Wearing Every Hat: Reflections on My Time at Aura Naturals

This past November, Simple Drew's joined the new commission program at Aura Naturals, with our flagship Everywhere Wash going on shelf at both their Newton and Willoughby locations. It was an exciting next step — and a chapter that taught me a lot about the realities of being a small brand in retail.

Wearing Every Hat

When you're a one-person operation, every job lands on your plate. During our time at Aura, I was:

• Territory Manager — making the rounds between stores, checking in on inventory, building relationships with staff
• Sales Rep — producing samples for the team to try so they could speak to the product confidently
• Content Creator — keeping a steady drumbeat of online posts to help drive shoppers in-store
• Product Maker — and oh yeah, still actually formulating and bottling the wash itself

It was a crash course in how stretched a founder's attention has to be, and it gave me a real appreciation for what a coordinated team brings to a bigger brand.

The Demo Dilemma

At one point, the store manager asked if I could come in and run product demos — a great idea in theory, and one that works wonders for a tea or a snack. But Simple Drew's flagship is a hair, face, body, and hand wash. Demoing a wash on the sales floor is genuinely tricky. There's no easy “try a sip and decide” moment. I tried to think creatively around it, but it never quite cracked the way I hoped.

The Honest Numbers

Here's the truth: at our flagship 473ml retailing for $24.99, I averaged about one bottle a month in sales. The margins were strong, but moving from “interested shopper” to “purchase” turned out to be a tall order without me there to tell the ingredient story in person.

Asking someone to commit to a $25 wash based on the label alone is a much bigger ask than I appreciated going in — and it ties directly back to what Hillary at Homemade Community had taught me earlier: shoppers want a low-stakes way in.

A Grateful Goodbye

Our time at Aura Naturals has now come to a close, and I'm leaving with more than I came in with — honest data, hard-won lessons, and a clearer picture of what it takes to make retail work for a brand at our stage. Aura's new commission program is a great opportunity for the right product at the right time, and I'm genuinely thankful they took a chance on Simple Drew's to find out.

If you're a fellow small business founder reading this: track your hats, be honest about your numbers, and don't be afraid to close a chapter that isn't working — even when it's hard. The lessons travel with you to whatever comes next.

🌿 Simple Drew's Health & Wellness Corp. | Proudly made in Langley, BC