12 Rounds…Love it or Hate it!

Wow, so far ladies week has more than exceeded my expectations, the support that was given to the Deluxe Edition was huge so lets keep the ball rolling.

Women making things happen was where I was going with this, and at some point I knew that children might feature. Just how do you juggle trying to make things happen and balance family life?Read on as I have a chat with young Tauranga Businesswomen Rach Byrne, who is as fearless on a bike as she is in chasing her dreams and goals.

Welcome Rach, thanks for agreeing to do this, could you tell me first who is Rach Byrne?Name, Age , Measurements etc:P

I am Rach! I am 25 (that’s old in girl years). [MGN-hmmm insightful start..... ]

Your new business is lovehate, what does it do or specialise in?

Well basically lovehate is the source of radness! It will be an online store selling jewellery, skatedeck art, prints, original art, limited edition tee’s, home wares and a few vintage pieces thrown in there. The driving force behind lovehate is the endless amount of talented creatives in NZ, I love working with people who are super passionate about what they do. It’s not all about the sales its about getting people and their products out there in the NZ market.

How hard is it to find new or talented designers to produce and supply goods?

There seems to be endless amount of people making shit in NZ, and quite a few places selling their goods which is great, but I have quite a selective taste. My criteria is simple; I look for artist’s who are producing something you will not find anywhere else and people who are equally as passionate about what they do as I am. I spend a lot of time reading design blogs and talking to people about what they do. I have found so many people I would love to get behind but I can’t take them all on, it’s really hard to say no to people but I’ve had to toughen up because I want a really unique mix of people and product on love hate.

Lovehate is not your first small business is it?

Correct, I have been involved two business’s prior to lovehate, my first being a cafe in Whakatane “Ground Zero” which I bought in to when I was only 17 was basically throwing me in the deep end. We had around 20 staff and seated about 100 people, large for Whakatane. That business was hugely successful, we tripled the turn over in the first three years making it in the top 5% of similar business’s in the country with a turn over exceeding 1 million.The challenges and stress of running a cafe of its size was a massive learning curve. I learnt loads off my business partners, perhaps the best thing I took from that business was the ability of reading people and finding the way to effectively manage different personality types. As well as the many positives I derived from that experience I also learnt what not to do. We sold that business about a year and a half ago and the others went on to open a rad little cafe down the Mount called ”Eighty Eight”, which is going really well so Im stoked for them. My second business was called ‘etch’, which was my baby, I used to go to work on my little black Vespa and have the biggest smile on my face, etch was a NZ designer botique, everything we stocked was designed and made in NZ (bar Karen Walker which is made off shore but she was worth the exception), I wont say too much about etch as you get to hear all about it in the next question.

Life is not always rosy as they say, tell me about having a business that didn’t work, and the decision to shut it down.

Losing etch felt like loosing a child, actually that’s a bit dramatic it was more like losing a family pet! I am a passionate person and when it comes to business I do believe that you have to have a massive love for what you do to succeed and man did I love etch. I may however have lacked the other vital part of business success, a solid financial plan. At the start of this venture people were talking about a ‘financial downturn’, me in my eager optimism thought this meant one or two slow seasons. None of us had lived through a recession like we have just seen so this was incomprehensible to me at the time. However I am not blaming my failure solely on the ‘R’ word there were definitely things I could of done differently. This was an extremely hard time for me but I hope to take my knowledge and apply it all in lovehate and other future business’s. The saddest part of closing the door’s was letting down the people I had so much admiration and respect for. I stocked some of NZ’s top designers Karen Walker, Lonely Heart’s, Stolen Girlfriends club, Twenty Seven Names, Sera Lilly and Salasai to name a few and these people were leaders at there game but were the most humble down to earth people basically just good C*nts. The same week I closed the doors six other boutiques around the country also shut. It was a hard time for all industries but especially for high end fashion. It took me a long time for me to reconcile that failure in myself.

Whats been your favorite job or business, and also the one you like the least?

This is easy, in 2009 I got a job through a friend’s company Impact Management working for Export Gold, This was not your typical promo work as I was payed a nice hourly rate to snowboard and occasionally stop and talk to people and give out vouchers for free beer! Beer & Snow Boarding you can’t really get much better than that! We had an epic time at that job unfortunately on the last night I fell off a roof and ended up in an ambulance on my way to Wanganui hospital (there is more to this story but I will leave it at that). Understandably the Export Gold Marketing Manager was not to happy about this and that was my last season with export gold! As for my worst I would say it was that one time I agreed to help out a friend and work in the hot dog stand at one of those carnivals, I left feeling like a glazed doughnut and smelling like sausage and not the good kind. [MGN- classy.... ]

You’re a mother to, how do you manage the demands of that vs work?You often talk about how everything you do is ultimately motivated by your daughter Char?

I knew it was never going to be easy having a child and being on my own, running a business and having some sort of ‘life’ all at once but I don’t generally choose the easy path. I have not always got this balance right but over the years I think I have got this down (sheesh I think this means I am mature now), Char is awesome she used to come in to etch and make her own store in one of my changing rooms which was actually a pain in the ass to clean up but she loves feeling important, she can also be found at Joel’s cafe serving the customers before school (she makes a mean poached egg). She would not be so awesome and I would not be able to do the thing’s I do without the amazing support I receive from my friends and family and I never take this for granted; I am stoked she has such a great extended family. I guess the positive of having a child young is that they never let you get to ahead of yourself ,they are always there bringing you down to earth and reminding you of what’s important in life, The reason I want to put myself out there in life and try and achieve the things I am so passionate about is to show Char that when she grows up she can do whatever the hell she wants unless it involves poles!!! (cheese I know)

What are your favorite, and least favorite parts of your job?

I love dealing with people who are really stoked on what they do so that’s definitely the highlight for me. I also appreciate having the ability to be able to work my business around other important stuff in my life! Working for yourself also has the downfall of self motivating- there is no one leaning over my shoulder telling me to get stuff done. I have to constantly not let myself get distracted (thanks facebook) and working from home you can get a little housebound I just make sure I get out and go for a ride on my bike or whatever.

What advice would you give to people considering starting up a new business?

A) Shave your sideburns.

B) Not all hobbies or interests have to make lots of money, its ok to do something because you love it- just don’t lose your passion for it or expect it to become your key source of income.

C) When doing financial projections its far better to under estimate your income and over estimate your outgoings than the other way around.

D) Wherever possible, grow with your business- don’t go big time till you know the market.

How do you get away from the stresses of work?

I’m not really a stress pot but I guess I enjoy hanging with my buddies having a few shandy’s, riding my bike, long walks down the beach (actually) and I am no pro (*disclaimer aimed at adam from last interview) but I have been really enjoying my photography lately.

I hear your a crazy woman on two wheels? MX or MTB?

ha ha ha something like that I thought I was on team push bike until a month or so ago my best buddy Pedey took me out on the MX Bike I forgot how much fun that was, I enjoy both but as I own a downhill bike I will tell myself its all about the mountain biking! There is no better feeling than spending a day up in the tree’s enjoying some quality riding with my buddies. Down hill it is my perfect sport it involves the three key aspects: minimum effort (thanks to the shuttle bus), adrenalin and the cold beers afterwards.

Lastly , tell me something about Rachel and why I should invest in her business if I were looking to spend some money.

Something about me: I have new socks on. Why you should invest in my business? Don’t invest, just buy some sweet product! If you want to go buying shit and burning your money, do it. Or, shop at lovehate :

Is there anything else you thinks help tell your story?

I have recently been learning about the different “to’s” and “theres” and “yours”, you need to do the same hahaha. [MGN- as a partial poor excuse for an asian….I am excused thats what spell check and sub editors are for]

Thanks Rach for giving up your time to do this, Good luck with Lovehate and anything else you chose to turn your hand to. Now about that next shuttle day…..