Play by name, play by nature. Livewire Nicky Felton is one half of Play Creative, a creative studio specialising in story telling through video, which she founded with her fiancé Dan in 2015.
Enthusiasm oozes from Nicky’s pores. She’s one of those people who seems so high on life that it’s impossible not to feel uplifted just by talking to her.
Nicky had the kind of upbringing you read about in books – highly successful currency trader dad realises he doesn’t spend the time he’d like with his family, throws in the towel and the family sail around the South Pacific in a boat for three years, home schooling their children, before deciding to become avocado orchardists and bribing their daughters with the promise of a pony to move to New Zealand.
Following in her older sister Sam’s footsteps, Nicky moved up the ranks in the equestrian sport of eventing, making it on to the Equestrian Sports New Zealand (ESNZ) Junior Rider Development Squad and taking a job with top eventer Jock Paget, before discovering she was actually terrified of cross country and facing the hard realisation horses were not going to be her career.
Nicky then studied a Bachelor of Communications at Waikato University and tried her hand at a number of different 9-5 roles, including as marketing manager for the Avantidrome and eventing sport manager for ESNZ, which neatly married her love of high level sport with communications.
But there was always a niggle that the conventional path wasn’t for her. “I had always wanted to start my own business – as a kid I used to breed guinea pigs and sell them to the local pet shop”. It seemed that Nicky’s entrepreneurial bent was not to be tamed.
When she met her now fiancé, Dan Franks, who had a Bachelor of Media and Creative Technology, it was a match made in heaven. As Nicky puts it, that was the magic. Dan’s practical knowledge and Nicky’s background in communications theory paired perfectly, and so Play Creative was born.
Describe yourself in 3 words: Wild, weird, passionate
Was there a lightbulb moment for you? Realising that I didn’t want to do horses. At the time, it was shit, it was the worst thing that could have happened, but I got really scared and I just could not do it anymore. It was a shock to the system because I thought I knew where I was going. I was obsessed with horses, I was on the development squad, I had this great job and I had planned my progression through the sport. I realised I actually hated cross country – I didn’t have the balls – but I had never really thought about life outside horses. This was a lightbulb moment for me because it made me stop and think really hard about my identity beyond being an eventer, and what I wanted from my life, which opened up a tonne of difficult questions but led me down the path of living my OWN life, not chasing other people’s dreams.
Best advice you’ve ever received? My parents instilled this genuine theme that you get to choose what you do with your life. I think that’s been the most powerful thing for me, that you have a choice. I’m always asking – what do I want? What’s next? You can do anything you put your mind to.
What motivates you? Passionate people. People who are passionate about what they do. We are in a realm of storytelling, and working with people who are equally as passionate about what they do is really inspiring for me, connecting with them on a deeper level. I get to work with really cool people, and I find trying different things very fun. Having total control of your life and your day, and what you want to make in the world, that’s motivating.
What’s one thing you can’t live without? That’s a tough one. Passion, honestly. If I’m not super pumped on something, I feel down. If you’re not doing something with passion, why are you doing it?
And my dog, and my partner!
What’s your advice to others starting out in business? The main thing that’s stopping you is you. It’s your mind-set – business is so much about mastering your mind-set. So many people sit there and want to start a business but make excuses. Everyone wants to be able to see the end picture before they start, but that’s not how it works. The start is just the start, let the idea evolve. There are no right or wrong decisions, just decisions, you can always just make another decision – that’s a huge one for me. You can make any idea work if you put your time and passion into it, and are willing to adapt. Allow yourself to try, prove yourself wrong – but try it realistically. You can’t expect to make money right away, and I think that’s where a lot of people trip up, there is a start-up phase. Anyone can start a business, but the goal shouldn’t be to start a business, it should be to start a business that fits with your life and the lifestyle you want to lead – will you be soul fuelled? Work out what your soul wants, what your lifestyle is, and start a business that aligns with that.
What’s been your biggest learning? It sounds cheesy - be yourself. But it’s more than that, being yourself is your actual magic source. If you are yourself then the right people will want to work with you. The clients we work with respect us for being ourselves. Find people who value you for who you are and own all your weird wildness, because that’s what makes you great at what you do – which is the bloody coolest realisation ever, is it not?
The big thing I try to remember is, everyone is still working it out. It’s always easy to look back and see the story and it comes together beautifully. Really, we’re all muddling our way through, but it’s fun, and I don’t think there’s ever an end point.
What’s your dream way to spend a day? Browse the farmers markets, go to Bunnings (my favourite place), get into the garden, walking with my dog and listening to a podcast or audio book at the same time. At the moment I'm loving cooking soup at lunch time and baking bread along with it. Winter is a planning season for me - I love pondering deep life questions, and dreaming up new business ideas.
What are you watching/listening to? An audio book by David Goggins called Can’t Hurt Me. It’s good, very hard core about a crazy Navy SEAL guy. It’s a masculine energy, but very inspiring. I also love to watch any surfing documentary on Netflix.
One of my all-time favourite books is called Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s about the science of behaviour change, but written in a really applicable way, on how our minds work and creating sustainable habits based on psychology.
Photo thanks to Nicole Troost Photography.
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