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Her love for design and nature inspired Carly to create the super-groovy & functional aromatherapy oils brand, Thought Sanctuary.
Homeschoolers rock! Just ask Carly Gouweloos. Since she was a kid, nature has been Carly’s teacher. Growing up with a love for plants, colour, creativity and independence, she eventually ended up in the classroom, graduating with an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Along with running her own design and startup development firm Caleidoscope, Carly launched her own brand to create independently with no boundaries or clients to please. With Thought Sanctuary, she’s combined her love of nature and design, and infused them with a little magic to create a line she calls “super-groovy, functional aromatherapy oils.” Based in small-town Ontario, her magical potions are sold around the world, from New Zealand, to Iceland to Goop.
Community is everything. I have so many forms of community in my life, and it is what really makes everything worth it. When I moved to Collingwood, I was immediately embraced by the amazing community of entrepreneurs here, some of whom have become great friends and mentors. My community of shops are wildly supportive and incredible; every time we get a new retailer, I feel like I make a new friend. And I literally couldn’t run my business without my personal community – my family and friends. Especially my partner who is a talented developer AND photographer so he helps me with all the tech stuff, creates most of my graphics for me and takes care of our 8-month son so I can get work done, thank you, Ty!
It’s funny because Thought Sanctuary was kind of created as an escape from collaboration after working with so many different people and businesses, I wanted to create something completely on my own. But of course, as my business grows and changes, collaboration has become essential in order to do things well. I feel that it’s a good idea to take note of what you do best in your business (and maybe even more importantly: what you enjoy doing) and outsource or collaborate on the rest if you can.
Just go for it! Especially when you are working on a side hustle, you really have nothing to lose. You can tinker and perfect things until you go crazy, but sometimes you need things to be out in the world so you can learn better and faster. Especially as a designer, I can’t tell you how many times I redid our branding and packaging concepts over and over again. Once I finally launched, my first thought was why didn’t I do this sooner! I see this really often with other entrepreneurs and friends, too – they really want everything to be perfect before going out in the world, but sometimes we need things to be out in the world before we know what changes we really need to make.
When I originally launched my brand, I launched each of my blends in two different forms – oils and mists, with two different sizes each. With so many SKUs with not very much variation between the products, it just ended up being too much. I made the buying decision too complicated, so I had to go back to change things up, and now we only have one type of product in one size each.
This was a result of overthinking things before launching them into the market, and it wasn’t until I had them out in the world that I realized my mistake. The decision should be made easier for the consumer: What oil do I resonate with? What oil suits what I am calling into my life? That’s the FUN decision consumers want to make, not what size or form they want it in. So, simplify your offering if you can!
In order to simplify my offering, I had to make some major decisions about what products to cut and what ones to move forward with. Our line of mists was actually a better seller than our oils, but our oils had a higher repeat purchase rate. I reached out to some of our super loyal clients, and most of them felt that the oils offered a better quality experience and the scent lasted much longer, which I agreed with fully. So even though mists were easy to sell products that appealed to a broader audience, I really wanted to move forward with what I knew customers were loving and returning for. It has definitely paid off as we could hyper-focus on making our one product line super special and amazing by paying attention to every detail of the product. It has allowed our company to grow in a much clearer direction.
I literally just need the time and freedom to get things done! I have always been able to get into a flow state pretty easily; I can turn everything else off and just go. Before I had my son, I worked out of a coworking space a few days a week, which I really enjoyed, and it definitely helped me be more productive. Now that I have more limited time with a baby, I feel like I get a week’s worth of work done in one day somehow – you just make it work because you have to! I like listening to music while I work (Zero 7, Air, Bronski Beat are some of my favs) and if I can work outside on a nice day! I try to do all of my Zoom calls from my ‘outside office’ on our deck in the Summer.
COLOUR! Maybe not so unexpected when you see our product line, but colour inspires me every day. I still have a place in my heart for a minimalist, neutral aesthetic, but I have an even bigger space that loves the fun and excitement and vibrancy and pleasure that comes from colour. I love experiencing what colour can do in design, fashion, and architecture as it adds playfulness and life to things, and I think we all need a little more of that.
Something that has always really stuck in my head is advice from Adam Grant in his book Originals (super good book, by the way): don’t quit your day job yet! Keeping your side hustle a side hustle until you no longer can, allows you to make better decisions about your business. Rather than making decisions out of the pressure or desperation that can come from quitting your job and going all in on one business and source of income, you can really perfect things by keeping it a true ‘side hustle’ for a while. You can have more flexibility to make changes in your business, and you can come up with better ideas.
So, I knew it was time to transition out of my design company into Thought Sanctuary on a full-time basis when I literally just didn’t have any time to take on any design work anymore, and things were really flowing and growing with Thought Sanctuary.
I have thought a lot about this recently, as there is so much polarization and divisiveness in the world right now. I actually think it is really good to be around, and be friends with, people who think differently than you! Life would be so boring if everyone felt and thought the same way, and there would be no progression. In a situation like this, it would be important to just listen. I think when people are listened to, they are more open to listening, as well.
Nature is such an inspiration. If someone takes a few moments to look around and observe it – they will feel it too! Just take someone for a walk in nature and soak up everything around you – trees, mushrooms, flowers, plants, animals – it’s kind of a miracle that all of these things exist.
Snowboarder, filmmaker, artist, musician and literally the coolest and kindest person I know. I am so inspired by my little brother and all the magic he creates. His latest film, Afterlight, is a snowboard movie turned dreamy art meditation, be sure to turn the sound up!
Snowboarder, filmmaker, artist, musician and literally the coolest and kindest person I know. I am so inspired by my little brother and all the magic he creates. His latest film, Afterlight, is a snowboard movie turned dreamy art meditation, be sure to turn the sound up!
Purely aspirational! Julie is basically a modern day pioneer and a true ‘maker’ - she basically makes everything she and her family wears, eats, gifts. I am always WOW’d by her and her family.
Purely aspirational! Julie is basically a modern day pioneer and a true ‘maker’ - she basically makes everything she and her family wears, eats, gifts. I am always WOW’d by her and her family.
Mel is a Clinical Herbalist and all around magical woman. She owns a really beautiful shop Rosewood & Silver, and has recently launched her own brand of herbal products with super cool and colourful branding.
Mel is a Clinical Herbalist and all around magical woman. She owns a really beautiful shop Rosewood & Silver, and has recently launched her own brand of herbal products with super cool and colourful branding.
Holistic Nutritionist extraordinaire Krissi hosts really yummy and healthy cooking classes. She inspires me to make healthy baby food for my little one - check out her insta; she has super cute and funny videos you can learn from!
Holistic Nutritionist extraordinaire Krissi hosts really yummy and healthy cooking classes. She inspires me to make healthy baby food for my little one - check out her insta; she has super cute and funny videos you can learn from!