Running a small business is a funny old thing. Everyone needs to be multi skilled and days off are few and far between. When I'm looking at staff, attitude is the most important thing and their skillset can always be trained to match what we need.
In the early days, when it was just me in the back of a shed cutting up traps and building 10 at a time, it was a much simpler time. Nowadays, we have around 10 staff and everyone is working on their own goals as well as the business goals.
Flash back to Dan Fern arriving on the scene, he was my first employee. One of my best mates from Taradale High School, Dan and I worked hard together to produce desks during COVID Lockdown. Dan left to go to his missus in Aussie and along came another mate who was looking to switch gears.
Enter Liam Raphael - replacing Dan but working full time now. Liam and I had some big shifts to supply orders for Mitre10s, Dulux and other large companies as well as the regular stuff and we added Export Crates here too.
Liam went from Team Member to Team Leader with about 4 staff under him at one point and what a job he did! Instrumental in growing the business to where it needed to be while I was focusing on getting more orders to keep everyone busy.
We had a handful of guys come through and help too - Toby, Luke, Ryan B, Ryan J & Josiah! These guys were a great help in getting through bulk workloads when they came up.
The team now has a few longstanding guys like Marco & Odey who work with newcomer Charlie under Libby who runs the workshop, handles customer service and dispatching - you've probably spoken to her at some point.
We've got Dave, Lars, Levi and soon to be Mel & Matt building the cabins. These guys basically run things themselves and I just oversee things to make sure everyone is happy, I occasionally take the coffees around.
Without all of these people, Goodwood would not be where it is today and you probably wouldn't have received your desk or your cabin or your trap or whatever it is you got.
Business aside, working with people who we like makes the workplace a better place. Sticking to our ethos of hiring a good attitude is the best way to continue building a great team.
Thanks to everyone who has helped Goodwood get to where it is today, and thanks in advance to everyone who continues to support us by buying from this local NZ manufacturer.