Toni Spencer, founder of natural deodorant company Little Salties. Photo / Supplied
Toni Spencer, founder of natural deodorant company Little Salties. Photo / Supplied
Auckland woman Toni Spencer talks conjuring up deodorants in her garage-come-manufacturing plant and plans to create a global personal hygiene brand.
What does your business do?
Little Salties manufactures natural deodorants and we source and use nine local ingredients. We have just managed to secure seven New World's in Wellington.We're looking to go nationwide. Our deodorants are aluminium-free and we use magnesium and salt, which are really good at helping to stop you sweat and keep you smelling nice and clean. Quite a few deodorants out there claim to be natural but actually use toxic chemicals so I want to create a solution.
We make the deodorants in my garage but I'm looking into getting them made with a local manufacturing company in a few months because the business is accelerating so fast.
With my previous business I did kids soft toys and I started to make up little gift boxes and I was dabbling in natural skincare so I was making natural soaps and baby oils and balms, and a friend of mine who is a real natural-freak couldn't find a natural deodorant so I said I'd whip one up for her. I was using mainstream deodorants with aluminium at the time as well so I had a look at a few different formula options and created a deodorant that we really liked and then I put it on a GrabOne deal because I was doing quite a lot of that for my other business and I sold 300 in four days. I thought "Wow, this is something good" and then I sold the other business and decided to focus on Little Salties.
I only thought I'd sell 50 to 100 so I only had 100 in stock and at the time I'd actually gone up north on holiday with the family and had taken the deodorants with me and I thought I'd just courier them out. But they just kept selling and selling so I had to race back to Auckland to make up a massive batch. It was pretty frantic but I got my friends and family on board all helping. It was a nice surprise to sell so many.
It's me and I have two women who help me: one works in the manufacturing and another is my marketing manager. At the moment I'm the sole merchandiser but again it's all getting a bit out of control so I'll be looking to employ a couple of merchandisers. I also have a lot of friends and family who help out for free and my 7-year-old daughter always wants to help.
What's your home set up and how many deodorants do you make in a day?
We've spent about $15,000 on equipment all up. I imported all the equipment from China and I've put a lot of investment into the manufacturing of the product. Initially, I was intending to set up my own manufacturing warehouse, and I have a small one at the end of my garden, but with the volumes we're looking at doing in the future, it would end up being two businesses; manufacturing being a business on its own and the marketing and selling a secondary business. I have decided outsourcing will be smarter so I can focus purely on sales.
A Little Salties employee fills tubes with product. Photo / Supplied
How much deodorants are you selling weekly?
We're doing around 1000 a week but we've just got some supermarkets in Wellington on board so I'm expecting that to increase heavily. We're pretty efficient and can make around 200 in two hours and on average manufacture 300 a day.
What's your biggest challenge running the business at the moment?
As I don't have a business background I'm kind of just running on instinct so I can often fall behind in administration or figuring various things out, like how to work with supermarkets.
Inside Little Salties manufacturing studio. Photo / Supplied
I do have a business mentor, Angela Buglass formerly of Trilogy International, and she has been amazing and can see where my business is going and what I need to be prepared for. Angela is an activator for SheEO and I actually applied for that and through that process she discovered my brand and got in touch. In January I felt quite isolated from the business community and needed a mentor and Angela came along. I email her all the time asking her opinion or if I need some advice.
I want to take the business as far as I possibly can. First of all I want to take the brand to a national level and then perhaps looking at moving offshore. I'd love to see it as a massive global brand one day; that would be the ultimate goal.
What advice do you give others wanting to start their own business?
I recommend that women in business get connected with other women in business and look for support that is specifically tailored to your needs.
