By Times Team

Copyright times

Join Holly as she searches east Auckland for love and connection.

Holly: What girds your loins and keeps you mission-focused?

Viv: Sometimes with an online business it can feel like there is a distance between you and your end customer compared to if we had a brick-and-mortar store.

Sure, we get DMs and are in constant virtual contact with our customers, but I think what keeps us mission-focused is when we do get feedback, reviews, and genuine responses from people whose sex lives have changed as a result of engaging with Girls Get Off, both online and also with the products.

That’s what really makes the mission feel real.

H: You and co-founder Jo Cummins started Girls Get Off during lockdown.

The growth of the business is impressive, and you’ve obviously made some great decisions along the way.

Was going in with a mate the best one? It seems like you guys have so much fun!

V: First, thank you so much. That’s very flattering. I will also be the first to acknowledge that social media is always going to be a highlights reel.

We’ve been in situations over the years, like any other business owner, worried about how we pay the wages one week or trying to figure out what to do next when we realise that we’ve got to make right on our hiring decisions and restructure the company but try not to hurt anyone’s self-confidence/worth in the process.

I don’t think any business owner or business partnership is exempt from the realities of running a business.

Jo and I definitely have a lot of fun. This business is so unique, and we even have a Slack channel purely for the stories that you just can’t make up… like when FedEx wouldn’t ship our packages because they classed them as obscene material, or when someone messages us a video about her having her Missy out in town, pretending to take the temperature of people, or the time a Chinese supplier obviously got caught in the language barrier but messaged me saying “when it’s a full moon, they like to share their feelings”.

At the end of the day, we’re just like any other business partnership; however, we’re very different.

Our complementary skills are what have created the Girls Get Off that it is today.

I’d also say that some things that have really helped our business partnership are both doing the Gallup CliftonStrengths test and the Myers-Briggs test.

For example, the CliftonStrengths showed that I had Activator within my top five strengths, and Jo had Deliberate within her top five.

This means I’ll often do things quickly and without thinking about them.

I’m very good at taking action, whereas Jo is more deliberate and likes to think things through.

By doing the personality test, you can understand why we might drive each other up the wall from time to time, when to pull back or step up based on what your strengths and weaknesses are.

H: The community of *electric toothbrush* enthusiasts you’ve built is so inclusive. What’s your hope for this community going forward?

V: Honestly, I just want people to feel like it’s okay to explore themselves and then feel confident in sharing that with someone else if they so choose to. I think it really is as simple as that.

So many people haven’t been given the permission, both by society and by themselves, to experience pleasure in whatever way they desire.

At the end of the day, what bad can come from talking about pleasure and getting off more, so long as everyone is having healthy, consensual interactions?

Our toys and products might only be the start of someone’s journey, or they might be the absolute peak of something that they have never thought they’d try before.

At the end of the day, if all we do is start conversations that are really healthy then I don’t think that we can lose as a business.

I think the whole of society wins and it brings us together.

Reader, if you’d like to explore the range of Girls Get Off adult products, head to their website www.girlsgetoff.com with the promo code HOLLY20.

Email holly@times.co.nz

Yours in love