Because It's Personal

Pete Hazlewood didn’t set out to build a tech business. He built a family-run furniture company in Switzerland, and he wants nothing to do with a chatbot standing between him and his customers.

In the second episode of Because It’s Personal, Mags sits down with Pete, co-founder of Milola, to talk about what it actually takes to sell something people think hard about before they buy: a table, a sofa, a room they’ll live in for years. They cover how Milola decides which brands to work with (“we like to offer choice, not options”), what “going the extra mile” looks like when a client orders the wrong table legs, why Milola treats its website as a shop window rather than a checkout, and why Pete has drawn a hard line around AI and his sales team.

If you run a brand where the sale happens in a conversation, not a click, this one’s for you.

What we cover:

• Meet Pete Hazlewood, co-founder of Milola
• How Milola decides which brands make the cut
• What “going the extra mile” really means at Milola
• Who is, and isn’t, the Milola customer
• Why the website is a shop window, not a checkout
• Would Milola ever replace a person with AI?
• Why some furniture brands are thriving right now, and others aren’t
• The two brands Pete admires most

BECAUSE IT’S PERSONAL is hosted by Mags, co-founder of It’s Personal, for founders and senior leaders of premium, high-touch brands, the kind where the sale and the after-sale experience are personal, relationship-driven, and central to the brand’s reputation. Every episode looks at how these brands can use technology without losing the human touch their customers are actually paying for.

Links:
 It’s Personal: https://www.itspersonal.agency
Milola: https://www.milola.ch

About Because It's Personal

This podcast is brought to you by It's Personal Agency — the CRM agency built exclusively for premium furniture and homewares brands.

We exist because standard e-commerce marketing tactics don't work for the furniture industry. Your customers don't buy in a hurry, and your marketing shouldn't treat them as if they do. Using our proprietary Trust Engineering Method, we help furniture brands replace pushy sales funnels with genuine guidance — building the systems that support your sales team, nurture long-cycle customers, and turn consideration into confident purchase decisions.

If you're a furniture founder tired of agencies that apply one-size-fits-all solutions to a business that's anything but — we'd love to talk.

🌐 itspersonal.agency 📸 Instagram: @its.personal.agency 💼 LinkedIn: It's Personal Agency

Connect with the founders: Magda Kolesinski — LinkedIn Olga de Villiers — LinkedIn

📅 Think your CRM could be working harder for your brand? Book a free call with the team.

“They were buying my service, they were buying my personality.”

Ewelina Wojciechowska is the founder of Black Steel Doors, which designs and makes steel and glass doors and windows to measure. When she started, she believed in the product so much that she thought it would sell itself. But it wasn’t only the product: people were buying her.

Today there are plenty of copies of her doors. What sets her apart is how her customers are looked after. Plenty of people only ever see the doors online, yet she invested in a showroom where every room has a different style, so people can relax while they decide. Her team calls every new enquiry, keeps every enquiry in one system, and asks customers not to rush, because a handmade door needs time.

In this episode, Ewelina and Mags talk about why 70% of her projects come from architects and designers, the social media chatbot that started giving people misleading answers, a five-person sales team that isn’t really about selling, and the time she nearly closed the business.

One thing to take to your team: tell customers when the clock starts. Ewelina’s 8 to 10 weeks begin once the drawing is final, so her team asks for decisions early.

If you run a high-end brand that people find online, but buy from a person, this one’s for you.

In this episode:

• The showroom, and why she invested so much in it
• “I never want to be big”: building the team
• Seven years in her dad’s construction business
• “They were buying me”
• Why 70% of projects come from architects
• From first message to installation
• Every enquiry in one system
• The chatbot that gave misleading answers
• Why she asks customers not to rush her
• A sales team that isn’t about selling
• The time she nearly closed the business
• The brands she admires

BECAUSE IT’S PERSONAL is hosted by Mags, co-founder of It’s Personal, for founders of high-end brands that people find online, but buy from a person. Every episode looks at how these brands sell, and how they look after customers who’d rather talk to a real person before they buy.

Links:
 It’s Personal: https://www.itspersonal.agency
Black Steel Doors: https://blacksteeldoors.co.uk

About Because It's Personal

This podcast is brought to you by It's Personal Agency — the CRM agency built exclusively for premium furniture and homewares brands.

We exist because standard e-commerce marketing tactics don't work for the furniture industry. Your customers don't buy in a hurry, and your marketing shouldn't treat them as if they do. Using our proprietary Trust Engineering Method, we help furniture brands replace pushy sales funnels with genuine guidance — building the systems that support your sales team, nurture long-cycle customers, and turn consideration into confident purchase decisions.

If you're a furniture founder tired of agencies that apply one-size-fits-all solutions to a business that's anything but — we'd love to talk.

🌐 itspersonal.agency 📸 Instagram: @its.personal.agency 💼 LinkedIn: It's Personal Agency

Connect with the founders: Magda Kolesinski — LinkedIn Olga de Villiers — LinkedIn

📅 Think your CRM could be working harder for your brand? Book a free call with the team.

“They’re making a big investment. They want to see your face and know they can trust you.”

Lucy Buckmaster is co-founder of Nautica Collective, which runs small-group sailing holidays on premium catamarans. Almost all her customers have never been on a sailing yacht before. So before they book, they have questions, and they want a real person to answer them.

That’s why, when the website chatbot started frustrating people, Lucy switched it off. In its place came WhatsApp, phone calls and video calls with her team. As she puts it: “They’re making a big investment. They want to see your face and know they can trust you.”

Founders of premium brands will recognise this. The more someone is spending, and the newer the experience is to them, the less they want to be processed and the more they want to be looked after. In a premium brand, the human conversation isn’t a cost to cut. It’s often the reason people buy.

In this episode, Lucy and Mags talk about where automation earns its place (keeping track of every enquiry, booking the calls) and where it doesn’t (the conversation itself). They also cover why the usual marketing playbooks don’t fit a business like hers, and what it takes to earn the trust of someone about to spend a lot on something new.

If your customers want to talk it through before they buy, this one’s for you.

About Because It's Personal

This podcast is brought to you by It's Personal Agency — the CRM agency built exclusively for premium furniture and homewares brands.

We exist because standard e-commerce marketing tactics don't work for the furniture industry. Your customers don't buy in a hurry, and your marketing shouldn't treat them as if they do. Using our proprietary Trust Engineering Method, we help furniture brands replace pushy sales funnels with genuine guidance — building the systems that support your sales team, nurture long-cycle customers, and turn consideration into confident purchase decisions.

If you're a furniture founder tired of agencies that apply one-size-fits-all solutions to a business that's anything but — we'd love to talk.

🌐 itspersonal.agency 📸 Instagram: @its.personal.agency 💼 LinkedIn: It's Personal Agency

Connect with the founders: Magda Kolesinski — LinkedIn Olga de Villiers — LinkedIn

📅 Think your CRM could be working harder for your brand? Book a free call with the team.

In this episode, Magda Kolesinski sits down with Alexander Everett, CEO of Naked Kitchens, one of the UK's most exciting bespoke furniture brands, to unpack what it truly takes to grow a premium business in one of the toughest retail climates in recent memory.

While the UK kitchen and furniture sector contracted by as much as 15–20% in 2025, Naked Kitchens grew revenue by 20% — a result that demands explanation. Alex shares candidly how the business achieved it: from expanding their showroom network and planting roots in Chelsea, to building a culture of customer obsession that no algorithm can replicate.

This conversation covers the full picture — the strategic, the personal, and the practical. Alex traces his own journey from working the factory floor during COVID to leading the business as CEO, offering rare insight into what it means to truly understand every corner of a vertically integrated operation. He speaks openly about the role of physical retail in an increasingly digital world, why Naked Kitchens will never run a sale, and how the brand is approaching AI — thoughtfully, and on its own terms.

Whether you're a founder navigating a difficult market, a brand strategist curious about luxury retail, or simply someone fascinated by how heritage businesses grow without losing their soul, this episode is essential listening.

Topics covered include: bespoke kitchen market trends, UK furniture industry consolidation, physical showrooms vs. digital retail, AI in interior design and manufacturing, family business succession, premium brand positioning, and building for long-term growth in a contracting sector.

About Because It's Personal

This podcast is brought to you by It's Personal Agency — the CRM agency built exclusively for premium furniture and homewares brands.

We exist because standard e-commerce marketing tactics don't work for the furniture industry. Your customers don't buy in a hurry, and your marketing shouldn't treat them as if they do. Using our proprietary Trust Engineering Method, we help furniture brands replace pushy sales funnels with genuine guidance — building the systems that support your sales team, nurture long-cycle customers, and turn consideration into confident purchase decisions.

If you're a furniture founder tired of agencies that apply one-size-fits-all solutions to a business that's anything but — we'd love to talk.

🌐 itspersonal.agency 📸 Instagram: @its.personal.agency 💼 LinkedIn: It's Personal Agency

Connect with the founders: Magda Kolesinski — LinkedIn Olga de Villiers — LinkedIn

📅 Think your CRM could be working harder for your brand? Book a free call with the team.