Better Business Founder

Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

02:00 Mary’s Vision of the world: Conscious living and more deliberate living04:00 Mary launched Wild Doves to solve waste problem generated by the infant wear08:00 The fashion items disposal problem and waste generated by the industry13:00 Compost of 100% natural fashion fiber, repurpose and resale used fashion items17:00 Discussions about recycling fibers used in fashion19:30 The truth about bamboo fabrics24:30 Her experience sourcing for fabrics with the minimum footprint28:30 Mary’s definition of a sustainable fashion business, from farm to landfill.32:30 Being gender-neutral with infant’s wear to break the organized bias from the fashion industry to always sell more items===========================NUGGETS:Most people treat infant’s wear as disposableThere’s no such thing as zero-footprint. You cannot consider sustainability without considering the waste issue, so that is farm to landfillBamboo is sustainable in agricultural terms but not as fabric as it requires chemicals in the making process (bamboo viscose)It wasn’t until the 19th century that consumerism created boys and girls clothing===========================To connect with Mary Marland and to find out more about WILD DOVES https://wilddoves.com/Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

Retail pricing and retail sales channels. Let’s start with a question: what are your retail sales channels, today and in the future? In other words, where and how are you selling or you are planning to sell your products? Are you selling on the internet? If it’s on the internet, is it through your own website? Or on another site? If it’s on another site, is the other site a marketplace or a retailer?Are you selling in a physical store? Again is it your own store? Or in someone else’s store?  If it’s in someone else’s store, is it a retailer? Or are you selling on consignment?Anyhow, you might sell your products to a retailer, it could be another shop, a department store or an e-shop. In this case, you are selling BtoB, which stands for Business to Business. It means that first your Business is doing a transaction with another Business, let’s say a multi-brand store. Then the store will add their markup on the price they have initially purchased your product. In this case, the end customer can then buy the product from the other store and not from you. And the end customer will buy the product at the retail price that has been set by the other store.You might also sell your products directly to the customer, and this is called a DTC model, Direct-To-Consumer model. In this case your end customer will buy the product directly from you at the retail price that you have set. This price would have to include the cost of the customer acquisition that might be the cost of the online ad and/or the commission that the marketplace would charge you.   So, in order to buy your products, your end customer is faced with 2 options: Option 1) he or she can buy it from one of your retailers. Option 2) he or she can buy it directly from you.  The one thing I encourage you to consider, at the very beginning of your business, is whether you intend or do not intend to sell your products to a retailer one day. In other words, do you intend to engage in a BtoB sales model, whether it is physical or online? Even if you are not doing in right away, but you intend to do BtoB sales some day, you need to understand the markup that the retailers would add to your type of products and define your own retail price that is aligned with the price that the retailer would sell your products at.Let’s take an example. Let’s say that there is this store you’ve always wanted to sell your product in. This store usually adds a 100% markup on the cost they have purchased your product, your own retail price should then also include this markup. Let’s say that your BtoB price is USD 50, so for the retailer the cost of buying from you is USD 50. Then the retailer adds a 100% markup and sells your product in his store at USD 100. In that case, your own retail price should be aligned with the retailer’s retail price and should be approaching USD 100 and that, even if you are not selling to this retailer YET.Why? If you don’t do that, you might lock up your brand in a situation in which it is difficult to grow in terms of sales or lose your existing, first customers. It’s very tempting, and I’ve seen so many fashion brand owners go down that road, to say, I’m perfectly fine with selling my products to my end customers at USD 50 because it covers my costs and I earn a good profit that I’m happy with and I don’t want to increase my retail price any more because it is the fair price for my customers. And I totally understand that because with the Direct to Consumer model, you do not need a third distribution party, you can cut down one layer of intermediary and, provide a better price for your customers.  However, you need to bear in mind that if you do not include BtoB sales one day, your sales will be capped at your own ability to drive traffic to your own stores and it will be capped at your own ability to generate sales. And I want to be very clear here. I am not saying that you need to include BtoB sales in your business model but if you do not consider BtoB, your sales growth will be limited to your own ability to generate sales. This is a very important decision that you need to take into consideration early on in your business. Many of the fashion business owners, I have been working with, have started a Direct to Consumer Model. So for a couple of years, they have been selling their products at a retail price that does not include their retailer’s markup. When they decide to extend their distribution network through other retailers, they need to operate big changes in their business model because their need to increase their retail price to align with the retail price of their retailers. But, as I explained in a previous episode, it is tricky to change your price point once you are already selling to customers. There are ways to go about that issue and I’ve helped brands going BtoB even if their initial own retail price was too low, but it was always a bit of a stretch and I advise you to have this consideration early on in your business launch. The takeaway of this episode is to consider your sales channels as early as possible, if you decide to start with a DTC model, which you actually should because you always need to maintain the sales contact with your end customers, you need to seriously consider your own ability to generate sales. Of course, you also need to consider the associated costs to achieve your sales target because selling comes at a cost. So the retail price you set would also include these costs and in the end, you might be surprised, because your retail price might be closer to your future retailer’s retail price, sometimes.   If selling in a BtoB model is a possible option in the future, I advise you to survey your potential retailers to understand their markup structure and to include these elements in your own retail prices, so you get the right price point right away. Remember changing your price point is always tricky. What has been your experience with defining your retail price? I would love to hear from you.You can reach out to me by sending an email podcast(at)themindfulfounder.comHope this has been helpful and that this episode has given you some food for thought for your pricing strategy. There will be many more Mindful Monday’s episodes on the subject of pricing. Particularly one on the impact of BtoB pricing and distribution channels, this might be interesting for you, particularly if you are planning to take your brand international and export your products.That’s it for today, stay tuned and talk to you soon. Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

02:00 Cashflow and investments, differences between a product-based business and a service-based business.07:00 When it comes to promoting the business, no one's going to promote it as well as the founder.08:30 Why Tammy launched her podcast, Plastics Revolution12:30 Challenges and opportunities for businesses to take part in the sustainability movement. Design with sustainability in mind16:00 Advice to mission-driven entrepreneur: consider the whole life-cycle20:30 Dreams for The Refoundry: create a demand for recycled plastics23:00 Dreams with The Refoundry: I want us to be a good example and a champion for being good stewards of our resources.===========================NUGGETS:Product-based business requires higher investment upfront compared to service-based businessThe founder of a business is always the best promoter of the productSustainability starts with the designConsider the entire life-cycle of the product: material sourcing, logistics, packaging, disposal...etcAt each step, try to be intentional and strategic in order to reduce the environmental footprint===========================CONNECT with Tammy:To find out more about Tammy Ven Dange: https://tvendange.com/To find out more about The Refoundry: https://refoundry.com.au/Tammy’s podcast: Plastics RevolutionConnect with Tammy on socials @tvendange Books mentioned:“Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman” by Yvon Chouinard“Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike” by Phil Knight========Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

You need to understand that the right price is very much linked to the psychology of your clients and how they feel about your products, your brand and how they perceived your price point. This episode is about the few things you need to consider when you want to change your price point.What is a price point? A price point is the average price range of your products. When you talk to BtoB buyers, your price point is usually one of their first questions. The price point helps the buyers and their client position your brand. So your price point help the buyers and clients know if your brand is for them from a price perspective, whether the price you are asking for matches with the perception of what your product is worth.  It is difficult and even dangerous for your business to change your price once you’ve started selling your products. For the same product, if you suddenly increase significantly the price, your existing clients might just stop buying from you because they will perceive the price as too high for what they expect to pay. Let’s say that you sell sweaters and you have been selling your sweaters at about $100, if suddenly instead of $100, your sweaters cost $150, well, some of your customers might think that they are not willing to pay that amount for that sweater and for the same amount they would rather buy a sweater from another brand, which in their mind is worth $150. Did you notice that I did not say that your existing clients cannot afford your products anymore? they are not buying from you because they’ve bought your sweater at $100 before which it is the price that they perceived that is the right one for them. Not that they cannot spend $150 but because they perceive your sweaters worth $100. This is good news because it means that you can increase your price, and I can explain how you can increase your price point in a future episode.What about a sudden decrease in your price? And I’m not talking about sales or promotion here. Well, that also might lead to lose some of your existing clients. Why? Again, it’s related to the psychology behind the price. Say that your sweaters that you used to sell at $100, and now, you sell them at $50, for exactly the same product.Sounds like a bargain for your customers, right? Now that the price has been divided by 2, will your clients buy more of them?Not quite, really. Why? It might sound counterintuitive but there are so many reasons for that. By dividing the price of your products by 2, you might harm your customers’ trust because they might think that they have been fooled by paying way too much for a product that is now worth half the price they have paid before. They might also think that you have changed something in your sweater in order to sell it at a cheaper price, and without telling them the truth. Or, even worse, they might believe that the price that they have paid, a $100, is a way for them to feel special because they bought a sweater that not everyone is willing to pay for, but now that it is at $50, many more people are willing to buy the same sweater and your existing clients would not feel so special anymore with your sweater.You can see that either way, it is difficult to change your price point, whether it is increasing it or decreasing it. Your existing clients, once they have bought your product, have associated your brand with a certain price point that is the RIGHT ONE in their mind. By increasing or decreasing significantly your price point, you might create a confusion in their perception of your brand. So, when you launch your products, you have to think really carefully about your prices  and who your products are for.And when you need to or you want to change your price point, you need to think of the narrative that you will share with your clients to help them perceive your brand at your new price point.I would love to hear from you and experience with changing your price pointYou can reach out to me by sending an email podcast(at)themindfulfounder.comHope this has been helpful and that this episode has given you some interesting food for thought for your pricing strategy. There will be many more Mindful Monday’s episodes on the subject of pricing. Stay tuned and talk to you soon.Bye byeHost: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

01:30 Why Tammy launched The Refoundry to help Mother Nature by making great products from recycled plastics07:00 Leaving a job as the CEO of an animal welfare charity, paddling across 5 continents to witness plastic pollution everywhere and taking action to tackle the problem09:30 From organizing rubbish collection near Canberra to the idea of manufacturing recycled plastic11:30 A senior position in a small town and the challenge of recreating the public identity14:30 High capital investment to make molds and prototypes16:00 “Stray no more” crowdfunding campaign to raise fund, to market and test the products19:00 Learnings from the crowdfunding campaign22:00 Shifting to make another product=======================NUGGETS:The plastic pollution problem is visible on the 5 continents Creating products using recycled plastic is one way to tackle the plastic pollution problemA recycled plastic product needs to be useful if not, it will just end up in the landfill quickly. The key is to design an innovative product that solves a problemInjection plastic molding and prototyping requires high capital investmentCreating the right momentum is key to a successful crowdfunding campaign=======================CONNECT with Tammy:To find out more about Tammy Ven Dange: https://tvendange.com/To find out more about The Refoundry: https://refoundry.com.au/Tammy’s podcast: Plastics RevolutionConnect with Tammy on socials @tvendangeHost: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because they don’t work. They don’t work for me and I think they work for most people either.

For me, I realized that I don’t keep most of my new year’s resolutions.

Why? I think it is mainly because the way most of us do our New Year’s resolutions are like building a fuzzy wishlist, that is composed of goals that we are in the hope to achieve during the year, but without a clear plan and a clear vision. And I think this is one of the main reasons why we fail to stick to our new year's resolutions very quickly ….

Now, what I do instead.

1) I do a past year review to acknowledge and to celebrate what I have accomplished so I have a clear idea of what I can build my vision upon

2) I set my vision for the new year so I can define a framework for my goals

3) Then I set my goals and define a plan to achieve them

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. Like many other little girls, she loved to read and to draw flowers and dresses. One day she asked her grandpa if he could give her money so she could buy some candies. Any other little girls would have asked their grandpa to buy them candies instead of money to buy candies. But her Grandpa was not like any other Grandpas in the world.She would never have thought of asking grandpa to buy anything because he was always busy working. See, Grandpa was a powerful businessman. He was the owner of a factory that made beautiful dresses for little girls in town, and there were so many people working for him. So he was too busy to buy candies. When Grandpa was not in his accountant’s office looking at numbers, he was always on the factory floor making sure that everyone was doing a great job. Grandpa was a highly respected man. He gave jobs to all these people that had left their hometown to find jobs and a better life for themself and for their loved ones. Life was not easy for these families. They often arrived with very little money, very little possession and they had no jobs. So it was difficult for them to find a safe shelter and to send the kids to school. With his growing business, Grandpa was able to hire these workers. If they were willing to learn and to work hard, he would give them a job.In addition to a job, Grandpa wanted to do more to help these families. So he started by providing meals to all his workers and all their family members to make sure that they get nutritious foods every day. When he had more money, he invested in a big house and provided his workers with a home and helped pay for the school fees so the kids could have an education. Working for Grandpa and living in this big house was like being part of a very big family.The word got spread very quickly. There were more and more workers coming to see Grandpa. He was happy to hire some of them and very soon he was able to build a strong team of workers that were fully dedicated to do their best work at the factory because Grandpa was providing them with so much more than a job and a salary. He also provided them with a safe home where their kids could grow in a stable environment and aspire to a brighter future.  But let’s go back to this little girl and her candies problem.So when she asked Grandpa for money, he asked her why he would give her money? He only gives money to his employees because they worked for him. So he would not give her money, he doesn’t do that.But the little girl really wanted candies, so she asked Grandpa to hire her.What can you do Grandpa asked?I can draw. So I can be one of your designers. I can draw dresses. You make dresses for little girls, I’m a little girl, I know what I want I know what other little girls want. I’ll show you my drawings and you’ll give me a job so I can buy my candies.  I don’t know if your work is good. Show me what you can do, then I’ll decide. If it’s good I’ll take you, if not no money for your candies. She did not convince Grandpa to hire her, but there’s still a small chance she would get a job. So she will try her best and will work very hard on her drawings.That day, she did not play with her sister. She did not read a single page of her book. She was too busy drawing the perfect dress.She knows that she had to put the hard work here because she really wanted these candies and she knows that Grandpa expects everyone to do their bests and will not make an exception for her.The next morning knocked on Grandpa’s office door.The Accountant was with him.Grandpa told the Accountant to leave the room because he has to deal with a very serious business proposal. She entered the room and she stood across Grandpa’s giant wooden desk.She opened her sketchbook and with no hesitation, she handed it to Grandpa, convinced that he would pay her for the great job she did. Grandpa pulled out his glasses and put them on his nose. He always does that with his Accountant when looking at the numbers. He looked at the drawing for a long time.And finally said: this colorful long princess dress with different types of flowers on it? Is this what you want to wear and what you think that other little girls want to wear?Yes, she said.Have you worked hard on it?Oh yes. I did not play yesterday and didn’t read, because I’ve been working on it all day.And do you think you will wear this dress every day?Yes, every day. Because it’s the most beautiful dress ever.OK. I’ll ask my head seamstress to make a dress according to your drawing, so you can wear it every day. And we’ll start from there.Does that mean that I’m working for you and you’ll give me money for my candies?No. You did a good but I’m not giving you money because you are still a little girl and you are too little to go to the store by yourself. So instead of giving money, we will go to the store together and I’ll buy you candies. The little girl couldn’t be any happier.She will get the dress of her dreams.She will finally get the candies that she wanted and now proved that she deservedAnd her Grandpa will take some time off to go to the store with her.This little girl is today very grateful to Grandpa for this precious little lesson about the power of work and the value of money. She is also grateful to Grandpa for leading her to believe in herself and for letting her get what she wants by doing what she loves and doing her best work.  And in general, she is so grateful to Grandpa for showing her that you could build a strong business that truly takes care of its workers, and in fact, the more Grandpa was committed to providing for his workers, the better off was his business. This is such an inspiration that will serve her all her life. That’s it for now. Hope you’ll enjoy this little story.Wish you wonderful year-end celebrations with your loved ones And talk to you next year.Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

Today it is the objective 12.2: achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. How can we, as a business owner integrate better practice in our business to achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources? What is a natural resource? A natural resource is what we, people, can use which comes from the natural environment. Examples of natural resources are air, water, wind, wood, fossil fuels, natural gas, iron, coal... Some of these resources are renewable, which means that Mother nature knows how to make it available again, some of these resources are not renewable, which  means that once it is used, it is no longer available.We are mainly users of these resources, so there’s little we can do about how these resources are managed. What we can do instead is to become more efficient users by choosing whenever it’s possible, the resource that is renewable and by being mindful of how the use of natural resources affects the quality of life for both present and future generations.This is such a broad topic and so much needs to be done. Yet, we can feel really powerless as a small business owner and don’t really know where to start. My advice to you is just simply start and start today.Start auditing just one of the aspects of your business operations.Even if you don’t label your business as a sustainable business, there is still so much you can do to be an efficient user of natural resources. I want you to think of the 3 Rs: Reduce, Recycle and Re-use.Is there anything you can do to reduce the use of natural resources? What can you recycle? Is there anything you can reuse? Talk to your team to see if these small changes really make sense and are in-line with your brand’s mission. Agree on a list of actions you want to try out. Define a test period, at the end of the period, review what has been working if some things need to be changed, then adjust your actions. Then repeat with another aspect of your business operations, then another one and another.You can build this culture of more efficient use of natural resources by creating small and new habits in your business. You will not be able to create an overnight change and you will not see immediate results, actually, you might never see the results at all, but it is important to be part of that change.With your business, you have a powerful tool to help achieve an objective of the SDGs. So start today. Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes

02:00 Nadine adapts her offering as she discovers what the Wise Woman’s needs are.04:30 Teaching is a two-way street. To be creative and adapt is part of the joy of teaching.07:00 Nadine is missed when she moved her yoga classes to another location as she is filling a void10:00 Why Nadine doesn’t own a yoga studio. She goes where the Wise Women are instead of making them come to her13:30 The business challenge of shifting from being a medical doctor in a hospital to becoming a freelancer17:00 Helping people as a doctor vs helping Wise Women as a yoga teacher, in the world of prevention with a delayed gratification mindset19:00 Her passion for her work, the reward from doing the right thing for the people who need her very special blend of skills help her overcome the negative thoughts in moments of doubts21:00 Aging is beautiful. There is a sense of freedom with aging22:00 Project of launching an online course to touch more Wise WomenNUGGETS:Fine-tune your product offering as your business and customers’ needs evolveTeaching is a two-way streetLearn to adapt and be more creative for higher impact teachingUse the reward from doing the right thing for people who need you to kill the voices in your head in moments of doubtsAging is beautiful. There is a sense of freedom with agingTo find out more about Nadine and Yogi MD https://yogimd.net/Host: Leekei TangContact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.comMusic credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes