Mike Miller with his wife Moana and son Alex (front) established a video production business during lockdown. Photo / Andrew Warner
Kelly Kirkwood's skincare range is growing exponentially since lockdown. Photo / Andrew Warner 280920aw01
Mike Miller with his wife Moana and son Alex (front) established a video production business during lockdown. Photo / Andrew Warner 230920aw04
Stephanie Arthur-Worsop
A Rotorua woman who lost her day job due to Covid-19 is getting so many sales for her skincare range she has to work into the early hours of the morning to keep up with demand.
Another long-standing Rotorua business owner went from thinking her company would fold during lockdown to reaching highs she hasn't experienced since before the Global Financial Crisis.
And a new Rotorua production company born out of the desire to have more events and meetings live-streamed during higher alert levels is gaining traction nationwide.
These are just some of the local businesses coming out on top post-lockdown thanks to a mix of filling a need in the market and Kiwis staying true to buying and supporting local companies to boost the economy.
Kelly Kirkwood's skincare range Skin Essentials was trucking along fine but when the country went into lockdown in March, her products started flying off the shelves.
Since lockdown, Kirkwood has seen a 60 to 80 per cent increase in website traffic and a 50 to 60 per cent increase in sales.
"I think Skin Essentials took off during lockdown because big retailers like The Body Shop and Farmers weren't open during that time so people, who were stuck at home, were shopping online and looking for alternatives.
"We obviously couldn't send anything out until level 3 but the orders were there and now people are coming back."
Kirkwood said the impact of people wanting to support and buy local since lockdown had been huge.
"People are sitting there waiting for products to come back into stock. And when I get more supplies in, they're selling out again and again.
"It's just me making the products, responding to questions and doing the orders and shipping so some nights I'm working until 2am to get everything done.
"The demand for locally-made products make me a lot less nervous because I know if I get more supplies in, people will continue to buy."
And her appreciation for the local support has been compounded by the fact she lost her day job due to the effects of Covid-19.
"It is what it is but I definitely would have been more stressed and probably in tears right now if it wasn't for my skincare range doing so well.
"Knowing my job was going to wind up has been scary but it's meant I've fast-tracked my plans to focus solely on my own business, which was always the goal."
Kirkwood, a qualified aromatherapist, started her skincare range while working as a beauty therapist. A lot of her clients wanted good quality skincare that didn't break the bank.
"I thought, 'I can make that for you' and it just snowballed from there."
Kirkwood has two main ranges - anti-ageing and acne control. The products are scented with essential oils which are picked to address specific skin concerns.
Six months ago, Rotorua family business Peterson Portable Sawmills was looking to be one of the casualties of Covid-19.
The company was unable to produce anything for three months and owner Kerris Browne was convinced it would be the end for the business she had spent 17 years building.
But a post-lockdown boom has pushed the business to highs Browne hasn't seen since before the Global Financial Crisis.
"I really thought our business was going to go belly up. During the lockdown, we couldn't produce anything, we were absolutely shut down for that first six or seven weeks.
"Then when we finally got back into the factory, we couldn't get stock in for a month because all our suppliers had closed down and all the couriers were backed up.
"So it took us another six weeks until we were able to produce again.
"We were out of business for almost three months and we were unable to pay any overheads. April, May and June were diabolical.
"But since then the orders have just kept piling in. We now have three months of orders on the board. We haven't had that kind of backlog in about eight years which is amazing.
"Prior to lockdown, we were doing an average of five sawmills a month. Right now we are doing eight sawmills a month and that's looking to increase to 10 a month."
Browne puts the boom down to people spending more time improving their homes and farms and their international competitors not being able to ship quick enough.
"People as a whole are doing less overseas travel, less retail work, less big-city office work and are instead doing those projects they've been putting off for years.
"Of our competitors, our nearest is an Australian-made sawmill. Their product is a bit cheaper than ours but because of delays in shipping, buyers have to wait even longer for that one so aside from Kiwis wanting to buy local, the resources have forced them to buy local anyway."
Browne said she had been amazed by the bounce back and kept waiting for demand to taper off.
"Prior to the recession in 2007/2008, we were doing about $3m turnover a year, which is about 120 sawmills a year. The recession reduced that and within one year we were down to 30 sawmills a year.
"We had 32 staff and had to go down to five.
"Since the recovery from the recession, we have slowly been increasing, adding about one new staff member a year.
"We were back up to 12 at the beginning of this year. Since coming back from lockdown, we've put on a new staff member each month for the past four months.
"Even if we got no new orders after today, we would still make more money this year than we did last year."
Three of the four new staff members Browne has brought on had been directly affected by Covid-19 and are now being paid the living wage.
"I'm really proud we've been able to give them fulltime work and the living wage."
The Millers, a born and bred Rotorua family, are quickly making a name for themselves with the production business they created during lockdown.
Dad Mike Miller said he came out of lockdown and identified a need in the market for livestreamed content.
That idea evolved into Local Gecko Productions which offers a range of services from videography and photography to drone work and website design.
"It was already a service before but lockdown really highlighted the need for it, particularly in Rotorua because there's so much going on here.
"There's a particularly big demand for it in the sporting arena and meetings because, even at level 0, there are people who are not able to be at events physically that would still like to see it."
Miller said the business quickly took off and the whole experience had been a whirlwind.
"It's moved so quickly for us. We've only been doing it for two months and we've already been nominated for the People's Choice Award in the Westpac Business Awards.
"When I look at the other ones I think, 'wow, how could we even be on the same piece of paper as these guys' really brilliant businesses'."
Miller said he and his wife were the business' investors and it was his son who was the brains behind the operation.
"During lockdown we threw up a couple of videos, silly skits, just playing around, and my son Alex really liked it so that's what kicked things off and it has just progressed from there.
"Alex was studying civil engineering and with his background in tech, gaming and the computer side of things, he picked up on it very quickly."
Miller said the response had been great so far and he had been amazed at how quickly word travelled about their services.
"Our first video was with a Whaka v. Waikite game and straight away there were 19,000 views over 24 hours on that livestream.
"It's amazing how far this forum can take you and who is watching our content. We've been approached by Huntly Speedway and they're quite keen to use our services, try it and see if it suits their sport.
"We've had so many meetings, we've met with poker guys, jiu-jitsu, wall climbing in town. It's ongoing. There's plenty of opportunities out there and I think we're heading in the right direction."
Miller said his family had been lucky to have some amazing mentors during this time as well.
"Our good friend Mike Jonathan who is a freelance videographer, the information he's given us - I don't think we would have gotten this far without him.
"It's been an amazing little journey so far."
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