Full Transcript for Developing Luxury Products on a Shoo String: How Gill Taylor grew one of South Africa's most loved brands

00:04:04,600 So it's really thinking about that, the whole movement of your dog with you all at all times. 65 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,200 But you're also thinking about its looks, right? 66 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,560 These are not just functional items. 67 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,840 This is also a bit more like an accessory, right? 68 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,760 Where if I have one of these, it looks like a beautiful item. 69 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:24,520 So I think what's really interesting is combining functionality with like a layer of creativity. 70 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,720 And is that part of what differentiates Petite French? 71 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:28,720 100%. 72 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:35,160 So we also, you know, our market really cares about what their dogs look like. 73 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,840 They are essentially an extension of themselves. 74 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:44,680 So we are creating and designing products that really complement people's style. 75 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:51,000 A lot of dog products in the market are quite ugly to say the least. 76 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,360 And yeah, so we try to add that like proper design elements to the stuff and also make 77 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,040 it functional and also make it comfortable for the dogs. 78 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,400 And is that why you manufacture, you know, in Cape Town? 79 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:11,680 Is it, I can imagine, obviously there is cost advantages to manufacturing in China at scale. 80 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:17,240 But what is it about manufacturing locally that supports your brand? 81 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:24,960 So I believe that Cape Town and South Africa has such incredible skills when it comes to 82 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:30,760 craftsmanship and creating like beautiful products and the creative side of that as 83 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:31,760 well. 84 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:36,560 And there's obviously huge benefits in manufacturing in South Africa and Rands and being able to 85 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,040 export and sell in dollars or pounds abroad. 86 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,440 And we also obviously have all the different trade agreements with various countries to 87 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,760 export duty and tax free. 88 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:48,480 So there's a massive advantage. 89 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,360 We also able to manufacture small quantities here. 90 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,280 So as a small brand, I'm able to try out different things, test them, make some small 91 00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:59,040 quantities. 92 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:05,680 And the plan is then to kind of do that as long as I can and start exporting while doing 93 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:06,680 so. 94 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:11,960 But obviously there is going to be a tipping point where the manufacturers here just can't 95 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,360 do the quantities that are required. 96 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:19,280 And

obviously if that's the case, then I'll start looking at broad for the manufacturers. 97 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:24,240 But for now, there's a benefit to it and I do believe in it. 98 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:31,240 Now this is not your first rodeo in terms of making this type of product. 99 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:38,200 But you know, so I'm well aware that previously you were part of growing shoes shoes in South 100 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:39,200 Africa. 101 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:40,200 Let's get a little bit into that. 102 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,360 But first, you know, I have a lot of personal love for the shoes brand. 103 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:49,440 I mean, my kids, they're now my son is eight and my daughter's six, so that kind of out 104 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:50,760 of those sizes, I think. 105 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,560 But really as toddlers, that's all they were. 106 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:58,360 We just bought shoe shoes, you know, every single type for them. 107 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:04,760 And they were great looking shoes, really, really well suited to kids of that age. 108 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,840 And you know, look good and we're not too expensive. 109 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:12,280 You know, you could go and buy like some Nike or Edidas shoe, which wasn't really anyway 110 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,920 that comfortable for them. 111 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:20,160 But shoes was like for me, such an incredible brand or market positioning. 112 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,600 Just like, well, that's the only thing we're going to buy. 113 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:24,960 Why buy anything else? 114 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,560 So that's my personal experience of it. 115 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:33,200 I'm sure behind the facade, not so easy to do all of that. 116 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:34,200 Let's go back to the beginning. 117 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:38,400 Tell us about the shoe shoe story, how you got into it and what were some of the challenges 118 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:39,400 along the way? 119 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:44,560 Cool, yeah, so I was at a NASPA startup. 120 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:49,040 I actually started as a buyer with the machine group and hated corporate. 121 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:54,080 I just hated being put into a box and didn't last there very long. 122 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:59,480 And I ended up heading over to a NASPA startup in the kids industry, baby industry. 123 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,800 I was heading up there buying and they're sourcing and came across a brand called shoe 124 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:04,800 shoes. 125 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:11,040 I absolutely fell in love with the product and just felt like with a bit of love and 126 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:19,160 the correct branding and a bit of time and effort, it could be something really special. 127 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,600 So my fiance and I at the time were looking for something to do together. 128 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,200 We were

both business minded and had that on top of my mindset. 129 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,760 So we originally approached the owners to possibly distribute the brand for them abroad. 130 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:38,640 And two meetings ended up in us agreeing to do a due diligence to buy the company. 131 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:44,280 So we bought the business together and took it over in 2016. 132 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,120 And yeah, so that's how we got into it. 133 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:54,960 Okay, so you guys took it over and then it was just easy from there, like international 134 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,640 expansion, brands and so forth. 135 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:02,680 But tell me a little bit about like, so what are the main problems in a business like that 136 00:09:02,680 --> 00:09:04,320 when you're taking it over in the beginning? 137 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,760 What were the first things that you guys really had to solve? 138 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:14,320 Yeah, so I think obviously so exciting when you buy your first business. 139 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,960 So much like excitement and giddiness. 140 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,960 And yeah, I think the first day we walked into the factory was it was just difficult 141 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,960 and challenges from day one. 142 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:33,920 I think just off the get go, we took over the company, walked into the warehouse, opened 143 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:39,320 up our emails and found that we'd lost our biggest distributor. 144 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,840 So that was day one. 145 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:47,280 And I think then what also ended up happening very early on was we realized that the amount 146 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:52,280 of shoes that we were told in the due diligence, the factory was producing every month was 147 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:53,480 not nearly possible. 148 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,120 So that's through all of our costings out. 149 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,320 That's through everything out. 150 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:02,760 So yeah, so it was quite tough from day one. 151 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,320 And then I think we did a rebrand. 152 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:11,280 We hadn't the range hadn't been updated in about 14 years. 153 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:12,600 Just running the same shoes. 154 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:20,240 So we decided to immediately do ranges, seasonal ranges, develop new lab colored letters. 155 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:21,240 We introduced seasons. 156 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,360 So we introduced winter and summer, which they never done before. 157 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:29,600 So sandals and summer and boots and winter, which was amazing. 158 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,000 It took off. 159 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:36,320 We had distributors abroad that we managed to bring on board. 160 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:42,200 And then the challenge of that was actually being young and inexperienced, keeping the 161 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,600 distributors in check with boundaries. 162 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,440 One of the issues that happened was each distributor from a different region liked specific shoes 163 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:50,520 from a specific range. 164 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,480 So we just kept them running because they just wanted to read all of those. 165 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:58,720 And I think in the end, we ended up with such a wide range of shoes and products. 166 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:04,880 And it was incredibly difficult to manage, incredibly difficult to, we were just keeping 167 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:10,200 such a huge leather stock room with all the colors in case they reordered replants. 168 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:14,160 So yeah, so that was one of the challenges. 169 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:20,240 Some of the exciting things was we built the factory up to 50 staff, all the exporting, 170 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,600 the rebrand that we did was amazing and very well received. 171 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,040 Oppositioning was done really well. 172 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:34,080 And I managed to negotiate to deal with Disney, which was one of the highlights of my career. 173 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,360 But that came with all of its own set of challenges. 174 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:44,080 One of them was we had to commit to royalties for an entire year of what we estimated the 175 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:46,720 sales to be with a minimum, of course. 176 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,240 So that was a massive cash flow sack. 177 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:58,080 And then we were only able to access the design files from day one of our contract starting. 178 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:04,080 So got the design files, day one, designed our shoes, how we always do, and tried to 179 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:05,080 submit them. 180 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:06,800 And they were just like, no, there's absolutely no way. 181 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:12,360 It was like skew Mickey's, you know, hand cut and not accepted at all. 182 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:17,720 So we then had to go back to the drawing board and ended up having to bring in a very expensive 183 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,240 laser cutting machine from abroad. 184 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,040 So that took a month and a half to get here. 185 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:30,400 So that was a month and a half out of our year's contract of sales that just got lost. 186 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:39,360 And then we brought in the laser machine and also just more challenge being thrown on top 187 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:40,360 of this. 188 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:45,000 We actually had a break in at our factory in Ossary shortly after buying the laser machine. 189 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:51,520 And the guys decided to knock the sink off of the wall and flood the place. 190 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,280 And we nearly lost the laser machine that we just brought in. 191 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,320 So

yeah, so that came with a lot of challenges. 192 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,640 And it was also a big learning curve. 193 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,440 It's all nice and wild to do these massive deals and agreements. 194 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,080 But at the end of the day, when you're a small business, there's so much red tape to try 195 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:11,560 and get around that just ends up killing the deal. 196 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:17,520 So yeah, so that was one of the lessons and challenges with Shushu's. 197 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,680 Another really big, exciting moment that happened for us was we managed to sign Bye Bye Baby 198 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:23,920 in the US as a retailer. 199 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:25,840 And I mean, they're absolutely massive. 200 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:32,040 They have about as many stores in one state as Toys R Us has in the whole of South Africa. 201 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,200 So it was a really, really big deal. 202 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:39,760 And after a lot of red tape and signing up, we ended up having to walk away from the deal 203 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:45,480 because we couldn't afford the insurance needed to cover ourselves under the children and 204 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:50,400 baby liability in the US that was needed for the order. 205 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,880 So you are another thing you think is a South African business or a small brand. 206 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:55,400 Let's go for it. 207 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,720 They sign these deals and then you do. 208 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:03,000 And it just can't happen because we're too small. 209 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Yeah. 210 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:09,960 Now, just let this go into one of those moments, I'm sure there was times where you were, I 211 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:14,000 don't know, maybe at the factory and had to go into a room to scream. 212 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,880 Yeah, tell us a bit of what is it like personally? 213 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,920 Because we all know that these are real challenges, cash flow. 214 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:24,800 You just said you signed a big deal. 215 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:25,800 Everything's wonderful. 216 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:26,800 Great. 217 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:27,800 We're going to make so much money. 218 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,520 I'm sure the staff is all excited. 219 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:30,520 Everybody's excited. 220 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,880 Then you realize, oh, we can't start the work until the first day and then we got to pay 221 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:40,160 millions out upfront, taking on huge amounts of risk, all that pressure on top of you. 222 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:43,400 And then something like, OK, well, I still need to buy a laser machine. 223 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,840 And like you begin to question your own ability. 224 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:48,760 Other people start to question your ability. 225 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:53,600 You certainly don't have the track record to show them, no, no, no, don't worry. 226 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,560 I've built 10 businesses before. 227 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:59,400 This is kind of your first go at it. 228 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:04,440 Yeah, well, the moments where you were just like, what am I doing? 229 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:05,440 100%. 230 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:06,680 Am I insane? 231 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:08,000 Yeah. 232 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:15,000 I think, you know, you really trust that it's all going to work out and you take advice 233 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,040 from people and you kind of just go with it. 234 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:22,920 And I think the harder it gets and the more blows you get given, the more you start with 235 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:28,840 self-doubt and the imposter syndrome and I don't have a clue what I'm doing. 236 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,360 And this is going to fail and this is going to work. 237 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:33,680 And yeah, so there was a lot of that. 238 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:39,240 I think in the beginning, when we took over the business, I was energised and working 239 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:45,800 weekends and working late hours and just pouring my heart and soul into it. 240 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:51,960 And then I reached up, I actually got burned out with my time at Shoe Shoes. 241 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,880 It did reach a point where I couldn't get out of bed for six months. 242 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:57,920 I got so sick from burnout. 243 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:59,800 And also, I mean, it was bad. 244 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,280 I thought I was dying at one stage. 245 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,480 I didn't know what was going on. 246 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:09,600 And it took 10 different doctors before I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called 247 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,360 Graves disease. 248 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:19,680 And yeah, I think I did learn a very hard lesson as well in that you can't just work 249 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:20,680 all the time. 250 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:22,040 You know, there has to be a little bit of a balance. 251 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:27,720 But when it's your baby and you really wanted to succeed, you put everything you have into 252 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:33,080 it until your body decides it's done. 253 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:37,760 So yeah, so that was, it was very difficult. 254 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:45,800 And also, I was running the company with my, then my fiancee who I ended up marrying. 255 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:50,840 And yeah, I took a toll on our relationship as well. 256 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:57,160 We were working together and the relationship ended up just being work. 257 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,480 So when, and then when things got bad, you know, there's only one person you're going 258 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:01,880 to get cross with about it. 259 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,760 And

yeah, so it was very challenging. 260 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,360 And I definitely had my dark days. 261 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:08,360 Yeah. 262 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:17,120 And so it did come to a point where you decided like no more. 263 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:23,320 You've shed a little bit there and then just take us into that moment, that day that kind 264 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,520 of decided I can't carry on. 265 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:34,040 So we bought the business in 2016 and I think it took two or three years for me to get really 266 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:38,800 sick and our relationship with, sorry. 267 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:46,320 So two years into running the business, we got married and we were married for a year. 268 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:52,840 And then it just kind of the wheels started coming off and I got really sick and kind 269 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,120 of tied everything together. 270 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:56,480 I was just, it was too stressful. 271 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,680 The business was really difficult. 272 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:06,360 And yeah, I ended up, we ended up getting divorced and once again, put the business first ahead 273 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,760 of our relationship and decided to continue running the company together for another four 274 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,560 years after that. 275 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,440 There was also unbelievable. 276 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:15,840 And wow. 277 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:16,840 Okay. 278 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:17,840 Yeah. 279 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:24,080 There was lots of me locking myself in the bathroom crying on the bathroom floor. 280 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:30,200 I don't know without the staff knowing, but we did, we decided that we wanted to put the 281 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,240 business first after the divorce. 282 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:37,440 So for a long period of time, we decided not to tell the staff and just continue because 283 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,840 we didn't want to rock the boat at work. 284 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:45,880 And then this continued for a little while COVID hit as well. 285 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:46,880 So it was during the COVID time. 286 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:53,160 So you can also imagine the challenges of that with 50 staff, cash flow, COVID, the uncertainty 287 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,760 of everything. 288 00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:03,320 And yeah, I, the plan was actually, I met someone new and the plan ended up being just 289 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,640 for the sake of us and the company success. 290 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:13,600 The plan was for myself and my new partners and move to the States to LA. 291 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,160 We had an American LLC set up and we were growing really nicely and I was there four 292 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,200 times a year and I was absolutely loving it. 293 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,880 So I decided that would be my way forward, I would move over that side and I'd run the 294 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,520 American company and he would stay here and run the South African company. 295 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:36,760 And then COVID hit and we lost so many distributors abroad, cash flow took a knock and I was really 296 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:41,800 being put under a lot of pressure to move immediately. 297 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:47,640 And that came with its own complications where my partner could only get a work permit from 298 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,680 day one of us arriving there and then only three months after that, he started looking 299 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:52,440 for a job. 300 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,200 And I was also given a deadline. 301 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,840 I think they said to me, you can have two months salary and then whatever you bring 302 00:19:57,840 --> 00:19:59,920 in is what you've got. 303 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:05,600 So I was feeling the pinch of it a lot and just really uncertain and I just didn't feel 304 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:06,960 right. 305 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:13,960 So I went through to lunch to meet, actually not my business partner, I actually went to 306 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,160 go meet his dad. 307 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,600 And yeah, we were sitting across the table and I was just feeling a lot of pressure. 308 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:26,200 And I think with my body being sick, I started to realise also the more I travelled and the 309 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,520 more I came home to the office, the more I realised like this doesn't feel so good. 310 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,960 Like there's something my body is not happy about here. 311 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:39,200 Yeah, so we had a brief discussion about what our plans were to leave and I think everything 312 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:46,120 just built up and I ended up resigning without thinking the words before that kind of resided. 313 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:50,880 Just came out of my mouth and decided I was done and I couldn't do it anymore. 314 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:59,840 Wow, so you went into a restaurant to talk about the future and walked out and it was 315 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:00,840 over. 316 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:05,760 You were like, I'm out. 317 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:10,800 And if you reflect on that, do you think you made the right decision, the right call? 318 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,840 Oh, 100%. 319 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,400 I think as soon as I got out of the company, my body started healing. 320 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,520 I wasn't on medication anymore or I wasn't sick anymore. 321 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,120 So I know it was definitely the right idea. 322 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:28,880 And I think Shushu's for me was, you know, that brand was my heart and soul. 323 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:30,720 I poured everything into it. 324 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,440 And you know, as soon as things, as soon as I started getting restricted on

like, you 325 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:40,440 can't do this or that's not a good idea or we don't agree with that, then my creativity 326 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,520 outlet just got taken away from me. 327 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:45,520 And that was kind of my love for the brand. 328 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,120 I just felt like I didn't agree with the strategy anymore. 329 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,480 I didn't agree with where the company was going. 330 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:56,360 So yeah, I said it was definitely the right decision. 331 00:21:56,360 --> 00:22:01,040 And I think this is what a lot of founders struggle with is that the things they love 332 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:06,600 about their business, when they started, when they were first like developing the concept, 333 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,680 it's not what's needed later on to make the business grow and scale. 334 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,040 Like it becomes all about sales. 335 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,520 It becomes all about efficiencies. 336 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,240 It becomes about cash flow management and, you know, talking to funders and investors 337 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,880 and reporting and all those things are really important, but they're not what drove you 338 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:25,800 in the beginning to do it. 339 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:30,800 And you find that like the percentage of time that you are working on the part of the business 340 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,960 which you love, it's more and more and more. 341 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,320 Because it's not as important anymore. 342 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:44,480 Like the thing that makes the business initially viable, the idea, the creativity, is kind 343 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,000 of not valued. 344 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,320 Is that how it kind of felt like there was a successful branding change and new products 345 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:53,320 and so forth. 346 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,920 And then you get into this rhythm. 347 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,960 Does the value of what you did to get it to be successful, do people still see it that 348 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,480 way or how does that value perception change? 349 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:10,840 I mean, I think the brand is, it has such strong brand equity and I think it's going 350 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,640 to stand like that for a very long time. 351 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:21,600 But I think what always happens in any company is the fun stuff goes away when there's no, 352 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,200 you know, when you lose a big distributor, there's no money for the fun stuff. 353 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,720 And then when your creativity gets taken away and you're just doing the mundane day-to-day 354 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,240 stuff all the time. 355 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,240 So something that I just wasn't good at, I was trying so hard to do when I actually 356 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:39,080 just should have outsourced them or asked for help and said I would, you know, something 357 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,000 that would take someone else quick to do. 358 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,880 I was spending so much time doing it. 359 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:46,600 It was just draining my energy and I wasn't getting it right. 360 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,760 So then I go down the hall of like, well, I'm failing at this. 361 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,520 And, and meanwhile, there's just some things, isn't it? 362 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,880 I'm troubling you that you need to learn to outsource that you can't do yourself or you 363 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,800 don't have the skills to do or your time is better suited elsewhere. 364 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,960 So I think there was a lot of that that was learned as well. 365 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,760 Yeah, you're quite right. 366 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,400 But in the beginning, right at the start, you don't have the money or even enough work 367 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:17,120 for like a full-time CFO, you know, a full-time operations manager, a full-time sales manager, 368 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:21,080 you know, and often if you transition to those too early, your costs in your business go 369 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:26,040 up, so your overheads are too high and you struggled into, to stay afloat. 370 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:27,040 That's real. 371 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:28,040 No money in the bank, no business. 372 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,440 Like, doesn't matter how much creativity you want. 373 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:35,520 Like, you're looking at that number on the bank account before before salaries have to 374 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:36,520 pay every month. 375 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:41,800 So like the 20th, the 21st, like chasing for, you know, customers, please pay because I've 376 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,400 got payroll and I got a fun payroll on the 23rd. 377 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,160 It goes out on the 24th to the thing and then on the 25th, everybody gets paid and then 378 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:49,840 you breathe a sigh of relief. 379 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,120 Thank God, I made payroll this month. 380 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:55,880 Like, when you're in that mode, I've been there. 381 00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:01,080 It's so hard to think then, you know what I need to do is add source and pay more money 382 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,400 to other people to take some of the load. 383 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,880 And then it's incredibly difficult to know when's the right time. 384 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:11,880 I think another thing that we found hard in that situation when you're in it and you're 385 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:16,640 just looking at the day-to-day was we didn't step back and just, we kept doing a strategy 386 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,720 and not sticking to it or not committing to it because we wouldn't see results within 387 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,600 the

first month and then we'd immediately check it out and go to the next thing. 388 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:31,320 Instead of giving anything enough time to really set some emotion and work. 389 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:38,440 So now you're unemployed, fun employed after you've left Shoe Shoes. 390 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:39,440 What do you do then? 391 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,560 Like, it's a common problem for entrepreneurs. 392 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:43,920 You leave one thing. 393 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,360 Now you have the question, okay, I'll go back and get a job. 394 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,080 Do I start something new? 395 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:54,280 What was your process and your thinking in that period? 396 00:25:54,280 --> 00:26:01,520 So while I was at Shoe Shoes for a number of years, I had the idea for making something 397 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:02,520 in the pet industry. 398 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,480 My idea was actually leather collars because we were dealing with so much beautiful leather. 399 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,480 I just saw, you know, my creative mind was just like, oh, I can make amazing collars and 400 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,320 leaves from this. 401 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:16,720 And that was something that I put a business plan together for and it was kind of parked 402 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,800 on my desk for about four or five years. 403 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,200 And when I resigned, I decided now's the time. 404 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:24,200 I really want to do this. 405 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:28,440 You know, every time I saw another brand launching something in the industry, I got that like 406 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:29,720 sick feeling in my stomach. 407 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,240 Like, oh, I want to be doing this. 408 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,400 I could be doing it better than them. 409 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:41,200 So, yeah, so I decided to take every little last bit of savings that I have and put it 410 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,120 into a new brand, which is what I did. 411 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:46,160 And yeah, I was very energized. 412 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,560 I was very excited to launch this new thing. 413 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:54,320 So for the first year, I just worked on product and the brand and the website and getting 414 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,720 everything live. 415 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:01,480 And yeah, it's now it's been just over two years that I've been running it. 416 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,640 But yeah, one was amazing, energized, loving it, passionate about it. 417 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:13,920 And then year two came with some serious challenges and self-doubt and imposter syndrome and failure. 418 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,760 And yeah, and then I then I started thinking, you know, what am I doing? 419 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:18,760 I don't know what I'm doing. 420 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:22,520 It's been a long time since I've made any money. 421 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,960 All my friends are further ahead and they're all climbing the corporate ladder and I'm 422 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:32,320 falling behind and yeah, and then and then a lot of the self-doubt came and then I reached 423 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:38,960 a point where I was ready to give up and decided, let me update my CV and start looking for 424 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:39,960 jobs. 425 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:45,160 And then I very quickly realized that as an entrepreneur, you're not hireable. 426 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,480 You know, you have a lot of skills and so many different things, but yeah, I realized 427 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:51,760 how unemployable I was. 428 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:56,320 And then I really dug deep on like, what is it that I want to do? 429 00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:02,040 I went back to like childhood passions and what I'm good at and what energizes me and 430 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:07,120 actually decided at the end of last year that this teach French brand is what I want to 431 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:08,960 be doing. 432 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:15,120 So then I recommitted and yeah, since recommitting, it's just been amazing how how well I've 433 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:16,120 got. 434 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,960 Yeah, how much is happening and how exciting it all is again. 435 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:25,240 I want to ask a little bit because now you've done a lot of these things and some people 436 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,600 would look at you and go, oh, well, probably had wealthy parents. 437 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:34,640 You probably had parents who were entrepreneurial or like, you know, went to the best schools 438 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:35,640 and everything. 439 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:41,520 And as far as I understand, you've also not had the easiest time getting into this and 440 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,720 what kind of support systems you've had around you. 441 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:48,960 So just tell me a little bit about like what you had a support in this process and then 442 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,240 what you've built and developed to help you over time. 443 00:28:52,240 --> 00:29:00,000 Yeah, so I actually grew up with a very sick mum and she died when I was 19, which obviously 444 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,560 also added to the autoimmune and the stress of that. 445 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:08,080 My dad also has MS, so he's been very sick for the last 10 years. 446 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:14,120 So yeah, quite a difficult thing I'm navigating on that side. 447 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:23,000 And then I did have my ex's dad, my ex father-in-law was an amazing entrepreneur and he really 448 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:28,400 did cultivate the entrepreneurship in me and mentor me from a young age. 449 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:33,400 And he was amazing up until the point that, you know, my relationship with my ex started 450 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:34,400 getting rocky. 451 00:29:34,400

--> 00:29:38,720 And he was actually like a dad to me from the age of 11 and I grew up in their home 452 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:40,800 on weekends and brothers were best friends. 453 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:46,640 Our mums went to school together, so it was a very close knit family. 454 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:53,760 And then unfortunately when I came to aim my divorce with my ex, I didn't divorce my 455 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:55,640 ex, I ended up divorcing his dad. 456 00:29:55,640 --> 00:30:01,760 We had lunch at Cerugo at the waterfront and we ordered sushi and I couldn't get the piece 457 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,080 of sushi down because my mouth was so dry. 458 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:09,240 But yeah, so it was through him that I got divorced and it was also through him that 459 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,520 I ended up resigning from Shushu's. 460 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:19,080 So incredibly difficult and I also was young and yeah, I didn't have anyone I could phone 461 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:24,360 to for advice or, you know, I was doing these big negotiations on my own with very little 462 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,960 support. 463 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:33,200 And then as soon as I started my new company and had an investor come on board, I actually 464 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,040 never heard from my ex-father-in-law again. 465 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:41,760 I think him and his wife just, you know, cut ties with me, blood is thicker than water 466 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,400 and I understand that. 467 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,760 But yeah, it was a massive loss for me. 468 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:50,680 So I think it was just on top of, you know, running the business and going through the 469 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:51,680 divorce. 470 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:56,880 I was also, I felt very alone going through all of this. 471 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:02,480 And yeah, I think I'm in a much better situation now with Petite French because as I mentioned 472 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:07,360 to you, I just really rely on a network and I've built like such an amazing community 473 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,360 around me and mentors around me. 474 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:15,080 And there's some key people in my life that have kind of held my hand through this journey 475 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,520 with Petite French now and I can phone and ask, you know, what the hell am I doing here? 476 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,560 Or like, I don't know what I'm doing here or please can you introduce me to this person 477 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:24,960 or how do I do this? 478 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:29,600 And yeah, it's been a very different kind of situation now. 479 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:37,360 Yeah, so that was my story of like, hasn't been an easy, easy, you know, he has all 480 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,520 the money in the world and you can do with it what you want. 481 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:46,840 I think they've been, I can tell you stories about last

year selling things on Facebook 482 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:50,520 marketplace to fund my samples for my business. 483 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:55,560 We also started renting out a room in our house on Airbnb until body corporate quarters. 484 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,280 But yeah, that was a nice little chunk that could go into my business and keep it running 485 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:00,280 for another year. 486 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:07,240 So yeah, so I've just, you know, you hustle and like you bootstrap and and it's difficult. 487 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:11,040 They are like, these sleepless nights where I don't know how I'm going to pay for stuff. 488 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:17,720 But I think that's also been a huge growth for me is that last year I was kind of self 489 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,600 doubting, I don't know how this is going to go or where it's going to go, where's now 490 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,240 I'm like, this is going to work and briefing stuff that I don't have cash for yet, but 491 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:28,400 I know I'm going to find it busy raising investment now. 492 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,040 And yeah, I know I believe in it. 493 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:31,040 I know it's going to happen. 494 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:35,600 And yeah, it all kind of work out the way it's supposed to really. 495 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,040 I think that loneliness is the hardest part of being an entrepreneur. 496 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:42,600 Like you, you, nobody really knows the details. 497 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:48,600 On the outside, you're presenting a picture of, of confidence, success, because you need 498 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,520 to convince a whole lot of people to go on this journey with you. 499 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:53,360 But it's important to do that. 500 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:57,280 You can't go out every day and go, oh my God, I don't know what I'm doing. 501 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:58,280 Everybody will just run away. 502 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:03,160 They look at you like you must have it together. 503 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:04,520 And you don't inside. 504 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,760 Like on the external, you've got to present that a picture of confidence. 505 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,120 And I think you can still be vulnerable to some degree. 506 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:17,680 But really as a leader, you can't be daily, you know, breaking down in front of people. 507 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:23,840 You need to, you need to help them see the future and present the future in a realistic 508 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:25,840 but positive way. 509 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:30,120 And I normally ask the question, you know, like you've already pretty much answered it, 510 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:34,160 which is, you know, why did, you know, did you want to give up? 511 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:38,240 You certainly have had that multiple times, but maybe just reflect on why, why haven't 512 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,240

you given up? 513 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:41,240 Sure. 514 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:49,280 I mean, I definitely secretly love the challenges. 515 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,720 I think, you know, obviously just for this podcast as well, I had to, I did a lot of 516 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:58,560 reflection of like, I'm not hireable, but flip the amount of stuff that I've managed 517 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,280 to get right in the last year. 518 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,880 I think one of the things to mention that was one of the reasons why I wanted to give 519 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:13,440 up last year was I got a distributor, sorry, I got an investor involved, I pitched to someone 520 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:17,440 and he was keen and he was in and he committed a certain amount of money, paid over four 521 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,840 chances at the beginning of last year. 522 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,760 And you know, it's all romance when you get an invest on board. 523 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:25,680 I was naive to it. 524 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:30,800 I had a lawyer advising me who said, you know, you got a plan for the divorce. 525 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:33,000 You should know this. 526 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,680 And yeah, it was just, you know, he's South African, but he doesn't have a company or 527 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:42,840 residency in South Africa and he paid the money from a business he has abroad and the 528 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,760 Reserve Bank just held the money up. 529 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,040 I couldn't, the money was paid three months late. 530 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,400 So I missed all my deadlines for factories and seasons and all of that. 531 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,320 That went all the way out the window. 532 00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:00,720 And then I tried to get the money released and the Reserve Bank just wouldn't release 533 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:04,320 it and I was on the phone with them every day for two months trying to get the money 534 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,160 released. 535 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:14,480 And yeah, eventually got it out and it was just that I had no boundaries in place. 536 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:20,520 I kind of let the relationship of my investor become more friendship and less business. 537 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:25,320 And I ended up becoming the emotional place for him to dump all of his personal stuff 538 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:26,320 going on. 539 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,960 And very quickly things just like got out of control. 540 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:34,960 And he refused to sign the paperwork for me to issue the shares, but he was also refusing 541 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,400 to put the next tranche of money in. 542 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,560 So I was stuck with my hands behind my back, unable to go look for other investors, but 543 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,080 also not able to move forward. 544 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:44,400 I had bills that I needed to pay. 545 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:46,240 I didn't have cash flow to do it. 546 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:50,680 So yeah, so all of a sudden like the fun and the creativity that we're talking about right 547 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:52,520 in the beginning, like there was none of that. 548 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:57,080 There was just the stress of like not sleeping and how am I going to pay this and what's 549 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:58,680 happening with this and is it me? 550 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,240 Like I don't tell him wrong. 551 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:03,360 So I had a lot of that. 552 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:08,880 And then what ended up happening was I just said to the investor, listen, I decide the 553 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:16,080 paperwork so I can issue the issue, the shares or take this offer that I have. 554 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:20,760 And it was probably the had to really push for him to take the offer and he ended up 555 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:22,360 taking it. 556 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:28,720 And then I had to borrow money from whoever I could to buy them out. 557 00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:31,600 And then that meant that I had no money to put into the business. 558 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,160 I had no income and I needed to pay a loan off. 559 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:39,800 So immediately he started hustling trying to decide jobs, do little things here and there 560 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,160 to try and sort that out. 561 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:42,760 But that just put more pressure on me. 562 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,440 And then it was more like, what am I doing? 563 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,480 Is this the right thing? 564 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:48,720 Am I going to fail? 565 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:49,720 Is this going to work? 566 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:51,080 Is this product even really good? 567 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:55,800 So I went down that and that was kind of my year last year. 568 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,480 And that's why I ended up at the end of the year just being like, I can't do this anymore. 569 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,440 I need to look for a job. 570 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,680 So that was the situation. 571 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:11,680 Well, I wanted to say, Gilles, that from what I've seen, your products are incredible, 572 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:17,000 beautiful, very, very high skill level. 573 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,520 These things are really, really globally competitive products. 574 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,960 So I want to commend you for that. 575 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,560 You're looking for that outlet to get that to market, get that out there. 576 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:27,960 So just keep fighting for that. 577 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:31,760 That is definitely something that you are made to do. 578 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,160 And I can see that that's something that you're never going to stop. 579 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:38,120 You're going to keep fighting to get those things out

there. 580 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,920 And I believe you've had some really great feedback. 581 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:46,560 You in the US recently, tell us a bit about how Petit French's brand is doing and what's 582 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:47,600 going on there today. 583 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:52,600 So I recently got to spend five weeks in the States. 584 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,880 I managed to set up an American company and I've opened a local bank account. 585 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:03,840 And yeah, I did a week in New York and the rest of my time in LA. 586 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:08,240 And I visited every single pet store I could find in New York and every single pet store 587 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:12,560 I could find in LA and had just incredible feedback. 588 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:17,640 I managed to get into a store in the Hamptons and went to New York, very high-end store, 589 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,280 and people just love the products. 590 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:23,840 So it was a really good trip. 591 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,240 I'm now in the process of raising investments. 592 00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:31,760 So looking to raise investors this side with the idea of exporting there and chatting to 593 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:37,680 someone there who's an amazing, got really good track record of growing brands in the 594 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,000 US who's keen to take me on. 595 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:45,200 So yeah, to touch a little bit on your previous question as well, as obviously as a troponese, 596 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:51,280 we just, when the highs are there, there's no better feeling in the world. 597 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:57,960 And yeah, recently listened to a podcast that said, your time should be divided into three. 598 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:02,480 One of the parts is really when you're at your lowest low. 599 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:08,520 A part of it is when you're kind of at your medium and things are going okay. 600 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:13,880 And the third is when you really are just having those extreme highs. 601 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:15,440 And she explained it really well. 602 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:16,560 It was actually emigreed. 603 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:23,160 And she said, if those fall out of proportion, then you either too much in your comfort zone 604 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:30,080 and you're not pushing enough, or you need to be rethinking whether what you're doing 605 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:31,240 is the right thing. 606 00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:37,280 And yeah, it's really good advice because everyone thinks being an entrepreneur is fun 607 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:39,520 and easy and it is. 608 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,960 It's freaking, we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't love it and we didn't have a passion 609 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:43,960 for it. 610 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:49,760 But I think just understanding that as much as there's challenges, there's also these 611 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:54,480 amazing joyous moments that make it all worthwhile. 612 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,680 Well, on that, Joel, I just want to wish you all the best. 613 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:01,200 I'm looking forward to seeing your brand here in the US. 614 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,640 I'm going to be going out to my local pet store soon. 615 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:05,640 I'm going to have to get a dog first. 616 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:09,840 I understand, I need to get a French Bulldog. 617 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:10,840 What's your Frenchies? 618 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:11,840 What brand is your brand? 619 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:12,840 French Bulldogs. 620 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:13,840 Okay. 621 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:19,320 I'm going to have to get one of those and get some of your beautiful products and join 622 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:20,320 the fan club. 623 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,560 I definitely think your fan base is going to continue to grow. 624 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,400 Really, I wish you all the best for it. 625 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:27,400 Congrats. 626 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:28,400 Thanks, Dom. 627 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:29,400 Appreciate it. 628 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:35,440 Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is an entrepreneur with extreme bravery and courage. 629 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:38,600 And I really look forward to seeing what Gill does in future. 630 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:39,600 Watch the space. 631 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,600 It's going to be really, really exciting. 632 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:44,400 So these are our social media platforms. 633 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:49,880 We're on Facebook, on LinkedIn, and on YouTube, and of course, on Spotify. 634 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:51,320 Please come and support us there. 635 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:52,560 Like, subscribe. 636 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:57,680 And if you want to nominate somebody who you think should be a Silicon Springbok, see 637 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:05,520 you on the next episode.