Behind the Scenes of Trek Tots: Kim Wright’s Entrepreneurial Adventure

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea To Life podcast. This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert. Every week I share friendly, practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses. Let's get started.

Today on the podcast, I'm speaking to Kim Wright, the founder of Trek Tots, a brand dedicated to helping busy parents simplify life with practical, portable products designed for little ones. Her flagship product, the Trek Tops Play Mat, makes family adventures easier, offering a safe, soft play space wherever you go.

I had a really fascinating conversation with Kim. I keep forgetting, actually that at the time of recording, Kim has only been running her business a few months.

But what she has done in that time is absolutely incredible. I think Kim's story will really inspire you. She talks a lot about how this is something completely new to her and she just got on and did it.

And I'm hoping that I certainly had the sense, speaking to Kim, that she made the whole process of creating a product. She broke it down and actually really simplifies it.

And I think, particularly if you are early in your journey of creating your own products, there's a lot to learn from this episode. So I would love now to introduce you to Kim. So, hi, Kim. Thank you so much for being here.

Hi, good to be here. Nice to see you again.

Oh, you're so welcome. So please can we start by you give an introduction to yourself, your business and what you sell.

Yeah, sure. So I'm Kim. I am the founder of Trek Tots.

So currently I'm a project manager and product owner by day entrepreneur, focusing on Trek Tots at night or weekends when the kids are napping or preoccupied.

I am South African, so I actually was born to Scottish parents, so now I live in the UK with my family, living in actually Kent and with my kids and my husband. But I feel like Africa is like a very big part of me.

We lived in Botswana and we did loads of traveling and that really kind of was the early days of like sparking my interest in travel and kind of practical solutions because I was one of four kids and and we moved around a lot, so just taking everything in the house with us every time we went somewhere just obviously wasn't feasible. So I think that's something that's always kind of been within me, kind of where I'm at now.

I've got a two and a four year old, so I'm sure people who have Kids of similar age or just kids in general just know that life as kids is super chaotic but in the best way. Obviously I wouldn't have it any other way, but like I said, leaving the house can be like a military operation in itself.

So kind of always had in my mind like looking for products that kind of make parenting a little bit simpler, stress free.

And that's kind of where I go to trick top to my business, which I launched and kind of having the purpose of simplifying the everyday parenting journey. So I actually launched Playmat which is compact, durable and ultra portable. And it's just an effective solution for parents on the go.

They can use the product indoors, outdoors, in their house, at the grandparents, at the friends when they go away.

So it's just for busy families on the go to have something that is lightweight, they can throw in the car, onto a pram, etc just to make things a little bit easier really.

Oh, thank you so much for explaining all of that.

And you're right, it is so important to have just somewhere safe to put your child down, particularly when they're at that age where they don't always want to be in the pram, they don't always want to be held, but you can't just put them somewhere.

Yeah, but surprising how there's actually everywhere you go, there's hard floors, sharp corners. Everywhere you go is not your perfect house that you've baby proofed or toddler proof, making sure all those dangerous objects aren't around.

But I know when I went to like my in laws when the kids were younger and I hope that I know they won't mind me saying, but I honestly would be so stressed out worrying like where they're gonna sit. Is it clean? I'm also a bit of a clean freak.

So just knowing this is something I have with me that that soft, safe space for them where they can play and it just kind of takes stress away from me as well.

Yeah, that makes so much sense. So let's talk. I mean you've covered this a little bit, but tell us a bit more about what inspired you to create the Playmat.

Yeah, so I kind of want to say it was more frustration than inspiration to be honest. I kind of the lack of actual portable Playmats on the market.

So when my son was four months old, I was doing the usual late night scroll whilst feeding and we were about to go on holiday and I was just looking for a travel play mat to take with us and I was just genuinely shocked at the lack of portable Soft play mats on the market. And then just. I basically spent that holiday. My husband will probably remember it well because there was no relaxation.

And it just kind of spark the idea of trick tops and kind of finding ways to bring something to market that could solve this problem. The key things I really was thinking was I wanted it to be lightweight.

I wanted it to go and to be able to go everywhere and just be really super simple. I didn't want to create something complex. And yeah, that's basically inspiration slash frustration of how it all came about.

I actually think a lot of the best ideas do come out of frustration because you're really motivated to solve this problem. And also for a lot of us, if we're having a problem or an issue, someone else is too. Like, you would.

You would not have been definitely the only parent having that frustration.

Yeah. And like I even say now it's. It's kind of. It's the baby product you didn't know you needed because you could live your whole life without it.

But having it makes such a difference and it's such a game changer. So it's almost like even with my marketing, that's how I'm not trying to get it across to people because they'll be like, oh, yeah, like this great.

Like, no, it is great. You don't think you need it, but trust me, when you have it, you will actually then appreciate how much simpler your life is.

As a parent with small kids, I.

Know what you mean. There are those products, aren't there? But when you get them, you just like, I could not be without this now.

And actually, as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking I probably could have done with one of these when my kids were younger.

Like, especially going on holiday, going abroad was the thing for me, because you go somewhere and you stay and it's all got like tiled hard floors and yeah, all of that is just a nightmare.

And I think because you can use it indoors and outdoors, like we've taken on the beach to the park and yet B and B, they like, are very like stripped back. Right. In terms of the furniture and stuff they have. So it's perfect for that, to be honest, because there's always the space usually.

And the fact that it's so compact, you can actually take it without worrying of like it being super bulky as well.

So how small does it pack down to? Actually, Kim, I haven't asked you that.

I don't actually have the measurements, but I have one with me.

So. Yeah, so that then everyone Needs to go to YouTube and watch. Oh, that really is small.

Yeah, so it's about one and a half kilograms, but yeah, so it's just a hand. It fits into a travel bag. So I can actually fit three in a travel bag because I've actually done that when I do events.

So it's super compact and just while I've got it, I'll just show you some of the features, if that's okay. So you've got the strap which you can make shorter or longer.

So can put it on your shoulder which is like a hands free position which I feel like parents. It's the position you want because your hands are always full. Right. And then it's got a lovely little clasp here.

So like an unattached and attached to either the pram or like even when we've been on the beach and we've used the bag, we've clipped it onto the umbrella and then it's just in there and it inflates and deflates really simply. It's.

You open up the valve and then it inflates and then you add some air to get the perfect firmness afterwards and then to deflate it, you just roll it up and pop it back in the bag.

That is so clever. And I would love to know a little bit more about. So you came up with the idea for the map, but how did you actually design it?

I mean obviously you knew what you wanted, but I'm sure at that stage all of these, you know, you didn't have all of these features in mind or perhaps you did, but how did you go about designing a map that would meet all of your needs?

Yeah, so actually on that holiday that I was looking for that travel planet, my husband's ex army and he had a lightweight sleeping mat. So we, we just took that with us just so that there would be some way that we could put my son down.

And on that holiday I just basically what we use the mat, the sleeping mat.

And I just looked at it and determined like what functionality of that could I tweak and improve on to make it fit for purpose for what I was looking for? So that was, I mean not a prototype, but it was a product that already existed.

But I was looking to improve on it to be fit for a different problem basically. So that was kind of the starting point. Then I, I do have to think about this because people like, how did you? Like how did you.

And I'm like, oh, good question. I just did it. Right. And like, I think sometimes it's Kind of complicated.

It's not that complicated, like, to me, but, like, for someone who's not done it. And I guess I just kind of took it one step at a time.

And I think the next step for me was I just googled camping mats and, like, manufacturers and contacted a whole bunch and, like, basically worked out whether they could would be open to custom products based on a spec that I provided. And then also key was finding the right material and ensuring that it was lightweight and obviously safe because it is used by kids.

And safety for me is a really, really key feature. So I had loads and loads of different prototypes just to ensure that it would meet that safety standards.

And at the time I was on that leave with my kids, so my target market was at my fingertips whilst I was going to all these baby clubs. So just getting feedback from mums about, like, what they would like, getting friends to test out the actual payment and give me feedback.

That's kind of what the process was that I did. Yeah.

Thank you. And it's really interesting what you say about how you just did it, because I think you're right. When you.

When you've got this idea and you're so passionate about it, I think we do find a way. It might seem really daunting and you're right.

If, if you've never done something like this before, it, it does seem like, oh, gosh, how would you even go about it? But you're right, like so many of us do, because you do figure it out.

And I really liked what you said about taking it step by step as well, because I think, yes, it's overwhelming.

Questions, isn' it's like, I think they always say about kids and I'm in project management and I'm a product owner. Just like asking the five whys, like, why, why, why? And it just like gives you more information.

And it was a little bit like that, like, oh, maybe I'll check this. And then it kind of.

It takes you to, like, different points, but you get so much information to be able to then make the decisions on kind of where you're going to target your next step.

Right, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And what do you think the biggest challenge was in turning your idea into a business?

I think I kind of anticipated all kind of the expected challenges, like finding a manufacturer, fine tuning the product and getting it to market. My biggest challenge, which it was not foreseeable, was receiving an opposition from a large US corporation for my application for my logo and brand.

So this took so much time money on lawyers and compromise for me to even get to the point where I could like, place my order. And because it was a large corporate, I'm a small fish, I'm not a priority to trying to get this across the line.

And the products, the branding is completely separate. So that was really frustrating as to why it was even being picked up as an opposition.

But, yeah, that was painful and I think spending loads of money on lawyers before I even brought the product to market was just quite frustrating. And you're just so out of control. You just. It's a waiting game.

So I would say that was probably my biggest challenge with the brand and coming to market. But I think personally I'm a perfectionist, so I do think this was born and it took about 18 months for me to get to market.

And I will say actually that time was the waiting game with my trademark. But I think I probably could have done things a bit sooner because I am a perfectionist.

And knowing that the product is for kids, I wanted to make sure that it was perfect. So I think just, we kind of said that just do it. But I'm also like, just launch it. Like, it doesn't have to be perfect.

You can iterate and pivot if things aren't right. And I just think I just like wanted it to be the complete package before I came to market.

But in hindsight, I don't think I needed to wait that long, to be honest.

But admittedly I did think it was going to take like three minutes, three minutes, three months from my idea to launch, which obviously was very naive.

It is hard though, isn't it? Because, yeah, I think things just take as long as they take is what I'm learning.

Because you, you, you maybe you could have done it quicker, but then would you have felt satisfied if you'd rushed the process? And yeah, I don't think there's any right or wrong here.

The trademark thing must have been such a shock and I guess there's nothing you to prepare for that.

No. And like, to be honest, I, I think I was like, I want to say the word sneaky, but it's not sneaky necessarily.

Like, I think I played the system a little bit to my advantage. I actually, I think I got in contact with one of your previous guests who offered a free consultation and who was super helpful.

Sorry, I can't even remember the name right now.

But what I actually did was I didn't even know where to start with this situation and obviously I googled it, but it's quite Like IP trademarks, all of that. Like, one thing as an entrepreneur, you have to teach yourself everything. So it can be quite sore on the brain, basically.

But I actually, I just called like, probably a handful of lawyers because the first call is normally free, just to get their. Their view on, like, what they think I should. My next step should be.

And then because I had like feedback from five different people, it really helped me cement, like, what my next step should be. But then also to identify who maybe I might follow up with if I needed to, which I did need to actually get them on board.

So I think that is probably advice I would probably share is to think of ways to utilize things like that, where it's like, that was free. I got so much great advice.

Whereas, like, yes, I didn't end up spending money, but, like, try and think about ways to use it to your advantage, if that makes sense.

That does make sense. And I guess as you say, hearing from five different people is really useful because everyone, I suppose, has a slightly different taste.

I mean, it's the law, so I know the law's the law. But I guess like you said, it helps cement what you can and can't do, what your situation is, and gives you a sense.

Yeah, and gives you a sense of who you're happy to work with. Because that's the other thing.

I guess you needed to be comfortable that if you're going to pay someone to resolve this for you, that you feel like they can resolve it and also that there's someone you feel like is on your side.

And I think because it's such an unknown path that I'd never trodden. And it's so specific to, like, law, which I'm. I'm not like, I'm not a lawyer. I don't know any of it.

So to get that expertise, I feel like you could quite easily just throw money at the situation, which I didn't have to do anyways. But by getting those different perspectives, I was able to determine whether actually. Are they telling me the right thing?

Is it consistent with what other people are saying? It was really helpful from that perspective.

Yeah, that makes sense. Let's talk a little bit about PR and the role that that's played in growing your business, because I know you've done quite a lot here.

Do you want to talk us through some of the things you've done and the impact it's had?

Yeah, sure. So I think definitely it's a huge role in kind of growing the brand. I think word of mouth is, Is Amazing.

And I think launching a product that no one knows about after you spent 18 months of blood, sweat and tears and put into it, it's quite anticlimactic. But then once you've kind of got over that and then you start looking for ways to get PR and marketing.

I think for, for us it's been influencers and different bits of press to reach that parent, those parents who would be looking to benefit from a product like our Playmat.

And I think it also like I really are partnered with influencers who I think are, who are quite genuine because I personally don't like say, oh, this is the product, this is exactly how I want you to talk about it or what you should do with it. I say this is the product, these are the features, this is the best way to inflate it. The rest is kind of up to you.

I genuinely want your feedback if you think something a can be improved and if it's, if you don't think that it's a great solution that you want to talk about to your followers. So I think that is helpful because I think that builds credibility and trust with the people that they are sharing that with.

Also I've been really fortunate this year to be recognized by Theo Paphitis which has been amazing through his SBS network. So I was a winner in January and this really actually helps.

And it was a significant boost in visibility because obviously he's a well known business influential sticker but also the fact that he kind of chose, he chooses all the winners and he has like insight to what things could do well and not do well.

So I think for me it was also like a bit of like verification maybe that like I'm not just pushing ahead with something that isn't a good idea as well from different audiences but from someone who is well regarded. And actually I would really encourage small businesses to look into the Small Business Sunday network because it's amazing.

And I just actually got back from Birmingham where we. It's an event they have every year and there's so many entrepreneurs there.

It was like, I think I get like goosebumps even just thinking about it because not everyone is in this entrepreneurial mindset and it can be quite lonely.

So I think going to something like that and being a part of that network, it's really great to speak to those people who are of a similar mindset as you could be in similar journeys. You could learn things from them. And so definitely I think look into that, but kind of more towards the pr.

I think there's so many different things that you could do and it can and was definitely really overwhelming for me.

I think I just try to focus on a few kind of bits and bobs, trying out some things like Facebook advertising or an influencer or a website or a blog or just do try little things but have ways to measure the success of it. And there's different ways you can do that.

But I think I personally and I don't know if others would agree, but don't go all like guns blazing on one thing with all your budget because then you've got nothing left to try other things if maybe that wasn't the right avenue for your product or your service. So I think that's, I'm still testing and trying, like I haven't perfected it by any means. So yeah, that's, that's just kind of what I've been doing.

But I think word of mouth, getting that credibility and visibility for your target audience I think is what helps.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And so obviously you've been trying a few different things. Are you getting a sense now of what's working for you?

I'm not sure. I'd say I am completely like, okay, well this is where I'm putting all my money into.

We only launched in November, so I think I'm still early in my journey. I do kind of call my phase up, the marketing phase because as I said, like no one knew about the product.

So I'm just trying to get the product out there as much as possible, but in the right way. And, and at the same time I have a job that I do four days and I can focus on trip to on a Friday and evenings and weekends.

So I also try and be kind to myself, to give myself the scope to actually try and build the business.

But I also want it to grow quite organically because as much as I want to succeed, I do think, okay, well great, what if it just like starts selling like crazy? Then what? Then I like cash flow, like ordering stock. How long is that going to take? So I'm just, I'm trying to do it in like an organic way.

But no, sorry, answering your question, I don't think I, I don't think I'm there yet with like fully understanding what works for me. I'm still just kind of trying and tweaking different things.

That makes a lot of sense. And I think it's always good, as you said, to test and say, okay, what works, what doesn't work and, and try different things.

And I Also liked what you said about growing it organically because I think there's also a risk that you could completely burn yourself out. You could work on this every night, all weekend, all the time, you know, and possibly grow quickly, but at what cost?

Yeah, yeah. And I think at the same time, like my kids, it is a hard, don't get me wrong, it's hard.

Like I feel like my husband and I are like ships in the night at the minute, but also my kids are never going to be this young again.

So as much as I want this business to grow, as much as I want to do well in my other job, as much as I want to keep my marriage together, I also want to spend like quality time with my kids and my family. So just being quite realistic about what you can give.

And trust me, I've gone through ups and downs about it, but always coming back to that and saying, you know, I think actually it was one thing from, I took from the SBS a lot of things, but it was like, I can't remember what the three things are, but basically you like have the sentence and it's, if you are doing something that you don't think achieves you getting to that, then you don't do it. It's not a priority. And it was basically, is it your, I think, is it your purpose? Is that how you're going to make your money?

Like, is that going to get you to the next step type thing? And I actually thought that was such a great thing to focus, to give you focus when you don't have lots of time.

So yeah, sorry, I'm not selling this very well because I can't remember specifically what those three things are. But like, if you have, like, right, I wanna make this much money, get in this many things.

If, if you don't, if what you're doing doesn't get you to there, why are you doing it?

That makes a lot of sense. I think you're right, especially because you're doing this alongside your job.

You do have to be focused with your time and spend your time in the most productive way. And you're right that all of us could spend so much time doing busy work, couldn't we? We all could.

So I think it's a really good reminder to think like, look at your to do list for today and go, are these things actually taking me closer to what I want? Yeah. And if not, why, you know, why are they there?

Yeah, exactly.

So we've touched on this really briefly, Kim, when we were talking about sbs, but let's talk a bit more about the importance of connecting with other business owners because again, I know this is something that you've done, you know, really well and you seem really proactive about. Is that something you would recommend to other product business owners?

Definitely, I think not only as I said from the fact that, like, not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. Not everyone has that kind of, like, mindset or interest.

So, like, it's kind of hard to talk to people who aren't that way inclined, let's say, because they might not understand it and may not get it. So, like putting yourself in a room and connecting with people who are like, that I find really beneficial. But also, like, I completely.

I hate waste, like, from my, like, product project management type of thing. So, like, trying to cut through waste, learning things as effectively and efficiently as I can.

And the best way to do that is to connect with people who've gone through this journey. Right, who like, can give you their advice. What have been their ups, what have been their downs? What would, what would they say?

If you're doing that, don't do that. It could be as simple as, you know, how to set up your, like, shipping or something.

And I think that was one thing for me early days where I spoke to another entrepreneur about, like, who did you use? Like, how did she decide? Or like, and it's just like, well, she gave me good advice. I didn't spoke to someone else.

And it fundamentally made me decide where I was going. So I didn't have to waste. Waste time on that because I was like, it's working for others who I respect and can see doing well.

So I'm just gonna choose not to waste time on that and just do the same thing.

So it's kind of like lifting and dropping where you can, but also I think you're so in the weeds of your business sometimes it can be quite hard to look at it from the outside. So just like discussing things with people, like what they got going on, they could even suggest things that might.

You might not even have thought about. So I think it is really important to do that. And it can be just super lonely working by yourself.

So just having that kind of like social interaction as well I think is super important. It just helps kind of keep you sane through what can be quite an overwhelming and lonely process.

And obviously, if you get to do that over a nice cold glass of wine, then that's obviously a benefit.

Yeah. Thank you. I think you're. I think you're totally right.

I think being surrounding yourself with people who've got similar goals and similar dreams and kind of understand the world you're in is so useful. And like you said, and learning from other people.

I mean, part of the reason me starting this podcast is in a very small way, I wanted to help people by having people like yourself come on and share what you've done and what you've learned. I just hope that that helps somebody else. Particularly when people talk about things that haven't gone so well.

You just hope that someone hears that and goes, oh, okay, that's really interesting because I might have done that had I not heard this person speak about it. I think it's just sharing stories and knowledge is just so important.

So important. And, like, I can speak to that. It does help because I listen to your podcast.

It's definitely helped me in a number of different ways from speaking, from hearing about the guests that you speak to even. I'm now considering going on to Amazon, so podcasts on Amazon. Like, what you're doing is amazing.

And, like, it's just when I say, like, I'm obviously so happy to be here and be someone that hopefully is interesting enough to be on the podcast, but, like, I love what you're doing, so definitely is helpful.

Oh, thank you. And you definitely didn't need to say that.

This is an honest opinion.

Oh, well, thank you. That's really kind of you. And thank you for coming on. And I think it's. I think it's great.

And you do have a lot to share, and I know that you may feel you're quite near the beginning of your journey, but I also think that's really important because you're in it.

And I love having guests from different stages, because what you're experiencing now, a few months in is going to be different from someone who's a few years in. And also it's also fresh as well, which I also think is really nice.

And I know for myself, when I was selling my own products, as time goes on, there were things you forget or things that were really relevant at the time but become less relevant over time.

And those are some of the things that actually someone else could really benefit from hearing, but they just sort of fade, you know, they fade away once the trauma's over, if you know what I mean. Yeah.

But I also think it's really good to. Not very often you have time to, like, look back at the journey that you've had so far. And even though I'm.

I'm very much at the start of my journey, like, I have done so much already, really. And I think you have to take time to look back.

So I've actually really enjoyed this, like, kind of remembering what I did when I was, like, designing the product. Like, all of those things. It's.

It makes you feel quite good about, like, what you've achieved and what, like, you've overcome in this even short space of time. So I'm excited to see, like, you know, in a year's time, what. What will I have done by then?

Yeah, you. You hit. I hear this a lot. And actually, I'm always. I've said this to everyone as well, everyone at the beginning of their journey.

Come back in a year and tell us what you've done in that year. Because I think that's always fascinating. And I'm glad.

I'm glad you feel like that as well, because I think we don't often get the chance to reflect on how far we've come. And I have to say, it always surprises me.

I knew you launched in November, but that still always surprises me because when I last spoke to you, I think it was January and you had already done so, so much. You're packing a lot in. I can tell that you're really focused on this business.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, hopefully it all pays off, you know, and it will, because it's. It's solving a problem for people. So I'm excited to see where it goes.

Yeah, me too. So my final question, Kim, is one I ask every guest, and that is what would your number one piece of advice be for other product creators?

I think we've kind of already touched on it a little bit, but, like, genuinely just start. Like, you just don't know where that's going to take you, and it might not be the thing that you end up launching with. You might pivot.

But I honestly truly feel like the journey is just as important as, like. Like the end or the star.

But it's like, just start with something and it will make its way to what it needs to be as long as you're giving it obviously what it needs to get there. And I just genuinely think, like, everything happens for a reason, but you obviously need to put things into it to get to that point. And I think.

Keep it simple. I think I always. I always thought I would want my own business, but not for the reason of, like, wanting money or all of these good things.

Like, I always want to be giving value to people, but also I want to be getting value back myself.

And I always just thought, like, oh, I'm never Gonna have a business because I have to come up with this really grand idea and, you know, I just won't think of something amazing enough to like, take to market. And it's like, no, you don't have to create something brand new, like, think like our maps that it's, it's from something that already exists.

But we've tweaked to be fit for purpose for this solution, for this issue. So there could be like, products, services, things out there already, but with a few tweaks, could be a game changer as a business.

So just looking at those things and I think another one thing just to probably finish that on is I heard a three words that I don't know if you've heard of Guy Raz, but he interviews loads of entrepreneurs and he said the pattern for them is always the same and it's rejection, persistence and breakthrough. And I, I honestly, I'm on that journey and I do feel that way and I just thought that was really interesting.

So, you know, getting the products or the service off the ground can be really challenging. But I think if you keep refining and learning along the way and it will, it will pay off.

That's loads of brilliant advice. Thank you so much, Kim. I think that's all, that's all really brilliant and inspiring.

And I'm so with you on the starting thing as well, because I think starting can actually be the hardest thing of any. Anything at all, like, whether it's launching a product or going for a run. Do you know what I mean?

I think like, the first steps are always as cheesy as that may sound. It's always the hardest, but you just build momentum once you get going.

Yeah, I think you're completely right. Starting is so hard, but you know, when you've like gone for that first run, you feel so much better for it, right?

So it's like, don't have the fear, just get on with it.

Well, that is a really positive note to end on. Thank you so much, Kim. Thank you so much for being great.

You're welcome.

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode. Do remember that you can get the full back hanging catalog and lots of free resources on my website, vickiweinberg. Com.

Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it, and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful. Thank you again and see you next week.