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Macchi & Matcha was born from both need and desire, Megan needed a business she could run from home while juggling study and family commitments. Megan also wanted to channel her passion for barista-quality beverages from the comfort of her home.
“The more you're able to make your brand around your ideal customer, the more of them you will attract.” Megan Pagel of Macchi & Matcha
“There are products I look at and I think I'd love to stock this, but I consider is it in line with my brand? Is it going to be in line with what I'm doing right now?”
A podcast for business owners who don't believe in cheat sheets
I Made a Thing started in Season 1 as a collaboration between Rachel Kurzyp and Sophia Colquhoun. Season 2 sees Sophia interview businesswomen to find out how they are carving their own path in business and life.
We discuss topics that impact small business owners and creatives in a fresh, honest, practical and evidence-based way.
Each podcast will unpack your assumptions, push you to look introspectively, supply you with practical advice and leave you feeling like you’ve got this.
You went into business to do things differently. That’s why we’re here to help you carve your business path (cheat sheets not included).
Season 2: I Made a Thing Podcast
Episode 6: Regional success with Megan Pagel of Macchi & Matcha
Transcript
Host Sophia 00:18
Hi, everyone. I'm really excited to have Megan Pagel of Macchi and Matcha joining me today on the I made a thing podcast. So I am especially honoured because Megan actually is the first e-commerce business that we're featuring on the I made a thing podcast. So Megan, can I get you to talk a bit more about your business and tell everyone, why e-commerce and what attracted you to this style of business?
Megan Pagel 03:53
Well, thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I'm super excited to be here. And Macchi and Matcha is like, a little online coffee boutique is what I like to call it because it's a little bit hard to put it into a certain category. But the main reason I actually decided to do an e-commerce business is because I'm a mum. And I've had a lot of trouble finding daycare for my daughter. And I really wanted something I could do from home. That was also going to make me sort of some real money. I know there's so many sort of at-home businesses or those little things that say like, oh, you can do this from home, but it's really like not actually going to earn you a lot of money or bring you much happiness. So I thought you know, starting my own business that brings me a lot of just I can use my creativity. It's something I've built. And then it also does make me some money which is which is nice.
Sophia 04:47
So you've mentioned to me that you are studying and you're also working as well. And your work is pretty applicable to your business now because you've been working around in hospitality and as a barista for some time, what do you feel has had the most influence? I guess on you starting your business? Has it been the study side of things because you are doing some business studies, or more your work in hospitality and barista where did like that, I guess, the initial spark to do something around coffee come from?
Megan 05:24
Well, I think both are sort of very much hand in hand helping me like with my business. Because I started in hospitality quite a while ago, I think my first ever hospitality job, I was 16. And I didn't love it. Actually, I didn't start out loving hospitality. It was not something I actually liked until I was 19. And I moved across the country. And I started a cheffing apprenticeship. And I just loved it, I met some really lovely people who made amazing coffee. And they just taught me so much about good food and good coffee. And it's a really small cafe, I only worked with like three or four other people. And I sort of just grew my knowledge from there. And after COVID happened, the apprenticeship just didn't continue for a number of reasons. And then I just decided, well, you know what I can study online. And I realised that torrents actually have a whole hospitality section in the university where you can study like a whole bunch of different hospitality-based sort of degrees. So I did that. And I was like, I'm really enjoying this. And I can do it at my own pace. I can do however many subjects I need at a time, whether that be full-time or just one subject. So it's all been really flexible. And then as well as like being a barista that's been really flexible for me as well, because I can work nights, I can work weekends. And both it's sort of just all tied in together where I use my marketing skills that I've learned from my business degree and the knowledge I've learned from being a barista and a bartender. And just put it all together and made like this e-commerce online coffee boutique.
Sophia 07:03
Do you feel where you're where you live to has an influence on having an online-based business? Because I think you mentioned you're reasonably remote in WA.
Megan 07:15
Yeah, so I live in regional WA in the Pilbara, which is I live in Karratha, which has a quite a large number of people. But it's not a big city. Like there's not big shopping centres or anything like that here. So a big thing here is like doing markets like local markets where people obviously go and sell anything they've made or anything they sell. And I've seen so many of them do so well. Just doing a website, and then just going to local markets like once a month, which works for me really well. I'm starting next this month, actually, October, I'm starting this month to do my own markets as well. So I only have to technically go to work once a month, just to get my name out there. And then I have my online website as well where people can shop from. And it just makes it really good for me because it's there's such a variety of things up here. But there's not a lot of places you can actually necessarily rent a building like to have like an actual Cafe can be quite expensive here. And that's why a lot of people just tend to either have like a food van or I know like a shop. They're also like an e-commerce shop. But they have like a van. But it's not like a coffee van or a food van. They just sold like actual products out of a van, which is actually very cool. And it's just really inspired me as well.
Sophia 08:33
But for you, you didn't always have one idea, like many of us would be entrepreneurs, or you hadn't many ideas. So how did you actually decide, You know what, this is the idea, and I'm gonna go for it. And I'm gonna knuckle down and research this one.
Megan 08:51
Yeah, well, I definitely did have a lot of ideas. Because a coffee van was something really, I really wanted to do as well, that was like the ultimate dream like travelling around Australia, having a coffee van. But like having two dogs and a toddler, it's just not really viable for me right now. And my husband's working on his career as well, which just sort of requires us to stay put. And I sort of was just going through so many ideas of what I could do. And then I thought if I started an e-commerce brand, I could always expand it to be more like whereas if I start a coffee van, it's kind of hard to transform it into something else. Whereas if I start with a website, I can always go and turn it into a brick-and-mortar store and then that will you know, get me more sort of clients and things that way. And then a brick and mortar store can lead into a cafe and then have like the shop side and the cafe side. So I sort of just thought you know what's the best for me? Now that I can start straightaway but also I can look long-term and see what I can turn it into.
Sophia 09:51
Yep, totally and sounds like that's the right move right now and you and you sound really excited about it. And something else that you were really excited about was having a point of difference with your website. Can you tell us a little bit about why you felt the website was so important, and I guess some of the research and investment that went into your website?
Megan 10:16
Well, a big part for me was because I'm starting, I was starting an e-commerce business, I really wanted to make sure because e-commerce is all online. So I wanted to make sure that the online platform where people would be shopping, would provide the best experience and sort of stand out from the crowd. Because I feel like the idea of the online coffee Boutique is really just a great idea in itself. And the products I'm like, sort of launching on my store are quite unique in terms of like how I curate them. But a big thing was that I also liked because I'm mainly online, I just wanted to make sure the website was really sleek and professional, and it was just something I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off myself, I had all the ideas for the colours, I wanted it, I knew how I wanted it to look. But trying to put that all into a website is actually very difficult. If you don't know how to code, it can just be very, very complicated. And things won't work properly, because you need to like navigate different buttons, it's all very, very confusing once you actually get down to the nitty-gritty. And I've seen so many other businesses just use the exact same sort of layout on their website. And whilst it works, I really knew I didn't want that I didn't want to look like every single other small online business with the same website. And because I knew what my website was going to be my main thing that is going to stand out from the crowd, I decided to get a web developer to do it for me. And that was a pretty hefty cost in itself, but it was definitely so so worth it.
Sophia 11:47
Yeah, and your branding is really strong, too. I noticed. Very consistent, it's so clear, when you're on either your social media or your website, hey, this is the business that is selling the coffee that I had in my mind, there's no confusion there, you know, like it's really easy to navigate and find products that you're interested in. So sounds like it was money well spent. Now, investing in a professional, professional websites, obviously expensive. And any startup phase we know is really expensive. How did you go about actually raising the practical side of raising the money, particularly while you're still studying to start your own business?
Megan 12:26
Well, yeah, it did cost me quite a bit of money. And trying to get the money to start everything up was not easy. I will say, especially with me having a daughter, I have two dogs, I have uni I have a lot going on. And I even have a husband who works like 12 hours a day. So for almost a year, he would go to work for 12 hours, he would get home, I would hand him our daughter. And I would run out the door straight to work until about 9, 10 o'clock at night. Depending on the sort of day we would have some days, we would finish early if it was a really quiet night. But for the most part, that's what I did for five to six nights a week. Sometimes I pick up an extra day shift on Saturday or Sunday. And we did that for a long time like as long as we could without like burning ourselves out. But it was definitely very, very difficult. And it wasn't easy. But my workplace has been so great in terms of letting me work when it suits me. Because they know I have so many other things going on. And I tried to commit as much as I possibly can to them. But at the same time, they've been really great with me, when I say look, I really need a week off, I really need some time off, I'm just doing too much. And I just can't do it. Which has been really good because I don't think a lot of people can find that, like you either have a job that forces you to work as much as possible, or a job that only gives you one shift a week. So I've been really lucky in terms of that.
Sophia 13:56
Yeah, 100% we know that people are having to juggle multiple jobs at the moment just to get enough shifts to survive. So it sounds like you. I mean, you had a great idea. But you're actually able to execute it because as you say you had some flexibility at least. But then you had to juggle family responsibilities as well. So well done. It's I think you'll be you'll look back on it. And obviously it's very hard, but I'm sure you're already feeling like Yeah, I did it. You know, I did something I achieved something. And I think that's something I'd really like people listening to this to take away that it is possible. Yeah, yeah. No, that's great. So having a business idea is one thing getting the website going is another. You talked to me before this chat that you spent, I think it was about seven to eight months. Was it actually researching how you wanted to execute the idea as well?
Megan 14:50
Yeah, so I actually started planning my business in January. That was like sort of January of 2022. That was The month I really decided, You know what this is the idea I want, this is what I'm going to go with. And I started with the branding how I wanted the logo to look, that's sort of where I started, because that for me is just, it just brings me so many ideas. So I started with the name, the logo, and then I just built from there, and I just decided what colours I want, what products I want. And I thought about like what I wanted my brand to be, I spent a really long time on that because I knew it was going to be something important for everyone. Like in terms of like my customers, because I am a sort of recall a distributor I am getting other products and selling them. So I knew I had to be different. Because making your own product is definitely much different to distributing other people's products. And whilst I do want to do that, at some stage, that is like a whole other ballgame that I just wasn't quite ready for. And this was just a way for me to sort of like get my foot in the door. And at least the things I'm buying, I know exactly what they cost, and I know how much they're gonna sell for. And it was just pretty straightforward in terms of like just buying from other companies deciding what I want my range to be, and then selling to my customers. So yeah, it just took a really long time for me to decide what I sort of wanted. And I have this whole list on my phone. And honestly, every day, I just add things to it. I'm like, Okay, I like this product, I'm going to add it here, I like this idea for another collection, I'll add it here. And I literally just keep adding to that list. And I'm sure refer back to that whenever I want to think of adding a new product. So I'm like, Okay, I've already like written everything down that I've seen previously. And I've contacted so many companies in regards to wholesale inquiries as well. Because every single company has a different minimum order quantity, and a different minimum spend. So you really just have to play around with it and figure out what you can afford. And what also aligns with your business as well.
Sophia 17:01
Yeah. And I'd love to talk to you a little bit more about figuring out what aligns with your business. Because obviously, when you first start, you can, it's hard to articulate that sometimes. And I think small business owners really struggle to articulate, okay, what do I actually stand for? What is my branding? How do I put that into words? How do you have you got your head around that so far?
Megan 17:23
For me, the a very easy way to do it, or it's not super easy. But the easiest way for me to do it is I've seen like a few sort of marketing pages post about this as well. And then you think of your like ideal customer. And you literally make a whole sheet and you write down so like what this customer's name would be, what their age would be, what their interests are. And you just go around and you just pretty much make this imaginary person. And you just think exactly what are their interests going to be? What other stores do they like? Where did they like shopping, all those sorts of things. And that really just helps you narrow down your target market. And that is a really a good way for you to just get to know like, who you want your customer to be. Because that's the most important thing is not necessarily who your customers are, but it's who you want your customers to be. And then you can sort of just take that and think, Okay, well, what do I want my ideal customer to, like, what would they buy, and then you sort of go from there. And it just gives you a really good idea. Like if you're looking from their point of view, if that's your ideal customer, and then the more you're able to sort of make your brand around your ideal customer, the more of them you will attract.
Sophia 18:36
Do you ever find yourself going? I really want this product, but I'm not sure it's for my ideal customer? Or do you think you're kind of your ideal customer in some way? So that that doesn't really you don't have that conflict come up?
Megan 18:48
No, I definitely do have that conflict come up. Because there is such a wide variety, especially in like coffee and coffee cups, different sort of teas and that sort of thing. And there definitely are products I look at and I think I'd love to stock this. And then I sort of sit back and think well, is it is it in line with my brand? Like is it going to be in line with what I'm doing right now? And is it going to sort of fit in with everything else. And for some things I have sort of rethought thought it and I'm like, I love that particular item that I want to stock but maybe it's not quite right. For everyone I'm trying to sort of appeal to.
Sophia 19:32
And once you've kind of got products in, obviously the next thing is okay, you've got to sell them. So how did you decide you wanted to go about promoting in the online space? Obviously social media is huge, but it can be really overwhelming. So how have you been tackling the marketing and advertising side of things?
Megan 19:50
I have been doing. I obviously have been focusing a lot on social media marketing. And I do a little bit of content creation like on my personal profile. So I've had a bit of experience doing it for other brands and sort of what performs well and what doesn't, and what people sort of like to see. And a big thing for me was I hopped on like the whole TikTok trend. And at first I was like, you know what, I'm not really sure how this is going to go, how it's gonna do. And some of my first customers were actually from TikTok. Like, I just posted a video, I kind of remember what it was both posted particular video, and ended up getting a few 1000 views. And then people just started commenting, and they were like, I've placed an order, I've placed an order. And I was just like, that is amazing. Just the power of what a single social media post can do, that you didn't even pay for like something I'm pretty sure I made a video in like 10 seconds, I just posted it. And I was just like, I'll just see what happens. And that's the great thing about certain social media platforms like Tiktok. It's a massive gamble. But if you just regularly post, there's just going to be that one video, potentially, that is going to just get your customers that you didn't even think you would ever reach in your lifetime like it would just end it just get to 1000s of views of like, it just is a bit of a gamble. But it does, it does work and it is worth it. And I haven't done too much paid, I haven't done too much paid advertising, because it's just not something I'm focusing on right now most of the advertising I'm doing is purely just from my own Instagram page and just building sort of a loyal following. And I have done a lot of posting on Facebook groups. And there's a few Facebook groups I'm in and they have particular days, I think some of them are like Thursdays and Saturdays. And they are the particular days you want to post because they're like a showcase Saturday or like, showcase Thursday, or whatever they want to call them. And you pretty much can just freely advertise your brand on these pages with like 50,000 people on them. And I've even gotten sales from those as well. Like, I just post this is my brand. This is my website. These are some of the products I sell. And I just make sure I do it consistently. Every week, I set a reminder, Thursdays this group, Saturdays, this group, and I just get a very organic following from that, which has been great.
Sophia 22:12
Hugely underrated the Facebook groups. Yeah, I've had a couple of clients recently, I'm like, Are you on? Are you posting in your community, even in your local community Facebook group? And they're like, ah, I hadn't even thought of that! And you are right, because so many of them have like, promote your business, whatever, in insert day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And you can go around all these groups. And it's totally free, as you say, and you get amazing exposure, and particularly if you're targeting groups that are where your ideal customer is hanging out. I mean, it's brilliant.
Megan 22:46
Yeah, it really is.
Sophia 22:48
Yeah, so TikTok, though. So, um I'm a little bit older than you. And I'm gonna admit it, because I think there are a few listeners who like me, are not yet on TikTok, and we're a little bit scared. Not gonna lie. Do you have any, I guess just quick tips for people just starting out with TikTok wanting to experiment particularly in that e-commerce space?
Megan 23:14
I think in terms of TikTok I like didn't take to it straightaway either. Like it took me a long time to get on to TikTok, everyone was on it before I was because the same thing like I looked at it and I was like, I'm just not sure about this, like this is a bit. It's a bit daunting, it's a bit different. And I figured like one thing I found that TikTok is, TikTok just loves other people talking like they just love seeing people. And I just looked at a few other brands that I really love who are doing really well on TikTok. And I just take some inspiration from their videos. And the great thing about TikTok is you don't necessarily have to be that creative with your content. Whilst it helps, there's just so many trends. And everyone just hops on a trend post the same video with the same format just like different photos or different genre or a different niche. But it's the exact same soundtrack, the exact same layout, like everything's the same, it's just different people posting it, and tonnes of those videos will get millions and millions of views. So you really just have to sort of keep an eye out for those like trends that are popping up and you just post a video in the same trend. And it really just helps.
Sophia 24:23
Okay, I might, I might I might give it a go this week.
Megan 24:29
Yeah, it's actually pretty cool. It's a good platform. It's definitely a bit of a gamble. But once you sort of just and even like there's so many people on there who post about TikTok strategies, like there's a TikTok strategist called stylasocials. And she's amazing. Like she always posts the trends that are upcoming and she always posts ideas for people to sort of copy her because TikTok isn't really necessarily about being that creative, because everyone's literally just copying the next person like you go through your like for you page. And it's all random curated videos for you. And so you just see the same video over and over and over again, even though it's but yeah, like all those videos will still do really well if you hop on it at the right time.
Sophia 25:13
So what's next for you and your business? Like who's inspiring you? And what do you want to watch your next kind of step you think that you might take with your business?
Megan 25:23
Well, I have so many ideas for the business. So I'm like trying to take it one step at a time. But definitely doing the markets is like my next biggest step, because I think they are going to do really well. And I'm trying to make like, I'm not trying to do too much advertising at the moment, because I want to make sure I have enough stock to keep on hand for those markets. And that sort of thing, like living remotely, it just means we have a very, like big postage delays, unfortunately, yeah. So it's just trying to sort of balance that all together and make sure it all is going to work perfectly. But I'm yeah, I'm really excited about the markets. I think that's a very big thing for me. And then just expanding the current ranges I've got, I do have a Christmas like gift box coming out, which I am putting together, which is very exciting. So that will hopefully come at the end of October, which will be like a limited edition Christmas release. So I'm very, very excited about that. But those are the main two things I'm focusing on at the moment.
Sophia 26:19
And how do we find you?
Megan 26:22
Uh well, you can go to our website, which is www.macchiandmatcha.com. Or we're also on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok as Macchi and Matcha with like a full stop in between the Macchi and dot Matcha.
Sophia 26:38
And before we kind of wrap up today, can you tell us a bit more about the business name?
Megan 26:45
Yeah, so Macchi and Matcha are actually there's a few reasons I picked it. So macchi is short for a macchiato, which is my favourite type of coffee. And then matcha is obviously the green tea powder that everyone sees around, which is also really great. And I wanted to showcase that it wasn't just going to be coffee related. I wanted it to be coffee, tea, hot chocolate, sort of just encompass all of those different sort of types of drinks. And I just wanted to help people learn how to make them at home. So that's sort of why I picked it. And the other thing is, it stopped both of the words start with M. And it just so happens that my name is Megan, my husband's name is Michael and we named our daughter Marigold. So absolutely everything in our life starts with M and then we just had to keep rolling with it.
Sophia 27:27
Yeah, yeah. You had to there's no other option. I think at that point.
Megan 27:31
Yeah, no.
Sophia 27:33
Well, look, thank you so very much for being the first e-commerce brand on the I'm anything podcast. And I'm sure we'll get you back again to see how things are going with the business and maybe share some more TikTok tips with us or whatever the latest social trend is, but otherwise, thank you so much, Megan, for joining us. And I think people will have got a lot out of today's conversation. And yeah, well, we'll talk to you again soon.
Megan 28:00
Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me on. It's been so great like talking about my business. And I'm just so excited to share it with people because I'm just very proud of what I've accomplished so far.