Recently we went to Hawkes Bay to see my family and visit some customers.  I grew up in the Bay and I remember in my first year of University taking the train from the Bay to Wellington through the Gorge and always wondered what would happen to the train lines over time. Now you cannot take a train and if travelling by car you have to go over the ridge way past the wind farm. What a view when you drive right past those imposing windmills.  Some may say it is a blight on our landscape but others may say it is a great sight showing our progress to clean energy.

Unfortunately our Government is considering building a new fossil fuel electricity generation plant like the Huntly coal-fired power station, and a giant fossil gas importation facility to feed it.  Like Greenpeace states, this path would lock us into a future of rising electricity prices and climate emissions that throws more fuel on the fire of extreme climate events that are ravaging communities, like floods, droughts, fires and cyclones. 

Have you seen your latest power bill. Mine is mind blowing and I cannot wait till I get solar on my house!

Here is a link to sign the petition regarding the possible build of a new fossil fuel electricity generation plant.  Sign it if you want clean energy for New Zealand.

Last month I went to the Climate Tech conference here in Wellington and I was amazed at all the incredible innovation around clean energy that is being pursued in our own backyard.  We as a nation have so many natural elements we can draw from to create clean energy such as our volcanic power, wind, sea, sun to name a few.  Lets develop technologies around those resources.  And I love some of the green incentives such as the interest free loans that some of the banks offer to convert consumers to solar etc.  Here is a great article put out by ECCA around green loans and more.

Before I go, I just want to share one of the best speeches I have listened to for a while by Michelle Obama.  I love the fact she was able to weave her distain for Trump in a respectful way. 'When they go low, we go high' (Michelle Obama).

Thanks for listening and please contribute to our survey to help us understand what you need and want from us. Link here again. 

Also please head over to Woolies and buy our NZ made eco stain removing laundry soap. Help keep us on shelf as we are up against traditional non eco brands like Sards and Sunlight.  And for the record, our stain removing soaps absolutely remove stains while being completely toxin free.

Anna xx
www.nilproducts.com
nil waste nil harm

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6 Lessons from mother nature

1 Accepting Change

The seasons show us that everything changes. They allow us to understand that things can’t remain stagnant, and that is a good thing.

As the leaves change in autumn, think of them as a sign that the world is ever-changing and evolving, and so are we.

As the sun shines through in the summer, remember what the autumn leaves felt like.

2 Strength

For me, the ocean has always reminded me of how small I am. It shows me how truly insignificant small feelings or doubt or worry can be in the bigger picture of things.

The little things just don’t always matter.

It’s also taught me to better deal with the unknown. When things get scary, we can move and adjust — just like the ocean. We can be strong and powerful, yet calm and steady.

3 Pace

Nature has always done a great job of teaching me to pace myself.

Whenever I’m worried about the future, I like to find time to immerse myself in nature as a way to remind myself of the beauty of the present.

Finding a quiet, calm place to lay in the grass is a wonderful way to do this. Notice the way the ground feels under your body and fingertips.

Remember, nature is always present.

4 Calm

Walking on the beach with my dog at night is one of my  favouriate ways to feel the calmness of the earth.

The feeling of the sand underneath my fingertips, the sound of the birds chirping, the soothing echo of the waves. And because I live in Wellington the wind on my face creates a calmness and knowing of living in the present.

If you don’t live near a beach, try finding really any body of water. The sounds of life surrounding waters are sure to ease your mind and remind you to be still.

5 Sensory Awareness

Oftentimes, we underestimate the importance of our senses. We ignored our basic ability to see, hear, feel, observe.

Spending time in nature, however, is one of the best and most efficient ways to increase a human’s sensory awareness.

Go for a walk. Take note of the things you see, the things touch, the things you smell. Getting into this habit will help you to become more observant and aware of how things make you feel.  It is a way to live in the present and bring forward gratitude.

6 Focus

Along with a better awareness of our senses, nature can help us to focus on what matters.

It quiets distractions and captures our attention through its uniqueness and beauty. It also shows us what really matters.

Take a moment to immerse yourself in nature without any distractions, which includes no mobile phones.

Notice the way your focus starts to shift from whatever may have been on your mind, to the present moment you are in.

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Solid is a New Zealand company founded by Laura Nixon, who previously worked as a dental therapist. Through this experience she witnessed the amount of single use plastic in the industry, from toothpaste tubes to dental floss. Laura reflected on what kind of world she wanted to live in, and how she could make a difference. She'd always loved solving problems and inventing things, so that's when Laura decided to become a toothpaste formulator! And here Solid began. Solid is dedicated to reducing packaging waste by making sustainable toothpaste and bathroom products that don't leave behind any plastic.

 

A particular aspect of Solid I absolutely love is the jar refill programme. Here at Nil we are huge believers in saving waste, which is why we offer our refillery. Solid has the same thing happening - they offer refills on their tablets and powders. They currently have 6 instore toothpaste dispensers (the first in the world!) and 25 locations you can refill at. Adam McConnochie, Solid's cofounder, tells me that they have saved around 150,000 toothpaste tubes from landfill through this programme! Another New Zealand company making a big difference.

 

Solid also offers a jar return. If you drop off your toothpaste jar at your local refiller, Solid will take back these jars and sterilise them to reuse. They also accept delivery through courier.

 

Solid is a great NZ company that is dedicated to reducing waste and reusing packaging. To find out more about their products and environmental practice, head on over to https://solidoralcare.co.nz/. PS- we offer toothpaste tablet refills in our showroom! Bring your Solid jar in and save packaging :)

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The Persuasion paradox

I have been pondering the above statement lately from a personal view point and a business approach. In a nutshell, I see it as being simply a good human from a personal perspective and from a business perspective a good starting point. It has also got me thinking about all the times we have applied this approach and then taken a bold and fearless move in business.

I have been trying to be more present with people, notice my surroundings and listen carefully to people beyond what they have to say. I have always asked a lot of questions and I have never been afraid to ask when I do not understand. I am a keen fact finder as I have mentioned before (although it has never really helped me at quiz nights!). I like to think I am quietly persuasive but I am not sure I am always an observer who provides great responses, on the basis that it is needed at the time. One of the reasons why I think my responses may not be wonderful is that I have a terrible habit of putting my personal lens on the observation rather than keeping it clean. Sometimes I need to accept it for what it is, full stop.

I really don’t like aggressive conflict/arguing and will often run from it as my first response. I certainly don’t rely on force or intimation but prefer thoughtful persuasion. I am much better at handling a conflict when I have had time to process and think about my response. I remember during my legal professionals course I was always paired with a top scholar at Auckland University as my lecturer thought he would make a good match for a moot (maybe on paper we looked equal!). But I am a terrible responder and always lost against him. I could never be a barrister as I would have to keep asking the judge for time to think and process.

My ramble could go into all the ways to persuade and if you Google search ‘how to persuade’ there are a number of different theories but it seems that Cialdini's 6 Principles of Persuasion: reciprocity, scarcity, authority, commitment and consistency, liking and consensus are the most popular. But I have preferred to ponder about the initial steps of persuasion which I believe equates to being a good human. Observe, listen and ask questions.

So has my business ‘nil’ been ethically persuasive in helping people to look after the planet?

Yes we observe and listen. Each year we do a brand survey to check in with our customers that we are on the right track. We would love you to give 2 minutes today to answer our latest survey, link below.

nil SURVEY

As you all know we have a Showroom/retail presence at 471 Adelaide Road, Berhampore and we love engaging with our customers and finding out what they need, want and how we can help them.

But do we do a great job on social media or through our EDMs (mailers)? Hmm I am not so sure. That has always been a hard one. We could make our engagement more personal. But I personally have never wanted to be the face (but probably vicariously the personality) of the brand online as I worry about all the trolls and the invasion into my private life. Although these rambles are quite a step for me in that direction. Many brand strategist and PR people have tried to get me to be the face and maybe they are right.

I think our strength is that we are great observers and listeners. We are often the first to bring new exciting eco products to the market as we observe and listen to the market beyond New Zealand. We also observe our macro environment from government polices to private enterprise sustainable initiatives. I like to also think we can be bold and fearless with the information we obtain.

 

Being bold and fearless after listening, observing and asking questions

When I am being bold and fearless are the times when I get the most excited. I feel alive. They are times when I feel the strongest. Often it is when I ignore what traditional society expects of me.

Below are some of the times we were bold and fearless in business and gosh it was exciting.

• Presenting at the Emmys and gifting our products to the stars in LA
• Contracting with China back in 2014 over the internet when at the time many people thought it was dangerous where I look back now and think it was racist!
• Going to our first export Expo in Sydney with only two suitcases to set up a stand and winning the Best Eco business of the show
• Meeting the Governor General for tea as a chosen impact business
• Self-publishing to then being picked up by a publisher to publish our second book
• Negotiating a deal in the middle east
• As one my lovely customers said the other day’ I remember Anna coming into my shop with her baby in her sling to see if I would sell her cookbook’. Yes baby and products together while selling in on 'sale and return' arrangements. To now selling in large retailers, supermarkets and overseas and my babies are no longer babies but young boys.
• Making over 200,000 facemasks during covid in 4 weeks
• Seeking out a financier that believed in what we were doing when the banks said no.
• Engaging directly from our tiny NZ office with large international supermarkets and retailers and getting ranged with them over larger brands
• Merging our two brands to ‘nil’

So I suppose my rambling today is to myself and to you all is to ‘Be bold, be fearless and feel that excitement of life. Be persuasive by listening, observing and continue to ask questions. Don’t argue but persuade with a paint brush not a sledgehammer. By being a good listener, being observant and asking questions to understand another is part of being a good human to those you love or connect with. But over to you as to how you then execute on being persuasive (follow Cialdini's steps of persuasion or the 6 P's, or the 4 P's – so many P's. Lol) but please be ethical with it.

Thanks for listening and please contribute to our survey. Link here again.

Anna xx
www.nilproducts.com
nil waste nil harm

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Help us help you.

We would be grateful if you would give us 2 minutes of your time and fill in our attached annual brand survey.

We like to know what you want, need and how we can improve.

Here is the link

Appreciated

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