A Moment with Anoushka
Anoushka Marie
CEO, John Taylor Watches
Hey Anoushka! Tell us about yourself – who is Anoushka Marie?
I was born in Adelaide and then moved and spent most of my life growing up in Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast of NSW.
I went to a Catholic school growing up but never had my own personal relationship with God. In 2002 my best friend became a Christian and shortly after I attended church with her and gave my life to Jesus. My whole world changed.
In 2004 I moved to New Zealand with my family and that was where I met my husband Dan at a local church. In 2006 we got married and now we have two beautiful daughters, Isabella (11) and Lexie (9). They bring us a lot of joy and we feel very blessed.
In 2012 we moved to Mandurah Western Australia, after Dan got a job here, prior to moving we’d never visited the area but absolutely love living here. The beaches and the relaxing lifestyle make it a terrific place to live.
My hobbies include singing and music in general, beauty, fashion and the arts. I love creating.
We understand that you created John Taylor Watches as an avenue to financially support your daughter’s medical requirements. Can you tell us a bit about that journey?
When our oldest daughter Isabella was five months old she was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma (cancer of the eyes). Our whole world changed overnight, we were told she had tumors in both eyes and she would need to have her right eye removed. This started a three year journey for us of chemotherapy and other treatments. It was easily the hardest time of my life and we had to take each day at a time. A few years later when she was 8 years old we had two specialists concerned with the bone structure on the right side of her face due to the prosthetic eye. We wanted the best Doctors for our daughter so we did some research and found a world leader in this field in Los Angeles.
To raise the money for the trip to see this specialist and for the medical treatment, we decided to start John Taylor Watches. We initially started the business with a Kickstarter Campaign and reached our goal well within the 30 days. Our friends and family and the community of Mandurah got behind us.
So, you’ve had this crazy, big idea. What was the process in bringing your dream to fruition?
I was doing my own social media hobby at the time and had been sent a few watches, so when we needed these additional finances we thought creating our own watch label would be a logical choice.
My dad always bought me watches when I was growing up, and my grandfather used to repair mantel clocks. This sparked a passion for timepieces in me from a very young age.
The first step was coming up with a name and then a signature style for the design.
We arrived at the name John Taylor as John is Dan's grandfather’s name who was a medic in WW2 and Taylor was our daughter’s middle name. When creating John Taylor Watches family heritage was extremely important to us. Plus we liked the idea of abbreviating to JT and decided to use that as part of the design on the watch face.
The actual design process was quite arduous and many months of 2am mornings became the norm when we first started.
What/who are your creative inspirations for John Taylor Watches?
God is the master creator and we only need to look around us to be inspired. Our beaches in WA are incredibly beautiful so we decided to name our watches after Australian beaches. For example one of our bestselling styles is called the ‘The Noosa’ after the stunning beach in Queensland and another is called ‘The Cottesloe’ because we love that beach in Western Australia!
What/who are your inspirations in your own personal life?
Absolutely God first and foremost, He is always my reason. I am so very grateful for all he has given me. Next is my family, I look at my sweet girls and my miracle Isabella and how can I not be inspired? From a practical sense I find a lot of inspiration in social media and on sites like Pinterest. I find these great resources. The world is full of incredible creativity and we should be inspired by others.
What is a book or resource that has impacted your life, both personally and in business?
The resource that has been a game-changer for me are Podcasts would you believe it. They are great, not only for spiritual growth but there are some amazing ones on finance and emotional education.
What has been your biggest challenge (businesswise) so far?
Staying fresh in an ever-changing market and always coming up with products that are relevant. I feel that in the days we are living ‘content is king’, meaning that we as a society are always searching for the new, and in a business sense sometimes this is extremely hard to keep up with. This is especially true when you factor in product development and the cost to release new products.
What was a highlight moment in your career with John Taylor Watches?
When we received our first ever run of watches. It was a great moment. It took months and months of getting the design exactly where we wanted it so to be able to finally see it in the flesh and wear it around was an awesome moment.
You also run a highly successful online blog both through Instagram and your website – how did this start?
I've always had a passion for beauty and fashion. I used to work in the beauty industry for a French beauty house. In my previous workplace I would constantly have staff asking me how I did certain makeup looks or how I styled my hair. I decided that as a creative outlet I would start a blog, which looked like a YouTube channel, a website and an Instagram account. It was so much fun and I still love creating content. This has become harder as the demands of being a mum and business owner increase, but it’s still something I invest time into.
Being a Christian in the social media sphere poses many challenges. What is something that encourages you to stay true to yourself?
I think knowing who you are is really important. There are so many people telling you who you should be in this world but to simply embrace who your creator made you to be is one of the most powerful discoveries you can have. I think too developing your relationship with God above all others, he is your compass and I try and let all my choices flow from that. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a challenge and I am learning every day.
What has been the most personally rewarding aspect of being an online influencer?
I love meeting new people and hearing their stories. I’m fortunate enough to go to many events and always find it really interesting to hear peoples’ journey and how they got to where they are today. I have developed many friendships with people I otherwise maybe never would have had the opportunity to meet.
If you could tell young female entrepreneurs/ start-ups anything, what advice would you pass on?
Listen to others who are already doing something similar. Learn as much as you can and take advice from experienced people around you. Ask your friends and target market for honest feedback about your idea, but don’t take any negative comments to heart. If you are a creative person you need to remember your identity is not in what you do.
What’s next for John Taylor Watches, and Anoushka Marie?
We are currently working on some new watch designs for the business, which we are really excited about. It has been an awesome journey and we are just thankful we are on this ride.
I love doing my personal blog and certainly have aspirations for it, but I have always held it very loosely. My goal will forever be to do the will of He who sent me. If God takes it away, I want to be ok with that, and that is my truth.
Where can we find your products?
You can find our watches at www.johntaylorwatches.com and @johntaylorwatches.
You can find me on Instagram and YouTube at @anoushkamarie, and my website is www.anoushkamarie.com .