Episode 444: Becca Stern of Mustard
In this episode, Fiona chats and welcomes back Becca, co-founder of Mustard, the vibrant brand known for its stylish and versatile lockers. Becca shares the challenges and milestones that have helped shape Mustard into a beloved name across four continents. Tune in for an inspiring conversation on entrepreneurship, creativity, and building a global brand!
You'll Learn How To:
The creative process behind new product development
The importance of brand consistency
Mustard’s approach to marketing and PR strategies
The role of strong business foundations
The ethical considerations of sharing personal and family life in business.
The impact of a company's reputation
Balancing transparency and privacy as a business owner.
Navigating global communication across different time zones.
The significance of financial stability
The role of community and social media in brand success.
Challenges in the homeware industry post-COVID.
Importance of strong brand identity and differentiation.
The value of mentorship, consultants, and business coaches
Get in touch with My Daily Business
Connect and get in touch with My Daily Business:
I think a brand is the total of everything that you do, everything you sell, and the way that you communicate, it's everything that's written between the lines and that's what people connect with and that's what makes it fun to run a business for me. You mentioned having children earlier. It's like you put all these different ingredients into your kids and then suddenly they come out so much more than some of their parts and they take on a life of their own. And that's what Mustard feels like for me.
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Welcome to episode 444 of the My Daily Business podcast. Today it's another special episode where I'm interviewing somebody I profiled in my new book, Business to Brand. Again, this is an incredible brand with so many insights and tips being shared by the Co-founder today. Before we get stuck into that, I of course want to let you know that the book is out, at least in Australia and New Zealand. However, you can pre-order it around the world anywhere that you normally would buy a book. If you are in Australia and you want to buy a physical copy of the book, then please try and support an independent bookshop or a small business, a gift shop that sells it. If you need help finding those, you can always send us a DM @mydailybusiness_, and we will help you find it just so that by buying the book, you're also supporting other businesses that are becoming brands or maybe already brands and just that whole circular economy is happening.
If you can please try and support another small business owner, if you're going to buy it, you can also buy it directly from us. You can find it at mydailybusiness.com. And again, if you need any help trying to find a retailer, just send us a DM or an email at hello@mydailybusiness.com. If you're interested, we have an online book launch for this as well that's happening in November this year. That was going to be part workshop, part party, and it was open to anyone around the world with internet access. You can register for that at mydailybusiness.com/booklaunch. Lastly, I'd like to acknowledge where I'm coming from and acknowledge and pay my respects to their traditional owners and custodians of these lands. And for me in North Warrandyte, that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's special podcast interview.
Today it is my absolute pleasure and you can hear the smile in my voice because literally every time I talk to this person, I feel upbeat, inspired, invigorated, and just good energy. Who is that? Who am I talking about? It is Becca Stern, co-founder of Mustard. Now, I did have Becca and her sister Jess, who is the other co-founder of Mustard on the podcast way back in 2021. I asked Becca onto the podcast today because Becca and Jess are profiled in my new book, Business to Brand Moving from Transaction to Transformation. And in that we talk about Mustard, the brand, the Beloved Locker, a colourful Homewares brand that they run that is adored around the world, but also because the brand has grown so much over the last few years. And I wanted to ask Becca how that has happened.
What have been some of the challenges? What have been the highlights? How have you done it? They're in four territories now. They used to just be in two. They've got so many more staff than they used to have. They've created way more products. There's just so much going on. I wanted to understand how have they done all of that, particularly over the last few years which have been full of turmoil and challenges for so many small business owners. In today's chat, we talked about the brand, how they came up with the brand, how have they remained true to what their original vision was, especially when they're expanding, especially when they've got people in all different locations around the world. Also how they have continued to evolve as people. And Becca talks about it so beautifully in today's podcast openly and honestly, as you grow a brand, there's so much work that you need to do as the leader of that.
It's very different when you just have a brand between sisters or a couple, or even when you're just running it yourself and then you bring staff on board and then you bring more staff on board and then you have systems. Sometimes it can be difficult for the founders of that to keep that vision going that they originally had as the brand gets bigger and you have way more people involved and more senior people and you're bringing all these different consultants in. How have they tackled that as well? It is a beautiful, heartfelt conversation. It always is with Becca, and I just want to say a massive thank you to Becca and Jess for sharing so openly, not just on today's podcast, on the previous podcast, which we'll link to in the show notes, but also in the book business to brand my new book that's coming out in September this year, just so openly.
They're just so honest and real and just tell it like it is. And it's refreshing to have that in the small business world because from the outside you can always look at brands and think, they've done so well, they knew exactly what they were doing at all times and they've never had any challenges and everything's just been easy. And then you hear from them what it's taken to get to that point. And I just love that Becca in today's chat, and Jess previously as well are just always so honest, so real about business and life and how the two intersect. Here is my interview with the wonderful Becca Stern co-founder of Mustard.
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Hi Becca, welcome back. It's fantastic to have you here again. How are you?
I'm good, thank you. It is so lovely being back a second time. Thank you for inviting me back.
You're so welcome. I think to date there have only been two other people we've ever brought back for a second time. But this is your second time, a lot has changed. I think the last time we talked we were smack bang in the middle of Covid. It's Episode 102, and we will link to that in the show notes as well. But what's happened since then, and if anyone doesn't know Mustard, they would've heard a little bit in the intro just now. But firstly let's, let's talk about what is Mustard, what is the brand, and then also what's happened since we last talked to you.
Mustard is a colourful locker brand. We create products for home, work and play. Our goal is always to make things that are both pretty and practical so they can be used, whether it's in your kids' bedrooms or playrooms a corporate office or a Pilates studio. Versatility is important to us, as is our beautiful rainbow of colours. We have been going for six years now. I think when we first talked when I was first on the podcast, as you said, it was during very tumultuous times and it certainly feels like a very long time ago now. A lot has changed, still feels like a rollercoaster being in business. But thankfully past the Covid stage. We have grown our business into four regions. When we first spoke we were still in two. We've added the USA and Europe to the UK and Australia where we were when we first started. That's been a big expansion for us. And then we've also grown our rainbow of colours. We now have 12 colours and even more products as well. It's been a wild journey.
It's huge. Whenever I've talked to you, I have this flashback to when we very first talked, which I don't even know. I think you'd just started, because this is, at least before I was even pregnant with my son who's just turned five. It was a long time ago. And I always think of like where I was. I was back in the old house, I was in a study and I remember talking to you and you were just so fabulous and chatty and lovely and, and you've just kept all of that. And it's so exciting to see this business just expand and expand and expand. Take us back to the start. You have created this business with your sister and everyone will be able to guess that you're not originally from Australia, even though you're based here with your lovely accent. How did you create it with your sister, firstly, just in case anyone hasn't heard that? And then how have you been able to row the br much that even just now, we're in four territories and you just say these things as if they're not that big a deal. They're huge. How did you start it with your sister, given you live on opposite sides of the globe, and then how have you expanded to even more parts of the globe?
Firstly, I still remember that conversation. I still remember your first email dropping in my inbox when we had, I think maybe we had just shared a few photos of the products that we were going to be launching. There have been a lot of amazing things that have happened to me in six years. But that first email and the invitation to be interviewed for the design files was absolutely one of those moments where I felt like, I think I might be onto something. This might just work out. A huge thank you for for finding us and believing in us.
You're so welcome.
Made it feel real right at the start. Big thanks for that. You never know what impact you're going to have on someone deep.
No, and also, it's funny because as we're going to talk about brand, I found you on Instagram and I thought this is the coolest thing ever. You have that clear, clean aesthetic and understanding of your brand from the start, I think you've just nailed it. Which then led to people like me going, that looks super cool and that looks interesting. And then what's the story behind that? And then these things just snowball. My absolute pleasure. But you also have done this great thing. Then, back then when you just, you just started with your sister. How did you even come into making lockers?
The idea came about, firstly, I guess we decided that we wanted to start a business together. And this had been something we'd talked about for, for many years, but never got started, mostly because she lives in London and I live in Newcastle in Australia. The opportunity to start a business just hadn't quite happened until she came over to Australia. I had just had a baby, he was a month old. We started talking on this walk along the beach about whether we should go for it and what those products might be. Her background was in fashion buying, and I had always run my small businesses making jewellery and running market events. I guess the only real thing in common was that I've always worked with metal and that seemed to have this on.
A very tightly scale versus how huge.
This metal connection and the be being a material that's infinitely recyclable and tactile and it ages and imp patinas. Something about Rusty Old Lockers had captured my heart. I had all these old vintage lockers that I had picked up on the side of the road or vintage stores, and I proposed this idea of lockers to Jess and she was like, not sure I get it. I don't think I'd have one in my home. And I was like, just wait. Just gimme a little bit of time. I've just had a baby I've got plenty of time sitting on the sofa breastfeeding, I'm just going to work on this and I'll let you know how I get on over the next few weeks. And I figured out how to draw in a sketch.
I drew some ideas that I could see in my mind and sent them to her and she was like, okay. I think we might be onto something. We spent the first year of my son Ellis's life working. She had a very long commute. We would chat every morning. She had about an hour each way. And we would talk across the time zones and start planning how we were going to get them made. Where do you make lockers? What are the restrictions, the limitations? How do you import them, how do you deal with freight forwarders and all of these things? And it was exactly a year after Ellis was born that we launched at a trade show in Sydney. A full 12-month turnaround from Idea to having products in a trade show.
I know because we've talked about it, but can you just, I mean, you don't have to say the numbers, but that trade show was gigantic for this brand. Because you hit some numbers pretty quickly, I think. I think if I've got the story.
We had set ourselves the goal of getting nine stockists. And the reason nine was important was 'cause 10 just felt like too many. It was too big and round and scary. We're like, we probably won't get 10, but maybe nine might be possible. We'd worked out the numbers that if we could get half of the container ordered, then that would justify the finances that we would need to buy the whole container and then have some leftovers for the next one. There was this threshold that we needed to meet, and that was based on a 20-foot container. By the end of the first day at Life Instyle, we had got nine orders already. That was day one of four. By the end of it, we were able to order two 40-foot containers, which was four times the amount that even our wildest dreams had imagined. It was very quickly, I guess we saw that we were doing something that made sense to other people once they saw it. I think when we talk about marketing and branding, what's always been the exciting part of Mustard is that it doesn't make sense until you see it. People aren't looking for lockers until they find us, and then they're like, okay, I get it. The trade show was the launching platform for us.
It's massive. Then coming back to this expansion or different milestones, now you're in four countries and originally, and I love, I love the brand Origins and having this idea that could connect the two of you forever as sisters and I have a sister and we're very close. Then in terms of then, you have her and London, you in Newcastle, and then how do you get to, we also now have a US and Europe and even just getting the two to start working in tandem when the time zone, as you say, there's a very short crossover at the start of the day, I used to live in London and I used to also commute, and then I'd call my mom, she'd be doing dinner and everything else at the end of the day. , Or my sister. How, how did you make that work? And then how did you, where did it get to a point where you're like, okay, we need to expand into other territory? I don't know, were there key milestones where you're like, okay, in year three this happened, or in year six this happened even since we've talked, I mean, you've expanded massively in the last four years, three or four years since we talked.
I guess both of the two regions of expansion decisions were quite different. America was, because we sell lockers and Americans get lockers. We always had this idea that if we can get them there, it's just all going to make sense there. And that was exciting to us. And the customer feedback that we were getting we were constantly getting emails asking for them, and we did ship from our UK warehouse to America, but it was very much like one product at a time. The shipping was very expensive. Our products weigh like 28 kilo boxes. They're massive. They're also complex. If there's a damaged panel in it, we always keep a library of spare parts so that we can replace a part rather than a whole locker. Because that's an important part of our sustainability commitment, but that's hard to do when someone's all going in America and it costs a bomb to send them a new part and things like that.
Although we were doing it, we just knew we were just scratching the surface. I think America was that we had this untapped potential that we knew that if we, if we could get products to our customers more easily, then it was going to be worth investing in the marketing and everything that would go along with that there. During Covid, we just had planned to move to America with her husband, and then Covid happened, I mean, in 2020 we had flights booked to China first, then America and then Italy for a family holiday. Those were the three countries that, one by one, each trip got slashed off that year. We had to rethink that plan of attack. We found a warehouse there and they're a UK couple that owns it and had launched their products in America.
It was a great way to bridge that gap between not being able to even set foot in the country. Mm. But having that expertise and understanding. That was how we launched there. And then Europe was very different. It was about Brexit. We used to, again, ship from our UK warehouse across Europe. It was no problem. And then all of a sudden Brexit threw that under the bus, and for the first six months, we completely stopped shipping because nobody knew what they were doing. It was absolute chaos and we just couldn't provide the customer service that we believe our customers should have. We pulled back completely, I think we lost about 20% of our business in one swoop. That was tough. But we employed somebody whose, like, her day-to-day job was just ensuring that our European customers got their shipments and paid the right amount of taxes and were supported along that route because it was so, it was just so sometimes things like that just make me feel better entire like DHL had no idea what they were doing.
Just remember that sometimes good when you're running a business that everyone's trying to figure it out. The government didn't know what they were doing the customs didn't know what they were doing. That was how we kept going. And then it got to that point where we, we decided that it was worth having a fourth warehouse that was dedicated to reaching our European customers. And that opened up possibilities for stockists as well, who were having to put up with. It’s not ideal customer service as well. Quite a different reason. But it's been amazing. And now those two regions are our fastest growing and have overtaken our original two regions.
I would believe it because honestly, and I feel like I've sent you a couple of screen grabs, I watch a lot of interior design videos on YouTube, and I feel like all of these celebrities with Architectural Digest, they're like, welcome to my home. And I'm like, get out, pause the video. Because that's so cool. You've got such a wealth of just different content creators and there's another, I can't remember her name, like a colourful content creator out of the US and she had your stuff everywhere. And people love it and they see it. I own Mustard Lockers and I have them in brand colours, even now I'm thinking about all my books and the colours and people fall in love with them.
But then in those different territories, have you had to market or has it been, it's like an idea and as soon as you get one or people come to my house, they're like, oh, what's that? It's Mustard. I've got their lockers, or I want the ones in Green. Or has it just been an organic we've got marketing people in Australia and they've marketed it, or we've got a team in London, or has it had to be okay, every time we've gone into a new territory, we have to figure out who are the stockers, who are the influencers? How do we market this business there? Or has it been able to just carry, because you've had such strong love for the brand in Australia and the UK to start with?
It's a good question. I think we've probably aimed to stay true to what we are doing and not shapeshift too much to meet specific regions. From a top level. But then I would say slightly lower down. We know that the customers are different and see that through our sales. Different colours do better in different regions, different products do better in different regions. Even across the states whether it's New York or Texas, we get very different sale patterns. That's something that we pay a lot of attention to. We think about it through our marketing, like, are we touching all bases? And there's a lot of shared platforms. With Instagram, we've decided to only have one Instagram account. Because having one per region would just be way too much work. That means that we're trying to show that cool Berlin apartment, but also we want to show a big family home.
Also, we want to show a coastal Australian home as well as a terrorist London home. For us, that's an ongoing and exciting challenge that we have in how to appeal to all those markets while staying true to who we are what we do and what we believe in. I think working with different collaborators is a great way for us to tap into the different looks that can be achieved with our products. And then we've also worked with PR companies to support us, which has been an amazing journey. This year we took on a PR agency in the UK and also in Germany. And then we also had one in the US. It's been a great way for us to learn as well because they understand the market better than we do. They're closer to our customers and our marketing can build on our PR and vice versa. That's been a great progression for us this year.
One of the things is that you are even then just talking about the different ideas and you've got these three different PR companies that you're dealing with and working with, and you have all these ideas, so you have a product. I interviewed you guys for the book, which I'm so excited about. I also interviewed the team from Vitsu. They have had a furniture and shelving line, since the mid-fifties. One of the questions that I asked them was, how do you create something that is super cool and everyone loves it but doesn't go so mainstream that it becomes, everyone's over that? But also there's enough newness in it that people still want it, even if they bought it a while ago. And I think Mustard does this so well I bought my lockers early on and I have since wanted, I'm like, where else can we put lockers around the house where else can we have them?
Every time you bring out a new colour, it's like how do you create that freshness and the new ideas and you seem to do incredible collaborations. We were talking about people that you just worked with recently on a new product. How are you always coming up with these new fun, fresh things whilst also running a business? You've got a family. I mean, I ask that for people who are male as well, but how do you keep coming up with newness all the time whilst also still appreciating that customer who's been there since the start? As you said at the start, we create lockers in lots of different colours. It's not like you're creating 15,000 different new products each time or a new like when I used to work at Mimco, we'd have 200 new items every couple of months. How do you keep up with all of that? There's a question in there somewhere.
It's something I've been thinking about a lot recently, is like how I work best. And I guess thinking about it, what energises me is coming up with an idea, figuring out how I'm going to make it happen, and then making it happen. Seeing it out in the world. There is nothing that literally excites me more than thinking that was a blank piece of paper and now it's this thing in the world that people are touching or talking about or purchasing. And it's that journey that I will never tire of getting a kick out of. But saying that I also have learned that I need to incubate ideas is the way I would put it. I have a lot of ideas and not all of them happen. I think as the business has grown, I do find this more of a challenge because when it was just me, I got to decide everything.
I take the responsibility of having a team paying everyone's salaries and running a healthy business. That's a lot of pressure. The selection of ideas has to be even more thoughtful and to make sure that they're the right ones that we're picking. We can't just go along with every time Becca has an idea. I think it's about taking the time and space, sometimes stepping back and not rushing things. For me, I think a lot of businesses launch products every season and even half seasons and as you said, having 200 skews, we have a small product range and we have grown one colour at a time, one product at a time. We don't launch them in line with seasons, we don't launch them in line with trends.
We launch them when the product is as beautiful as it needs to be. To be deserving of somebody purchasing it. And when we feel confident, when we have put, at the moment we're going through the launch process and we have this incredible Trello board that it probably has, I would say like 400 steps by the time you go through all the checklists because we put so much energy and care and thought into every little part of it and making sure that the customer journey from start to finish is going to be as amazing as it can be. And we certainly don't always get it right, but it's that thought and that journey. I can only do that a few times a year, to be honest. If we want to bring out products that we believe in and we believe have longevity, I think it's important to take it slow and not feel pressured by external expectations as well.
I think there's so much in that particularly because we're talking about brand and just even when you said we will deliver it when it's ready to be delivered, not like, you just were, I've got like post-traumatic stress. I don't, but from being in retail for so long where it was like, midseason sale, end of sale, the next three weeks we are launching to this and as soon as that's over, let's jump into this one because you're just on this treadmill all the time. I think a lot of businesses start and think, I need to keep that same schedule the whole year and I have to have all these new products and everything else. On that, it seems like you just have this mindset from the start, I'm creating a brand, not just a business, and I'm going to do things my way and I'm going to, whether that's the way that you develop a new product or an idea or the name, I mean, that's a very strong name.
It's an interesting name, but it's a very strong name and everything about it screams that we are standing for something and we have our way of doing it and we are a brand, not just another place to get lockers. Was that a plan from the start? Were you like, we need to create a brand or were you thinking, we can import these lockers and we can sell them at this price and it'll be more transactional and there's not a right or wrong, it's just, was it there at the start?
I think it was. I think for me, the whole fun of Mustard is that I don’t know what the future holds and there are so many doors that I don't even know exist yet that are going to open up. I think that that is genuinely what motivates me to run a business. You have to be okay with surprises if you're going to start a business. And there's nothing that I love more than not knowing. But on the flip side to that, I think to make the most of those opportunities that inevitably will come along, I've always wanted to have those strong business foundations and that means being clear on who we are, what we do, what we are not going to do. And then also having solid processes and systems to support the business.
I think that when you have a good base, you can take that anywhere and hopefully, your customers will follow you along for that journey. The base is not just about your products, it's about who you are as a business. And that is bigger than, bigger than what you sell. It's bigger than the price tags or the positioning. It's everything that goes around it and the journey that you're taking your customers on. And it makes me so happy when customers write to us and say I was here from the start. Whether it's they've just discovered us, but they feel like they're part of this story and they are excited for us as a business, as people, as a brand because they feel like, they've seen the story. I think that story is something that drives me. And I don't know exactly what this business will look like in five years, but I hope it feels the same, but it looks different. If that makes sense.
I think a lot of people would resonate and think that I want it to feel this, but yes, it might evolve and change and I mean it's like, I always feel like people say your business is your baby and when you have a baby you evolve and change as a parent. And because each year brings something else and you have different types of conversations with your kids it's like the business can evolve and change, but the brand foundations are often the same. And that's what you see with great brands their messaging who they are their values and what they align with stays the same even if the product offering changes. I am going to ask you and put you on the spot. One of the things I think people love about your brand is seeing you and your sister and everyone was excited when Jess was renovating a house.
You're so human in the way that you say, look what we've been able to build so that we can do these amazing things that we're excited about. You also talk about working with Beam and how that's important and why it's important and you show to some degree your families. There's a human element of like a connection to you. When Mustard is doing well, everyone's excited because it's like, yes, we are on this journey with you and we can see that your two sisters started this, how much of yourselves do you market and do you have that conversation? When it's just the two of you that were starting the business, it's like, we're going to talk about ourselves and now you're getting bigger and bigger and bigger and you've got more staff and you've got all these different territories. Do you still have a conversation about how much of myself I show? Because I think a lot of times people worry about that or find it hard to do. They know they have to show a bit more of themselves in their brand to build that brand, but they just don't know where the boundaries are.
Such a good question. And it is scary when you have a bigger audience. There's a lot of people that are going to potentially see something and if I slip up, there's a lot of people that will see that too. It feels more intimidating the bigger the business has got. Also, I think another angle to that is that now we have a team of 30 people and it's not just me that I'm representing, it's the whole team. And they will go out into the world with our brand as a part of their life as well as their conversations with their friends and family. You can probably tell I think a lot and, and things like that are what I care about. When we are dealing with tricky issues going on in the world, I'm thoughtful and mindful that it is Jess and me that we're representing first and foremost, but that also has an impact on our team as well.
I think about that a lot. I always want Mustard to, it will always sound like us. There's the showing up with your face first. And that is something that I don't do probably as much as I would like to, but I still do try and do that, but also it's how you come through every different touch point. We work with the team to make sure that our tone of voice comes through whatever it is that you are coming into contact with Mustard. I think there are these deeper levels that I can have an influence on and get the Becca and Jess story through everyone in the business and like disseminate it and make sure that it always still feels true to us. As you said about just renovating, it's always fun to share those stories. I am mindful more and more of our children being on social media and I guess just having, having quite basic rules about it being a positive news story.
Yes, absolutely. It's interesting because also our kids can't give consent. Especially I'm very mindful with my kids and even I remember I recorded a podcast not that long ago and I was like, should I re-record that? Because I was complaining about and you're like, stuff is going to live in perpetuity somewhere in the digital landscape and our parents didn't have to deal with whatever they might have said being public. I think it's wonderful that you have that. But I also love what you talked about. Whatever we represent, that's a huge part of the people that work for us lives. I've worked at Amazon, and I've worked at other companies that have come under fire for various reasons and yes they should. That impacts you even if you don't work there anymore because that might still be part of the story that you tell. I think that's wonderful that you think about it. Because I think a lot of people don't think about, they think about how it's going to reflect me if we, if something goes wrong, we get cancelled or whatever. But not all the people that are working for you and have put in huge amounts of effort and hard times also.
Everyone else that you have relationships with as a business too. Our stockists if we get cancelled it has a knock-on on effect everybody. I think that makes me more mindful and more considerate of what I'm sharing. Sometimes that can feel a little bit restrictive as the stakes get higher. I think that that's maybe just a natural thing that evolves. And I was also just going to say about the fam the parent thing, I think showing that I am a parent also feels important and somehow pretending that I don't have kids is doing a disservice too. I think being honest about that it's not always easy feels like there is nothing more comforting to a hardworking parent than when you meet someone and you're like, I'm not the only one. That feels like an important thing to share as well, that it's tough. We have three children and they are three different ages, three different schools, three different needs and I guess that's my story. And that's what I feel comfortable sharing my story in that not necessarily their story.
Also whether it's children or whether it's something else about your life. Like I gave up alcohol six years ago and that has allowed connections to happen in VM and people will be like, oh, I'm thinking of giving up alcohol, or how did you do this or that? You just share, but I don't sell anything to do with giving up alcohol or you are not, I mean, yes, you sell some things that can go into a kid's room and ba but you don't, you're not selling parenting courses. But I think those human elements are what we connect with. I remember early on when I got pregnant, I said something about it and you said, it's the same age gap between my two chil two of your children. It was so nice to be like, okay. Because a lot of people don't have such a long age gap. I always remember that. And then I've talked to some other people and it's a lovely way of connecting to be like, okay. Because different things go, I mean we're at the moment it's at that stage of like how to go on holiday when you've got a 5-year-old and a 12-year-old because they're very different very interested in very different things and their ability to do is different.
Even like what movie do they want? Both want to watch. I always say that to people and they're like, wow. That's such a good point. What place do you take them to?
It's so interesting. Then the human connection and staff sound like and I know they're not just sound like, but are a huge part of what you're interested in as well and building this great team culture. How do you all communicate between these four different time zones? You working on multiple hemispheres and you have these suppliers in different places, all these different stockers. How do you all communicate and do you have any tools or systems that have been great for you to be able to communicate with all of these different people in all different time zones?
I was thinking about this because when we first did the first episode together, my answer was something, I guess more lighthearted. And it all felt fun and it was it was just Jess and I having like chats in our pajamas on FaceTime. The time difference was quite free for both of us because we could both get on with our day and then connect in the morning or evening. I would say being honest that as the team has grown, it feels like more of an obstacle and more of a challenge to overcome. I can see why this question is something that people want to know because it genuinely has become harder as the teams got bigger to maintain that sense of visibility across the business and open communication and transparency when you often can't have face-to-face conversations across the team.
We have a monthly global team meeting where we all get together once a month and that's been a pivotal decision that we made. It's also a big ask because it usually involves the Australian team working late. The time zones just work that way. We are very conscious, that it's a challenge now more than we were back then. The way that we overcome it as best as we can is by having everything on the cloud first and foremost. If it's not in the cloud, it doesn't exist because you'll be asleep when somebody on the other side of the world needs to find it and they can't ask for it. Having everything on Trello, on Google Drive is important to us.
We use Trello a lot for communication about projects. Because our team, we have different teams in different regions, but we work very closely together. We have these big project boards where you can see how everything's evolving and working together and where the stock is coming in so that we can take the photos so that we can get the photos to our wholesale team. However, all the dots joining up is something we've been working hard on. And then Google Calendars, I think it's a bit of an obvious one, but I and my husband work two nights a week so that we're available in UK time we always have our calendars up to date so the UK team knows that we're working late, they don't have to feel bad for taking our evenings. We're at the office, you can book a meeting with us and that's fine. And just being transparent about what that looks like when we're available, when we're not available when we're working and when we're with our kids.
I love this. I love also that you've shared that because I think people may think, it's all sorted and she finishes her work at four o'clock every day and like has this fantastic, wonderful, colourful life, but it's nice to be like, no, this is what we've had to do and adjust for us. I think again, there are so many rules, like these invisible rules that come for business. Everyone should work at this time and work at the same hours. And I love that you've talked about that. Can I get your opinion? Because there are a lot of small businesses shutting down. I feel like for the whole time I've had this podcast, I'm like, so there's Covid and now we're doing this and now we've got a global recession and now there's cost of living.
There's always something. In the last few years particularly in homeware and lifestyle, there's been a lot of people that did incredibly well during covid and that was hard because in some cases people felt guilty that they had done so well, but then they either saw a massive drop off or they maybe went too big too fast. They're going into voluntary administration you have a strong understanding of your numbers and a very strong brand and a business. Just hearing those things, particularly because you are spread across four different territories, scares you. How do you work through that even right now, regardless of what industry you're in I hear all day long about different clients where our sales are down this much and our sales are month or month or I dunno how I'm going to pay you our supplier order, or I'm not going to show how this or that's working. How do you run this business and keep positive when it's a hard time? Or it can be not for everyone. It's a hard time for some.
I would say it's hard for everybody because when some businesses go down, it's tough on those around them as well because they will have suppliers, they will have this whole network that is affected. And just that feeling that things are tough in the homeware industry isn't very comforting. It weighs on my mind. And my heart breaks when I read those stories. It's not a business, it's a bunch of people. When I read a story like that and imagine what that person's day is looking like, that day is gut-wrenching, I imagine being in that situation. I take that risk very seriously. It's the thing that does keep me up at night like I said because I have a responsibility to everybody that now is connected to Mustard and also because I want to keep doing this.
I don't want this to get taken away from me because of something out of my control, which happens. That peak that you talked about during Covid for Homewares when everyone was at home buying furniture, it was a wild time, but the cost of doing business then was also high. The shipping containers were 15 times the price or more. It was, it was wild and unpredictable. It was such a wild, wild west feeling. I'm proud that we got through that. And I think a big reason we did get through that is because we diversified. A lot of our sales then came from different regions and as there were fluctuations in one region, it made up for it in another. I think having less reliance on one particular revenue stream as well as having wholesale and D two C as well, balance. It gave us some balance and we could shift gears a little bit because we had these different options available to us that were already established.
That's a big reason why we got through Covid in the first place. But I think as the business has grown, a real big focus for us has been getting clear on what our finances look like and putting ourselves in a strong position so that whatever does come along we are prepared for it. When my husband joined as well, that's now what he focuses on full-time, which has freed me up because when I was still thinking about this question, money has never been a motivator for me.
It doesn't mean that I don't think it's important. It just isn't the thing that gets me up in the morning. What drives me is the freedom to have fun and to do exciting things. And the only way I get to do fun things is if the business is in a healthy financial position. It is the bedrock of creativity for me. I can't just go out and throw money at a big fun campaign if we don't have the money there or if I can't see how it's going to benefit the business. I think getting, as a creative person, finances isn't necessarily your strong point when you start a business. I would say, certainly for me. Finding a way to get excited by it, firstly is the reason I get to do fun stuff.
It is so important that we have strong foundations that we can lean on in tough times and we can bounce off of the good times as well. I think we have a very complex small business. We operate in, like we said four different regions, but we also do D two C and B2B, we do bulk wholesale and drop shipping. There's all these different currencies that we're working in and different tax regions and all kinds of things. That has been such a big area to invest in. And if you're not healthy in that department, nothing else is going to work.
Shout out to your husband Jono for getting on top of all of those things as well. Part of that, I love that you talked about, I can't do all these fun, creative things unless the money is there. That's why I called that book Passion Purpose Profit. Because it's not enough to have passion and purpose. There needs to be a profit that needs to be money left in the bank. The other big thing that is important for businesses is an audience and a community. And I think this is where brands, the delineation between a business and a brand play a large part. The community and the audience and people buy into that and say, when I buy this, it expresses X, Y, Z to the world about what I believe in or what's important to me, or whatever else it is.
You have built this incredible community through lots of different platforms, but particularly social media. How do you think that has contributed to your success? Do you think it was important at the start and it's not as important now, when you look at, say, launching a new product, do you go, what are we doing on socials and then how do you plan new content and are there any tips for people listening who might look at your brand and go, that's the dream.
Building a community has been one of the most fun and joyous parts of building Mustard. I think the dedication that people have to the brand is like, it is so incredible to think that we created something that people genuinely feel connected to and care about because ultimately they're metal blockers. They're a very utilitarian, functional thing. But I've always found that maybe the skill that I have somehow is to put value and meaning into things. Somehow, what Mustard has been able to do with these very functional, practical objects is to make them more than just a locker. It's a Mustard locker. And that was always what I wanted people to say that I want a Mustard locker. It's not just anyone. It's a Mustard one. I think that that is why we put the brand name on our products.
That's why we are proud to have that emblazoned on the front of our lockers. It's quite subtle, but it's there. And then I think in terms of the way that we use social media, one of the big changes I think is just that there's so many more platforms and they all have these very different nuances and different needs and rhythms to them and different ways of speaking. And I would yeah, definitely say that being honest, that's a challenge because you want to show up in all these different places and you see what other brands are doing, you want to keep up. That's something I would say is a work in progress and anyone that tells you otherwise probably isn't telling the truth because these platforms are changing so fast and there's a lot to keep up with.
I think staying on top of that is important. And giving everything a go with a very clear, what are you trying to achieve and how do we stay true to who we are, but in this slightly different format. For example, threads coming along was one that we jumped on quickly and have been enjoying. It's very different to every other platform that we're on. Yes, taking a new look at who is Mustard on Threads, and who is Mustard on TikTok. It's a journey. And then I guess in the way that we plan our social content, we, we always joke about the feed, like big caps of the feed. We have our Instagram feed that has always been this iconic colour-blocking pattern that we use to show off our products and the different colour combinations and colours are the most iconic part of our brand.
Our product images are always, we put so much work into making sure there's colour consistency and that they always look beautiful. The feed is the centre of our solar system. And then from there, we'll plan a monthly theme. It might be looking at colorful kids' rooms, or it might be like fashion and we'll pick a theme for the month and it may be obvious or it may maybe more of a creative driver for us. And then from there, we'll create blog content. From there, we'll create emails. Then, we might team up with different content creators. We might do a giveaway and it all stems from this colour-blocked theme. And that it's like creativity always needs to have parameters and that is our parameter, the feed.
I love that. I remember years ago I went to this talk even before I started this business, and a guy was speaking about creativity and exactly what you just said. I always remember he said, creativity is like a fire. If you just put on a fire, it'll just go wild. But it will go in all directions. It won't do anything that you're trying to achieve. But if you put a fire within a box or within, a parameter of a bush or you do whatever, it will do what it's supposed to do and it will do it well. It will blossom well. I don't know Ignite, but I love that. Because it does need and, and often I feel like people come up with great ideas and stuff when we go through marketing because there are some parameters, what are you doing here?
What are the key themes that you're talking about? Let's bring it back to those. I love that so much. One of the things I was going to ask because you have been featured in Business to Brand, which I'm showing on the screen, and I can't wait to send you a physical copy, but one of the questions I asked you in there, which I'm going to ask you here as well, is why do you think it's important to build a brand and not just a business? I mean, you've listed lots of ideas already, but what is it to you that is important about a brand?
A brand is the sum total of everything that you do. Everything you sell, the way that you communicate, it's everything that's written between the lines and that's what people connect with and that's what makes it fun to run a business for me. You mentioned earlier about having children, it's like, you put all these different ingredients into your kids and then suddenly they, they come out so much more than some of their parts and they take on a life of their own. And I think that's what Mustard feels like for me. I've put in these different components that I thought would work and now it's this beautiful flourishing, almost identity that is bigger than me. It's bigger than any individual part of it. It's been a fun journey seeing all these ideas come to life and I can't wait to see what's coming next.
I love this. As small business owners, mentorship can be invaluable. When you're saying all of this, a huge part of anyone's knowledge in business comes from experience and doing the thing. I don't think that there's any mentor in the world who can teach you as much as you doing the thing in your own business. But have you had mentors or advisors or, people along the way even when you, changed territories or when you said you were working with that partner, the people from the UK who were in the US and they must have had a lot of experience to share with you, but who or what has helped you and any tips you'd give to someone who's reading?
Over the last few years, we have worked with a few different consultants in different ways. One of those in particular has been a CFO who works for us Part-time through the CFO Centre, which has been, it's been such an amazing journey to have somebody older and wiser and, a very straightforward talker to look inside the business and help us to build those strong foundations that we're aiming to have in Mustard. That's been invaluable and scary. as well. It's a very vulnerable thing to open up, the lid of your business, and, and show them everything. And then, we've worked with a few different people as well that have run similar or related businesses, which has been great because they've been there and done that and had a lot of wisdom to impart.
I think one of the best joys that I've had in all of the time at Mustard was when somebody that I looked up to and admired and they have seen inside all the nooks and crannies of Mustard and when they say that you're doing something right, there is no better feeling, but just feeling like you're on track. One of the consultants, something that I'll never forget, said, there are no ugly documents in your business. And I was like, that's amazing because I'm a big stickler for presentation and using the brand colours and, everything should feel like Mustard, whether it's a piece of content that's going out there or a sales report, it should all feel consistent and like Mustard. Things like that have been great to hear along the way and just getting that, yeah, that wisdom from experience, as you say, I think though, whenever we have worked with someone externally, I guess had to learn is that there are no magic fixes. And nobody, no consultant, no business coach can come along and, and wave a magic wand to make it all better for you. What they can do is highlight what work you need to do. I think taking the time to invest and to take the advice that you're being given takes a lot of work. It's not easy, it's not always comfortable, but the results, you'll never be sad that you did it in, in the future.
I could not agree more. I'm like vigorously nodding my head like, because I was going to say to people, that having a business coach is like having a personal trainer. The personal trainer can only do so much. They can't physically get inside your body and make you work out make you strength train differently or make you move your knee. That way they can only guide you. They can't be you. It's the same with a business coach, I can't go in and guarantee anyone I'm going to be able to fix this. I'll be like, I can sit there and I can guide you and I can show you what I think will work. But I love that. Outside of mentors, are there any books or tech tools or anything else that you'd say this has helped with my business?
Thinking about the no ugly documents in our business, one that comes to mind is Canva. We employ graphic designers and I'll tell you that they were not too pleased when I got them onto Canva at first. And they still, use their design programs sometimes as well. But throughout the business, we've got everybody using Canva and it makes the design process so much faster because we can set up templates, we can get the graphic designer to set up templates that then everybody can use and our content, we're not having to reinvent it every time. Even just saving things is so much easier. Sharing, your work, it's all on the cloud, it's all accessible. I think it's an incredible business and an incredible tool.
I feel like we were talking about a business coach like it doesn't necessarily magically make you a good designer. You've still gotta put in the work and you've still gotta have these like foundations and roles and brand guidelines. But it's been an absolute game changer to get everybody's documents beautiful. The other one is a little bit more personal and I think a psychologist is an incredible asset. Certainly, not always in everybody's budget, but hopefully I know in Australia that that is something that you can get support with. But seeing a psychologist has been such a great support and helped me unravel some of the things that I guess I was holding myself back because I didn't understand or didn't know how to manage. It's a very scary and lonely position being a business owner sometimes. I'm somebody who doesn't see myself as being at the top of the hierarchy. I'm a very non-hierarchical person, but somehow this is where I've ended up. And having somebody, that's outside of the business that I can talk to it's helped me build my confidence and relax a little bit as well. I recommend seeing someone if that's something you need.
I am like hats off because I think everyone should see a psychologist. I often say in coaching, are you seeing a psychologist or are you seeing a therapist? I don't think anyone understands if they're not in business, how much being in business forces you, whether you are like me, I just have two people that work with me, but they're both remote or where you've got multiple people working, you are constantly coming up against yourself. You are constantly self-doubting, you are constantly thinking, well why did I say it way? Or is that that one decision led to this and this? And yes, you can talk to your partner and in your case, your partner also works in the business. But it's so lovely to have this person who has nothing to do with you, nothing to do with the business. He's not financially profiting from the business, nothing. And also isn't a friend that you're just unravelling everything to? And I just think everyone should see a psychologist if they can.
As you said here in Australia, we do have some help. And if anyone's reading and you are in Australia, the Beyond Blue New Access program also offers six mental health coaching sessions. And we'll put a link to that in the show notes. But thank you for sharing that. Because I think people don't share that enough.
I think it's such a journey. It's been six years and before that, I had had my own small business as well, but one of our mottoes is that as this business grows, we have to grow to, and there is, it's a bit like again, becoming a parent, you get thrown in the deep end and suddenly you are, all of your coping mechanisms are tested. That's what it's been like having Mustard. I thought I was starting to get good at something and then this challenge comes along or the team gets bigger or whatever it is, you're just constantly in the deep end and it's hard to get to get a footing sometimes. I think talking that through and, and also to help, I guess one part of it is to be able to enjoy it and to remember that I'm getting to do all these fun things that I love and that I'm quite good at. And that's okay to think I'm good at some things and it's okay to enjoy the benefits that, I have created for myself. And it's okay to take some time out for myself. And it's okay to not know the answers and all of those things. I think you have to put a lot of energy into yourself because a business takes a lot of energy out of you.
I could just talk to you all day, on this, I know we've gone over time and I'm very thankful for your time. What are you most proud of from your business journey so far?
That is an easy one because we have just done the most exciting campaign I am bursting with Pride. It was because it was for Pride. We launched, we launched a rainbow version of our New locker, so it was called the Rainbow Standard. And it's a TV unit with four doors and all of the panels are different colours. It was about embracing the power and the symbolism of the rainbow. It was designed so that we could give 50% of the sale price to Outright International, which is an LGBTQI human rights organisation that does incredible work around the world. We were so excited that this project came together, and won an amazing little serendipitous moment when we connected with the team outright. They told us that they had our lockers already in their office. It all just felt like it was meant to be.
We collaborated with the amazing Josh and Matt who were the most delightful guys. I had probably one of the best days of my entire life hanging out with them and creating the campaign with them. That was incredibly beautiful. And then when we launched it, we just didn't know. We weren't sure whether it was going to go nuts or it's a little bit of an out-there product, but it completely blew us away and we sold out all the stock that we had in a week. We were thinking it might be at best four months, but at worst we were prepared for like 18 months, trying to sell these products because if we didn't sell them, we couldn't donate the money. We wanted them to sell, but we just weren't sure. They completely blew us away. In fact, in Australia, all our stock was gone within two days.
Yeah, Australians loved the rainbow. We flipped into plan B and opened up a pre-order. The total of all the lockers that we had and the pre-orders that we can donate is over $75,000. We talked about the fun things that you get to do when you have a healthy business. There is nothing at all that feels better than being able to donate to a cause that, is doing incredible work because we have this business that is functioning and working and we get the freedom to say that this is what we believe in and we're going to put our money where our mouth is and we're going to create this incredible content and we're going to speak up about something we care about. And all of that is possible because Mustard has those strong foundations. Very proud of that.
So proud. In the intro I've also talked about you, your work with Beam and you guys do so much great stuff that you don't necessarily sing from the rooftops about. I think that is also when people discover that it's another reason to just fall in love with the brand even more. Congrats and amazing job. What is next for you and how can people connect with you if they've listened and thought, I need to see their latest stuff, or I need to talk to her because she's amazing. They can come to the book launch if you're in Melbourne and come and meet Becca. But where else is a great place to connect?
What's next? I do feel a little bit like when you're on a rollercoaster and it's starting to go up and you know that the like fun bit is about to happen, but you're nervous. I think that's how I feel at the moment. We have some exciting launches coming up, a whole new range of products for us, which we have been working our absolute butts off to make as beautiful as they can be. I am so excited to get them out into the world. That's all coming up over the next few months. Stay tuned. Lots of newness to come from Mustard and if you do want to find us, you can find us
@MustardMade or Mustardmade.com or you can always drop into my inbox at becca@Mustardmade.com.
Amazing. Thank you so much for this. Thank you for being in the book. Thank you for coming, onto the podcast last time. I love seeing how your business is thriving and it's incredible what you've built I just get hats off to you and Jess and your whole team. Because every time something you bring out new or a new colour or whatever, I'm like, look at them. That's amazing. And I feel like you've done such a good job in making everyone who follows Mustard and is part of that community fall in love with you all the time. Thank you.
That's so kind. Thank you, Fiona. Lovely to talk to you. Bye
Bye.
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What a gorgeous soul is Becca from Mustard. I just think she's always so upbeat and positive, but also real and genuine and down to earth about what it's like to run a business. And I know from, just so many conversations I have with small business owners and people that want to start a small business, how much they can look at brands like Mustard and just think that it's all perfect and that everything's always worked out. And as you heard, it hasn't been this perfectly easy, smooth journey and I just love that Becca shared so much of that with us today. Also in my new book Business to Brand, which is out now. Excited about that. I just want to say a massive thank you to Becca for coming on and sharing today, but also in the book and also just to her for being such incredible and inspiring business owners, if you haven't gone into the world of colourful joy and all things lockers, check out Mustard at Mustardmade.com.
You can also find them on all the socials under Mustard. And if you're reading this in real-time, then I think they are hiring. If you're reading this thinking, I would love to work with them, go on over to their socials and I don't know if it'll still be available, but I know at the time of recording this, they are looking for staff. Go over, if that's you, check it out. I'm going to highlight two things that stood out to me amongst, honestly so many. So much of this was just full of insights tips and wisdom. But the two things that stood out for me, were when we talked about content and talking about having a structured approach to content. That doesn't mean that it can't be fun and creative and my goodness, Mustard is so fun and creative, they embody those, those words.
But they have a structured approach to content, which I believe genuinely makes it less stressful. I was going to say more enjoyable. More enjoyable and less stressful to create the content, but also creates this consistency, which is so important for building brand trust and loyalty because people know what to expect. If you think about psychology patterns of recognition are a real thing that we use to trust people. We trust people who tend to show up consistently. I think sometimes people can think consistency equals boring. It does not. And I think consistency is where you cement who we are as a brand. How do we want to be seen? What are the key things people come to us for follow us or subscribe to an email for? And I think Mustard has been consistent since day one. They have consistently known these are our values, this is what guides us, this is our vision.
They show up consistently. It is always positive, and not positive in a toxic positivity, but just in a, it makes you smile like their content makes you smile again and again and again. It's inspiring. And it's funny when we talked about lockers, people want a Mustard locker, they don't want just any locker. And I already own their lockers and yet I'm like, what else can I buy? Which other ones do I want to add? Like there's a sense of, I love being part of this community and when I see other people with a Mustard locker, whether it's some stranger on like a, ad video on YouTube, or it's someone I know, it's like, yes, we are like the same people. Like we are interested in the same things. It's a real community-building creation that they've made and which is bizarre.
When you think about a locker, you don't necessarily think of community. However, that's what they've been able to create. And I think a huge part of that is down to this consistent content, which Becca talked about having a structured approach around. I love that. I love it so much. I'm someone who just loves consistency and I do believe in consistency in things like creating this podcast, showing up every single week, and having 400-plus episodes, same with my Sunday email. I have shown up every single Sunday for years. And that's why we've been able to grow it to thousands of small business owners and this podcast to almost a million downloads with zero ad spend. I just think if you are not consistent at the moment with your content, think about at least just one channel to be consistent with. It doesn't mean you have to be, I mean ideally, you'd be consistent across all your channels, but I know for example, I'm not super consistent across Instagram, but I am absolutely impeccably consistent with this podcast and the Sunday email.
Those two channels do wonders for our business. I love that Becca talked about that. The second thing that I'm going to bring up is when Becca talked about, having to be okay with surprises, both good and bad, but good and talking about the fact that she loves that she doesn't know what doors are going to open, but she knows that doors will open that she has never possibly imagined because this has happened consistently throughout the business and it happens to most business owners. I mean, I know like Becca's in the book, the second book even the first book was something I was like, it's a bit of a dream, but who knows if it'll happen. And then it happened. And then the second book and I've just finished recording the audio for Business to Brand, which will come out soon.
I'm about to go and record the audio for Passion Purpose Profit. Becca is so true on the Money when she says there will be opportunities in business that you have never imagined. You have to be ready to embrace those. And part of being ready is to have strong business foundations to know who you're for, what you stand for, what are your values, what's your big picture vision, what's your tone of voice, what's your brand like. All of that is so important. Then when those opportunities do come up, you can meet them head-on. I am recording this at the same time that I'm looking at the marketing for business to brand the new book. And the marketing person at my publisher just emailed me this morning with a bunch of interviews that are coming up and she was saying, do you want to do this one?
Do you want to do that one? And I was able to look at them and go, that one would allow me to talk about this content pillar, that one would allow this, that other one might not be such a good fit. That's because I'm clear on what I want the brand to be known for and I don't deviate outside of that. I may have things that I'm interested in, but they're not things that I want the brand to be necessarily known for. I don't go out talking about them all the time. Just having even just the basic content pillars and speaking points means that when those opportunities come up for an interview, I can say, yep, confidently I can do that and I can talk to that person about that particular topic because that's what I do.
That's what I talk about, that's what I'm confident in. And that's part of having strong brand foundations. I love that Becca talked about t. Be open and excited for all these opportunities and these things that will come up that you can't even imagine. But also be prepared to be able to say yes and embrace them because you have those strong brand foundations. I love that she talked about this. Honestly, there was so much gold in this podcast, it might be well worth you going back and checking it out again, listening to it again. Or if you want to go through it in text format, you can find all the information at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/444. And if you'd like to check out more about Becca and her sister Jess, and their journey into creating the brand that they have, check out my new book Business to Brand, moving From Transaction to Transformation.
You can find it pretty much anywhere online. You can also find it at your local bookshop and if they don't have it, ask them to order it in. You can find it at your local library or DM us and we'll let you know where to find it. You can also buy it from us. However, at the time of recording, we have already sold out of our stock, but we will be getting more in. You can just go to mydailybusiness.com and find it there. Thank you so much for reading. I'll see you next time. Bye.
