Here’s what we’ll cover
Imagine increasing your sales by 400% in a 5 month period. As amazing as that sounds, imagine then how it feels when you do it in the middle of a pandemic. Then imagine doing it all while living smack bang in the centre of Australia’s harshest of lockdowns – in the city of Melbourne.
That’s exactly what Sarah Wilmott from Feel Better Box did. After 4 years of chipping away and growing her business slowly (but surely), Feel Better Box finally grew up – almost overnight.
The sole trader business, the mum working from home, home-schooling her young children, with her family becoming an instant team of packers and wrappers. Sarah’s ‘little’ business became a shoulder for so many Australians to lean on in their time of need.
We talk about what worked, what didn’t work. What she needs to do to keep the momentum going into 2021.
Links and Resources
- Checkout the Simply Smarter Numbers website HERE
- Checkout the Podcast HERE
- Checkout the Instagram page HERE
- Checkout the Feel Better Box website HERE
Keep Listening!
Here’s the shownotes
Jen Waterson
Today’s guest is the girl next door. The girl next door with a big heart and in the year of 2020 I suspect she’s come to realise how big her shoulders are too.
She’s carrying a big business that is growing exponentially since Covid hit us all this year. She’s a mum of young kids who she’s home-schooling, she’s running her business from home and she’s smack bang in the centre of Melbourne – the only city in Australia to be completely shut down by Coronavirus.
At the time of recording, these tough stage 4 restrictions have been in place for 5 weeks.
This girl next door is Sarah Wilmott who runs a business called ‘Feel Better Box’, specialising in get well gift boxes and baskets.
The business has been around for about 4 years but earlier this year, everything changed and right now it’s September 2020 and I want to actually start off our interview by reading out a piece of Sarah’s blog that she wrote in the beginning of April, right back at the very start of this Coronavirus mess. This is what Sarah wrote:
“It’s been two weeks, and so much has changed for us all, as for me and my little business, things have taken a turn for the extraordinary. It’s like I’ve spent the last 4 years building up to this horrendous moment in time. I’m sending care packages to family members who cannot fly home to their home countries, young teenagers quarantined on their own in hotels, young people in the prime of their lives suddenly finding themselves locked in the same four walls, the elderly doing the same, alone and doing it tough, or new mums alone without their tribe of support. Every day I see people’s mental health quiver and shake, I’ve been bought to tears knowing that someone has been given two months to live, and that two months is going to be in isolation and I’m sending them a care package. I’m sending care packages to those who are sick, recovering from illness or accident, but I’m sending so much more. I’m sending love and I’m sending strength. Now more than ever, people need a hug in a box, and my little business is bridging the gap that people are experiencing. I’ve never sent so many care packages in my life. I’ve never dreamt that my little service can bring help and joy to so many people in such a short period of time and I’m working every waking minute of every day. I have 5000 new boxes arriving next week and suddenly that’s not enough. I have corporate orders from companies I’ve never dreamed that I would work with and I’m stunned, thrilled and overwhelmed that Australia has chosen to lean on me”.
That little blog was written only two weeks in, today we’re five months in, and today we’re talking to Sarah Wilmott from ‘Feel Better Box’ about what has happened in her business over the past five months.
Welcome Sarah.
Sarah Wilmott
Thank you, I felt quite emotional listening to that. It felt like such a long time ago and also kind of close.
Jen Waterson
It does, it’s been a massive rollercoaster for all of us and for so many people, and for you in particular with your business.
Does it feel like it was five months ago or does it feel like it was an eternity ago?
Sarah Wilmott
I feel sometimes like every day is a week in itself so it feels like a long, long time ago actually. I almost felt like two weeks in I was so naïve, I didn’t know what was coming.
Jen Waterson
Yeah that’s such a good point to make.
We were all so naïve weren’t we right back at the very start?
I don’t know about you Sarah but there was a part of me that was always just like ‘it’ll blow over, this will be all done and dusted in a month and in six months’ time we’ll be thinking oh remember when..’
I guess I was really naïve in that regard.
Sarah Wilmott
Oh yeah.
At the very end of the last lockdown I even had my friend whose a photographer come around and take a picture of us all so I could hang it on my wall and be like yep that’s the time when we were all in lockdown and we all survived.
Jen Waterson
Yeah, little did you know that there was way more coming at you.
Sarah Wilmott
I’m definitely not doing that again and I feel like I jinxed it to some degree.
Jen Waterson
Tell us about yourself Sarah. Tell us about yourself, your business and where you come from, you’ve got a bit of an accent there, tell us about what it is you do in your wonderful little business.
Sarah Wilmott
I am English, I come from South-East London, but I have been here for 12 years and I’ve bumped around a bit, we were in Melbourne and then we moved to Sydney and it was in Sydney where my business began.
I had been made redundant from my job when I was pregnant so it was all pretty sad and everything but my husband was travelling interstate and all my family were in Melbourne or London and I got really sick with my children, and it was pretty miserable. It was bad enough for me to think god that week was awful what would’ve made me feel better?
That was really just the start of my future I guess to some degree because I thought about care packages.
I knew loads of people that didn’t have family around them just like me and that was basically the start of Feel Better Box.
Since then I have been putting together care packages that I felt like people needed. For example answering the question of what do you do when you want to do something but you don’t know what to do? Or someone’s sick so what do you do or what do you send?
Jen Waterson
Yeah. You can send flowers can’t you but it’s just not the same. It’s personal but not quite as personal do you think?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah, I mean flowers are the number one go to in my opinion but when you’re at the hospital or at home and you’ve got 12 baskets of flowers, I guess it’s nice to have that one thing that’s slightly different.
Something you can do, eat or entertain. I think that’s where my business comes into play especially in these times. What do you do when you’re at home, you’re sad you can’t do anything, you’ve watched Netflix for a billion hours straight? Maybe a colouring card, or a puzzle or an activity or a book. Just something different.
I feel like that’s what Feel Better Box is about, just that alternative gift.
Jen Waterson
Yeah and it’s actually been amazing timing with your business.
I don’t know about you but I really think that timing is one of those things that can make or break a business that do go far, those businesses that really do make it.
Your timing is not something that you could’ve ever predicted, none of us ever could’ve predicted that.
I said earlier on in that piece of your blog that I read out earlier in the introduction, you said you feel like you’ve spent the last four years building up to this horrendous moment in time. I would love to know what you mean by that, what is it that you’ve been doing over the past four years and to now be here successfully growing your business exponentially over the past few months with what’s going on in the world?
Sarah Wilmott
The fours what I meant was I had been chipping away bit by bit, tiny bits.
When I started I had my children so I couldn’t really do as much as I possibly could because I still had them to look after. When I did find business, I had to put the hard yards in for the business to come to me.
I spent a lot of time learning SEO and key words, making sure that people could find me when they were looking for a business like a get well soon gift or a hamper to cheer someone up so I guess I’ve been gradually chipping away.
I’ve been in Facebook groups and I’ve been spreading the word and I’ve been sending care packages and all of those little steps have gotten me to a place where all of a sudden when everyone needs me, they can find me.
Jen Waterson
That makes perfect sense, it’s almost like come on, come at me world, I’m ready for you.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah, I’m not entirely sure if I was completely ready for it but that’s okay.
Jen Waterson
Perhaps we might touch on that a little bit later, what it was that you were not ready for.
But yeah, you have been chipping away at this, your business has been live for four years, has it been full time for the whole four years?
Sarah Wilmott
Not at all, I probably has a few hours here and there every week to begin with and I guess I was waiting for my children to get to the point where they were going to school and then I would have more time, which is true, my sons in year one now so I’ve had one full year, last year and this year which most of the time they’ve been at home but the reality is that when they’re at school it’s only six hours a day give or take, still not enough but it’s better than it was before when it was 5-10 hours.
Jen Waterson
Yeah, so you’ve done what you can with the time that you’ve had available and now you’re able to capitalise on all of that.
So when I say you’ve grown your business exponentially, you were kind enough to send me through some numbers and we’ve had a look at the growth your business has experienced over this time, and you’ve actually increased the number of boxes.
So let’s get this clear, you sell boxes of goods where I can get on your website, I can order a box, you have so many boxes Sarah they’re amazing too, I’ve been like oh my god I want to find somebody that needs one of these boxes, one of my friends and I’m going to send them one for sure. They’re amazing.
So you’re selling boxes, I’m on your website, I order a box and you forward it on to the lucky recipient. So we can talk about your business in terms of number of boxes.
You have increased the number of boxes that you have sold by 400% in the last five months. That’s amazing Sarah, how does that make you feel?
Sarah Wilmott
I know I still can’t believe it, it’s just me, my small little business. Up until two months ago I was still just a sole trader working out of my home.
I can’t really believe I’ve had this opportunity but I’m hoping I’ve made the best possible use of this opportunity and the best service and the best help that I could which extends to everybody that needed it.
It makes me very happy.
Jen Waterson
Just to actually get to the point where you’ve been chipping away at this thing for years now and yes it’s working and yes I’m selling things that I want to sell but to actually be there at a time and be ready for the time that has come upon us so quickly and what you’re doing is helping people pick up the emotional blocks, the emotional connections that people are missing, you’re connecting people when they most need it and that must add a whole new level, a whole new emotional level.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah gosh, we handwrite all the gift cards so we feel it, we feel every word. We can tap into that emotion or that distance or pain or scared, all those things that people are feeling, we kind of took on and it felt like a weight to some degree which sounds a bit silly but it felt like I was involved.
Especially when people write notes to me and say ‘my sisters in isolation and she’s got cancer’, like oh my god the pain I felt, it’s just heartbreaking.
Jen Waterson
Talk us through some of those personal situations that you’ve been coming across.
So you’re actually, I guess in the same wave if I was to call somebody and get some flowers delivered to somebody, I would say this is what I want you to write on the card, and you’re writing some really deep and meaningful cards for people.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah I could really tap in. I felt like I had a little magnifying glass, or a little window into other people’s worlds and other people’s lives.
I guess not everybody else has that opportunity and it was overwhelming but at the same time it felt amazing because they’re trusting me with this situation where I can help brighten their day and occasionally I would get emails from the recipient and say your box just moved me to tears I can’t believe you have this business and thank you.
I’ve received some really amazing emails lately which makes it all worth it really.
Jen Waterson
It does because it’s one thing to be able to say I’ve sold 400% more boxes in the last five months which from a business perspective is an amazing headline and achievement it’s like wow blow your mind business-wise but then to receive this kind of feedback at an emotional level from people who are so emotional and isolated and alone and suffering in their own unique ways you get to have that emotional connection.
You’re right, we do miss that on a lot of transactions that we do have online, there is that element of emotion that’s missing a lot of the time isn’t it?
Sarah Wilmott
That’s right, I’m sure a lot of other businesses have a little bit of an insight but I feel like I get more of the story and the window and the heartache and also, even stuff like when Covid started I started receiving orders for nurses, my clientele completely changed.
It added a whole new window for the brand rather than to just get sent a gift. People were sending ‘cheer up’ or birthdays in isolation which you want to celebrate but you send them a Feel Better Box like a care package instead.
I slightly adapted my boxes since isolation, I send them for birthdays, also ‘sorry I know your wedding was meant to be this day’.
Jen Waterson
That’s such a sad one, so many people’s weddings and such beautiful exciting times in their lives, and then I hate to even mention it but the things that people are going through with funerals.
Sarah Wilmott
That’s right.
I got a lot of them sympathy care packages and heartbreak, I just want to give you a hug, I’m sending you this as a hug because that’s all I can do right now.
Jen Waterson
Yeah, so it’s an emotional business that you’re in you’re feeling the weight of the emotion, you’re working extraordinary hours I imagine.
Tell me Sarah, what does a week look like in the life of Sarah right now?
Sarah Wilmott
I’ve been getting up slower because of Covid so we’ve been having a more slow start which is nice, we have breakfast with the kids and get them set up around their home schooling and then 9am hits me, if not earlier because my phone starts ringing.
But I have my mum, my dad and my sister, they’ve been working with me this whole time. They helped me anyway but now they help me more than ever.
I’m so lucky and it gets them out as well because they’ve got a job and they’re working and have got something to actually do. We call them the A-team. So they arrive and my Dad does the labels and my mum starts packing the boxes and everybody has a job that they like or they want to do.
I guess my job is taking the phone calls, I have another lady in Sydney who does my customer service, she’s amazing.
To me, customer service is everything so she takes a lot of the enquiries online and I take a lot of the phone calls and I speak to a lot of companies because a lot of companies have been sending their teams and businesses care packages to perk them up and say hey guys this is a tough year but you’re doing awesome and thank you.
My role is around business development but the businesses are coming to me which is extraordinary really. I’ve had lots of people come to me.
So I have my team of three people plus Susie and Kendall. I have all these people working for me and they’re overrunning the business and then I get the extra business coming in the door and make sure we’ve got all the stock, ordering new stock, packing down the stock that hasn’t arrived, ordering new boxes, all of those new processes. It’s been a lot.
Jen Waterson
Yeah so many different things.
If that’s what’s worked in your business that you’ve sold a lot of boxes, you’ve increased by 400% in five months. You’ve obviously got an amazing network of family around you to support and help you grow that business.
What hasn’t worked?
Has there been any hiccups along the way? There must’ve been if the business is going to grow that quickly and unexpectedly, what’s gone wrong?
Sarah Wilmott
I’ll start with my boxes because that one hurt me the most, I ordered new boxes in February and they arrived in the middle of April which was great because I had just ran out, it was like touch and go, would I make it or not? I started using them but I realised that I had 3000 boxes, the shipping boxes, that didn’t fit. I had waited eight weeks for them to arrive, I had all my hamper boxes and all of these orders coming in but I don’t have a shipping box to put them in. Oh my god that was painful.
That was the gift that kept on giving but anyway that got sorted out.
Jen Waterson
How do you deal with something like that? So Is there systems you can put in place to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future or is it just plain old human error?
Sarah Wilmott
Yep, it was complete human error.
They fixed it, it was fine but I had to wait a certain amount of time for them to send new ones so I had to patch it up with other boxes that didn’t fit but they were the next best thing because it was that or nothing.
I would say I’ve got a lot of skill in problem solving that I never I knew I had.
Jen Waterson
Yeah it’s amazing when your backs put against the wall, what you can come up with isn’t it?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah for sure it’s extraordinary.
That was April and since then other things like I was expecting a bit stock item and it took a tour around the country rather than come here and I had to email everybody and say I’m sorry it’s coming, I could replace the item or I can refund the box or we could wait.
I just had to keep it open, honest and transparent and say I’ve got a problem but I can fix it.
Jen Waterson
And I guess that’s what you have to do, being part of customer service, is being able to say okay everything hasn’t gone as smoothly or as perfectly as it normally does and I’m putting my hand up and just letting you know that.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah and you have to, that’s what I would expect.
It didn’t happen too often to be honest I was really lucky it was just those times when I saw something had sold out and I had to take it off the website but there would be the odd box that caught me out and I would have to contact the customer.
On a whole we did really well, it was stressful waiting for parcels to come but they came eventually, I didn’t lose anything.
Even though Australia post has a bad reputation I use their express network and I don’t think we lost one parcel. I think they’re amazing.
Jen Waterson
And that’s who you use? So logistically have you tried other companies and had different experiences good and bad?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah I did try and use a courier for mother’s day, I just thought they would be more reliable, they were a really big company and it just did not work out that way.
I put them in the post at the right time I gave them lots of time, it said the delivery day would be this day and it wasn’t so I was like I should’ve just used Australia post.
Jen Waterson
What other issues have come up along the way?
Did you already have your VA before you started? You said you’ve got somebody up in Sydney helping you out with customer support so you already had that started before you started preparing for this unknown business.
Your SEO was already sorted on your website because SEO with a business like yours I imagine is extremely important, and everything had been tested out, your website had been live for a quite a while so you really were ready for everything?
Sarah Wilmott
There was one thing I wasn’t ready for and it was the way I did the postal labels. It was basically like I had an order and I had to cut and paste it into my Post business and so every order was like cut and paste all the details, name, number, address, so I was like this isn’t going to fly, we need to find another way.
I found a couple of different ways to do it so I’ve just been using the Australia post, my post business system but they called me the other day and said you’ve sent in too many parcels now you have to mover over to e-parcel.
Jen Waterson
Yeah so that’s part of what happens when you do grow a business really quickly.
I always say the little things that are causing you a little bit of grief or a little bit of pain or the annoying things like perhaps when you were sending a couple hundred boxes a month or whatever, cutting and pasting people’s names and addresses over for the labels were like oh that’s annoying but that’s just how we do it.
But when you increase the number of boxes you’re selling by 400%, that is all of a sudden magnified, it’s so big so there’s always those little things that we need to have a real look at and say okay well what can we shine a torch on here and say okay if I need to do that times 100% or times 400% and not every business is going to grow 400% in five months but if we were to double what we’re doing today, is that particular thing we’re doing in our business going to be a source of pain.
If the answer is yes then we need to change it, we don’t wait to grow and then go I should’ve done that because then it becomes such a big chore to change doesn’t it?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah, I didn’t even realise it was that much of a problem until the numbers started to get out of control but yeah I guess I was just happy plodding along.
I guess we’re all just happy plodding along for now and just working on the exciting things and put the processes and the boring things at the back of our minds.
Jen Waterson
Yeah exactly.
What are the exciting things for you? Because we’re all different and we all have strengths and weaknesses. I don’t know about you but I am certainly but there are certain things that I draw to in my business and there things I can’t stand doing. What are things that you know you need to outsource to other people?
Sarah Wilmott
At the moment what I outsource is my social media on Instagram. I know you should keep a presence but I just haven’t got the brain to keep posting on their and I’m not a routine person, I’m like routine adverse.
To have that routine set up every week to post or set up a post is just not my skill set.
I have an amazing girl that helps me, the things she posts I’m like oh I would’ve said that. She’s awesome.
And then my VA she helps with customer service not because I don’t like t but because the self-control for me to not rely to all of my emails is extraordinary.
Jen Waterson
Yeah but there’s probably a better use of your time I guess at the end of the day if you can outsource that and she’s doing such a wonderful job.
So you’ve had your mum and your sister who’ve been in the background helping you with packaging and parcels and wrapping is that right?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah that’s right. I guess that was the next thing for me to outsource when we became really, really busy.
Then when we went back into stage 3 lockdown and I got shingles I realised that I’m actually way more involved in running the business than I probably should be. If a bus ran me over tomorrow then it would just switch my business off so I need to have like an apprentice or someone that does what I do.
Because I was a sole trader for so long and it was just me and I do everything, but now it’s got this bit of growth, it’s still all about me really and I need to train somebody else to cover me.
Jen Waterson
Yeah, and you’re on top of that, if you get sick then you’ve got somebody else that can step in and take over.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah so my sister can do it, my parent can do it but there’s all the other things like ordering, the relationships, knowing how much to order. I’m sure it’s just a process, I’m just not a process person. I just need somebody to sit me down and go right this is the process for someone else to do then we just need to get somebody else to do it and take me out of it.
Jen Waterson
Yeah and it might just be a case of getting through this crazy busy period and then at the end of it all, so your crazy busy period I guess will die down at some point maybe but if it doesn’t, I’m assuming you don’t want to keep working the crazy hours you’re working so at some point you do need to sit down and say okay what can we take off my plate, who else do we need to bring in, what can stop doing, there might be things that you can just say I really don’t need to be doing that, that’s something we can just completely push to the side so yeah I guess at some point.
As we’re speaking now in Australia it’s Father’s day on Sunday so you’ve been super busy getting ready for Father’s day I imagine?
Sarah Wilmott
It’s funny in my business I don’t actually send that many father’s day boxes I don’t know if many hamper companies do. It’s funny.
Jen Waterson
Isn’t that interesting because I actually had a look at your father’s day boxes and I thought they’re amazing.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah I always try because it’s worth a try right?
But nah I get more cheer up care packages and the get well soon sort of area.
Jen Waterson
So how has it changed you as a business owner? This massive growth, what’s it done for you as a business owner? Has it changed you at all do you think?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah I feel like it’s given me more confidence. It’s certainly hard not to have confidence when so many people have reached out to me and put their trust in me and my business and it’s made me think I’m not just winging it, I can actually do it and I know what to do and I know what people might like to send.
It’s given me more fire in my belly, and more drive and more ideas and more goals than I’ve ever had before.
Jen Waterson
It’s amazing how motivating success can be.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah who knew? I’m full prepared for it all to calm down again which is totally fine but I’m definitely going to miss that adrenaline and excitement that it has felt like when I’ve smashed goals that I never thought I would smash in my life in such a small period of time.
I guess for me, I know that it is slowing down and I saw it from last Thursday it just suddenly started to tailor off, which is fine I’m good with that but it gives my mind time to settle and then grow new ideas so I’m going to try and push for Christmas this year which is something I’ve never done before.
Jen Waterson
Okay yeah. What have you typically done in the past? Has it been just the get well packages and sympathy, those types of things?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah, that was basically how I started out and my sole purpose but I feel like this time has given me the confidence that people see it as a brand rather than a type business.
Jen Waterson
Yeah so now you’re feeling the confidence to move into special occasions?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah a different side of the business that I’ve never done before. I might not call it Feel Better Box when it’s a celebration I might try and change it a little bit but it will come under the umbrella still.
Jen Waterson
Yeah exactly it’s all marketing and you’ll come up with some brilliant ideas, I know you will.
The packages you’ve got on there are just amazing, I’ve looked through some of them the other day and though oh I might just send one of them to myself, why not?
Sarah Wilmott
Some people do, not very often but some people do and I love that some people are like you know what you deserve this, and I’m like sure you do.
I always add something extra as well because I think it’s nice to add an extra something even though it’s just for themselves.
Jen Waterson
Yeah, I actually read something about that in one of you blogs, you said that if someone send something to themselves you’ll put in something a little extra so that they know that somebody other than themselves is thinking about them if that makes sense. I thought that’s so sweet.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah I think it’s such a shame that no one else sent it to them so I want to make them smile.
Jen Waterson
I love that.
A couple of questions before we finish up, what do you know that you need to get in order before you grow too much?
You have grown a lot, and if you were to give some advice to other people around growing their business and what they need to get in order before growing their businesses, would there be a couple of specific practical things you would suggest? Whether it’s looking to outsource your team members or sorting out your book keeping, whatever it might be, have you got anything that you could tell others that might be on the cusp of growing?
Sarah Wilmott
My suggestion would be something I haven’t properly done yet, which is something I need to do, make sure you’ve got all your procedures down pat.
If you’ve got everything so that you could walk out of your business and someone else could pick up a piece of paper that says all the procedures and they’re bullet proof then I think that you’re set to be okay to grow because everybody can do the jobs, everybody can get on without you and then you can work on the next big thing.
Jen Waterson
I couldn’t agree more with you, it’s the boring stuff, don’t you feel like it’s the boring stuff?
I feel like I’m always saying to people, we need to dig into every step, every process that you’re taking to do x or to do y, and to systemise it.
But it’s the boring stuff and we don’t want to do the boring stuff, we want to do the fancy website and we want to do the rebrand and we want to do all of the fun social media stuff but when it comes to growing a strong, sustainable, successful business, it comes down to the uninteresting stuff and the boring stuff as well doesn’t it?
Sarah Wilmott
So true and it’s in the back of my head because I read Janine’s book from Boost and she was all about processes. I know it’s there, I just need to do it now.
Jen Waterson
So procedures, that’s the main thing that you would say to someone who hasn’t grown yet but are about to or looking too, that’s their next best thing, those procedures?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah definitely, I’m not too sure what else I’m still such a small business, I’m still in that I need to step out of the sole trader mentality and look for growth.
Jen Waterson
It’s almost like you haven’t had time isn’t it?
Sarah Wilmott
I haven’t had time to just sit down and debrief, but for me I think my future is I don’t know what next year will bring. I can’t be too ahead of myself and go yay just because I’ve been successful in this small period of time, doesn’t mean it’s going to translate next year.
I hope it does.
Jen Waterson
Yeah tread cautiously, move forward with intelligent smart moves and make decisions based on real information so I guess at some point you are going to have to do a real debrief about the numbers in your business, you’ll have to sit down and do the debrief on your pricing, margins, suppliers that you’re using and everything that goes with it and say okay where can we tighten the screws in our business to really make sure that next year we may not have the same huge level of sales but find that comfortable profitable level.
What about do you have any other final pieces of advice to others out there?
Sarah Wilmott
I guess I wanted to say that you might see people running businesses but we don’t all know what we’re doing. I feel like I’m still walking around in a dark room.
I see someone in business and think they’re doing amazing and they know so much more than me but do they? I don’t know, I think we’re all human, normal people. I
’ve found the thing that I love and I’m good at it.
I don’t want anybody to think that I’m better than anybody else and I don’t think other people who are running businesses are better than us really, when you get down and have coffee with them we’ve all got the same fears and goals to some degree.
Also, we’re all running our won race. I think that’s important because your point in time is different to somebody else.
Somebody else could want to start a hamper business who have got small children but in four years’ time who knows? So run your own race is all I think.
Jen Waterson
Yeah, such good advice. So what’s the next step in your business? What do you know you need to do the minute you’re able to draw breathe and find time?
Sarah Wilmott
Other than the procedures, I would like to chase the Christmas dream and help send care packages for Christmas.
I want to give this year one final push, I think we’ll be in lockdown for a little bit longer. I still think people need to be cheered up, loved and reached out too. So this year I see it as my final big push and then I’ll put down the tools in January, recoup and start on my year ahead marketing and planning and seeing what next year bring with the economy and everything else.
Jen Waterson
I think, from a marketing perspective, so you’re in Melbourne but I am in regional Victoria so I’m in stage 3 myself, but because I’m regional I have a lot more freedom, how do you feel when you see the rest of country out and having get together and having lunch? I find it really exiting but a little bit of your heart breaks every time like I just want to do that.
Sarah Wilmott
It’s extraordinary I can’t get over it, like the whole of the country except for us it feels like everyone’s been invited to the party except me.
Jen Waterson
Yeah that’s exactly what it feels like.
I guess it’s a hard one, I’m just on the fringe of it. I’m not going through what you guys are going through but you’re right it’s just this big party and we’ve been uninvited.
Sarah Wilmott
It just feels unfair, like I did all the right things the first time and I still hardly went out in between.
Jen Waterson
It is such a hard one but I guess there’s an opportunity for everybody in other states, to say if you know anyone in Victoria get in touch with Feel Better Box and send them something because we’ve probably stopped complaining now but we’re still in pain.
Sarah Wilmott
That’s right, we’re just hanging out for Sundays news to see what will happen I think.
Jen Waterson
Let’s pray for good news on Sunday.
At the time of recording we’re a few days off hearing what our premier has to say about restrictions being eased or continued. Unfortunately it doesn’t look great at this point but we will wait and see.
Sarah thank you so much for jumping on the show. I loved having you, it was great to chat with you, you’re a very down to earth person, I’m glad we met.
I didn’t say at the very start whether it was at a Business Chicks event or something?
Sarah Wilmott
It wasn’t actually, it was Angela Henderson’s.
Jen Waterson
Yeah that’s it, a marketing event with Angela Henderson and then we crossed paths at Business Chicks a while later.
Either way I’m glad I crosses paths with you because you’re a great person doing wonderful things. I’m glad to have met you and I look forward to catching up in person when can get out of the house.
For those in the meantime wanting to hear a little bit more about what you do or jump onto your website and have a look at those amazing boxes, or those non-Victorians who want to cheer up their Victorian friends and send them a Feel Better Box, where can people find you?
Sarah Wilmott
Mostly at my website Feelbetterbox.com.au I am on social media but you can check out my boxes on my website.
Jen Waterson
Yeah and everything on your social media I imagine is Feel Better Box as well?
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah we’re all about it.
Jen Waterson
Great.
Well thank you so much for jumping on. Super excited to have had this conversation with you and I’m really keen to see where to from here for Sarah and Feel Better Box and maybe we should follow this up in 12 months’ time to see what you did differently and how it came out because I think there’s going to be things in store for you and your not so little business.
Sarah Wilmott
Yeah I’m excited to see but thank you so much for having me on.
Jen Waterson
Thanks very much.
Wherever you’re listening in the world, have a fantastic week and think about the people who doing it a little tough, in isolation, in illness, loneliness, think about them and maybe jump on Feel Better Box and send them something wonderful.
We’ll talk again soon, bye.
