Wendyl Nissen and The Icehouse Part 2: Charging Forward

At Wendyl’s we’ve been very busy implementing the first part of our business plan. We are six months into our work with The Icehouse and we have successfully re-branded. We have changed from Wendyl’s Green Goddess to simply Wendyl’s and we have a much more simple, easy to navigate website – check it out at http://www.wendyls.co.nz. And most importantly we have changed the design of all our labels to take them from their heritage, brown paper, Whole Earth look to a more colourful, simple, younger look.

Our all-natural cleaning and beauty products now look capable of growing into a bigger, younger market and finally have a website to support it. Yet we have still retained the essence of our brand which is honesty and trust. We have added the tagline to all our products which says: “Handmade by us, for you, since 2009, Wendyl and Daniel.” And we still provide the recipe for all our products- the only difference is they are now on the website rather than on the label!

My son Daniel and I would not have had the confidence to do this monumental change if it hadn’t been for our Icehouse mentor Debra Chantry who has met with us every two weeks and gently pushed us to meet our own deadlines which we would have stretched had it been up to us. She also encouraged us to take some risks (getting a bank loan to do the re-brand). But most importantly she was there to listen when we said: “This is all too much, it’s doing our head in!”

Because the thing about changing your business for the better is that a) it is hard relentless work and b) it is just plain scary.

So Debra’s role expanded ever so subtly from giver of information, common sense and advice, to supportive social worker, giving me and Daniel much needed hugs and pats on the back when we were lacking confidence.

We look forward to our fortnightly meetings with Debra because she can help us see ourselves from the outside when we are so involved with the inside day to day workings. We’re not business analysts and have tended to organically grow from one crisis to the other. Now we have data to analyse and can see trends and good news on the horizon.

Now, we need to take our new look and find the new customers it was intended for.

We know we have a secure, loyal customer base in my age group which is women 40 and older. Now we need to target customers in the younger age group of 18-30 to which my son Daniel belongs.

These are the young professionals who care more about the environment than any other generation before them. They don’t mind paying a bit extra for a product which is trusted and will help the planet. They regard the extra expense as something they should pay for as responsible citizens.

So now, with Debra’s help, we’ll be hiring a marketing coach.

This blog post is written by Wendyl Nissen, owner of Wendyl's all natural cleaning products.

Read the rest of Wendyl's story:

• Wendyl Nissen and The Icehouse Part 1: A Confident Start
• Wendyl Nissen and The Icehouse Part 2: Charging Forward
• Wendyl Nissen and The Icehouse Part 3: Success