Creative Conversations with Amanda Niu, Eva
Creative Conversations is our conversation series that works with our Rosé Friday IGTV and podcast. Get a snapshot of some of the amazing conversations we have here and you can jump over to our podcast or our IGTV channel for an extended chat to get to know guests even more.
Amanda Niu | Eva
@eva.home
Who are you and what do you do?
Quality furniture that’s actually easy to put together, delivered straight to your door.
Neuropsychologist turned cofounder of furniture DTC, I look after the people, marketing and customer side of the business whilst my partner manages the product, design and operations.
How did the business come about?
Understanding there was a space for furniture retailing to be disrupted - we’ve seen this in appliances, fashion, food but furniture has outfar lagged far behind especially in the Australian market.
Best career advice you have ever received?
At the end of the day, we’re all still humans working with other humans. We can quickly lose ourselves in the work we do - deadlines to hit, projects to complete, metrics to achieve - but what’s been amplified through the pandemic is how far we’ve forgotten that businesses are made of people. And without people, we can only go so far.
Worst advice you have ever received?
Don’t invest into in-house product and design. Just outsource your products.
I think this works for some businesses but the vision we have is one that's longer term than that. Ikea has been around for 70+ years. We’re only in year 5. If we did this, we wouldn’t have set the foundations for how we do products nor grown the brand the way we have.
What is one thing we should invest in for our business?
Depends on the type of business - for us, ecommerce - means that investing developers early on to get things right from the start will save lots of headaches later on. Developers can be expensive so we wish we had invested in this much earlier on.
What is one thing you wish you had known when starting your business?
It never gets easier, and it shouldn’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be growing. If everything was smooth sailing, you’ve hit your comfort zone and the business eventually stops with you.
Also, be comfortable with public speaking. One of my biggest fears but you just gotta get it done.
What is your favourite part of your day to day?
The dogs in the office. Whenever it gets stressful, they just seem to know and it’s cheaper than therapy.
And, cake.
What was an unexpected joy of creating your business?
Watching people grow into their roles. Seeing people care as much about the business as you do. The internal community we’ve created where people are actually friends with the people they work with. I’m like “Aw, Eva made this happen.”
Leave us with some words of wisdom?
Hire people smarter than you. And those who align with your company values. Don’t underestimate how important this value alignment is from the start! Take your time. It’s worth the wait.
ALSO.
As you grow, you can quickly become the dumbest person in the room. You need to intentionally set aside time to upskill to ensure that you can continue to contribute value to the team.
3 words to live by for 2022
Compassion & Sustainable Growth.
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