Episode Transcript
Nina Huchthausen (00:05.838)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Makers Business Tribe. In this week's episode, I'm super excited to have the honor to have a conversation with one of our Tribe members, Team Canna Oil, Chris and Julie. And what gets me excited about it is because, well, first of all, these are like one of the most consistently hardworking
putting the effort in getting the results, tribe members that we have. And to me that is super inspiring because when I feel down or when I feel like, do I really wanna do it? We're like, what would Julie tell me? Yeah, just get on with it. Let's do it. Yeah. And okay, because you know.
These guys are there. These guys are killing it. They're traveling across the country, getting their products into retail, selling it at markets, and really getting the word out about their product, about their passion consistently. Yeah? They are organized. Their business is tidy. They got direction. It's like my idol. All right? And...
To me, Sarah's laughing. So Chris is Sarah. We have this little inside joke going. And that's why I thought let's bring these guys on because everybody, first of all, deserves to get to know a brand and a couple team like these guys. And I'm really hoping everybody gets some inspiration from them because of course I'm sharing like the
the magic right now, but I'm sure it's not always like that Monday to Sunday. And there is some hardship and there's some, some, some rumble behind the scenes. And we want to have a conversation about that because business is very much a life's journey. You know, it's not just a quick roller coaster ride. And I think who's better to share that journey than Chris and Julie. So welcome you guys. Thank you very much. I'm very excited about this. This is awesome.
Nina Huchthausen (02:25.838)
Yeah, me too, me too. So I think the first thing, because I haven't really done a great job in introducing you guys as a company and your product. You guys, please tell us, who's Team Canna Oil? What is Canna Oil? What's your story? Well, Team Canna Oil is Chris and Julie, basically.
We've been married for 33 years. Did you get that right? Yeah, 33, yeah. I had to do the quick calculation in the head. Yeah, we have three adult sons. One is married. And yeah, so we're just being, and two of our children and the daughter -in -law, they work in the town of
Canter Oils team as well. So Canter Oils is definitely a family owned and run business. We love having our family deeply involved with what we're doing. How Canter Oils started was back in 2020. Did you want to tell the story? Well, I had, I was in a lot of pain out of bursitis and spurs and a couple other things going on in my shoulder.
work in the industry where I was getting drug tested. I didn't want to go down the pharmaceutical route. Well, I had because I was getting cortisone injections. And as everyone knows, they're not real good. So I found out about this product. I ordered some in from the States and started using it topically and orally. And it was about seven weeks with me. I had no pain. Yeah. So the compound that we discovered was called
BCP, beta -karyophylline is the full name. And BCP is amazing because it is a compound that is found in the hemp and cannabis plants. So it definitely has medicinal benefits. But because it's actually found in other plants as well, for example, cloves, by extracting it from the clove plant, we still get those medicinal benefits.
Nina Huchthausen (04:48.205)
but we don't have any other traces that come from the cannabis plant, in particular THC, which is the psychoactive compound of the cannabis plant, which is what if in Chris's industry where he was working, if he was taking a CBD with traces of THC, that could have shown up on a drug test and that could have been no more jobs. So when we heard about this alternative,
And like Chris said, because we were more interested in natural remedies than pharmaceuticals, it was a bit of a no -brainer. So like Chris said, we had to get it from the States at the time. Chris was taking it orally, rubbing a bit on topically into the shoulder, getting a couple of hours pain relief. It took about six or seven weeks to kick in.
from taking it orally and then just one day come home from work and he was just like waving his arm around going Julie look at this look at this still came and And we were just so excited We just went this stuff works because like Chris was in a lot of pain with his shoulder There were days where he couldn't even get out of bed and we all had to roll him out of bed because he couldn't lift his Body to get out of bed. So it was quite severe
and he hasn't had an issue with it since. So my health journey was that I had suffered from adrenal fatigue, which meant that I was just in fight mode all the time. I was just in high state of stress and my adrenals went, that's enough and decided not to work properly. So my naturopath had me on a
on an essential oil that, capybara oil, people say it differently. And I was rubbing that on the soles of my feet and it was helping me to keep my cortisol levels calmer, helping me with my sleep. And I absolutely loved it. But when Chris got the BCP, we realized that this essential oil that I was using had about 40 % BCP in it. And we're like, hmm.
Nina Huchthausen (07:05.581)
I wonder if me taking the BCP in a more concentrated form, would I notice any difference? So one day I'm heading off to work. I was working in a solicitor's office doing admin. I took a few drops before I went to work. By the time I got to work and said, I'm talking like four years ago, and I still very clearly remember the day.
I sat at my desk and I tell this story a lot. It was like I sat there and I looked around and I just, and I giggled inside of me and I just went, well, hello. Like it was like the lights went on and something in me was so much calmer. And I really knew it was working for me because I, you know, something happened and instead of this reaction, which I was used to, I responded.
And it actually felt a bit weird and it really, it was very noticeable to me. So here we were both just loving this product. And... Especially me since she wasn't reacting. Yes. I was much calmer. And so we just, it sort of went from there and Chris was really the one behind it that went...
I'm going to do research into this product because he was looking for a way out of the industry that he was in. He was wanting to, we were wanting to have our own business. We had looked at businesses that were already established that we could buy. We were always tossing around ideas. And the bottom line always was,
we're not real passionate about that. That would be just like buying a job. Like nothing really resonated with us. But with this, we went, man, we're passionate. It changed our lives, Tina. It changed Julie's life, my boy's life, everyone's life that touches basically. Yeah, yeah. So, so, so Chris just so 2020, we're in lockdown. Chris just locked himself away in the room.
Nina Huchthausen (09:32.205)
We were very fortunate, both of us still could go to work, but we couldn't do anything else. So Christos locked himself away in the room and just researched and researched and researched, searched the world for a supplier that was a pure, really high quality product. And so just for months he just did that and just said, what can we do with this? And then, so it was in September 2020,
when we were allowed out. We went up to, because we were living out, you know, we talk about humble beginnings. We were renting a little house in a place called Barn Bar, which is between Gunnedah and Narrabri because we had just moved to that area with Chris's work. And it's in the middle, it's just, I think there's a pub and a train station. There's a pub and about 10 houses maybe.
Anyway, it was that stinking hot and the air con, the room had an air con. So I locked myself in. So it just, yeah, nice and cool in here. I'll just keep on the computer. So in September 2020, we went to a market at Narrabri with a couple of bottles that Chris designed, a little label and all this sort of stuff. And we came home from that and we just went.
wow, there is such a need for a product like this. People are really looking for, first of all, natural remedies. And then, and secondly, there's a lot of interest out there about CBD because people hear about it, but they don't know, is it legal? Can I take it? So,
People have heard of CBD. So when we would say, look, it works very similarly to CBD, there was a lot of interest there as well. But the pure fact that there's a receptor in our bodies called CB2. And CBD oil binds in an indirect binding. So it means it binds on the outside.
Nina Huchthausen (11:49.453)
The TCP is so amazing that it actually binds directly. It mimics that cannabinoid receptor. Yeah, so what our body naturally produces. So it actually gives us more enhanced signaling and it's better, more easily absorbed. So they call it a direct binding. So it's better. It's... Well, in some of the... We don't like to say that. Yeah. It gives you more enhanced signaling. Yeah. Yeah. So...
You know, so people kind of like that idea. So obviously it doesn't have those other compounds that you can like THC in it, which is what some people are looking for. But looking for a straight CBD comparison, then BCP is a lot more affordable and we get that direct binding. So yeah, so we just came home from that market and we just went where
you know, we're really onto something here because people are looking for this and having those conversations, we said, man, there's lots of people out there that need a product like this. So it just went from there. Yeah. And like September 2020, we're like July 2024. That's less than four years ago. So you were working there and then you had this one market and you went like,
There's something to it. We want to do it. How did you get from just that one market store to, sorry, and how many stores are you today? Just a bit over 80, I think. It's around 80 retail stores across Australia. Yeah. You're in all states. You're stuck in all states. How did you get from that one market to where you are today? A lot of driving.
From Canada to anywhere with a population, it's at least four hours drive. And that's how we started off. How much longer did you stay in Canada? Me, about September, October, two months and Chris six months. So he travelled back. So, OK, so let's just rewind that a little bit. So after our first market at Narrabri, we had
Nina Huchthausen (14:16.493)
such a brilliant business plan. We went, we said, let's go to the coast where there's tourists. That was our business plan. Because we figured in our, you know, our great minds that they'd get results and go tell other people, take it back to their hometown. Yeah. And it sort of flew.
So I think we went to the entrance and we did a market there for a couple of weeks. And then, so what we did was we would drive down on the Friday night, we would stay at the entrance, do that market on the Saturday, go up to Nelson Bay, spend the night there, do a market at Nelson Bay and then drive back to Gunnedah the week on the Sunday night. And we did that for a couple of months.
And it was working because we, you know, Chris had created a bit of a website and we were actually getting orders. So our great business plan of, you know, that go somewhere where people from, you know, all around are coming, you know, for their weekends away. A lot of them, a lot of them from out West, but a lot from Sydney. And then, and then them going, you know, back home and then the word spreading.
in those areas, that really did work for us. We find word of mouth really works for us. yeah, word of mouth is the biggest advertiser. So basically within about, by October, we actually, it was our wedding anniversary, so we took a week off work. Some friends said that you should go to Nelson Bay. Yeah, you should go and actually
suss out Nelson Bay. So we went there, we had a bit of a holiday, but we actually were working on the business nearly the whole time. We didn't leave the apartment, we were there for seven days, we didn't leave the apartment for six. And we were just on the computer, just kept researching. What a holiday. And then we just, on the last day we thought, let's just go. So we went and visited a few places, you know, along the water and everything, and having discussions.
Nina Huchthausen (16:38.765)
I just said to Chris, I said, and because he was doing shift work, so there were weekends where I was doing the markets on my own. And I said, I can't work all week, leave straight after work on a Friday, drive four hours, do two markets, drive back, work all week and build this and still be same. I don't know what's wrong for Nina. I don't know. So we just.
So we just had this conversation, is this just a little bit of extra money in our pocket? Is this just something we're just going to just keep at this level or is this something that we want to build? And as we just walked around Nelson Bay and people saying, you know, we're telling them our story and they're going, you should move here, you should move here. And an opportunity opened up at one of the health food stores in the town.
for me to work three days a week because that was one of the things I said. I said, well, you know, if I could get a job where I'm only doing three days a week and then I can have two days doing admin work and then the markets, then that could work. And we were just, we spoke to a lady there and she said, I'll give you a job. So I went back to Gunnedah and said, sorry, but you know that little business we started.
We're going for it, you know? And so we moved to Nelson Bay and then Chris just, he commuted for about another six months and took some long service leave. Said, we'll just see what happens at the end of the long service leave, whether he needed to go back or not. And we just never had that conversation. It just seems we're just growing so rapidly that we just, we're just.
focus solely on growing canola oils. Yeah. What about move though? You know, cause not everybody who has like, I like this product. Let's go for it and, and, and move and, and, and actually go all in. Like when you, when you started working at that health food store, was that the first one that stopped your product? Did they go for it? No.
Nina Huchthausen (18:59.213)
No. Why? What happened? no, we were already onto it. So what we did is, so the areas that we were doing market, so another brilliant idea that we had was, let's go to the health food store so that people can go there. So we're at the entrance. So we went to the Govider at Baddow Bay. And Kirsten was very keen to take it on.
And she's still with us. Yeah, and she's still with us today. So yeah, yeah. Does she know she's the first? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we should send her a gift. It's kind of like a nice honour, you know. Also a great way to promote her, drive some people in store, you know. That's what we also do at markets and that we always ask where they're from and we push them into the stores.
Yeah, we really want people to shop locally if they can. And so that's another reason why we work really hard at trying to get stockists in so many different areas. Because a lot of times health food stores, and it's not just health food stores that we're in.
But a lot of times the health food stores are out the front of Woolworths or Coles. So you go to your groceries, you go, gee, I'm out of canola oils. I'll just pop in and get that. So that's worked really well. But look, I had a phone call on Monday from a dog grooming. Business. That's how long I'll call it. Because BCP works on, it does exactly the same in PEC.
in our dogs and cats as it does in us because we have the same system in the body. And she reached out to us because somebody had told her about it. So she's the latest stockist. So we have chiropractors. We have just different types of wellness. Yeah, just different types of wellness, clinics and things like that. So it's not just health food stores. Yeah. Yeah. Which is so cool. And I mean, like I've tried the product like in December because I had
Nina Huchthausen (21:15.981)
back pain and stuff. And it was amazing. And I think it's like my mom took it to Germany and my uncle took it. It's like, it's really fantastic product. There's like no question about it. But I also know like your business cannot oil. Well, first of all, I mean, the name is kind of is a tricky one. We spoke about it because it can be confusing. People think it's cannabis in it, which it's not.
But still with the product in itself, and we spoke about that recently, it is a little bit tricky still in the Australian market, right? Even though it's BCP, it's in from closed. Yeah. What's the challenge? It has caused a spitter headache. We were on Shopify, the first website, and we had a payment gateway call and stuff and said, you've got four days to find a different
payment gateway because of Kena, Kena Oils. So we had to get an app developed to be able to accept a different payment gateway until I got another website made basically. And even though we tried to explain to these different companies that we're Kena Oils because our product works on the endocannabinoid system and it activates cannabinoid receptors.
But unfortunately, a lot of times you can't actually speak to a person in these companies. You just get an email saying, you're restricted. You can't. You violated our terms and conditions. You violated and we go, how do we violate? You know, we're a totally legal thing. So yeah, so we've had we had trouble with that. We have trouble with advertising on Facebook and Google ads.
you know, we're always trying to come up with witty ideas of getting around things. But yeah, look, our name and just the category that we fit in. So like when we do major events and things, we're in the hemp and cannabis category, even though we're not hemp and cannabis. But we're in that category. And unfortunately, even in the broader world, like Christine with the payment gateway,
Nina Huchthausen (23:42.829)
that's the way they see it. There's no, there's no explanation or anything. And, and these are just hurdles that, you know, you just have to find a different way of doing things sometimes. Yep. Comes back to earth and mouth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Keeps you on your toes. But it's still something I think for, for anyone building or thinking about building a business, it
It is important to consider from the very start, right? Because I would assume if you had known before you had chosen the name and what it could mean, you know, I would assume you probably would have made a different choice. Potentially, yeah. Maybe we could have, yeah, tweaked it a little bit more. I don't know. Yeah. Petal oils is a good hook.
But we've spoken to some of our long -term customers and we've talked about, you know, potentially changing the name and they go, no, don't do that. You know, like, you know, yeah, you know, but it's getting to that point now where when we're in certain areas, Cannot Oil's name is recognisable, our logo is recognisable, particularly the
we've done a lot of markets and events and we're in those stores. So yeah, we've decided we're going to stick with Canna Oils and we're just going to press through and just as those roadblocks come, we'll just deal with them. If we can't knock them over, then we'll go around and we'll just do something else. Yeah, I think creativity is everything and like in any game really because you
you always want to stand out and be different, right? You don't want to, you never want to be a lukewarm handshake and kind of like vanilla ice cream, too many vanilla ice creams, you know? Like you guys got the struggle with that because of course like how any tech company works, they're words that are black labeled or white labeled, right? And for them, you know, anything probably, anything canna, cannabis, canna,
Nina Huchthausen (25:55.373)
lolly canner something is just like the same category is annoying. But it's also, as you said, is memorable. But I think overarchingly for anyone just listening to this, if you're thinking about opening up any business, it is wise to research that so you know what you are in for. Right? Because let's say, I mean, the good thing is with your product,
And it is a great retail product is a great word of mouth product because there's so much information and so much power when it comes to knowledge behind it. If it was just 100 % e -com product, it would probably be a struggle because of the name, the limitations. Facebook makes it hard and all sorts of other companies. The fact that it is a word of mouth product.
doesn't matter because if you know Mary tells Bob and Joe and Sarah, fine, who cares about Facebook, you know? In that case. But it is something to watch out for. Now, what I'm super keen to delve a little bit deeper into apart from that challenge in itself with the category challenge that you've encountered,
is also the challenge of a couple being in business, two people coming together and saying, hey, we are in a, I would assume, romantic relationship. You're not just like high five and go you type of people, you know, there's a connection. Meaning there's, you know, that there's that level. But then there's also business and you and the business of also making money. And so
the way of making decisions and, you know, leading a business and playing your different roles and doing a good job to serve the companies also in the end that, that can add another layer of complexity to, I guess, you two as a team, as a couple. Yeah, it certainly does. Like, we both have different strengths and weaknesses and we just complement each other, I guess.
Nina Huchthausen (28:20.365)
Yeah. A lot of those that cross over. Within, like even before we started the business, we were, you know, even if it was unspoken, we knew our roles, you know, in the marriage and as parents. And I think that just came over into the business as well. Like, we know our roles, we know what each person is responsible for. But just like in our marriage,
decisions are made together. And if one person, you know, if there is no agreement, the decision's not made until there is that agreement. Because that way, if it goes amiss, there's no opportunity going, well, I told you so. You know, so if there's a stall in a decision making, well, then we just keep talking about it and we keep looking at different
points of view until we get to either a no or a yes. So don't, we don't, and that we both agree on the no or we both agree on the yes. And then that way, you know, if we go forward and we didn't do something and we go, we can't blame each other. We should have done that. We can say, well, we made that decision together. So I think for us that has worked really well, you know, and it just means that
you have to practice being patient with each other because there's times when, you know, I might be like, we've got to do this. We've got to do that. And Chris is like, no way, no way. So, you know, I've had to be patient and just keep, you know, pleading my case, not nagging, just pleading my case, you know, and until
he either comes on board or I go, you know what, you're right, it's not really a great idea anyway. So, and I think the fact that we both have to agree, it does stop you from making those spur of the moment irrational decisions too. So we make those spur of the moment irrational decisions together. Together. So, yeah, so we sort of, yeah, we just, we know.
Nina Huchthausen (30:40.685)
We know what we're doing on more admin just because my before the business work that I did was admin based. So that just naturally is where I fit in the admin. I do the newsletters, that sort of stuff where Chris is more research and production and sort of that, and, you know, ordering of the,
all the other stuff. Finding suppliers and that sort of stuff. So, you know, we have a very clear guideline of who's what. We try to, you know, once, you know, Monday mornings have a bit of a meeting, what have we both got on the agendas and that's, you know, out of the normal. Like, you know, this week we really got to focus on this. And then, you know, we just try to...
you know, and then maybe daily we might just have a quick like, what are you, what are you doing? Are you doing that today? You know, just a quick little meeting. But yeah, we just, we just tended that's how and that works for us. Yeah. But how do you switch off from business? No, we don't. We don't. Yeah, look, we, we've, we've cried at where we said it's five o 'clock. No more, you know, no more talk about business, but you know what? It's, it's who we are.
And we do try to, you know, like say after five or whatever, like not make it about the business, like, okay, we've knocked off, there's other things in our life, whatever. But look, if, you know, if I'm cooking dinner and I go, you know, dah, dah, dah, it's not like, that's taboo, we can't talk about it. But we just try to make it that, you know, during
the day at work time, you know, that's when we talk about that. We actually tried setting it to have a day off on a Wednesday. It hasn't gone real well. But what we also find is like, like Julie saying before about knocking off at five, like we're gonna knock it off at five, one of us does, but the other person ends up doing, finding other stuff that came in or they had to do. Yeah, it's like, I've got to finish this first or whatever. So what we tend to do is,
Nina Huchthausen (33:05.613)
And morning is our morning. And yeah, yeah. And look, and this is just because of the way our business runs. And this would definitely not be the case for everyone. But like, you know, we might do some days where it's really, really long. So then we might have another day and it's like two o 'clock and we're taking orders to the post office and it's like, you know what? And then we're going for a cuppa. We just, you know,
We just take that time out and we might just sit, we might talk about business, but we might talk about our family. We might talk about other things, but we just take that opportunity to be a couple. Well, we were a married couple first before the business. Yeah. And then we really nurture that. Yeah. So I think if there's one bit of advice to sort of say,
you were a couple, like for us, we were a married couple before the business. There will come a time in our lives when we don't have the business and we will still be a married couple. So our relationship takes number one priority over everything. If something in the business is causing tension between us, then we take, we put on the hat of a married couple over that and go, this is not worth division or strife.
we put it on the back. So that's why we try to be patient with each other if we're not quite on board with something, because our marriage is more important to us than the business and decision. So we really try to work on that. And like we said, you know, if we've been away traveling,
doing events and visiting stores and it's been really full on and a lot of people say, you've got such a life, you know, it's like, you're on holidays all the time. And we go, and we just look at each other and go, yeah, right, yeah, whatever you think. That's what my mother said to me then, she goes, you've got the best life, just travel around and have a holiday.
Nina Huchthausen (35:21.517)
You know, like they don't realize that, yeah. It's like popping into stores and you know. You're getting to see Australia. It's so good for you guys. Which we do. We admit, we get to see some amazing places. But we get to meet really awesome people. And the people that we've met and just, yeah, it's just, we love it. But it's definitely not a holiday. It's definitely not a holiday. Yeah.
So when we get back, we will try to have a day where, you know, Chris might go fishing, I might go get my nails done or, you know, just kind of have that bit of downtime. Chris goes to go fishing, Nina, and Julie goes, don't forget that meeting we booked. In like 90 minutes. But all the time in the water, go fishing.
You would pull yourself for those 89 minutes. And that's why we try to be very fluid with our workouts because things come up but I think as long as it's not just all work but that we're not afraid to say you know what it's 10 o 'clock but we're gonna go for a walk or we're going to go do something because now with that available time let's use that to just go and do something as a couple.
And I think it's so, so important when you start that journey because
Nina Huchthausen (36:55.245)
We think this is what I've noticed for myself, right? Like there's work mode, Nina, and then there's like off work mode, Nina. And if we just like blindly jump in and say, okay, cool, let's do business together, because it comes with pressures, right? Like you can't just like, diddle daddle. And unless you're already billionaires, and it doesn't matter. Yeah, no, you're like, cool, we have our energy needs to create a return.
it can be easy that we all of a sudden just switch on work modes and never get out of work mode because work mode is not a romantic connection potentially. It's kind of weird to put that together. So I think it's very critical to
have spoken about how do we switch those modes on and off to make sure that not one mode takes over and runs 24 -7. Especially when we are working from home because, Julie, when you were going to an office, it's easy to switch it on because you step into the office, there are all these triggers to be like, admin work mode, Julie, and then you leave it and you switch the lights off and you come home and you know.
take off your shoes and say, whay, whatever. I think it's been for so many people a real struggle, especially during COVID when we all of a sudden started working from home. We're like, how do we switch this on and off? Yeah. Look, and we definitely don't get it right all the time. But when we're feeling that we haven't done it, that's when we'll go pens down.
You know, let's go for a walk, let's go for a cuppa, let's go out for dinner, let's do something. You know, just to kind of bring that break. Last week we had to do that. We had to just more or less switch off because we were getting burnt out. We just had to go. We'd just been go, go, go, go, go. And we went, you know what? It's OK to just pull it back a little bit and just switch modes for a couple of days. You know, yeah. Yeah.
Nina Huchthausen (39:20.205)
Yeah, and I love that about you guys. And what I also, what I noticed is that even though it's business, I don't see so much of a serious or hardness side to it. I don't, I don't, you know, maybe when we don't talk this like, is to a bit. Like, I know for myself, the more I can be
silly around other people, the more like, I mean, things still get done. But there's less friction and we gotta do it this way. Yeah, do it. And this is just outside of looking in. I feel like that you guys do that very well. There's always a laugh. There's always a, in an uplifting way, not in a pointing fingers, not in a
you know, this, this, this, gosh, you can't do anything. No, it, you know, somehow you guys have found this way of like, bringing the joy in what you're doing that every time I catch up with you, I feel like I feel really light. I feel so really good. Somehow you've created that energy. And I think that's so powerful. And like, I've met a lot of like,
Apple business owners, I was like, I'm not sure if there's much of their relationship back because they're just two workers doing their thing side by side. They each have their role. And you can see just like one person is the boss and the other person is the assistant to the boss. And I have not seen that go very well because and most of the time when I've seen that it was like
The man was the owner of the company and the wife is the whatever you need, whatever you need, working incredibly hard and that's, you know, leaders serve in relationship. I'm not sure, but I don't see that in you guys. It's like... No, well, I think like what Chris said at the beginning, we know our strengths and we know our weaknesses and we know that one of us on our own could not do it all just on our own.
Nina Huchthausen (41:44.013)
So we know like I couldn't do the research and the development and that Chris does. I couldn't do it. And he goes, I couldn't write a newsletter. So we know that. So I think that we kind of look at that like that we are, even though we're different, we're on the same level. Well, I guess also too, like with the whole business,
that's part of our marriage. Well, that's what I was going to say too. Because obviously we were married for like 29 years or something before we started the business. And I think that if you're going into a business and you've been together for a long time and if you have had trouble in your relationship of problem solving or conflict solving beforehand and you
are not champions at it, then probably going into business together is not the answer. So I think Chris and I, you know, that's something that we've, with one thing in our marriage that has been good, our ability to deal with conflict. So going into the business, we just took those same principles and we just used them the same in our business. But if we, if we had have been a couple, whereas, you know, if
you know, something, if I didn't like something, I'd give, you know, Chris the cold shoulder for a week. Well, if that's what we were doing in our marriage, not gonna be any different in our business. Well, I saw the thunder like how it would have been if you didn't find BCP. Well, yeah, because I'm so much calmer. Do you know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah. If you know that in your relationship that you have
have issues with conflict and problem solving and that it's not done in a way that, you know, can be done peaceably, then you, it's not, it's not that in your business is going to be any different just because it's your business. You're still this, this couple and the way that you were before the business is probably how you're going to be in the business. You really would have to think about that. Yeah. For sure. And I think that's a
Nina Huchthausen (44:12.429)
That's such an important point, not just when you are a married couple, but also amongst friends, right? Yeah. Being super clear, how do we solve problem? How do we address them? How do we make decisions? And how do we go through rumble when you think you want A and I want B? Because if that's not clear in a space where
We can be more relaxed about things, but then we're adding money, financial pressures to it. It can go pear -shaped really quickly because we have more pressures when things go wrong, right? And I think also because there's probably also always that level of trust, right? Can I trust the other person? Can I trust our decisions? Can I trust our way?
That's, I think, a key thing to get right. And I would also recommend it can be helpful to write it out. How do we do this? How are we going to do it? I mean, you guys have practiced for, what, 29 years before you started. So you were very seasoned. But not everybody has 29 years of practice or experience in it. I think especially when you
only see each other in like evenings and on weekends. There might be less problems that you have solved in your relationship together, right? But when you start going into business, like into heart, like any business owners in the business of problem solving, right? Creative problem solving and decision making, like all day, every day. I don't think if I look at my relationship that I've
we've had to make as many decisions and solve as many problems as I do in my business probably every week. Exactly. Right? Yeah. So like. And another thing too is like because because your work you like you said before it was like you know only at night time and on weekends but now we're with each other 24 7 and and just to know if I'm starting to get like I'm just starting to get a bit agitated then I know that's when I need
Nina Huchthausen (46:32.045)
I need to walk out the door, not in a hut or anything, but I'm just saying I just need a little bit of time on my own. And whatever that looks like, I'll go do it. For Chris, it's normally, he'll just go, I need to go fishing today. And sometimes I'm like, that means I'll need time away from Julie. And that's okay. And I'm not going to say, well, yeah, go for it.
and not going, well, you're supposed to be getting this done or whatever. Because I know that's only going to exasperate any emotions or feelings or whatever's going on. It's better to let him go and then tomorrow we're back onto it. And you're more productive. I'm going to run with that. Not every day. We did try to end up sharing the office. That didn't work. That didn't work.
I didn't get any work done because I had someone firing questions at me 24 -7. So now he's in a different area of the office thing. So we've got our own spaces. So you do need to have your own area, your own space, your own privacy in what you're doing. Not necessarily the other person looking over your shoulder all the time. So I think that's
probably an important thing. It's like what you said, it comes back to trust. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's such a big one. And, you know, I would also say anyone listening who's like, maybe we don't have these things ironed out. I would rather say than maybe hold off on going into business together. It's the same as like having a child.
Yeah, you don't have a child when your relationship is rocky because you're adding extra stress on top of that. And probably everybody has seen that go wrong. It's now it's not going to make things better. Yeah. Yeah. And in business, you want to have those, those, those, those things ironed out and yeah, like I really hope it keeps going for you like this, because I mean, you guys really seem to be on a roll and also energetically, because
Nina Huchthausen (48:53.421)
People love interacting with you guys, right? And I think that's such a key thing. As business owners, if you can create this like magnetism of two plus two, sorry, one plus one equals like 10 energetically and people wanna be around you because you're creating something like really magical, helps immensely. If there's any stress or friction, I don't think you would be as successful as you are because people are like,
I'm a gosh, there's like some energy that I don't want to be around with, you know, if you can feel it if there's tension between you guys. that's why I'm giggling because I know that there's been times when we've been at an event and we're just like, we're just bouncing off each other. And we've literally had people that we've been talking to say, you two have been married for a long time. Hey. And we go, yeah. Like they just said, they can just tell by the way we, you know, bounce and banter with each other and things like that.
And I suppose that's something that we tried to do as well in our spaces just to be genuine of who we are. And tell our story and say, you know what? Our product might not do for you, but you might not get what you're looking for, but this is what it did for us. And that changed our lives and changed our lives. And we really hope that it does the same for you. And that's our...
approach and I think people really really appreciate that. But also too we say to people that they can reach out to us anytime. Yeah. We're totally transparent with everything we do and yeah we just, they want to have a talk to us they can ring us up and talk to us. Yeah we just try to be the person that we would want on the other end if we were in their shoes. Yeah.
And that's so magical, man. It's like my vision of a really well -functioning business partnership. Because then that's like, you're always going to be all right with that attitude. The business is always going to do great. And because I know I didn't mention it, we didn't mention it, but I think at the start of the year, we came up with this idea because you
Nina Huchthausen (51:17.773)
you really you guys have a bit of like a wellness warriors, right? Because you want to help. Ultimately, you guys in the business of helping people to live life to the fullest, you know, because that's what Kanoa does. Yeah. Because Chris, when you had these pains and he goes and Julie, when you were stressed out, you couldn't, you couldn't be like in life, like soak it up 100%. But to me, that's what this product really enables you to do.
If you can move freely, if you are not like this stressed out chicken without a head, then life is fricking beautiful. And I feel like that's what you guys do. And it's the energy that transpires. So last question, where's Canna Oil going to go? Where's team Canna Oil going to go next? What's the next goal on the horizon? What's the next goal on the horizon?
We are doing a little bit of a rebranding. Obviously, we're keeping the Cannell Oils name, but we do have a new website being developed and the products will have a different look. So we're doing different labels and things like that. So Cannell Oils will have a fresh look in the next couple of months. We will be releasing a sleep blend in the next couple of months as well, hopefully in line with
the launch of the new website. There's lots of things happening. A few more products, Anxiety Blend, Pain Blend, and some other balms as well for skin. Yeah, so the Sleep Blend will be the first one to be released with the launch of the website and those other ones for more targeted products. Yeah, we're going to try and maybe hit overseas a little bit more.
Nina's idea. I was just like, more work. But we love it. We love it. Yeah. So potentially that as it is now, you can come onto our website and it can be shipped overseas, but we're going to maybe see if we can get more of a distribution in a bit more direct about our. Yeah. And just just try to build things from there and
Nina Huchthausen (53:42.829)
Yeah, just keep on working on getting into some more local stores around Australia. Just build that presence and yeah, I love it. I love it because I think the more this product can just be like used. Inside out to make people feel good when water magic right and I think you know overseas market is ready for you guys because it's such a real alternative to the actual cannabis, you know like.
And I'm super excited for you guys. Thank you so much for your time, for your storytelling, and for being open to sharing how this all began, where we got to and shedding a little bit of light on your relationship and how this all works. Because this complex structure that
I'm really appreciative of hanging around you guys and seeing you grow. Good vibes and I love you and I hope that in those next 12 months when we're getting this product into other areas of this world and expanding on the range, can't wait to see where that gets us to look. Yeah, we appreciate you, Nina. Anyone listening out there, look it up.
We kind of got to that point, you know, about a year ago where we were like, our great business plan needs some bit more development. And Nina and her tribe that she's got around her have really, really helped us to take canals to the next level. So yeah. Recommend them. Yep. Thanks you guys. Thank you guys.
Thank you guys. Well, you have an awesome rest of your day. Go fishing, get your nails done. Go on a date. We've got a code for anybody listening. Yes, yes, yes, yes. What's the deal? What's the deal? So if you buy a 30 ml or 100 ml oil, we'll give you a free sample of our topical balm. Cool. You guys send me the code. I'll put it in the show notes. Yeah.
Nina Huchthausen (56:10.544)
MBT sample and yeah. And the balm is really great for pain. We get a lot of excellent feedback. Yeah so it's like buy that bottle and we'll send you a sample of the balm and we're positive that you'll be buying a full one. Yeah magic awesome. Thank you so much guys. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.
