"Belief. I think that is the one thing that gets me through the day when nothing has gone right and it feels overwhelming."
Andy Paterson is Founder and Chief Yumologist at Daz and Andy’s Healthy Lollies. As the driving force behind the brand and the operations, Andy juggles the demands of the business with a hectic family life and three kids in the house.
What began as a personal goal for the family, sourcing healthier alternatives to sugar confectionary has evolved into a thriving business. The benefit of a long and successful career in marketing has held her in good stead for the many demands on a small business to create compelling messages that generate noise in the market.
She is not on a crusade against sugar, but on a mission to make it easier for people to select a healthier lolly. Her passion is infectious and fuels her ambition for the brand to become the go-to for naturally sweetened confectionery.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Andy Paterson: Hello all, thanks for having me. I’m Andy Paterson, Founder of Daz ‘n Andy’s Healthy Lollies. I enjoyed a long and may I say successful career in marketing, culminating in a 7 year stint as Group Marketing manager for a large US software company based in their Sydney offices. Though a massive business in the US, when I joined them in Australia they were effectively in start-up mode and I helped them grow the business from 10 to 140 people over that time.
I learned an enormous amount over that time and find myself drawing on elements of this experience in my present passion which is growing my own business. Outside of this, I am originally from New Zealand and live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with my husband and our three children.
To get us started, Can you tell our readers what does your company solve differently in the crowded marketplace? Give an example or share a story.
Andy Paterson: The sugar-free market is still quite niche but well established and our products fit neatly into that category. However, we felt that being solely aligned with the zero sugar story was too limiting and would potentially leave us battling it out with existing local brands in a low volume game. We quickly identified a far larger market in the broadly based healthy living sector and felt confident our offerings could be justified to an audience that preferred to eat healthier and live a more healthy lifestyle.
Validation soon came by way of a 5-star health rating for our launch range. None of our lollies contain anything artificial, some are packed with fibre, and many others SKUs contain a good dose of Vitamin C. The zero sugar and naturally sweetened positioning is still very relevant and allows us to target specific groups such as Diabetics and those with Autism, both with serious medical reasons to avoid sugar.
In fact many of our customers fit into these two categories and many give us feedback that our lollies are perfect for their needs. Our products are also suitable for those wanting or needing to avoid certain unwelcome ingredients further broadening our appeal to the gluten-free, non-GMO, nut-free and dairy-free markets. They’re also certified Kosher, yet another market we are keen to tap. We have many heartfelt stories to share – one is top of mind from a conversation I had just this morning.
An extremely caring Grandmother called to chat through our products and whether they would be suitable for all four grandchildren – each of them having a different allergy! Her words were not uncommon to many calls I receive “I want them to enjoy something sweet (on Easter) and feel like other kids when they go to parties. I just want them to feel normal”
. As we chatted through the options, you could hear the elation in her voice and when we concluded our lovely chat she said “I feel like we’ve found a solution. I’m so glad I found you. Thank you”. It’s these stories that fuel my drive to keep doing what we’re doing, especially when you hear “thank you”.
While your company is growing, what are some of the challenges you face? Hiring? Tech development? Raising capital? Branding? Tell us more about the journey.
Andy Paterson: Where do I start? We are not yet ready to hire or raise capital yet our challenges would I think be familiar to many of your readers trying to build a business. From a branding perspective we don’t feel we are quite there yet but have made enormous strides in the first year. Our early pivot from sugar-free to Healthy Lollies feels like an inspired decision and we believe this positioning will play out well.
We have not spent much on branding yet, but again we are ok with where we have landed right now. Generating sales is our number one challenge by far. We spend considerable amounts on SEO and SEM and now utilise a specialist agency to help with this. I began by doing this myself but found I could not devote enough hours to it. When I handed the reins over to the agency there were of course the usual promises of stellar performance and strong ROI.
Fortunately, my marketing career makes me familiar and a little cynical of such promises and I kept my own expectations in check. This proved to be a wise stance as the results just didn’t come. After many months and many thousands of dollars, I was ready to leave the service, but a last chance and a change of account manager proved to be a significant turning point. ROI has improved greatly and conversion rates are now very good.
Next challenge is to generate much higher volumes without losing too much of the efficiency and blowing out the cost per sale. This, I suspect will continue to be a major challenge in the months (years??) ahead. Freighting our product has also proven to be a major headache and for any of your readers importing product from overseas, they will know only too well the colossal and almost crippling increases in costs over the last 12 months.
At times we are paying as much to freight the product as it costs us to buy it. This is obviously impacting both margins and consumer prices as we are forced to reflect these in what we charge the consumer. Finally, customs. I’ve lost days/weeks of my life to inspections from government officials checking my deliveries. It’s a minefield I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
Everyone has a different story, what influenced your decision to be an entrepreneur, what would you have done differently?
Andy Paterson: I mentioned the career in marketing and the years of corporate life. I guess I wanted to see if I could be a successful business owner – and ultimately, be my own CEO. The concept appealed to me but I was of course nervous of the leap from safe, regular income to uncertain revenue and sizable costs to start up. The delta between them is huge and the mindset entirely different. I had the appetite and drive but needed the idea or opportunity to be the catalyst.
As it happened, a coincidence of several factors combined to make the decision easier and kick start the business. A visit to the dentist with my eldest boy resulted in fillings and as a parent I was horrified and guilty. Careful though I was with his diet and brushing teeth, this was clearly not diligent enough.
It was a wake-up call that I needed to watch the sugary snacks and ensure a better brushing. Then not long after this, an opportunity to take on sole distribution rights for one of the largest sugar-free confectionery brands in the US presented itself. As I was deliberating on this as a possible business start up, I was offered a generous redundancy package from my employer during the midst of Covid. The stars had aligned and the business was born.
Now for the main focus of this interview: what qualities or characteristics do women entrepreneurs have that make them great leaders? Please share some examples.
Andy Paterson: I do indeed lead the business and staff or no staff, I can’t deny I am leading the charge in everything the business requires to function, grow and succeed. I do believe that women are inherently good at multi-tasking and motherhood hones these skills to the max. As a Founder and owner I have to be extremely disciplined to manage the multitude of disparate tasks and challenges required of me.
I am constantly switching between roles… sales, logistics, distribution, pricing, finance, branding, digital marketing, PR, admin… the list seems vast and not even exhaustive. If I step back to the question again and focus on what I believe are the qualities and characteristics of women entrepreneurs, I do firmly believe they possess a powerful blend of soft skills and practical qualities that combine well.
Strong leaders are typically brave, frequently making decisions that variously impact the business and the future of its employees. Sometimes these decisions can be devastating for individuals who may be caught up in restructures and associated redundancies. In my experience, female leaders are as willing to make these tough calls as their male counterparts, possibly even more so. Yet I also believe they apply a degree of empathy and consideration for the fallen that stands out and makes a difference, both to the departed and those who remain. Decisive and considerate in equal measures.
What are some of the biggest challenges you still see women face while conducting business, compared to their male counterparts? What would you like to see change, and how would you make it happen?
Andy Paterson: I feel lucky and priveleged to have spent the majority of my working life in a discipline that over-indexes to women and female leaders. Female CMOs are abundant. Personally then, I feel a little under-qualified to respond to this question and fortunate my experience in business was largely positive. Looking further afield, many other disciplines do not enjoy such equality or fairness. I have seen and heard of women being objectified in the work environment and sexually harassed.
It’s clearly worse in some industries and quite probably in smaller organisations without the highly crafted HR guidelines and policies to protect them. The Me Too movement raised awareness to unprecedented levels and I got the sense this did move the needle somewhat further in the right direction. Perpetrators of harassment must be under no doubt their actions can be prosecuted and their careers destroyed. I believe more companies could take a more rigorous and pro-active stance here.
Additionally, my experience of balancing my career with motherhood has been a reasonably positive one, yet I am of the opinion that here again I am luckier than most. Women face the difficult decision to interrupt their careers for babies. Some companies excel at making this as easy to achieve as possible yet the overwhelming majority I beieve do not. Women still find themselves sidelined, their career growth stunted and even out of a job entirely if they elect to become a mother. This has to stop. Some protections are in place from governments and corporations to seek to limit the negative impact on women who choose motherhood, yet they by no means catch all in their net. Again I believe more must be one to safeguard women facing these choices and ensure they are not disadvantaged.
With all of your experience as a business leader, what is the most important thing you can tell fellow entrepreneurs that you’d like to share with aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Andy Paterson: Belief. I think that is the one thing that gets me through the day when nothing has gone right and it feels overwhelming. Belief that tomorrow will be better, that good or better things will come and that the perspiration will one day pay off. It’s this belief that I am on the right track, that there is a market for my products, that successes will come that carries me through
What do you plan on tackling during 2022? Share your goals and battles you expect to face.
Andy Paterson: Really this is still very much start-up territory. We are barely a year old and many of the challenges we started will remain. The main goal for this year would have to be sales. I’m prepared to keep spending in order to generate awareness, attract customers and increase revenues, but I am aiming for greater efficiency in everything I do. I suspect this will be one of my hardest battles for the year ahead, closely followed by the constant drive to keep freight costs down.
How do you keep learning? Podcast? Books? Audiobooks? Videos? Share some of your greatest sources of inspiration? Share an impactful story.
Andy Paterson: I dip into all of the above but I just don’t get time to indulge in as much learning inspiration as I would like. Life as an entrepreneur and mother of your children is as busy as you can imagine, however the one thing I always make time for is ‘in-person learning’. There is nothing more valuable and energising than spending time with someone who is living and breathing your realities as a Founder and CEO.
If someone genuinely offers to connect you with someone they believe may be helpful, take them up on that offer and follow through. In my very early days of starting up Daz &. Andy’s Healthy Lollies, a friend connected me with another CEO and Co-Founder, Jacinta McCombe, of Nectar Cold Press Juice. When I’m feeling despondent and have those questioning days, I always pull her words of wisdom to front of mind – “Persistence”. When you hear the words in real-person they strike a chord and stick with you, as do their tips and lessons from their own experiences.
I’m sure our readers will be very thankful for the insights you have shared. Where can our readers follow up with you?
Andy Paterson: I welcome the follow up and can be reached on LinkedIn, or by emailed at [email protected] or over the phone at 0450684468.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Andy Paterson for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Andy Paterson or her company, you can do it through her – Instagram
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