Speaker 1: Appodjaye production.
Speaker 2: It's a mystery what we're talking about. We have no idear.
Speaker 2: Our podcast producer is taken control.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna ask you the hard hitting questions that I
Speaker 3: think people want to know, but it's gonna make you
Speaker 3: really uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, please do it, okay.
Speaker 3: Question number one, how lucrative is social media? And which
Speaker 3: is the best money making platform for you?
Speaker 1: It's YouTube?
Speaker 2: For me, it's Snapchat. Yeah, Instagram is more paid sponsorships.
Speaker 4: Would you say though, that your Instagram sponsorships pay more
Speaker 4: though than Snapchat?
Speaker 2: Yes, but a lot of brand's book a package that's
Speaker 2: Snapchat and Instagram. Okay, but like week to week, I
Speaker 2: make money off Snapchat just for being on there. You
Speaker 2: make money from YouTube videos for just creating videos.
Speaker 4: And I get paid more for my sponsorships on YouTube too,
Speaker 4: because it only longer yees that needs to gree in
Speaker 4: them and they're there forever, Whereas like a story's gone
Speaker 4: in twenty four.
Speaker 2: And snapchats only just started paying creators and there's only
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty of us Australia wide that are
Speaker 2: getting paid. And in America you have to have over
Speaker 2: fifty thousand subscribers to get on the Creative Fund.
Speaker 3: How much money do you make for.
Speaker 4: Just those platforms, not including like love Elesros and Grow
Speaker 4: and Glow and stuff like that, like six figures plus.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely through covid, my influencer work was just making
Speaker 2: more than my businesses.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's carried my business through hard times.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I once got offered a lot of money. I think
Speaker 2: it was like fifteen thousand dollars to promote this big
Speaker 2: dial doo or really and I've said it before, but
Speaker 2: I don't like big hard. It was this huge, like hard,
Speaker 2: big dildo and they wanted like a YouTube video an
Speaker 2: exclusive one Instagram. And back then too, I just wasn't
Speaker 2: very open with my sexuality in my sex life, and
Speaker 2: I was just like nope. But yeah, it's definitely a
Speaker 2: huge industry now, so there's definitely a lot of money
Speaker 2: to be made, but it ebbs and flows, hey, like
Speaker 2: sometimes it's not really there. And then podcasting, I mean
Speaker 2: we didn't make any money last year. We paid we
Speaker 2: paid for Yeah, we just had no idea about sponsorships
Speaker 2: or anything like that. This year will earn money for
Speaker 2: being on podcasts, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 3: So would you say you're welcome, by the way, would
Speaker 3: you say, Katie and Jay, would you say you could
Speaker 3: make aside from your other brands, if you just did
Speaker 3: social media only, you could make it very comfortable.
Speaker 2: Yes, we could easily live off the online money very comfortably.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 3: Has there been a particularly stressful situation where you've gone,
Speaker 3: let's just pack it all in and do a nine
Speaker 3: to five God?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: So many times.
Speaker 3: Can you think of an example?
Speaker 4: Just highly stressful times, like financially trying to hold everything together.
Speaker 4: And I think especially with having love Ellis Rose, there's
Speaker 4: just so much output and you work so hard for it.
Speaker 4: There's so much involved, even in the back end that
Speaker 4: people wouldn't really probably think about social media, don't know,
Speaker 4: or maybe sometimes the trolls when I'm just like fuck it,
Speaker 4: I'm over hearing shit.
Speaker 2: But when you put all that investment for that stock,
Speaker 2: when you were just going to do your own decbs,
Speaker 2: that was a big time for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was hundreds of thousands of dollars that we
Speaker 4: invested in that when it was right before like everything
Speaker 4: started to really shift with the RBA rate rises and
Speaker 4: we were like, oh my gosh, and everything with COVID
Speaker 4: got delayed, so it was meant to come like a
Speaker 4: little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit there,
Speaker 4: all turned up at once. We had hundreds of thousand
Speaker 4: dollars of stock that we had to move and we're like,
Speaker 4: oh my gosh. So yeah, it was a stressful time
Speaker 4: for sure, But that is business. And I think sometimes
Speaker 4: people think, you know, you're making this money, you're doing
Speaker 4: these things, but like, fuck, there's a lot of risk involved,
Speaker 4: and you know, you never know how long everything's gonna
Speaker 4: last for and just enjoy and be grateful for the
Speaker 4: seasons that you're in, and.
Speaker 2: You're always putting back into the business. Like you get
Speaker 2: an amazing launch, and then your next two collections, the
Speaker 2: down payment's due, and then the full payment's due, and
Speaker 2: then the shipping. It's I feel like you're always putting
Speaker 2: back in and people don't realize that. But yeah, there's
Speaker 2: definitely been times where I've just gone, this is just
Speaker 2: too hard. I've just not made out for this. And
Speaker 2: I've always said it and I'll still say it now.
Speaker 2: I would not be running a business if I didn't
Speaker 2: have the support of my husband. I'm not made to
Speaker 2: run a business by myself. I don't think I have
Speaker 2: not putting myself down, but I just don't think I
Speaker 2: have the mental capacity and the knowledge and the skill
Speaker 2: set that he does. We work really well together because
Speaker 2: we've both got such strengths and weaknesses. But I had
Speaker 2: a business partner for Baseline. They had their own, hugely
Speaker 2: successful streetwear brand, and then when they sold and I
Speaker 2: had a new business partner, we bought our share off them,
Speaker 2: and that was a lot of money to buy that out,
Speaker 2: and then we also had to pay for the next
Speaker 2: six months worth of stock, so it was just so
Speaker 2: much money in and up.
Speaker 1: It was just such a huge risk.
Speaker 2: I remember Steve sitting down and just be like, I
Speaker 2: will support you with everything you want to do, but
Speaker 2: are you are one hundred percent sure you are all
Speaker 2: in because we are going all in, baby, and you
Speaker 2: need to be fully committed. And I was like, yes,
Speaker 2: I mean, like, let's do it. Nothing else I want
Speaker 2: to do. I'm prepared for the risk. But it's so scary.
Speaker 2: And that's why I always say owning a business is
Speaker 2: not for the faint hearted. It's not for people that
Speaker 2: are not risk takers. You have to be risk taken
Speaker 2: to be an entrepreneur, you can't have certainty as your
Speaker 2: highest need.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we can take those big risks sometimes flop.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people thrive, Like Steve not so
Speaker 2: much now he's gotten older with children, but before that,
Speaker 2: I feel like he would thrive on the uncertainty. Certainty
Speaker 2: was like the last of his priorities. He would thrive
Speaker 2: and like get off on the uncertainty of like risking
Speaker 2: and our business. Over the years, it's done really, really well,
Speaker 2: so we have been able to take some big risk
Speaker 2: But for me growing up, certainty was a high need
Speaker 2: of mine. My mum's got a very scarcity mindset around money.
Speaker 2: So I feel like I'm nicely balanced now and so
Speaker 2: is Steve. But yeah, you have to be quite a
Speaker 2: risk taker and be prepared for real high highs and
Speaker 2: really low lows.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Have any of those risks been so extreme that you
Speaker 3: potentially could have lost everything?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Yep. And it's so scary. And then I also like
Speaker 2: the embarrassment and shame that when you share everything online, Like,
Speaker 2: how do you explain that to your audience? Yeah, when
Speaker 2: I have those moments where I'm like, fuck, this could
Speaker 2: flop or this could not do well. How do you
Speaker 2: explain that to your audience? It's really scary, and you're
Speaker 2: putting this once again, putting yourself out there to share
Speaker 2: it all. It's fucking scary.
Speaker 4: Hey, it's hard for people to tell, like their friends
Speaker 4: and family when they're going through hard times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let alone.
Speaker 2: Like and people don't talk about this, so it's not normalized.
Speaker 2: No one talks about the hard times and the stress
Speaker 2: and even just cash flow. I never hear anyone talk
Speaker 2: about cash flong business.
Speaker 1: It's hard.
Speaker 2: It's so hard to understand and manage and forecast, like,
Speaker 2: it's really stressful. But I don't ever hear any business
Speaker 2: owners talk about that because I think it's the one
Speaker 2: thing most people really struggle with.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's definitely been times over the years. We've
Speaker 1: been in.
Speaker 2: Business for over fifteen years now, there's definitely been moments
Speaker 2: where I'm like, fuck, yeah, this is it.
Speaker 3: And have you had anything that you've launched or something
Speaker 3: that you've done that has been a face and potentially
Speaker 3: lost your money.
Speaker 4: Yes, I started this bracelet brand that I had. We
Speaker 4: had an idea, so we went to Taronggazoo and I
Speaker 4: was like how annoying is it like trying to watch
Speaker 4: the kids blah blah blah. Somebody went missing, like we
Speaker 4: need to like write our number or something on them.
Speaker 4: Then we're like, what if it gets rubbed off? We
Speaker 4: just had a pence. We made bracelets with like phone numbers,
Speaker 4: so it's kind of an id bracelet when you go
Speaker 4: to it. When you go to certain places, launched it.
Speaker 4: Fucking trolls went off.
Speaker 2: And you even't actually told me this story because I
Speaker 2: kind of assumed, but you're really emotional, so I just
Speaker 2: didn't bring it.
Speaker 1: Up because I thought it was a cool idea. I
Speaker 1: think it's genius, but what actually happened.
Speaker 4: People were like, what if it falls apart and my
Speaker 4: kid chokes? This is so fucking stupid. Blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: I could go make one of these for a dollar.
Speaker 4: There was so much outside noise and it got me.
Speaker 4: I was like, shut the whole fucking thing down. I
Speaker 4: paid for all the stuff I had been doing, like
Speaker 4: I redonne all the photo shoes, organized the whole thing,
Speaker 4: and I could not handle the trolls with that one.
Speaker 4: That night, I bawled and I was like, remember, I'm
Speaker 4: like I'm just shutting it down before it even and
Speaker 4: you know, every business starts off somewhere and over the
Speaker 4: year you get better, you improve, you change things. But
Speaker 4: it was like I was just so fucking slammed, and
Speaker 4: there was so much outside noise, and I was like,
Speaker 4: this is not worth my mental health.
Speaker 1: Cyon. You know what broke my heart with that was
Speaker 1: when I was crying to Steve.
Speaker 2: Actually that night you went online made you cry now,
Speaker 2: but you went on and you were like, oh, you've won,
Speaker 2: and I was like so angry.
Speaker 1: I'm getting so much.
Speaker 2: I was like so angry that they had won because
Speaker 2: you I thought this side team was great and I'd
Speaker 2: seen the work that you put in. I just hate
Speaker 2: if outside noise fucking Karen's like.
Speaker 1: Do get the better of us?
Speaker 2: Because we work so hard on everything that we do
Speaker 2: and put so much money and time and sacrifice so much.
Speaker 2: And that night you launched to be like an hour
Speaker 2: or too late. They won or it was like no,
Speaker 2: And even Steve's like, oh, I wish you didn't even
Speaker 2: go on and say that, because they get what they
Speaker 2: want and now they're feeding off that, you know, they
Speaker 2: go into the forums. And I was so like upset
Speaker 2: and I was like, you fuck is I didn't and
Speaker 2: just so protective as her best friend. I was like,
Speaker 2: you fuckers like and it was nothing that I could do.
Speaker 2: Like you know when you're get in that warrior like
Speaker 2: protector kind of energy. I feel that with you online
Speaker 2: because I know how hard it can be. And I
Speaker 2: was so upset and that was never in a place
Speaker 2: at the time you were going through it. I was
Speaker 2: going through it, and I was like and that's why
Speaker 2: I never even bought it up again, because I was
Speaker 2: just like, this is just too much. But I was
Speaker 2: really angry at the time. Now the emotions coming up, I'm.
Speaker 4: Actually annoyed looking back at myself because I had really
Speaker 4: good ideas for the future and how I wanted to
Speaker 4: but anyway, I was just like, yeah, not worth it.
Speaker 2: We opened a cafe and we went into partnership with
Speaker 2: another couple and we invested all the money in. We
Speaker 2: didn't have the time to run the cafe, but we
Speaker 2: invested all the money into the cafe and they were
Speaker 2: to run it and it was all fifty to fifty
Speaker 2: split share and one of the owners who was like
Speaker 2: the main chef and organized that, she literally decided one
Speaker 2: day she's not going to turn up and go to
Speaker 2: work anymore. It was too much for her, so she left,
Speaker 2: like all our staff, all these customers, everything to run,
Speaker 2: and just never came back. And we were like, you
Speaker 2: can't just walk out on a business, but we couldn't
Speaker 2: contact her, and her partner was like obviously really apologetic.
Speaker 2: He came in and tried to sort it out and everything,
Speaker 2: but very quickly we had to close it down and
Speaker 2: we lost a lot of money. And I felt so
Speaker 2: embarrassed that this had failed. But it wasn't my forte.
Speaker 2: I never wanted to work in the cafe. I had
Speaker 2: my gym, I had other things going on, and I
Speaker 2: didn't have the skill set to even run a cafe.
Speaker 2: But it was just like so much went into it
Speaker 2: and it was closed down pretty quickly afterwards. And was
Speaker 2: so disappointed in how that worked out. But it was
Speaker 2: just so many lessons and that like if you go
Speaker 2: into business with someone, you really have to know them
Speaker 2: so well, know their strength, know their weaknesses, talk about
Speaker 2: worst case scenarios, discuss so many finances, and I think
Speaker 2: we just jumped into it like with too much excitement
Speaker 2: and like, oh fuck, what's the worst that can happen,
Speaker 2: and it just felt so good at the time, but
Speaker 2: not really knowing them well enough, and obviously she had
Speaker 2: her own stuff going on, and like, you know, looking back,
Speaker 2: have so much compassion for whatever was happening for her,
Speaker 2: and we want to know what it's like when you're overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: So it's fine, I don't hold any anger or guilt,
Speaker 2: but the time.
Speaker 1: It was like fuck.
Speaker 2: And then I had to jump online and explain all
Speaker 2: of this. I felt like it just landed back on
Speaker 2: me because no one looks at who's behind the business.
Speaker 2: They just look at the face of and it was like, ash,
Speaker 2: she's cleaned in cafe. So I definitely think that was
Speaker 2: probably my biggest family in business. But when it comes
Speaker 2: to products and things, most things that I've done have
Speaker 2: done really, really well, and I'm really proud of that.
Speaker 3: Have you ever had moments of going last month was great?
Speaker 4: But fuck?
Speaker 1: Look at this month? Oh yeah, all the time?
Speaker 2: The first quarter of every year, yeah, well yeah every time,
Speaker 2: and every time, even Steve this year, we're talking about
Speaker 2: it and I'm like he was stressing about something. We
Speaker 2: were just discussing something, and I'm like, this even's every year.
Speaker 2: It's always the first quarter. And he's doing this online
Speaker 2: course and there's thousands of other business owners that do
Speaker 2: this course and they all talk together in this forum,
Speaker 2: and he's like ninety five percent of them all in
Speaker 2: this community chat just talking about how hard it is
Speaker 2: right now. Yeah, every single business owner is struggling and
Speaker 2: sales a lot, and you're coming off the back end
Speaker 2: of Black Friday and Christmas sales and Boxing Day sales
Speaker 2: and everyone's gone on holidays and spent all their money.
Speaker 1: So that jan February is just really quiet.
Speaker 4: But we don't is living too so high.
Speaker 2: But you do see it pick up in quarter two.
Speaker 2: Quarter three is amazing. Yeah, in quarter four it was
Speaker 2: like okay, but around that Black Friday is what a
Speaker 2: lot of businesses base like their whole business around. Now
Speaker 2: they plan it out and that's like the biggest one
Speaker 2: where they make so much money.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the first quarter, I.
Speaker 4: Feel is just every year I feel like I like no,
Speaker 4: and then you're.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, I forgot what this is like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last year, Steve and I like put different things
Speaker 2: in place for Hideaway, particularly to help support that harder period.