Many of you have gotten to know Leanne through the Joonya facebook and instagram accounts, so we thought it might be time to get to know Richard!
Leanne: Hi, husband! Why don’t you explain for our community what you do for Joonya…
Richard: I’m mostly doing operations and customer service. Leanne and I have learnt to have strict roles so we don’t get upset with each other. She does sales and marketing, as well as plenty of design work, while I do the ‘other stuff’.
Leanne: How does a typical day look for you?
Richard: I start by answering emails from overnight around 7am, including our overseas customers in the US. I then look at my calendar and begin trying to tick off as many tasks as possible before the river of emails starts to gain momentum throughout the day. Come mid morning, I’m ready to take a break, so I duck off to the local pool and do some swimming. When I get home I do a bit more ‘floor work’ (pilates) to help my ’80 year old’s spine’ as my doctor calls it. Then its back in the saddle, trying to do as much as I can before I pick up the boys from school, and sometimes take them to swimming lessons. When I get home I do an hour or two longer until I can have a glass of wine to end the day.
Leanne: So what time do you knock off each day?
Richard: I used to be checking emails frantically till bedtime, and then along came this brutal thing called insomnia. I have since matured and have a strict ‘no looking at emails’ rule past 6pm! It’s the only way to stop burn out I’ve discovered.
Leanne: How do you find doing customer service and how much longer will you be doing it for?
Richard: Customer service can be quite time consuming, and oftentimes it needs urgent responses. I really love our customers, who are almost always super nice. They seem to know they are not dealing with a big company and love the personal touch we offer. Usually the response times for most customers is super fast, and many express their gratitude for not having to wait days for answers. Even if we decide to outsource customer service in the future, we’ll make sure a timely response is always achieved.
Leanne: What do you see as the future of Joonya?
Richard: We are working on adding more and more products so we can become the go-to place for essentials for young families. We’ve got a couple of new products that are close to launching and we’ll be announcing the first of those very soon!
Leanne: What else can you tell everyone about yourself so they ‘know you’ a bit more?
Richard: Hmmm, I always find those kind of questions tricky! How to sum up someone in a sentence or two. Let’s see. I like all things nature and outdoors – particularly water sports like swimming and surfing. I’m a 100% family guy devoted to my tribe and the business of Joonya. When I’m not working I’m enjoying the beaches close at hand in beautiful Currumbin on the Gold Coast. I’m also a keen wine lover (therapy after a long day) and I enjoy overseas travel, but I’m learning like everyone to forget about that, for now at least. How did I go?
Leanne: That’s about as good as we can expect from a bloke! Well done! And with that, we better get back to it.
Thanks for listening in if you got this far! I guess we’ll have to do the next one on me!
Leanne x