Selling products that meet a need – Amelia Peckham – Cool Crutches

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:01

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. Hi, so today I'm delighted to invite Amelia Peckham onto the podcast. So in 2005, Amelia was told that she would never walk unaided again following a serious quad bike accident and spinal injury. So Amelia then was aged just 19 and was told that she would then spend the rest of her life on crutches. Um, sadly the crutches that she was given by the hospital gave her blisters and just weren't ideal. And so working alongside her mother Claire, they sought to find something better. They couldn't. Realized there was a huge gap in the market and so they created their own business, called Crutches and Sticks. So Amelia and I speak a lot about, you know, we go delve more into her story around setting up her business and all that that entails. I think I'm going to stop talking now and let Amelia tell you the rest of her story. And so I would love now to introduce you to Amelia. So hi Amelia, thank you so much for being here.

Amelia Peckham: 00:01:19

Thank you so much for having me.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:20

Oh, you're so welcome. Can we please start by you giving an introduction to yourself, your business and what you sell?

Amelia Peckham: 00:01:26

Yes. So my name is Amelia. I, uh, fell off a quad bike when I was 19 in 2005 and unfortunately suffered a spinal injury and became paralyzed from my waist down partially. Um, I was told I would never walk again. Um, Six months later, I was given the green light to try. So I was given a pair of hospital crutches and packed off to physio, very excited. But sadly, within a week, I was back on bedrest. Um, and my crutches had given me blisters on my hands. They were agony. They clicked, so everyone could hear me coming. They slipped and they even snapped, which meant they weren't really a feasible option for me to get my life back. Um, which was when my mum and I started to look for different crutches to see if there was an alternative and realised there were none. So we decided to design, source and launch cool crutches. Um, and now with our walking sticks, that sell, comfortable, silent. Uh, they're CE certified, so they are safe for long term medical use. Um, and they are unavailable in hospital grey. They come in a wide range of colors, prints, and patterns, and you can even print your own design with our personalized options. So yes, I'm now the co founder with my mum of a business called Cool Crutches. Uh, we've been running since 2006, but only full time since 2021. Um, and yeah, it's going very well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:56

That's amazing. Thank you. And we were just talking, weren't we, about, and we'll talk about a bit later about the fact that since I, since finding out about you, I've seen your crutches all over the place. Um, so yeah, you're definitely getting the word out there that crutches don't need to be boring and I was about to say functional because they need to be functional, but they don't need to be.

Amelia Peckham: 00:03:13

Yeah, it's having both, isn't it? I feel like it was either you can have this brilliant all singing or dancing. It's got suspension. It's made of carbon fibre, but then it, you know, it looks absolutely hideous or, and it always weighs a ton. So it's not, you know, I've always been a firm believer in if it doesn't fit into your daily life, there's actually no point. And I think the tendency seems to be focus on functionality, forget about what it looks like or whether you'll actually use it. Um, and our whole business model has really been built on not compromising on functionality or style and proving that you can have both. Um, even if you're, you know, it's a medical device and it's, you know, certified. And it goes through a lot of health and safety testing. Uh, yeah. And it requires a lot of attention to detail from very intelligent people, not like me, uh, in product design. And, but then, you know, it doesn't have to look hideous. It can still look great.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:14

I'd like to talk a bit more about the design process in a minute, if that's okay. Because I'm really fascinated by how you actually, you know, went through that. Um, so just because I know I'm sort of, this is a really stupid question, but I don't know. So I'm going to ask, I hope you don't mind. So when you were first issued crutches, are you issued crutches by the NHS? Are there sorts of like NHS standard crutches you get given? Is that how it works?

Amelia Peckham: 00:04:37

They're available in hospitals and, you know, every hospital has a sort of stash of them as it was. And that was the only option. I think, you know, private hospitals, NHS hospitals, physio clinics, they all have the same, they all have standard hospital crutches, um, and they're cheap as chips, and they can afford to put loads into hospitals if they come back, they don't come back, it doesn't matter. But realistically, they're built for six max 12 weeks use. Um, and you know, the small things like the bottoms, the rubber tips on the bottoms are pretty solid because they've got to take anyone from, you know, four foot two up to six foot four rugby players. They've got to be able to house both. Um, but I think, and they're brilliant, you know, the NHS are why I'm still here. So I'm, I'm a huge believer in what they do. Um, and those. Their crutches do 99% of the time work and I think if you're in a position where you're either having an operation because you've had a very serious injury, you know, lots of ACLs, we get a lot of that, um, or you've got a long term condition and it might be MS. It might be what I've got, is a spinal injury, but you are likely to need them forever. And I think that's when it starts to be like, hang on, if you're using these every single day. Um, long term, they're not really built to last. They're not really built for comfort. Um, they're built to keep your weight off your legs for a short period of time while you heal. Um, and long term that that isn't suitable, basically.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:12

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I've definitely seen those crutches. I'm sure all of us can picture them. Um, we've probably all seen someone going down the corridor of a hospital in them or maybe out and about/

Amelia Peckham: 00:06:22

Heard them probably.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:22

Yeah. They definitely, I mean, I'm very fortunate. I've never needed to use them, but they do look very heavy. And I can see what you mean. If they're fulfilling a short term purpose for someone with a broken leg, perhaps, or had surgery, I can see that they probably are great because they look very sturdy and you, you know, once you get used to them.

Amelia Peckham: 00:06:41

Yeah definitely and ironically I broke my ankle when I was 15. Uh, and I was on them for six weeks. And I remember, remember thinking it was like the end of the world. I was like, oh my God, my whole summer, I did it on like the 15th of June or something. And that was my whole summer holidays was on crutches. And I remember just thinking that's so painful. I'm actually a bit scared to do anything on them because I might slip or, and I just remember thinking this is basically, I'm going to be sitting down for the next six weeks. But at the time, that's just how it was. Like there wasn't an alternative and I guess unless you'd been in the situation that mum and I were in, you don't think this is how, this is just common sense that there must be something else that's, you know, even if you're having an ACL operation, you still got sort of six, eight weeks with your foot off the ground. That's all your body weight going through your hands. Like it's absolute agony. And anyone who knows anyone who's used crutches for a long time will know they probably wrap tennis racket stuff around the handles. It's just one of those things that for unknown reason has slipped through the net and no one, until now has thought, let's make it different. Let's make it better. Uh, so yeah, we were lucky. The gap in the market was very much still there when we realized. And yeah, that's kind of where we started.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:01

So you started by, I guess looking around and realizing there was nothing. So how did you get from there to, let's talk a bit about the design process. So w was that the point at which you were inspired to, okay, we can't find what we're looking for, let's create something ourselves?

Amelia Peckham: 00:08:17

Yes. So. Really, it was kind of twofold. It was what does the dream stick do and what does it look like? Um, and I think, you know, half of it's physical, half of it's mental. And I almost think the mental side of it is more important than the physical because, you know, your hospital ones will support you. But I, things like jarring into your upper body joints. So over time, because the rubber tips are so solid, I was like, I had wrist pain, I had elbow pain, I had shoulder pain. And that was my top half of my body was meant to be the bit that was good. And so I was like, well, this isn't great if I'm then going to end up with residual injury. And you know, and then it clicked. So Anyone could hear me coming. I mean, I was in hospital for a really long time. I wasn't fully discharged until a year later, and no one wants to tell you your prognosis because they don't want to be the bearer of bad news. They also don't want to tell you something that's more negative than it needs to be. Um, but they also don't want to give you false hope. So no one would have a conversation with me about, well, you know, would I walk again? Would I not walk again? Is it a wheelchair? Am I fighting to get onto crutches for no reason? Is it, am I just embarrassing myself? Should I just get on with wheelchairs? Like what's going on? And I used to creep up to doctor's offices to listen to them talking about me and they'd hear me coming a mile off because my crutches clicked. So I was like, I honestly can't go anywhere or do anything without anyone hearing me, worrying about me fussing around me. So I just, I think part of it was like, I want my independence back. And the clicking really, I really struggled with the same with opening a door or picking up a cup of tea or God forbid, a glass of wine, the crutches that I was using in hospital, which were in theory, an upgrade from hospital ones. So not the ones, the NHS issue in Europe, they have private medical insurance. So lots of different companies supply crutches, but they're half open cuffs. So if you do anything, it falls to the floor, and obviously you're not stable on your feet, so I'm the last person that should be bending down to try and pick them up. And I was like, this is so embarrassing, because invariably it involves someone coming to help me. So again, by independence, you can't go anywhere, you can't carry anything, you can't do anything. Um, so we listed the kind of main pain points that the hospital ones and the alternatives that we'd sourced still had. And it was basically, it needed to have a molded handle, but it couldn't just be molded plastic. It needed to have something squidgy on it so that you had your hand joints supported, but from a skin point of view, you had something squidgy so it didn't then rub. And then it needed to have something on the bottom that was cushioned so that when you put it down, it didn't jar your upper body joints, but it still had grip. So the hospital ones are rock solid, but if you hit water, your toast, it just slides straight out from underneath you. So we needed something that had added grip on the bottom. Um, we needed the option of having the open cuff because the whole of Europe use open cuff crutches, but the UK use closed cuff ones. Um. And then essentially that was sort of where it's and then the silence, we didn't want them to click. So that was the crux of what we were looking for. And I was still in hospital. Mum then went to medical conferences and she did a few in the UK and she did a few in Europe and very different psychology behind what design process needed to be and who could do it. And she was just like, I can't, cannot find one where I think, or one supplier where I think you could manufacture them, you're the right person. So we basically parked it and mum said, just, you know, chat to people in hospital, see if you see anything, we'll just leave it for a month and see what happens. And she went on holiday. And on a beach in Portugal spotted someone that looked like it had exactly what we wanted and she ran halfway down the beach and said, where did you get them from? Uh, and they told us, and that is now a manufacturer. So it was kind of, you can do as much research, but then a bit like you said, once you'd heard about the business, you then see it everywhere. Like you become hypersensitive to anything to do with mobility aids and walking aids. And once we'd got half way there, we then had a manufacturer that we could talk to and say, look, could we add the squidgy grip on, could we add the cuff to make sure that it rotates? Like, can we, and they were just like, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Done. Prototype. Six weeks later, it was phenomenal. And then took it back into hospital and everyone was over the moon. They were just like, this is the most comfortable thing ever. It feels solid. It doesn't feel heavy. It feels like it's going to support me. It's practical. I can lift up my arms. So they rotate our cuffs, but they also the full version. So you've got a half one, which is European, and then you've got the full one, which is a bit like the NHS, but it's bigger, comes off, so you can choose, you can have a full or a half, you can do what you like, um, but they all unanimously, and there were probably 20 people in the physio shack with me every day doing physio and they were like, why is it black? And I was like, oh, I thought it looked really smart. And they were like, no, I want a red one. I want a pink one. I want a spotty one. I want leopard print. And we were like, right, next point. We've nailed the product design. We need to make it look fun. And then by the time we'd tackled colouring them a plain color, we realized we could do anything and actually we can print anything. So we have a range of ready to go prints. We have a load of different colours, and then we have the option to print your own design. So we do pets, we do grandchildren, we do people's favourite cars, we do sports colours, we do fabrics to match wedding dresses, mother of the brides, you name it, we can print on it. But that was kind of I guess the journey from idea inception to final product.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:23

That's amazing. Thank you. Um, it's one of those things, isn't it, where I'm just amazed that, you know, your mum just happened to see somebody and that was how you found your manufacturer because it sounds like she's put in so much work to doing that. It just goes to show sometimes if you're open to things, like you say, suddenly you spot opportunities.

Amelia Peckham: 00:14:42

It's, but I still think as a founder, your best ideas don't come sitting at your desk. It's when you've had like a brick wall moment and you think I'm just going to park it for a while. And then you get on a train or you go on holiday, you go and suddenly everything clears and you're like, bing, I know exactly what I need to do. And I think that's when. Yeah. I mean, she obviously was still thinking about it constantly, but yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:08

I think it's amazing that you found someone that did what you did. And what I'm surprised about is that this, so this manufacturer, they weren't, were they not already mass producing crutches that?

Amelia Peckham: 00:15:17

Yes, but their main business is wheelchairs. So there's a lot more, and this is another thing that I still find extraordinary. So there are six and a half million people in the UK that use walking aids, use mobility aids. Uh, 1. 8 of them are wheelchair users, but a third of the wheelchair users can walk and use walking aids at the same time. And yet, there must be 20 plus manufacturers of wheelchairs in the UK and there is not one that manufactures crutches and walking sticks. It's like, blows my mind that it is such a huge market, and yet you can get a sort of tinny one on Amazon. You can get NHS crutches. You can't, they're still, we don't really have a competitor in the crutches market still. And there are multi million billion pound businesses producing walking aids all the time. So, but of course the margin in wheelchairs is much bigger than the margin in crutches. So it's a much more appealing, I guess, business decision to set up a business that produces wheelchairs, which is what the manufacturer that we still work with, um, does, and they distribute their wheelchairs, but they mainly produced crutches and walking sticks to get their foot in the door to supply wheelchairs. So I think for them, it's been brilliant because we've become their sole distributor effectively of walking aids, and they've been able to then focus on the wheelchair business and grow it that way. Um, but again, very lucky that we get on really well. They're a family business as well. So, I think we kind of have a mutual understanding that we're all singing from the same hymn sheet and it just was two jigsaw pieces that slotted in and have, you know, it's been, it'll be 18 years in October this year that we, since my accident. So it's been a long time, but yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:14

That's really, it's really, yeah. What's the word, serendipitous I think is the word, isn't it?

Amelia Peckham: 00:17:18

Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:19

And I'm, I was amazed by the way, when I saw that you could personalize the stick so easily, was that something that was a surprise to you? How easy it is, when I say easy, I'm not, I don't want to dismiss, I'm sure not, but straightforward maybe is a, is a simpler way of saying it.

Amelia Peckham: 00:17:35

Yes, and I think the colouring aspect, ironically, I think is what looks the easiest and is probably the hardest. And I think we've worked with a number of different graphic designers, a number of different producers, suppliers to get it right. Um, and it has by no means been straightforward. I know it looks really easy on the website, but it's one of those things where I think manpower wise, it's quite heavy duty to do bespoke products, but the impact it has, particularly on people who, you know, we've started getting quite a few people who will have a stick in memory of somebody. So it might, you know, butterflies is a big one where people will put a butterfly that reminds them of somebody that they've lost on their stick. And I'm just like the impact that that has on someone mentally every day forever is worth 10, 000 sticks. Do you know what I mean? So I think the personalization, any, anyone who does personalization will tell you is not exactly the best business decision because it is a lot of work and not much reward. But I think for us, it's become more about the impact that we're having and we get so much feedback that's so amazing that I think that's what's fueled the business. That's what's growing the business and that's where we have to maintain an element of respect for, if that makes sense. So yeah, the personalization stuff, it's, it's full on. It looks a lot simpler than it probably is.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:06

Yeah. Well, I, I'd be honest, I never thought it'd be simple, but when you were talking and you're talking about the colouring and then you realise if you were colouring the sticks, you could print onto the sticks. Um, see, I, that, I guess that was what led me to think, oh, it's not as hard to print onto sticks as I thought. Yeah.

Amelia Peckham: 00:19:24

It's definitely doable. I just, yeah, it's definitely doable. And it is, you know, we've got a brilliant system now and the team that do it, we've got two guys. So. Luke who does all the design and Al who does all the production and actually getting them onto the sticks. Um, and they're brilliant and they work like clockwork and it is really straightforward now. But yeah, I think that's probably, that's been the hardest hurdle was to tackle the colouring and the personalization element of it. And, you know, when we launched, we had I think six designs in about January 2006, um, and they sold out within like six weeks. And we were like, oh my goodness, we need to get like double that and then start, you know, releasing a new design every quarter and trying to do it that way. Um, and that's when we kind of realized actually you can print anything. And if someone sends a photo of their dog, providing it's not really blurry, we can easily put it onto something. So, yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:20

I mean, I'm, I have to say when I first came across you and I looked in your website, that was the thing that blew me away actually was the fact that you could do that. How amazing is that? That someone can design their own walking aid. I just think that is absolutely incredible.

Amelia Peckham: 00:20:34

It's amazing. And it's also just like to give someone who's having a rotten. And I think that's partly where mum kind of her angle came from, which she was like, it's very difficult when someone is in hospital and you're looking after them to think of something positive to focus on and give them something tangible. You get people bring chocolates, they bring flowers, they bring, you know, smelly things, they bring everything that you kind of would panic buy. But mum was like, really, you want to give them something like a walking stick or crutches that's actually going to help them get to where they want to be. And there isn't really anything. So she was like, from a sideline point of view, and I still think, as much as I obviously was not having the best time of my life, I still think it's harder for the people standing next to you because when you're in hospital and you're in following a serious injury, you are not really with it. You're on a lot of drugs. You don't really know what's going on. They are there living and breathing every single minute, desperate to help. And this gives them something completely personalized to you that they can give you, that will help and change your prognosis effectively. Um, so that, yeah, I guess mum and I come at it from two different angles, don't we? But it's been, turns out, a recipe for good, which has been amazing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:52

That is amazing. I'm just going to come back. You mentioned earlier that this could actually make the difference between somebody wanting to leave the house and get out in the world and not. So I guess there's that aspect to it as well.

Amelia Peckham: 00:22:03

Huge, huge. And I think all too often, there is a sort of assumption that if you have a disability or a serious injury that a, being in pain is part of the deal that you get handed and b, you're not likely to live a life that's as active or fulfilled as someone that doesn't have a disability or an injury and it's actually the case, I think obviously there are scenarios and look, I was by no means swinging from the rafters for 10 years after my accident. It takes a really long time to adjust to your new normal. You know, we've got professional athletes that use our crutches. We've got, um, the most amazing woman who's hiking every mountain from here to Timbuktu on her crutches. Like there, there is so much you can do, but you cannot do it if you've got the wrong equipment. And I think so many people physically cannot trust the stick that they're using or the crutch that they're using. And so they will say, Oh, okay. Yeah, I could come to a wedding, but how far, you know, where are you getting married? And then when is there a walk and how do I get from that bit to the next bit? And you think that's way too much. I can't do it. I will be in agony and it will be miserable. And it'll take me a week to recover. Not if you've got the right stick or crutches or wheelchair, whatever it is. You have to be able to make a choice that you want to live your life and the equipment that you use is there to help you move. You know, I always say glasses are there to help you see, and you wouldn't walk up to someone on the street and go, whoa, what happened to your eyes? You just wouldn't do it. But for some reason with sticks, people do come up to you and go, what happened to your leg? And I think we're moving towards a point where it's like, glasses help you see, sticks help you move, wheelchairs help you move, but just because you need a wheelchair or a walking stick does not mean you've lost interest in moving or living. Like, it's almost the polar opposite. You have this sort of incessant voice in the back of your head saying, you know, you've had a stroke of near death. You want to live your life. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And I think that is harder to control than the sitting at home feeling awful. Um, but invariably, if you have got the wrong stick, you are not going to want to go out. You're not going to want to do anything. And, you know, loads of our customers have said, God, I bought one on Amazon thinking I need one. I'll just grit my teeth, but I don't want to spend loads of money on it because it's not something I want and then didn't use it and didn't go out and then finally thought I'll give the best one a go and see. And then they've been like, why did I not do this a year ago? And I'm like, because you're not in the right head space to do it. But we will get to a point where people know enough about us that they, you know, the minute they get wrist pain or feel uncomfortable or don't want to go out, they'll think there's an alternative. Should we try one? And that's where the world becomes a much happier place to admit there's less misery and self conscious and lack of confidence and the rest of it, I think. The impact potential is huge. We just need to get it, get our brand out there a bit more.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:15

Yeah. And along those lines, because I mentioned that as once I heard about your brand, I started seeing your brand, which is, I think is how it happens, once you've got, once something comes on your radar, it seems to. But, you know, pop up everywhere. Um, and one thing I noticed is that over, well, the last couple of months, maybe years, you've received quite a lot of celebrity support. Um, so it'd be really interesting to know how that came about, what it's meant for the brand, because, um, like you said, I guess the overall goal is to get the message out there that this you know, there's no shame or stigma in using walking aids. You should, you know, and the walking aids can be, when I say fun, what I mean is, you know, like a lot of designs are bright and they're colourful and they're fun. They're not, they've almost, um, the accessory is not the right word.

Amelia Peckham: 00:26:00

They are not meant to be hidden necessarily. Um, yeah, I think, well, I will hold my hands up. I worked in PR after my, after I left uni, I went into PR and I had no idea what it was before I did it. To be honest, I did a sort of internship. Um, on page and thought, I'll just give it a go for a month or two, loved it. And then my boss very kindly offered me a job, um, and it was brilliant. And it was basically product based businesses getting the product onto a newspaper page. Um, and online wasn't really a thing, that makes me sound like a dinosaur, but it wasn't, uh, and it was all about the impact that this had on their sales. So I knew about PR. I knew how to do it. Uh, and I knew the value of it for products based businesses. So it had always been something that even when we launched, I did a press release. Um, I had my accident in Scotland and I knew that the Scottish press would probably be interested to hear, you know, 19 year old girl breaks her back and then sets up a business in the Scottish islands. Um, and we got loads of coverage from that. So I was like, once you've done it a few times, you kind of build confidence and then celebrities invariably cropped up on social media. Now, up until then, you had to go through an agent to access them. So I was like, well, what have I got to lose? I might as well try and contact anyone that, you know, hurts themselves. And this comes back around to where, when you're designing a product and you're launching a product, the time and the effort that you put into that is what then reaps the benefits because we'd tested it for long enough, we'd handed it to people in hospital, doctors had seen them, nurses had seen them. We'd had all the feedback we could possibly have. And I was like, I know the feedback is a resounding positive. This is amazing. It's going to change my life. I'm sending it and I will gift it to anyone. And you know, part of it is luck. Uh Prue Leith injured her ankle on the Great British Bake Off. And her husband bought her a pair of rainbow ones because she loves everything rainbow. And she was filmed for six months on Bake Off wearing them, which is fluke. But again, wouldn't have happened if the product hadn't been brilliant. So that actually really didn't involve us a whole lot. And then two weeks later, Amanda Holden fell off a horrendous inflatable water park. How she ever did it, I will not know. And she was in Spain, I think. And it hit the daily mail at two o'clock in the morning. And I was, uh, I had a six week old baby, so I happened to be awake when it hit the Daily Mail and I thought what have I got to lose, I'll just email her agent and say if you need a pair we can send them first thing tomorrow to get to her so she can come home because I thought she's got plaster from her toe to her hip. There is no way in hell she can stand up on a pair of hospital crutches and not risk slipping or snapping or, it just filled me with horror and I was like, at least if she's got them, she can use a wheelchair, she can get her wheelchair to the airplane door and she can get home. And if she hates them, she can wave them in the bin, but they will have got her home. And by the time she got home, she was like, I'm going back to work next week. And I was like, what are you mad? She was like, no, they're brilliant. I feel so safe. I'm so comfortable. And she did. She went in and out of Heart FM on them every morning on them. Uh, Jamie Feetston, I then contacted Jamie Feetston said, she said, she's coming back to work. Would heart FM like to gift her a pair with heart FM on to say, now you've got a set at work and then you can just wheel from home to work. And he was like, brilliant. And then they designed them. We put heart FM logo all over them. And then he presented them to her on live radio, on a live video stream that went all over Twitter. It was just, I guess, lighting matches and fires were starting and it was phenomenal. Uh, and yeah, I don't, you know, I think it looks like we've had a lot of celebrities, which we have, but there's probably one in five that results in any kind of profile or press. But I think, you know, people need them and they want them and they love them. And if you create something that people need and want and love the hard work's done, you know, it's just a case of them putting them in front of the right people. But I think the other thing with celebrities is, for me, it's been having the visibility of someone who's willing to put themselves in the newspaper and be photographed with what mobility aids that they're proud of, and in turn, it shows that injuries and serious disabilities and all the rest of it doesn't just happen to people you can't see. It happens to everyone, and whether you're a celebrity or not, everyone is at risk of landing in the minority group that is disability, um, at any point in their life. And it, and it really isn't straightforward and it really is hard, but if you can see it, and you can see people doing it confidently in the press in wherever there's much more relatability and it fuels this I can do it mentality and that's what for us working with celebrities is so important because I just think there's too many people sitting at home thinking I'd rather not go out than go out with a stick and that has to change and the only way we can do that is by showing them people are doing it and not just me, celebrities, whoever, it's everybody. Um, but yeah, we have had a fair amount of celebrity press, which has been a game changer.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:31:31

Yeah, I think that's fantastic. And like you say, even if it, even if they're seeing the celebrities on, even if the attention isn't to drive sales. Like you say, just people seeing a celebrity on a stick is just, that's positive. Whether that person needs a stick in their life or not, just seeing that kind of just, I don't know if normalizes is the right word, but just.

Amelia Peckham: 00:31:52

Yes, a hundred percent. It's that, you know, awful feeling where you think, and I was in hospital and I just thought there's no one, there is not one person on the telly. There is no one in a magazine. There's no one in the newspaper. Every time I thought. Oh look, there's someone with a stick. It was someone in their 90s being wheeled out because they were about to die. And you just think that is not real life. There are, you know, and the real life is also not acquiring a disability and then having to completely divert your whole life to a separate lane where you do half of what you were meant to do. And I think the opportunity is there. And actually, I think social media has made it a thousand times better. Um, and you can, you know, the world is changing. There are so many people with disabilities doing so many amazing things. But at the bottom, the bottom line is if you want to go out and get a job and live a life that's happy and be a parent and do whatever you want to do, whatever you want to do, there is a way, it's just a case of sort of adjusting and realigning which direction you go in. And that can be something as small as having better crutches or better walking sticks to make sure that you can live. Um, but yeah, I'm hoping that's what we're trying to change.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:07

And the key thing I'm taking from you as well, Amelia, is that, because you mentioned that you're sending out, you know, you might be sending crutches, but not everyone, they may use them, but they may not be publicly used, promote them.

Amelia Peckham: 00:33:17

Promote them.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:18

But actually, the real key thing I've taken from you is that you are so confident in your product and that it's a good product and that it will help people and it is the best option for people who might need some kind of walking aid, that it almost doesn't matter because you know, you're providing, I don't know, you're helping somebody by providing that, whether you get anything back from it in terms of press or not. And that's, I think really key, um, that you're not sending products of just, oh, you know, please feature me, please, you know, please post about this.

Amelia Peckham: 00:33:50

We're lucky because people need us, uh, you know, I wouldn't send it to someone who didn't need sticks.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:56

Of course.

Amelia Peckham: 00:33:57

Do you know what I mean? But that's really having worked in PR, you know. We, I used to look after food and drink brands and I had thousands of chocolate boxes on my desk that are desperate to get into the times and the Christmas gift guide. And you think, God, you're up against 10 other things that do exactly the same thing. And it's basically going to come down to what your box looks like. That is almost the reality that a lot of product based businesses are in, and we're very lucky in a way that ours is seriously niche and it is filling a need, um, and it is more targeted and it is, you know, it does have a better response. We don't have as much competition and, you know, there are lots of things that have made it better for us, but that knowledge and your product confidence in your product, I think is the key, because also the other flip side to that is that testimonials have become gold for our business and once we started generating them automatically, that has been a huge conversion to sale tool that I massively underestimated. And I think that would only have been as beneficial as it has been because we spent so much time honing in on the product and making sure that the product was bulletproof and that we'd, you know, done a bit of market research and had tested it in hospitals with doctors and nurses and the rest of it. And I think that's where, yeah, you can, you can then hit the ground running and you can send it to people confidently and say, this is going to be the best stick you've ever used and know that 99% will say, I completely agree. And then you're off.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:33

That makes sense. Thank you. And thank you for explaining that. Because I think you're right. Obviously it is good to be in a position where there isn't much competition, where you're the first one out there. Um, and I, I think lots of people do create really unique products because they might be in a situation where there isn't much competition, where their product is something that only they are doing. Um, but for me, it still comes back to like having that confidence that your product is really good, because I think if you're not a hundred percent about your product, it makes it a lot harder to confidently talk about it, try and get it in the press. And, you know, all, all of that. So I think knowing your products the best it can be is a really good place to come from.

Amelia Peckham: 00:36:12

And also, if it solves a problem, I think it, if it solves a problem, you've got your marketing plan there because you, you know, all of our marketing, particularly social media, has taken many twists and turns over the last however many years, but it is now very problem solution based. So whether you're doing a single post, a carousel post or a video on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, you name it, the first hook that's going to get them in is going to be, do you get blisters? Do you hate the stick crashing to the floor? Do you find it slips when you go near a swimming pool? All of that, we can provide a solution. That's your marketing. And that is where I think so many people find it really difficult to sell. You should have a product that solves problems and then you just focus on the problems. Because if anyone says to me, you know, does it drive you nuts when your kids aren't ready for school by eight o'clock? I'm like, I'm listening. I'll buy anything. What do I, do you know what I mean? Like if someone taps into a relatable problem, you're like, yeah, I'm sold. What do I do?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:37:20

Absolutely. And as you say that knowing what, who your product is for and how it helps and being able to articulate that really clearly, it's just always going to massively help. One final question before we finish Amelia, and this is when I ask everybody, what would your number one piece of advice be for other product creators?

Amelia Peckham: 00:37:42

Oh, this kind of goes back to what we've just talked about, which is spend the time and the money finalizing your product. And I think that is the single most important thing you will do in your business. Once you've done that, it's kind of grit your teeth and go for it. And I think that's, if you can draw a line in the sand and say the product is as good as it's ever going to be, and I am confident if someone asks me about it, I can nail them why it's brilliant. Once that's done, you have to just go for it. Like, just grit your teeth. Anything you think is embarrassing, it's not. You've created a brilliant product. Say yes to everything. Try everything. Be prepared to fail and just keep going. I think it's my, probably my parting shot.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:38:33

That's really good advice. Thank you. Because I'm a big fan of just getting things done and moving on and things don't have to be perfect. But the one exception I would say to that is your product.

Amelia Peckham: 00:38:43

And probably you probably won't ever feel ready. I think that, you know. You have to look at your product objectively, and that's incredibly difficult when it's what you're selling and what you're basing your business on, but you will never feel like, right, I'm ready to walk into a sort of exhibition of 40, 000 stores and be one of those stores and sell confidently because no one is, no matter how glossy it looks on social media, no one is having a well of a time all the time. It's, it's really hard and it's relentless and there are constant hurdles, but you've got to just grit your teeth and stick your neck out and go for it. Because if you don't you won't get the one in 10 opportunities that do convert to something amazing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:39:26

That's really good advice and great and great note to finish on. Thank you so much Amelia.

Amelia Peckham: 00:39:30

Thank you so much for having me.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:39:34

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode. Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue 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 time.