KB: Why did you start Milla Milla?
MM (Camilla): My background has kind of always been in operations and a bit of corporate, and a bit of wellness. But I quit my corporate job of seven years to actually become a florist. I love flowers and I've always been obsessed with Australian natives so I interned for a bit, and then a few years later I decided to take that step and work full time at a florist but it didn’t work out. I always thought I'd go back to it even as a hobby so I dipped in and out, but it just never eventuated. And then I started working in the wellness industry, and just being at Nimbus and around all these amazing products they have, I got really obsessed with essential oils. I was just chatting to a friend one day, and I was like, how could I turn something I love so much, flowers and natives, into a tangible product. And I said to my partner Scott, and to this friend, I actually think it would be cool to explore an Australian native perfume. And that’s how we started.
KB: What's been some of the biggest challenges you faced starting your business?
MM (Camilla): Oh my God, there's probably like a hundred. I've seen other people do it and you don't see what goes on behind the scenes and I think you don't realise how many different moving parts there are. We had an investment from the beginning which has been how we could start it and get to this point. On paper it sounds like it’s loads of money, but actually one step in the wrong direction and it can be costly. From a holistic business mentality, challenging myself to really understand the running of a business and making smart decisions.
So we needed to prioritise certain parts of the process, like we couldn’t do the website until we had photography done and someone said, oh, just put it up. And we were like, no, we want to launch something that looks absolutely perfect and amazing and professional, and then getting advice from people like my friend saying, well, you don't need to put that much money into photography, for example, and just having to make those decisions ourselves. Because we were like, no we do, because we want it to be a high end product and we want it to reflect the brand.
We’ve got a bit of budget left over for marketing. We've had a call with my friend who I used to work with and she's like amazing PR and marketing director, and she was just like, don't spend much on marketing. Get your friends to share a discount code. Maybe spend a bit on someone doing some user generated content. Also don't do it until you have a website and you can deliver. So it's just kind of working out where things fall into place and it all has to be at the right time because there's no point in putting a massive insert into marketing and then say, if we did get a million orders, then we also don't have that much product. So it's all just kind of balancing it.
KB: What it was like right at the start when you're trying to find someone to help create your brand and designs?
MM (Camilla): I had this idea in my head about floral art, and one day I was on just a Pinterest and Behance rampage. I was literally trawling for like, an hour, and saving down things I liked. And then I saw an artwork by Tom from one of your projects, and I showed Scott and I was like, oh my God, they're in Australia. Oh my God, I need to get in touch with them. Obviously they’re great platforms and we found you guys, but I didn't know who was on the other side of it. It was a bit of a stab in the dark. And I feel like when you're trying to find someone to do probably the most important thing for your brand, you want to talk to people and love their branding.
KB: Yeah totally, it takes a bit of courage to actually reach out and do it. It's like a year ago, right?
MM (Camilla): Oh my God, yes. We were still in Byron. But it also feels like it's been longer than that lately. You've been on the journey with us from beginning. We came up with this idea in November 2020. There was a there was a big break in the middle because I was pregnant. And the idea made me feel sick, honestly. I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. This is the worst idea. But also, other brands, like Foile for example, they came up with the idea two anda half years before and just getting the formulations and the bottles and everything. It took so long. It's a much bigger process than you realise.
KB: And your experience with the actual branding process, what was that like?
MM (Scott): I was coming from my work as an architect thinking, you’ve got to take something through a process, put it through your workflows and systems, present ideas and talk through it. You guys did all that which I thought that was great because it shows that it's not just stuff coming from nowhere, there’s a thought behind it all. It's a process. Tom, you and I had a lot of conversations on the phone early on. It was a very tailored approach. We needed that.
MM (Camilla):
Yes, from the first communication and following up every presentation, brief and delivery, you guys were like, let's go through it with a phone call and managing us to get back to you in a certain time frame.Honestly, because we had no structure, you guys really put that in place to get us going. And every time we got off the call with you guys, or we'd seen your iterations on a presentation, we were like, so inspired again, and we were like, oh, my God, this is super exciting. And even we felt from the beginning, even if something wasn't quite right, you're super approachable and we could just have that conversation openly rather than be like, no, this is wrong. It's not an exchange, it's like a proper collaboration.
KB: You were great collaborators because I feel like you gave us the you had great direction, a great vision, but you were still happy to not have complete control.
MM (Camilla): I think I felt quite overwhelmed. We liked so many types of vibes for the brief but I had never imagined it to look how it does. Now it’s exactly how it's meant to look. What we’ve worked out is that you have let go of control, that’s a huge part of it.
KB: Having been through the process, is there anything that you would tell someone that if they're about to embark on that process of doing all of this?
MM (Camilla): We sort of decided on our concept with you guys pretty quickly. But then it was just tiny little details. I think I'm obsessed with the finite little things. But also, if you're engaging with someone who's doing the biggest component to your brand, you want it to be perfect. The devil is in the detail. Anyone who is like, we can just do it ourselves… definitely not!
KB: What are you looking forward to in the future of Milla Milla.
MM (Camilla): We need to get to Mecca, that’d be the dream. We’ve already been brainstorming new scents. And then we'd really love to bring it here to the UK. They love Australian products here.
KB: You guys are doing so well and the products are so good. We know what it's like to build a business and it’s that commitment to all the details, it's a really hard thing to do.
MM (Camilla): Yeah, well, thank you guys for your patience with us. We're like, oh my God, we must be so annoying with like, we'll get back to you tomorrow, and then it's like, shit, sorry—next week.
