Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Britney Saunders and welcome to Big Business. You
Speaker 1: have landed in one of my bonus episodes. In case
Speaker 1: you didn't know, I do my bonus episodes every Wednesday,
Speaker 1: which are a bit more chill, a bit more fun,
Speaker 1: a little bit more fancy, and on Monday's I have
Speaker 1: my main episodes. So I'm just going to jump straight
Speaker 1: into this. I have received a comment on my Big
Speaker 1: Business Podcast Instagram account, which, by the way, I feel
Speaker 1: like I've neglected since I've started this pod. It's just
Speaker 1: one of those things that I've put on the back burner,
Speaker 1: you know, like I've made the account, I put all
Speaker 1: my videos on there. But watch this space because I
Speaker 1: really want to rebrand that whole page and make it
Speaker 1: more than just me sharing my little videos on there.
Speaker 1: I want to share like tips, hacks, all that kind
Speaker 1: of shit. But you know, we're all out here trying
Speaker 1: to do the fucking most. My poor Instagram has just
Speaker 1: gotten put to the put to the side. But watch
Speaker 1: this space. I'm going to transform it over the next
Speaker 1: few months. Anyway, I want to give a shout out
Speaker 1: to Brook because she has left a comment on one
Speaker 1: of my recent posts on there and I'm going to
Speaker 1: read this out to you, she said, thanks Brittany for
Speaker 1: this podcast. Your podcasts have made me realize that I
Speaker 1: actually don't have what it takes to be a business owner,
Speaker 1: and this has been a great thing for me personally.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, I started a business that took off.
Speaker 1: I was so proud and loved it, but all the
Speaker 1: responsibility that you talk about, along with balancing family made
Speaker 1: it incredibly challenging, and I ended up closing the business.
Speaker 1: For years, I felt so guilty and ashamed that I
Speaker 1: couldn't get it right, and I had dreams and plans
Speaker 1: to restart. But since listening to the podcast, I've come
Speaker 1: to be grateful for that chapter. Keep the lessons and
Speaker 1: just keep learning about business as a hobby and reopen again,
Speaker 1: maybe one day when things are more aligned. Business is
Speaker 1: one of those things where you have to go all in.
Speaker 1: So thank you for providing such great insight and educating
Speaker 1: others on the ins and outs of business, not just
Speaker 1: the surface level stuff. I love that. And you know what,
Speaker 1: when I started this podcast, I had no idea that
Speaker 1: it could leave someone with something like that. I thought, Yep,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be able to start this podcast and
Speaker 1: inspire others or give others something to relate to, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're already in a business journey. But I never
Speaker 1: once thought that it would make someone feel better about
Speaker 1: their decision to close their business. And I guess the
Speaker 1: hard thing, like I could talk about like my little
Speaker 1: business ventures before I started Fate and how like I
Speaker 1: gave up on those, and I guess the guilt that
Speaker 1: I felt around that, but in saying that, I was
Speaker 1: so young that I didn't even really realize what I
Speaker 1: was doing. But when I started this pod, I never
Speaker 1: thought that it would give someone that type of closure
Speaker 1: on a business chapter in their own life. And I
Speaker 1: guess that's one of the cool things about podcasts is
Speaker 1: I can sit here and like ramble on about whatever
Speaker 1: I'm talking about everyone and I could have such a
Speaker 1: different impression on someone to what I initially thought. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much Brooke for that comment. I have
Speaker 1: always thought about, you know, businesses ending, And I've mentioned
Speaker 1: this before, but how many businesses do we really know
Speaker 1: that have been around for generations and generations? Not many?
Speaker 1: Like it's rare that you will see a business out
Speaker 1: live yourself like and it's rare when it's like in
Speaker 1: business for over one hundred years, like you know. You
Speaker 1: see those family run since nineteen sixty two, like you know.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that's really common, especially in this
Speaker 1: world that we're living in now, where it's everything wants everything,
Speaker 1: Everyone wants everything at the click of a finger and
Speaker 1: next day delivery and this that and the other, and
Speaker 1: there's one trend this week and another trend in the other.
Speaker 1: I have always been very realistic about knowing that one
Speaker 1: day like fate, like fate is most likely going to
Speaker 1: end in my lifetime, and that's a scary thing to think,
Speaker 1: but I think it's better to think that than to
Speaker 1: be completely oblivious to the fact now Fate's going to
Speaker 1: go on forever, because not many businesses make it to
Speaker 1: the five year mark, like not many make it to three.
Speaker 1: So I think I'm very lucky for the fact that
Speaker 1: I'm seven years in and still growing. But I'm also
Speaker 1: very open to the fact that maybe one day this
Speaker 1: is going to end, and who knows what way that
Speaker 1: is going to end. And I have spoken with a
Speaker 1: lot of people who are like a lot bigger in
Speaker 1: business than me, or maybe they're from Sydney, like you know,
Speaker 1: I think I still have that very like Newcastle, small
Speaker 1: gal town, small town gal mindset. But I've spoken to
Speaker 1: so many people who have had a lot more experience
Speaker 1: than me, and they always say, you know, what's your
Speaker 1: exit strategy? Because you know, apparently the thing that you
Speaker 1: have to do in business is build it up until
Speaker 1: it's at its most profitable point, and then you sell it.
Speaker 1: You sell it to someone else, or you sell it
Speaker 1: to a large company. That's like having an exit strategy?
Speaker 1: Is that? And then you exit it and you walk
Speaker 1: away and you don't have to deal with the downfall
Speaker 1: of the business. And a lot of people see that
Speaker 1: as the plan, like that's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: But I've always said, let's just say, for example, Fate
Speaker 1: is going to last for fifteen years, and we're at
Speaker 1: year seven already. Is it really the worst thing in
Speaker 1: the world. If at year ten Fate is at its
Speaker 1: most profitable point and then from year ten to year
Speaker 1: fifteen it just slows down and dwindles down and we
Speaker 1: close all the stores and whatever, and I see it
Speaker 1: out to the end, is that really a failure? I
Speaker 1: think if you told a lot of massive entrepreneurs and
Speaker 1: investors and whatever like. They would see that as a failure,
Speaker 1: But is it really I don't think so at all.
Speaker 1: Sure you could have sold it when it was at
Speaker 1: its most profitable and made heaps of money and walked
Speaker 1: away and be set for life. But to ride the
Speaker 1: business out until its end and get to that point
Speaker 1: where you've got to close it because maybe you're not
Speaker 1: making any more sales anymore. As sad as that is,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's something that we should ever see
Speaker 1: as a failure. I think we should celebrate that, Like
Speaker 1: even if you were in it for three years or
Speaker 1: two years, like you gave it a fucking crack and
Speaker 1: you hopefully had fun during that time and made memories
Speaker 1: or you know. For me, I think I would hope
Speaker 1: that I've given people amazing jobs in that time and
Speaker 1: made people happy in their careers. So what if fate
Speaker 1: becomes huge and then on the other end it like
Speaker 1: dies off. I still see that as something worth celebrating,
Speaker 1: I think personally, so I take my hat off to you,
Speaker 1: Brooke for realizing, for whatever reason that you closed your
Speaker 1: business that it wasn't for you at the time. I
Speaker 1: think social media can make business look like a walk
Speaker 1: in the park. And I've said this before as well.
Speaker 1: I know I make business look like a walk in
Speaker 1: the park. It's very easy to portray that on social media.
Speaker 1: And I will be honest, like I think like a lot.
Speaker 1: Let's we can't say that business does and come without
Speaker 1: its challenges. It does, like some days I'm like fuck.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, because i know what I'm
Speaker 1: doing is what I'm supposed to be doing. Right now,
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of days for me are
Speaker 1: a walk in the park because I truly love what
Speaker 1: I do and I'm passionate about what i do. For
Speaker 1: the most part, business isn't a walk in the park.
Speaker 1: It isn't easy. It's not glitz and glam like you
Speaker 1: see on social media. And I've I keep saying, I've
Speaker 1: said it before and I'll say it again. I make
Speaker 1: business look so easy on social media. It can look
Speaker 1: so glamorous. You can see all these amazing e commerce
Speaker 1: brands and retail brands online. It's all pretty especially with
Speaker 1: the industry. I'm in fashion and we're shooting with models
Speaker 1: and doing XYZ opening all these stores. But I guess
Speaker 1: I'm glad to have this podcast where I can kind
Speaker 1: of lift the veil and talk about the realities of
Speaker 1: running a business and how it isn't all what it's
Speaker 1: made out to be. And I've always said owning a
Speaker 1: business isn't for the faint hearted. That's the words, faint hearted, lighthearted,
Speaker 1: faint harder. It's fucking hard and it comes with so
Speaker 1: many more challenges than you could ever imagine. I'm going
Speaker 1: to do a deep dive on some of the challenges
Speaker 1: that I feel and face in a future episode, like
Speaker 1: quite literally probably next week, so you can keep an
Speaker 1: ear out for that one. But business isn't easy and
Speaker 1: it's definitely not for everyone, and I think social media
Speaker 1: can make it feel like it's for everyone. And also
Speaker 1: with this podcast, I love that I can just I
Speaker 1: share what I share on here, and I don't have
Speaker 1: anything that I'm trying to gain out of this with
Speaker 1: this pod. Like yes, I make a little bit of
Speaker 1: money from Nova every week that I do these episodes,
Speaker 1: and I'm very grateful for that. Thanks Nova. I drive
Speaker 1: two hours here and back every week to do this pod,
Speaker 1: so I think it's worth them paying me a little bit.
Speaker 1: But I don't end these episodes and have anything that
Speaker 1: I want to gain out of it. I want to
Speaker 1: be able to share my information with everyone and there's
Speaker 1: no catch, there's no call. I'm trying to sell, and
Speaker 1: people who are actually always say to me, are you
Speaker 1: ever going to do like mentoring? You know, when I
Speaker 1: jump on my stories and talk about something, or if
Speaker 1: they listen to the pod? Can I pay you? I've
Speaker 1: had people say can I pay you to just go
Speaker 1: out with a go out for coffee? And can I
Speaker 1: just ask you questions? And I'm always like, oh, like,
Speaker 1: I don't feel worthy of charging someone to do something
Speaker 1: like that. And who's to say, Like, maybe one day,
Speaker 1: if fate does come to a crashing, burning end, maybe
Speaker 1: I will go down another path of coaching in business
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you what's funny as well. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was at the start of this year
Speaker 1: or a lot. I think it might have been the
Speaker 1: end of last year. I went and spoke at a
Speaker 1: like business event and it was the same event that
Speaker 1: Richard Branson talked at and there are a bunch of
Speaker 1: other speakers like before me and after me, and I
Speaker 1: got up and did a half an hour keynote by myself.
Speaker 1: And that was my first time ever doing like a
Speaker 1: lengthy keynote speech like that, and what I found so interesting,
Speaker 1: like I'd never been to one of those things before,
Speaker 1: but they happen all the time, like those I think
Speaker 1: it's called inspire and succeed, Like there's always all these
Speaker 1: different talking events. But the thing that I found so interesting,
Speaker 1: and this is me not shaming these events in any
Speaker 1: way whatsoever, but every speaker that I saw, like before
Speaker 1: me and after me, they all had something to sell,
Speaker 1: which I found so interesting and I didn't know that
Speaker 1: that's what they did. But like the guy that spoke
Speaker 1: before me, he spoke for ages, Yeah, that you can
Speaker 1: achieve this and that. Anyway, the first one hundred people
Speaker 1: to come up the back of the room like and
Speaker 1: they'd have like a big setup up the back where
Speaker 1: you would sign up to the course and like get something.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, this is what this thing is.
Speaker 1: Whereas I did my keynote speech, and I almost think
Speaker 1: the people in the audience know to expect that, like
Speaker 1: the sales pitch at the end. And so I ended
Speaker 1: my speech and then I remember the clapping was stalled,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure like in that moment, I was
Speaker 1: like that's all, Like I literally said at the end,
Speaker 1: like that's all. And then there was like a because
Speaker 1: I don't know if for sure, but everyone before me
Speaker 1: had sold something at the end, whereas I had nothing
Speaker 1: to sell at the end. I was just there to
Speaker 1: share my story and that's it. So I guess a
Speaker 1: lot of people, I don't know, maybe in my position,
Speaker 1: they would see a comment like this, like the one
Speaker 1: that Brook has left and like not feel great about.
Speaker 1: Like I'm an entrepreneur with this business podcast and someone
Speaker 1: tell me that I inspired them that closing the business
Speaker 1: was the best thing they could ever do, Like, no,
Speaker 1: I want to turn this around and I know, make
Speaker 1: money out of you Brook somehow. Whereas like, I am
Speaker 1: so glad to have made Brook feel that way that
Speaker 1: she was fine to close the chapter, and it was
Speaker 1: not my intention whatsoever to make Brook feel that way,
Speaker 1: but I'm glad. And I never want to be the
Speaker 1: type of person on this podcast that has a certain agenda.
Speaker 1: I guess, like, take whatever you will from these episodes,
Speaker 1: if it's you finished listening to one of them and
Speaker 1: you're like, fuck, yeah, I'm going to start a business,
Speaker 1: or you might listen to my episode and think fuck,
Speaker 1: I never want to do that, I never want to
Speaker 1: own a business. Or if you're like Brook and you've
Speaker 1: listened to however many episodes and thought fuck after her
Speaker 1: sharing all this, I've made the absolute right decision in
Speaker 1: closing my business, and I don't feel so bad about
Speaker 1: it anymore. I absolutely love that. And I think one
Speaker 1: thing that we definitely need to normalize is that we're
Speaker 1: not cut out to do everything. There are so many
Speaker 1: things that we can do in business, and I'll speak
Speaker 1: about it in my episode next week about like the
Speaker 1: challenges and pressures that I feel on myself when it
Speaker 1: comes to being in my position, But there's no shame
Speaker 1: in not being able to do it all, even if
Speaker 1: it's something as big as running a business, Like I
Speaker 1: think it's okay to not admit defeat, but to go
Speaker 1: I can't do that thing. I can't run that business.
Speaker 1: I can't do this and that. I think one thing
Speaker 1: that I well, there's a few things that I've realized
Speaker 1: that I can't do, one of them being I can't
Speaker 1: do numbers. AJ does that. I handed that over to me.
Speaker 1: So I was paying all of our invoice and doing
Speaker 1: everything up until I want to say, like last year,
Speaker 1: and then AJ just said to me one day, do
Speaker 1: you admit to do that? That I was like sure,
Speaker 1: So that I told everyone that sends us bills and invoices,
Speaker 1: can you send them to AJ from now on? And
Speaker 1: I've realized the numbers thing isn't for me. The other
Speaker 1: thing that I've realized, maybe only in the last year
Speaker 1: and a half or two years, is that direct one
Speaker 1: on one management with a lot of employees is not
Speaker 1: for me. I'm very involved in my team's day to
Speaker 1: day lives and their jobs, but especially over the last
Speaker 1: two years, we have put a lot of people in
Speaker 1: management positions so that I know it's not just for me.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's great for the team, but I now don't
Speaker 1: feel that pressure of, Oh, I wonder how clear in
Speaker 1: our social media team is doing in her day to
Speaker 1: day job, and if she needs any direct help with anything,
Speaker 1: I absolutely can do that and I will jump in
Speaker 1: at any moment's notice to help out in any way.
Speaker 1: But I think what I've realized is there's other bigger
Speaker 1: things that I can focus on that's going to be
Speaker 1: better for the business. For example, coming out with our
Speaker 1: next collection, or planning a huge social media campaign, or
Speaker 1: working on where our next door location is going to be.
Speaker 1: It's way more important for me to put my time,
Speaker 1: energy focus into that than having a sit down one
Speaker 1: on one with Claire from our social media team or
Speaker 1: Brook who does our PR saying Okay, Claire, what tasks
Speaker 1: are you working on this week? Like that, I've realized
Speaker 1: isn't for me, and that's a hard thing to do
Speaker 1: as a business owner, is to let go of the
Speaker 1: stuff that you don't need to hold on to. So
Speaker 1: thanks so much Brooke for sending through your comment. The
Speaker 1: Nova team have brought that to my attention. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much Ellie for that, and I'm glad that you
Speaker 1: could get something like that out of this podcast, which
Speaker 1: again I never thought someone could get that out out
Speaker 1: of it, but hey, anything goes on big business. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what you're doing. Hopefully you can get something
Speaker 1: out of the pod. So thanks Brooke, and I'll be
Speaker 1: back next week with a main episode.