Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Britney Saunders and welcome to Big Business, the
Speaker 1: place where business is far from boring, and today I'm
Speaker 1: recording on gadigul Land. Now I somehow manage to build
Speaker 1: an empire from the garage underneath my house, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to share it all with you, from the winds,
Speaker 1: the huge mistakes, the challenging times, and the funny moments
Speaker 1: in between. So, whether you're in business yourself already, perhaps
Speaker 1: you're not in the game at all, Maybe you're just
Speaker 1: looking for some inspo, or you simply just want to hear.
Speaker 2: The tea, this is the podcast for you.
Speaker 1: Coming up on today's episode, I'm joined by a very
Speaker 1: special guest who turned seven thousand dollars and a dream
Speaker 1: into a thirty million dollar global SoC empire. She's never
Speaker 1: paid an influencer yet, mad Mia sells ten pairs of
Speaker 1: socks a minute and has collabs with Barbie Disney and
Speaker 1: Harry Potter. From lawsuits to warehouses around the world, including
Speaker 1: one in a country that's currently trying to sue her.
Speaker 1: Tanya is powerhouse with a wild business story.
Speaker 2: Tanya, welcome to Big Business.
Speaker 3: Thank you thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: This is your first studio interview exactly how are you feeling.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not stressed at all, not I'm just yeah,
Speaker 3: just walk up. I usually don't drink coffee, but today
Speaker 3: I'm having a coffee.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: I'm not your target market, so I'm learning all about
Speaker 1: your business today.
Speaker 2: But tell us what is madmea.
Speaker 3: Well, we design the most colorful, fun socks with toys
Speaker 3: and accessories. And what is good about mad Meir It's
Speaker 3: full of color. It's just so loud, it's crimps color.
Speaker 3: Whatever you go on the street, everybody gets stopped and say,
Speaker 3: oh my good, what is going on with this socks?
Speaker 3: And that is why the brand works for kids and
Speaker 3: Parasit empowers them. It makes the kids stand out, it
Speaker 3: makes them feel confident. And I always compare it it's
Speaker 3: like wearing a pair of Madmere socks is like going
Speaker 3: to Disneyland. Yeah, it's like color for You're lots of
Speaker 3: fun and everybody's like happy and and that's yeah. So
Speaker 3: we I am the sock queid.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love and the fact that we like I think
Speaker 3: myself invented this new category. So it's not just a sock,
Speaker 3: it's a lifestyle brand. And we don't create socks. We
Speaker 3: create a whole experience when you wear the pair ofs
Speaker 3: and they come with toys, access to shoelaces and whatnot,
Speaker 3: and kids love it. It's just something that yeah, I'm
Speaker 3: very proud of, very proud.
Speaker 2: I love that, and I think that's so important.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people when they want to
Speaker 1: start a business, they like the idea of starting a business.
Speaker 1: And let's say, for example, if you are making socks,
Speaker 1: it's great to want to make socks, but I love
Speaker 1: that you have such like a mission and a message
Speaker 1: behind why you make the socks, Like you're not just
Speaker 1: making socks because they're comfortable and you wear them, you
Speaker 1: know you've got the whole like brand message of them
Speaker 1: being fun, empowering.
Speaker 2: They will make everyone feel confident.
Speaker 3: Believe it or not. Like every week we get customers
Speaker 3: like parents writing us like I can't believe and I
Speaker 3: want to cry now when I talk about it. I
Speaker 3: was like, it's like it's like I can't believe that
Speaker 3: a pair of socks have changed my daughter's life. Where
Speaker 3: it's like I don't know why I'm always so emotional
Speaker 3: because she's like she goes to school she's the coolest
Speaker 3: kid at school now with these socks. They make us
Speaker 3: so happy and I love that.
Speaker 1: Ah that's don't you make us all cry in the
Speaker 1: studio here, But I think that's amazing. Like it's so
Speaker 1: inspiring to see an owner be so passionate about their
Speaker 1: product because, like, as I'm sure you know, business is
Speaker 1: so tough. Ever I know, but I think as long
Speaker 1: as you stay really aligned to why you're doing what
Speaker 1: you're doing, and if it's people you know emailing you
Speaker 1: saying my daughter has so much confidence because of your socks,
Speaker 1: I think that's your reason why you're doing what you're doing.
Speaker 3: Exactly, And it's not for me and everybody who knows
Speaker 3: me all my stuff. It's not about the money. I
Speaker 3: don't care how much money we make, how many Like
Speaker 3: I just want to make a difference. I want to
Speaker 3: eat something that one day so I will be like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, she did this socks and these are
Speaker 3: her socks, and whoever, there will be probably many other
Speaker 3: people who will do this socks in the future, but like,
Speaker 3: she's the one and I'm so happy for it.
Speaker 2: You know, I think I'm being honest with you.
Speaker 1: I think you've already done that, but you're saying one
Speaker 1: day I'm going to get to that point.
Speaker 2: But I think you've already done it.
Speaker 3: I did, but I'm still like sort of like, you know,
Speaker 3: I still don't believe it, Like I still can't believe it.
Speaker 3: I have bad day, Like in business, you know how
Speaker 3: it is. Sometimes you're doing so good, but then I
Speaker 3: go home like I'm shit, Like I'm shit. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm like the worst business woman ever.
Speaker 2: Everyone hates me.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm not good. And my partner is like,
Speaker 3: what are you talking about? Like fifty years ago, I
Speaker 3: came to Australia as a international students who study master's degree.
Speaker 3: I came here with literally no money. He's like, look,
Speaker 3: what are you built? No, No, I'm not good today,
Speaker 3: I'm not good. So sometimes like we find hard to
Speaker 3: believe how far we've come in the business because we
Speaker 3: are so involved and we don't we don't stand back,
Speaker 3: we don't Yeah we don't see that thing, yeah exactly,
Speaker 3: but other people do, which is good. I think all
Speaker 3: Medmea customers and fans do it. And I have the biggest,
Speaker 3: the most loyal people that they just follow Medimea love it.
Speaker 3: And it's not as as I say, too many people,
Speaker 3: we don't work with influences like we don't, we don't,
Speaker 3: we don't, We don't even hire them, we don't even engage.
Speaker 3: Because we have a customers who supporter us, why not
Speaker 3: embrace them and make them when we we we We
Speaker 3: just moved in a new warehouse and I built like
Speaker 3: a big studio. Photo shoots every two weeks with the
Speaker 3: photo shoots, and we invite our customers to come and
Speaker 3: be a part of the photo shoots because we don't
Speaker 3: want we want because who else, who better is going
Speaker 3: to perform at the photo shoot then your customers who
Speaker 3: already love and are obsessed with the brand.
Speaker 1: So we are definitely in our era of the customer
Speaker 1: as well at FATE, and that's something that.
Speaker 2: We're really host seeing on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we dabble a little bit in influencer marketing and
Speaker 1: I'd love to chat with you about that.
Speaker 2: But I think it's really great that you.
Speaker 1: Are focusing on community because yes, whilst influencers are great
Speaker 1: and like they can generate sales, it is so clever
Speaker 1: to invest in your community and the people that support
Speaker 1: you already, you know, rather than giving influencers, more free stuff,
Speaker 1: which is all well and good. I am all for
Speaker 1: you know, getting your community involved with your brand for
Speaker 1: your photo shoots. Yeah, because they're only going to see
Speaker 1: that and be like wow, like I already love this brand.
Speaker 1: I love their socks, and now they're showing that they
Speaker 1: love their community and customers.
Speaker 2: It makes them feel val shoot.
Speaker 3: You should see them when they come to office for
Speaker 3: a photo shoot. It's like their dream coming true. They're
Speaker 3: so happy. Their parents are happy to see their kids
Speaker 3: being so happy, and it's just the best. They have
Speaker 3: the best time of their life. It's all about and
Speaker 3: we don't like we don't just take photos. We have
Speaker 3: the best food and the west parties and the best music,
Speaker 3: and we dance and we just have so much fun.
Speaker 3: So it's not just come and do a photo shoot
Speaker 3: and we'll use your photos and videos for market. No
Speaker 3: we can't. Yeah, I can't have experience. And they kind
Speaker 3: of design the socks with all the designers now and
Speaker 3: everybody like going in the office and it's just and
Speaker 3: and and and the interesting thing is the parents become
Speaker 3: our friends. So it's like I have so many parents,
Speaker 3: is like, and then sometimes like I have this customer
Speaker 3: who is like number one fan of man Mia. She
Speaker 3: has all her socks everything else. We do it and
Speaker 3: it's like at night when I pous on social media,
Speaker 3: which I still do it myself on Instagram. I post
Speaker 3: and if she doesn't comment, I'm like, say it, why
Speaker 3: don't customer? She's sorry, She's like sorry, sorry, I'll post later.
Speaker 3: I promise you I'll comment later. I'm like, please do
Speaker 3: and she like we just love it. Like we're just
Speaker 3: all like talking and communicating with the with the customers,
Speaker 3: with the parents, and and pay events. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's just so such a good community we create and
Speaker 3: I'm so proud of it, to be honest, And I'm
Speaker 3: proud of it because they helped me and support me
Speaker 3: do everything. Every design we do, I call them, I'm like,
Speaker 3: what do we do? Yeah? Like what do you think?
Speaker 3: What's in? What?
Speaker 2: Feedback is everything?
Speaker 3: It's the best, it's the best.
Speaker 1: Now you bought the company that you were employed at exactly, Yes,
Speaker 1: that is iconic.
Speaker 2: Can you talk us through how that all came to be?
Speaker 3: So? I started Masters in Design and after getting out
Speaker 3: of UNI, I was looking for a job and I
Speaker 3: landed a job with the startup company who was started
Speaker 3: by somebody else and had an investor, very wealthy investor,
Speaker 3: silent investor from Australia and they needed a designer to
Speaker 3: design some socks for them, and the idea was to
Speaker 3: design playing socks. So I got the job. I thought
Speaker 3: it's exciting and we it was the market was kids socks.
Speaker 3: But as soon as I got the job, like this
Speaker 3: is this is just you can't be just socks. We
Speaker 3: need to bring something else to the just wanted to
Speaker 3: do playing just playing socks, Yes, gotcha, adults for kids
Speaker 3: mostly kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I started designing socks. But then three months in
Speaker 3: to my role, I was doing everything, not just designing, marketing, sales,
Speaker 3: everything you possibly think of. The investor called me and said,
Speaker 3: I have the guys who started the company, but I
Speaker 3: don't think they're doing a good job because you do everything.
Speaker 3: How about I get you around the whole show for me.
Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, that's a dream job for me. I
Speaker 3: would love to and he's like, we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 3: Few start, maybe you'll you'll you'll own the business. And
Speaker 3: I'm like, wow, this is exciting, very good opportunities. So
Speaker 3: for two years I worked for him. Right, we own
Speaker 3: the business.
Speaker 2: So you didn't go in as an owner, No, you
Speaker 2: were just like what were you working as?
Speaker 3: Did you have a designer, packing, marketing, everything around, everything, everything, everything?
Speaker 3: And I was still working from home and then two
Speaker 3: years in and I was like on a minimum salary wage,
Speaker 3: you can possibly think, but I was doing not just everything.
Speaker 3: I would also say to my investor, we need to
Speaker 3: go to China. I get some stock, find new factories, manufacturer.
Speaker 3: He's like, we don't have a budget for it. You
Speaker 3: spend everything, we don't have money. And I'm like, you
Speaker 3: know what, how about I pay for everything and then
Speaker 3: if we make money, you'll pay me back. And he's like,
Speaker 3: you're crazy. Do it. So I'll go to China, pay
Speaker 3: everything myself, find new new manufacturers, everything I need to do,
Speaker 3: come back and when we make the money in the business,
Speaker 3: he will pay me back. And he got to the poort.
Speaker 2: He's an investor and he was saying you should pay
Speaker 2: for it. Yes, Is he still your investor?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: That's weird, yeah, very weird. So many questions.
Speaker 3: I love. I mean, we are still good friends. He's
Speaker 3: a big supporters. But I'm not gonna come better because
Speaker 3: everything that I am today. He helped me. Yes, because
Speaker 3: but however, he built his business babe back in the
Speaker 3: eighties when there was no marketing, there was no social media.
Speaker 3: He never believed in that. A very old school so
Speaker 3: he when I say to him, Hey, we need a
Speaker 3: marketing budget, He's like, what is that?
Speaker 2: Like what do you what do you mean?
Speaker 3: What do you mean? And I was like, okay, great, okay,
Speaker 3: move on and then yeah, So he got to the
Speaker 3: point that two years in, I was like, can you
Speaker 3: Chris my salary? Like, I'm working in such like, I
Speaker 3: have a very bad pay I get my pay for
Speaker 3: from my pocket for any events, travelers, everywhere I'll go.
Speaker 3: I'm like, can you incrias my salary? He's like, how
Speaker 3: about I give you forty nine percent shares for free?
Speaker 3: Like what, but you keep the shitt salary. I'm like, okay, great,
Speaker 3: But that was good. So it was a good step
Speaker 3: into the business.
Speaker 2: At this point, the original owners they were out of
Speaker 2: the peace.
Speaker 3: They were out within three months.
Speaker 2: So they walked away within the worst three months that
Speaker 2: you were there. Yeah, they can killed them just working.
Speaker 1: On a salary. The investor held all the shares in
Speaker 1: the company. Yes, then you worked your bum off for
Speaker 1: two years and then your investor goes, hey, I want
Speaker 1: to give you forty nine percent of this company for free.
Speaker 3: Yes, don't walk away, he said, don't walk away, but
Speaker 3: I'll give you forty nine percent of shares for free.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: And I said that sounds wonderful. That's why not too.
Speaker 2: Good to be true?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, but I worked really hard. When I say hard,
Speaker 3: would I look back, would I do this again? No?
Speaker 3: Because it was so hard. I had to build the
Speaker 3: Instagram account with non marketing budget, I had to make
Speaker 3: sales online with non marketing budget. I had to do
Speaker 3: everything pretty much just being me, just there.
Speaker 1: I think that's what existing the crazy things about starting
Speaker 1: a business from scratch and doing it all yourself. It's
Speaker 1: funny that you say that I would never do it again,
Speaker 1: because I feel the same about all the stuff that
Speaker 1: I did, maybe in the first you know, four years
Speaker 1: of when I was fate.
Speaker 2: I look back.
Speaker 1: Now and I go, oh, my goodness, I could never
Speaker 1: do that again, and I think I'm so glad I'm
Speaker 1: not doing that right now. But when you're in that moment,
Speaker 1: you don't think that way because you're building and grinding
Speaker 1: and hustling, and I think you can see where this
Speaker 1: thing can go. So you just really do put in
Speaker 1: all that groundwork, and you get to the stage where
Speaker 1: you're right now where you're thinking, I would never do
Speaker 1: that again, but you're so glad that you did.
Speaker 3: It right exactly. No, everything I did and the way
Speaker 3: I did it, I don't regret it because I learned
Speaker 3: so much from it, and the fact that I don't
Speaker 3: have a business degree. I have a designer degree, but
Speaker 3: I've learned everything else in business, and I run the
Speaker 3: business myself right now pretty much everything, and the business
Speaker 3: is still up to today. It's just the best thing
Speaker 3: that can ever happen to me.
Speaker 2: And so when did all of this happen?
Speaker 3: Like roughly, So this was like two thousand and let's
Speaker 3: say seventeen, I got forty nine percent shares.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: A year later, the business were just starting to make money.
Speaker 3: We didn't make money back then. It was very hard,
Speaker 3: and he was putting a lot of money investing in
Speaker 3: the business in terms of stock and new designs and
Speaker 3: new developments, product developments and everything else. So when we
Speaker 3: just started making money, and I met my partner at
Speaker 3: the time and we were planning to have some kids
Speaker 3: and some kids kids, And then I said to him,
Speaker 3: to my investor, I'm like, like, you don't care about me.
Speaker 3: You know, it's my baby. Why don't you sell it
Speaker 3: to me? Just give me the rest of the business
Speaker 3: and walk away. He's super wealthy, he's retired now, he
Speaker 3: doesn't need the money, and I'm like, what, just sell
Speaker 3: it to me, and he's like, let me think about it.
Speaker 3: And anyway, two weeks later he calls me. It's like
Speaker 3: I always knew it's your baby, and I think, who
Speaker 3: is the better person to buy the business of me
Speaker 3: than you? So he agreed to sell it to me.
Speaker 1: You bought the sixty yes, and what was the revenue
Speaker 1: of the company at that time?
Speaker 3: Very little? Yeah, No, No, it was more. Actually it
Speaker 3: was more. It was like around nine hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 3: turn to noah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that's the thing that people always get confused
Speaker 1: with when you're like, oh, I've got a business and
Speaker 1: it turns over nine.
Speaker 2: Hundred thousand dollars a year, It's like, you don't get nine.
Speaker 3: Hundred no, No, it all comes down in the WORL was
Speaker 3: just becoming profitable. Let's say that.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a question that I'm curious about. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm going to get in trouble
Speaker 1: for asking you this, And I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can tell me, but I'm going to ask you anyway
Speaker 1: you can tell me if you can't ask this question?
Speaker 2: How does it.
Speaker 1: Work having other businesses pictures and logos on your product?
Speaker 2: For example, Disney?
Speaker 3: What do you mean?
Speaker 1: Sorry, Like, do you have to get like some sort
Speaker 1: of special license to have Disney on your socks?
Speaker 3: I actually work with Disney. Wow, I work with Disney.
Speaker 3: I work with Warner Brothers who work Withney Claudian. We
Speaker 3: work with Universal Studios, and we pay a licensing fee
Speaker 3: to be able to use their logos, their their characters,
Speaker 3: their assets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then do they make like a percentage of
Speaker 1: sales because you're using it?
Speaker 2: Or with the licensing you know, is that you have.
Speaker 3: A minimum amount of guarantee that you pay to licensing brands,
Speaker 3: but then that is sort of gets deducted per they
Speaker 3: get percentage prepare of sock salt. But that's already like
Speaker 3: sort of like you pay upfront, but then deductor they take.
Speaker 2: A little royalties.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've always been so curious by that, you know, because
Speaker 1: we see so many brands and businesses do collaborations with
Speaker 1: like Lilo and Stitch or whatever it is, and the
Speaker 1: business owner in me is always so curious. And when
Speaker 1: I was jumping on your website, I'm seeing Powerpuff Girls,
Speaker 1: Stitch Inside Out, and Mickey Mouse, like You've got absolutely everything,
Speaker 1: and I've always been so curious, like how does that work?
Speaker 2: So it's interesting to know.
Speaker 3: Well, first when I back in the day's first collaboration,
Speaker 3: we did it. I don't even know if you remember
Speaker 3: Jojo Siwa. Yeah, the cute see Little Bows. We did,
Speaker 3: so we did arrange for her. That's how it started.
Speaker 3: It was the Nickelodeon. But then after them. Since I
Speaker 3: was a little girl, I always dreamt of like working
Speaker 3: with Disney, and then it took me well of a
Speaker 3: year to get them, get in touch with them then
Speaker 3: to start.
Speaker 1: Obviously when you went in as an employee, they didn't
Speaker 1: have like these existing relationships with no big companies because
Speaker 1: I were.
Speaker 2: Just doing the plane.
Speaker 3: So they did it. And to be honest with Disney,
Speaker 3: I started working maybe two years ago. Okay, so I
Speaker 3: just like it took me a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you kind of have to like pitch yourself
Speaker 1: to them and be like, hey, this is me, I
Speaker 1: want to use your designs on my socks exactly.
Speaker 3: But then you have to yeah, but it's it's not
Speaker 3: just yeah, yes, yes, you can say that, but then
Speaker 3: you have to open up you financials as well, show
Speaker 3: them how well you are establishing the market, how well
Speaker 3: you can do and what you can bring to the table.
Speaker 3: Then no one else can and yeah and there like
Speaker 3: let's say a few meetings. If they accept you, yeah,
Speaker 3: they will radio proposal and say hey, we want to
Speaker 3: work with you. So this is these are terms. If
Speaker 3: you're happy with it, we go ahead. But working with Disney,
Speaker 3: especially with Disney, has been one of the biggest success
Speaker 3: for men. Miir to be honest and so proud to
Speaker 3: say that we are the first Australian brand is going
Speaker 3: to be launching in August in Disnel and Paris.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: So I'm very proud, very excited.
Speaker 2: Are you doing everything You're doing the most?
Speaker 3: I'm trying. I'm trying, and we are the first Australian
Speaker 3: brand that is going to be an Old Toys r
Speaker 3: US stores in Asia.
Speaker 2: Wow, everywhere You're and you figured all this out on
Speaker 2: your own.
Speaker 3: Yes, after making so many mistakes.
Speaker 1: What's one of the biggest mistakes you've ever made in
Speaker 1: your business journey if you can. I know we make
Speaker 1: mistakes all the time as business owners, But is there
Speaker 1: one that you've done where you've been like, wow, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm never doing that again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, trying to sow what I did once. I mean,
Speaker 3: one of the biggest mistakes and we lost a lot
Speaker 3: of money, is when we import. So what happens was
Speaker 3: we designed this beautiful pair of socks that came in
Speaker 3: with like lace up shoelaces, but the shoelaces had eared
Speaker 3: battle like one of those button butteries at the back
Speaker 3: in their light up. So when you wear the socks
Speaker 3: turned light laces and everything was great. So we checked
Speaker 3: all the Australian standards. Everything was good, the shoelaces were fine.
Speaker 3: And then by the time the shipmen arrived in Australia,
Speaker 3: the legislation change and those batteries are not safe, yeah,
Speaker 3: and they were not packed properly yeah, according to the
Speaker 3: new legislation. So we had to recall the whole product
Speaker 3: that was already in our warehouses in US and in
Speaker 3: Australia back then, and then yeah, it was a disaster.
Speaker 2: And you just had to like bin the whole thing, yes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and go quiet about it and be like, I'm
Speaker 3: so sorry.
Speaker 2: Had you already like promoted them on social media by.
Speaker 3: That point, Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. But what we
Speaker 3: did is so some of them to cover some of
Speaker 3: the losses. So we had to like my stuff manually
Speaker 3: start taking the shoelaces off, and we donated a lot
Speaker 3: and we just give away. We did some stuff, but
Speaker 3: when you receive them, you can see that something is
Speaker 3: missing on them, so you couldn't really like sell them
Speaker 3: on the website or something like that. Yeah. Wow, so
Speaker 3: that was that was bad. Yes.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Something else that I think you need to tell me
Speaker 1: about is you're currently being sued.
Speaker 3: Okay, so what happened was on Monday morning, I woke
Speaker 3: up to the news that I'm my company in Brazil
Speaker 3: is being sued. I haven't started operating in Brazil. The
Speaker 3: plan I opened a company in Brazil. The way things
Speaker 3: work in the Brazil, once you register a company in
Speaker 3: Brazil that all the information your company information goes public.
Speaker 3: Some scammers found out about me registered company in Brazil
Speaker 3: and decided to go out there and create hundreds of
Speaker 3: fake mad Meal website, using my brand logo, using my imagery,
Speaker 3: using everything. So they my website, just completely copy my
Speaker 3: website and yeah, and pretending to sell the stock they
Speaker 3: don't have, and ripped off thousands and thousands of people.
Speaker 1: And so people thought that they were shopping from your website,
Speaker 1: but the Brazil version, But it was actually set up
Speaker 1: by a scammer, exactly, and they were scamming your customers.
Speaker 3: Yes, And what happens when the customer realized that they
Speaker 3: will never receive their orders, they will contact the scammers
Speaker 3: to say where is my order? And they keep saying
Speaker 3: call mad Me in Australia, they have the stock that
Speaker 3: will ship it to you. So I have thousands and
Speaker 3: towns of customers coming to us every day on social
Speaker 3: media saying and emails and everything and saying where's my stock,
Speaker 3: You're gonna ship it. We were like, we never received
Speaker 3: the money, We never and until we discovered what yet
Speaker 3: these people have done a lot of unhappy customers that
Speaker 3: got ripped off got together and took me to court
Speaker 3: thinking that it's me scamming down.
Speaker 2: Have you since like said it's not me? Do they
Speaker 2: know now that it's not you.
Speaker 3: Well, I've actually hired a criminal lawyer in Brazil who
Speaker 3: is pressing charges against these people who are doing this
Speaker 3: to my business. But now we need to go to
Speaker 3: court and prove to these innocent people that it's not us,
Speaker 3: that is someone.
Speaker 2: Like they found who actually did it.
Speaker 3: Not yet, however, my partner is very invested in the
Speaker 3: whole case, and we think we know who the guy is. Shit,
Speaker 3: but we're just collecting all the proofs now. But the
Speaker 3: scary thing is that I haven't even started operating there
Speaker 3: and I have all this I have a better reputation,
Speaker 3: and I don't know how what I'm gonna do and
Speaker 3: how I'm gonna what I'm gonna do to get out
Speaker 3: of it because people don't trust you.
Speaker 2: And I've spoken on your social media about.
Speaker 3: Yeah I did. I had to make a video, many
Speaker 3: videos to to warn people not to go and shop
Speaker 3: on any other website apart from madmere dot com. But
Speaker 3: the interesting thing is that this guy who is doing
Speaker 3: the scam, who's behind this all this website, he's doing
Speaker 3: paid ads on Facebook as well to get more money
Speaker 3: pretending and selling all the Disney license products illegally and
Speaker 3: pretending to.
Speaker 2: Be me and he paid for him as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm actually because we have a I don't know
Speaker 3: if you know, brand register, brand news register don't matter,
Speaker 3: so I can go at the back and just block
Speaker 3: his ads and post immediately.
Speaker 2: But it didn't you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it takes time.
Speaker 2: It just what a nightmare.
Speaker 3: Yes, so yeah next next week, Yeah, we're going to.
Speaker 2: God look Out is coming for you.
Speaker 3: Very scary and I yeah, I just it's been a nightmare.
Speaker 3: So when people think that, oh, business is going well,
Speaker 3: you're so you must be so happy, You're like, I've
Speaker 3: never had more problems than I have.
Speaker 2: I'm not getting sued in Brazil at the moment, thank
Speaker 2: you very much.
Speaker 3: It's hard. I just got suit today because because yeah,
Speaker 3: I just decided to open a business. But and one
Speaker 3: very interesting stories as well, which I passed to the
Speaker 3: criminal lawyers. So this guy who is scamming people, he
Speaker 3: created so many websites, but we managed to hack into one. Yes,
Speaker 3: and we can see the thousands of orders you've taken
Speaker 3: and money and now we we we gave it to
Speaker 3: the police there to ref on these people. But we
Speaker 3: hacked into one of the website because he used our
Speaker 3: email address for some I don't even.
Speaker 2: Know how with your email address.
Speaker 3: And do you know how he does it? So in
Speaker 3: Brazil to create a shop of a store you have,
Speaker 3: you have a promotion of having a month for free
Speaker 3: for one dollar. So that's what he's doing every my
Speaker 3: creating new websites for one dollar because in shopify Brazil
Speaker 3: you can for one dollar create a website each month.
Speaker 1: And just new website, doing a free trial shop, scamming
Speaker 1: people going on to the next port.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and doing pay thats far out. Not having
Speaker 3: a single pair of socks is stock?
Speaker 2: How can people get away with this?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I really don't know, and I'm very like,
Speaker 3: I'm just shocked. Who would have thought?
Speaker 2: Maybe we need so we have scammers?
Speaker 1: I think like a good business ideas.
Speaker 3: I profer this morning, I walk out with my I
Speaker 3: have a name employee who works in Brazil. She sent
Speaker 3: me three other new websites.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they have a full fully develop Instagram accounts
Speaker 3: with like faith faith followers and everything, but all my posts.
Speaker 3: So if you go on my Instagram and they look
Speaker 3: the same, so people think it's the same.
Speaker 1: Isn't that crazy that people can do that? And you
Speaker 1: think like you could just report it and it would
Speaker 1: get taken down. But like Meta doesn't care about that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: They do, Actually they do because since my brand is
Speaker 3: registered with Meta, I go in the backhand and report them.
Speaker 3: And to be honest, so far, Mata has been so
Speaker 3: good because it's I will report them within two hours
Speaker 3: it's gone, oh good, So I'm happy with that. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I just discovered that at the in my ad account
Speaker 3: in Matter, so I'm doing that every day. So I
Speaker 3: do that too. The scary thing is that recently we
Speaker 3: are facing a lot of knockoffs on the market in
Speaker 3: significant amount of volume. I seek containous of fake med
Speaker 3: mew socks around the world, and every day I'm spending
Speaker 3: a fortune with lawyers in US, in Europe, in here
Speaker 3: in China. I'm taking two factories in China in court
Speaker 3: now next month suing them because that's what they do.
Speaker 3: They go behind closed door and they just create copy.
Speaker 1: I think this is when this all comes down to
Speaker 1: back to what we were talking about, your community and
Speaker 1: your social media, Like that's gonna be your power, because
Speaker 1: whilst people can go out and try to replicate what
Speaker 1: you're making, they can't replicate you or your brand or
Speaker 1: your community. And so I think that's why all that
Speaker 1: stuff that we spoke about is so important.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that also doesn't mean that I'm gonna sit
Speaker 3: there and watch what they're doing. I actually go out
Speaker 3: there and I make sure they know who I am,
Speaker 3: and then I'm onto them and I'm not gonna give up,
Speaker 3: and I'm not gonna stop until they stop, because it
Speaker 3: just like taking taking my baby away, like created this,
Speaker 3: and I'm going to fight for it until they think
Speaker 3: I'm like this crazy person.
Speaker 2: The crazy person.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I will go there. What happened? Also interesting story
Speaker 3: is I went to a trade scher in Hong Kong
Speaker 3: in January and I was exhibiting there and then next
Speaker 3: to me whole stand with mock over my socks. They
Speaker 3: were selling them.
Speaker 2: Did you go over there?
Speaker 3: Of course? I made a sin a drama. I love it.
Speaker 3: I had to. I mean, I was like, what are
Speaker 3: you doing? These are my products? Start taking them off?
Speaker 2: What did they say?
Speaker 3: Well, they infringing on my own designs. I have trained
Speaker 3: my copyrights on everything, So they took them off. I
Speaker 3: went to the IP department reported them, so they took
Speaker 3: them off. But the day which is done. They already
Speaker 3: spent a whole day selling and making money out of
Speaker 3: my hard work and designs. Well, you could just change
Speaker 3: it a little.
Speaker 2: Bit, make it get different.
Speaker 3: At least they even like you. Know how they when
Speaker 3: they copy usually brands, they change the name or something. No,
Speaker 3: they even have my tag on it you mad me, Yeah,
Speaker 3: mad MEA, or they will just remove the A at
Speaker 3: the end, So it's mad me mad me. You're kidding?
Speaker 1: And yeah, and they I mean, that is a massive
Speaker 1: compliment if you want to look at it that way.
Speaker 1: If your brand is so viral and so popular that
Speaker 1: people want to copy it down to the actual logo
Speaker 1: and name, that's a credit to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess so. I mean they say, if you
Speaker 3: see your socks and I they express, that means that
Speaker 3: you made.
Speaker 1: It exactly right. You've absolutely made it. Let's go back
Speaker 1: to the marketing of MADMEA. First of all, what does
Speaker 1: mad does MADMEA stand for?
Speaker 2: Anything?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: The name?
Speaker 3: I gotta be honest, The name was like was created
Speaker 3: by the initial founders of the brand. Ye, so I
Speaker 3: didn't influence that, but I actually love it. I'm sorely
Speaker 3: love with it. And people call me madme and I
Speaker 3: so I go by that. No, they don't call me
Speaker 3: anymos like Madme and great nice.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: So you have said that you have never spent a
Speaker 1: cent on influencer marketing, but you also just mentioned to
Speaker 1: me that it was only up until like five years ago,
Speaker 1: you hadn't spent a single cent on marketing paid marketing
Speaker 1: in general. So like you're talking ads like all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, you.
Speaker 3: Didn't have the money.
Speaker 1: So the first few years of your business you relied
Speaker 1: solely just on organic marketing.
Speaker 2: Exactly how powerful do you think organic marketing is even now?
Speaker 3: Very very I loved, I mean, and what we did
Speaker 3: back in the days is in order to attract attention
Speaker 3: and get the people in community involved. I used to
Speaker 3: have this photo shoot events every two weeks, which I'm
Speaker 3: doing and now in our office. But before I didn't
Speaker 3: have a studio, and I will hire like a dance student,
Speaker 3: get a big room and get a lot of dances
Speaker 3: and kids that love med me to come and have
Speaker 3: it again these days with mad Me. Back in the days,
Speaker 3: people used to pay to come and take a photo
Speaker 3: with me and spend the day and have a photoshed
Speaker 3: with So it was like a full on event day
Speaker 3: where it which is everybody had so much fun. Even
Speaker 3: now parents are shaying, oh look at this my daughter
Speaker 3: from ten years ago potowed you at the photoshurement. So
Speaker 3: those are the events I created in order to get
Speaker 3: the community involved with the brand because I didn't have
Speaker 3: the money to for anything to pay because I just
Speaker 3: especially when I just bought the business, I had like
Speaker 3: seven thousand dollars left in we're bank account. Like what
Speaker 3: do you do? First?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you How do you market yourself with
Speaker 2: six thousand goals? It doesn't really go far?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that you built like the foundations of
Speaker 1: the business off for organic marketing because one thing that
Speaker 1: I've found speaking to a lot of other business owners
Speaker 1: and maybe where content isn't something that they're doing a
Speaker 1: lot of or they they they're not keen on making
Speaker 1: content is a lot of business owners think that organic
Speaker 1: marketing isn't important.
Speaker 2: Oh God, But as.
Speaker 1: For you, for example, let's say, so you're obviously doing
Speaker 1: paid advertising now like paid at everything, because.
Speaker 3: We're doing it because we're growing really fast and the
Speaker 3: business has expanded, as they said, we have US warehouse,
Speaker 3: European Warehouse now opening Brazil next month Australia. We have
Speaker 3: two warehouses. Yes, so we Yeah, we have to keep Yeah,
Speaker 3: we have to.
Speaker 2: So if you were to stop posting your organic content
Speaker 2: that you post on your socials, what would happen to
Speaker 2: the business?
Speaker 3: I don't know, good question, never thought about it.
Speaker 2: Do you to go down?
Speaker 3: Maybe? Yes? But that is why I believe it or not.
Speaker 3: I was just telling Tash before the interview, I haven't
Speaker 3: missed a day since how many years ago, twenty fourteen
Speaker 3: not to post on Instagram. And it's like for us,
Speaker 3: it's like that's where our community is at the moment.
Speaker 3: It's like Instagram and it's just like I can't miss
Speaker 3: the day. I remember in my part of the things
Speaker 3: that I am like, i'd be crazy because I remember
Speaker 3: a few years ago I had a kidney surgery and
Speaker 3: then I'm waking up from the surgery and first thing
Speaker 3: I do is like, it's seven o'clock. I need to
Speaker 3: post on this and it's like are you crazy? Are
Speaker 3: you crazy? Like, but I have to do it. I
Speaker 3: have to. Like I feel like every night for me,
Speaker 3: posting on social media, which is my perfect time for posting,
Speaker 3: is like I have to be there to entertain to
Speaker 3: tell the world what I've done today, like what I'm doing,
Speaker 3: and it's like it's like it's like going putting a
Speaker 3: like 'sentertaining your followers, Like you have to be there,
Speaker 3: you have to engage with that. Other way they'll forget.
Speaker 2: They will. And this is the thing that I'm so
Speaker 2: passionate about.
Speaker 1: And I love that you're saying this because a lot
Speaker 1: of people, like, maybe they'll sign up to a business
Speaker 1: advertising course where it's all about paid but no one
Speaker 1: is really focusing on the organics, and business owners are
Speaker 1: missing out if they're not continuously posting organic content. And
Speaker 1: they'll think, yeah, but it's organic content, it's not going
Speaker 1: to make sales, Like that's the number one driver of sales.
Speaker 1: And if you have strong organic content, if you're showing
Speaker 1: up on your reels every day, your ads are then
Speaker 1: gonna perform better. So I love when I meet other
Speaker 1: business owners and they stress the importance of showing up
Speaker 1: every day on social media.
Speaker 3: But you have to.
Speaker 1: I think it's a thing that a lot of business
Speaker 1: owners can't be bothered to do or they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's too hard, or I'm not going to do that
Speaker 1: because it's not going to bring me sales. But I
Speaker 1: think both you and I are living proof that organic
Speaker 1: content is everything and it can and does drive sales.
Speaker 1: You just have to get creative with it and do
Speaker 1: it in the right way.
Speaker 3: And to be honest, I'll tell you another experience, so
Speaker 3: like what I've experienced. I went to Germany for the
Speaker 3: first for the second time, the biggest toy fair in
Speaker 3: Germany in February. So I was there and it's like,
Speaker 3: no one knows. Not many people knew in Europe. No
Speaker 3: in Europe above man Mia because we just launched last year.
Speaker 3: So I went there to promote the brand because the
Speaker 3: other part of my business I do a lot of
Speaker 3: wholesale as well and distribution. So I went there to
Speaker 3: present the brand and so many people from around the
Speaker 3: world will come and say I've seen you on Instagram.
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, it's like I've seen you seen, Oh,
Speaker 3: I know you. Like I'm like, I never market that
Speaker 3: that territoryff I've yeah, but I've landed over there with
Speaker 3: organic or organic posts and it's so good if it
Speaker 3: doesn't convert it sales if if nothing else, people know
Speaker 3: about you and it's so important, like it's a brand
Speaker 3: aware and it's a start like that, but then in
Speaker 3: sales eventually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's what would be your advice to business owners
Speaker 1: out there who maybe think that organic content isn't important,
Speaker 1: or maybe they're just starting out, what would be your
Speaker 1: advice to them about creating organic content for their social media,
Speaker 1: for their brand and their personal brand.
Speaker 3: Don't give up. There will be good and bad days.
Speaker 3: I have posts when I post on Instagram. They perform
Speaker 3: really bad. But I tried, you know, I tried. For
Speaker 3: some of them, they just go viral. And why I
Speaker 3: don't know. I mean, I don't have the reci before it.
Speaker 3: But just be there. Do not give up. And you
Speaker 3: have to have that consistency every day, every day, commitment
Speaker 3: to that page. Because even if one presences, you post
Speaker 3: that night all day. It's just it makes a difference,
Speaker 3: I could call a lot of difference.
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more. And I say the same for me.
Speaker 1: I have been building Fate for nearly eight years now
Speaker 1: and I post every single day, And even though we're.
Speaker 2: A big business, I still post every single day.
Speaker 3: Do you do it yourself?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do it on my account. I do it myself.
Speaker 1: For our Fate social media, We've got like a team
Speaker 1: that hadn't edit it all.
Speaker 2: But I'm still.
Speaker 1: In the comments every night, I'm still engaging every night.
Speaker 1: I'm showing up on my story every night. And it's
Speaker 1: all because you can't just all of a sudden get
Speaker 1: to a point with your business and then stop. You know,
Speaker 1: even if you get like to be a really big business,
Speaker 1: you can't just go Okay, then I'll slow down the content.
Speaker 1: If anything, I think the bigger that we get and
Speaker 1: the further we get into the journey.
Speaker 2: The more you have to keep posting, exactly. And it's
Speaker 2: never ending. But you've got to love it. And I
Speaker 2: think I love it.
Speaker 3: I'm obsessed with it. It's like a drug to be able
Speaker 3: to meet.
Speaker 2: Me too. And I think you've got to be upset
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 1: And I think if you combine all the things that
Speaker 1: you obviously have, the love for your product, the love
Speaker 1: for your community, the love for creating your content, the
Speaker 1: love for engaging with everyone, like, it's a recipe for
Speaker 1: success exactly.
Speaker 3: I mean, but you gotta, yeah, you gotta love what
Speaker 3: do you do? Like you got? Like all I do
Speaker 3: is I wake up, the all I think is like
Speaker 3: mad mia, and then I got to better. I think
Speaker 3: it's mad Mia. And then my partner gets up at
Speaker 3: three o'clock in the morning, He's like, what do you do?
Speaker 2: Does your partner do for work?
Speaker 3: He has his own business skin checks? Okay, yes, but
Speaker 3: he's he's actually selling his business at the moment because
Speaker 3: he wants to. He needs to come and help with Madmeir.
Speaker 3: I can't. I can't do it everything on my own.
Speaker 3: It's it's way bigger than and I still run it
Speaker 3: like it's a small business. And he keeps saying to me,
Speaker 3: you have to think big. Your business is big. I'm like,
Speaker 3: but but it's still my baby. Yeah, Like it's yeah,
Speaker 3: And I think it's good to always think about business
Speaker 3: that is just still small. I don't know why, like
Speaker 3: just treat it as it's a small business, even if
Speaker 3: even if it's a big business, because it's I still
Speaker 3: do customer service the middle of the night, ef I
Speaker 3: see an email, I do it. I have to do it.
Speaker 2: We jumping on the emails.
Speaker 3: Yay, I have to do it. And for us also,
Speaker 3: why made me successful is like we don't have a
Speaker 3: customer service policy. Well, customer service policy is I told
Speaker 3: my girls in customer service customersly to be happy if
Speaker 3: we have to give them three pairs of socks. If
Speaker 3: it's our fault, not our fault, they have to be happy.
Speaker 3: And once they're happy, they keep coming back. And let's
Speaker 3: say we sell like a million pairs per year if
Speaker 3: I send two hundred pairs to customers to make them happy.
Speaker 1: So yes, yes, absolutely, Obviously you had no idea that
Speaker 1: Mad Maya would get to the point that it is now.
Speaker 1: And I think everything that you're saying, I feel like
Speaker 1: you're me Like I'm understanding everything that you're saying. I
Speaker 1: feel like we're so similar in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: With that being said, would you ever sell Mad Maya?
Speaker 1: Can you see that being on cards in the future.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure. I had already companies trying to acquire Man,
Speaker 3: we are yep and knocking on my door. At the moment,
Speaker 3: no way, I'm too excited. Yeah, it's so exciting. Yes,
Speaker 3: it's like what I'm gonna do after So at the moment, no,
Speaker 3: I can't say what's going to happen in ten years time.
Speaker 3: But at the moment, no, it's so exciting. I'm building
Speaker 3: this new culture and new lifestyle brand. Everybody is so excited.
Speaker 3: I feel like the world is just talking about men
Speaker 3: we or wherever I go, So no way for no no.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people that like invest
Speaker 1: invest in businesses or they acquire companies and it's all
Speaker 1: about the numbers. They find it really difficult talking to
Speaker 1: people like you and I that are extremely passionate about
Speaker 1: the business because their mind would be, what do you
Speaker 1: mean you don't want to sell it?
Speaker 2: Like we can give you a lot of money for.
Speaker 1: It and you'd just be super rich and you don't
Speaker 1: have to do anything anymore. But they don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm going to do, like this is my life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they don't see that side of it because it's just
Speaker 1: a numbers game for that exactly exactly, Tanya. I always
Speaker 1: end my Big Business episodes with a tip of the week,
Speaker 1: but it can be a business tip, a life tip,
Speaker 1: a life hack. Do you have a tip that you
Speaker 1: can share with us today?
Speaker 3: I don't know. All I gotta say is your time
Speaker 3: will come. Just don't leave the party early. Be there,
Speaker 3: be persistent, and I think that if you really want it,
Speaker 3: you'll get there no matter what. I always believe in
Speaker 3: reflective futures in a way that every time I say
Speaker 3: put a goal for myself and I don't see it.
Speaker 3: I work towards the goal. I always get to that
Speaker 3: no matter what. But I have to be fully invested, dedication, consistency,
Speaker 3: don't give up, and yeah, your time will come for sure.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: I'm even feeling inspired now, like fate, I need to
Speaker 1: go out and do more because you said, oh, thank
Speaker 1: you so much.
Speaker 2: Where can everyone find you?
Speaker 1: On socials and all so your products just for anyone
Speaker 1: that doesn't know well.
Speaker 3: I have my own TikTok account which I started and
Speaker 3: neglected because so many things to do. But I'm getting
Speaker 3: onto it. So it's Tania Philipopska and my mad Mia
Speaker 3: official Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, everything is the same. They can
Speaker 3: find us everywhere. Our website is mad We are the
Speaker 3: com Please go and check it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, get some fun songs and andy, you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to get some.
Speaker 3: I love it and thanks for having me. I love
Speaker 3: what you do. I'm following you every day. Obsessed. Were
Speaker 3: obsessed in the office. Now every time you put a video,
Speaker 3: we're like, look what s done?
Speaker 1: Now, I'm gonna have a pressure that you're watching.
Speaker 2: Every time making a new video. I'm gonna be saying,
Speaker 2: she's going to be watching.
Speaker 3: To make it really good. Oh you're amazing, very inspiring
Speaker 3: to be honest.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I love you.
Speaker 1: Likewise, I could chat with you for hours, But thanks
Speaker 1: so much for coming on and congratulations on all of
Speaker 1: your success. What an amazing story.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you for having me.