Sustainability drives small business success for one Melburnian

During Melbourne lockdowns, Josh Howard has been turbo-charging Australia’s sustainability movement.

Bootstrapping an entirely new product range in lockdown certainly filled time, recalls Melburnian Josh Howard. But whether the business would garner interest among consumers was anyone’s guess.

Single Use Ain’t Sexy is one of the country’s most promising sustainably-minded brands.Credit: Photoform* www.photoform.com.au

However, he certainly couldn’t have predicted the overwhelming response to the nation’s first brand of dissolvable hand soap tablets with reusable glass bottles, aptly named Single Use Ain’t Sexy.

In fact, Single Use Ain’t Sexy is being declared one of the country’s most promising sustainably-minded brands, selling out completely within its first year of trade. Twice.

While the pandemic certainly was and still is a challenging time for small business owners, admittedly, timing was on Josh’s side. His idea hit the market at precisely the same time that our government frantically urged us to increase hand washing to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The entire nation was stocking up on hand wash, and online shopping was booming as households opted to avoid supermarkets where possible.

Josh has poured all his time and effort into the business, building a witty brand that addresses a very serious global issue. He’s only 18 months into the journey, and already he’s saved up to 125,000 single-use plastic bottles from landfill. And counting. “It’s been a huge 18 months; I didn’t expect it to take off like it has.” he says.

By not shipping water into the country, we can save on freight miles, money and plastic waste, he explains. “Sure, I wasn’t chucking plastic bottles out my car window, but over 90 per cent of the plastic I was using ended up in landfill. That’s the Aussie average. Reusable products are a simple way for all of us to embrace sustainability at home.”

The building blocks to success

Dehydrated products were a childhood fascination for Josh. He couldn’t help but think that adding tap water to create entirely new products is genius – and he still does. “Denture cleaning tablets. Household cleaners. Cordial from powder. Add water, and an entire face washer appears. It’s awesome,” Josh says.

Without everyday freedoms to catch up with friends for much of the time he’s been home, Josh focused on his business, quietly plotting out new distribution channels. He’s picked up powerful mentors and even celebrity endorsements along the way.

Buoyed by strong early interest in his brand, he organised an equity crowdfunding bid, raising $600,000, which will fund a push into the personal care and home cleaning sector in the near future.

A witty brand that addresses a very serious global issue. Credit: Supplied.

Growing entrepreneurship

Josh is one of the many sole traders ultimately working to make a difference in this world. We may be enduring a pandemic, but through it all, our entrepreneurial spirit as a nation appears to be irrepressible.

The Xero Boss Insights 2021 research – a report in partnership with The Demographics Group that looks into the effects of COVID-19 on Australia’s business sector – indicates that the pandemic has by no means distinguished our professional hopes.

From Wollert in Victoria to Biggera Waters in Queensland, sole traders are realising their small business dreams, taking matters into their own hands by doing so.

While many businesses had no choice but to shed staff or close their doors during the pandemic, a host of brave Australians were prompted to take the leap to self-employment. As a result, the paper reveals the number of net new sole trader businesses jumped by 55,900 over the 2019/20 financial year which was more than the increase in the previous year.

The report also reveals that digital uptake has been strong among many entrepreneurs. As we know, “periods of economic downturn often speed up the arrival of new trends, and in 2020 the acceleration of digitisation went into overdrive,” the report states.

Josh, for one, is dreaming big – both in the context of digital transformation and scalability. His ultimate vision is to become the global leader in the ‘just add water’ category, accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable household products in the process.

Josh’s advice to others hoping to strike out on their own is simple: make a start, just as the Boss Insights 2021 report reveals thousands of other Australians are. “You just have to have a crack, and then figure out what’s working, and what’s not. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect, you can tweak as you go,” he says.

He admits he goes with the flow most of the time, taking challenges, like shifting lockdown restrictions, in his stride. “At the moment, everything is just so unpredictable. But I’m pretty resilient about it all.” And it’s a sentiment shared by many, according to Xero’s report.

Those brave enough to go it alone are ultimately empowered to create their own success. And as Australia works to rebuild and recover, our future lies with the smallest of businesses – the self-employed base of our economy that served as a pilot light for entrepreneurship during the pandemic. Eventually, encouraging sole traders to take on employees of their own will be key to igniting our economic recovery for a bright future ahead.

Read more of Xero’s Boss Insights research here.

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