We’ve been celebrating five years of business this year, but we’ll be honest, it’s not all been smooth sailing – but it’s also been one hell of a ride! It’s wildly scary going out on your own and putting yourself in the business sphere, so here, co-founders Kelly and Alice chat about what we’ve learnt, from our biggest mistake, our growth as women and businesswomen and what we reckon all small business owners need (and what they absolutely DON’T need!) to be successful (and handily, you can find a LOT of the stuff we think is handy dandy at Warehouse Stationery!).
If you’re a small business owner, please fire through your own learnings – we’d love to hear your experiences, too!
Capsule x Warehouse Stationery
LESSON ONE: Relationships truly are everything – Kelly
It’s an adage that you’ve probably heard a million times before but it’s one that I truly believe is the secret to success.
When you’re a baby business that’s launched in a pandemic by a group of borderline delusional women who don’t understand what a business plan is, how to price advertising and live in fear of the IRD because we don’t get how to pay tax as self-employed workers, you’re not exactly inspiring confidence in what you’re selling.
Capsule wasn’t – and hell, to this day isn’t – a polished, perfect corner of the internet. Five years in we’re still figuring things out and constantly changing strategies, plans and visions as the world changes around us – adapt or die, right – and we are by no means experts in digital media.
But the thing is, people don’t invest in what you do – they invest in who you are.
Capsule Co-Founder and Head of Commercial, Kelly Meharg
Everything good and great about Capsule has come from incredible relationships. Us, as founders – friends first, later business partners. Many of our biggest commercial partners first worked with Capsule in editorial capacities, and through a building of trust and friendship and a shared vision of the stories we wanted to tell, we morphed those into support for the brand that we adore. (This is a GREAT time to thank Warehouse Stationery for being one of them! Yew!) The amazing PR practitioners and advertising execs used to just be email addresses, now they’re out there championing our brand almost as much as we do. And our readers and followers, of course – when we started out we had zero. Now we have the most incredible, loyal and engaged group of wonderful humans, to whom we owe everything.
But it comes from investing time in the people behind it all – being genuinely interested in other people’s opinions, their stories and journeys, their priorities and how you can, in turn, help them. Everything should be people-centric because if a business isn’t focussing on people, then we have forgotten what it’s all for.
And also, collaboration is key – whether that’s in spinning a yarn or using your knowledge to help others in your industry. You’d think journalism is cut-throat and sure, it used to be, but now we have a group of amazing women from all different publications who are ready and willing to help each other out, and it’s a thrill to be part of such an incredible, supportive network. A high tide raises all boats, after all – and there’s no room for anyone who doesn’t believe that.
LESSON TWO: You can have it all, but not all at once – Alice
A video popped up in my feed last week of an American influencer rejecting the idea that ‘you can have it all, just not at once’. The business owner and mum of five (five!!!!) said, ‘Actually, I CAN have it all AND all at once’ as she filmed herself getting ready for her day at… 4.15am.
I’m sorry to say, for me, this just isn’t it. Because I believe ‘it all’ should involve sleeping and taking care of yourself.
Capsule Co-Founder and Head of Editorial, Alice Hampson
Balance is something that is super-hard to achieve when you run a business – and, even harder when you have a family to care for too. Since we started Capsule I’ve officially become a step-mum and gave birth to a little boy (he’s now three!). I’ve learned (probably the hard way) that while you definitely can have it all, you certainly can’t do it all at once. Something has to give. If it’s not the performance of Capsule, or my family, it’s my health.
Work can easily become a 24/7 gig if you’re not careful, and when you work from home those lines can get particularly blurred. Throw in a baby at home, and… well, life can get insane. In the early days of having a baby, I kept a ridiculous schedule – if the baby was asleep, I was working. I’d wake up early or cram hours in late at night to keep up. I felt like every minute I had that I could work had to really count. I can see now that at times, this made me a difficult person to work with, because my time was so pressured. I didn’t have time to shoot the shit. I was under the pump!
While I don’t regret it, because I did the best I could at the time (and really, you do have to put the hard yards into a business, particularly early on) I’ve since learned to put more boundaries and space into my schedule to make me a better person in all aspects.
It’s meant accepting help and paying for help. For example, now, I’m not available on Tuesday mornings – that’s my special time with my toddler, who is in daycare now most of the week. I also make sure I allocate at least one two-hour block to myself each week, whether I use that time to go for a treatment, a walk or a solo cafe lunch. At first it felt selfish, or just plain weird to not be doing something, but I’ve realised I need some alone time to function at my best in all the different facets of it.
LESSON THREE: You build your business around your life, not your life around your business – Kelly
Like Alice said, it can be bloody easy to forget to stop working when you WFH and that said work is something you genuinely love to do. But no matter if you absolutely froth your job, it shouldn’t be your everything.
When I lost my magazine job before starting Capsule I genuinely felt, as I have written about so many times (sorry to harp on again), as if my heart, soul and identity had been ripped away from me, because I let that job be my everything. It meant I didn’t go on an OE, it meant hours and hours of work for rubbish pay, it meant a lot of self-pressure to be perfect and it meant a rubbish dating life (ok to be honest I don’t think I can blame my horrific Bumble game on that but hell, it would be nice to think it was a factor).
While Capsule gives me so much more happiness, and founding it is one of the proudest moments of my life, I’ve learnt, however, that it’s not the most interesting thing about me, and my ‘cool job’ isn’t something I need to hide behind like I used to, because I was terrified that I wasn’t actually all that cool.
Now, my life is much more balanced – partly because, of course, I can manage my own time and build my schedule just how I like to.
But it’s also because now, I’m genuinely happier and more confident and MUCH better at setting a boundary. For me, it means setting aside space at home that’s just for work. I only work in my home office that I have set up exactly to my Virgo heart’s desires – everything is in its place and it brings me such joy! (Click here for my list of the best office essentials, too!).
The flipside of the stress of running a business is the flexibility of running a business – and time, as we all know, is the most valuable currency of them all, and the privilege of being able to build my life around my business is absolutely incredible. Even during the crazy times!
LESSON FOUR: Get it in writing and get it signed! – Alice
Of course, yes, when it comes to business you should get everything in writing and preferably signed. But…. when you’re running your own gig, particularly at the start, there’s a lot more flying by the seat of your pants. When you’re just a little business, there’s an urge to say yes to everything, to not play hard ball with people, to be trusting…
We learned the hard way that before you engage in working with someone, you need a contract. In our extremely early days, we wrote some custom pieces for a company… which then took months and months and months to get paid, so from there we made sure we got things in writing, drew up contracts and made sure there were clear dates we needed to be paid by.
Except then, we broke our rule because a well-known couple came to us asking for our services and help in getting their own lifestyle website up and running. We gave lots of advice and contacts and then got onto working on their project for an hourly rate that was discussed at several meetings as well as how many hours we’d be working.
Something about the fact that they were well known (and even joked about our past experiences of not being paid on time) made us overlook having a contract.
They were in constant touch. We had a long list of tasks.
I’d just had a baby, so I was doing hours for it literally in the middle of the night, or while I rocked him in his bassinet under my table.
And then, we sent through our invoice… Yip, we’ll pay this soon came the first email. But then a little while later, another email came saying they wouldn’t be paying this because… they thought we were just offering our services for free and there was no mention of us charging!?!
It was mind-blowing. But a good (look, actually quite horrible really) lesson in making sure you have everything in writing, no matter who the person or company is. Whether you’re big or small, you need a contract.
LESSON FIVE: You have to be relentlessly optimistic that everything will be fine… because it probably will be – Kelly
It’s no secret that during the five years we’ve been in business, the world has gone from munted to super-munted to WTF is happening – but, as history tells us, there will always be curveballs that every generation must face. We’ve just had… a lot of them at once.
You have to be optimistic to be in business. A realistic optimism rather than delusion and idiocy, sure. No one is going to come and save you in your business – you have to work, work and work and my God, it is hard. It has to be worth it, all day, every day.
Having faith in yourself has proven to be one of the hardest things to find. I have faith in the universe that everything works out as it should, I have faith that one day the Wahs will win the grand final and it’ll finally be our year.
But faith in myself to pull off running a business? That one was a tricky one to pull off. Women are so self-critical and can be more risk-adverse, so wanting everyone else to do well that we forget to take off from the start line ourselves. But as soon as you find that self-confidence, it’s like a superpower you didn’t know you had.
I had no experience working in advertising when Capsule started. Now it’s a huge part of my job, a job that has SO much stress attached to it because if I suck at it, we don’t get paid. The lights turn off. Literally, I guess! (Oh also another lesson – pay a web genius to do your tech stuff because it is NOT worth the stress of being scared that you’ll accidentally delete your website – love you, Louisa!).
But having faith in the relationships I’ve built, the stories we’re telling and the people who are working in this business alongside me means that hey, it’s going to be fine – and that I’m not an island!
It’s amazing what the power of optimism can do, and more than compensates for the lack of structure and stability.
In fact, one of the most incredible lessons we’ve learnt is that sometimes, a little bit of uncertainty means success beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. The media industry can be tough, sure – but right now we’re experiencing our best year yet. The future might be a bit of the unknown, sure, but for right now, life as a business owner is good. Long may it last!
The five things you NEED running a small business:
– Somewhere to put all your important documents so you don’t panic when you need your NZBN number or IRD information! We use this concertina file for a compact solution!
– A diary to keep track of your life and sanity: Whether you’re a digital gal who relies on your Outlook calendar, or you’re an analogue fan, you need a place to store all your appointments because in this day and age you’d have to be Rainman to remember all that’s going on! We love this one.
– Business cards still have a huge place in networking – make sure you have your own (also I JUST won a business card draw for a trip to Noosa, so another fabulous reason to have one!) Check out warehousestationery.co.nz for all your printing needs.
– Yes, you actually do need a printer. There are things to scan and sign, just like a real grown-up, and it’s annoying to have to email your husband three times a day asking him to print things at his office. Also, printers are WILDLY cheap these days – grab this one for $49!
– A coffee machine. For obvious reasons! Grab this cute capsule machine for only $89.
The five things you DON’T need running a small business:
– A landline contact number – when was the last time you called one?! A mobile and email is absolutely fine.
– Approval from everyone – you’ll be waiting a long time! Just go with your gut and realise that not everyone will understand or appreciate your vision, but that’s ok.
– A workstation for everyone – we live in a world where not everyone is in the office at the same time, and frankly lots of people would prefer to work anywhere else but a desk. Instead, have spaces like hot desks, couches and even beanbags where people can be their own kind of comfy.
– Expensive equipment – only buy what you actually need, and if you think you need something pricey, rent or borrow it first to see if it’s what you want, and something you’ll use.
– The full picture. Sure, it’s probably WISE to have a business plan in mind (note to our past selves!) but don’t be scared of not knowing what you’re doing. Know what you want to achieve, and have faith you’ll figure out how to do it on the way. Like having kids, there’s no ‘perfect’ time to start a business. Just do it!