STYLE NOW PAY LATER
with Bowerbird Interiors
FOUNDERS SERIES NO.1
The essence of a brand often lies in the trials and triumphs experienced by its founders. Here at Elepay, we take pride in honouring the untold tales of the remarkable individuals working behind the scenes.
In our “Founders Series,” we offer a brief but impactful glimpse into their inspiring stories.
Geoff
& Lauren
BOWERBIRD
The Founders of Bowerbird Interiors
"Bowerbird Interiors service over 1000+ properties annually."
What differentiates Bowerbird Interiors from other property styling businesses in the Sydney market?
Bowerbird Interiors service over 1000+ properties annually, but regardless of the scale, our service is what differentiates our business from any other Interior Design & Styling firm. Our business started in our home garage, based on our ethos - everyone deserves to have a home, and not just a house that they love.
We care about our clients' personality, style, their lifestyle, and functionality needs.
And, because we have been doing this for a decade, we also have an innate understanding of the psychology of people, and what they look for in the perfect home. We have an affordable, yet premium offering.
"We overcame most of our early hurdles with improvisation and resilience."
What challenges did you face in the early stages of Bowerbird and how did you overcome them?
Can you share a client success story where the Style Now, Pay Later option significantly impacted a property's sale price?
To think we continued to ride the wave through COVID. Real Estate prices soared in regional communities, but suffered in urban and metro areas, where most of our business was and still is generated. We saw repeat clients in positions they have never been in before, new clients asking us to help them sell their home in a challenged economy. We saw an immediate increase in the opting for Pay Later services during this time.
Pay Later gave our clients the independence and ability to get themselves out of really tough circumstances. The agents we work with often share success stories, homes they thought sat at a particular benchmark, and as a result of interior styling were able to attain sale prices they thought were unachievable.
Gosh, we’re not going to pretend this was smooth sailing for us. Starting a business is easy, building a business is hard. We had moments, sitting on the floor of our warehouse, with our small kids, feeding them dinner while assembling furniture, and telling our 3-year-old to get off the forklift, wondering, when will this end?
Obviously, it didn’t end, Bowerbird has grown up with our children, and we’ve adapted. We overcame most of our early hurdles with improvisation and resilience. Life throws its curveballs, but I’m proud to say we embrace them with a flexible spirit, always finding a way to overcome challenges and emerge stronger.
"Style Now Pay Later has allowed countless clients the opportunity to give their property a styling makeover to support the home's appeal."
"Less is more, remove personal sentiments and declutter."
What advice would you give to property owners in Australia looking to maximise the selling price of their homes?
We get asked this a lot, our social following love to watch our tips and tricks to achieve small but significant improvements to prepare their home for sale. We always say, "less is more", remove personal sentiments, and declutter.
Having Bowerbird support the appeal of the property has always been an investment that pays for itself in the sale price, and so, if possible, we would recommend engaging our services to support the maximisation of the sale price. With Pay Later, anything is possible.
How do you stay up to date with the latest trends in property styling, and how do these trends influence your business?
Here’s the truth, we don’t. We have a timeless style that is adaptable to any property. We have a versatile offering, sure, we appreciate and take notice of trends, but we don’t let trends lead the way.
We lead the way with what we know buyers want, our Style Direction is incredibly bespoke dependent on the property we’re curating.
How has the current economic climate impacted your business, and how have you adapted to these changes?
Look, it’s a topic you can’t hide from really… it’s an obvious Global crisis that undeniably affects us all. We have seen a lot of businesses in our sector scale back, retreat, some have survived and others sadly have not. Our approach has been to pivot, to take on the challenge head first, and scale up in this economic climate.
We’ve become nimble, slightly more spontaneous yet calculated, our attitude brave and tenacious. We’ve invested in back-end systems that created efficiencies with our employers, investing smartly into initiatives which overall reduce our costs as a business.
We have had to think more strategically than ever before, audit our village (our team), and invest in key change makers that support our growth as a business. It has been tough, but we have refined our business model, and ultimately have become a smarter business due to the economic environment.
"Through every challenge, there is growth, and the balance is one that will take a lifetime to master."
Finally, if you could go back to when you were just starting Bowerbird, what advice would you give yourselves?
We would tell ourselves that you can’t do it all, and not every move is the right one, there will be plenty of mistakes, but to lean on your team as they are the foundation to your success. Through every challenge, there is growth, and the balance is one that will take a lifetime to master. I would also tell ourselves that we are forever a student, continuously learning and expanding our knowledge.
Never become too comfortable, it will be your undoing. Finally, I would tell ourselves that our values will be the key to our success, to always use kindness as our secret weapon, and to treat everyone with respect, and apply enthusiasm and gratitude to everything we do.
