#awinewith Lana Kelly
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Lana, welcome to Spark tv.
Lana Kelly (00:10):
Thanks so much. It's lovely to be here.
Danielle Lewis (00:12):
I'm so excited to chat with you because I think your product is amazing and I've never heard of it before. As somebody that is probably a ideal customer, I'm very interested to chat about this. Love that. Let's kick things off with who you are and what you do.
Lana Kelly (00:33):
Wonderful. So I'm Lana, lovely to meet you. I'm the founder, of course. I decided to come up with a business name that isn't necessarily easy to say, but that's how you pronounce it, or gives you the idea of the gold, which is where or comes from. And obviously the au, we're an Australian brand, so we make Thank you. Also super helpful for finding social handles and whatnot when you come up with a new word.
Danielle Lewis (01:05):
Exactly. That's very clever actually.
Lana Kelly (01:10):
So we make the world's first haircare for fake tan users.
Danielle Lewis (01:15):
That is incredible. So as a fake tan user myself, not right now, I'm like, Hey, all hell right now. And also as a fake blonde, this is a huge problem.
Lana Kelly (01:28):
It's a huge problem. And what is so interesting is how pulley is understood because, and people ask me about that all the time, fake tan, what does that have to do with hair? So I mean, that's a big challenge we have to overcome. But blondes know, right? Because they have experienced the problem. And I really think most people don't realize they didn't make the connection. And frankly, that's what happened with me. I had the issue for probably years, frankly, because I've been in town for a long time, and I actually thought it was my hairdresser stuffing up my color. Oh, wow. Yeah. I go to the hairdresser and it looked really nice. The storm's really turning it on, by the way. So no, we totally can't hear the background noise, so that's okay.
(02:15):
And yeah, eventually I thought, okay, I really do need to ask her because Frank's getting close to my wedding and I didn't want my photos to be, yeah. And finally she said to me, oh, do you happen to use fake tan? So that's how we figured it out. Wow. Yeah. And unbelievably considering the number of people who faked tan, both in Australia and internationally, there was no solution, which was just crazy to me. That is crazy. I love that you invented something to solve a challenge that you had though. And it is so true. There are so many people out there with that exact problem. So funny. I find it really fascinating when people have come up with a new idea, this is brand new. How did you go about going from, okay, this is a huge problem that exists. I'm going to invent something to solve it.
Danielle Lewis (03:07):
What was that process like? And especially being a product-based business?
Lana Kelly (03:11):
Yeah, look, it was, I'll have to say it was a slow process. Initially when I had the problem myself, I did what every gal does, deep dive on the internet, someone else solve this, surely. And it was only when I saw that the only solution that was recommended was color correction, which I don't know if you've had to do that, but that's even more expensive than just going to the hairdresser, stopping tanning, which frankly, no, that's not happening. Not happening. And then from there, I started out, look, I'm not a chemist. In fact, I'm a commercial lawyer by training. So pretty far from a chemist. But I did think to myself, there are times when a product exists, and it's not necessarily for one particular thing, but it will work for something else. I was collecting hair from my hairdresser.
(04:05):
This was around Covid, right? So had hair strewn all over my apartment with very dodgy looking with all of these different products, all these different protectants, and I kind of understood the basic science of why it was happening. So I was trying different things out, just wanted to confirm, hey, there's not some cheap hack or dupe out there that's going to easily solve this. So there wasn't, and fortunately I remember that time my husband would say to me, please don't disappear because if anyone comes to our apartment, they're going to assume someone's a serial killer with all these blonde hair.
(04:45):
Anyway, fortunately for him, and for me, I did not disappear. And then it took me, I'm trying to think back, I think it was even three to four months to even figure out what kind of chemist I needed, because I'm in that sector. I'm a beauty consumer, not in the beauty sector. Eventually through talking to a friend, got a connection with someone else, figured out what I needed. Then it took me another few months to even find it, because formulation chemists often work for big companies, which makes sense. That's where they get the experience, that's where they get their development. But fortunately, did find someone eventually an amazing chemist. She's based in Sydney and was willing to work with me on this. And it's funny, she's such a believer in the product now, but they did admit that when I first came to them, they were so dubious about both about the issue.
(05:44):
So my chemist is of South Asian descent, so wasn't tanning. Now I've got her into tanning. So good convert everybody. I love it. Totally. You can have the problem, so then you need to buy my product. Exactly. Exactly. And yeah, it was actually really challenging from a scientific perspective to solve the issue. So tan is just one of those really insidious things. As soon as it touches the hair, it starts developing and skin keeps transferring the tan onto the hair, particularly through the hairline. So it took us two years to develop the formulas. Wow, that's crazy. I mean, we did have covid in there. So lockdowns not being able to go to the lab and with developing new formulas, there's a lot of testing that needs to be done to make sure the product shelf stable, the product is safe, all of those sorts of things.
(06:44):
So a fairly long journey, even just to get to the point of being happy with the formulas and their effectiveness. But that was probably about 18 months ago, and then it took another 18 months to wait for all my raw materials to arrive. Again, a little bit supply chain on the back of Covid, but also just being a small player, that's what it's like in this sector. If I was making a million units, wouldn't have been a problem. Yes. Yeah, it's really interesting. I remember, so 2020 I started an e-commerce brand, and of course one of the products was hand sanitizer. And so it was crazy though, supply chain issues, just getting the raw materials to make hand sanitized. And we did bathroom products and soaps and washes and stuff as well. But there was one point where we were sourcing a particular product off eBay and we were going around to some guy's house that happened to have this thing.
(07:48):
It was crazy. So yeah, our supply chain has been mental for years, I think. Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's been quite the challenge, but happy to say it's all resolved, all these issues now, and I'm waiting on my last two shipments of basically my packaging to arrive, which is supposed to happen next week. Very excited. The actual production can start. Yes. Yeah, super, super exciting. A long journey to get here, but I suppose now the fund begins because Absolutely. Yeah. It's like you've just done this lot of hard work. It's like now the other hard work starts. Exactly, exactly. Will you be selling through e-commerce or hair salons or retail, or what's your plan? Look, initially we have a fairly limited production, so the focus will be D two C, but we have had a lot of interest from tan salons and hairdressers. So we'll see how we go down the track. We may also do a mixture, but certainly I'm hopeful and my expectation is we'll probably sell out of our first production relatively quickly, which will help us to fund the next lot. Amazing. Fortunately, unfortunately, my product is not cheap to make.
Danielle Lewis (09:11):
Yeah, and I mean, that's interesting because it's very specialized though, so you'd kind of think you've got a couple of things like working against you a little bit, like it's super specialized and you're doing smaller quantities. So the first batch is such a challenge. It is. Yeah, it is. But we'll, just, it'd be interesting to see the level of interest. I mean, certainly it's interesting to people because, well, first I think some people don't necessarily understand that they need it. So I think there'll be a time when we have a few super users who will show how much better their hair is after to adopt adopting this in their routine of their regular Tanners. But I think the other thing is what's so interesting is actually discovered how many people tan, so 7 million people tan regularly in Australia. Wow, really? That's crazy to me. But it's become more and more popular.
(10:08):
And also thank you to the Barbie movie, which we are all blonde bombshells now, of course. Exactly. Yeah. They've actually been able to track increases in sales in pean to the hype and then the release of the film. Wow, that's incredible, isn't it? Yeah. Well, you can ride that wave, I'm sure. Now you mentioned that you have a corporate law background. So talk to me about that, because corporate law to shampoo empire is a big, what's your background?
Lana Kelly (10:47):
Yeah, so look, I started in my career actually as a diplomat, so worked for climate change back in that time. Part of DFAT was moved into that division, and I was working on international climate change negotiations for a few years, then decided to go into private practice because law was my background. So been a litigator, commercial litigator for 10 years. And frankly, I love it.
(11:16):
I love the law and it's an unbelievable opportunity to I think, challenge myself intellectually. But I think I just got to the point in my career, I really had a choice. So I was on basically partnership track at top tier firm and had this idea and really had to choose. So whether or not, because when you're a partner, you're building a business that's the same thing, and it's very demanding. It's a very demanding job in terms of hours and whatnot. So chose to pursue the business, give it a try. And I've taken, so I still work full-time as a lawyer, but in an in-house role. And the amazing thing about that is it's still a very demanding job, but the hours are more predictable. So kind of plan around it a little bit.
Danielle Lewis (12:12):
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Sorry, go on. I was just going to say that was going to be one of my questions to you, how you actually balance the two, because it's a very common story when people are starting out in business.
(12:26):
I was the same. I worked for Telstra for a decade and for the first few years of my business journey. There you go. I would sneak off at lunchtime and do things and to try and balance the two. So super interested to hear how you do balance building the business and having a full-time job and what demands that puts on you.
Lana Kelly (12:49):
Yeah, look, I'll admit it, it isn't easy. I recently went on a little holiday with my sisters, which was lovely, but I realized though when I was planning for that, it was just a short trip that I'd had one day off this year. Wow. Oh my God. Between both jobs. So yeah, usually just work my day job and then do aish stuff in the evenings. And then every weekend, of course. And also where I work, we're allowed to purchase leaves, so I purchase leaves.
(13:24):
Oh, that's cool. So I can use that because obviously sometimes there are things I need to do in business hours, so going to conferences or going to meet suppliers or whatever. So yeah, it's very conducive to that. But look, it is demanding and I've had to make choices about other things in my life and what else I pursue. I keep thinking it will become less work, but I guess I'm realizing it'll just be different. Yes, maybe It is funny. I often hear that it's just the bigger you get from a business point of view. Yeah, the challenges just change. So rather than ever getting to a point where you're like, ah, sitting on the beach freaking cocktails, I'm done. It's like, oh, now there's the next goal. There's the next retailer, or there's the next this or the next that. Absolutely. I mean, I probably work the same hours I did in private practice, so it's not necessarily something I boast about, but realistically, it was not unusual for me to do a hundred or 120 hours a week in that.
Danielle Lewis (14:32):
Wow. Yeah. So now I still do that. I just do. But now you're building something for yourself. Exactly. Yeah. You've got the cashflow coming in, but you're also building business,
Lana Kelly (14:43):
and because you are in this business, you do feel differently about it. Yes, it's still demanding and you to be able to look after yourself, but I never feel like I have to push myself to do it. I'm always really excited to do it. And I don't know, it's just that maybe the level of autonomy, it's only you asking yourself to do it. So
Danielle Lewis (15:07):
I know it is. I feel the same way. And it's like, I guess so I don't have a family, excuse me. I've got a partner obviously, but don't have kids, so I kind of feel a little bit spoiled in the sense that I can work whenever I want to work, but I do feel the same way.
(15:27):
So ever since I had a full-time job and then was running the business on the side, I would love staying. I'd have a brilliant idea. And then you're sitting in bed on the laptop doing the things, and now I've got two businesses. So it's almost like having two full-time jobs.
Lana Kelly (15:44):
Exactly.
Danielle Lewis (15:45):
But it's super interesting because even, and look, I go through phases. I've been in business for over a decade now, and I go through phases of falling in and out of love with it, depending on the day of the week. Fair enough. And last night, I'm launching this new feature and just sitting on the couch, we were watching the block, and I was on the laptop just researching, and I was like, I'm so excited about it. I'm learning new things. I get to serve my audience in this new way. And you do, you get so energized, and it doesn't matter that it's 10 o'clock at night or you've already worked 12 hours or whatever it is. Yeah, completely agree. Do you have strategies that you use to make sure that you don't burn out?
Lana Kelly (16:32):
Yes. Well, that may be something I need to work on. Me, me too. I'm very naturally energetic, so I think that that is, it's always a bit of a risk for me, but I'm very dedicated to my routine. So I exercise every morning. So without fail, I won't sacrifice that. I love exercising, but it's also such an investment, obviously in health, but for me, it's the mental space it gives me. Same as a business owner, you never, not, if you're not occupied fully in something else, you're thinking about it, right? Oh yeah. It doesn't stop. That's right. So for me, the gym, it's like the one place where I just can switch off and focus on what I'm doing. And I also have probably reveal how old I am, but more than 20 years have been a regular meditator, and that's critical to be able to disconnect in that way, even if it's short stints, just find that really helpful as a recharge.
(17:42):
And I think those things I've just always had built into my life because I've worked those. So just making sure I don't really sacrifice those and understanding as well that life isn't just about work. You have to have that social connection and all of those other things. And it is interesting. I think sometimes we try and over-engineer what self-care and take time for us needs to look like, and you have to get up at 5:00 AM and you have to journal and you have to do this, and I'm like, that's it. Sometimes it's just these are the one, two, or three things that I know works super well for me, and they're just my non-negotiables, and it can be that simple. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Well, I feel like we could talk all day, but so reflecting on the product business journey,
Danielle Lewis (18:35):
would there be a piece of advice if you were talking to a woman in business who had an idea and was just starting out, would there be some advice that you'd give her in terms of that process of actually bringing a brand new product to life? Yeah, look, I think so the consumer expectation these days around investment in a brand is so big, and with my concept, I was really reticent to reveal it to the world because it's innovative.
Lana Kelly (19:11):
I think, look, I did what I did, but there is a lot of benefit, I think, to building in public, but also building along with a really core group of people who are dedicated to the concept. I'm so lucky. I have a lot of siblings. I have four sisters and oh wow. They happen to span the exact age range of my consumers and friends. So they have done that for me. They've been that built in. And look, I don't know if you have sisters, they're brutal. They'll tell you the truth. Yes, sugar coat it, but also very caring and lovely and full of ideas and what have you. So I think if you don't already have that circle, it's so important because it also can be really isolating the whole journey. So yeah, there's a lot of advice in that, but definitely consider finding that kind of focus group, whatever that looks like.
(20:12):
And it can be scrappy. But yeah, that's probably my key piece of advice. I do love that because I think people are actually really excited to help. Yes, super excited to give feedback to try things, especially find so non-business owners, so people who might never kind of take the leap. It kind gives them a little window into what growing a business and all of that kind of stuff. So I kind of feel like you are actually fulfilling a little bit of their wild fantasy as well. So I just find they're so helpful and so willing to offer time. And you know what? Buying them a round of cocktails and doing a little focus group, who doesn't want to be part of that? Absolutely. Completely agree. That's so good. I love it.
Danielle Lewis (21:03):
Well, that concludes our podcast chat. Thank you so much for spending the time with me and sharing your journey. I think we should be circling back, though, so when this is available, I want to actually get back on another podcast and hear how it's all going. I guess the next challenge for you is marketing and getting it out there and can't wait to see how that goes and how consumer reaction is. I'm a first customer, so
Lana Kelly (21:31):
Oh, I love that. Good.
Danielle Lewis (21:33):
But no, amazing. I really appreciate your time and coming on and sharing your journey. Thank you for the opportunity.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
