This year we launched our Queensland office, so now, along with Nadia in Melbourne we have Sally (Queensland), Harriet M (Sydney) and Linda (Adelaide). They have joined our team, so we now have four great cities running with four great coordinators. This year we are going to focus on building relationships and forming partnerships with great brands that share our passion for health and sustainability. We also want to share our story with you, in the hope that we can inspire you to do that big thing in your life, that you have always dreamt about. Whether it is making a lifestyle change, or finally starting that business, it is possible. With the right support, and a drive to succeed (and a lot of hard work) anything is possible.
Overall:
I love that I learn something everyday – the journey never ends!
As soon as I could delegate a task I did. The tricky bit is finding the right person to do it even better than me
There were many things I did wrong but more I did right
Having a supportive partner really helped! When I was setting up for the first Show I realized how much milk I was going to need to order and Gil said ‘looks like you need to buy a cow’. He has given me the humor to keep going hundreds of times. I can’t thank him enough!
I have put in a lot of sweat and tears into building my company, but so have my staff and suppliers – a huge thank you to you all!
Thank you to all of my customers – a lot have helped create the service we have now and have been a joy to work rain hail or shine!
You can plan all you want but sometimes life has other plans – my baby arrived two months early (I was on the train to a meeting with a client when I had to detour to the hospital).
Fun facts:
The first 8 bikes had a different blender (vintage style glass jug) which Breville stopped making (after 15 years!) so I researched many brands and pitched to Breville for sponsorship and they said yes! I changed the jug plate system and jug to what we have now and continued to get their support- ask and you shall receive (well there may have been a bit of perseverance from my end..)
I ran the smoothie stand at CERES in Brunswick for nine months to teach myself customer service, systems and learnt what the public were interested in – all research I used to create the packages we have now. The first market it hailed but I didn’t care.
Most of the work I did to begin with was done at 2am as I couldn’t sleep. I was always so excited about having a business to build!
I didn’t pay myself a proper wage until four years in. I worked two days a week at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for the first two years. Profits were reinvested into building more bikes and other infrastructure.
For a long time I thought I had to choose between owning a business or have a baby – but now I know I can have both (Bike n’ Ben).
Records:
Largest number of smoothies made at an event: 1,000 (UTS Sydney Uni)
Fastest speed ridden on a smoothie bike: 53.1K/hr! https://youtu.be/o0lagWI4sdE A Breville engineer measured the speed to be a similar to the electric blender!
Total number of smoothie bikes can fit in a hatchback: 3. In a Toyota Hiace van: 12
