Meet dynamic husband and wife team Kristian Collins and Jorja Wallace, who have three businesses between them. Kristian is the owner/operator of R3 Healthcare, a boutique remedial massage clinic in Gungahlin, and Jorja Wallace is the owner/operator of The Bunched Co., curated edible gift delivery in Canberra, and Scorpio Sun Skincare, flower-powered skincare for dry and sensitive skin.
What made you want to own a family business?
Kristian: Owning my own business has always been a goal for me. The freedom to drive my own race and to be a leader in my industry who can mentor others in a safe place for them to learn and grow is what drives this goal. The COVID pandemic provided a reality check for me on where I was at in my career and what I wanted to achieve. With a gentle nudge from Jorja, I moved from treating a few patients in our house, to starting R3 from a purpose-built room at the back of our garage, to a dedicated space at Yerrabi Pond.
Jorja: A change in perspective and a bit of a reality check thanks to the COVID pandemic. In October 2021, I went on medical leave from the Australian Public Service after developing a heart condition following a COVID vaccination. I had also been juggling working from home and looking after our toddler during the ACT lockdown – I was completely exhausted and terrified I was going to have a heart attack. The opportunity to buy The Bunched Co. popped up while I was on leave evaluating what I wanted to do next. It presented a delicious opportunity to rediscover my creativity, confidence and love for spreading kindness. I took over as the new owner in January 2022, leaving behind my public service career. I actually completed the handover from isolation with COVID, and also pregnant with a baby that we subsequently lost a few weeks later.
Scorpio Sun Skincare is a very new venture that I decided to explore as a way of better understanding my own skin – I have sensitive skin and have had guttate psoriasis since I was nine years old – so it is very much aligned to where I’m at now in my own personal journey, as well as my small business journey.
Tell us about the history and evolution of your family business?
Kristian: R3 started with a mate seeking treatment from me for a dodgy shoulder. From there it grew organically through word of mouth to what it is today.
Jorja: We’re still a work in progress. We started with R3 Healthcare in our loungeroom before we were married, which then moved to our garage after our little one was born, but now has its very own physical space on Yerrabi Pond in Gungahlin. We’ve subsequently added The Bunched Co., and more recently Scorpio Sun Skincare, to our family business portfolio. The Bunched Co. has been providing delicious donut delivery in Canberra for over six years, and Scorpio Sun Skincare is still very much in the startup phase. I recently took home bronze at the 2023 national AusMumpreneur Awards in the Emerging AusMumpreneur of the Year category for my efforts over the past 12-18 months, so I definitely think we’re heading in the right direction!
What values or principles guide your family business?
Kristian: Honesty, quality, inclusivity, high-quality service. Essentially, I try to ensure that every patient gets treated exactly how I would be like to treated if it were me in their shoes. Our goal with R3 is to create an environment where even the most anxious people feel at home; the perfect synergy between clinical care and my previous home-based clinic.
Jorja: Kindness, giving, first-class customer service, high-quality products, integrity, authenticity, and reliability. We’re both on the same page about prioritising the customer experience, creating a community, and approaching our businesses with honesty to our customers, to ourselves and to each other.
What unique advantages do you feel a family business brings?
Kristian: The biggest advantage is the ability to be in control of the way we structure our week. I can manage my calendar around the needs of our other businesses and the needs of our toddler, and Jorja can do the same. Of course, there are times when our calendars clash, but the flexibility certainly makes these times easier to manage. I also feel it sets a good example for our toddler; balancing priorities is a necessary skill for life and seeing your parents do that daily sets you up with skills to be successful in the future.
Jorja: It allows me to more flexibly manage my health and family commitments. I don’t feel as consumed by guilt when I need to take time off deliveries to be available to our toddler, or to be available to myself. I also have endometriosis and adenomyosis, so sometimes I need to adjust my days to match my energy, and it’s a lot easier to do this when you are your own boss. By far the best advantage is the privilege of being able to work with our toddler around – that time together in the car on the delivery run is so invaluable.
How do you balance family relationships with business decisions?
We think we have a unique take on family business. We are a family in business, but we’ve purposefully taken an approach that provides independence and individuality. We both lead and drive our own individual business, but also follow and support the other in their business. We lean on each other in different ways across our businesses, whether that be expertise, connections or capacity, and we’re empowered to be accountable and transparent to ourselves and to each other. We’re also rarely dealing with the same issue at the same time, so one of us always has more capacity to assist the other.
How do you handle disagreements within the family while running the business?
We argue just like any other couple juggling work and a toddler! Some days it’s easy to communicate and other days it takes a little longer to see the other person’s point of view. We’ve encountered a lot of hurdles in the past three years and have worked through it all together by being honest and open with our communication. We don’t have to like or agree with the other person’s decision, but we do respect and support them on their own journey.
How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance?
We have calendars where we can visually see our commitments and map out the seasonality of our businesses and volunteering activities. We have family boundaries in the evenings that we enforce, and we focus on quality of time over quantity of time. With a toddler in tow, we understand things can change quickly, so we do our best to be flexible and adaptable when that does happen. We also don’t say yes to everything!
How has your family business adapted to changes in the industry or market trends?
Having a toddler is a pretty good test of flexibility! When faced with change, we come back to our ‘why’ and our values. Change is inevitable and filled with a lot of opportunity to do things better. We review, discuss, make a decision on how to respond, and then implement that decision.
How does your family business contribute to the local community?
Kristian: We both enjoy supporting the local community, both in the capacity as business owners and through our various volunteer roles. Being a service-based business, I have donated vouchers to various local groups for raffles, trivia nights and other fundraising efforts. I have also, on occasion, volunteered time to support the endeavours of local sporting teams.
Jorja: We are both very community focused and have volunteering roles separate to our businesses, so of course that value naturally flows through into our businesses. For example, since January 2022, The Bunched Co. has donated around $5,500 in products, vouchers or funds to various charitable organisations, community associations, and charitable events or initiatives.
Do you feel it’s important to support other local family businesses?
Kristian: I think it is absolutely imperative to support family businesses. We know first-hand the challenges of running a family business and have been grateful for the support – in various ways – from our friends and family. Support doesn’t just mean buying products or services; sharing social media posts and telling a wider group of friends make an enormous difference when running a family business.
Jorja: Yes! There are lots of ways to have a family business, but supporting one has the same impact – you are directly contributing to their ability to pay their bills, run their households, enjoy time with their families, and live a life they’re passionate about.
What roles do different family members play in the business?
Jorja: We are both the boss and the employee. The leader and the assistant. The blue sky creative and the voice of reason. Across our businesses we have a chance to fall into different roles to lead or support the other. Kristian might take the delivery run so I can shoot social media content, or I might assemble flat pack furniture in his reception area so he can focus on his patients. Typically, I will take on more of the parenting duties because it is logistically easier for me to take our toddler on a delivery run than it is for Kristian to have them in his treatment room, but this is an ongoing discussion. For example, Kristian recently blocked off time so that I could go interstate to a three-day national conference and awards ceremony without our toddler.
What advice would you give other families looking to start a business?
Kristian: I think the best advice I can give is to trust yourself! You don’t know what you can achieve until you try and that’s the hardest part! Support each other to be the best you can be and set reasonable achievable goals for your businesses.
Jorja: There will never be a perfect time to start. Things will be chaotic and messy and unfinished and expensive and hard. Just give it a go and ask lots of questions along the way. Embrace the mistakes and the challenges – they’re opportunities to learn and grow. Seek out trusted people who are generous with their time and advice, and be ready to pay it forward when you find your feet. Do your research and only engage high quality professionals when outsourcing anything to do with your business.
Contact details
The Bunched Co.
R3 Healthcare
- 61A Strayleaf Crescent, Gungahlin
- www.r3healthcare.com.au
- M: 0434 638 745
- @r3healthcare
- [email protected]
Scorpio Sun Skincare
- www.scorpiosun.com.au
- @scorpiosun.skincare
- [email protected]
Special offer: Between 28 September and 31 October 2023, use the code CBRWKLY across any of our three businesses for 10% off your order or appointment. (*Code limited to one use per person per business.)
