Building A Brand

By June Ramli

So after working for months, the good news is that I have finally got the skincare and hair products. In other words, I have finally received my first shipment of the LazyBumSkincare and BlitzHairSprayOil product. I collected the shipment myself on Dec 22 at the factory, and posted it on my personal Twitter and Instagram page.
It felt surreal especially since I have been working on this product formation since Jan 3 this year when my friend told me that my mother’s secret beauty recipes would make a great offering to the masses.
She initially wanted to be a part of the brand formation but had to pull out due to personal issues.
I too wasn’t too convinced to start on my own but I just couldn’t take it off my head.
And then I did the inevitable, told my idea to a friend, that gave her guts to start her own hand sanitiser business in Malaysia and she now has a brand, thanks to me.
This got me thinking again, why don’t I just give it a go, after all I am relatively free at the moment and don’t have a 9 to 5 job.
After finishing as a news editor at Microsoft in June last year, I had issues gaining employment unlike my other colleagues, who had all moved on to new roles. For me, I went to a lot of interviews but never successfully landed any roles. I am not sure why because the rejection emails were all rather generic and without specific details as to why I had been denied the jobs. So, with a lot of free time in my hand, I decided to work on all my projects which have been on the back-burner for years starting with the novel – Daily Straits, which I completed on my birthday this year.
Yes, my inaugural novel has been published after procrastinating for nine years. Inspired by the Harry Potter series, this book has a touch of sorcery to it except with some original plot twists of course. If you have the time, you should read it. I did try to look for a proper publisher but it was hard and in the end I decided to publish it on Amazon and Kindle. It can be purchased here.
And then I decided to start this website. A website that would be concentrated on business and entrepreneurship, two subjects that are dear to my heart. I am actually a very good business journalist but have not been given the opportunity to shine as one in Sydney- although I have applied for these roles countless times.
In the end, I had to start my own and I am happy to note that it has been going strong so far.
Back to LazyBum Skincare, I decided to work on it and now it has come alive, part of the reason why I decided to push through was because I thought that producing the product can be turned into some great original content for this website – especially on the journey.
We always read about entrepreneurs talking about their journey from rags to riches in a 12 to 15 paragraph news report but believe me when I say there is definitely more than meets the eye when it comes to entrepreneurship.
They were all probably just relating two per cent of the story then and so by producing the products and documenting the journey here at least, it would be a win win for all, this website gets some original content, and you my dear readers get to learn something new every time you read the column.
My next hurdle would be in marketing the product, getting the word out, deciding on a price point and creating a following per say.
You have no idea the journey that lies ahead because creating the product is the first hurdle, the second hurdle is even harder, but I guess I would have to persevere.
By the way, I did manage to get in touch with the all powerful folks working at the Iconic. They have now started following me on Twitter but the email I sent in regards to wanting to partner up with them has yet to receive a reply. I should be positive and think that it could be the holiday seasons that result in a delay in response. I don’t know for sure because I did not get an automatic reply to even say that the email has been received. So, god knows what has happened to it. I hope it did not end up in the junk mail.
I did try stalking their executives on LinkedIn, sending the whole bunch of them invites but sadly the connection has not been accepted but it is fine.
Now why would I want to get into Iconic so much?
Well, I sold my lingerie line on Zalora Malaysia, it is a sister company of Iconic I believe, don’t quote me on this, I might be wrong.
But I like the way they operate, you need to send them your goods, and they would do all the marketing for you and place their products on the website.
They will take a cut on all this work but I don’t mind. At least that way I can concentrate on expanding my business and looking at ways of marketing the product elsewhere but let’s see, I am hopeful to receive a reply from Iconic. Hopefully, they will reply sometime early in the new year.
Otherwise, I would need to think of Plan B which is still being finalised.
Oh and before you log off to celebrate Christmas, here are some Australian shopping stats which were recently provided to this website by Doddle, a digital fulfilment platform.
The data looks at Aussie consumer online shopping and fulfilment habits, trends and preferences from over the last 12 months.

Here are some of their standout statistics:
Aussies are no longer strangers to online shopping with the average number of purchases in the last 12 months hitting 14.47, and one in six have made 20 online purchases this last year.
Many Aussies may have started their holiday shopping on Black Friday as one in three (37 per cent) stated they hadn’t started their holiday shopping yet.
Around half (48 per cent) of consumers are concerned that their online purchases won’t arrive in time for the holidays and 43 per cent plan to use alternative delivery methods like click & collect, pick up points or parcel lockers to alleviate these concerns.
Despite these concerns, a whopping 92 per cent of Aussies plan to continue shopping online even though retail is now open again, which is up five per cent from last year.
Half (52 per cent) of Australian online shoppers are dissatisfied with a lack of ‘click and collect’ options when there are shipping delays and half (51 per cent) are likely to use alternatives moving forward.
Free delivery (59 per cent) and convenience (49 per cent) are the core drivers for ‘click and collect’, and surprisingly security (16 per cent) is low in importance.
Well over half (60 per cent) of online shoppers have become more hesitant to buy because of difficult or confusing returns processes; just under half (46 per cent) have stopped shopping with a retailer because of a poor online returns experience.
Sixty five per cent of online shoppers feel that retailers should have improved their returns process in COVID economy.
Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of online shoppers have tried to make more environmentally friendly purchases in the last year.
Purchasing from retailers that use recyclable or minimal packaging (59 per cent), creating products from recycled materials (48 per cent), or selling eco-friendly and reusable products (45 per cent) are preferred.
Till the next update, my sweets. Happy Christmas to those celebrating!