Episode 230: How to constantly move, adapt, and shift as a business owner with Anna Chisholm of Bungalow Trading Co
In today's episode, Fiona talks to Anna Chisholm of Bungalow Trading Co. They chat about how Anna launched her business in 2012 and continues to manage it despite COVID plus so much more. Anna also shares tips on how to create beautiful social media content and be your own influencer. Tune in & get a 20% off discount code with Bungalow Trading Co!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
On Bungalow Trading Co
Lessons that have challenged Anna in Business
On COVID
How Anna was influenced to start a creative business
On content creation
On Inspiration
Mentors, Tools & Resources that helped Anna
How to connect with Anna and Bungalow Trading Co
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
My inspiration and all my big ideas usually come to me when I'm either out on a walk or holiday. I need time away to think and that's when I find I have my best or my craziest ideas. If the shop is shut and I can step back from the day-to-day tasks, emails, and everything else that's going on, then that's when I will have time to think and come up with what's next.
—
Welcome to episode 230 of The My Daily Business Coach Podcast. This is an interview with an incredible small business owner. She’s someone I've been lucky enough to get to know over the last few years and someone who I know is going to inspire you with insights, realness, and a down-to-earth approach to business, and one that has worked well for her. She's over ten years in business.
Before we get stuck into that, I wanted to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this beautiful land on which I'm lucky enough to live, record, and work and that is the Wurundjeri and Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and, emerging, and acknowledged sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into our interview episode.
It is my absolute pleasure to bring this interview to you with the wonderful Anna Chisholm of Bungalow Training Co. For those who do not know, Bungalow Training Co. is a beautiful boutique physical space in Brighton, which is in Melbourne, Australia, but also has a gorgeous online presence as well. You can find their store online at BungalowTradingCo.com.au.
Anna and I first met in February 2020, it was before COVID started, and when we were still like, “That won't last? Is that a thing?” All these questions that people were telling themselves. I was speaking at Life Instyle in Sydney, which is a big trade show for home and lifestyle, and Anna attended a workshop that I was running there on content. I could tell by the tone and her questions that this was someone who was deeply committed to their business and that was eager and hungry to find ways to increase their awareness and increase their connection with their customers and their audience.
By that stage, Anna had already been in business for quite some time. It wasn't like she was new to this. I love that she had that energy of, “Yes, I've been doing this and I've been successful at it but I still want to learn. I'm still open to discovering what else I don't know about business and how I can increase my skillset.” From there, Anna applied for group coaching. Her application was exactly what we were looking for and she was welcomed into the group coaching.
When people come into group coaching, they're asked to fill in this questionnaire, which is then shared with the group. I was looking through the things that she had said at the start about why she joined group coaching, what she wanted out of it, who was she, telling us about her business, and all of that stuff. I was thinking about that in comparison to how she is now. I'm not for a minute taking credit for that, that is all Anna. I have been able to sit and witness her journey over the past two years, especially through the pandemic.
Anna, like myself, is based in Melbourne. Unfortunately, it was the number one most lockdown city in the world. Anna, as an owner of a physical retail business in addition to the online store, had to constantly deal with, “We're shutting down. The state has decided that we need to shut down tonight with very little notice.” It was suddenly, “You can open but you can only open outside.” I watched Anna constantly move, adapt, and shift.
I'm not to say she was able to hustle all the time and do it with a smile on her face. There were times when this was very challenging. Having Anna turn up to group coaching every two weeks during that time and being able to see what was happening behind the scenes but also to see Anna’s quiet confidence, “It's okay. We'll figure it out.” Also, that mentality like, “I'm resilient. I will find a way. I will find a solution to this.” I loved watching Anna grow through the program as well as grow in confidence around how she spoke about the business, her origin story, and many elements.
I had to ask Anna to come onto the podcast. I know that there are so many insights and tips that she has shared that are going to resonate with so many people reading. Anna is a humble and down-to-earth person, which is not to say that she doesn't have complete belief in what she's doing. She has that steely confidence. If you'd meet somebody like Anna on a plane or somewhere else, you'd think, “She's pretty fascinating. I wonder what she does.” She'd probably want to ask about you. That's the type of person that she is.
Anna is also somebody that has this level of class and sophistication around her. I can only imagine what her home looks like. Part of the reason she created Bungalow Trading was to bring the best things that she'd seen from her travels, the best things from local manufacturers and local artisans into a store, into a space that felt as if you were going to somebody's home. They have the most incredible things and all of it is for sale. She has created this beautiful community around her business as well.
I wanted to ask her to come on and talk about how have you got through the challenging times in your business because you were thrown a lot of curveballs like many people in retail and hospitality in any physical-based business through the pandemic and those curveballs are still being thrown. Also, how have you built your social media presence?
I work with a lot of people in the home web space interiors, a lot of people that have retail stores. Sometimes, they'll say, “I don't want to put my face on camera. I don't want to get out into the digital space.” I loved what Anna had to say about that. So much so that in a workshop that I was running in Life Instyle in 2022, I made a page in the slide deck devoted to Anna and her business and what she says about this. It is something that needs to be shared. It is such a great way of reframing things.
It's a huge confidence boost to anybody who needs that right now to think about, “How am I going to humanize my business? How am I going to get my face in front of the camera a little bit more?” It's something that Anna does well. Check out @BungalowTradingCo on Instagram to see for yourself. It's one of many insights and tips. Anna, who is a seasoned business owner, is coming into over a decade in business, which is incredible, especially through a pandemic, especially with a retail business. I know that you're going to enjoy this. I enjoyed talking to Anna as I always do. Here is my interview with Anna Chisholm, the founder of Bungalow Trading Co.
—
Hello, Anna. Welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me, Fiona.
I'm excited to have you. How are you feeling?
I'm pretty excited to catch up with you because it's been over a year since we worked together in business coaching and group coaching. It's great to see you and hear your voice. I'm feeling at the point halfway through this year getting ready to dive into the second half of my business, which is the crazy half of the year of the retail calendar. That's all encroaching upon us quickly. That's where my headspace is and starting to think about that.
How quickly this year seems to be going and how quickly the 20s, in general, seem to be going. It's like when you have a young child and they say, “Days are long but the years are short.” It feels like that very much at the moment. I can imagine as somebody in retail that you're already thinking, “Christmas, spring racing, and all the things.” For those who don't know you that haven't had the privilege of getting to know you as I have, I did talk a little bit about your business and how we met in the intro but how do you describe Bungalow Trading Co?
Bungalow is a little bricks-and-mortar store. It's quite colorful in Brighton. We also have a bit of a growing online retail presence. We’re in both the physical space and the online space. We started in a much smaller shop back in 2012 and have been in the space now for over four years. We're all about joy. We hope to help our customers find joy in discovering unique and special products, things that we stock that are a bit different than what you'd find in mainstream stores. In doing that, we want to give our customers an authentic in-store experience and create that feeling on our website as well. It's all about trying to have good interactions with our customers and helping them find things that are going to bring them joy in their homes and their lives. That’s the gist of who we are.
Did you say 2012? Are you 10 years old this 2022? Amazing.
That will be in 2023.
That's exciting. Why is it called Bungalow Trading Co? Where did that come from?
The word bungalow came from my old home, which was a California bungalow in Melbourne south. I don't live in that house anymore. It's since been sold. That word symbolized home for me. It had a sense of coziness and somewhere you'd bunker down. When thinking about homewares, decor, art, and books, that was all tied into the vision of what makes us feel happy at home and what makes us feel comfortable. That bungalow being the word for my home was where the idea of calling my shop bungalow was.
I love that idea. It's such a cute word as well. I'm excited to have you on here because you were in the group coaching a few years back. I got to see this big change in the way that you talked about your business at the start and the end. That is all you. That has nothing to do with me. I got to witness that journey. You have been in business for a while now. What do you think are some of the hardest lessons that you'd had to learn or lessons that have challenged you in business?
I've learned quite a few things over those years and from our group coaching. When I did start back in 2012, I did start this business following a bit of personal upheaval. I worked on Bungalow as a remedy for things that were going wrong in my home and my marriage. I used Bungalow at the very start as a learning tool and as a challenge for myself. From the very beginning, learning even more challenges in business that I approached with some determination and hard work could lead to personal discovery for me.
Some more things happened personally, some more setbacks only a year after I opened that meant I had to step away from the store very early in that time and lean on people around me to keep it going in my absence. I had family members step up. I'd give them the key and send them in and touch around the store while I was looking after some things at home. What I learned early on is to ask for help. For me, that was a big step because I'm a Sagittarian who thinks that I can do it all on my own.
Early in the piece, I had to put that aside and rely on my family. Some of my very early customers, one of them offered to work for me and she's still with me today. From hardships and being able to let go of all the little controls that I wanted to have over the business from that early experience and also through working with you, Fiona, I can't do it all without accepting help.
All the growth I've now seen from my further acceptance of letting people in. I've managed to appoint some people full-time. We've outsourced a lot of other functions, which are working well. The thing that I've learned from that very early experience is to reach out and get people to help you with their specific skills and what they can bring to the business.
That is such an important thing for people to learn, I'm putting my hand up here as well, to ask for help. It's so hard though. It sometimes is only when you get to a point where everything's come crashing down that you're like, “I need to accept I can't do everything.”
Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to be able to figure out that you need that.
There is a lot of talk about this third wave of COVID and the new current strain. You are in retail and you are in Melbourne. I watched you on Instagram as you navigated different things like when you opened the outdoor setting and when you could only have people come outdoors and people wearing masks. How do you do this? At one point, you also had to provide products from a doorway.
I'm wondering, how have you managed to stay strong mentally when things are still very uncertain, especially for businesses like yours? Yes, you have the online component but you also have a physical-based business. What advice would you give to others who are maybe dealing with that? How did you get through the COVID challenges, especially all the lockdowns? I know it was hard but you also seem to do it with a smile on your face and you kept showing up.
My very first thought when COVID hit early in 2020 was that my business would fold. I was worried that everybody else would be hard hit, losing jobs, and they'd be getting sick. It felt like no time to be trying to sell cushions to people. I thought, “This is it.” Even though we weren't aware, we were being prepared for something. Having a good little website running meant that we didn't have to scramble to create an online shopping platform like a lot of other small businesses did at the time.
I still didn't feel great about pushing for sales. We had a bit of luck on our side. What evolved during those lockdowns was that with people working from home, there was an organic shift to purchasing homewares and gifts online. People were at their homes staring at blank walls or needing a cushion while binging on streaming services. They were picnicking outdoors and walking with cocktails and dropping gifts for their friends on doorsteps. All those things tied into the product that we had. We could wrap and make it quite joyful for people in a period of not such much joy. People felt a lot of comfort in these things that we had.
Apart from having the right kind of things that help people get through, we did have to offer quite a few sales, discounts, and different promotions during the lockdowns. We had click and collect running through the door. We were doing lots of local deliveries. It kept our staff employed. They were packing and delivering online orders or still facilitating that click and collect daily.
Things were in place already in terms of a great team and our website paid dividends. We had to quickly reassess the stock we were carrying. The popularity of jigsaw puzzles and the tracksuit pants that we had in store was seismic. We had to clear a lot of stuff that wasn't selling like fancy dresses and things. We had to rejigger on the fly what we were ordering from our suppliers.
After those initial periods, we kept working away either from our homes or from the back of the store and keeping busy and using the time if we had it to try and think of ideas and create special retail experiences like our backyard that we set up at the end of the 2021 lockdown. That was such a lovely and fun way to reengage with our customers after lockdown. Before you could come back and shop in the store, they were so excited to be shopping. It was lovely having that setup.
My advice and what kept me going was trying to support and communicate with other similar small businesses. We did a little thing called Shop Share Sunday. Every Sunday, we would do an Instagram post about another small business either in our same homeware field or someone that we wanted to do a shout-out to. We decided that these are people that we love to look at and share their business with.
Also, speaking with other businesses on Instagram DMs and saying how they were going and sharing advice with them or taking on their advice. That was a nice thing that happened during the COVID lockdown for smaller retail businesses. We ought to have a whinge about it but got on with it. What I've taken out of it as well is that I've got that network ongoing and we still reach out, share tips, whinging, and all sorts of things like that.
Such a good piece of advice. Whether it's the lockdowns or some other challenge, you can often think you're the only one and it's happening to you and you're not figuring it out or whatever. It's nice that you're able to connect with other people and be like, “We're not alone. We can whinge but then we also need to get on with it.”
We have the same group in your coaching program. We went through 2020 together. All those points that you could share with other businesses were such a huge help.
That’s funny because we started that group and we’re like, “2021 is going to be a whole lot better.” It was like, “We've got through 2020. Well done, everyone.” We were probably 3 or 4 months into the twelve-month program and then it was like, “We’re back to crap.”
It was a bizarre time to be talking business and learning.
You talked about the rise of tracksuit pants and maybe the demise of fancy clothing and stuff. You've run it for a long time. In a normal time, on a practical note, how do you decide what to stock? If someone is reading this and they're like, “I've gone into that store. I love it so much.” How do they contact you? What things are you looking for in somebody's label or somebody's product line before you take them on?
Over the years, I've mostly stuck to my mantra of only buying, to the store, things that I love. I find that I can mostly inspire my customers to buy if I'm selling them something I would have in my own home or wear myself. I attend trade fairs a couple of times each year. I do a lot of research and sourcing. Instagram is a great way to find new artists and jewelry designers. It's all out there if you scroll.
I also have a bit of a financial and retail buying background. I apply those measures when buying. I'm always taking into account the margin, seasonality, the number of SKUs, and all those factors. I love to support Australian-made wear if possible. I would love to see a return to more manufacturing in Australia if that's possible. For now, most of what we stock is at least Australian-designed and owned. Still, a lot of manufactured overseas. That's the nature of the industry.
I'm keen to work with suppliers who are smarter with their packaging and plastics. Nothing makes me more cross when we get stocks in and it's wrapped in excessive plastic and four styrofoam bubbles and things that aren't that good for the environment. Overall, I've got to love it. Connecting with the creative or the manufacturer is even more special. Approaching people at trade fairs and having a chat about how they've come up with their idea or where their creative inspiration comes from is a big part of the story behind the product that will suck me in.
You have such good taste as well. Everything you put together is beautifully done. I wonder if it's genetic because you also have a very creative sister, author Jane Cockram. I was introduced to her book through your Instagram but then I saw it everywhere I went. I even sent you a message saying, “There’s a poster in the library.” It was everywhere.
It's a great book. I started reading it and then I was like, “This is good. I'm going to save it for my weekend away by myself.” It was hard not to read it. I'm wondering with this creative sister and you're so creative, do you think your family or your upbringing influenced being able to start such a creative business, or did it not have much to do with it?
It did and it didn't. My sister is a brilliant writer. She's the main creative talent of our family. I kept everything she's ever written to me like a birthday card or letter. I could probably publish them in a book one day. I don't see myself as much of a creative. I hope my family doesn't mind me saying that we don't have a strong creative streak. I get my small business acumen from my family. My father works in the family business that was established by his grandfather and father before him. I did grow up with a sense of entrepreneurship and working for myself, which is something I always wanted for myself as well.
I remember my dad bringing his big and old accounting ledger home and doing all the sums on his enormous adding machine. That was part of it that I was attracted to more than being creative to start with, which is funny. I found a bit of my creative side when I discovered that I liked home decorating and interior design. I had a little bit of skill in putting things together in my own home. I eventually explored that a bit further by doing a certificate for interior decoration at the design school here in Melbourne. I did that back in 2017.
While it's not like an area that I'm formally working in, it’s such a good tool to have when I'm helping customers in our store put together an interior scheme, choose bedding, or try and tie an artwork into something else that they've got already in their house. My creativity is on the interior, homework, and decorating side of things. My painting in lockdown didn’t get anywhere.
Thank you for sharing that background. On creativity, you have such great and engaging content. Your content brought that element of joy that you were talking about, especially through COVID. I remember watching so much of it. You jumped onto reels. You do all those things. Also, you put yourself out there as well like your face to the camera. Every time I do a workshop or I do a public talk, the number of people that come up and say, “I'd love to do more but I can't seem to put my face on camera.” You do that well in such a beautifully authentic way.
How do you work with getting yourself out there but also not being overwhelmed by content? You've still got to run an actual shop where people are coming in and out and you sit on your computer all day. Is there any advice for people who run a store or have a physical location plus online and how to get the content happening in a way that's aligned with their values?
It seems to be so much easier, content creation. Now, there are many elements to it. We are trying to run a physical store and it's highly embarrassing when the customer walks in and you’re filming a reel and you have the light set up. From the very start, I've managed and created our content from the very first Instagram posts with all those awful filters we used to use years ago.
Like the Kodak one.
For me, I've never been very good at scheduling or being overly planned. We now plan sales events and new arrivals. I’m working with a lovely content marketer up in Brisbane and she helps me create posts and graphic designs around these ideas. I've outsourced a little bit of that bit. I've also decided to work with a digital marketing agency to look after paid advertising on social media because that's a minefield. That's a full-time job almost. I don't know how to do it well. We've outsourced that. These are all these elements that are now part of being in a business and being on social media. It is a full-time job. Outsourcing some of it is a good idea.
I still prefer to retain my own stamp on the content and my own voice because that makes our customers feel more engaged with us. As much as I hate getting in front of the camera and saying me on our Instagram, you have to be your own influencer. You have to get people engaged in our little shop. They need to hear it from us. I try my best. I know that there's a lot more I could be doing. I haven't even explored TikTok yet and that's the next space that businesses need to be involved in. I don't know what I'm doing.
Social media is fabulous but something else I learned from you is that you can't rely exclusively on social media as your only marketing tool. Building our email list and communicating regularly with that list is something that I never did prior to our business coaching, Fiona. Now, it's one of our best sales channels. Focusing on that as well as Instagram content has been fabulous. That's led to real growth in our business and a real feeling of us being in business. It's been great. The advice is don't put all your eggs in the Instagram basket.
I am a huge preacher of that. People think email is dead but it still has the highest return on investment than anything else out there.
I didn't believe it when you first told me that and now I do.
I don't love that you said you hate being on camera. No one should hate seeing themselves. Every woman especially needs to be like, “I'm awesome. I'm beautiful. I look great.” You do. I quite often think that people in retail sometimes are like, “I've shown the product but what else can I do?” You do a lot of like trying on, showing what it looks, and how it could be styled. There are so many tips that you give away that I'm imagining wouldn't take that long to film but have a good cut-through.
I try.
You do well. Bungalow Trading Co always looks amazing whether it's on social media or in the store. It looks beautiful. You've got this beautiful door. You've got great visual merchandising and all of that. You have a great designer's eye. I don't know if you've mentioned working in interior design yet. I'm wondering, what inspires you? How do you keep that level of design and creativity up? You have been in business for a long time now.
My inspiration and all my big ideas usually come to me when I'm either out on a walk or on holiday. I need time away to think and that's when I find I have my best or my craziest ideas. If the shop is shut and I can step back from the day-to-day tasks, emails, and everything else that's going on, then that's when I will have time to think and come up with what's next. In terms of inspiration and from studying interior design, I always love seeing other people's homes whether that be in magazine spreads or blogs that I subscribed to or even open for inspections. I love looking through houses. I'm happy to sneak through open for inspections as well.
Me too.
It's so fun. I have some favorite interior designers who curate layers of older new and different textures and colors rather than completely trend-driven interiors. I am also a huge fan of Bree Leech. She’s a stylist here in Melbourne. She works on the color forecasting for Dulux each year. She’s got this amazing and unique individual style. If I look at something that Bree has styled and shot, I'm like, “They're the colors we're working on next season.” That's a big part of what I decide to stock in the store and what colors we focus on. There are a few people that I look up to and get my ideas around from what they produce.
She sounds amazing. It's important to have those go-to places where you look for inspiration, as well as bring all your own thoughts to it as well. I agree with getting your best ideas when you pull back from things. I remember looking at some brain talk. I might be completely wrong. Scientists out there, don't come yelling at me. Apparently, you have these alpha waves and they can only get to a certain peak when the body is relaxed.
That's why people will have great ideas in the shower, on the toilet, on a walk, or wherever you're relaxed. You can't get to the a-ha moments unless you have these waves. The waves can't happen in your brain unless you're relaxed. It makes sense that you're getting these great ideas on your walks as well.
When we're not trying too hard, that's when the good stuff happens.
Talking about the good stuff, have you had any mentors, a quote, a particular book, a documentary, or anything that you think has helped you build your business or even get more confident or anything that's happened to you?
Instagram, back in the years, had all those inspirational quotes that we used to always post. In the earlier days when I first set up Bungalow, I met Julia Green of Greenhouse Interiors. She used to wholesale lots of the fun art and homewares that we would stock. That commercial relationship led me to work with her as a stylist on shoots and a styling assistant sometimes. She taught me a lot about color, styling, and design. This was before I did my interior design course.
She taught me some of the basic rules of colors and composition and how to put things together on a shoot, which then translated to how I merchandise in the shop. She was an early mentor for me and my business. Fiona, when we met at Life Instyle a couple of years ago, I came to one of your presentations and that's where I first encountered you. I read about you and embarked on group coaching. That whole process has been a few years old now even though we've already started working together in a group coaching over a year or so ago.
You have made it clear to me that there are things to be done in my business. There were no real impediments or real financial burdens to doing them because I would reap the rewards, which is true with what we talked about in terms of email marketing, database management, and promotional schedules. You got me doing work on things that I hadn't ever done and that's helped build my business.
You put us in a business book club and some of the books that we read in the course stuck with me. That Profit First book has seen me continue to put aside money each quarter for taxes so that I'm not just at the end of each year going, “Where's this money to pay my tax bill?” It’s little things like that. I would never pick up a business book that often. Thanks to you, I now read business books.
Thank you.
There are a few different things like that. I'm also working with a new financial planner. I've become more open to seeking help and trying to continually learn in business. When I set this business up, it was small and I thought, “This is like a little hobby for me. It'll keep me occupied.” It's turned into a real business. I'm constantly looking for new sources of learning and inspiration on the business side of things.
Thank you. It comes all the way back full circle of what you're saying at the start about asking for help and knowing that help is out there. Also, I love that you mentioned your time styling. They're all building blocks. You do something several years ago and you think, “That helped lead to this part, which then led to this part.”
It’s never a perfectly straight line but all of these things add together. It's great, you're reading business books now too. I know you through your business and I know that you're quite into the tech side of things. I'm putting you on the spot but are there any particular technology tools, platforms, apps, or anything that have helped you, especially in retail?
We use Shopify as our online platform, which is pretty common out there in online retail. We did install an app through Shopify called Marsello, which is good. It looks after all our ADMS and email marketing. It also manages our customer loyalty program, which is all quite new for us. This app takes care of it all and builds ADMS within the app. The reporting you get back through this app is astounding. I love seeing the return on investment that we're getting from each email we send or each communication that we have. That's a strong recommendation if people out there are using Shopify.
I also use a silly little thing on my phone called Todoist, which is like a virtual to-do list. There are probably lots of variations of them and people have probably all got their own. I find that’s a good way to check things off. You get a nice little satisfying click as you mark something done. That's something that keeps me on track with what I've got to do.
Do you ever sneakily put things you've already done that you can tick off?
I do.
I'm like that. I do a paper list but I will often write something I've already done so I could tick it off and feel like, “I'm already winning.”
I thought I was the only one.
We're all as bad as each other. What are you most proud of from your journey in business?
It forces you to reflect. One thing that I'm proud of is my team. Most of the staff have been with me since those early days when all the things were going wrong and they're still with me. Sarah, who has been with us for a long time, moved into the state and come back. She's the backbone of our team. She's made our full-time store manager. I'm proud that we've got to the point where I can appoint a full-time store manager.
I've brought my sister-in-law into the team and she does freelance visual merchandising for us and eCommerce management. She makes the shop look pretty and she makes the website look pretty. Having a team that loves being in the store and the business as much as I do is something that I'm proud of. They get it. They’ve got that bungalow vibe. Even though HR is my least favorite thing to do in my business, somehow I've pulled that together. We've got such a great team.
Getting through the years of small business makes me proud. I could have given up at many stages. I did take about a six-month break while I was doing my interior design course but that break made me more determined to get back into Bungalow and continue on that journey. When I started that, it was a real vehicle to recovery for me.
I discovered along the way that it remains something that makes me stronger every day and pushes me. I don't know what other job or career could have got me through the last several years including COVID, issues, and personal upheaval. It has been my savior. Getting through and bringing that team with me makes me proud.
That makes me so excited for you. What a testament to you running a business to be able to keep stuff for that long. You should pat yourself on the back for that as well. Staff doesn't stay very long in places these days and you've managed to keep people for ages.
We do have a bit of fun together. It's a nice place to work. We all walk in there and breathe out. We all are like, “We’re here.” It's a nice place and we all love to hang out there.
All the beauty around you as well. What is next for you? Where can people connect with you? What's happening at Bungalow Trading Co?
I’m hoping to take some holidays now that we can. They might miss me for a bit. Some time with my boys and my partner. At Bungalow, I wish we had more space. I'm very good at filling the shop up. I'm at the moment working on maybe a little redesign of our interior space and dreaming up ways to fit more stockings. Watch this space. Maybe we might have a bit of a freshen up and look bigger even if it's not.
I do have a jumble of ideas that are floating around my head. Maybe we need to have another one-on-one session, Fiona. I've always had in my mind starting or developing my own range of products, having spoken constantly with our customers about what they're looking for. Sometimes that product doesn't exist in the way that they would like or I would like. There are always ideas about what could I add. How would I do that? I need to pin down some time and allocate time to thinking about that because that's a space that I would love to go into. A Bungalow range, I'm not sure what.
I'm sure it would be beautiful, whatever you create.
If people are in Melbourne, we would love to meet new customers in the store. We've got our website where you can shop online all the time and interact with us on social media. I love to offer a little discount code to readers of your podcast for the month of August until the end of August 2022.
Thank you.
I’m having a look at what we've got.
It's BungalowTradingCo.com.au. What is the voucher code?
The voucher code will be MDBC20. MDBC being My Daily Business Coach and number 20 for a 20% off discount.
That is so nice. Thank you so much for that. Also, thank you so much for sharing all the insights, tips, ideas, and even the platforms because those platforms can be hugely impactful on retail businesses. It's been such a pleasure, Anna. It was such a pleasure working with you and group coaching but, in general, connecting with you. You have such a beautiful business and you're passionate about it. It's fantastic and long may it continue.
Thank you, Fiona. It's been wonderful working with you as well.
Bye.
Bye.
—
Anna is such a lovely, down-to-earth, heartfelt, wonderful, curious, and creative business owner. It's been my absolute pleasure to have her on the podcast. I would love to know what you took away from this. I always want to know that. Please, don't be a stranger. You can email us at Hello@MyDailyBusinessCoach.com. You can send us a DM, @MyDailyBusinessCoach. If you're in the business group on Facebook, you can always shoot us across a message there or post something that you liked about the podcast.
For me, there were so many things that stood out. I love any chance to talk to Anna. She's one of those very humble, hardworking, and determined people that you can't help but feed off that energy. It's contagious. Two things that stood out for me were when Anna talked about connecting with other business owners, even your so-called competitors, and how that was an important part of working her way through what was an incredibly challenging time for any small business in Melbourne, particularly businesses like Anna's that are hugely physical.
I saw Anna. She was doing group coaching while this was happening. I saw her not embrace the challenges as if they were nothing but work and be like, “I can sit here and fester over what's gone wrong or I can figure out how I'm going to make this work.” She did. I'm sure there were tears and things happening like they are for pretty much every small business owner including myself. She had an incredible mindset about her business and how it was going to keep going.
When she said connecting with other small business owners and understanding that everyone in retail was going through the same thing and not feeling like, “I'm a failure. I can't seem to make it work.” Getting into those chats with other people and being supported but also being a supporter. I can well imagine that Anna was a huge supporter of other businesses. At that time, I know that she was a huge supporter of the group coaching program of everyone in there.
Connecting with other small business owners has been instrumental in my own business as well, being able to connect with people who do a similar thing. If anyone's reading and perhaps has thought about reaching out to somebody who is “a competitor” or in the same industry, why not? What's stopping you? Most people are happy to chat. If they're not, that's on them. That's their own lack of mindset that they've got going on.
The second thing that I thought was brilliant and people need to digest this is to be your own influencer. I loved when Anna said, “Be your own influencer.” You know your business better than anyone else. You know how to sell your products better than anyone else. You know the background of your stockists and why you've brought that brand into your store. Be your own influencer. One, it's going to be a lot cheaper. Two, it's a lot more authentic and people want to bind that they want to know who is behind this business.
Anna is a great example of humanizing your brand. That's something I talk about all the time. I've talked about it at Life Instyle. It's something that I try and teach anyone that I'm working with and work into my own business as well. Humanize it. One of the great ways of doing that is to be your own influencer. I loved that concept. If you go to Bungalow Trading Co, you'll see their Instagram, which you can find @BungalowTradingCo. If you go to that, you'll see there are so many pictures of Anna. It's not to be like, “Look at me. I'm a selfie queen.” It’s down to earth. It's real. It makes it exciting for people who maybe have followed you on Instagram and maybe bought online and then they come into the shop and be like, “There you are.”
Radical Yes! has a similar vibe, that realness. Kerryn, the founder of Radical Yes!, is the influencer. Anna is the influencer of Bungalow Trading. I love that concept. If you have a store or even if you have any type of business, consider, “How can I be the influencer for my brand? What would that look like? What would it feel like?” That's a brilliant way to be in it. Even in my own business, I'm like, “That's a good concept.” I'm excited to do more of that. We've never worked with influencers, myself personally. I have for many other businesses. It's a great concept. Be your own influencer. I love that.
I love that whole chat with Anna. I could chat with her for days. If you found it useful, I would love for you to let us know what you thought of it. You can do that by leaving a review. You can also do that by contacting us through Instagram or email. If you want to contact Anna, I'm sure she'd love to connect. You can do that either on Instagram, @BungalowTradingCo. Of course, you can head on over and have a bit of shopping at BungalowTradingCo.com.au.
Anna has been so kind. She said to give a voucher to anyone who's reading. You can use MDBC20. Use that when you're checking out. It’s a voucher code, a discount code. You'll get 20% off. Believe me, I’ve bought some beautiful pieces from Bungalow Trading Co. I have an amazing oil burner. There are so many good things on there. I bought a lip balm that is tinted. I have bought a beautiful jewelry box that has a super cool bright blue shell. I bought lots of things from Anna. There are so many beautiful things.
If I lived on that side of the city, I feel like I would be there all the time. Check it out. You're going to find something you love. I'm sure if you're in the mindset of having to buy gifts at the moment or getting to buy gifts for people, you will find something to suit pretty much everyone over there. You could also find my book there as well and get 20% off. That voucher code is MDBC20.
Lastly, Anna did mention that she was part of a group coaching program. We have kicked off the group coaching program. However, if you're interested in this for 2023, please get in touch and we'll put you on the waitlist. If you choose to go forward, you will get some discounts. You can email us at Hello@MyDailyBusinessCoach.com and ask to be put on the group coaching waitlist. Thank you so much. I'll see you next time. Bye.
