INSPIRATION
and Julia had two youngsters keeping
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Facebook offered him a job, but he was
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work around their family.
Julia (a former engineer and
construction project manager, who had
worked on the Waterview tunnel and
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management and administration skills to
the business. “The only aspects of the
business he hates,” she says.
Turnaround is quick. Glenn has an idea
during the school run, and by morning tea
time an art print is coming together on the
screen. Late afternoon could see it on its way
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nostalgic and humorous Kiwiana prints and
derivative products (how about biscuit tins
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He switches between producing two
to three local original artworks and cool,
catchy, sometimes geeky T-shirts for
Glennz Tees – selling up a storm in the US,
Brazil and Norway (the ultimate eclectic
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Julia points out women are the major
buyers, so she is also the “market Glenn
must pitch to”. He notes that aside from
Julia, their three children also produce
great ideas for the tees.
It is, after all, the family business they
set out to create four years ago.
Full-on days
Business starts at 9.15 when Glenn returns
from the school run. Julia dives into the
admin – reviewing production, framing and
shipping with Elliot Alexander at nearby
Ponsonby’s Endemic World. Elliot’s a key
our thinking and the business.”
Says Glenn: “We had a great shopfront
on the Shopify platform. They give us
stats too. We were still nimble in our
response time but we were trying to do
everything.
“They helped us realise we couldn’t
be experts in all aspects of a rapidly
expanding, online, global business.
We had to partner with experts, at
some cost, but that would make for a
bettersuiteofproductsaswetapped
their diverse experience and focused
knowledge.
“And it freed us to focus on creating
better art.
“Theresultswerealmostimmediate,”
addsGlenn.“Wehadfouryearsofdata
to mine into, set real goals and plan. It
works.”
Repeatedly, he stresses, Kiwis must
appreciatetheInternetisaglobalmarket;
remoteness means nothing: So why limit
yourself?
Whenthey’renotbeatingupastorm
on social media about the latest releases,
GlennandJuliasitbackintheevening,
once the children are asleep, and wonder
how they could expand their knowledge
and experience, with battle-hardened
Internet nous, to another business.
It’snoteasy,asthesonggoes.
That’s because the business would
have to be product-to-order, employee-
less, loan-less, work-from-home, and
powered by energy
and creativity.
Any ideas which
meet those criteria?
Email Glenn.adviserintheirsuccess,headinguptheir
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Julia also gets feedback from Adhesion,
their chosen online ad agency, on the
latest online trends and opportunities.
“These leading experts are totally in touch
with everything and anything developing in
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of that. And we know we never could try to
do that, and still be creative.
“In2016,atChristmas,apeaktimefor
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were not coping with issues like packaging
and shipping; working late into the night.
Planning was non-existent.
“Creativity suffers in that environment
and that’s what we are about. NZ Trade and
Enterprise came to our rescue, reinvigoratingNZBUSINESS.CO.NZ 21
KEVIN KEVANY IS
AN AUCKLAND-BASED
FREELANCE WRITER.
[email protected]“Kiwis must
appreciate the
Internet is a
global market;
remoteness means
nothing: So why
limit yourself ?”