Bad at Business

Without trying to toot my own trumpet too much; I possess some qualities of a great businessperson.

I’m organised, efficient, hardworking and reliable. I’m a people person, have good communication skills and am often complimented for my customer service. And I am really, really passionate about my business.

However, even with a list of great qualities, I’m actually really bad at business and it all comes down to just three things that I DON’T do!

1. I don’t mark-up much

Obviously, I want to keep my business afloat so there is a markup on the products I sell but it’s minimal. I want to get as many people using better choice products as possible, so I keep the mark up as low as can. I believe that bringing better choice products to the Mackay community and making it convenient and affordable for people to access them in turn makes it easier for people to make the switch. 

It was for this very reason that I was almost forced to shut the business down around the two-year mark. My desire to get people using better choice products completely blinded me in my business making decisions. I was overstocked and adding less than even minimal mark-up to my product range and Healthy Clean and Green was drowning in debt. A lot of debt. My husband and I had many heart to heart talks at the time and eventually paid out my business debt by redrawing against our home loan and we adjusted the mark-ups to cover the cost of running the business so it could stay afloat (Love you husband xx)

Keeping things affordable is the main reason that Healthy Clean and Green is an online shop and market stall business run from a home-based office instead of a bricks and mortar store. Keeping the overheads low allows me to keep the mark up low.

This is also why customers will very rarely see Healthy Clean and Green having a sale but why products are often cheaper from me than in other stores.

If I do have products on sale it will be because it is a product that for whatever reason I have decided not to stock anymore and I want to clear it out or maybe it has been display stock for a while and because I’m packing it in and out often it might not be looking pristine anymore or sometimes the wholesalers have sales and if I can get a product cheaper than usual I will pass that saving onto my customers.

2. I don’t push sales

I launched Healthy Clean and Green to show people that it’s not too hard or too expensive to do better by the planet (the top two reasons I get for WHY people won’t make a change) and to offer them better choice solutions.

I will happily show the products that I recommend and sell in the online shop, at market stalls and via social media, but I’m not in your face pushy and have on more than one occasion talked a person OUT of purchasing a product from me. I’m a firm believer in using what we have first, and if I know you already have something that will do the job, then I’ll encourage you to use it until it needs replacing.

For example, if you walked into a saucepan shop, the salesperson there doesn’t care how many saucepans you already have. It’s their sole role to sell you a saucepan (or better yet a whole set of saucepans) regardless of whether you already have 1 or 20 at home! If I was in the saucepan shop, I’d ask you how many you already have, what condition they were in, how many people you were cooking for and then (depending on the answers of course) there’s a very good chance I’d be suggesting to you that you don’t really need another saucepan! Not great for keeping the saucepan business afloat, right?

3. I don’t stock on trend

I’m very particular about what I stock so adding new products to the Healthy Clean and Green range can be a long, drawn-out process. By the time it hits my market stall or online shop I will have researched the product, in depth, to the best of my ability which usually includes questioning the company/manufactures directly (it can be really hard to get a direct answer from some of them!) and I will have trialed the product in my own home and/or had a customer, friend or family member trial it and supply feedback.

I take a lot of things into consideration when making my decision about a product including (in no particular order) quality, cost, ethics, sustainability, convenience, packaging, ownership, production and product miles. For me it really is a big picture thing and I won’t stock a product just because it is the current on trend item. If I don’t believe it to truly be a better choice option, then I just won’t stock it.

New products are hitting the market all the time so I’m also not beyond switching out a product if I find one that is just as good or better in quality and ticks more of my boxes than the one I’m currently stocking.

I’m also quite prepared to drop a product completely if I discover that the company has greenwashed its way onto my tick and flick sheet, even if it is a product that is selling well. Greenwashing means they deliberately market it to sound better for the environment than it really is. They may do this by deliberately leaving out information, using vague terminology or with a whole host of other marketing concepts. Greenwashing happens A LOT and companies are really really good at it so occasionally I’ll still get sucked in.

So, there you have it…

I am a bad businessperson because I launched and run Healthy Clean and Green to make a difference for the environment, NOT for financial gain.

I guess, on reflection, I could have summed up why I’m bad at business with just that one sentence and potentially written the shortest blog post ever…

I’m extremely fortunate to be in a position where I don’t rely on my business to put food on the table or pay the electricity bill so I’m ok with being BAD at business!