Inspired by Daily Dump - across the seas
At Daily Dump, we are celebrating 15 years of Daily Dump this year (2021)...and what a journey it has been!
Here we share the story of Paola from Chile in her own words - one of the first people who started a business, inspired by Daily Dump and using the designs shared with her.
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I, Paola Santoro from Chile, became a “clone" of Daily Dump in November 2009.
We had being composting at home for about 15 years “the old way”, making a pile on the ground with some wooden pallets to structure it. When we discovered what Daily Dump was doing it was our “Oh!” moment: you can compost your residues at home easily, in a friendly way. And if we can do it at home, where we have a big yard, others can also do it in an apartment with no yard at all. Compost at home for everyone. Second “Oh" moment. We started selling in December 2009, and we have saved about 4,6 tons saved from landfills, since then!
When we started, Daily Dump was a really important help, mostly in helping us to open our minds to different ways of composting, more kind and friendly ways than those we were used to. From time to time I get into Daily Dump's Instagram or web site, and it always impresses me how quickly you create different products and different ways of showing them. Your communication strategies are very creative, I think it is what I love the most.
Chile is a small country (less than 20 million people), and considering that our composters are not cheap, it is really difficult to reach those who are willing to compost their residues at home and can pay for it. It has been difficult to grow, we keep going, each year a little more, but not more than that.
There are some other (may be one or two) persons selling terracota composters, but they are not as well done as ours, and they have little knowledge of composting process. As you know, we are not selling a terracota pot, we are selling a composter, so we must be able to communicate properly what compost is and what you can expect when you compost at home. This is our expertise and we do it well
Our products are more expensive than other composters, and so they are perceived as elitist products, which in a way they are. On the other hand, the “elite" don’t compost their residues, that’s one of the reasons our market is so small.
My greatest joy from this work is that we are selling products that "are good”, our composters make good to others; and that comes with smiles, happiness, gratefullness, from others. Is very much as when you sell plants, people just get happy. Besides that, we are all the time knowing interesting people and new interesting knowledge.
During 2020 we have had difficulties with the potters that make the composters. One of them, the one that who has been making our red terracota composters for 11 years, had a problem on his shoulder and had a surgery about 2 months ago. He begun having pain about a year ago, or maybe two years ago, and during 2020 it became really difficult to have the composters done.
We have been working with an other potter that makes the new models (Gea) since two years ago, with a rather pink terracota. He lives in an other region, in the south of Chile, which is about 8 hours by car from our place. This man may be the best potter in our country, he works really well, he is also very smart. Due to these, of course he is always very busy, so we don’t have the composters when we need them. AND he had a fall and fractured one of his arms about 3 months ago. So… right now we only have a small stock of composters in our warehouse. I’m trying to be patient (ommmmmmm), fortunately we are in summer holidays period, which is always very slow and with little sales. Just waiting.
We have made a redesign of our first models, Kamba, Tita and Donna. But, due to the fractured arm of our potter, we haven’t put them on our web site.
These were our first models: With COVID, we had a very strange 2020. Some months during the quarantine we sold more composters than ever before. But at the end of the year (since october) sales begun to fall and is being difficult to grow again. I think in March, with the end of the summer holidays and hopefuly with some new stock in house, we will be able to start with strong marketing work again.
warm regards for you all,
Paola