When people hear “sex industry”, they assume prostitution or porn. We’re not in either of those businesses, we sell sex toys.
My son Chris started the business back in 2009 and our latest web store, Sex Toys 247, is the culmination of everything we’ve learned over our time in the industry; best design, best features, fastest website and, of course, the most important thing to our customers, the best product range.
I joined the business in 2010 at Chris’s request. At the time, it was evident that he needed someone to take on the day-to-day management of the company so that he could spend more time on development and planning.
I was very quick to say yes to the idea of working in the business, for several reasons. It was a great opportunity to spend more time with Chris and I hoped that I could also be of assistance to him in establishing a successful enterprise. As a parent, you want your child to succeed, so to be able to play a hands-on role in helping him achieve that feels good.
This isn’t actually the first time Chris and I have been involved in a family business. When I was a young mum, I worked for my father and Chris, who was a toddler at the time, went to day care for part of the day and came into the office with me in the afternoon. Several of my cousins also worked in the business so Chris has grown up knowing that family can work successfully together.
It’s not always smooth sailing, of course. We’re both the kind of people who meet challenges head on and on occasions we lock horns because we are both strong-willed. The good thing is that we see the need to apologise, say sorry and move on.
Our business is controversial to some people, but the most common reaction I’ve had from close friends is amusement to the point of disbelief, followed by laughter and jokes based on their idea of the sort of products I might handle every day. They eventually get over it and accept that after a while you don’t see dildos and butt plugs, you just see widgets and gadgets.
I once overheard one of Chris’s friends say, “I don’t know how you can talk to your mum about the business.” I guess, as with most of us, it’s a case of not being able to imagine that our parents have intimate relationships until we reach an age where our children are thinking the same thing about us! Working in this industry means you have to have a healthy attitude toward sexuality and the fact that Chris and I can talk about the business without getting flustered is a huge positive.
I’m a customer focused all-rounder and I’ve always been able to talk to people easily so I really enjoy overseeing the majority of customer service traffic on a daily basis. However, the challenges we experience with our customers can be tough at times. Because 99% of our contact is via email, content can be misleading or misunderstood. On occasions, we are threatened and abused, but there aren’t many businesses that can honestly say their staff don’t occasionally experience this type of feedback.
Due to the nature of our business, the vast majority of our customers are unknown to us. They place an order independently and we process it remotely. Sometimes the system handles the whole thing automatically with staff only involved in the final stage. Sometimes though, a customer will phone in to place an order because they don’t like ordering online or they don’t have the skills to be able to do it.
Some customers don’t have a clue what they want and need to get some advice. They can be the easiest to work with because you can discuss their needs and the devices that might meet them and they’re often willing to try a few different toys just to determine what they might enjoy most.
When it comes to the actual products, depth of knowledge can be a challenge. We carry over 7,000 items and there are new and different toys coming out all the time. It is an extensive learning process every day.
I’ve had surprisingly few awkward moments, given the nature of the business. My most embarrassing moment was during Chris’s first holiday away from the business when he left me in charge of everything.
In the early days, we used to take all the parcels to the Post Office in large sacks at the end of the working day. Usually, I’d been asked to leave the sacks near a side door, but, on this particular occasion, the staff member behind the counter decided that she wanted to check them through their system, one by one.
Well, you guessed it; one of the parcels started to vibrate and the lady asked me what was in the package. Was I honest? Absolutely not!
There was a room full of people behind me waiting to be served, already annoyed that they had to wait for someone with sacks full of parcels and I was not going to confess that they were full of sex toys under any circumstances. I said it must be a mobile phone.
It was in fact a We-Vibe vibrator.
I breathed a sigh of relief when it stopped vibrating, but when the staff member threw it into one of the boxes on the floor behind her, it started up again! The woman decided that the parcel needed to be opened. I wasn’t going to do that!
Thankfully, the test battery charge finally ran out and I managed to get out of there without having to open the parcel. Phew!
The majority of the time, it’s fun being at SexToys247.net.au and I love working with my son. We usually find something to laugh about and, in general, it’s usually got nothing to do with the products or our industry.
If work is fun, that’s half the battle.
This article is sponsored by Sex Toys 247
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