we’re now trying to market ourselves more in that direction. One of the areas is probably the heavy items like potting mixes. Some people just don’t want to go and get four or five bags of potting mixers. They’d now as it dropped to their door. Their expectations have changed.

Jonelle Lawrence:
Hi. I’m Jonelle Lawrence, head of PR for Clear Hayes Consulting. We’re a boutique agency in Sydney, working with global clients. Every business has a story. Here’s how to find yours. Is it interesting?

Sometimes the things that you find interesting within your business are not the things that other people will connect with. Think about your audience. Who are you trying to talk to, and what will they take away from this?

When you’ve found your story, you need to make sure you communicate it clearly. Your messaging needs to be concise. Stay on brand, be relevant, not robotic, and be human. You want to make sure that you relate to people and that you’re likable. PR can be invaluable to any business to get it’s messaging and products out to a broader audience.

I hope these tips help you find your story.

David Koch:
Never underestimate the power of good PR. After the break, we talk about the cost of employee burnout and look at how to mix business with pleasure.
Welcome back to Kochie’s Business Builders.

Recent news suggests that an improved economy might be bad news for businesses with burnt-out employees.

Danny Lessem, Chief Executive of Elmo Software, joins me to discuss these findings. Danny, this has been a fascinating survey by Elmo because I’ve found 51% of staff were looking to change jobs once the economy improves. What’s spurring them to do that?

Danny Lessem:
Well, we saw about a third of respondents suffer from burnout due to remote-based working.

Some people work longer hours, and over 20% feel overwhelmed by their work. It is a changing workplace, and people are looking for, I suppose, a better work environment. Also, with the improving economy, they feel they can do better in the job market.

David Koch:
Are you seeing strains in the job market at the moment?

Danny Lessem:
Definitely in certain sectors where they’re skilled employees because of the, I suppose, the lack of skilled migration. There is pressure on salaries at the moment, and people are looking to take advantage of that to ensure they are in the market.

David Koch:
How do you keep employees happy in this new environment, particularly when they’re working remotely?

Danny Lessem:
They’re probably three ways of doing it. Not to oversimplify, but one is consulted. Firstly, get feedback from workers, see what’s working for them and see what’s not working. Each business needs to be flexible in handling the new way of working.

Secondly, investment in technology to automate processes and reduce workloads.

And then thirdly, off the back of automation and consultation are improving the work environment. Perhaps investing in ergonomics when working remotely and improving the environment back in the office or the premises.

David Koch:
That’s interesting because, for some businesses, remote working just doesn’t work, does it? You find yourself going broke. So focus on improving the workplace to encourage people to return and make them happy at work again.

Danny Lessem:
People have different expectations from pre-COVID, so you’ve got to consult, and you’ve got to listen, and if you’ve got a happy workforce, you’re going to get more productivity. You’re going to do better as a business.

David Koch:
Great tips. Danny, fascinating survey, as I said, and we’ve all focused on it. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

Danny Lessem:
A pleasure. Thank you.

David Koch:
This week on Ask Kochie is going into business with a friend, a marriage made in heaven or hell. Rachel and Claire from Wattle & Rose Elopements have this question.

Claire:
Hey Kochie. I’m Claire, and this is Rachel, and together, we are Wattle and Rose Elopement.

Rachel:
I’m a celebrant, and Claire is a photographer, and over the COVID period, we’d worked together heaps and heaps before that. Still, we did notice that people were digging the smaller, more elopement-style ceremonies, and we thought we would turn that into a business together.

We are hoping to make this fantastic concept flourish. It’s already had a lot of interest, but we’re also good friends. We drink wine together a lot, and we want to maintain that.

Claire:
So Kochie, what advice would you give people working with their family and friends to take on board to maintain that relationship?

David Koch:
Oh gee, it is tough. To help weigh in on this, we’re joined by Simon Cohen, co-founder of the largest property buyers agency in Australia, Cohen Handler, who has been through this situation himself.

Simon, you didn’t just go into business with a friend, but also your mum. So as a friend and a relative, what advice would you give Rachel and Claire?

Simon Cohen:
Rachel, if I had to give you three top tips, number one would be to set boundaries.

• I think it’s really important to distinguish between family and business.
• Two, I think, communicate. Communication’s very important.
• And three, make sure your team and your staff know the difference between when it’s family time, and it’s business time. Because they need to be able to see the separation.

David Koch:
If disputes arise, how do you maintain that professionalism and not let friendship get in the way of emotion?

Simon Cohen:
Absolutely. Emotion, unfortunately, is something that takes over all of us, but what I find more often than not is if you sit down, you communicate, you talk things through, and you understand each other’s perspectives, typically because you are family or friends, you can get through it 99% of the time.

David Koch:
Simon, great advice. Thank you for joining us.

Simon Cohen:
My pleasure. Thank you.

David Koch:
Well, that’s it for today. Make sure you head to the website, kochiesbusinessbuilders.com.au, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, which has great information and resources for running a successful business. We’ll be back next week with another episode full of great stories and advice. See you then.