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 managed 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 mistakes, the challenging times and the funny moments in between. So,
Speaker 1: whether you're in business yourself, perhaps you're not in the
Speaker 1: game at all, maybe you're just looking for some inspiration,
Speaker 1: or you just simply want to hear the tea, this
Speaker 1: is the podcast for you. Coming up on today's episode
Speaker 1: of Big Business, I'm going to be chatting with you
Speaker 1: about the things that I personally believe you should invest
Speaker 1: your money in when starting up a business.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: A little while ago, back last year, at some stage,
Speaker 1: we did an episode on the things that I think
Speaker 1: aren't worth spending your money on when you start a business,
Speaker 1: and they are things.
Speaker 2: That people maybe do tend to spend money on.
Speaker 1: So you'll have to go back and find that episode
Speaker 1: if you haven't listened to it, because it's the opposite
Speaker 1: of this one. But today we're talking all things that
Speaker 1: I think are worth investing your money in when starting
Speaker 1: up your business.
Speaker 2: So, without further ado, let's just get straight down to business.
Speaker 2: Bomb boom bomb. Well can you just leave wow?
Speaker 1: Can you just leave that in here instead? Like don't
Speaker 1: put the song? Like just do me good?
Speaker 2: Don't don't don't.
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's get into it. I've actually just written
Speaker 1: down a little note here. When it comes to starting
Speaker 1: a business, there's obviously a lot of costs involved, and
Speaker 1: if anything, I think it can be super overwhelming for
Speaker 1: business owners knowing.
Speaker 2: What to spend your money on.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I could write down a billion things
Speaker 1: that are worth spending your money on. I definitely think
Speaker 1: a lot of people can overdo it and spend money
Speaker 1: on the wrong things.
Speaker 2: But today we're going to focus on things that I
Speaker 2: think are worth it.
Speaker 1: Now, the first one is a super boring one, and
Speaker 1: I think it's one of those things anytime you hear it,
Speaker 1: you go.
Speaker 2: But it's an accountant.
Speaker 1: I think from the get go, investing your money in
Speaker 1: having an accountant is going to pay off tenfold down
Speaker 1: the track. And I've actually got a bit of a
Speaker 1: story that I'm going to share with you today, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to expose myself for what I did in
Speaker 1: my earlier years. Okay, just to give you I might
Speaker 1: have already said this on the pod already. I'm not
Speaker 1: one hundred percent sure. But basically, when I was in
Speaker 1: my early twenties, I became a really famous influencer and
Speaker 1: instagrammer and YouTuber, and I was living in Sydney at
Speaker 1: the time, didn't have anything really to do with my family,
Speaker 1: and growing up, I was never given any guidance when
Speaker 1: it came to finances.
Speaker 2: I knew nothing about how tax worked.
Speaker 1: I had no idea, and when I started my business,
Speaker 1: it was very much yep, I'm going to start this business.
Speaker 1: Like my family had nothing to do with it. You know,
Speaker 1: Dad's not in the picture anyway, Mom's on and off
Speaker 1: kind of thing. So it was just me out there
Speaker 1: just fending for myself. And when I started Fate, I
Speaker 1: had no idea, and I'd never had any idea because
Speaker 1: no one had ever taught me anything.
Speaker 2: But anyway, when I became a really big, popular.
Speaker 1: Famous instagrammer and YouTuber, I was earning a lot of
Speaker 1: money all of a sudden, right and all I was
Speaker 1: used to back in the day, like before I became
Speaker 1: this big, famous influence was getting my pay every week
Speaker 1: from my jobs that I was working, and on my
Speaker 1: pay slip, I would see, you know, the tax had
Speaker 1: already been taken out and done for me.
Speaker 2: I saw my super like it. It's all there on
Speaker 2: your payslip, right, and you don't really think anything of
Speaker 2: it now.
Speaker 1: Because I was all of a sudden self employed at
Speaker 1: the age of twenty one on, I didn't know how
Speaker 1: to do tax because no one had ever taught me.
Speaker 2: I didn't have an accountant.
Speaker 1: So I was doing all these brand deals with all
Speaker 1: these brands, and they were paying me to post their
Speaker 1: products on Instagram. And then I learned how to make
Speaker 1: an invoice like myself, because that's how like when you're
Speaker 1: an influencer.
Speaker 2: You do a job and then you send your invoice
Speaker 2: and you get paid afterwards.
Speaker 1: And so I would send these invoices and the money
Speaker 1: would just go straight into my bank account, right. Another
Speaker 1: mistake that I made back then as well was I
Speaker 1: only had a personal bank account. Set up a business
Speaker 1: bank account when you're doing a business. But again I
Speaker 1: was young, I was twenty one. I had no idea
Speaker 1: about business banking. I just had my bank account and
Speaker 1: that was it. So all these chunks of money, and
Speaker 1: because when you are an influencer, you're not getting paid,
Speaker 1: you know, the same amount every week. Some weeks you
Speaker 1: might not get paid anything, and then the next month
Speaker 1: might be like boom, here's fifteen grand. And so I
Speaker 1: was just getting these chunks of money thrown into my
Speaker 1: bank account, and very quickly I started to, I guess,
Speaker 1: have a lot of money in my bank account. I
Speaker 1: don't know whether to say it was savings, but all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, over these years, in my early twenties,
Speaker 1: you know, I started to have twenty thousand dollars, thirty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, forty thousand dollars, fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Just in my bank account. And I was like, wow, like,
Speaker 2: this money is mine. I didn't know that I.
Speaker 1: Had to pay some of it for tax, which is
Speaker 1: so stupid, I know, but again, like no one had
Speaker 1: ever taught me about anything. So here I was thinking, wow,
Speaker 1: like I'm just absolutely loaded.
Speaker 2: This is fantastic.
Speaker 1: And I remember in the back of my head I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, like I should be somehow paying tax
Speaker 1: on this, but I don't know how, And I guess
Speaker 1: I just kind of brushed it to the side and
Speaker 1: it bit me in the ass later down the track,
Speaker 1: and lucky, okay, lucky. So maybe two years into like
Speaker 1: working for myself full time and being an influencer, I
Speaker 1: hadn't done my tax for about two years. And it'll
Speaker 1: eventually catch up on you if you're not doing your tax,
Speaker 1: because the ATO will like see that you're not paying
Speaker 1: any tax and they'll reach out and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: what's going on. So that's exactly what happened to me.
Speaker 1: The ATO gave me a call, and I thought I
Speaker 1: was going to jail, Like I thought, I've committed tax fraud.
Speaker 2: I'm going to jail because I owe the ATO, Like
Speaker 2: I was just so scared.
Speaker 1: And again I'm like twenty three years old or something
Speaker 1: like that, and I'm like, oh my god, I owe
Speaker 1: the money. And I don't remember the exact figure, but
Speaker 1: it was around one hundred thousand dollars that I owed
Speaker 1: the ATO, and I thought I was going to jail,
Speaker 1: Like I thought I was going to jail, but I didn't.
Speaker 2: But I was freaking out.
Speaker 1: But luckily, like luckily, okay, I'd not gone crazy and
Speaker 1: spent that money that was sitting in my bank account
Speaker 1: like it was sitting there kind of as savings or whatever.
Speaker 1: And so what I did anyway, was then I got
Speaker 1: an accountant. Finally, that was like my trigger to go
Speaker 1: get an accountant. And then with the ATO, I set
Speaker 1: myself up on a payment plan just so that I
Speaker 1: didn't have to pay you know, one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in one payment. So I set myself up on a
Speaker 1: payment plan, and I think I spent the next like
Speaker 1: six to twelve months paying it off, just month by month.
Speaker 2: And then I eventually got to the point where I
Speaker 2: was all up.
Speaker 1: To date on my taxes, and then I had the
Speaker 1: accountant so that moving forward, he could you know, help
Speaker 1: me in paying my tax off as the years went by,
Speaker 1: because if you don't, like it's just gonna rack up
Speaker 1: and you're gonna get slapped with a massive tax bill.
Speaker 2: And that's a big lesson that I learned in my
Speaker 2: early twenties.
Speaker 1: And now anytime someone says to me like, oh, is
Speaker 1: it worth getting an accountant, Absolutely, And even if you're
Speaker 1: just starting your business and you know that the business
Speaker 1: isn't going to be making that much money, like you're
Speaker 1: just getting started, I would get an accountant from the start,
Speaker 1: have the accountant, help you set up your ABN, and
Speaker 1: like they'll they can be with you from the beginning.
Speaker 3: Hello, it is producer. I'm a producer. X Now keep
Speaker 3: it getting to just say, okay.
Speaker 1: We're quickly just changing the topic for one second. You
Speaker 1: all want to know something really funny. On the weekend,
Speaker 1: we went to Kylie Minou together and I put Xander
Speaker 1: on my Instagram story, which I've done before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but maybe we've got new listeners.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you.
Speaker 3: I don't think you ever referenced me as the producer this.
Speaker 2: People just thought you're my friend.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh nah.
Speaker 1: And it's so funny because so many people were replying, God,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is not what I thought Sander
Speaker 1: would look like.
Speaker 3: I hope it's good, though. I hope people are like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, he's the most hideous producers.
Speaker 1: Funny, like people know you in the pod and they
Speaker 1: know your voice and your personality, but then they see that,
Speaker 1: oh my god, that's what Sander was like. Someone's like
Speaker 1: I was picturing to have long, surfy hair.
Speaker 3: I had long surfy hair at one point. I used
Speaker 3: to have a bleach blond mullets.
Speaker 2: O nice.
Speaker 3: So I think I think the voice would suit that, yep.
Speaker 3: But we had a Britney Spears moment last year and
Speaker 3: we shaved it all off.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: But anyway back to business, you're going to ask me,
Speaker 3: I was going to ask you. So when you get
Speaker 3: your you've got your accountant. I don't know if this
Speaker 3: is a silly question, but does your accountant do they
Speaker 3: do your tax for you or do you still go
Speaker 3: to it like a tax agent to do that a
Speaker 3: separate one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they do it for you the same way
Speaker 1: like if you were going to a tax place to
Speaker 1: get your tax down to their accountants.
Speaker 3: That's very handy to have someone who completely understands your
Speaker 3: business doing that though.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when you're starting out like it's it's I think
Speaker 1: when people here getting an accountant for my business, I
Speaker 1: think they think, oh, that's going to cost tens of
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars, Like it sounds like an expensive thing.
Speaker 1: But much like when it comes to doing your personal
Speaker 1: tax and how you just go and see them once
Speaker 1: a year and you pay them.
Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know how much it is these days,
Speaker 2: three hundred dollars like I.
Speaker 3: Think it depends on what you get back, yeah, or
Speaker 3: the place you.
Speaker 2: See, okay, like starting at eighty nine and you get
Speaker 2: charged x Y variables on it.
Speaker 1: So when you're doing it for your business, especially in
Speaker 1: the start, it can very much be like that where
Speaker 1: you're just going to see them once a year or
Speaker 1: whatever or once a quarter or whatever, and like you're
Speaker 1: just paying them the one off feet, like you're not
Speaker 1: signing them up as like an employee and paying them
Speaker 1: constantly and with an accountant for example, like they can
Speaker 1: do as much or as little as you want them to.
Speaker 1: So one thing that we do is because when you
Speaker 1: own a business, you've got money going in and out
Speaker 1: constantly all day. Like our bank statement is just like
Speaker 1: there's so many transactions every day, like in and out
Speaker 1: because we've got a website and rent coming out and
Speaker 1: this that and the other end suppliers and invoices and everything.
Speaker 1: So what you have to do is have a software,
Speaker 1: so we use zero and every day you kind of
Speaker 1: go through your transactions and then you like consolidate them
Speaker 1: and put them into all different categories. And so that's
Speaker 1: AJ's job at Fate every day or every second day
Speaker 1: or however often you can do it. Once a week,
Speaker 1: he goes through all of our transactions and puts them
Speaker 1: in their categories, like in the back end of zero,
Speaker 1: and then that links over to our accountant so that
Speaker 1: our accountant can log in and see AJ's already done
Speaker 1: it all for him kind of thing, which then makes
Speaker 1: doing our taxes a lot easier for our accountant. But
Speaker 1: it's really simple and straightforward, and it's just something that's
Speaker 1: worth your investment absolutely. You know, if you have an accountant,
Speaker 1: you're going to be doing your tax right. You know
Speaker 1: they're going to be trying to get you the most
Speaker 1: amount of money back when it comes to claiming things
Speaker 1: through your business expenses like stationary you know, all that stuff,
Speaker 1: the same way that you do with your personal You know,
Speaker 1: you can claim certain things, and it's just it's just
Speaker 1: a no brainer. Get an accountant from the get go,
Speaker 1: even if it's just helping to set you up, and
Speaker 1: they can educate you and what you need to do,
Speaker 1: like they're there to teach you, and then you can
Speaker 1: either have them doing everything or you can kind of
Speaker 1: take over yourself and just go to them when you need.
Speaker 2: The second one that I think is worth your.
Speaker 1: Money is only if you need it, but it's having
Speaker 1: a solicitor or lawyer that is going to draft up
Speaker 1: any contracts that you may have in your business. Now.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people when you're starting out,
Speaker 1: you're probably not going to have contracts and all this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But when you're getting to the point
Speaker 1: of maybe signing a commercial lease or maybe you're starting
Speaker 1: to hire staff, I think it's worth your money having
Speaker 1: a professional look over a contract. Let's say you're going
Speaker 1: to hire your first employee, and you just and again,
Speaker 1: when you are hiring your first employee, your employment contract
Speaker 1: is going to look extremely different compared to a company
Speaker 1: that's got fifty staff, right, Like, the contract's going to
Speaker 1: be super simple if it's just you and one other person,
Speaker 1: But if you got fifty people, it's going to be
Speaker 1: a massive contract because you probably need a lot of
Speaker 1: shit in there. And even if you're let's say hiring
Speaker 1: your first employee, put them on a contract.
Speaker 2: I think it's just so important to have everything in writing.
Speaker 1: And when I started Fate and was hiring my first
Speaker 1: few employees, like for a while, they're like, we didn't
Speaker 1: have an employee contract because I just had no idea
Speaker 1: that I needed that, you know, I was like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: come work with me you start tomorrow like, that's very
Speaker 1: much what it was like.
Speaker 2: But then eventually I was like, wait, I need something
Speaker 2: to say.
Speaker 1: This person does work for me, and this is what
Speaker 1: their job outline is, and this is what they're getting
Speaker 1: paid per hour or whatever. So if you're going to
Speaker 1: be making contracts of any kind in your business, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe once it grows a little bit, have a professional
Speaker 1: look over your contract, even if you've made it up
Speaker 1: yourself for whatever reason. If you're confident enough to make
Speaker 1: up your own contracts that your staff are going to sign,
Speaker 1: pay someone external to look over it because you just
Speaker 1: don't ever want to get yourself in shit. And I
Speaker 1: just think again, it's just like a little one off
Speaker 1: expense to have you know, an employment lawyer look over
Speaker 1: your employee contract that you've made up or that you've
Speaker 1: pulled from a draft online somewhere. I think it's just
Speaker 1: one of those things that's really worth paying for.
Speaker 3: When you've had your contracts looked over, what are some
Speaker 3: things that have been flagged in the past that you
Speaker 3: think are probably important like to maybe include in those contracts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think ours have always been pretty good.
Speaker 1: They might make some suggestions or they might say, oh,
Speaker 1: you might be wary of this line here. Another benefit
Speaker 1: that we've seen by having like lawyers and solicitors look
Speaker 1: over contracts is especially when we've been going to sign
Speaker 1: a commercial lease, So you send that commercial lease to
Speaker 1: a solicitor who might specialize in commercial lease contracts, and
Speaker 1: then they'll go through it with a fine tooth comb
Speaker 1: and go section forty five B. It says this like
Speaker 1: are you happy with that? If not, I suggest you
Speaker 1: go back and ask them x Y. Like they'll just
Speaker 1: pick up on stuff that we would normally just read
Speaker 1: over and think, oh, yeah, that's fine. And because contracts
Speaker 1: can be very tricky and things can be worded a
Speaker 1: certain way and it can sound like something, but it
Speaker 1: can mean something else. So every like commercial lease that
Speaker 1: we've done for all of our stores and our office
Speaker 1: in our warehouse, like I always get our solicitor to
Speaker 1: look over it. And again it's as easy as hey,
Speaker 1: XYZ person, here's a lease that I'm thinking of signing.
Speaker 1: Would you mind spending some time looking over it? And
Speaker 1: they'll get back to you in a few days and go, yep,
Speaker 1: here's all my comments. And it might be five or
Speaker 1: it might be fifty things, and they can also suggest
Speaker 1: things for you to then ask for in a contract
Speaker 1: or a lease, like I think you should ask for
Speaker 1: this because you're paying this much whatever. It's just worth
Speaker 1: getting professional opinions for certain things. So yep, accountant and
Speaker 1: lawyers or solicitors if you need them for contracts. Thing
Speaker 1: number three that I think is worth your money if
Speaker 1: you are setting up a e commerce e commerce store,
Speaker 1: I can't talk today. It's investing in having a Shopify store. Now,
Speaker 1: this is not sponsored. I know sometimes when I'm making
Speaker 1: recommendations on here, it can sound like I'm doing like
Speaker 1: a subtle sponsorship.
Speaker 3: Well Spotify Spotify.
Speaker 2: AJ always says Spotify as well. All the time. AJ
Speaker 2: goes look it up on Spotify and I'm like, you
Speaker 2: mean Shopify, Yeah, I meant shop Well.
Speaker 3: Shopify has sponsored the pot a few times, so this
Speaker 3: is a double win for them.
Speaker 2: Ye send this to them sponsoring us.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I think it's very worth your money to set
Speaker 1: up your store with Shopify. This is if you're going
Speaker 1: to be selling products. All these massive celebrities use Shopify
Speaker 1: because it's the best platform. You can take it from me,
Speaker 1: we are a Shopify store. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: other platforms out there, but there's a reason why Shopify
Speaker 1: is the number one. It is so easy to use.
Speaker 1: At the beginning, you're going to be like it's a
Speaker 1: bit of figuring out, but it is so easy once
Speaker 1: you get the hang of it, and it kind of
Speaker 1: reminds me of remember back in the day when we
Speaker 1: would like customize our MySpace profiles.
Speaker 2: It's giving that but as an adult.
Speaker 1: So yeah, if you're looking at doing a product based
Speaker 1: business and you're going to be selling stuff on your website,
Speaker 1: Shopify is worth every single penny because it's just the best.
Speaker 1: And I know so many people that start out with
Speaker 1: something else for whatever reason, like they've found another one,
Speaker 1: and then they always make the switch over to Shopify.
Speaker 1: So save yourself the time and effort of having to
Speaker 1: change and just start with Shopify. I know this sounds
Speaker 1: like an ad, but I swear it's not. I just
Speaker 1: really love it.
Speaker 2: The next thing that I.
Speaker 1: Believe is a great investment for your business if you're
Speaker 1: starting out and if you need staff, it's investing your
Speaker 1: money in the right staff from the beginning. We talk
Speaker 1: a lot about staff here on Big Business, and I've
Speaker 1: said it a billion times. Staff can either make or
Speaker 1: break your business. Now, staff are going to cost you
Speaker 1: money regardless, like paying someone is an expense. If you're
Speaker 1: hiring people, you're definitely going to be paying them. But
Speaker 1: it can either be an amazing investment if you have
Speaker 1: a great staff member, or you can be absolutely pissing
Speaker 1: your money down the drain if you have made a
Speaker 1: bad hire. And it's not to say that if you
Speaker 1: make a bad hire it's your fault. I know it
Speaker 1: can be really tricky, but investing money into the right
Speaker 1: people and your time as well having the right people
Speaker 1: come in can do absolute wonders for your business. So
Speaker 1: if you're in that position where you're ready to hire,
Speaker 1: take your time and invest your money into the right people,
Speaker 1: because amazing staff.
Speaker 2: Can do absolute wonders for your business.
Speaker 1: And I know we speak about this all the time
Speaker 1: on the pod, but when it comes to staff, you
Speaker 1: can't see it as an expense and like ugh, it's
Speaker 1: an investment because those people will end up becoming an
Speaker 1: asset to your business and they can make your business grow.
Speaker 1: So hiring good staff is an amazing investment. Another thing
Speaker 1: that I think is worth spending money on, and people
Speaker 1: may not spend it because they think that they can
Speaker 1: get away with not doing so. Is sampling again and
Speaker 1: again and again and again. Now this is niche and specific,
Speaker 1: I know, because this is for people that are making
Speaker 1: and selling a product. But I think it's worth every
Speaker 1: penny to sample something a billion times.
Speaker 2: Until you get it perfect.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people, even if it's just
Speaker 1: like custom mailer bags or you know, just anything that
Speaker 1: you're getting made people a lot of the time, and
Speaker 1: especially if you're sourcing it from overseas, they might go
Speaker 1: off like a digital photo that the factory has made
Speaker 1: for them. Like let's say, for example, I was getting
Speaker 1: some glazy cardboard mailer boxes made up, and the factory
Speaker 1: will do like a digital mock up with all my
Speaker 1: colors and the logo and everything, and it's very easy
Speaker 1: to go, yep, let's place the order. And then you
Speaker 1: see people do that, and then their stock arrives and
Speaker 1: it doesn't look the same in person, because something on
Speaker 1: a computer screen in terms of colors is going to
Speaker 1: look different to the eye in person. And I've seen
Speaker 1: so many people on TikTok say, oh my god, I
Speaker 1: stuffed up because this pink wasn't meant to be this
Speaker 1: kind of pink. It was meant to be another pink
Speaker 1: sample everything. And so the way that the sampling process
Speaker 1: works is you get a sample made and maybe it
Speaker 1: needs some changes, so then you get another sample made.
Speaker 1: Now let's say, yep, this is good. What you want
Speaker 1: to do then is do a pre production sample. And
Speaker 1: it costs every time you do a sample right, And
Speaker 1: that's why it's easier to go yeah, okay, I'm just
Speaker 1: happy with it. I've seen it once in a photo done.
Speaker 1: You get a pre production sample. They will do a
Speaker 1: pre production sample. Then you say, yes, this is exactly
Speaker 1: what I want to go into production. Then they will
Speaker 1: do the bulk. They'll make your one thousand mailer boxes,
Speaker 1: let's say. And then before the factory sends you those
Speaker 1: one thousand boxes, you tell them I want a pre
Speaker 1: shipment sample. So then they pull a sample out of
Speaker 1: that bulk. They send it to you, and you look
Speaker 1: at it once again and go, yes, this is correct,
Speaker 1: because if you don't and they send you the bulk
Speaker 1: stock and it's wrong, then you've wasted your money and
Speaker 1: you might have to do it again.
Speaker 2: And this goes fit.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you're making if you're making clothes,
Speaker 1: if you're making accessories, if you're making shipping stuff, stationary anything,
Speaker 1: it is worth all of.
Speaker 2: Your money sampling.
Speaker 1: And I've just seen so many people on TikTok saying
Speaker 1: like ey stuffed up and didn't do enough spampling.
Speaker 3: So say, for example, that they send you that final
Speaker 3: sample they've made this stock for you, yep, and there's
Speaker 3: something wrong with that sample. Do you lose any money
Speaker 3: because say they've made a thousand of these piece of
Speaker 3: clothing or product, do they are they then liable to
Speaker 3: then have to like recreate them?
Speaker 1: It depends on like yeah, I would say so, like
Speaker 1: if you have sampled everything to a t and then
Speaker 1: somehow something in the bulk has turned out wrong, yes,
Speaker 1: you can be like, no, well look i've got the
Speaker 1: pre production sample here, and here's the pre shipment sample.
Speaker 2: They're different. Yeah, when I already approved, So that on them.
Speaker 2: It's on them. But it all comes down to your
Speaker 2: relationship as well.
Speaker 1: And I think this is a part of business that
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't think of when they're wanting
Speaker 1: to make products, is you're going to spend so much
Speaker 1: of your time building relationships.
Speaker 2: Because that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: If you're working with suppliers and manufacturers and everything, like
Speaker 1: you're yeah, you're making a product with the manufacturer, but
Speaker 1: you're going to be building a close relationship with the
Speaker 1: people on the other side, if you're going to be
Speaker 1: working together, yep. And so like our suppliers and manufacturers,
Speaker 1: I've been working with them for years and years and years,
Speaker 1: so I have a great relationship with them. Whereas when
Speaker 1: you're just starting out, you've got to start at the
Speaker 1: very beginning and build that relationship with your suppliers, yeah.
Speaker 3: Because you've been bringing them business for so long.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a relationship, Like it's not as easy. Like, sure,
Speaker 1: it might be easy if you want to make something
Speaker 1: just once and you just want to jump on Ali Barber,
Speaker 1: find a manufacturer over in China and get something made
Speaker 1: once done. But if you're wanting to have a business
Speaker 1: that's going to stick around, like, you've got to be
Speaker 1: willing to put in the effort of building a relationship.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because when you start a business, like
Speaker 1: it's all about you and I want my own business.
Speaker 1: I want to work for myself, but your business is
Speaker 1: so much about other people. Especially when it comes to
Speaker 1: building those relationships.
Speaker 3: Is there one person that you have contact with for
Speaker 3: all these shipments and all these orders?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yep, And every business is different, Like you
Speaker 1: could work with ten different supplies at once, you could
Speaker 1: work with one.
Speaker 2: And the relationships that I have now I haven't had
Speaker 2: for all of fate.
Speaker 1: Like you know, you'll chop and change and you'll make
Speaker 1: new connections and you'll change suppliers and like I used
Speaker 1: to have relationships that I no longer have because like
Speaker 1: things just don't work out, Like it's much. It's like
Speaker 1: a relationship quite literally, like they come and go. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all about building a relationship with the people that
Speaker 1: you're working with externally to your business so that if
Speaker 1: something does stuff up, you can be like, hey, look,
Speaker 1: you know this has gone wrong, and you can kind
Speaker 1: of look at everything that you've done together and they're
Speaker 1: going to value you if you've been bringing.
Speaker 2: Them, you know, constant business for so long. So it's
Speaker 2: all about that relationship as well.
Speaker 1: Yes, but if you've sampled everything and then the bulk
Speaker 1: has come out wrong and you've got that last sample,
Speaker 1: it will absolutely be on them to be like, yep,
Speaker 1: this stuff and this actually happened with our Glazy packaging,
Speaker 1: so our tubes, so we have three flavors as everyone knows,
Speaker 1: the cherry, the strawberry, and the original, and then they've
Speaker 1: got their own box as well that they come in.
Speaker 1: And when our I don't think it was the bulk.
Speaker 1: I think it was the pre shipment sample. And again
Speaker 1: lucky we got it. We got the pre shipment sample
Speaker 1: of the three tubes and their three matching boxes, and
Speaker 1: they're meant to be the exact same color, but the
Speaker 1: boxes were all just a slightly different tone to the tube,
Speaker 1: like the pink Glazy tube is like a bubble gummy pink,
Speaker 1: but then the box was like a yellowy pink like
Speaker 1: it's just it was slightly different. And then you know,
Speaker 1: I've gone back and said the boxes are slightly different
Speaker 1: tones to their matching tubes, and she's like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I can see that, like and they made a mistake somewhere.
Speaker 1: So this is why I think spending your money on sampling,
Speaker 1: even though it costs every time, like a sample might
Speaker 1: cost you anywhere from fifty to one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: dollars or more, and then that you've got a freight
Speaker 1: it over to you as well, and you'll probably use
Speaker 1: DHL because it gets here super quick. Like you're looking
Speaker 1: at hundreds of dollars every time you make a sample.
Speaker 1: But it's worth it in the end because you're going
Speaker 1: to get exactly what you're wanting. And I just know
Speaker 1: for a fact so many people have gotten stuff and
Speaker 1: be like, oh shit, I didn't sample. I just ordered
Speaker 1: it and said, yep, that's good, this is the color
Speaker 1: we want, and it just doesn't turn out exactly how
Speaker 1: you thought. So spend that money on sampling. Well, that's
Speaker 1: five things that I think are worth spending your money on.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've got five things, but I feel like
Speaker 1: we just spoke about like twenty things. It can be
Speaker 1: really overwhelming when it comes to starting a business and
Speaker 1: knowing what you need to spend your money on versus
Speaker 1: what you don't. Definitely go back and find my episode
Speaker 1: about things that I think aren't worth spending your money on,
Speaker 1: because I think from what I've seen, people can sometimes
Speaker 1: spend a lot of their money at the start of
Speaker 1: their business on things that don't really matter instead of
Speaker 1: focusing just on those core things that really do matter.
Speaker 1: And I hope if you're starting out a business or
Speaker 1: you've just started that you can take something away from
Speaker 1: this episode. And if you don't have that accountant, go
Speaker 1: and call your local accountant. Just google business accountant in
Speaker 1: my area and you'll find one. Our accountant is in
Speaker 1: Newcastle and he's been with us since the beginning of
Speaker 1: Fate and it's actually been really cool for us to
Speaker 1: have our accountant the whole time because he's watched Fate
Speaker 1: go from like this tiny little thing and then he's
Speaker 1: seen it grow into what it is now. And he
Speaker 1: did like the cafe and everything, and he's just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Brittany, like what's next. And again, that's
Speaker 1: a relationship. There is so many parts of business that
Speaker 1: is all about relationship building. And again, like our accountant,
Speaker 1: that's another relationship that we have in our business that
Speaker 1: we have fostered.
Speaker 2: And had for many many years.
Speaker 1: Be smart and be safe with your money when it
Speaker 1: comes to starting a business. Don't do anything too extravagant
Speaker 1: or too silly, and just be mindful with where you're
Speaker 1: spending your money. I'm going to wrap up today's episode
Speaker 1: with a tip of the week. Okay, I've got a
Speaker 1: little random one for you. I don't think I said this.
Speaker 1: Did I say the cap cut thing last week?
Speaker 2: I did?
Speaker 1: God? Okay, never mind, I thought that. I thought that
Speaker 1: was going to be my tip of the week. But
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, I think I said that last week.
Speaker 1: Great little feature. By the way, you'll have to listen
Speaker 1: to last week's episode. If you want to hear what
Speaker 1: it is, I'm not going to tell you, have to
Speaker 1: go find it. And this week's tip of the week,
Speaker 1: it's a simple and easy one. Be transparent. Be transparent,
Speaker 1: and in business, be willing to be transparent at all times.
Speaker 1: When it comes to business, you cannot hide. I mean again,
Speaker 1: I'm talking just from my experience. People probably are massive
Speaker 1: liars in business. I can't control what other people are like,
Speaker 1: but be transparent when it comes to relationships with anyone,
Speaker 1: be transparent. If the ATO is calling you up saying
Speaker 1: you owe one hundred thousand dollars, you're not going to jail.
Speaker 1: Be transparent with your coworkers, Be transparent with your staff,
Speaker 1: with your accountant, whoever. Just be transparent, hard conversation's easy life.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I love that saying and being.
Speaker 1: Transparent is key. So that's all from me. And remember
Speaker 1: to chase after your dreams as if they owe you money.
Speaker 1: Bomb bom bom, bom bom blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: Bum Bound