Love essential oil products? Get to know the woman behind Ollie, which infuses these fragrances into home and personal care items.
We love entrepreneurs and small business owners at Honeycombers, which is why we’ve created Launchpad, a comprehensive digital networking platform (with IRL benefits, too) that encourages connection, business support and community. It’s a privilege and pleasure to learn from so many talented and inspiring folks, so we’ve decided to share the love by interviewing some of the lovely Launchpad members. Looking for inspiration? Check out how Rithika Gupta, the founder of Ollie, gets it done like a boss.
Tell us the story behind your business.
As a third-generation essential oil producer, I love working with oils and creating everyday products for my family and me. As I scoured the market, I couldn’t understand why it was so hard to find effective products that were truly free from petrochemical ingredients and potential endocrine disruptors. So, I decided to create my own products and launched Ollie.
What are some milestones or achievements you’re most proud of?
Having known nothing about retail, successfully launching a brand itself was a big deal for me. A couple of other big milestones include recycling more than 750kg of plastic to create our packaging, doing a custom order for Jimmy Choo Singapore and Malaysia in the first year of launching, and getting our products into 36 different Cold Storage outlets.
Share with us a setback that taught you a valuable lesson about running a business.
As a business born out of passion and put together by a non-marketing person, I always naively thought I should focus on the product, and the sales and customers would follow. But I’ve learnt over the years that while a good product is important and non-negotiable, it’s only one piece of the bigger puzzle. I’m learning the importance of marketing and active sales, and this learning comes at a huge cost of keeping a business running for years with unfulfilled revenue potential.
Describe a typical day in your life and what you love most about it.
I start my day by getting my son ready for school and spending time with him. At work throughout the day, I deal with whatever needs the most attention. It’s always different – from production day to picking up or dropping stuff between printers, suppliers, stockists and pop-ups. Some days are all about strategy and planning, while others are about numbers and accounting. Although context switching and multitasking can be inefficient and sometimes draining, I absolutely love it!
I try and wrap up my day by 5 or 6pm, and do my best to ‘switch off’ from work until the next day. It doesn’t always happen, but the effort is always on. This work-life balance is crucial for my sanity and longer-term sustainability.
What’s your favourite book, movie, or TV show that has influenced your entrepreneurial mindset?
I enjoy podcasts like How I Built This, Business Wars, and Brick by Brick.
Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Once you know what you want to do, identify your target audience. Don’t cut corners on research. The better you understand your target market early on, the fewer ‘burn-your-fingers-and-learn’ cycles you’ll go through. Also, be agile and flexible. Know that you don’t know everything, and that’s okay. Sometimes things don’t work out and you may have to pivot or change.
Top tip for maintaining a good work-life balance?
Physical time separation between work and home or non-work activities as much as possible.
Favourite thing to do on weekends?
DIY projects and outdoor activities with the family.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself that not many people know.
I love watersports and anything to do with water. Wakeboarding, windsurfing, diving, or anything else – I’m always up for it!
Get in touch with Rithika Gupta online.
Launchpad is a comprehensive digital networking platform (with IRL benefits, too) that encourages connection, business support and community. It is designed to make the entrepreneurial journey not only easier, and more successful, but also a whole lot more fun. We offer almost daily activities for members to connect, along with weekly masterclasses, member networking roulette, small-business mentoring and media profiles on Honeycombers. Check it out and join us!
