Feeling burnt out, and ordering something online that never turns up can be very disappointing.
But for a New Plymouth woman, it turns out the combination of ‘not good’.. and ‘disappointing’.. was life-changing in the best kind of way.
Abby Packer’s business, Neat, is making natural, NZ-made skincare, and it’s flying off shelves from a roomy warehouse.
“We're sending out over 3200 orders every month," Abby told Seven Sharp.
It all started at home in her spare room at home during a corporate career lull.
“Just feeling disenchanted, burnt out, and overworked, really,” she said.
“I got home crying one night, and Jason said to me, 'if you want to leave your job, you can; we'll figure it out'.”
So, she did.
But Abby's not one to twiddle her thumbs, placing an order for a laser cutter her plan was to do small business marketing from home.
“Like personalised coasters for corporate gifts, key tags.”
While she waited for it, her delivery was delayed and delayed and delayed.
So she tinkered about with essential oils, making natural perfumes for friends and family.
“She was just mixing smelling, mixing smelling, and it just evolved,” her husband Jason said.
“People were enjoying them and giving good feedback,” Abby said.
“So I went to a cosmetic formulation workshop and learnt more - and thought, yeah, I can do more than this.
“I thought I'll make a website and put these on there. And that was it.”
That's when she realised two things.
First - the laser cutter wasn't coming, and she was gonna need a bigger whisk.
Soon, she'd outgrown the front room, moving to a local warehouse where the orders kept coming.
“It just blew me away,” she said.
Jason chucked in his job as a cheesemaker for a different kind of workplace culture.
“Fully immersed in the skincare now,” he said.
And he was a handy hire.
Across their now-huge perfume range, customers can buy one-millilitre samples before committing.
And they’d been filling them the hard way, pouring in their product, one little bottle at a time.
They've just moved to their second - much bigger - premises where it's all hands to the pump and drenchers.
“We exceeded last year's projections by over half a million dollars,” she said.
“Every time we'd hit a goal, she'd set another one, you know. Sometimes they were out-the-gate goals, I was like, I really can't see that happening, never voiced it but she did it every time. It opened my eyes to what's possible,” Jason said.
Their biggest advice?
“If you have a product, there's someone waiting to buy it.”
And that laser cutter never did arrive.
"I got a refund," she said.
“It's a shame, really, it would've come in handy.”
SHARE ME