Speaker A: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
[Voiceover]: Today's checkout features Leo Plaza, co founder and director of EasyClean, a cleaning company that specializes in looking after e commerce spaces and their unique needs. Leo's clients and brands such as lskd, High Smile and Princess Polly form part of the Gold Coast e commerce community that share both work and lifestyle values.
Nathan Bush: Leo, welcome to the checkout. We've learned a lot about easy clean and the link between employee engagement and cleanliness, but I want to learn a little bit more about you. Five quick questions. What's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Leo Plaza: All right. Weirdest thing is a bit of an awkward one. I bought a spy camera from Wish.
Nathan Bush: Yes. This is going to end well. The spy on your cleaners.
Leo Plaza: Yeah. Because I have. Funny. It's not our own cleaners, but I had. In my house, I had to. We don't do residential, but we had like, I had my own cleaning arrangement and so it's very open and so I just put like a camera on that. The problem is that this camera had a light that was flashed and a beeping sound and I was like. And I had to chuck it in the. In the bin. So there it goes. Like, I understood why all the jokes about, like, getting products from Wish is legit. So that's probably the weirdest thing I bought. Yes.
Nathan Bush: You must be a pretty tough client from a residential perspective when you've got other companies, cleaners, coming through your own house.
Leo Plaza: Yeah, exactly. So in a way, it gives me a big understanding on the challenge of cleaning. So I actually just more like, I'm probably more flexible, actually, because I'm like, yeah, understand it's. It's not easy.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Leo Plaza: It's a tough battle between lskd and High Smile, so hopefully they both sign up to surf work and they can battle each other and see who wins.
Nathan Bush: So whoever's the best surfer will be your favorite retailer.
Leo Plaza: That's it.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. That's great. We heard a lot around the culture and the office environments of both those companies back in the main episode, which was really fascinating to hear.
Leo Plaza: Yes.
Nathan Bush: Number three, which E commerce practice do you Wish was? History.
Leo Plaza: I don't know if you can class this as an E commerce practice, but like the post office, you know when
Nathan Bush: they literally sleep, the worst experience ever.
Leo Plaza: It's Made it worse than going by yourself. Right. It's just. Made it like it's just heartbreaks. So I wish someone. I got enough on my plate, but I wish someone could develop something that like stops that. Right. Like if it's like a big safe box or a tube that goes into your house or something so that like the post office cannot leave those little slips.
Nathan Bush: Let's get rid of the slips. It was interesting. We had David from Hubbed interviewed a couple of weeks ago. It's actually not too long ago. And he's absolutely solving that problem by allowing people to pick up at local convenient outlets like service stations and news agents in their own communities and neighborhoods instead of having to rely on the post office opening hours and abstract locations.
Leo Plaza: But still you have to go and get it. Right.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. Or pick it up on your way home. Yes, exactly. So we just need a tube straight into the house. Pretty much reinvent the doggy flap for E commerce parcels.
Leo Plaza: Exactly. Or like I thought of this like some sort of fridge that you have outside because then you have your Coles and Woolies shopping put in there because that's the worst thing as well. When have you ever had like your Woolies or coles shopping, your milk or your. I don't know if you get ice cream or whatever.
Nathan Bush: I don't get that. But I get cold beer delivered.
Leo Plaza: That's a good one. And so that's sitting out there for like eight hours getting hot and spoiled. So anyways, that would be cool, I hear.
Nathan Bush: All right. Number four, I know you're an avid reader. Can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Leo Plaza: I'm going to be biased towards what I'm reading lately, I think because there's so many good stuff out there. But. And lately I've been sort of like listening to a bit of philosophy by Alan Watts. I think that's a good starting point because it's so fundamental, the things he talks about. Right. Before you get into business, books and self development, you need to understand like what's more fundamental than that. And it's your perspective on like who you are as a being. Yeah, that's. That's what I would recommend. Alan Watts, he's. And he keeps it really fun philosophy. You think, oh, that's boring. But he keeps it super fun. So I would highly recommend that.
Nathan Bush: And is there a book that comes to mind as a starting point for Alan Watts?
Leo Plaza: It's called out of youf Mind.
Nathan Bush: Okay.
Leo Plaza: By Alan Watts.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. Great recommendation. Leo.
[Voiceover]: Last question. I have for you finish this sentence.
Nathan Bush: The future of retail is.
Leo Plaza: I think a lot of people know this, but it's going to be experience based shopping. That's just around the corner for sure,
Nathan Bush: and those retailers that you gave are great examples of that. Leo, thank you so much for joining us on the checkout.
Leo Plaza: Amazing. Good to have you.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Leo, jump back
[Voiceover]: into episode 224 where Leo shares how to get cleaning right from a business and E commerce point of view and how that impacts staff morale and culture directly. And in a fascinating view of the future, Leo shares his passion for reinventing the workplace of the future and why he thinks that Gen Z's happy place might eventually be right back in the office. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to car.
