If you’re experiencing stress or sleeping troubles this may be having adverse effects across many areas of your life including your work performance or your relationship with friends and family, not to mention finding time to exercise and eat well. There is overwhelming evidence to show that sleep is literally THE foundation of all health and wellbeing.
Not getting enough sleep each night can have a profound impact on our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing and has been shown to alter the expression of over 700 genes in the body. Studies show links between lack of sleep and a large array of health conditions including anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, premature ageing, memory loss, substance abuse and weight gain.

• Prepare for tomorrow. Check your schedule as you finish work for the day so you are not wondering if you have forgotten anything for the next working day. Make a list of everything you need to do the next day. Then leave the office at the office. Keep a notebook by the bed in case you get some ideas that need to be remembered. Write them down and then forget about them until tomorrow.
• Set an alarm to start your bedtime wind down routine 1 hour before your anticipated sleep time. Science has shown that interacting with screens can delay sleep onset by up to 1.5 hours so try to avoid interacting with technology in the lead up to bedtime as the light emitted from these screens can interfere with the body’s production of melatonin (your sleep hormone) and stop you from getting your much needed rest.
• Reduce Stress. Stress is undoubtedly the most common reason for sleeping problems. Cortisol, a hormone produced during times of stress, is stimulating by its very nature and can have a serious impact on your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you find you have a ‘second wind’ from 10pm until 1am and become energized at this time, or you go to sleep and wake again an hour or 2 later, or several times in the night – cortisol may be an issue for you.

• Take a blend of vitamins and minerals which will help your body to manage cortisol response and nourish your nervous and adrenal systems. Look for a formula with a combination of the following ingredients Magnesium, B vitamins, Vitamin C and Tart cherry (a natural source of melatonin).
• Introduce stress reducing activities such as pre-sleep meditation apps, yoga and regular exercise.
• Limit your caffeine consumption throughout the day as this will initiate a stress response and caffeine can take up to 9 hours to be metabolised and may therefore interfere with sleep.
• Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol may help some people go to sleep but it does not promote good quality sleep. You don’t get the full phases of sleep and it will often wake you up between 12am and 3am, which according to Chinese medicine is ‘Liver’ time.
• Breathing Techniques. Deep slow breathing can reset your nervous system and induce a state of relaxation which will enable you to get to sleep. If you are not sure where to start there are some fantastic guided mediations and breathing technique videos online.

If you’re struggling with Stress or sleeping troubles this may be having adverse effects across many other areas of your life including your work performance or your relationship with friends and family, not to mention finding time to exercise and eat well. There is overwhelming evidence to show that sleep is literally THE foundation of all health and wellbeing.
Not getting enough sleep each night has been shown to alter the expression of over 700 genes in the body. Studies show links between lack of sleep and a vast array of health conditions including anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, premature ageing, memory loss, substance abuse and weight gain. With approximately half of the NZ population having sleeping troubles it’s no wonder there is an increasing prevalence of these health conditions within our communities.

Quality sleep supports optimal healing and repair in the body as well as better preparing you for the daily challenges of life. By prioritising your sleep, you are protecting yourself from all aspects of ill health, giving your body the most powerful of anti- stress strategy and ensuring you get more out of your day.

If you find it hard to achieve your 8 hours of sleep each night, read on for our top sleep tips below.

• Reduce Stress. Stress is undoubtedly the most common reason for sleeping problems. Cortisol, a hormone produced during times of stress, is stimulating by its very nature and can have a serious impact on your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
  Do all that you can to mitigate the stress in your life. If you find you have a ‘second wind’ from 10pm until 1am and become energized at this time, or you go to sleep and wake again an hour or 2 later, or several times in the night — cortisol may be an issue for you.

You can reduce cortisol with these tips:

• Set an alarm to start your bedtime wind down routine 1 hour before your anticipated sleep time. Switch off your laptop and stay away from screens of all kinds. It has been scientifically proven that interactions such as emailing, texting and Facebook etc. can delay sleep onset by up to 1.5 hours so try to avoid interacting with technology in the lead up to bedtime as the light emitted from these screens can interfere with the body’s production of melatonin (your sleep hormone) and stop you from getting your much needed rest.
• Wash your worries away. A warm bath helps your muscles relax. Research has shown a hot bath or shower half an hour before bed helps bring about a change in your body temperature which is needed to fall asleep.
• Minerals and nutrition for relaxation. Mineral deficiencies are a leading cause of sleep disturbances as they can adversely impact on the nervous system and the body’s ability to handle stress. Minerals taken before bed can have a positive impact on naturally sedating the nervous system. They help neurons to “fire” more functionally. Find a formula which contains nutritional co-factors that support all phases of sleep and take it each night before bed.
• Breathing Techniques. Deep slow breathing can reset your nervous system and induce a state of relaxation which will enable you to get to sleep. If you are not sure where to start there are some fantastic guided meditations and breathing technique videos online.
• Avoid Alcohol. Don’t use alcohol as a sedative to get you to sleep as it does not promote good quality sleep.You don’t get the full phases of sleep and it will often wake you up between 12am and 3am which according to Chinese medicine is “Liver” time.
• Prepare for tomorrow. Check your schedule as you finish work for the day so you are not wondering if you have forgotten anything for the next work day. Make a list of everything you need to do the next day. Keep a note book by the bed in case you get some ideas that need to Do Remembered. Write them down and then forget about them until tomorrow.
• Develop a Regular sleep routine. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning 8 hours later. Even in the weekend try to get into a good sleeping pattern. Have a wind down period before bed with no stimulating activities involving the TV, computer, electrical device or intense physical activity. This is your time to unwind and relax.
• Make sure your bedroom is a comfortable temperature (18.5° C to 21″C) and reduce outside noise and light. Use ear plugs to reduce outside noise and black-out curtains and/or an eye mask to block out light. This encourages your body to achieve the deeper restorative phases of sleep.

The economic gloom of the farmers’ ‘Black Friday’ could spread, the latest 3News-Reid Research poll showing a clear majority of New Zealanders fear the economy is headed for a downturn.
But Prime Minister John Key says the economy is better placed than they think, and there’s no need to panic.
Kirsten Taylor founded Sleep Drops, the sleep remedy, in the middle of the global financial crisis. She’s now preparing for more economic turbulence.

“Yeah, I think it’s a real concern. I think our farmers have been putting in the hard yards for the last few years and they haven’t had any good news come back to them.”

The Kiwi economy is being hit on three fronts: the dairy crisis, the slowdown in China and ongoing uncertainty in Greece, and voters are worried.
Sixty-four percent of people who took part in the poll say yes, a downturn is on the horizon.
Mr Key says there’s no reason to be afraid at all.

“It’s hardly surprising that a majority of New Zealanders thinks that could cause some headwinds for New Zealand; it doesn’t mean we’re going into recession.”

Dairy accounts for 20 percent of New Zealand exports, and China is our second-largest export market.
But Mr Key says the economy is sturdier than people think.

“I think the counter to all of this is the New Zealand economy is far more diversified than a lot of people give it credit, is very resilient, has strong stimulus in a lot of other areas.”

Ms Taylor agrees, and says it isn’t all doom and gloom

“I think it’s something to be concerned about. But at the same time as the dollar goes down, other industries will open up like the great figures around tourism, and they’re having a great impact on New Zealand.”

The economy suffered yet another blow from the dairy slump today. This will really test Mr Key’s assurance the economy is diversified enough to handle it.
The question now is whether Black Friday will turn into a black economic winter.

NZ Entrepreneur’s Organisation – a local chapter of a global peer to peer mentoring association – has recruited eleven new highflying business people show will be able to offer practical help to others.
They include Seeby Woodhouse, founder of Orcon and current CEO of Voyager Internet, Kirsten Taylor, managing director of the successful SleepDrops natural remedy business and Ryan Sanders,, owner of the country’s leading tour company, Haka Tours.
Kirsten Taylor’s SleepDrops business produces natural remedies using herbs, homeopathy and flower essences to help people get a good quality sleep and cope with stress during the day. The company was launched in 2012, and the products are stocked in 1100 stores nationwide.
The powders and drops can be mixed and matched to individual requirements, and are already exported to Singapore, Hong Kong. Talks are ongoing about selling through a US web site which ships 70,000 parcels of natural remedies from international producers every day to 125 countries.
It has been a rapid rise to success, but Taylor said it could not have been achieved without help from mentoring organization. She said “I did not have a family network of entrepreneurs of relationship where I could ask people for advice about business issues.
“Many firms can also feel a powerful obligation to follow advice if they have paid for it, form a layer or accountant for example. They feel they have to respond and may lose touch with their gut instinct.
“It is possible for New Zealand companies to compete on an international stage. I can’t wait to help others on the same exciting journey that we are going through and still experiencing. I am really looking forward to that.”
Richard Conway of the Entrepreneur’s Organisation said membership growth was testament to a changing attitude among Kiwi entrepreneurs.
“New Zealanders have always been entrepreneurial by nature look at the likes of AJ Hackett turning his adventure passion into a profitable commercial operation. But also in our nature is a tendency toward a KIY attitude, even in business.
“Now more than ever though we are seeing entrepreneurs understand that some aspects of business can’t be solved by just mucking in and `doing it yourself`.
“More of our local entrepreneurs are now taking advantage of opportunities for support from other likeminded, successful business owners,, understanding the value of bouncing off each other and growing through shared experience,” says Conway.
“This newfound confidence supports the notion that Kiwi business people are more confident in relying on local business acumen rather than looking offshore for inspiration and advice.”
The NZ Entrepreneurs’ Organisation’s goal is to increase its Auckland chapter to 58 members by 2016. Membership is by invitation only based on a strict checklist to ensure all business has the potential to grow and increase, not only profits for the entrepreneur but for New Zealand, as well as employment opportunities for local markets.

One night while tossing and turning awake after a massive business setback of my own during the global financial crisis, I took my own remedy and had the best night’s sleep I’d had in a long time. It dawned on me that I mustn’t be alone in this struggle for sleep during this tough financial time so I decided to make SleepDrops available to the public.

Not having enough money to get the business off the ground. Like most start-ups I had no money so I had to print labels and hand pour bottles at home. Every cent made went back into building brand awareness. Lack of money also hindered product development. It took two years to finally have all five products launched, even though all of the formulations were ready and waiting right from the beginning.
After two years our internet sales were steady but we were being asked to consider making the products available for retail. We had to create demand for the products before the stores would agree to stock them. It was risky, but using our entire marketing budget, we drove customers in-store instead of to our website, without actually having product in-store, in an effort to create demand. It was tough going in the beginning but paid off quickly as SleepDrops had one of the fastest retail “take ups” by pharmacies for a previously unknown brand in New Zealand.

It’s such a widespread issue. Around 50 percent of the world’s population struggle with sleep issues, so I wanted to help people and sleep was the obvious choice to make the biggest difference in people’s lives.

We have a strong presence across all media platforms to maximise brand exposure. Our main marketing channel is radio with regular print and periodic TV ads to back this up. We create new radio ads every month or two so that we can keep our messages relevant and timely. We constantly invest in our website experience, we keep in touch on Twitter and Facebook, and we use Adwords.
Basically, we want be anywhere our customers are. We want to be first to mind when people think of sleep products. You won the Best Emerging Business award at

Innovation is incredibly important to us. We feel that creating a range of products that can help all ages sleep better without creating toxic side effects or dependency is both awesome and incredibly innovative. Research and development is important, so we spend a significant percentage of our budget on it.
Currently we are working on growing sales for the existing product range but we have a few new products that might be in the works soon.

The simple answer is no, it’s not fair. Doctors are trained in drug therapy disease management and there’s definitely a time and a place for that.
But there’s also an opportunity for naturopathic treatment, which is very scientific. Most modern naturopaths are trained in research, analysis and nutraceutical therapy.
There is a wide body of research with numerous clinical trials showcasing the efficacy and benefits of all types of natural medicines in humans and this information is easily accessible to the public.
Natural remedies have been used for many centuries, long before conventional synthetic medicine was in use. The way media report on natural remedies needs to be addressed as well.

We do not see any benefit in challenging other scientists’ perspectives on natural remedies. We are a company interested in getting the best results for our customers.
PR is a key part of our business strategy. We work closely with our PR company to obtain exposure through the media and take up opportunities to promote the SleepDrops brand through a wide variety of different media channels.
In May last year, we had an event at Auckland Zoo to launch our new children’s book, SleepDrops’Sleeptime at the Zoo, a bedtime story where we take kids on a journey through their bedtime winddown routine.
This was a highly successful event that generated a huge amount of positive feedback from the public and resulted in great media coverage.

ASA regulations can be decidedly restrictive around natural remedies. It is frustrating having to tiptoe around the benefits of our products.
We literally cannot tell people how our remedies work and what benefits they can expect from the range. We can’t even use the word insomnia on our website or in any of our marketing material.
If I ever see the word ‘support’ again… We’ve adapted though and it just means we have to be a bit more creative with our marketing and PR.

There are an enormous number of competing sleep remedies in the New Zealand market, over 100 in pharmacies alone. However, as our product range offers a clear point of difference we have not found it too hard to set ourselves apart. We can offer the consumer an individualised programme tailormade to their needs.
As well as this, we specialise in sleep and stress remedies and can offer each customer one-on-one professional support to ensure that they get the best results that they can from the SleepDrops range.
The results speak for themselves. We wouldn’t have got to number one brand and number one product in three of the sleep categories if our products didn’t work. Happy customers help us to cut through.

Make great products, have integrity and create a point of difference. For someone to want to buy your product, there has to be a notable benefit in choosing your product over somebody else’s. On top of this make sure that you are doing something that you are passionate about and that you truly believe in.
If you are doing something you love and strongly believe in, the rest will follow.

We want to change as many lives as possible for the better. We hope to one day end up as a household name on every bedside table in the world. The sky is the limit.

I had been making my sleep remedies for my private clients for years but had never taken them myself because I hadn’t had a sleeping issue and I hadn’t realised how important sleep is.
Then in 2009, just as the global financial crisis hit, I had a business partnership go wrong which left me with
literally nothing. After months of lying awake at night worrying about how I was going to get back on track and feed my son and myself, I suddenly remembered I had sleep remedies. So I got up one night, made one, took some drops and woke up nine hours later.
I was so surprised at how well it had turned off my anxiety, worries and fears from going around and around in my head and allowed me to sleep. About 10am that morning I suddenly realised
I wasn’t the only person lying awake worrying about finances. I knew I had to offer my remedies to New Zealand and I also thought, “Gosh, this might be a way to feed my family“.

I put my first ad in The Aucklander in July of 2009. I kept the business as an internet only operation. People could either call in or order on line. I kept it that way deliberately for three years while I proved to myself that I could take a naturopathically developed system to support stress and sleep and turn it into solutions that worked for everyone — without a consultation.

I had to be sure that it would really work. More and more people started using the remedies and telling their friends and by November 2012 pressure was such that I knew it was time to move
into retail to make them more available. By that stage we had five products — real solutions for babies, kids and of course our three products for adults.

SleepDrops is a world first, holistic, 24 hour integrative, sleep and stress support system with a mix and match componentry for individualised solutions.
The range combines herbs, homeopathy, flower essences and nutritional supplements. In a nutshell, I thought about all the reasons why people young or old are not sleeping and then combined all the appropriate remedies. This has been done in such a way that a synergy occurs with all of the ingredients making the remedies super effective without costing the earth and most importantly without causing herb/drug interactions or side effects for people.

I think there are a few reasons why we have been so successful Firsfly, as a company we are completely dedicated to helping people control their stress and get them the best night’s sleep. We totally understand how stress and insomnia can affect peoples whole lives, taking away their joy, energy and vitality at all levels.
Secondly, we have made exceptional products in a way that no other company has ever done before. Once people get introduced to SleepDrops they can easily understand our three adult products and how they can use them in their lives.

We are not like other supplement companies simply making ’me too’ products or one hit wonders. I have deliberately made each product to do certain therapeutic actions in the body rather than trying to include everything in one product.
Because of this, the results people get are absolutely life- transforming. Our products work with the body to re- programme and re-balance it rather than forcing it to do something or just tackling the symptoms. Our products address the underlying cause of stress and insomnia and so the results are long lasting.
The third reason we have done so well is because of our marketing strategy. We have stayed focused on sharing information and letting people know why they need the products.

Because of therapeutic advertising laws we are not legally allowed to focus on the benefits or tell them what the product is doing to help their body, or even how it is helping them. Drug companies are allowed to do that, but natural health companies are not. So our message had to be more about why they should make SleepDrops.

Ha, ha, ha. Business is not for the faint hearted.
I have learnt that I have to be resilient, driven and committed. I am extremely lucky that I get to wake up every day and help make the world a better place. I take huge pride in the fact that SleepDrops is an agent of change for our customers and for the planet.
We all deserve to have a GREAT night’s sleep and wake up refreshed, ready to go and happy. This passion has kept me going during the tough times, and believe me, there have been many. I have also learnt that, unfortunately, I can’t trust everyone.
There are people out there (you know who you are!) that will bulldoze right over the top of me, and my company without a second thought. I have learned that business is very personal, and that I am only prepared to do business with people and companies I like. It’s too hard otherwise. I have also learnt that during tough times our relationships with suppliers, manufacturers and magazines become really important.
These people will go to bat for me or extend credit for me to help me get through a tough patch. That is incredibly humbling because it means that they can see our integrity and that they also want to be a part of making SleepDrops succeed.

Wow, this is such a big question. It is one that I wrestle with all the time. For a long time I didn’t have any money but I made sure that my son never knew how bad things were.
I think it‘s very important for parents to portray abundance and not set up negative programmes in our children’s minds such as “money doesn’t grow on trees, you know“.
There have been times when we have had to go without, but I have always shared with my son the highs of business, any milestones and
big successes. I even took him along to the Westpac Business awards night this year which was great because we won an award!
He got to be part of that, which is appropriate because he is very much a part of the SleepDrops story. Mothers should go for their dreams.
Start it off part-time while continuing to earn money, make sure you have all the bases covered, and slowly build it up.
Talk to your children about your dreams for your business. Get them to be a part of it.
Be a role model and live by example. Show them that you have to be brave and work hard to achieve your goals. They will see you succeeding and this gives them the fuel to go on and strive for their own dreams.

The biggest thing for me was to work out how I would get my message to the best market, with the least amount of stress and with the tiny budget I had. A company website has to be the most
important because it is the face of your company, it is the place that everyone will come to first. It doesn’t have to be fancy – you can hire a Uni student to make it for you if you need to.
You don’t have to have ecommerce hooked up to start with, but get something up there that will talk to your customers. The messages and feelings that your website portray are very important, so focus on that first.
So many people told us that our home page was ridiculous, that it was too long and that it had too much information but I knew that insomniacs worry. They worry about a lot of things and I didn’t want them to worry about SleepDrops, so I talked to them on the page.I let them know I understood their situation.

I was also told that my video was too long and that no one would watch it. But I knew that they would watch it. So my lesson would be to trust your own judgment. You know your market, your customer better than anyone. Trust your intuition. If you think it takes
six minutes to make your customers trust you then put the six minutes of effort in.
Marketing companies don’t always know best.
As businesses, there are so many bases we have to cover — websites, radio, magazines, TV, brochures, Facebook, Google ads,
Twitter — it’s exhausting and it’s hard to do it all, and do it well. So choose something you like doing and that you can teach yourself and do that. Choose the right channels for your product,
your market and your budget. For SleepDrops radio has always been really powerful.

Lack of money. On the one hand it stifles creativity and on the other it forces you to be creative because you can’t just go out and hire a big agency.
We are lucky we work with an awesome guy at Creativeguru.co.nz who understands our products, brand and customers and who doesn’t charge the earth.

Carly Flynn from 60 minutes deciding she wanted to tell the world about SleepDrops.
Actually being on TV as a real solution for people suffering from insomnia. Yes, that was a biggie.

I want to get SleepDrops powder into every kitchen cupboard, SleepDrops for Adults on every bedside table and Daytime Revive in every handbag and on every executive desk in the world.
SleepDrops for Babies handed out at birthing units and SleepDrops for Kids popped into little mouths every night, along with a good bedtime story of course.
The sooner everyone becomes proactive and prioritizes their sleep the better. The science is overwhelmingly clear.
Sleep is THE foundation for all wellbeing. I love that SleepDrops can do so much to help people of all ages and influence not only their health but their happiness too!

A sleep and stress specialist, Taylor had no need for such a product until financial stress coupled with a heavy load of responsibilities caused her to lose sleep.

Being a single parent I needed to ask myself how I was going to support my son and myself, I was under a lot of stress and nothing was helping me go to sleep, I couldn’t turn off my mind.
I told myself ‘for goodness sake Kirsten go and make that (sleep) remedy. I had been a naturopath for many years and whenever I had clients with certain issues I would make remedies for them, each case would be different and would require different ingredients of special herbs and flower essences, I was providing products that no one else was making.

Her company SleepDrops has recently taken away the North Shore Westpac Auckland Business Award for Best Emerging Business.  The win is in recognition of the phenomenal growth SleepDrops has had since its establishment in 2012.

The Kiwi-owned and operated company produces naturopathic sleep and stress products that provide effective relief to people who suffer from sleep deprivation and insomnia.

Kirsten attributes the company’s success to an over whelming demand from people wanting to combat insomnia and other sleep related issues.
SleepDrops, along with the other products such as DayDrops and the Essential Sleep and Stress Nutrients powder all have carefully selected herbs, homeopathics, nutritionals and flower essences in specific doses to restore a person’s nervous system, perfect for those who are on other medications or do not wish to take dependency inducing drugs.

I had never experienced SleepDrops for myself because I never needed it until that point, so when I finally tried it, I woke up nine hours later having had the best sleep of my life, I thought wow this stuff is awesome! It had turned off my mind, I thought it was fantastic!

Then I started thinking gosh I can’t be alone, there must be people everywhere not sleeping, lying in bed at night with numerous life worries, I thought I have both an opportunity to make something for myself and an obligation to share this product with others and help them.

I tried every marketing trick in the book, you name it I did it, from limited time offers, money back guarantee, a personal message from me. I didn’t even have the $120 to pay for the ad completely, that’s how much pressure I was under.

Once I did that, the phone rang 16 times that day. It was a huge ray of hope, and now it’s five products; it has its own line.

When you place your products in store, they take 75% of what you earn from the products, and with a new start up company, that’s a lot! You have to invest just about everything you earn right back into the company to build the brand.

We were the first ever company Health 2000 had invited to go directly into their head office warehouse and straight into all of their stores.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce CEO Michael Barnett says SleepDrops is a prime example of a business that has “identified a niche product, worked closely with its customers to enhance its offering and who fully deserves the success that has come from managing their rapid growth into larger markets”.

Future plans for the company is to expand into different countries, especially that of the American markets as half the population suffers from either insomnia or other sleep related issues.

Our underlining goal from day one has been to help people get a better nights sleep, now they have that and other products that enable them to have all the nutrients they need throughout the day as well.
No one does SleepDrops as well as SleepDrops does, there’s nothing like it, so to expand we’re looking for a rock-star company that can really help us in the US market. Someone who really understands the opportunity of what SleepDrops can do, they need to go for gold.