Life and business after elite sport

Former Blacksticks captain Anna Lawrence has co-founded Boma – a self-drive marketing application which helps take the guesswork out of digital marketing.

As the Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final kicks off in Auckland this week, former Blacksticks captain Anna Lawrence will be watching with interest.

“It’s fantastic to have the best in the world playing right here in NZ. The quality will be awesome and I hope Kiwi fans will go along to support our Blacksticks.”

It’s been some time since Lawrence took the field for New Zealand but she says the memories of representing the country in 165 games are still very strong. “I often think about my time with the team, particularly when big tournaments are being played. The buzz was always fantastic and all the memories come flooding back.”

These memories include playing at two Olympics, two World Cups and being part of the bronze medal winning team at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998. Lawrence also captained the Blacksticks for five years between 1995 and 2000.

Lawrence says the skills learnt during her hockey career equipped her well for life after hockey and gave her a useful ‘toolkit’ that has been invaluable as she’s moved forward enjoying a successful business career. She says it certainly hasn’t been ‘plain sailing’ and self-belief and resilience have been critical to her success. 

“I had either studied or worked part-time during the majority of my hockey career as we were never paid. It was full on. However, the upside was when I finished playing for New Zealand, l had something to put my energy and focus into immediately and real experience to draw on.”  Lawrence, like many elite athletes found the transition challenging “as I felt my identity was so strongly connected to my sport.” 

Lawrence has worked in the marketing and communications field for many years including a seven-year stint at Lion where she held various senior roles including the first female to hold the role as National Communications & Sponsorship Director for Lion Australia based in Sydney.  

Along the way she says she has tried to take opportunities presented to her despite perceived challenges. “I think it’s natural, particularly as a woman for a level of self doubt to creep in when you need to move out of your comfort zone. I think hockey instilled in me the need to trust yourself. You need to strive to do your best as an individual but know you are part of a bigger picture.”

After returning to New Zealand in 2013 with a young family, she consulted to a number of businesses before partnering with former Saatchi’s CEO Ian Christie and Charles Clark to launch start-up marketing software business Boma.  

Boma (www.bomamarketing.com) is a self drive marketing application which helps take the guesswork out of digital marketing. Boma allows business owners to easily create and distribute their marketing messages without the need for creative or marketing skills.  

Lawrence said they saw a gap in the market for a product which gives small businesses access to technology that has previously been reserved for large companies. 
“Many businesses are challenged by digital marketing. They know they need to do it, but either don’t have the time or they often don’t know what’s working and what’s not. Boma makes it super easy to create, distribute and analyse multi-channel marketing campaigns which can only help businesses grow and save time.”

Lawrence acknowledges that taking on the start-up world has been as challenging as anything she has done previously. And the challenges have sometimes been significant. 
In her words. “The Olympics is the pinnacle, every athlete’s life long dream. For me the games also delivered the hardest experiences in my life. Sydney was different to Barcelona, we were riding high with huge backing from home, like we had never had before. In the final game we were destroyed by Argentina, missing out on a medal. I was actually unable to talk to anyone for 24 hours. 
“Even now it’s hard to accept. But now when I talk to young players I often tell this story. There are critical moments in life that you’ll never forget but you do get through. 

“In that moment I wouldn’t have predicted where I am now, working in a business I love. There are still lots of challenges. As we often say ‘you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable’ because you never know what will happen from one day to the next.”

Lawrence says it’s still early days for Boma on its journey, however the recent announcement that Boma has a global partnership with Xero has been amazing. Xero immediately saw the benefit Boma could bring to its accounting and bookkeeping partners and asked Lawrence and Christie to develop a bespoke model for them.  

Rod Drury, CEO of Xero said recently, “Boma is the tool we were looking for to be able to boost Xero’s community of accounting and bookkeeping practices. Now, we can provide the content campaigns for our Xero Practice partners, becoming their virtual marketing team. These campaigns will help them attract new customers and grow their business. How cool is that?”

Lawrence says, “Through Boma, I’m now representing New Zealand in a different way and it’s just as exhilarating and challenging. It’s fantastic to be involved in a New Zealand tech business taking on the world. With Boma we have the opportunity to help businesses with their aspirations. We want to help SMBs grow through access to smart, simple, cool technology that makes their life easier.”  

Boma is currently only available to Xero’s partners but will launch a small business version globally in the coming weeks.