Ducks on the Pond
A podcast for rural women... by rural women. Hosted by Kirsten Diprose and Jackie Elliott, they seek expert advice and the stories of other rural women on issues such as succession planning, motherhood, starting a business...running for politics and much more!
Ducks on the Pond
Are bricks and mortar stores dead?
**EPISODE SPONSOR: Rural Women’s Day**
There’s this persistent notion that starting up a retail store in the main street of town is just too hard. From the high rents, cost of living crisis, to the relatively low foot traffic in country towns, finding a physical space to sell things, the ‘ye olde way’ can seem impossible.
But in this episode, we meet three business owners who have found success by leaning into the community side of their business. Economically, this might not make a lot of sense at first. How do you put a price on community? Well, in the country, it’s worth something.
The Botanic House in Nagambie, VIC and Workshop 26 in Kimba, SA have transformed their local streetscapes, created a community space with good coffee and atmosphere, as well as a retail store to sell their wares.
This episode features:
· Krystie Holley – Founder and owner of The Botanic House in Nagambie, VIC
· Heather Baldock – Co-Founder of Workshop 26 and owner of High Street Vintage
· Danna Kassebaum – Owner of Zozo and Ace
So if you dream of opening up a store in your town, you will learn A LOT from this episode!
Thank you to our episode sponsor: Rural Women’s Day. Book to attend an event near you in October 2024.
Would you like to sponsor an episode of Ducks on the Pond? Contact us here.
This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Would you like to create your own podcast? We can help! Find out how.
Still is mind-blowing sometimes when someone comes through from Sydney and says oh, we deliberately changed our itinerary to be here when you were open at Workshop 26.
Krystie:I did my research, did a business plan, found a little shop to open a store and literally within a month I found myself quitting my corporate role and opening a little plant shop.
Kirsten:Hello and welcome to Ducks on the Pond brought to you by the Rural Podcasting Co. Kirsten Diprose is here and sorry, um, who's this? I'm back. Uh, sorry, of course kidding it is the lovely Jackie Elliott very excited to have you with us. I'm back, sorry, of course, kidding. It is the lovely Jackie Elliott Very excited to have you with us.
Jackie:No, thank you, and look, it's great to be back for this season.
Kirsten:I feel like you're a star. You know like, oh, she's here swanning in, but, to be fair, this is your busiest time of year, which is why we're not going to have you for every episode, because it's so close to Rural Women's Day. So you've got loads of events happening all over the country and I should say thank you too, because Rural Women's Day is our episode sponsor.
Jackie:Yeah, and look, I'm actually really excited that Rural Women's Day is able to sponsor something. Yeah, I mean, we've been doing this like what? Six seasons and really excited to finally sponsor an episode of Ducks on the Pond. Yeah, and look, it is very busy for Rural Women's Day. I'll be traveling on the road for about six weeks, about 10,000 kilometers to travel, and our first stop's in Western Australia. So this time next week I'll be in Albany. 10 locations across five states of Australia. It's a huge year and, yeah, very fortunate to be able to travel to all of them. And that's with, actually, our new partnership this year with Squadron Energy.
Kirsten:Go to Rural Women's Day to book if you want to go to one of those events.
Jackie:Yeah, ruralwomensday. com. au.
Kirsten:I don't really like to do the whole sales pitch, but I guess we have to do it. Don't right now. Don't do it because we'll do it at the end of the episode. I don't like to do it at the start you know, no, that's good.
Jackie:We'll do it at the end. I think the best part about this episode of being able to sponsor is the fact that these guests who we've got on are all hosts of Rural Women's Day in their local community.
Kirsten:So that sounds salesy, but it's really not, because all of our guests are amazing, like the stories you'll hear, are heartwarming and cool. In that you'll learn something, because this is all about bricks and mortar stores and the reason why this is something I wanted to look at ages ago and I came to you with this idea, jackie, because there's this idea that there's been a shift away from them. You know, high rents or just low foot traffic in country towns COVID was such a big difficulty, so there's this idea that it's like it's too hard. We've met some people who are pushing back on that and the two businesses that we're really looking at today have found success by actually leaning into the community side of things, which I think is super interesting, instead of it being all about the product or the brand.
Jackie:Yeah, that's right. And so Workshop 26 is in Kimba, south Australia, and then the Botanic House is in Nagambie, victoria, and they're both really focused on the experience of being in a beautiful place to browse, shop and meet others, and it's working.
Kirsten:So if you've ever had a dream of opening up your own little store, this might just inspire you. So first let's meet Holley, the founder and owner of the Botanic House in Nagambie, and I caught up with her from a rather unusual place. You're joining us from a bathroom, I believe. Yes.
Krystie:A little bit busy in store today, so a little bit background noise. So I thought I'll just step out to the bathroom.
Kirsten:Bathrooms are generally not great for podcasting, but this one seems okay. But if you want to break out into song, that's fine too, because I think you'll have beautiful acoustics for singing.
Krystie:I will yes.
Kirsten:So let's start with where you grew up and really what your connection is to rural Australia.
Krystie:So I grew up in Albury-Wodonga. I had a lot of family out on dairy farms, cattle farms, so I spent a lot of time on the land as kids. Majority of our time on weekends and after school was out fishing out with my dad hunting. So from early on in my years I've just had a connection with the bush Coming through. As an adult, you'll see that in most things I do in my life I live on a little farm with my own kids and I've taught them about hunting and gathering, about growing their own food and all the things that connect us back to land and nature. And where do you live now? So these days you'll find me in a little town just outside of Kirwan's Bridge. It's called Angus Town. It's not really a town. So I've got a little 50 acre farm there where we just have some sheep and some horses growing, some flowers, and it's a beautiful little part of the world just near the state forest. Yeah, we absolutely love it there. So Nagambie is our closest major centre, where my current business is situated.
Kirsten:Yeah, so tell me about your store. You sell plants and coffee, is that right?
Krystie:Yeah, so originally. Well, I was actually driving along one day and I just had a light bulb moment. I'd been working in a science career for many years, I had a beautiful young family and I just had a light bulb moment. I'd been working in a science career for many years, I had a beautiful young family and I found myself the work-life balance. It just wasn't there. When you become a mum and all of a sudden you're dragged back to work, you start thinking how does this all fit together? Through my maternity leave I started growing and propagating indoor plants and I found it just so therapeutic just again that connecting with nature, and it was just fun and it's something you can do with your children.
Krystie:And then having to obviously go back to work, I found myself long days, lots of driving. So in the science industry at the time I was an account manager for a big science company in Melbourne, so I looked after Victoria and Tasmania were my territories, so a lot of travel. And then when I wasn't traveling, I had to be in the office in Melbourne. So an hour and a half commute to two hours commute in the traffic, so by the time I'd get home, try to have as much time with my children as possible, put them to bed, back on the laptop to catch up with all the emails not much sleep happening. It does wear you down and I started to think this is the career I've worked so hard for. But what kind of life is it? And you really start to question just because I've studied science doesn't mean I have to do that for the rest of my life. We can change what we want to be at any point in time.
Krystie:So I was driving along one day and I actually like fell asleep driving with my kids in the car. Yeah, I didn't have an accident, it was okay. But at that point in time, light bulb moment I'm just like no, this is it, it's enough and I need to make a change. So I have been propagating so many plants.
Krystie:I took them to the market and thought I'm just going to have a go at selling plants and see if people love it. And if people love it, I'm just going to quit my job and sell plants at the market. I know the income's not the same, at least I'll be happy. So I started going to the markets and I sold out, like within a couple of hours, of everything I had and I went wow, people love plants just like I do. This is amazing and I thought, if people love it, maybe I can have a store. So I was at that point, just all in, like I did my research, did a business plan, found a little shop to open a store and literally within a month I found myself quitting my corporate role and opening a little plant shop in regional Victoria and Zambia.
Jackie:I love Krystie's story.
Kirsten:Well, it's a massive leap to quit the profession you've studied and worked your way up in your whole life, and science is a tough industry.
Jackie:And I haven't thought about science since Bunsen burners and gauze mats in my school. Yeah well, same really.
Kirsten:Except that I have a few friends who are scientists and a few friends that have actually quit science because of the long hours, and that's not very family friendly and it can be quite male dominated as well, which was a surprise to me.
Jackie:Perhaps there's a ducks episode for another time.
Kirsten:No, there's definitely something in it. I think I just need to find people who will actually talk publicly about it, and that's going to be hard. But hey, if you want to share your experience in science, please let me know. But now let's get back to this episode where I asked how she managed to go from selling plants at a market to actually investing in a bricks and mortar store to sell them in.
Krystie:It does cost money, but I just figured you don't have to go all guns a blazing and do everything at once. So I've done a business plan and I've worked on scaling. So I've started small. You don't need to go out and get a fabulous big billboard sign and there's things that you can wait. So I waited until I knew that it was working and what things did work, what things didn't work, what I needed to change. Because I just think, as a business owner, the more successful people you'll find are people that can adapt to change and challenges rapidly. So you need to be able to not be set in your plan, you need to be able to change rapidly. So basically I just followed my business plan, adjusted things rapidly. So quick changes. You can't wait. Time is money Stuck to the plan of scaling.
Kirsten:So picking segments of my business that work and scaling that up, and it sounds like you've got a bit of a business brain as well. Where did that come from? Because I don't think that's necessarily something you learn as a scientist.
Krystie:No, in my account manager role for my last scientific job, a lot of that was around numbers and it was a it's basically a glorified salesperson assisting, selling and setting up new laboratories. So a lot of that palms back to numbers and making sure what I was doing for the business was earning them money. So I did learn a lot from that. I'm grateful that I've had all the experience I have had in the science field. That's given me the courage and expertise to be able to do what I do now successfully and it's also helped with plants. Like a lot of the science work I did, I can now relate back to growing and propagating and putting that element of work and knowing that I'm giving a good product to my customers.
Kirsten:Yeah, when did you actually open the store? So what year are we talking?
Krystie:2019. So it was pre-COVID, so we opened with a bang, Nagambie in , there was only, I think, one other retail shop at the time, so it was a great little asset to the town. Imagine walking down the street and there's just no shop. So it was a happy time somewhere. People looked forward to visiting and, yeah, we took off with a bang. And then, obviously, the dreaded poem that hit.
Kirsten:Opening a business just before COVID like how unlucky would you possibly be? I know that was not in your business plan.
Krystie:That obviously wasn't in the business plan. So what did you do? That obviously wasn't in the business plan. So what did you do? So we'd also started integrating selling fresh flowers into the business. So we went through the ups and downs with lockdowns and getting shut down right before major events such as Valentine's Day, mother's Day, and losing a lot of fresh stock. So we cut that out straight away because we didn't want to lose fresh stock. We know plants as long as I'm caring for them, they're fine. So we just solely stripped it right back to plants only.
Krystie:But then between lockdowns, the Melbourne area was closed and the other shires on the other side of my shire was shut. So it was basically a very tiny little hub in the middle that got to come out of the lockdown. So we had no visitors. There was minimal foot traffic even when things did open back up and I didn't think we could keep copying these hits like lockdown after lockdown.
Krystie:I was a single mum paying a mortgage, paying rent on my shop. We did get a discount, which is awesome because of a lovely landlord, but we still had to come up with the money and we had no income. So I thought, okay, how can we get this shop open? How can we get foot traffic through our door? This wasn't in my business plan, so the shop behind us had closed and that building was coming up for lease. So instantly I thought we can open a cafe. Let's open a cafe. Knock out the ball between the buildings and we can have a plant shop and the cafe all in one. And if we do go back into lockdown, we can still sell our coffee and food. That will keep our doors open and it'll keep some income coming in. But obviously you could only have a certain amount of people in the space. So I thought we need to figure out a layout plan that we can operate this business with minimal staff.
Kirsten:I'm in regional Victoria as well, but on the opposite side of the state to you. But I think if you weren't in Victoria you might not understand how many lockdowns we had. Like it was nearly two years of just open, shut, open, shut. Of course there were two really long lockdowns and then there are lots of other little short lockdowns and then we'd be open, but only slightly open. So, as you were saying, yeah, a cafe would only have X amount of people, and then you're allowed to sell coffee and you just have to. I remember standing in a line for coffee making sure we were standing apart, and it was like the only time you could talk to other people.
Krystie:And I guess people made the most of that. Everyone was thriving some face-to-face contact so I just thought I'm just going to go with it. So I designed a floor plan around being able to operate with minimal staff so we could fit more customers in. If I had to have an extra three staff that was three less customers I could sit through the door. I quickly begun renovating the shop on a minimal budget. A lot of the work I did DIYs, so YouTube was my best friend. I learned to be a carpenter and a tiler and lots of things. So I've got lots of skills now because of that, which is wonderful.
Krystie:So, with the help and guidance of some wonderful local tradesmen around town and yeah, when you've got a community behind you, people jump in and help. It's not always about money so I was very lucky and grateful at the time. So we designed a little cafe that had it's not a dining cafe, because at the time you couldn't dine in. It was around being able to get grab and go beautiful gourmet toasties for cashes. I wanted to have the best coffee in town.
Krystie:So I designed a tiny little kitchen with an open window that you could serve the food out of and a small counter outside of the kitchen that could be utilized for serving and also make plants, because obviously you can't mix kitchen and plants just don't mix. So it's a very easy floor plan and, yeah, it's really helped us now that things are back to normal. It just helps trim the fat there because it's very easily operated with just a couple of staff and that way the extra staff we do have on they can spend that out in the store assisting customers with plants, giving beautiful customer service, having chats with people and just creating that warm, buzzing atmosphere that we have. Yeah, so all of a sudden this little plant shop turned into a cafe as well, so a bit of a pivot in our business plan. But you've got to do like I said. You've got to be able to adapt, you've got to be able to change. Times are evolving, so you've just got to go with it.
Kirsten:So it ended up being more of a blessing in the end.
Krystie:Yeah, absolutely, we just absolutely love Ellen's store.
Kirsten:It's extremely unique Because the cafe is still there, obviously.
Krystie:A huge part of it. So I'd say it's more of a cafe at the moment than retail. It's evenly both. But yeah, we get a lot more foot traffic through our door because of the cafe, which then obviously helps the other side of the business.
Kirsten:So what are your thoughts on bricks and mortar stores in general? I think there's this idea that they're dead, like particularly in rural and regional towns. You think, okay, well, I've only got a limited number of people that are going to come here. Yes, you might get some visitors on a weekend, but essentially you've got a smaller pool of people and you're limited to that. A smaller pool of people and you're limited to that, can you still have a viable business as a store, and particularly a store selling I don't know something you love, something that may not be something everyone needs, but, yeah, people. Plants are lovely, but do people need them? I don't know.
Krystie:That is a it's a great question and it's very debatable, but I just think. Imagine coming to visit a town. We're never going to stop people from traveling and being tourists. Imagine going to a town and there's no stores. What are you going to visit? Yes, you're going to look at the natural landscapes or the lakes or the mountains, but essentially you want to come back to a hub at some point. What are you going to see when you can create a beautiful, unique experience for people? I don't ever think that's going to die.
Krystie:People come to Nagambie. Imagine coming, having a beautiful day at the lake and then going okay, near what? There's nothing. There's nothing here. There's no stores.
Krystie:Yeah, I just couldn't imagine a life without our beautiful little bricks and mortar stores. I don't think anything, including online, can replace them. I just think that it's evolving so we can integrate online with our bricks and mortar stores. An example of that is some people might not want to come to your shop to have that. They don't want it. They might not want help, they might not want to be spoken to. They just want to enjoy your shop quietly. So I've integrated little barcodes on my plants where they can scan them and it will take them and help them read up on care that plant needs, so they don't necessarily need me to help them with that information. They can look at the plants online and then come in and select the plant that they're happiest with, again online.
Krystie:I don't think could ever replace that. Like you're buying a living thing, you never know what you're going to get online with that. It's not something that's guaranteed. I also think that an in-person experience is touching on all senses, so you smell what you can see, what you can hear, what you can touch. An online experience or other business platforms can never replace that. We need to create beautiful customer service, unique experience and something that does evoke people's senses so that it makes them want to come back. Our visitors, yeah, they leave us beautiful reviews and we have people regularly driving from Melbourne just to come and have a coffee and have a browse around our shop, and I just think that's amazing.
Kirsten:I reckon you've touched on something with the senses there, because, for no matter what you want to sell, that's so important. You've got plants, so you've got the smell and the visuals ticked really easily. But I think, no matter what it is that you do, having that full experience is key, isn't it?
Krystie:Absolutely. I get comments all the time. People walk through the doors and they're like what is that amazing smell? And when you have mass amounts of plants and natural products all in the same room, it's like when you open the doors in the morning setting up for the day. It's like a rainforest. You can really smell it when you walk through the door. It's just beautiful, and we've got lots of beautiful natural, organic soaps and botanical products, so the aroma of those and the freshly made coffee that's grinding it does give everyone a beautiful experience when they walk through the door yeah, I can picture it or smell it in my mind.
Kirsten:I'd love to go Like. I've looked at it online and it looks beautiful, like the photos, and I've heard from people who've gone to your store how beautiful and experienced it is, so well done. What's the online component that you have? Because can you send plants like, or is it seeds? Or what do you do? Because can you send plants like?
Krystie:or is it seeds or what do you do? No, so at the moment we don't. I don't like to ship plants. I will if I would speak to people on the phone and organise it first. Obviously, through summer there's an element of risk shipping plants because of the heat, but we do have all of our plants online so people can do their research, they can read up about the plants and have a look at the care requirement, and then shipping is. Long distances is something we do on request. It's not something I pop on the website just because it needs to be planned carefully. But we do delivery for 60 kilometre radius. Yeah, Awesome.
Kirsten:So family question you say you've got kids, how many and what?
Krystie:ages. I've got a son, Harry he's 10 and a daughter, Holly she's nine, so it's just wonderful. Yeah, we've got a little business just around the corner from the school, which was another reason making this transition is just so that I can be close by if anything happens. And they just absolutely love walking to the shop after school. They bring their friends and they get a cookie and it's just great.
Kirsten:Yeah, oh, they would love it. They'd be like I want a free milkshake or whatever it is yeah.
Krystie:Yeah, I reckon the other thing with a physical store you obviously have team members because, yeah, being open all the time, it is hard then juggling kids if you're the only one there, how do you manage that? So I've got a team. I think we've got nine at the moment nine staff members, which is also great. Like we're a little town gives job opportunities for people, lots of junior staff members, opportunities for them to learn about something other than just a cafe. They can learn about plants, learn about flowers and making bouquets and doing lots of fun stuff hands-on. So we just try and have weekend teams, so we'll have a couple of crews, we call it, and then we just rotate the weekends so we all get weekends off. We all need to have a beautiful rotate the weekends so we all get weekends off. We all need to have a beautiful work-life balance.
Kirsten:So that's something we really pride ourselves on. What about employing people? Because I think people are the hardest part of business, making sure you've got the right people, making sure you can be as flexible as possible for them. Any advice on that front?
Krystie:Look, it is hard. It is actually really hard, like I've found that when I've popped staff on people that I thought would be the more consistent, more knowledgeable, more reliable. Sometimes that doesn't work out, but when the people you thought I don't know if this person will enjoy it or work out, they've ended up being some of the best and longest term staff members I've had, I just think, really great communication with people. So if you can have consistent communication consistent we have meetings and constant updates so I think the more consistent you are with people, with the communication, the easier it is, and sometimes things don't work out, but majority of the time, like here, we've got a really great team. I think if the environment's nice, people are really happy to come to work and do a great job.
Kirsten:Yeah, and you clearly love it. The passion is coming from the top. Yeah, where do you see the business in five years time?
Krystie:I just hope to continue doing what we're doing. Obviously, at the moment, with the current economic status of Australia, retail stores have been suffering, so that's where we're managing our business plan and pivoting and adjusting and changing things. We found at the moment that some of the things that we thought would suffer with the current status of Australia things that we thought would suffer with the current status of Australia.
Kirsten:They're not. You mean like?
Krystie:cost of living, cost of living, cost of goods, transport costs, all that kind of stuff. I think you've got to change your mindset and change that into a positive. So how can we shine above? So we're focusing on the things that are scaling up, on the things that are working, and just got to be quick to cut back on the things that aren't working. So in five years time I really hope to see more of the flower side of our business booming. We're going to start growing flowers at home on the farm, just small scale and, yeah, just to be consistent and remain an important part of the community, like it's a little hub here. We really enjoy seeing that. There's some customers that come in every day and we're their only contact. So it's just for me it's really important being able to give out time to them, making their day. It does create a stronger community and with happier, stronger community members, it's just an enjoyable place to be Like. Everybody is happy, and how can you not be happy when everyone around you is happy?
Jackie:Krystie, Holly is so great, isn't she? So is that the first interview you've ever done with someone in the bathroom? Kirsten, yeah, it is actually.
Kirsten:The acoustics were kind of tricky to work with in post-production. But you know I'm all about accessibility with this podcast. We're busy rural women and the internet can be a challenge. So you know I've interviewed women in cars, in the paddock, when they've got toddlers running around at the schoolyard, and now I can add bathroom to the list.
Jackie:Well, I had some challenges myself when I caught up with two women from Workshop 26. Because one was in WA and one was in SA, so we had three time zones.
Kirsten:Oh, I thought you were like. It sounded so good. I thought that you were like with them.
Jackie:I wasn't sure if you were like sitting with them. I was probably the one in the most civilized area and it was me that was gunning out with the internet. So Heather Baldock was sitting in Western Australia because she's currently traveling with her partner and Danna Kassebaum was in South Australia at home. So, yes, internet glitchy someone's on a phone, I think someone was on an iPad, I was on the computer, it was the works. But we had lots of fun chatting and I also am really lucky that I've actually experienced and seen the place at Workshop 26. I sort of detoured our honeymoon to be able to get to Workshop 26 to visit it. And yeah, if we're talking about bricks and mortar stores in this episode, well, it turns out you don't even need bricks and mortar. In fact, you could just need a lot of elbow grease to remove the grease from a tin shed. I'll let heather explain what it is and why it's so significant to their community of Kimba.
Heather:So I'm Heather Baldock and I'm one of the founders of Fabulous Workshop 26. And Workshop 26 came about during a period of dry seasons, I guess, in Kimba, and a few businesses were closing down. And early 2019, my friend and neighbour, barb, had been interstate and come across a heap of shipping containers in a shed and she thought that maybe we could do something similar in Kimba. So she texts four of her, who turned out to be other founding members of this, to see if we wanted to be involved, quite expecting us all to tell her she was crazy. Instead, we decided we could very happily get together over bubbles and cheese and brainstorm how we might bring about a shed with shipping containers.
Jackie:That probably sounds like the life of Workshop 26, Bubbles and Cheese, because I think every good idea at Workshop 26 comes over bubbles and cheese.
Heather:That is true, it often does, and I guess our reasoning was we needed to bring some vibrancy back into the main street. So we started hunting for sheds and we looked at five different premises, which kind of indicates to you how many we had to choose from. Now we chose the one that needed the least amount of work. That's not to suggest that this old shed, some of which was over 90 years old, did not require a lot of work and a lot of money thrown at it. But anyway, once we'd selected our shed, four of us needed to go home to our menfolk and explain how we were going to buy this shed. And while it would be a really unwise financial decision, it would be a fabulous community decision and something that would be a great community asset. That certainly had risk to it and it certainly would involve a lot of work. Once they'd stopped calling a start raving mad, they decided to come on board. So four couples purchased and started the setup of what was to become Workshop 26.
Jackie:And just to give us a little bit of a backstory and because I know I've seen what Workshop 26 has transformed into and seen videos of what it looked like before, what was the shed previous in the town and what did it mean to the town?
Heather:It was an amazing response. We did become known as the Creators of Women of Workshop 26 and we chose the name Workshop 26 because obviously it's at 26 High Street. It had been a workshop for 90 plus years. It was a garage. When it closed, it was a machinery dealership and it was still servicing tractors, headings, cars, utes, you name it. It was a large employer in the community and so it was really one of those very central core businesses, and when it closed, it was very devastating, not just for the people who had lost their jobs and had little notice that their jobs were gone. It was devastating to the whole community.
Heather:It felt like we've always been a community of movers and shakers and can-do, but it was just another nail, and so there was a lot of despondency and despair over that, and when us girls started shoveling grease and leaving the big glass doors wide open for people to wander in and see what on earth we were up to, it actually generated some hope.
Heather:Some people didn't quite get what we were going to do, what our intent was or our vision, but there was a lot of hope and release that somebody was actually going to open something instead of close something, so it was really good for the community in that way, and right from the beginning we encouraged community and I've had big glass doors were open please come in, watch us at work and hear the vision, so to speak. And so many people who wasn't just our family and friends we roped in and we did rope them in many times to help, but other people. You'd be down the street grabbing something and someone say, oh hey, heather, what's happening at workshop 26 today? I've got a couple of hours to spare. I can come and swing a paintbrush, and so we had lots of people come and shovel, grease, paint walls, scrub things. So there was a lot of volunteering, not just from our close family and friends, but from the community as well, to bring this together.
Jackie:And that's amazing. Yeah, you kind of drive along the main street and there's a big open front with an undercover area and you walk through those big glass doors and it is a space that kind of steps you out of where you are. To have that space on the main street. It really has transformed, I think, the streetscape. How many shipping containers are there and how does that process work?
Heather:So it is all female businesses, so female makers and micro businesses, and then there's some private rental space as well, but at the moment there is nine of us who form that collective and I guess in amongst our individual shipper spaces or the coffee pot out the front, or there's also lots of communal space and that communal space, you know, we all overflow into that.
Heather:But that's where we welcome the communities, where we welcome visitors, and it's become quite a tourist attraction in its own right. It still is mind-blowing sometimes when someone comes through from Sydney and says, oh, we deliberately changed our itinerary to be here when you were open at Workshop 26. And that feels quite fabulous, it's very rewarding, but it feels still a little bit wow, how did that happen? Pinch me, sort of thing. So that's really been brilliant and we're a bit of a pseudo visitor information centre in some ways, like there are days when it feels like we spend as much time talking to people about the attractions they can see around town or further afield on Air New Hampshire is what we do, talking about about makers. So it's become quite a tourist attraction and that was our aim, I guess, was to bring travellers off the highway into the main street. Bring some vibrancy into the main street and use the makers and creators as that tourist attraction.
Jackie:Yeah, and I think that you've probably nailed your goal as far as bringing vibrancy to the main street of Kimba. Someone with us today also is Danna, and Danna is one of our shipping container residents, part of that collective. So out of the nine we've got Danna, and so Danna is going to introduce herself.
Danna:Hi Jackie, I'm Danna. I'm the owner of Zozo and Ace. My journey started in early March 2020. And when I first walked in, I loved Workshop 26. And it was an environment that I wanted to be in and I just loved the atmosphere. It was just such a welcoming and friendly place and I love seeing their creativity that came out of these ladies and I love their personalities. They're such beautiful people.
Danna:I am a farmer and a mum of four and, with living in a small country town. As a farmer and a mum, I thought having my own shop would be impossible, and if it wasn't for Workshop 26, ok, carmen, barb, heather and Pat, it would still be an impossible dream. They have created this place that, yes, it is possible to have a little space to be innovative and creative, and it was through their determination and vision and a lot of hard work they opened up this incredible life-changing possibilities, and I do say life-changing because of how they have helped changed me, and I know for me personally, if it wasn't for Workshop 20 Sticks, I would still be feeling lonely and isolated and my days just filled with all things farm life, which is essential for my family's income. But as a remote female, I also needed something for me and they probably don't know this, but they also opened up the doors to my self-growth and positive outlook and mindset for the future and have built my confidence. And yes, my life is a lot busier, but it's a happy busy.
Kirsten:Gosh Jackie such a huge impact on Dana's life.
Jackie:Yeah, and you really pick up on that vibe when you go there. It has been a journey for every single woman that's participated or been involved in Workshop 26. Here's Dana again talking about her shipping container business called Zozo and Ace.
Danna:So I started in Workshop 26 doing a bit of cooking. So I had to think of something. What could I do If I wanted to be part of this team? What could I do? So something handmade and I knew that I could cook. I had been doing cooking before that for the Big Galah.
Kirsten:Sorry. What, Jackie, can you please explain?
Jackie:The Big Galah. So it sits on the highway in Kimba and it's a bit like you know, the big banana, the big lobster and it's this beautifully painted Big Galah in Kimba. I don't think I've actually even stopped at the Big Galah, but I've driven past it.
Kirsten:Oh, the big things never cease to amaze me. It sounds like an insult from neighbours, though, doesn't it? Shut up, you big galah. All right, thanks for explaining Back to Danna.
Danna:And so I went in and I spoke to Carmen and she happened to be on that day and I said what do you think if I had a table set up every Thursday morning with some home cooking? And she said, yes, go for it. So that's how it started. I ended up cooking five days a week for this couple of hours on a Thursday morning and it would sell out so quick. It was really thrilling and exciting. I kept that up for about 12 months before I just could not do that anymore.
Danna:I was starting to lose my joy in cooking and I had enough of making cakes and biscuits. I decided there was a little office space available. So, with some chats to the girls, I decided to open up a little shop. I got some help from my mum and stepdad. They made some handmade wooden birdhouses, so I came up with a couple of designs that I really liked, because I also like gardening. So they helped make some birdhouses, also made some barbed wire wreaths and also brought in some other things that were handmade from other little businesses to help them out too.
Danna:So the profits that I made from my cooking went into a stock, my little shop, and so it started off with a little office space, probably I don't know two and a half metres by two and a half metres, then went to two little office spaces and then went to two shipping containers and until now I I finally found my niche, and it's mainly garden decor. So I still have the birdhouses that's a great passion of mine and occasionally a barbed wire wreath and a lot of raw iron and baskets, and I now bring in plants and succulents, so I also enjoy doing that at home and bringing that in. So, yeah, I have two shipping containers joined together and it's a lot of fun having a shipping container, and so, yeah, that's what I do now.
Jackie:That's so awesome, so tell me we might go back to you. Heather, how does manning the Workshop 26 work and how many people have you got involved on the team for that? Opening sessions.
Heather:Those of us with a shipping container, who have retail, are on a roster, and so each of us know enough about each other's business that we can man the show for them when they're absent.
Heather:We can't afford at this time to employ someone from outside of us, but that's part of our deal, is that we are rostered. There's lots of swapping on that roster, I grant you, because we all have busy lives and want to have other interests. But it works really well because if you need a swap, there's nearly always someone you can swap with, and we all get to know so much about each other's little business and what each other does. And it's really fabulous because we are rostered and there's two on in the mornings, which tend to be busier. One stays on in the afternoon. It frees us up to be working at little businesses or be off farming or all the other things we do. So it just works really well, I think, and it doesn't feel such a tie because we don't need to be there all the time. I don't think there are any of us who feel like we could be there all the time, and so it works brilliantly.
Jackie:Yeah, that's fantastic. And, heather, I know you've got a shipping container space in there. What is your business and what do you do?
Heather:So I'm High Street Vintage and I'm lucky enough to have my two daughters involved with that and a sister-in-law and sister who help out a bit as well. And when we first set it up, the other three founding girls already had hobbies or mini businesses that one wanted to expand and the others we encouraged strongly to expand. So then the girls decided that you know, I really needed to be doing something. I felt there'd be enough with Workshop 26 to be doing without having a little business also, however, they decided we needed vintage. And so guess what? That had to be me. And, fortunately for me, in a prior life I had done a little bit of furniture restoration, et cetera. So High Street Vintage collects treasures from around the state and on sales, but also salvages and recycles beautiful old furniture that needs a new outfit or needs to be brought back to its former glory. That's what I do in any moments, and I have a range of vintage bird paints that I sell and use those paints for giving new outfits to some tired old pieces.
Jackie:How good, and tell me what other businesses are there. So.
Heather:Karawatha Home is Barb, and she makes beautiful candles and she fuses. She makes them all on her farm in her studio there, and the names of her pieces are after various townships, communities and pastoral properties that are familiar to most of us in Kimber. So that's really special. And then we have Noble Frank. So Erin does beautiful silversmithing and makes gorgeous jewellery very clever, beautiful stuff. And then there's Carmen, who makes soaps, glorious soaps. So she started out in her home where the soaps were made in nearly every room in the house and needed to expand.
Heather:So now she's got her production area. Her and Jess make all the soap on site and then we go around the corner to the good copy companies. So Lisa is a social media guru, a communication specialist, and she's been involved since the day dot with workshop 26, even when she didn't live locally. She was doing our social media and promotions. And then around the corner from her is ellen with alive and well. So ellen has all sorts of eco-friendly products, organic foods, bulk foods etc. And of course out the front we have the coffee pot which has the best coffee in the state no bias there at all. And then on top of that we also sell on commission pieces that lots of other locals have made Authors, quilters, wooden toy makers, the jam preserved makers, lots of things that other locals do. So that's also part of Workshop 26.
Jackie:Yeah, and that's so good and I know you've got markets and areas for pop-up shops and it's such, always innovative, I think, what comes out of Workshop 26. And I'm glad you mentioned Lisa too. I work quite closely with Lisa and the Rural Women's Day that gets hosted at Workshop 26 as a long lunch with long trestle tables down the space, the shed of Workshop 26, which I'm really excited for this year on October 13. With you, heather, what does it mean to have Lisa return home to being her mum, return to Kimba and bring her family back, and you've got your grandchildren there. It's been amazing.
Heather:Jackie, I remember a decade and a half ago I don't think my husband and I would have ever dreamed that any of our three children three adult children would come home to Kimba.
Heather:They are now all there and having Lisa involved with Workshop 26 is amazing. It takes the pressure off of all of us with her talents and we can't match that anyway. So it's added a whole other perspective to growing Workshop 26, what she contributes. And my younger daughter, Cassie, is involved with High Street Vintage so she helps me in my shed when we're sanding and painting and choosing which pieces need what colour or whether we're going to try and restore them to their original state etc. So having my two girls involved in my little business but then involved in workshop 26, I mean you know that's one of the the initial reasons. It was about increasing the vibrancy of our community and having something for our kids and our grandkids to keep the town alive. Workshop 26 was one of the attractions for her to move back, to know that things creative could happen in a little community, you know, no matter how far it was from the cities or whatever.
Jackie:No, that's incredible. And, danna, I guess, as a mum of four, how old are your children and what do you see as an opportunity for them in Kimber now?
Danna:So my eldest is 18 and then it's 16, 13 and 11.
Danna:So the kids love to come in with me occasionally, my youngest especially because he knows it's milkshakes at the coffee pot.
Danna:Zoe, she's a shearer so she doesn't are not able to come in very often, but she loves being on the Eyre Peninsula and she loves getting to know a lot of the families on the farms and it's interesting that when she does come into the workshop there's different farmers there she knows and she'll have a good old chat to them. It's just a good place just to even be. We have some oldies that come in Saturday morning. It's their little social time every Saturday morning and it's good for them, for their mental health and get them out of the house something to look forward to every week. And so that's one thing Workshop 26 does is bring people together, and my kids love to come on market days because they'll know other kids will be there and walk around together and I've had my husband in with the drill a couple of times doing a few bits and pieces and he's got to know some of the other husbands, so that's been lovely.
Jackie:It really is a community hub. Tell me, heather, is there room for expansion of Workshop 26, or are you quite happy with the size and space that you currently have?
Heather:Jackie, we've already the Batchen, as we call it, was something on a 10-year plan. Well, we jumped into that two years in. Something on a 10-year plan. Well, we jumped into that two years in. So we've ticked off a few expansion KPIs that we didn't expect to tick off quite so soon.
Heather:I think at the moment it's always great to look for different ways, innovative ways to do things differently, to bring new ideas. Actually, we don't have much problem with lots of ideas being generated. We're really good at that. I think the limiting factor is volunteering hours that are needed to venture further. That's probably our limiting factor at the moment and of course you need to be a bit mindful of budget. But we are always trying to think outside the square of different ways so that we're innovative and don't just do the same thing over and over again.
Heather:As far as expanding our area, there is a little more room out the back. We have increased our market area space with a really large carport four car carport, which the last market we had the stuff that had been made. It's a great space for the food and the drink and the live music and people to hang out. So we have expanded already far beyond those initial thoughts of what we would do and expansion could still be. There's still room out the back to go further. If we continue to grow At the current time, I would say that we've probably got our hands fairly full. October's a pretty hectic month with events happening and we're starting to attract more of the coach tours coming through. So, yeah, there's always something happening at Workshop 26.
Jackie:I guess if someone listened to this episode and was like, how could I do something like this in my own community, what would be your top three tips? So we'll start with you, heather.
Heather:The first, most important thing is to bring a good team together and a team with a certain amount of experience in other activities, not just in business. One thing we did really was setting it up legally correctly. That was really important. It couldn't just be a handshake makeshift type of thing, because we all knew that if this was going to last and we were investing significant dollars, I guess we were in a way donating significant dollars, but it needed to be cared for very well so that everybody was protected. So it was really important that we got good legal advice, that we set up good governance structures. So that really was a good basis.
Heather:I know all the fun bits of let's do, let's make pots and let's make soap and candles that's all fabulous. But make pots and let's make soap and candles, that's all fabulous, but it's got to have a really good governance and legal basis. So that would be my two points would be a fabulous team with lots of varied skills, so that you've got all bases covered, and then to make sure that you do it legally so that everybody's protected. And so we've set up two structures. There's the ownership structure, the landlord, so to speak, and then there's the Workshop 26, which is a not-for-profit incorporated body which rents the space from the landlords.
Jackie:And that would be my two tips legal structure, governance and the fabulous team to to make it all happen excellent, great tips and, yeah, dana from you how you would encourage someone, perhaps like yourself, that's looking for a creative outlet. What would you your tips to somebody that's making a start?
Danna:I think it's important to make something that you personally love so that you can keep inspired and keep going with it and you do it really, that you personally love doing it, not do it for someone else. And also, if you start selling something or creating something and you're all for it at the start but your love starts to go from after a while, that's quite okay. Change in a different direction. It took me a couple of years to actually find my niche of where I really wanted to be and what I wanted to sell. I mean, I started off with cooking and ended up in gardening, and so it took a little bit to get there. Halfway through that, I was selling enamelware and and toys. Be patient with yourself and and just follow your heart.
Danna:And I also think that sell what you personally love, what you like. Not sell something just perhaps suit someone else that might, so that they might buy it. Because I've found that if I've brought things in I don't really like but I thought, oh, someone might buy that, someone might like that, and then it doesn't sell and I'm stuck there looking at it. So just stick with what you really love and if you're not really sure, just start somewhere and just follow your gut instincts and your love.
Kirsten:And that's it for another episode of Ducks on the Pond. Thank you to Rural Women's Day for sponsoring this episode. You're welcome so weird I usually don't have the sponsor here. And thank you, of course, to our guests, Christy Holley from the Botanic House in Ngambi and Heather Baldock and Dana Kassebaum from Workshop 26 in.
Jackie:Kimba and, of course, rural Women's Day is at both of these locations. Workshop 26 is on October 13 and the Botanic House is one of our co-hosts at the Mitchelton Winery on October 4.
Kirsten:Hold up, we haven't started our sponsorship interview yet, sorry, right. Okay, now we have. Jackie Elliott is the founder of Rural Women's Day. Thank you for sponsoring our episode. What is Rural Women's Day all about?
Jackie:Rural Women's Day started in 2019 and I was really looking for an opportunity to meet women in the local area in Southwest Victoria, with the initial planning of having about 40 to 60 attendees. We had a sellout event of 170 attendees and that was in Dunkeld in Southwest Victoria. From that point, social media page grew, so our Instagram account kind of took off and then COVID started and of we couldn't really do any events, but I started collaborating with others and we had other women host events in other states that had lesser restrictions and reproduced a keepsake magazine in 2020 with a friend, georgie Morrison, and that really took off. Our social media and our connections across all over Australia and New Zealand took off. Our social media and our connections across all over Australia and New Zealand. So now Rural Women's Day this year for 2024, we've got 10 events across five states of Australia and it really did start as like a grassroots initiative. So I don't really know what I'm doing next year. We have some plans in place, but it has continued to grow.
Kirsten:That's not true Horsham 2025,. That's been booked for about seven years now, before you even started Rural Women's Day.
Jackie:That's true. So I know I've got one event lined up for next year, but I think, as far as how involved and what we're trying to achieve, so it's definitely about a face-to-face connection rather than social media is great, and particularly great to keep in touch and keep in contact and network and connect with friends who are, you know, geographically not near you. Yeah, bringing those women together for events within their communities that's sort of really the heart of Rural Women's Day is that face-to-face connection.
Kirsten:So in a sponsor interview I always ask what's your favorite bit of business advice? And you're a not-for-profit, so maybe it's more along those lines, but any kind of piece of advice that someone's given you or it could be a practical thing what's your one bit of advice you like to give people?
Jackie:If I could actually share two, I'd love to share two pieces. The first one would be getting someone who knows the ins and outs of business and the governance side of things to ensure that is spot on, because we had to do a changeover after about two years for Rural Women's Day and I wouldn't say it was difficult, but we definitely got the right person on board. She was a lawyer and more than happy to share details if anyone ever wants to reach out, but she was able to help us structure Raw Women's Day into a company limited by guarantee under a not-for-profit and that has been like a saving grace for us to be able to grow further than Victoria and into other states across Australia.
Jackie:The other part of business advice, or probably more so on a personal note, when you're starting out and doing something, don't be embarrassed or afraid that you're not making the money and able to pay yourself straight up front. You know things can be really slow to start with. I mean like I'm five years in and still a volunteer for Rural Women's Day and fortunately, with our new national partner, some of my time will be reimbursed. But it is something that fills my cup and yeah it's sometimes it's been hard financially, but I live within my means, I make it work. I would much prefer to take a cut on some other pay and actually be happy with what I'm doing than be miserable and really suffering mentally. So if you find something that brings you joy, gives you purpose, and even if it's not paying the big pucks and you're able to make it work, don't feel like you're a failure.
Kirsten:Great advice. Thank you, and really quickly where can we find you?
Jackie:Yeah, rural Women's Day is on Instagram most of the time, so at Rural Women's Day, or you can visit our website, and it is ruralwomensday. com. au.
Kirsten:Thanks guys, Thank you so much.
Jackie:And thanks for the episode. Thank you.
