Key Takeaways
- Why people buy stories before they buy products.
- How authenticity builds stronger brands than perfection.
- The role creativity plays in growing a memorable business.
- Why community matters more than chasing every sale.
- Building a brand that customers genuinely connect with.

Topics Covered
Entrepreneurship,
Brand Storytelling,
Creativity,
Authenticity,
Customer Experience,
Hospitality,
Small Business,
Founder Stories

Transcript

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 1 DANI PEARCE MERRY PEOPLE

0:03

3 seconds

Hello everyone and welcome to Flower Press My name's Courtney Ray and I'm the founder of Daily Blooms In this episode we chat with the extraordinary Dani Pearce

0:13

13 seconds

CEO and founder of Merry People a Melbourne born brand reinventing gumboots with style comfort and joy

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20 seconds

Okay Dani hi Hey Courtney I would love it if we could start with you just telling us a little bit about Merry People

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28 seconds

Absolutely So I started Merry People in 2014 and we are known as a gumboot company

0:36

36 seconds

that sell mostly colourful gumboots online Thank you And yeah we also do some other products So we do sandals clogs

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45 seconds

socks but predominantly known for the gumboots And yeah I'd say a brand known for colour and joy as well

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54 seconds

Yeah Beautiful So when I was doing some research for this video today it struck me that we actually have a sort of similar background or path

1:03

1 minute, 3 seconds

that led us here So I think from what I understand you grew up on a farm as did I And then we both moved into the city

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1 minute, 13 seconds

for our corporate girl careers like our sensible careers And then we both ended up starting businesses in 2014

1:20

1 minute, 20 seconds

Yes Can you tell us a little bit about those early days and what that transition was like and how it all started So I probably never

1:27

1 minute, 27 seconds

thought I would start a business I didn't really know I would have a view of what I wanted to do even in my career

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1 minute, 34 seconds

And it's like I'm just going to work this out as I go And yeah moved to Melbourne I was working hospitality

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1 minute, 41 seconds

call centre jobs And I was studying I was doing an arts degree at Monash but still very unsure

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1 minute, 49 seconds

of what my pathway would be The very first time I thought about Merry People was well not Merry People but the gumboot kind of concept Yeah

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1 minute, 56 seconds

I was going to a festival Merideth in the country And my friends were either buying really expensive

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2 minutes, 4 seconds

like Burberry or the tall Hunter boots which Hunter weren't doing ankle boots at the time And ecom wasn't really a thing either at the time

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2 minutes, 12 seconds

Most people were buying on eBay and those sorts of things So physically walking into a store Yes Yes Yeah Yeah So yeah

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2 minutes, 20 seconds

there weren't any ankle gumboots And I remember thinking like Havianas were having a really big moment And I thought yeah there needs to be a

2:30

2 minutes, 30 seconds

really great gumboot I hope someone creates a really great gumboot one day And that was the very first time I thought of it And that was the early twenties just trying to pass uni

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2 minutes, 39 seconds

and pay my rent and like not really thinking of starting a business And then yeah in my late twenties

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2 minutes, 46 seconds

uh working at ANZ and I'd kind of climb the corporate ladder a little bit there And yeah I was like there has to be more to life than making money and like going home

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2 minutes, 56 seconds

and doing all the things on the weekend and after work And I was like I wanted to feel more passion and feel more creative day to day

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3 minutes, 3 seconds

And I felt like I'd lost that spark as well in me And that's a little bit of where the name came from But um yeah I was like I just had this idea

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3 minutes, 11 seconds

and I thought I'll just see it wasn't like I'm going to start this big business I was like I just want to see if I can get this product which is in my mind

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3 minutes, 19 seconds

I want to see if I can bring it to life So that was just the first start like first step I mean so many of those things hit home to me What I say

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3 minutes, 27 seconds

to my kids now is you've got to love what you do Work takes up so much of your life that you want to jump out

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3 minutes, 33 seconds

of bed every day and maybe not every day because you know we've all got those days where that is a nightmare but you want to love like fundamentally

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3 minutes, 42 seconds

if you don't love what you do what's the point So can you tell me a little bit about once

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3 minutes, 48 seconds

you had the boots made which I don't even know how you managed that but that's what were those early days Like how did you actually like

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3 minutes, 57 seconds

do you remember selling your first pair Uh yes I I tried to get them made in Australia

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4 minutes, 4 seconds

and I couldn't get them made here And so yeah I flew to China by myself and I just had these sketches that I'd got a friend to help me with

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4 minutes, 12 seconds

Wow And um and I'd been I'd had some Skype meetings back then with some factories

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4 minutes, 19 seconds

So I had some meetings booked and I remember my very first meeting and I came back to my hotel and I just had this

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4 minutes, 26 seconds

overwhelming feeling of whoa like you've never done this before This is going to be all your money

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4 minutes, 33 seconds

Like it was probably around 70 000 USD on like molds first order tooling equipment like

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4 minutes, 41 seconds

cause you've got to do minimum orders Um so it was yeah a lot of risk And I remember just going back to my hotel and thinking goodness

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4 minutes, 48 seconds

you have no idea what you're doing here and you need some help So um I ended up getting an agent to help me with the process and yeah went back to Australia

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4 minutes, 58 seconds

And I think even just doing that whole process and navigating going to China and finding a factory that even in itself gave me a little bit of confidence

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5 minutes, 7 seconds

I thought well wow if you can do this first step maybe you can do this next little bit And then yeah I came home

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5 minutes, 14 seconds

and I took them to a retailer and I just really yeah

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5 minutes, 20 seconds

stumbled in one night I stumbled in but I was very fumbly in my sale but I kind of just said hi I'm Dani

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5 minutes, 28 seconds

And I live in the area and I shop here and I've created this product Would you stock it And yeah and they said

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5 minutes, 37 seconds

yeah they would So that was yeah it was such a huge retail commercial like affirmation that like wow this they want

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5 minutes, 46 seconds

to stock it so that's still their floor space yeah totally carefully about what yes they're willing to put on that like I remember going home

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5 minutes, 55 seconds

and I was just like pacing up and down the house going oh my goodness okay now I need to actually make the order yes they've said that they want

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6 minutes, 2 seconds

to buy 20 units it was just yeah I was exciting and um a little bit scary but exciting terrifying

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6 minutes, 9 seconds

yeah that's amazing like and from that initial store it then went into other stores and yeah it was really great yeah it started

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6 minutes, 17 seconds

a little like wholesale and then me selling at farmers markets so um that's really I guess the early days

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6 minutes, 24 seconds

while I was trying to learn ecommerce and learn who my oh my goodness yours looks amazing no I no I love yours yours is just like a beautiful ball of color I love it

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6 minutes, 34 seconds

but yeah so that was yeah that was early days and yeah markets and learning ecom it was yeah it was a lot

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6 minutes, 41 seconds

as you would know it's yeah trying to balance cash and I was still working but just yeah trying to get it off the ground in addition

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6 minutes, 50 seconds

to your fulltime yes job wow wow so was there a moment kind of early on or a moment generally in your business

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6 minutes, 58 seconds

where you thought oh this is like this is working this is yeah this is a viable business

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7 minutes, 4 seconds

that's actually going to continue on was there one moment or a story or a spark yeah I would say the moment was early days

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7 minutes, 13 seconds

in the farmers markets I was doing I used to do one down in Balnarring called Emu Plains yeah right and it was when I started having

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7 minutes, 24 seconds

women coming back for their second pair and they're bringing their mums or their friends and or coming

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7 minutes, 31 seconds

and wearing them and telling me how much they loved them and they're like the best boots they owned and they're like I'm a school teacher

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7 minutes, 38 seconds

and you hear about all these reasons of why people were buying them that I never thought of I just wanted to create a cool gum boot but yeah they were like I'm a school teacher I wear them

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for yard duty I'm a florist I'm a studio gardener I'm a landscape gardener all of these different all the different professions where people wanted to look like cool

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7 minutes, 56 seconds

but still have a functional product and yeah something I hadn't really thought about so that was probably when I felt okay wow this is a lot more

8:04

8 minutes, 4 seconds

there's a lot more people that want this product than I initially thought um well yeah you just did a walk through we did a walk through the

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8 minutes, 11 seconds

warehouse before this and you met Bella I mean so many of our florists they said we were merry people and Bella came up to you

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8 minutes, 19 seconds

and said I'm wearing the brown ones today but I own them in every color but you're exactly right like they're so um

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8 minutes, 27 seconds

They're so functional comfortable practical all those things that you need but then they're like they are fun yes you want

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8 minutes, 34 seconds

to get them in every color and yes yeah you know weave them into your life yeah so just on that I think one

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8 minutes, 41 seconds

of the great things about your business and your brand that you've created is this beautiful sense of community

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8 minutes, 49 seconds

and how do you think you have I guess developed it and continued building it as the brand has gotten bigger

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8 minutes, 56 seconds

and bigger so how have you managed that because I I think you've just done this extraordinary job of it I think the product actually there was a gap in the market

9:04

9 minutes, 4 seconds

and people connected with the product and so I think that was one thing

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9 minutes, 11 seconds

maybe the other is that maybe it's my story in that I was I was not an

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9 minutes, 18 seconds

influencer I didn't have a following I was a regular girl that worked in a corporate job in the city and came

9:25

9 minutes, 25 seconds

from a farm farming family and that I had this idea and that I just went and did it and I think that's probably connected

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9 minutes, 33 seconds

with massive a lot of people and I think people also like that knowing who they're buying

9:39

9 minutes, 39 seconds

from and why they do what they do and I think yeah and we talk about that a lot but I remember at the start my website like my face

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9 minutes, 48 seconds

and my name was not anywhere on it and then I did an accelerated business program and they said to me they're like you

9:56

9 minutes, 56 seconds

are a big reason of why you're different to your competitors yeah so you need to start to feel more comfortable like learn to feel more comfortable

10:04

10 minutes, 4 seconds

in being that person I mean it makes a lot of sense but it also feels a bit unnatural especially when you're starting a business yes and especially in ecom

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10 minutes, 14 seconds

I don't know about you but this is my own experience It was just me Yes And it feels a bit too small Yes And so you want to pretend you're a bit bigger

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10 minutes, 22 seconds

So you're like we Yes Let me ask my customer Oh the customer service manager will get back to you

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10 minutes, 29 seconds

And that's also me Yeah totally Yeah so I totally yeah understand that Yeah So Dani you seem to be somebody

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10 minutes, 37 seconds

that wants to move through this world making a positive impact I'd love your view on how you balance that sort of giving back

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10 minutes, 46 seconds

with running a commercially viable business and how you balance that manage that work it through yeah

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10 minutes, 55 seconds

because I actually originally thought of making Merry People a social enterprise when I was starting oh wow people and I that's how I met my now husband oh really yeah yeah

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11 minutes, 5 seconds

so he he started a Melbourne social enterprise called Homey um so they're in based in uh Fitzroy yep

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11 minutes, 13 seconds

and yeah and so I was wanting to learn about okay what does it mean to be a social enterprise and and uh yeah

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11 minutes, 22 seconds

and then we ended up dating and now we've married with two children so that was a great idea that you had yes I know but he actually um yeah

11:32

11 minutes, 32 seconds

it's a lot running a social enterprise it's like you've got the charity component and the commercial component and there's a lot of obligations on both sides

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11 minutes, 41 seconds

and it was just me at the time and I wasn't even making profit and paying myself so at that point I thought

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well I've just actually got to make get this off the ground and actually make it into a legitimate profitable business

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and then from there I can look to see how I can do positive things and give back so that's what we've done

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12 minutes, 2 seconds

and I think creating and learning to have that discipline as well in creating a commercial business and managing cash and um

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and saying no to things and um and yeah I guess leveraging opportunities as well where you can i think

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12 minutes, 18 seconds

it's yeah it's been good to create that discipline and thought process yeah and definitely i think now it's yeah we've got some charities that we work

12:26

12 minutes, 26 seconds

with every year um so the mother's day classic is probably a really big one we do a boot with them every year and you're right um

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12 minutes, 35 seconds

donate yeah last year we donated close to a hundred thousand dollars to them so wow yeah that's incredible yeah yeah through that oh wow and do you guys do the

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12 minutes, 43 seconds

money mother's day classic yes yes so this year we're running a few of us are running the half marathon oh my gosh wow do you train it's like we're thinking

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12 minutes, 51 seconds

of um yeah we are we're actually thinking of asking our customers as well if they want to run with us and this is like how your community is about

12:59

12 minutes, 59 seconds

right like it's full circle moment yes so wow wow no it is the team also yeah i think we're all

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13 minutes, 6 seconds

I think I've tried to hire like values aligned and I think we all care about that and I think it's not just about giving money or working with charities

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13 minutes, 16 seconds

I think it's also around yeah staff and how we are and even I think employing

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people is a great thing for the world and I guess with your staff who are becoming parents and just all the changes through life

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13 minutes, 32 seconds

or going through things it's like how do you support people through that so it is I think it's not just that part but it's yeah how do

13:41

13 minutes, 41 seconds

you feel like a good employer as well there's no point in doing all that stuff if internally it's you know not bad

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13 minutes, 48 seconds

so I think it's just the whole thing that yeah we try to be I've never thought about it like that but you're so right yeah holistic yes

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13 minutes, 57 seconds

viewpoint of it all yeah absolutely yeah it's so interesting it just so even saying that it just I can feel it

14:04

14 minutes, 4 seconds

in everything that you do that it's yeah so important to you and the business So what are I guess your favourite bits

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14 minutes, 14 seconds

of running the business and your I guess the bits that you find really challenging Yeah

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14 minutes, 20 seconds

So my favourite is probably the product design Yep Coming up with colours concepts

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14 minutes, 28 seconds

and yeah just thinking about that I think that's that Along with marketing we're doing more customer events Yes and they look so fun

14:37

14 minutes, 37 seconds

Yes yeah they are Every time I leave one I feel like my heart is really full Oh that's so nice Wow

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14 minutes, 45 seconds

That's so nice It's really nice I think having started at markets you kind of lose that contact with customers Yeah So it is really nice I don't mind the problem

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14 minutes, 54 seconds

solving side as well So when there's something that's happened I feel that I can bring people together and remain pretty calm

15:03

15 minutes, 3 seconds

and okay yeah that's great like that's awesome that you like that throwing a couple of jokes there I try and like bring the energy into like more productive

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15 minutes, 11 seconds

state what I find a little bit more challenging the HR side is probably just something that it's probably not the right thing

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15 minutes, 18 seconds

to say for also because I love my team but it's just it's yeah it's a lot in terms of the admin yeah and doing like KPI documents

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15 minutes, 28 seconds

and doing and you know it's people's careers yes yeah quite heavy conversations sometimes definitely you kind of want people to feel good

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15 minutes, 35 seconds

and want people to feel happy and so when something isn't as great you're like it really gets to me and I'm like yeah particularly with a startup I think

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15 minutes, 45 seconds

you go through someone said to me different people are right for your company at different stages and you have people

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15 minutes, 51 seconds

that can grow the whole way through but it's very rare that can actually happen Yep And sometimes people you know there's change that happens we're

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16 minutes

growing internationally and so we're recruiting in you know the US and UK and it's yeah challenging when

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16 minutes, 8 seconds

that impacts um yeah the way people have worked here they've been used to dealing with like a global lens and that can change so yeah I think just

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16 minutes, 17 seconds

that side as well the growth of the company and then bringing people on that journey so that I guess comes back to how you hire and all of that

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16 minutes, 25 seconds

so we've been pretty good we've got it we've done pretty well I would say for the most part but yeah it's it is still just it's a

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16 minutes, 32 seconds

challenge challenging yeah yeah yeah so Merry People has evolved so much since 2014 yeah you've

16:40

16 minutes, 40 seconds

moved online you've got a big ecom store you sell internationally you've opened up your beautiful flagship store in Melbourne what what's

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16 minutes, 48 seconds

next like how do you see this continuing to evolve so that that actually is also another thing I struggle with it's the future I

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16 minutes, 56 seconds

should have mentioned that the strategic longterm planning but what is next so we yeah we're trying

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17 minutes, 4 seconds

some like other new products that will come out this year that's exciting it's so exciting

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for me I turned 40 recently and I had this feeling of like I need to live a bit more and have fun a bit more

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17 minutes, 18 seconds

through business and yeah yeah my kids are two and four and just starting to feel a bit more like

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17 minutes, 26 seconds

yeah not as fullon as that you're not quite in baby and yes stage so I feel like I've got this wind

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17 minutes, 32 seconds

of like just having fun and it not just being about growth for the sake of growth it's like thinking about momentum yeah just also having fun

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17 minutes, 42 seconds

and enjoying the journey and yeah so yeah I don't have this I want to get to this stage or this size business yeah it's yeah just trying

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17 minutes, 50 seconds

to have fun and enjoy the journey so I used to like yeah I have business people that help me and they go you know what's your 10 year or your five year goal

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17 minutes, 57 seconds

and yeah like I just do want to feel happy and I still want to make products I really love and I want to be proud of where I work and what we're doing yeah

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18 minutes, 7 seconds

and that's kind of all I can say confidently I can't say that okay we're gonna have this many stores I'm gonna sell this many products

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18 minutes, 15 seconds

um so yeah but yeah hopefully hopefully I'm yeah still merry merry yeah oh

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18 minutes, 22 seconds

my god what a great spot to hopefully to leave that answer that's amazing yeah Okay Dani

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18 minutes, 30 seconds

It's now time for the rapid fire questions Okay So we're just looking for a quick whatever comes to mind just a quick quick little response

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18 minutes, 38 seconds

Okay Okay So did you ever imagine your gumboots would become the Daily Bloom's unofficial florist uniform

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18 minutes, 47 seconds

No If you could pick anyone in the world to wear Merry People who would it be

18:56

18 minutes, 56 seconds

Okay someone really merry Maybe someone like Drew Barrymore great answer yeah great oh she's very very

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19 minutes, 4 seconds

authentic yes yes yeah one word your friends would use to describe you

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19 minutes, 10 seconds

they're kind oh it's so nice I hope so I think I think they would yeah one word your colleagues would use

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19 minutes, 17 seconds

to describe you brave my god amazing um early mornings or late nights early mornings definitely same

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19 minutes, 26 seconds

If you weren't running Merry People what would you be doing Maybe working for like a creative

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19 minutes, 32 seconds

company like Daily Blooms or Merry People something creative or something in the social impact space

19:40

19 minutes, 40 seconds

Yes yep yep Makes total sense If you could give a bunch of flowers to anyone in the world who would it be and why

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19 minutes, 50 seconds

I'm actually going to say my son he's four he started kinder this week and it's a new kinder and he didn't know anyone

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19 minutes, 56 seconds

and he's just been so brave and yeah I saw this question and I was like thinking about it in the car here and I was like even this morning he

20:05

20 minutes, 5 seconds

like got dressed and I can see he's a little bit nervous It's a big deal But he doesn't know anyone and yeah he's just been so brave So yeah maybe I'll give this

20:15

20 minutes, 15 seconds

to him That is a beautiful answer I love that I love that I love that Well thank you so much for coming in and chatting to us

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20 minutes, 23 seconds

It might be time to do a bit of a flower reveal So we'll turn them around so the camera can see They look great They look beautiful

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20 minutes, 32 seconds

You're a natural Oh thank you 100 could get a job at Daily Blooms Well thank you so much for coming

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20 minutes, 39 seconds

in Dani It was amazing People can find you on your website merrypeople.com on social

20:46

20 minutes, 46 seconds

Yes So Instagram TikTok all of the socials All of them They can walk into your beautiful flagship store in Melbourne Yes Manchester Lane

20:54

20 minutes, 54 seconds

Manchester Lane Wonderful Yeah Well thank you so much It was an absolute pleasure I had such a nice time talking to you And yeah I hope you come back

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21 minutes, 3 seconds

and visit us again I absolutely will No thank you It's been really fun