How an innocent conversation on a driveway generated a half a million-dollar children’s play equipment business

Entrepreneurs are more likely to start businesses when the economy is buoyant and flourishing. Interestingly, in the first six months of 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 152,000 new companies in Australia were registered, a 40,000 increase since 2019.

Fox Wood Co., a sustainable kids play equipment brand that was established in the midst of the 2020 lockdown, saw an opportunity in the market for more sustainable and educational toys.

With the sudden onset of COVID restrictions, co-owner Wayne Battishall lost his job almost overnight. Fortunately, Wayne is a cabinetmaker by trade and started to take on work in this field. He was building a study area for long-time friends, Michael and Jess, who soon became the additional co-owners of Fox Wood Co.

Jess immediately got excited about the prospect and expressed several ideas, in particularly children’s play equipment and Montessori inspired furniture. The team collectively agreed and two days later, an ABN was generated.

“Prior to starting Fox Wood Co. I had just gone back to work for the first time after having my first two children. I was a few months into my new career as a swimming instructor at our local indoor pool and I was absolutely loving it. Unfortunately, when the first lockdown of 2020 hit, the pool had to close indefinitely and my new career as a swimming instructor was looking short lived. It was then with all this extra time and a driveway chat with Wayne and my husband Mick, Fox Wood Co., was born,” Jess Locke, co-owner of Fox Wood Co., says.

“Our products were designed in line with our belief in active, risky play and the Montessori approach to childhood development. Another big factor in our design process was aesthetics, we wanted to make the products pleasing to the eye in way that would easily blend into both a home and school environment,” Jess adds.

Investing

To get Fox Wood Co. off the ground, $15,000 was invested. Soon enough, business started to grow at a rapid pace and more space was needed. The business then invested in renting out machinery, purchasing a CNC machine and secured a factory in Helensburgh, NSW to produce the products, resulting in a total investment of $60,000.

Sales

In the first 10 months of the business, Fox Wood Co. received 1000 orders. There has since been a 40 per cent increase since the initial launch. In the first financial year of business, Fox Wood Co. had a revenue of $500,000 and they anticipate to hit $800,000 in the next financial year.

Business hurdles

“Everything has been a hurdle really. Other than my experience in cabinetmaking and joinery, none of us had really done anything of this nature before, so we learnt as we go. From how to build the website, how to work out how much we’d charge for products, how to advertise effectively or where to even advertise, to building our social media pages and how to execute our operations and processes for all the products nationwide. Collectively, we spent 120 hours per week for the first 12 months of business just to get it off the ground, and this was all unpaid,” Wayne Battishall, Co-Owner of Fox Wood Co., says.

Growth

Moving forward into the next few years, Fox Wood Co. aim to keep releasing new and exciting products which can be added to its already wonderful range. Additionally, they hope to obtain more ‘commercial’ type sales to childcare centres and to become more of a ‘household name’ for quality Australian made products. “Selling and shipping internationally is a goal of ours but, unfortunately, this hasn’t been possible at this stage due to the excessive costs of international shipping caused by the COVID pandemic,” Wayne adds.

Lessons

“There is simply no replacement for hard work. You have to put in the time. Deciding on your core values and beliefs early and sticking to them is also important. It all starts with that first big leap into the unknown, you just have to go for it and commit 100 per cent and believe in what you are doing. If you truly believe in yourself and in the products you are providing, then others will, too,” Wayne explains.