Small business can change the world (and this is how) with Good Day Club
Live Chat with Kate Forsyth from Good Day Club
Today I'm chatting with Kate Forsyth, from Good Day Club. Good Day Club creates, and designs spaces for weddings, events and small businesses that’s rad and different from the rest of the crowd.
During this episode, Kate and I discuss:
Creating spaces that make people feel a certain way and that is authentically them
When you can’t find what you want, you start a business.
Saving unique pieces of furniture from landfill.
You can connect with Good Day Club through these links: Website – Instagram – Facebook
Audio
Transcript
Fiona Johnston 00:00
All right, why, um, so this month I'm talking about how small business can change the world. And I've invited my friend and client Kate from Good Day club talk about how her business is changing the world. And before we meet Kate, I just want to acknowledge the country that I’m on. So I am coming to you from the lands of the Wunderjuri and the Boonwurrong people of the Kulin Nations, and I wish to acknowledge elders from that community and any other First Nations people who might be watching this on the replay, and noticing that they are the custodians and traditional owners of the land and waters that I live on, and that sovereignty was never ceded. So thanks for being here today. Okay. Would you like to? Yeah, tell, tell the community a little bit about yourself and how you kind of got to be here in your business? What's your name, your business adventure?
Kate Forsyth 01:03
Well, thank you for having me. I enjoy that. As soon as we started, the neighbour's dog has commenced barking.
Fiona Johnston 01:12
My dogs about 30 centimetres away from me. So we might have to go insane. I wonder if Yeah, they will start barking at each other with a video.
Kate Forsyth 01:40
And we have like a really fun range of colorful, interesting kind of props and furniture and neon signs and stuff like that. And our whole kind of trick is to make things personal for people, and kind of paved the way for people to have celebrations and parties and milestones and whatnot, that actually kind of reflect what they want to do and how they want to feel. And so it's not like, too traditional, I guess that sort of evolved over the years.
Fiona Johnston 02:18
Yeah, I love that. And you have such a fun and colorful way of communicating with your audience too. So you have anything to share about, you know how you do that, or how that's kind of been part of your stick, as you called it? Well, I came from a background in Corporate Communications, which I did for 10 years. And
Kate Forsyth 02:41
So I was I was was writing for other people. And when I started the business, and I started, you know, obviously, Instagram was a very different place. 2014 2013, that sort of thing. However, yeah, I went to a Small Business Victoria event. And there was a speaker and yeah, he was kind of like the whole fit, he had this whole thing. But it was basically just made me think I'm just gonna lean into being who I am. Because, and it just sort of went from there. So it was like that, what we now call probably authenticity. But not as at all, like, I actually write, I want to talk and write more like me. Yeah. And be more be more me. And I started liking it more people started liking it more. And yeah, I started sort of telling the story of what we were doing and telling the history of the pieces of furniture that we had, and you know, like, some of the captions and photos and stuff are really bad. Start somewhere. Yeah, you know, I would take like this photos, I took a photo of a chair like next to our kitchen bin and, you know, so it's kind of one of those things where it's has been about sort of building a business building a brand and allowing that to be what I want it to be and what I just what I my gut feel is rather than what I think it should be or what I think people think it should be or so what I want for people's events and celebrations is the same thing that I want for my business. I guess that to do it. Well, I wanted to do it. And yeah, yeah, I forgot to say before, too, we also do a little bit of interior design for businesses, small businesses. So
Fiona Johnston 05:08
yeah, I think some of the most iconic spaces that I've walked into have been designed by you. And you definitely have a real way of kind of making bold color somehow not feel too chaotic, you sort of have this perfect mix of, you know, using bold colors and shapes and blending vintage furniture with modern pieces. And, yeah, I think you really know how to make a room feel like a personality.
Kate Forsyth 05:40
Well, that is a nice way of putting it. And I guess what I would say to that is thank you. And that I suppose the ethos behind that is that I want to, I want people to think about whether it's an interior space, commercial space, whether it's the lounge room, whether it's a wedding, a business event, for people to think about what they how they want people to feel and how they want to feel. Yeah, and that's sort of one of my main questions. Because of this, lots of wonderful styles out there who will get you the latest trends and the most beautiful linen in the whole world or whatever. I just probably got a spotlight. You know, spa, that's great. We all know that. But anyway, it, you know, it's really about like creating a space that makes people that makes people feel a certain way. And that I think is the key to like, really enjoying, so it's not like you go in there and be like, I'm gonna go, we're gonna have six colors in this color palette, and we're gonna have a mural, we're gonna have this and that it's actually more about like, okay, the purpose of that of that space, and how your people feel, and then it kind of grows from there.
Fiona Johnston 06:57
Yeah, I love that. So, you know, the origins of your business. You know, you came from a corporate comms background. Then you moved into event styling design and furniture. Why did you decide to create a business using vintage and mid century furniture as opposed to going and buying whatever the latest trends at the time were?
Kate Forsyth 07:24
Well, I've always been a bit of a vintage fan, and I made my my sister and I made my mom take us, like, an hour, an hour's drive to go and buy like, vintage 501 jeans. Like, sort of maybe like 1994 95 kind of thing. Yeah. You know, sort of started with clothes, like expressing yourself. You know, I grew up in a place that was like, you know, it's still it's just very, like, everyone dresses the same? And there's not a lot of like, you certainly don't, you know, praise for your individuality. It's like,
Fiona Johnston 08:01
It's supposed to fit in or, or life. Yeah, yeah. So
Kate Forsyth 08:05
it was like expressing myself in a way that like, did it make me an outcast? But also, like, just I don't know, it's just more interesting than putting on a regular t shirt kind of thing. And, yeah, so I have always been like, wanting to as my mum said, I'd always be like, I'm going to pretty this up. I think it's just like a thing you have or you don't probably. So I spent my whole life doing that even from when I was a little kid. And then I just always felt like I'd have a business one day, but I never really thought of what that will be. I didn't have a good idea until I had this idea, which was the vintage furniture, which was the first part. And that was because I couldn't find what I wanted for my own wedding in 2013. And that was my second wedding. The same thing was the same thing. When I was getting married in 2004. Like, I was like, Why don't they Why does anyone have nice chairs? Why do they have ship chairs with checkouts? Like surely someone has designed a nice chair. As I ended up choosing head is like, really beautiful. What iron chairs and they had a checkerboard floor. And those were just things that just weren't around. And yeah, both of my experiences were that vendors were generally hopeless, or just never got back to you or no one really understood it was just kind of like this is what you have. You have this and you have that and it's like, well, what if I want to do that? It's kind of like how can I can you help me create this and people just didn't really want to do that. So yeah, the mixture of that, like people just being like here have this thing have this one thing that we do, and also like the unreliability of even just getting a quote back. Yeah, so I was I couldn't find what I wanted. I was like, let's just buy them all from eBay instead of business. Yeah. Dave said, so Dave being my husband, at that time, not my husband, he said, What about warehousing and logistics? And I said, it'd be fine. And that is like our dynamic in a nutshell. Warehousing Logistics is really hard and terrible. A lot of this. But, yeah, so that's what we bought chairs. And we built a collection.
Fiona Johnston 10:24
Yeah. And you really have a beautiful collection going now of all these amazing, you know, pieces of furniture that many of whom who have their own names they do. What do you think would have happened to all of those pieces? Had you not taken them and giving them a new lease on life?
Kate Forsyth 10:42
Well, I mean, a lot of them would have ended up in landfill. Yeah. Because a lot of the things I buy, I think that I get them, like, because maybe other people don't really want them, they're a bit weird. And, but to me, they fit into what I'm like this aesthetic or whatever,
Fiona Johnston 11:00
You have a vision in your mind and power room might come together. So you can see how a piece that to somebody else looks wonky or imperfect, or, you know, a shape.
Kate Forsyth 11:11
Or a weird color or something. Actually, this, that's how it will go with this. But yeah, so I got the question.
Fiona Johnston 11:24
So, we were talking about why you started a business with this kind of, you know, reused, you know, recycled re kind of imagine furniture, and what would have happened to all of that beautiful furniture had you not been there to buy it at the right time.
Kate Forsyth 11:42
So the key, the key purpose of this discussion, great, I just forgot that that's wonderful. I was actually reflecting before when I was driving that there are some chairs and bits and pieces that are still in our collection from the very beginning. And so like that, I guess that one of the one of the points is that, you know, we bought things that are like beautiful and that may have just been turfed out and they've lived a bit they live a very hard life. Life in and out of the truck stepped up, you know, like normal, you know, the amount of time like, it's transportation of them, it's quite like, can be quite devastating to furniture. So, yeah. So yeah, just reusing what already exists. And beautiful things that like, like vintage is obviously like really big right now. And, you know, you're spending like you can spend 1000s of dollars on a couch from lots of different and awesome vintage sellers. But it wasn't really like that when we started. And a lot of the stuff people like, why do you? Why would you want this? Why do you How does that sort of stuff. So I guess I think there's lots of beautiful things out there. And then maybe they're not like, the things that other people think of beautiful at that time. But like if you've got some insight or some creative force, or side, that's it. Yeah, you can create something awesome with them. So yeah, I enjoy that. They go in and out in and out and they have an exciting, second or third life with us. Yeah, we just went through a whole pile of stuff that was broken. And a lot of them had been repaired multiple times. To that was probably the six chairs that will move on, that are probably fine for someone's house, but that they can't be repaired anymore. But they have mainly like they've all had, they've probably all been with us since the start. So I don't know, I just think it's a really huge pile of stuff that is not in landfill creating methane, which is one of the biggest problems for climate change. Because it's so, you know, creates so much extra heat.
Fiona Johnston 13:42
I love it. I think I see a similar trait in many of the other business owners I work with to in this idea of, you know, seeing the beauty in something that might be otherwise not beautiful to others, or seeing something that you can use in a way that's really economical and thrifty, but also can be made really cool and stylish and, you know, give somebody a really different experience of you know, when they're sitting in it or lounging on it or admiring from the other side of the room.
Kate Forsyth 14:13
Yeah, absolutely.
Fiona Johnston 14:16
So you talked earlier about how one of the things you really love doing is thinking about how do people, how does the host of an event want their people to feel, and you use your styling and your beautiful furniture to make that happen. So if that was the impact that you wanted to make, and also reusing all this amazing furniture, doesn't feel like you've made the impact so far in your business that you wanted to make, and how has that kind of changed over time?
Kate Forsyth 14:50
I think that it's easy for me to express that. That's what I want to do. It's a bit of a hindsight thing which is I would say it's very much how it you know how it goes when you listen to people talk about their businesses?
Fiona Johnston 15:05
Yeah, it's like an evolution that went back on it, it seems obvious.
Kate Forsyth 15:09
So I didn't, I couldn't have expressed that, you know, in the first couple of years. But it makes me feel extremely high. Because people will often say to us, I didn't see myself in any weddings until I saw your weddings, and I went down a wormhole. And I was like, oh, okay, we could actually like, what I never thought I'd get married. This is not really for me, I didn't want that kind of thing. And then them telling me afterwards, how I helped them create that, the vibe and the look and feel and people were like, yes, that is so you know, this couple kind of thing. So, and look, I think we're part of a bigger movement in, like, the non-traditional kind of weddings and events. And, and, like, you know, for us, it's about personalisation. Like, you know, we're not just like doing something weird. For the sake of it's like, oh, actually, that, you know, we did a ceremony that there was a vintage chair, like, surrounded by beautiful florals. And that was because the couple had got together, when they were like, 15, the guy had carried this chair he got from the op shop down to her place anyway, so it was kind of, you know, it took a while to get to that, but it was like, that was meaningful to them. And we made it look fun and cool and cute, and great photos with it, and that sort of thing. So yeah, that makes me feel really happy. And I suppose my approach to in terms of like, reusing things, and all that sort of stuff has was sort of like a natural thing for me, because that's how I was kind of brought up like, so. You know, I've always been mindful of like, not have not just having single use things and not like a lot of weddings, there's a lot of waste, you know, they just charged. And like, we probably, we fill up a small wheelie bin with landfill rubbish, maybe once a month. So lots of stuff can be either recycled, reused to give it to someone else, you know, people will take our word off cuts from things we've made. Yeah, we recycle our paint tins, we recycle the paint cleanup solution with the paint people, you know, I give stuff away, like, you know, little bits and pieces of and give to like childcare, that sort of thing. Like, just kind of doing it imperfectly, but being like aware of it and making it important. Yeah.
Fiona Johnston 17:35
It's that ethos of thinking about the multiple purposes that one thing can have. And I think of it is, you know, what would my grandma do? What would my grandma have done with this? Yeah, I like that. Yeah. So in the course of your business, you've been in business for nine years, you've gone through lots of different sorts of avenues and directions. So have you found that, you know, working on your business, whether that was with me, or you know, with someone else or on your own? How has kind of working on your business and understanding your finances and your business strategy? How has that impacted your kind of business adventure? Or how you've delivered that impact that you wanted to say whether it was the feeling, or whether it was the reuse?
Kate Forsyth 18:29
That is a good question. I think that working with yourself, Fiona, that was kind of like, an evolution for us. Like, we were doing a lot of work. And it was not profitable enough for the hard, like the hard work that we were doing. Yeah. And, you know, you gently told us that a lot of times, and a lot of other stuff, a lot of like, a lot of things like consistently, you know, you're kind of telling us along the way, and then eventually, I've kind of brought all those things on board. And really sort of shrunk what we do offer. And how many people we can actually do that for? Yeah, so we're not a service for every single person. And, you know, like, we can't, we're not able to service the amount of people we used to do 180 events a year for COVID. So this year, I'm hoping to do more than 30. Yeah.
Fiona Johnston 19:32
It's about that sustainability of your own energy. And yet, you know, that's part of the sustainability and the whole sort of system of business.
Kate Forsyth 19:42
And so things like, you know, we don't go as far because, you know, you're driving a truck, diesel truck, you know, hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. When there's someone else who could, you know, there's lots of people who do, you know, there's people in Gippsland, who do retire and those people wouldn't ovary and notice refer those jobs on to people who can do them more close by. Because I think there's enough work for everyone. Yeah, bums on to put on seats and there's enough weddings and events and that sort of thing. And so I feel like working with you has been like probably the key thing, but then there's been like little bits and pieces along the way different kinds of people and maybe like, just things you hit, like, lots of podcasts and stuff where, you know, it's kind of, if you open to it, then like, all those things are kind of like planting a seed or whatever. And then eventually, oh, okay, and you have to just come to it when you come to it. Yeah, that's right. Trust people and what they're telling, like trust the right people, obviously. Yeah. And hear what they're telling you. But know that you can't just immediately change to what they're suggesting. Sometimes it Yeah, everything's a process.
Fiona Johnston 20:55
Yes. Yeah, you did? You definitely did. Yeah, I love that idea of everything being a process and a progression and an evolution. Like, you don't necessarily go from doing delivering 180 events a year to 30 events in a year without there being you know, things that happen in between that sort of move you between those two worlds. And I also like what you said about, you know, being open to hearing different ideas from different people at different, you know, times in your business life. Is there.
Kate Forsyth 21:33
From trusted adults and how to hope that's what we say to kids like, we only cross the road with a trusted adult. Yeah, I think listen to just can't Don't listen to everyone or even anyone, like I don't know, it's there's a lot of people saying a lot of shit.
Fiona Johnston 21:47
A lot of good memories.
Kate Forsyth 21:49
Yes, yeah.
Fiona Johnston 21:50
So is there anything that stands out in your mind or sort of like a quote that was resonant, or a book that you read, or a person that has been, you know, someone that you've really been your go-to person in business?
Kate Forsyth 22:07
I’ve thought about this? And I probably is, but I'll probably think of it in approximately three and a half weeks time. Yeah. I think that probably the most impactful business, things that for me, has been listening to. I listened to as an audiobook, but profit first. Yes. So transforming the way that I thought about our finances, and being able to then manage our business through the pandemic, and all that stuff. So it's just like, really second nature now, and I tell other business owners who are starting out that it's a really great way to start. And there's been a few podcasts, you know, probably like things like, the early seasons of startup and how I built this, I really love listening to how I built this. It's a bit I got a bit crappy, because it was just kind of the same thing. And we'll get to the hindsight view. But yeah. I yeah, I feel like just like filling your head with generally optimistic or not over. Like, it doesn't have to be like overly positive, whatever. It's like the good and the bad. But like, and the way that just hearing how people have done things and thinking, oh, what can I do? Yeah, actually, you know what, having said that, the best piece of information or sorry, the best thing that has ever anyone's ever said to me, was a florist. Meg from, Good Grace and Humor. I've got it. Yep. So we shared a space, which then just recently moved out. So, you know, we've kind of been working side by side literally for, like, six or so years. And, you know, we'd seen everything that each of us had gone through. And she said to me once, if something goes wrong, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to change stuff. In your business, it doesn't mean you need to like Oh, my God, what, what processes wrong? What's, you know, because that's what I've been like, I've been looking inwards and being like, having a really difficult client or something. And it's been like, I have to fix everything have to change everything. Not it's not working. And she was like, sometimes people are just absolute turkeys. But probably not Turkey. But you know what I mean? Yeah, that sticks with me, because, yeah, you got to be on you got to be willing to change things, fix things make them better. But things going poorly, isn't always a reason to change things. Some people are just really difficult.
Fiona Johnston 24:33
Yeah, I suppose it's about knowing which clients are the ones that are your ideal clients, and listening to how what you do makes their lives better, and trying to not listen to much of the other noise.
Kate Forsyth 24:46
And you just work that out as you go along. You start to get a sense of who is like not the right people to work with. You don't always have the luxury of saying no to people I could always like just say No, like you might not be able to because you don't know how to start with. And also, you might not, you might just need to get that that money in the door. So that's okay. Yeah. But you definitely build that up. And eventually you'll be able to say no, and it's not going to, you know, mean that you can't pay the electricity bill.
Fiona Johnston 25:18
Yeah. So, do you have any brands that you feel are doing really great, you know, like a sort of brands that you aspire to be like, or brands that you really love? You know, as a consumer, who do you think's doing really good things in the
Kate Forsyth 25:34
World, um, tend to really enjoy brands that are generally like optimistic, as I mentioned for, but also like, kind of straight talking. Yeah, like a lot of social media particularly is full of like, the reasons why, blah, blah, blah, or people don't, you know, like, there's sort of this weird negative reels of everything. And I know, it doesn't really resonate with me, but one of the brands is for Melbourne clothing brand Qi. And there have been like, during this whole transparency thing on, like, what it actually takes to make a, a particular item, like a particular dress, and it will break down every single cost. And they've been doing, they've been extending their size range. And they've been talking about, like, how hard that's been in terms of like, their, I think they said 300% increase in their patterning kind of costs. So like, paving the way and being really transparent, making slow fashion, like all you know, but just also just doing it in a way that like, I think, oh, yeah, cool. Because if we can all just be like, Oh, that sounds a lot for t-shirt or whatever. But if we give a shit about the environment, and we care about people have in the living wage, and you know, all those things, then it is stuff we need to listen to. So I think I liked what they're doing. I like how sort of upfront and it's just interesting, because we just don't look at it that way. That was the main one I thought of I also really like Rachel Sarra, the artist, activist, and dream time, or oha. Yeah. Because I feel like both of them are both have got that real, amazing, straight talk. In terms of, they're both Aboriginal women. And you know, there's obviously a lot to say about the state of affairs in Australia. But yeah, straight talking, intelligent. Interesting. Make, you know, they kind of make you think about, you know, how you think about stuff. And challenge you a bit. And that sort of stuff. And but they both also have like, really lovely. Art and dolls and whatnot. Yeah, I just feel like also, game time. dream time. Meme, game is very strong to me.
Fiona Johnston 28:09
Yeah, I think, you know, social media has opened up many different ways of communicating. And I think even when you're communicating something very serious. I mean, can help in terms of getting the message across and giving people a little laugh or a different perspective.
Kate Forsyth 28:25
Yeah. And like, there's like brands like tuckshop knits and yummy and bones. Like, they just they, they are irreverent about how they talk about things. They talk about, like issues in their business and stuff. But they do it without being like. Finance? I don't know. But no, one's the butt of the joke kind of thing. Yeah. And then like, also, it's not like the hit with a sledgehammer kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. So because we do want to be, you know, we do want to enjoy these things. Like we do want to go on this journey with people and stuff. And I mean, I can probably like wading into a pop my head in a way, but I don't know, I like this. It's like the combination of like, optimism, bit of humor, Straight Talk. Like giving a shit. I think that's probably the thing as well, like, it's like caring, like, I really like people and brands who care and not just like, pretend to care, or I don't know, it's and it's really evolving thing, I think, too.
Fiona Johnston 29:25
So, love that. So how could the community get involved with you or work with you? Do you have anything coming up that you'd like to share? Give us an idea how we can have people can connect with you?
Kate Forsyth 29:41
Well, we don't have much terms of like capacity for the next couple of months, but I think we've got quite a lot of those 35 beds available through the app. So if anyone's wanting to have like a an all some event that really reflects them and it's not your standard thing, then have a look at our website. Same with an interior if you're if you're a business, and you like needing to fill out a space. But you sort of feel like, you know, you've got my probably too many ideas, and you're beating your head against a brick wall a bit and just going around in circles and, and people are telling you things like, you don't need a fancy place to do X, Y, and Z. They probably yeah, maybe you need someone like me who can help you to work out what you do need and and kind of express that, I guess. Yeah, so we've got, you know, because we have really sort of scaled things down there has included marketing. So yeah, it's kind of coming in in a nice way, which is really good. But doesn't mean we've got some capacity, like later this year, for awesome people who might have an event or have their interiors done, you can have a website. All right, Instagram, I suppose. Although I don't, you know, it's not really up to the minute.
Fiona Johnston 31:04
So the best place for people to go is to gooddayclub.com.au. So head to the website, and you can actually see Kate's amazing work, you really have to see it, to understand the colours and textures and sort of sculptures and the sort of feeling of a room or a venue that Kate has designed is. Yeah, very memorable. So yeah, do yourself a favor and go and have a look. And yeah, thanks for coming and being part of my little content series about movies and changing the world. Is there anything else you'd like to share before we close down?
Kate Forsyth 31:51
Oh, well, I just want to say thank you for inviting me. And I do I really think the way that you kind of create communities for this type of stuff is excellent. And yeah, I think that you're doing a lovely job.
Fiona Johnston 32:11
Thank you so much, Kate. Appreciate that. Double thumbs up. Yeah. All right. Let's wind it down already. Later.
