Catherine Langman:
Well, hello there. It’s Catherine Langman here. Back with another episode of the Productpreneur Success Podcast. Today on the show, I welcome a guest, Sharon Hunter, who is the founder of the brand Emondo Kids. Emondo Kids is this really fantastic product invention. It’s a dinnerware range for fussy eaters. The whole purpose of the brand is to help fussy little eaters to form a positive relationship with healthy food with fun and creative dinnerware products. So really, really cool products. The thing about Emondo Kids, it is an established brand. She launched around about five-ish years ago. So she really was able to get moving initially in her business using wholesale.
She also had this really natural ability to connect with her audience via social media. She was really able to get started in her brand by creating content on social media and engaging with her audience. She really had a conversation going with her audience and that was a really great way to get started. But what happens with business, as I’m sure many of you already have experienced, there’s only so far that that sort of marketing can take you. Well, we all only have 24 hours in the day. We need to sleep for some of them. So we can’t keep doing more of that work unless we can take advantage of some marketing strategies that put a little bit of leverage into our business.
Now, and in terms of a business model, wholesale is a fairly leveraged business model. But of course, in 2020 when COVID hit, it really kind of forced a lot of brands like Emondo Kids to have to pivot to focus more heavily on eCommerce. I know that Sharon, she always had her e-commerce website there, but it really wasn’t that big of a focus in her business until she was forced into that pivot over the last year. So she’s really had to learn some new strategies and really take her business in a new direction. She’s been able to do that with great success. Today on the show, she’s sharing that journey with us, sharing a lot of the learnings that she’s achieved over the last year. So without further ado, let’s welcome Sharon onto the show.
Catherine Langman:
So welcome to the show, Sharon. It’s absolutely fantastic to have you here.
Sharon Hunter:
Thank you for having me.
Catherine Langman:
So, your business is Emondo Kids, and we’re going to kick start our conversation with asking you, “What is Emondo Kids?” What does it stand for? What do you make? Who is it for? All of that good stuff.
Sharon Hunter:
Okay. Alrighty. Well, in case the accent didn’t fool you, I’m Italian, obviously, and I grew up in Italy where everything pretty much revolved around food.
Catherine Langman:
Yes.
Sharon Hunter:
One of my favorite things to do when I was young was every Sunday, me and my mom will get up early, make our own pasta for the week. So, we’ll make all sorts of things from the little bows, the fettuccine, spaghetti, hand-rolled penne, and we’ll have the stock ready for the whole week. So everything…
Catherine Langman:
Wow.
Sharon Hunter:
…as you can imagine… Yeah, exactly! As part of my culture, everything revolves around food and the kitchen was pretty much the heart of the household.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, got it.
Sharon Hunter:
Now…
Catherine Langman:
My kids would be so jealous.
Sharon Hunter:
Oh my God. Fresh pasta is the best thing.
Catherine Langman:
It is the best thing ever.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. And once that you taste it, I think it’s hard to go back to just store-bought pasta.
Catherine Langman:
Packet stuff, totally.
Sharon Hunter:
Well, now, obviously, I have my own family over here in Australia. I’ve been here for coming up to 10 years. Actually just over 10 years, yeah.
Catherine Langman:
Wow.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, it’s been a while. Officially, an Australian citizen now from two years ago.
Catherine Langman:
Yay.
Sharon Hunter:
Yay. Obviously I have my own daughter and I started feeding her when she was little and there was no issue at the beginning. She loved food as much as I did, but she became a bit fussy with the food when she was about probably around 15, 18 months, I’ll say.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, it’s so annoying that it happens, isn’t it?
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, because she was amazing after that. And everybody was always like, “How does she eat like that? She eats better than my 11 year-old.” And I was like, “You know, Italian genes, DNA that’s all.” [inaudible 00:02:09] for me, that’s for everybody else’s. So, yeah, she became really fussy and obviously, as an Italian, to have a daughter that doesn’t eat, that was like, “Hmm.” [crosstalk 00:02:20]
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, what is wrong?
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, this cannot be happening!
Catherine Langman:
Absolutely.
Sharon Hunter:
That’s right. So, basically that’s how I came up with Emondo Kids. I was looking for a solution to make meal time a bit more fun. And the more creative that I got with her food, the more curious and engaged she got.
Catherine Langman:
Yes.
Sharon Hunter:
But obviously, as you know, when you’re a new mom, I was a new mom back then, I didn’t have time to make caterpillar grapes and butterflies out of strawberries, [inaudible 00:02:52]. I mean, it was fun at the beginning, but not on a daily basis. That was… I’m really sick, so-
Catherine Langman:
It wears thin after a while.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, exactly. So, the idea behind Emondo Kids is basically to help parents with fussy little eaters, like my little one was, to form more of a positive relationship with food, but in a fun and creative way.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, so good!
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, so-
Catherine Langman:
I know I’ve said to you in our group that I wish that this was around when my son was little. He was the same. Thankfully, he’s gotten over that well and truly at 15.
Sharon Hunter:
Well, but it was surprising because there wasn’t much out there. I mean, there was all the gimmicky plasticky plates or just plain plates. Well, obviously require you to make this fun creation out of food. But, like I said, there was not really time for them. So, when I designed my range, I wanted it to make a thing that didn’t only brought joy and a sense of imagination to the kids, but also help the parents, like myself, to take back control of meal time.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. So good. And just for the sake of our listeners, I’m sure many of them actually already know about Emondo Kids, but describe what the products look like and what they are.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, so we started a range with the bamboo plates and bowls. We have some that comes with suction and some without. The good things about the suction apart for the fact that it’s amazing, it’s super strong, it also comes off. So, once that they got over the stage where they want to throw the plates everywhere,…
Catherine Langman:
Everything on the floor, yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
Yes. Obviously, they’ll still throw the food on the floor if the bowl is stuck to the table. I can’t solve that, unfortunately. But that’s why you get a pet. We have a dog that cleans up the floor.
Catherine Langman:
So funny.
Sharon Hunter:
That’s what I use. The plates and the bowls, I would say, grows with your child. So it’s not like you buy a plate that has a suction, and then… I don’t know about you, but my daughter once she turned probably three or four, she was like, “I don’t want the baby plate.” They’re big kids. They want big kids stuff, and suction for them meant you’re a little baby that needs to spoon herself.
Catherine Langman:
Yes, that’s right.
Sharon Hunter:
That’s when the suction comes off. Obviously, they can be used without them and kept using until they’ll be older. And then, we expanded the range with the cutlery and also cups.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, so all the utensils. And I think the thing that is super fun is all the really fun designs. What was the first design that you brought out for the plates?
Sharon Hunter:
Well, the first design was actually the koala because, obviously, being Italian living in Australia, when I started I wasn’t a citizen, I wanted to do something that had to do with food because that’s part of my culture, but I wanted to marry it up with the fact that I now was living in Australia, in this country, and I thought, “Well, Koala will be the best.” So, I did the koala. I actually had wombat, the frill neck lizard, and the platypus back then, too.
Catherine Langman:
Cute.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, they’re super cute. You have this animal face with the different section and the kids can play with the food and make expression, or decorate the plate without having to cut the food in like crazy shapes…
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
… yourself. So yeah, it made it a bit more interactive, and they get to explore like body parts and learn first words like eye, nose, ears. Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
So, just to make them a bit more fun and obviously, we got the plain bowl and we also have the rainbow with the little clouds.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
[inaudible 00:06:45] now.
Catherine Langman:
So cute. So, when you think back to that time, because it was, what about five years ago now that you really kind of got started with this idea?
Sharon Hunter:
Yes, coming up. I started researching when it was August five years ago, yeah. So…
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. I’m sure, well, that process of research and development tends to take a little while. But when you think back to that time, what did you think it would be like to start an e-commerce business, or to start your brand?
Sharon Hunter:
Well, see, for me it wasn’t really trying to start a business back then. My idea was like, “Oh my God, my daughter is not eating. What can I do?” I couldn’t find a product that I was looking for, so I needed a solution. And basically, I designed the plate purely to, obviously, for her, for our purpose. And then I felt high. Okay. Well, I think I only got maybe a hundred made, or something, of each. It wasn’t a big quantity. And I thought, I can sell them on the local markets or marketplace…
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, [inaudible 00:07:53]
Sharon Hunter:
… or Gumtree, I think. Back then, there wasn’t Marketplace yet.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
I feel so old.
Catherine Langman:
Too funny.
Sharon Hunter:
So, that’s what I… I started it thinking that it will be just a side hustle to do while I was on maternity leave, I suppose. But I was also brand repping for a lot of other kids brand at that time and taking photo for them which I really started to enjoy their own Instagram community. And I got to meet amazing business owners, which are still pretty good friends now. They really inspired me and I thought, “Well, if they can do it, why can’t I?” So, I give it a go and I started the Instagram account. Just it was more of a… I guess I wanted to go more into blogging about food and just sharing my experience with the issue that I was going through. So, yeah, I was posting meal ideas and put myself out there on the stories and chucked into my audience and just having fun and be myself, really. And before I knew it, I just got this bunch of messages going, “Can we stock your products? Do you wholesale?”
Catherine Langman:
Wow.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. I was like, “What do you mean?” I had to go, “Hi, Google.” Well, actually I didn’t have Google back then, but I was just researching what this wholesale means and scramble to learn very quickly about having to build that website for e-commerce, or organize packaging because these were asking me, “What packages do they come in? How would they display on the shelves?” And I was like, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. It’s a fast learning take there, isn’t it?
Sharon Hunter:
Oh my God. So fast, and I literally had to go straight in, head in first. I guess, there’s no better way to learn., I suppose.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. It takes a bit of guts though, to really just go for it when you see an opportunity. I mean, I know that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to have the confidence to just give things a go.
Sharon Hunter:
No, and honestly, it’s very much fake it until you make it because that’s what I was doing. I was just learning as I was going. And obviously, I was lucky to have all of those friends that I repped for. They gave me a lot of support and guidance, and I could bounce idea off of them which is… It was really good, but it was definitely challenging. But I think also the fact that I didn’t want to go back to work, because I worked in hospitality management and the idea of having to go back to work pushed me, I think, a little bit in trying to make this work once that I still… The interest was there.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, absolutely. And I’m sure many of our listeners would sympathize with that kind of experience. I know it’s quite similar to mine as well.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
Didn’t want to go back to those crazy hours in Sydney ad agencies at the time myself, so yeah. It’s quite a good motivation to push you to work it out really, isn’t it?
Sharon Hunter:
Oh, it is. And I think especially now you can see every day there’s a new business popping up and a lot of them are moms that are just trying to make something for themselves. Good on them, you know?
Catherine Langman:
Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. So, when you think about this journey that you’ve gone on, so, it sounds like you started with wholesale first and then kind of moved forwards with the e-commerce side of things as well, would that be right?
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, yeah. Exactly. I feel like I started a product-based business for wholesale and then e-commerce was kind of an elemental add, but I really enjoyed the part of the in-person connection with the store case and trade show, expos as well. The wholesale was probably I’ll say 85% of my business in the beginning. Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
And so, when did you really start to bring more of the e-commerce into the mix?
Sharon Hunter:
Well, I kind of kept my social media side of it keep going, obviously, because that was really my main marketing strategy. [inaudible 00:12:15].
Catherine Langman:
Yes.
Sharon Hunter:
I was showing the recipes, the behind the scene, and all of that, but I learned that e-commerce space, especially since last year, it’s been such an important part of the business because after the COVID happen and I did a trade show at the beginning of last year, but it was so quiet. It was when the whole COVID started. It was nothing like the other trade show I did. I was like… It was almost eerie, like there was no many people around. I mean there were, but compared to the year before, it’s such a different vibe. And I thought, “Oh, things, they’re not going to be the same.” And obviously, we can’t do in-person events anymore, like expos and trade show, markets, anything like that.
It’s… You just can’t do… Well, it’s slowly getting back to normal now, but last year it wasn’t. So, that’s when I thought…
Catherine Langman:
It was a big shake up, wasn’t it?
Sharon Hunter:
It was. And I think a lot of people had to adapt very quickly and I realized I was in e-commerce. I needed to invest and up-skill. I’d be more on that side of the business if I wanted to survive 2020, you know? And also I think the relationship with my followers. Being a bit more present on social media when everybody was going through such a tough time, I think, it definitely helped as well.
Because you can definitely see, and you know this as well because you have a product. But I don’t think that people invest in your product, they invest…
Catherine Langman:
No.
Sharon Hunter:
… in you.
Catherine Langman:
Absolutely.
Sharon Hunter:
They build that relationship with you and when everything, I would say, stopped, in person with COVID and yeah. It was very important to get the e-commerce online side of it.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. It’s such an important point that you just made there, too, because I think… I mean, as you can probably imagine, we work with a variety of businesses and a lot of the time there’s this, I guess, expectation may not be the right word, but there’s this desire to just launch a business and start running some pay traffic, and that it’s all just going to suddenly work straight away. You’re going to be making profitable sales straight away. But they’ve missed that crucial point of actually building up an audience and really engaging with that audience, so there’s that authentic connection there.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
And when brands like yours, and we’ve had a few other brands that really focused the other way first, like you did, and building up that audience and your engagement with that audiences is authentic, you really are creating useful content with them and having conversations with them that’s back and forth, not just throwing stuff up and leaving it, there’s the engagement happening there. It’s so crucial.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, absolutely. Because there’s nothing worse than somebody to just go, “Here, buy my product.” Sell, sell, sell, sell. You have no connection. Especially if you’re going to be mainly online. To the shop, you go, you get to test the product and have a look at it.
Catherine Langman:
Have a try.
Sharon Hunter:
You can feel it.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. But online, it’s so hard. You can’t do that. So you, have to be… I think it’s very important that you’re present online. And it’s hard, but I think nowadays, like you said, they’re popping up all over the shop. Every day, there’s a new business that pop up and I think it’s definitely one side of it that everybody should do.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. Absolutely. We’ve come across a few businesses over our time that they really just want to handball all of that to somebody else, and they don’t want to have to create content or engage. They just want to forget about all of that kind of stuff, and, yeah, it doesn’t work so well.
Sharon Hunter:
No, it doesn’t. It can. I mean, somebody might be very lucky in having this amazing product that is newly created and it’s not there and solve the big problem, and there might be like they can sell some without being there. Who knows? But it’s not that many, I think.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah, that’s right. Absolutely.
So what have been some of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced over the past five years since you really got moving with this, particularly with marketing your business? I think it’s so awesome for other people to hear about challenges and how we overcome them because it really makes everyone feel like, “Oh, it’s not just me.”
Sharon Hunter:
Oh, absolutely. It’s definitely not just you. So, like I said, marketing, for me, it was mainly trade show and social media. I really put most of my efforts in those two strategy and expos. I was a consumer at expos. But the kind of exposure I found that also led me to fighting a lot of copycats. They just…
Catherine Langman:
Yes.
Sharon Hunter:
… started popping up. Almost like a computer virus, that’s how I can describe [crosstalk 00:17:23].
Catherine Langman:
Shocking, isn’t it?
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. Mostly Alibaba, obviously. But then I had a few people in the UK, and basically they just get your product, copy, make a crappy version of it, sell it for quarter of the price, and they were using all my marketing images and material which is…
Catherine Langman:
Oh, that’s the worst.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. It’s heartbreaking and it’s very hard to fight. I mean, you can’t really fight. You can try. Pretty much do that on a fortnightly basis, I think.
Catherine Langman:
Gosh.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, the three of us, a few business owners that we check each other product on Alibaba every two weeks or so. And we’re like, “Hey, I found your plate here”. It’s ridiculous.
In a way, I think because I had such a good engage in audience and followers, like a couple of years, no, just over a year ago, I had a major retailer in Australia that replicated one of my products. The Koala plate. I don’t know if you heard about it.
Catherine Langman:
Yes, I did.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. And I find out only because I woke up to hundreds of messages on my Instagram of people screenshotting and tagging myself, obviously, and the retailer and be like, “Shame on you, copying small businesses.” And honestly, it was amazing. The support that they rally around me. Because I had, obviously, that audience, that really helped me out. Obviously, I couldn’t fight the big retailer, but it was just… It got me through it. That kind of support got me through it.
Catherine Langman:
Did they end up pulling the product in the end, or did they just ignore it?
Sharon Hunter:
They denied copyright infringement. [inaudible 00:19:14] my lawyer helped me out with that, which she said it was a good outcome at the end. They said, “We deny copyright infringement, however, we’ll stop ordering from our supplier.” Considering who they were, it was…
Catherine Langman:
That’s pretty [crosstalk 00:19:28].
Sharon Hunter:
It wasn’t a good outcome because a brand like me going against a brand like that, they’ll just crash you. No way.
Catherine Langman:
David versus Goliath situation, really.
Sharon Hunter:
Yes, exactly. So, despite everything, it wasn’t too bad, but hey, there’s no such thing as negative exposure because then I went to the trade show and everybody knew my plate. They were like, “Oh, you were in the project. You were in the news. I saw you there.”
Catherine Langman:
Yes.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. So, that was actually come to now good at the end, because there was the extra support coming in.
Catherine Langman:
That’s so cool. Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
There’s the silver lining right there.
Sharon Hunter:
There was. Exactly. So, you got to look at the silver lining in everything. It sucked, but I got that exposure at the end, so…
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. That’s so cool.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
And then, the other thing that we were chatting about at some point was when it comes to, I guess, the e-commerce marketing side of things that, you know… Writing the copy has been a challenge for you because English is obviously not your first language. So…
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
Talk to us about kind of moving through that. Because you’re definitely not alone. Whether it’s people not having the first language there, or for various reasons, a lot of people do feel that writing copy for marketing is a huge challenge, and then the end result is they just don’t do the marketing.
Sharon Hunter:
Yes, and that’s exactly what I was doing. And you’re kind of like digging your head into the sand, I suppose.
Catherine Langman:
Absolutely.
Sharon Hunter:
For me, it’s,… I don’t know. It’s more of probably a mental block, I suppose. I, I live in the UK for 13 years and I’m living in Australia for 10 years, so I’m not new to English.
Catherine Langman:
No.
Sharon Hunter:
Completely self-taught, but obviously I will always have, in the back of my head, it’s not my language and it’s just my weakness. So, I don’t know. I think this is the main reason why I avoided any sort of email marketing, blogs, product description, anything to do with writing any sort of copy because I just couldn’t. I read and re-read and everything sounded not great. But I think, it’s one of those things that when you need to consider either outsourcing, or maybe up-skilling yourself and learning to make some way to handle that, because, obviously, that sort of marketing is so important, which obviously, thanks to you. And you got to put your self out there. As well, COVID.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. And you did.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, yeah. Exactly. COVID also took a big hit on my planned marketing. Well, the fact that all of a sudden, I couldn’t attend trade show and expo. And that’s when, obviously, I knew that e-commerce was the way to go, and I needed to invest on myself and you know…
Catherine Langman:
Figure this stuff out.
Sharon Hunter:
… [crosstalk 00:22:32] area.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, exactly.
Catherine Langman:
I think the thing that I’ve observed anyway with working through the course with you is that you’re actually a pretty harsh critic of yourself because what you do right and what you produce is fantastic and it has your own kind of flavor to the way that you write. It’s got your own personality in there. But as a brand and connecting with your audience, you actually want that. You want that kind of unique personality coming through the content. Because if it came through as perfect kind of grammatical English, I’m not even speaking perfect English here, but you know what I mean? But your audience will just go, “Who’s written that? That’s not…”
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
“That’s not Sharon.” Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
It’s true, though. Because I’ve tried to get it outsourced and I wasn’t… What was it? I think it was like a media… Like a press… What do you call that? A press…
Catherine Langman:
Press release? Media release?
Sharon Hunter:
A press release, that’s right. Yeah. That a PR agency wrote for me. I’m reading and I’m like, “This doesn’t sound anything like me.”
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
It was making me sound like this entrepreneur, very professional. What I was picturing is me in a all woman’s suit with a folder in my hand in a corporate office. I’m like, “That’s not me.” And I hate it.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. [crosstalk 00:24:04] funky hairdo coming through.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, exactly. I like to have a bit of humor. I think everything has to have humor to be enjoyable. Otherwise, it’s just boring.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
And like anybody else, it’s a bit dull. So, yeah.
Catherine Langman:
I love it. And so, obviously, over the last three months, we’ve been working together through a productpreneur website from the course, helping you to get all of this kind of e-commerce marketing strategies implemented, and it’s been a big learning curve for you. But I think part of that learning curve would also be, really, your mindset around all of this stuff and working in an e-commerce type of business. So, how would you compare your mindset around all of that before to now?
Sharon Hunter:
Oh, very, very different. Obviously, like I said before, my social media and wholesale side of the business was going well and I concentrated all my time and efforts in that. And I didn’t think I needed more but after COVID, I thought, “Okay, right. I need to get my e-commerce game on and I just need more, I suppose, organization and structure, automation as well.” Because when you’re just one person wearing all the hats, you only have two hands. I was struggling to keep up in doing all of that. So, if I can learn and up-skill myself as a business owner, I’m going to take those skills and be able to implement them and understand what I’m actually doing. Which means, if down the line I do want to outsource, at least I know…
Catherine Langman:
You know what you have to do.
Sharon Hunter:
… exactly what I’m paying for.
Catherine Langman:
100%.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. Like, understanding because out sourcing, I don’t know. I found it really hard because it’s your baby. Your business is your baby, and you think nobody’s going to do it as well as you do, or it’s not going to have, like you said, the flavor that you have. So I think, I needed to understand the structure. Yeah. Definitely structure and automation, now, it’s so important. I actually look back and I’m thinking, “Oh my God, how could I not have done this before?”
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
“What was I thinking?” But you don’t know what you don’t know, right?
Catherine Langman:
Of course. That’s right. I want to talk about some of the biggest learnings that you’ve taken out of the course, because I think this is pretty cool, what you were sharing with us.
Sharon Hunter:
Oh my God. Yeah. Well, I’m turning 43 this year, so I didn’t even think that my brain could take on much more learning, especially after the last four years, when you…
Catherine Langman:
It’s a lot, yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
… starting a business. It’s literally like getting a degree and working at the same time. But I’ve learned so much in 13 weeks.
First of all, I thought 13 weeks is a long time, such a long time.
Catherine Langman:
It flies by, yeah?
Sharon Hunter:
It goes so fast. It goes so fast, but… Biggest learning, I would say probably, and surprisingly, it will be moving to Klaviyo and learning all about the email marketing side of things, because that’s what I thought I was struggling with before.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. I know.
Sharon Hunter:
But I actually enjoy it. I tell you all, there’s something about organizing flows and understanding those metrics behind it. I was even helping a friend a couple of weeks ago. And then she was like, “Oh, I’m all messed up with [inaudible 00:27:36]”. And I was like, “Right, let’s get you into Klaviyo.”
Catherine Langman:
So good.
Sharon Hunter:
And I showed her how to set up the automation and all of that. I was like, “Oh, God, who am I?” I would’ve never… I would’ve done everything to avoid even talking about human marketing three months ago. So, that, for me, was… It really showed that we can do anything that we’re scared of doing. We just need those direction and the right people and the right tools to guide us. So, I think that was definitely my biggest takeaway. And then [inaudible 00:28:08], I’m still getting my head around it, but I’m slowly getting there.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah. And look, they’re all big meaty things to try and learn and implement and understand and get them cranking. But I just loved that story with Klaviyo. And just for the listeners benefits, Sharon, was posting photos of herself in a group with a whiskey in hand working on her Klaviyo flows. And she really put her head down, bum up and got it done, having a bit of fun along the way. But yeah, now you’re loving it and helping other people to get onto it, so that’s so cool.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, yeah. A few drinks. I have to check the day off [inaudible 00:28:48]. Whiskey, a couple of whiskey out. So, I’m like, “Maybe I’ll just [inaudible 00:28:55] drink.
Catherine Langman:
So funny. And so, when you think about this last three months’ journey working with us, what would you say you enjoyed the most about the course?
Sharon Hunter:
I must say everything, honestly. I love the learning. I’m always up for learning, but it has to be done in the right environment. And this was perfect. I love meeting all the other more like-minded people that’re in the same group and learning at the same time as I am and helping each other out as well. Just knowing that you’re not going through those issues alone…
Catherine Langman:
Absolutely.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. It’s definitely a big, big help. And obviously, all the coaches, the group zoom calls, your videos as well. What I love about your video is, well, they know… What’s the word? I should have prepared this one. I’m going to wing it. I don’t know. There’s something about you in the video. You’re just… It’s like sitting there on the table with you. Like, if you’re having your glass of water, or sipping on coffee, it doesn’t feel [inaudible 00:30:03] or cold. It’s warm and it’s literally like sitting, sharing screen. That’s what it felt like. And so, it makes it so much easier to follow and yeah, I don’t know. It was great. I loved everything about it. I’m a bit sad because this is the last week now, so yeah.
Catherine Langman:
I know. I know. It’s crazy, right?
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, it is. I think a lot of people is sad.
Catherine Langman:
Well, we’re not going to remain strangers that’s for sure.
Sharon Hunter:
No, that’s right.
Catherine Langman:
So, where to next for Emondo Kids? What are you excited about for? What’s next in the future of your business?
Sharon Hunter:
Well, there’s all a lot of exciting things happening. I’m currently working on a new range called Cafe Mondo, which will expand, yeah, not just for the kids. So, it’s going to be for… I’m not saying just the parents, because we mean for everybody that love food, as much as I do.
Catherine Langman:
Yeah.
Sharon Hunter:
Because I do.
Catherine Langman:
So good.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. So that’s still hush hush. We’re still on the development stage. I’d really love to be able to get it for the end of the year, but thanks to COVID, things [crosstalk 00:31:15]…
Catherine Langman:
It takes a little while, doesn’t it? Yes.
Sharon Hunter:
… at the moment. Yeah. We’ll see how it go, but that’s really exciting. And I’m also just excited now to see all the hard work that we went under in the course. Taking over and all the stuff that I’ve implemented hopefully start going nicely.
Catherine Langman:
Absolutely.
Sharon Hunter:
I did my first campaign yesterday. Just watching the numbers changing. I think everything is just taking on nicely. And obviously, I really going to join the Mastermind Academy as well after this.
Catherine Langman:
Yay.
Sharon Hunter:
I had a lot of… Yeah, I’m very excited because I know obviously, a few of the girls that are in the academy already, and…
Catherine Langman:
That’s right. It’s great for you.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah, we’re so excited to hang out together. Yeah, and keep learning, especially with all the changes at the moment. With all the Apple changes, everything is just… I don’t know how you guys do it because [crosstalk 00:32:06] something new, I can’t keep up.
Catherine Langman:
I couldn’t do it without my team. That’s for sure. We have a… What is it? “any hands make light work, or whatever that saying is. That’s how we do it.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
That’s so good.
Sharon Hunter:
So much to keep up with.
Catherine Langman:
I’m really loving the sound of that new secret product that is coming through. I look forward to seeing that come through. Especially as I am a food lover, as much as you.
Sharon Hunter:
Who doesn’t love food, though, right?Seriously. Something is seriously wrong with you if you don’t enjoy food as much as we do.
Catherine Langman:
It’s a focus in this house with teenage sporty boys, that’s for sure.
Sharon Hunter:
Oh, yes. They’ll be eating all night.
Catherine Langman:
All day. Yes. It’s a good thing they sleep or else it will be all night, too. So, really fantastic to have you on the show and sharing your story. Now, before we finish up, I would love you to please share where can people find out about you? And I know that you’ve got a little offer that you would like to extend to our listeners as well, if they have some fussy eating kids that might need a little bit of a creative solution.
Sharon Hunter:
Yes. Yes. So, well, you can find us at emondokids.com.au, and obviously on Instagram and on Facebook. And the little offer that I’ve got for your followers to do a 20% off using the code. Do you want me to give you the code now? Or you’ll probably just put it…
Catherine Langman:
Well, why don’t you give us the code, but we will obviously share it in the show notes as well.
Sharon Hunter:
Yeah. Okay. So, the code will be PWF for the product on our website formula, 20 for 20% off. And it will be valid until the end of the year, so if I manage the release a new range…
Catherine Langman:
We cannot wait for that.
Sharon Hunter:
… before the end of the year, they can use for that too. Yeah.
Catherine Langman:
So good. Thank you. That’s very generous. And I’m definitely going to go check it out. I’ve got some little people in my family that might need some presents.
Sharon Hunter:
Oh, that’s good.
Catherine Langman:
Fantastic having you on the show. Thank you again so much, Sharon.
Sharon Hunter:
Well, thank you so much for having me. It’s been great to be on the course and on your podcast. It was so much fun. Thank you, Cat.