The Highland Wax Company: Growing The Business by Mary-Ann Thompson.

This week’s guest blog is about the entrepreneurial adventures and successes of a Scottish beekeeping family.

I’ve known the Thompson family for quite a few years now. We met when they needed a hand getting started with beekeeping, and the children were the first visitors to our observation hive. Time passes quickly and Euan became a teenager this week.

Mary-Ann walked up to the wild bee tree with me last week and we batted about some beekeeping ideas and talked about the blog. I’m really grateful to her for taking the time to share her thoughts and experiences on setting up a business in the kitchen, and successfully expanding it to earn an income to raise a family on.

I can feel energy, pace and passion in Mary-Ann’s writing and I hope it inspires others to take the plunge and follow a dream. Thank you very much, Mary-Ann for this candid and honest account of your life with The Highland Wax Company.

Highland Wax Company.

From Scientist to Beekeeper and Business owner.

I often refer to my move from Kent, employed as a Senior Research Scientist, to the Highlands of Scotland, to pursue a dream of living the good life (aged 31) whilst starting a Sports & Remedial Massage business AND producing 3 children in 3 years, as my 1^st mid- life crisis!   I refer to taking up beekeeping and launching the Highland Wax Company (aged 37) as my 2^nd!  7 years on, and quite frankly I just don’t have a spare second in the day (or night for that matter) to contemplate my next one, but never say never…………

Don’t get me wrong, I am not completely mad.   As you may have guessed I did (and still do) have a wonderful partner in crime – Stuart, my very supportive husband who listens to all my crazy ideas, helps me whittle them down, and after some persuasion becomes instrumental in making them the successes they are today. 

It was whilst tidying up after an evening attending to various sporting and postural related aches and pains that I took note of the ingredients list on the massage wax (an alternative to oil) that I had been using earlier in the day.  The thought that ran through my head at that moment, led Stuart and me on a creative journey developing Beeswax products, and subsequently launching The Highland Wax Company in 2014.

I could make this!  Yes, that was the thought.  It went over and over in my head, alongside visions of test tubes, beakers, lab coats, Bunsen burners; the lot!  I was ever so excited, and before long I was creating experimental design plans and scrolling eBay, purchasing all of the necessary ingredients. 

Over the next few months, our evenings were filled tinkering with formulations, which I would then evaluate in my clinic feeding findings directly back into our product development.   Then of course there was our foray into beekeeping driven by our growing fascination of these little honey bees who were producing one of our key ingredients.

It is difficult to convey in writing the excitement and passion that was running through our veins at this point.  I often look back and wonder how we managed to do it.  I guess looking back that would be one of the key pieces of advice I could give a fellow entrepreneur – you must have a deep, deep passion for what you are trying to do achieve.

Fast forward a few years, and I am still working as a therapist from home (part time) and Stuart now runs our business full time with support from myself when family life allows.  We have a dedicated ‘cabin’ in the garden now, which houses our business – and Stuart most of the week!  And dare I say it – our business is successful and continuing to grow.  

The Market.

Our biggest markets by far are the Massage, Beauty and Healthcare sectors – Therapy clinics, Colleges (training therapists), Physios, Osteopaths, Chiropodists etc.  We work with these customers either directly or more often than not through online platforms such as www.highlandwax.co.uk, Amazon and ebay.  However, our products are by no means exclusively for ‘professional’ use and are also enjoyed by the general public who often find us through ‘ethical/green’ websites which stock our products, local shops, word of mouth or social media.  In fact, many clinics who use our products also stock them to sell on to their customers.  And, while the vast majority of our sales are within the UK, we do distribute products through therapy clinic hubs in both the Netherlands and Australia.

Advice.

We are often asked what advice we would give to those debating whether or not to take the plunge with a new business idea.   It may sound strange, but I don’t really feel qualified to provide such advice, every business venture will have its own unique and interesting challenges.  However, upon reflection I can offer comment on what I believe worked in our favour for our business.

• Passion – yes, I mentioned it earlier.  I think it helped that both of us felt this way, allowing us to share our excitement with someone who genuinely cared.
• We had both worked in the pharmaceutical sector for over 10 years, and had experience of product development, manufacturing and the legislation in this field.
• I use the products every week, I want them to work for me and those who purchase them. I had a network of therapists (met through training & working groups) on hand to try out, comment and feed into our product development.  I was part of the therapy community – the audience we wanted to buy our products.
• Our products were aimed at a specific market – the therapy industry.  Marketing is an area we previously had no experience of, and has been our most daunting challenge.  We however believe that having a specific audience to target aided the growth & development of the business.  Many of our Massage Wax customers are repeat customers placing bulk orders on a regular basis.  Compare this to selling someone 1 or 2 lip balms – will that customer go on to bulk buy on a regular basis? Or do you need to find loads of new customers to buy 1 or 2 lip balms every month?  
• We were able to test the market and grow the business without significant financial investment.  There was no great capital investment required to purchase the simple equipment we needed to start making and selling our products.
• We have a graphic designer in the family (the creative mind behind all our labelling, logos etc) and Stuart has a great capacity for computers and has successfully navigated selling on Amazon (which should be worthy of its own degree in my option!).
• I love talking, and I am in my element when at a Beauty/Holistic trade show – where I can easily discuss our products all day long with fellow therapists.  I have discovered that whilst social media is a must in terms of promoting our business, it’s just not the same as a passionate and enthusiastic verbal exchange.  These shows were a huge financial commitment for us when we started out, and many (although not all) have proved very successful.  

The Reality.

So, I guess everything so far may seem a little rose tinted.  I had an idea, a wonderful partner to share that dream with, and now a successful online business.  But now for the reality!  Yes, we are so proud of what we do, and how we got here, but my goodness we have had our ups and downs. 

Sleep – what’s that?  a luxury surely?  Quality time together as a couple?  Is that not running your business together 24/7?   As for holidays….you’re having a laugh right?  Who will send out the orders, and who will look after the bees?  I assume you getting the point.

Life is busy with 3 little ones, 2 businesses and beehives.   If you are after a 9-5 job, you can forget it, this isn’t the life for you.  For the purposes for this article, I took a moment to tally up the hours Stuart has been working in the cabin for the last week: 55! However, the week prior to and after a big show it could be in the region of 75+ hours for each of us.  But it doesn’t just stop there, we, like most people, are never parted from our phones and as such are alerted to our emails, enquiries, queries, orders etc, day and night – you never quite switch off.  However, neither of us have a commute and we have flexibility.  If the sun shines and there are no pressing tasks a quick bike ride may be the order of the day.  

The other area worth commenting on briefly is money, yeah it has been tough at times.  It is not easy investing such hours with outgoings continuing to outweigh the income.  Again, it is something we find people want to know but aren’t quite sure how to ask.  For us, there was no profit for the first 4 years, and it took until year 6 with 4 years full- time on the business before the Stuart was rewarded by a decent wage reflecting his hard work.  

Finally, a point that Stuart felt should be highlighted.  One aspect he continues to find challenging is that he has responsibility for most aspects of the business.  It is a constant juggling act between being owner, producer, IT department as well as finance manager, cleaner, head of dispatch and beekeeper!!

So, Is It Worth It?

We feel it is really important to ask this once in a while, and to reflect on our current situation objectively.  For us it is a resounding yes (at the moment).  Working from our home provides us both with an incredible flexibility that we have grown to love and depend on whilst juggling home life, children and family time.  But our set-up does mean that we often approach activities slightly differently to the average family.  We both love running, cycling, swimming – we squeeze these in during the day (not after work), and then catch up with work in the evening (including weekends), when the children are in bed.  When we do try and get a few days away from it all we love to go camping, and we appreciate the beauty on our doorstep.  So, if we can’t get someone to cover our orders, we will camp locally on the beautiful Moray Firth allowing for quick trips home to dispatch orders when the need arises. 

However, the biggest reward is the pride in what we do and the wonderful feelings that bubble up inside us when we receive amazing feedback or when customers feel the need to phone us up to let us know how much they love using our products.  And, 7 years on, we still get that giddy feeling each time our phone pings when an order comes through, whilst feeling humbled that someone has decided to spend their money on one of our handmade products – wow!

Coming Soon.

I’ll be speaking to Cambridge Beekeeper’s Association on December 1st about a Scottish Beekeeper’s Year and anyone can register for the presentation. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/x/a-scottish-beekeepers-year-tickets-166065477313