For the first Grow Casey Cardinia of the new year we catch up with some of the entrepreneurs profiled in 2018 for an update on their business journey.
Motov8 – Founder John McMahon
2018 has been a huge year for Motov8. I basically stopped marketing to schools and started marketing directly to parents through Facebook. I started booking out venues in Warragul, Traralgon, Wonthaggi, Casey and the Northern suburbs and I also went to Queensland and Perth doing these events motovating boys. Basically, I book the venue, I set up an advertising campagin on Facebook, parents book and turn up on the night with their boys. I had 273 people at the largest one. In January I am doing a tour from Melton to Canberra.
I changed what I was doing because it was almost impossible to get through to the right people in schools. This way I get to speak directly to boys and their families.
I am on the road a lot now. I have a team of people that come with me to my events to help me run them. I want to get to the point where my events are being held in every state in Australia.
The most exciting thing about 2019 will be the launch of my new business, Savage Angels, which is Motov8 for girls. The slogan behind the business is that not all girls want to have fun. I want to empower girls to make choices independent of their femaninity. It’s about inspiring them to make choices about what they want out of life. I’ll get brand ambassadors on board and I won’t deliver the seminars but I’ll get an equally passionate the energetic person to do that for me.
Whozcookn – Founder Clive Canal
Our online community has had steady growth and is almost at 1000 members which we’re so proud and happy about. The bigger the community, the more exposure, engagement and future endeavours are possible.
The other thing that I’m super excited about is our Community Table initiative which is set to roll out as early as January 2019. We are inviting businesses all around Australia and registered commercial kitchens to partner with us to help those in need. Under the initiative we hope to encourage people to get 20 or more colleagues together to share in a Community Table lunch. The food will be delivered to the workplace and cost no more than what you would normally pay for an off-site lunch. Part of the proceeds will be ’paid forward’ to those less fortunate.
And to add a little fuel to the fire, there’s a possibility that a major player in the Aussie food world (can’t mention names yet) will align and support the initiative.
Tall, Dark and Nutty and Luxe Grazing – Founder Jade Fraser
It has been difficult to continue my businesses, Luxe Grazing and Tall, Dark and Nutty, with all the health regulations and the costs associated with getting a business going. The muesli business had to take a back seat to the grazing boards, which just took off. I had people asking me about orders for next year.
Unfortunately, I was running my businesses out of my mum’s kitchen and we would have had to install a second sink to meet health regulations. It was a very difficult decision, but in the end it wasn’t worth the investment or the headache. With the muesli the volume I had to produce to make it profitable was beyond what I could do on my own.
I have now joined forces with Clive Canal helping him with his business, Whozcookn. Clive needed admin assistance and he knew I have a real passion for food and for social enterprise. We met and got talking when we both co-worked at the Waterman Business Centre.
I have reached out to a few celebrity chefs and I hope to be interviewing Maggie Beer in January for the Whozcookn website. My goal is to pursue a career in food writing. I would love to do a Bachelor of Arts in writing and write for magazines
Carloop – Founder Riz Akhtar
Carloop has had an amazing six months since launching our product. In true start up fashion, we had to pivot in July this year to really drill into what our consumers wanted from a car advice website. Free sold price reports have garnered us the right attention, to now have built our following up to over 1000 report downloads per month.
We have been in contact with many car dealers and have managed to build a relationship with regional dealerships whom we have been able to send leads to. We are always on the lookout for more dealerships who have the same values as Carloop – honesty and transparency for consumers.
We want to continue building our consumer network and growing our dealership database with the intention to bring phase two of Carloop online in the new year – a quotation portal for new car buyers and interested dealerships to transact through.
Grumpy Garys – Nancy Muhar
This year has been huge for us so far! We entered the Australian Food Awards and won three medals – Gold, Silver and Bronze in the different categories.
There has been a very high demand from customers requesting us to create delicious sauces with the world’s hottest chilli – the Carolina Reaper, and we didn’t disappoint. We’ve released our hottest flavours yet and given them awesome names and taglines – Butt Tickler (butt, you won’t be laughing), Burns Twice (what goes in.. must come out) and The Ripper (warning: may rip you a new one!). The Ripper has been rated at a whopping 17/10 burn, and is flying off the shelves!
With the great success of our sauces in Australia, we are not far off from entering the international market. We want to say a big thank you to our amazing customers for helping our family turn our dream into reality.
Jax Wax – CEO Tina Copeland
Jax Wax has had a very busy year in 2018 since appearing in Grow Casey Cardinia in June. In October, we obtained PETA Certification for our products being vegan friendly and cruelty free.
We are very excited to be officially recognised by PETA for our vegan friendly and cruelty free products. PETA is the largest animal’s rights organisation in the world with over 6.5 million supporters and members. To be allowed to use their official Beauty Without Bunnies’ logo will show our customers both in Australia and around the world that we are an ethical company who are passionate and committed to our social responsibilities.
To reduce our carbon footprint on the environment we have also installed solar panels on both our factories in Officer. With electricity prices skyrocketing and the urge to fight climate change, we decided to switch to green energy and reduce our operating expenses by installing 45.63 kW of solar panels.
GAIA Skin Naturals – General manager Simon Vogrinec
GAIA Skin Naturals has been busy making headway with new export markets and has recently received some coveted industry awards. In addition, GAIA continues its philanthropic commitment to local business support.
GAIA is delighted to advise of pending market launches in both Malaysia and Ireland.
It’s humbling to share our award-winning range farther and wider than ever before and we are confident in the partnerships formed to take our brand to the parents and babies in these corners of the world!
Speaking of awards, GAIA won four awards in the Mother & Baby Awards. These awards celebrate the best baby products in Australia, with products assessed on quality, value for money, user-friendliness and innovation. These awards bring GAIA’s total 2018 award-haul to 12.
Finally, GAIA assists in business mentoring programs such as The INNovation Crowd, a new collaboratively crafted City of Casey program designed to provide support to local entrepreneurs.
