[Voiceover]: 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.
Nathan Bush: Today's checkout features Max Ladechka, founder of Dualca. Dualcart is a completely portable hot water system that can be easily used camping or if you're off the grid or renovating anywhere where you need the luxury of hot water. Developed by Mac and his team, Joolca is now sold and distributed in four countries, Australia, the U.S. uK and Canada, and is sold online as well as through retailers such as tentworld and Snowys. Mac, welcome to the checkout. We've learned about what you're building at Joolca with your team, which is really exciting, but we're here to learn a little bit more about you.
Nathan Bush: So I've got five quick questions for you.
Maciek Slodyczka: Fire away.
Nathan Bush: What's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Maciek Slodyczka: So during COVID I bought, you know, everyone's shot and hairdressers are shut. I bought this thing called the Flowbeam, which is this hair cutting trimmer thing that connects to a vacuum cleaner and it looks completely ridiculous. And it has these like, spacing clips like that you can adjust the length to get the actual cut you want. So it's not just like a, like, you know, a one to four sort of trimmer. You can get an actual proper haircut without a bowl. Exactly. Yeah. When I explain to people, it sounds crazy, but it's. It actually works pretty well. I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't been to a hairdresser in like a year.
Nathan Bush: So you still use it even out of lockdown?
Maciek Slodyczka: I still use it, yeah. You know, it's like Friday night sort of having to book in a haircut and like travel 15 minutes and go through the whole thing. Small talk takes me like 15 minutes in the comfort of my bathroom and it's done.
Nathan Bush: How good?
Nathan Bush: So I'm just trying to picture it.
Nathan Bush: So is it attached to the vacuum cleaner to stop hair from going everywhere?
Maciek Slodyczka: No. Okay, so it's like this trimmer that attaches to the vacuum, so the vacuum creates suction. Right. So, and then it has like these spacing spacers that you can adjust the length so it suctions the hair through these spacers. And then based on the length that you've chosen, it trims it. Right. And then all of the hair goes straight into a vacuum. So you've got no mess in your bathroom at all. It's in a vacuum. And it's, it's wonderful and it's like a really geeky kind of product thing. But I have recently found out that George Clooney uses it and he's, and he's like an ambassador for them. They didn't even know he uses it. They, he somehow mentioned it in an interview and now they've got him on board to spruce their products. It's been around for like 25, 30 years. I think. My dad actually bought one in the States because we used to live in the States. He bought one and he used to cut all of our hair growing up and he still has his and that's where I got the idea from.
Nathan Bush: That's amazing.
Nathan Bush: What's it called again?
Maciek Slodyczka: Flow Beam.
Nathan Bush: Okay, all right, we'll check that one out.
Maciek Slodyczka: Love it.
Nathan Bush: All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Maciek Slodyczka: I like Bunnings. I'm a bit of a tool nerd. So, you know, basically every single time I go into Bunnings, even if I have no purpose for being there, I'll just go browse through the tool section fantasizing about tools that I'll probably never use, mostly inevitably buying at least something. So yeah, I love Bunnings. Like to me it's equivalent of like a clothing store for my wife.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, you never get out of there unscathed, do you?
Maciek Slodyczka: You don't know. They've done a great job online wise. Never really been a fan of Amazon, but recently I found myself getting into them because the service admitted is just so good. Like, you know, overnight delivery. I bought something small that I needed, like a coffee gizmo thing. Bought it on like 6:00 clock p. M. On a Sunday and I got it the next day, Melbourne, like. And that kind of thing is pretty, pretty amazing.
Nathan Bush: It's hard to beat that kind of convenience.
Maciek Slodyczka: It is, yeah. It is, yeah.
Nathan Bush: All right, number three, which e commerce
Nathan Bush: practice do you wish was history?
Maciek Slodyczka: I really hate email pop ups.
Nathan Bush: Like when you.
Maciek Slodyczka: The email subscriber pop ups that you get. Like we have them at joelca and I hate it, but I know it works. And until we have like a better alternative to kind of capture those people to, you know, put them through our flows, I think we'll keep doing it, but I just hate it. The experience is rubbish.
Nathan Bush: There's a fair few things like that in E commerce at the moment where founders and marketers, they all know it's a bad experience but they still work. So it's going to be interesting where they develop.
Maciek Slodyczka: Yeah, I agree. It's a shame because, you know, I like to kind of lead by experience and if, you know, and kind of trust that the business and the financials will work themselves out. But in this case, I haven't been able to push that point enough with the team. So honest days, you've probably got bigger
Nathan Bush: things to worry about than pop ups at the moment.
Maciek Slodyczka: You know, when I'm on the side, it really grinds my gears. But probably.
Nathan Bush: All right, number four, can you recommend
Nathan Bush: a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Maciek Slodyczka: Honestly, again, not really business wise. I don't. I mean apart from the kind of the big names, not really. I've been trying to get into like more non business stuff personally. Just, you know, try and expose myself to content that is just like for fun as opposed to just being on all the time. I really like an author called Bill Bryson. He writes a lot of travel and science science type of books and it's just really, really, really funny. He has this like really amazing observational humor. So if you're after like light, sort of hard to read and just like having, you know, like just for fun, then I would recommend Bill Bryson.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, he's done a great job of simplifying and making even learning enjoyable stills because you read his books and you go, I didn't realize I was learning because I was just having fun.
Maciek Slodyczka: But yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, one of my favorite books is a short history of nearly everything that he wrote quite a while ago now. And it was just, it was awesome. Like he, the way he explains big scientific concepts accurately, that makes it fun, is really a special skill. So yeah, I recommend it.
Nathan Bush: Absolutely. Great. Great recommendation. All right, last one I've got for you, Mac, finish this sentence. The future of retail is year already.
Maciek Slodyczka: I think that the, you know, what we've seen in the past with brands like niche brands that solve specific problems, growing and becoming quite big online. You know, we've seen that quite a lot in the States and in Australia as well. And I think that'll keep happening. I think that's the right way forward, especially for products that have been underserved and not really been catered for properly. But I also think that like, physical retail isn't going anywhere. I think it'll change, but I think, I think it's here to stay. And I think that, you know, again, what we've seen a lot of these online brands, once they get to a certain point, they will go into the physical space in one way or another. It might not be like the traditional wholesale distribution model, but they will. They want to be there. So I think, yeah, I think what's happening now is basically, I can't see it changing.
Nathan Bush: Okay, Mac, thank you so much for
Nathan Bush: joining us on the checkout.
Maciek Slodyczka: Great to be here again, mate. Thank you.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Mac, jump back into episode 183, where Max shares how we developed the innovative Joolca solution. With his engineering background and also his broader vision of how Joolca could help make anyone feel at home in the outdoors. We also discussed how his three other brothers joined him on his journey at Joolca, the hacks he's developed for great customer service, and his approach to bringing great people into the growing Joolca team. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to cart.
