GOOD MORNING & HAPPY MONDAY!!!!
Once again I am SO excited about todays Super Mum Interview.....not only is this lady an AMAZING Mum and Step Mum but also a well known Business Woman.....I have a feeling that most of you will know the Superb product she made! I was so thrilled when she agreed to do this Interview, for a small business owner like myself I have learnt so much from her and feel so inspired by her....I hope you do too.....
“Leanne Faulkner”
·
Tell
us a little bit about you and your family?
I’m probably best
known for my entrepreneur work with Billie Goat Soap. I sold the business in
February this year, and now I have established a small retail advisory business
called Reaching Retailers. We help businesses to sell their products into
retail stores. I am also running a project to develop more mental health
services for small-medium business owners because there are currently not a lot
of resources available to this group in Australia.
I am married to the
best man in the world –John, and we have been together for over 14 years. I have 3 fantastic step children; Joel, now
23; Kurt 21; and Krishel, 18. John & I have 2 boys also – Kyson, 12 and Liam
11. We’re one big family and I love it when we are all together. Joel and
Krishel both had asthma and eczema when they were growing up, and it was that
experience that lead me to start Billie Goat Soap for Liam – he also suffered
from asthma and eczema. I wanted a natural alternative for the kids because
traditional treatments just didn’t work, and I was very wary of the chemicals
we were putting on their skin. I can see now how this experience, although
stressful at the time, was a valuable one because it lead us to creating Billie
Goat Soap, and our plain soap has now helped many more people than I had
originally imagined! All of the family has been involved in the success of
Billie Goat Soap – from developing recipes, helping with marketing, cleaning
the factory or packing soap.
 |
| The whole family including girlfriends, boyfriends and friends |
·
What
one ingredient can you not live without and why?
Sounds crazy to say
but it has to be my Rice Bran Oil non-stick spray! It helps with so many
dishes, and it’s a great alternative to using traditional vegetable based oils.
My mother suffers from macular degeneration in her right eye, and I try hard to
steer clear of products that contain canola oil in particular. Crude rice bran
oil has a higher level of tocopherols (vitamin e) than other plant based oil
and this has been found to help slow age related macular degeneration. We also
use rice bran spread instead of margarines.
·
If
you had half an hour to cook dinner and realized you didn’t have anything
planned, what would you cook?
That’s easy – I
would cook poached eggs on toast. My boys LOVE poached eggs and it’s a simple
dish to do quickly. Years ago we had a chook run, and there was nothing better
than collecting eggs to eat for dinner. We don’t have our own chooks anymore,
but I still make sure I buy plenty of free range eggs from our local farmer’s
market.
·
What
is once piece of advice you can pass on to other busy mums?
Always make sure
you make some time for yourself somewhere in the week and stick to it! As a
working mum in a family business, I found I was constantly thinking about work
or discussing it with John, even when I was at home. This can be draining after
a while and you can lose focus on the other things that are important in life.
It often meant my family didn’t get my full attention. To change this, we made
a rule that worked well in our family… No talking about work from 6pm Friday
night through to 8am Monday morning. Every weekend was deemed work free, and
this has been very successful for us. My boys love it.
Nowadays I don’t
have the demands of Billie Goat as I did in the past, but I still recognise it
is important to have some me time. Life is still busy – but little things help.
For example, when I do the grocery shopping each week, I allow for an extra 20
minutes so I can enjoy a cappuccino before hitting the supermarket. It gives me
a chance to sit quietly and read a magazine or similar. The kids never volunteer to come grocery shopping
with me (to my surprise!) so it works out to be ideal “me” time!
·
If
you could have dinner with any 3 people in the world, who would it be and why?
I’m tempted to say my
husband, my husband, and my husband because he is so wonderful to be around.
However, let me explore this a bit further. Aside from my husband, I would love
to have dinner with Wayne Dyer. His work and views on the world have really
influenced my own beliefs and values, and he has been a true inspiration to me.
The other person would be my paternal grandfather. He died helping to build the
Sydney Harbour Bridge back in 1931. My dad was only 12 months old so never knew
his father, and my grandmother was so heartbroken she would not speak of him
again. He was from Montreal, Canada and I would love to know how he ended up in
Australia!
 |
| Leanne and her Husband, John |
·
You
created, owned and recently sold Billie Goat Soap....I would love to know more
about this AMAZING journey.....would you tell us all about it?
Happy to share this
story! As mentioned, Billie Goat began because of Liam’s eczema. All the
traditional treatments did not work and this sent me to the internet to do some
research. I found out goat’s milk soap is supposedly good to help with eczema
and as I had dairy goat’s as a hobby, I decided to make some soap using their
milk for Liam. After making lots of terrible soap, I finally developed
something that helped soothe his poor irritated skin, and local demand for the
soap began to grow. In November 2004 I left all other work to concentrate on
growing Billie Goat.
By the time the
business was sold in Feb 2012 we were range in over 1800 stores including Myer,
David Jones, Healthy Life, Terry White & Babies R Us. It was a fantastic journey and took a lot of
hard work, commitment, personal belief and support from others. I am often
asked what I think it takes to grow a business and for me, there are three
things that I learnt. You need the following:
Passion. You have to
believe in what you are doing each and every day you are doing it. Passion is
infectious and if you feel it, those around you will feel it too. You have to
know why your efforts are worth it –
what makes your business different and special from all the others?
People. Make sure you are
surrounded by good people who will support you in your journey. You need the
support of those closest to you or else the experience will be a challenge. If
they don’t share your vision, make the time to talk to them about it so they
can appreciate the full picture. My husband John had an unwavering belief in
Billie Goat, and when I felt times were too tough – he helped me to continue.
You also need to recruit people who have the same passion as you (or close to!).
This is especially true for small business. I have learnt that negative people
generate negative energy and there’s no room for this in a developing business.
Make good recruitment decisions from the start!
Punches. You have to be
able to roll with the punches because there are usually lots of them. One of my
facebook friends posted a graph the other day about business success and it was
so true. Let me share it with you:
To be successful
you need to know how to manage through the squiggly bits. We all go there –
even the model entrepreneurs you read about in magazines and online – everyone
has squiggly times. We just don’t have enough business owners sharing their
tough time stories. It’s worth remembering that the Richard Bransons of the
world are the exception and not the norm.
I made a lifestyle
choice in February of this year and sold Billie Goat Soap to The Heat Group.
Gillian Franklin is the founder of The Heat Group and Gillian and I had got to
know each other over the years. It was time for the brand to move on to bigger
and better things and I recognised this needed to happen beyond me. It was time
for me to say farewell to my baby and I wish them all the success in the world.
Again, my advice around selling a business is to make sure you know why
you want to sell it, and what you expect to get out of the
sale. I believe I made an excellent decision for both me and the brand. Onwards
to new things!
You can learn more
about my new venture at:
If you own a
small/medium business (or know someone who does) and are feeling anxious
stressed or depressed, help is available at:
A huge THANK YOU to Leanne for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to me.....infact, I must say that to all the Super Mums that allow me to share their stories....life can seem overwhelming and stupidly busy sometimes being a Mum, let alone trying to work as well, so its nice to stop for a moment, read these stories, be inspired and know that we are not alone.....
Don't forget to check out Leannes new exciting & inspiring business adventure on the link above....
Wishing you a truly wonderful week,
Take Care of You,
Collette xxx
Collette xxx
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