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: joined by a special guest, and this is a bonus episode.
Speaker 1: I thought I would drag one of my OG employees
Speaker 1: on the pod. Welcome April. Insert a massive applause.
Speaker 2: Is this your first time ever being on a podcast?
Speaker 3: Yes? Obviously.
Speaker 2: How do you feel excited?
Speaker 1: You listened to so many podcasts and now you're going
Speaker 1: to be able to listen to your own episode.
Speaker 3: I listen to all your podcast and now it's going
Speaker 3: to be leaf my voice.
Speaker 1: I thought it would be good to get April on
Speaker 1: for a bonus episode because April has been with me
Speaker 1: at Fate from what feels like the very beginning of Fate.
Speaker 1: It wasn't technically you've been with me for over three years.
Speaker 1: And I've said this before in a lot of my episodes,
Speaker 1: but for me, like the first two issues of Fate,
Speaker 1: I always see it as like a trial period. You know,
Speaker 1: when I got my first little warehouse, but you were
Speaker 1: there essentially when we first moved into that big building
Speaker 1: where we had our Fate store downstairs and the office
Speaker 1: was upstairs and the warehouse I feel like that's where
Speaker 1: Fate began and that's where you came into the picture.
Speaker 1: So it feels like you've been with me forever. And
Speaker 1: one of the cool things is you have been with
Speaker 1: me as Fate has grown.
Speaker 2: Like when you came on board, it was.
Speaker 1: We were really small, and then look where we are
Speaker 1: now and you've seen it all. So I thought we
Speaker 1: could start out by talking through your career journey at Fate.
Speaker 1: Maybe give us a because I've got a little story
Speaker 1: that I like telling too, but give us an overview
Speaker 1: of what roles you've done in Fate over the last
Speaker 1: three plus years.
Speaker 3: Okay, So I applied for a role at Fate through
Speaker 3: Seek as the social media assistant, but I actually didn't
Speaker 3: get it, which.
Speaker 2: Was so sad.
Speaker 1: And I remember this was back when I was doing
Speaker 1: all the interviewing and everything, and this was our first
Speaker 1: time ever hiring someone to be a social media assistant
Speaker 1: because for those first couple of years, it was just
Speaker 1: me doing all the content. And we finally got to
Speaker 1: that point where I was like, I think I'll get
Speaker 1: someone to help. And we had I think five or
Speaker 1: six of you come through on the one day and
Speaker 1: we did back to back interviews all day in our office,
Speaker 1: and I really liked you, and I really liked Kim,
Speaker 1: who is also still with us, and so I liked
Speaker 1: them both and I wanted to give them both the job,
Speaker 1: but obviously we couldn't, and Kim ended up.
Speaker 2: Getting the job and I got it over me.
Speaker 1: I felt terrible, and I think the only thing that
Speaker 1: really came down to it was Kim had a tiny
Speaker 1: bit more experience in fashion. And the other thing was
Speaker 1: that I was really scared about Not that you can
Speaker 1: pick on someone for.
Speaker 2: Where they lived, but April live lived and still.
Speaker 1: Lives just over an hour away from our office, And
Speaker 1: because I was so new to hiring, I remember thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: she does live an hour away, Like, is she really
Speaker 1: going to want to drive an hour there and an
Speaker 1: hour home.
Speaker 3: Three and a half years later, I'm still doing the
Speaker 3: same I'm still doing the drive.
Speaker 1: So we didn't give a that role, which was devastating,
Speaker 1: but it kind of worked out for you what happened.
Speaker 3: And then I didn't get the role, and then I
Speaker 3: got an email saying, hey, we'd love to jump on
Speaker 3: a call and offer you a different position. It's not
Speaker 3: the position you wanted, but there is always room for progression.
Speaker 3: And I actually got a warehouse assistant role packing orders
Speaker 3: with AJ and it was honestly so fun.
Speaker 1: And I still remember the day that I sent you
Speaker 1: that email because I know in your interview you just
Speaker 1: really wanted to work at Faith, like that was your
Speaker 1: whole thing.
Speaker 2: Is you just really want to work at Faith.
Speaker 1: And then now this is again, we weren't packing that
Speaker 1: many orders every day, but we're getting a little bit
Speaker 1: busier and I thought, well, we could get someone else
Speaker 1: in the warehouse. So then I emailed you and said, hey,
Speaker 1: let's jump on a call. And I said, look, you
Speaker 1: can say no to this job offer, but I wanted
Speaker 1: to offer it to you anyway, and it's in the
Speaker 1: warehouse and you were just like yes, yes, there was
Speaker 1: no hesitation.
Speaker 3: No. I feel like that's a great tip for anyone
Speaker 3: that really wants to work somewhere. If you don't get
Speaker 3: the job, send an email saying like, if any other
Speaker 3: decisions do pop up, I'd love to.
Speaker 2: Be considered considered. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I sent that email, and then I was considered for
Speaker 3: another role. And now look at me.
Speaker 1: Now, so after you worked in the warehouse, how long
Speaker 1: did you work there?
Speaker 3: Honestly, not that long, probably a few months, and then
Speaker 3: I started helping out doing the socials with Kim.
Speaker 1: So then Kim's role kind of changed and she went
Speaker 1: more into doing our email marketing and she took that
Speaker 1: off me.
Speaker 2: I was like, do you want to learn how to
Speaker 2: do this, Kim? She's like sure.
Speaker 3: So then April ended up doing the job that I
Speaker 3: applied for anyway.
Speaker 2: Exactly and it was only a few months down the track.
Speaker 2: And then you did that for a while in our
Speaker 2: socials team.
Speaker 3: Yep, I did social media assistant, and then I got
Speaker 3: Social Media coordinator and I did that for a few years,
Speaker 3: like two years probably, and then I got the PR
Speaker 3: and marketing role, which was so much fun, so working
Speaker 3: with our influencers, planning events, our campaign shoots. And now
Speaker 3: I am brand executive for Fritz, So just working with
Speaker 3: Britt and helping her do all the fun stuff.
Speaker 2: You're like my sidekick, a I'm the little sidekick.
Speaker 1: One of the craziest things is like, you're obviously a
Speaker 1: great example in our company of career progression. You know,
Speaker 1: started in the warehouse and you've worked your way through
Speaker 1: four different roles pretty much in three plus years. And
Speaker 1: what's crazy is when you started with me, because fate
Speaker 1: was so new and I still didn't know what I
Speaker 1: was doing. Like I'm embarrassed to look back at myself then,
Speaker 1: but I feel like that's all business owners, like you
Speaker 1: just start out and learn along the way. I never
Speaker 1: thought back then about career progression, Like that was not
Speaker 1: a thought because our company was still so small, Like
Speaker 1: I didn't even have that thought in my mind of all, oh,
Speaker 1: one day, these these girls are going to build careers
Speaker 1: with me. Like at that stage, it was really people
Speaker 1: just coming to do jobs, you know. And it's just
Speaker 1: been crazy to see over the last three to four years,
Speaker 1: like how much a lot of you have really progressed.
Speaker 1: And that's something that we're now so big on and
Speaker 1: there's so much career progression in our company, and now
Speaker 1: it's something that like I'm really passionate about, Like I
Speaker 1: love seeing you girls kind of go from one role
Speaker 1: to another and work your way up kind of thing,
Speaker 1: and that's something that really excites me as a business owner.
Speaker 1: So it's been really cool to see and to think
Speaker 1: back to the beginning, and I never even thought that
Speaker 1: you I'd have careers for people, and here we are
Speaker 1: saying it's crazy. What's your favorite part about working at Fate?
Speaker 3: Everything? And I'm not just saying that, but everything is
Speaker 3: my favorite. We have the best team ever, we have
Speaker 3: the best customers ever, we have the best brand values,
Speaker 3: and we honestly just we work so hard, but we
Speaker 3: have so much fun while doing it. And it literally
Speaker 3: feels like I never work a day in my life
Speaker 3: because I love what I do.
Speaker 1: That's so good apes I feel like that's something that
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't get to experience. And that's
Speaker 1: one thing that I'm really proud of as a business owner,
Speaker 1: is like I want to be able to provide people
Speaker 1: with jobs that they genuinely do love.
Speaker 2: And sure you might have some.
Speaker 1: Days where you're like fuck or like this sucks, no,
Speaker 1: you're shaking your hair.
Speaker 3: I love it. Actually, I love my job, and I'm
Speaker 3: so I know how lucky I am to be able
Speaker 3: to say that it's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm glad to be able to provide.
Speaker 3: That to you.
Speaker 2: Do you have a specific favorite memory.
Speaker 3: I have a funny memory that I always I can
Speaker 3: relate back on is when I worked in the warehouse
Speaker 3: with Aj and we because we were so little, we
Speaker 3: didn't even have barcodes on our product.
Speaker 2: We were doing everything so wrong.
Speaker 3: So wrong, so wrong, So we decided, let's put barcodes
Speaker 3: on every single item in the warehouse. So it was
Speaker 3: a Saturday. I came in on a Saturday and we
Speaker 3: had to stick barcode labels on every single product in
Speaker 3: the warehouse. And by the end of it, we were
Speaker 3: literally he was in one aisle, I was in the other,
Speaker 3: laying on the ground because we're dead. Just put it,
Speaker 3: sticking these labels on, and we're like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: it's pretty funny.
Speaker 2: Wow. The fact that we ever did.
Speaker 1: I know for all your business owners out there, you'll
Speaker 1: get to a point if you do have physical products
Speaker 1: where you'll need barkdes Because for those first few years
Speaker 1: in our warehouse, we were just eyeballing everything. So customers
Speaker 1: would order six things, you'd go and manually pick those
Speaker 1: six things and then put them straight in the bag
Speaker 1: without like scanning, and.
Speaker 2: You'd just be checking it yourself.
Speaker 1: Whereas it's obviously you don't need barcodes from the beginning,
Speaker 1: but when you are getting more orders and you want
Speaker 1: to eliminate those stuff ups, barcodes are amazing and it
Speaker 1: is fucked. You have to put them all on yourself
Speaker 1: if you've already got all your stock there with you
Speaker 1: kind of thing. And now like our manufacturers put the
Speaker 1: barcodes on for us, we provide them to them before
Speaker 1: they're ship to us. But yeah, barcodes were a game
Speaker 1: changer for us, along with a lot of other things.
Speaker 3: And then we went across the road and got a
Speaker 3: Brownie s lab from the bakery.
Speaker 2: To celebrate the bargoes.
Speaker 1: Do you have a least favorite memory from the last
Speaker 1: three to four years? I think I know one for you. Oh,
Speaker 1: you should share the story about our Churm Side store opening.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I feel like that's your least favorite hemory.
Speaker 3: So we were preparing to open in our cham Side store.
Speaker 3: We had an amazing opening day planned and that was
Speaker 3: yours and it was my baby. I did it all,
Speaker 3: like I invited everyone because we were having the event
Speaker 3: beforehand for influencer influencers and I invited everyone. I arranged
Speaker 3: a clawn machine with all Fate products in it and
Speaker 3: it was branded Fate.
Speaker 4: What else did we We had a DJJ laurelsrel We
Speaker 4: had a girl coming to do like solder solder bracelets,
Speaker 4: Like we planned this massive event huge, and the two
Speaker 4: events like the opening day and the influencer event.
Speaker 3: The day before we opened, we let ten customers come
Speaker 3: in and have a private shopping experience as.
Speaker 1: Well giveaway, and we had did like thirty goodie bags
Speaker 1: or something like that was all you. And we got
Speaker 1: all brands on board, like Bond itcends quick flick like
Speaker 1: all these brands. So you orchestrated this whole, this whole
Speaker 1: grand opening, and I worked.
Speaker 3: So hard on it and I was so excited. And
Speaker 3: then it got to the day before and I was
Speaker 3: at work and I was so sick, and the girls like,
Speaker 3: go home because you have to fly to Queensland tomorrow
Speaker 3: for the event. And I was like, no, I'm not
Speaker 3: going home. After like last minute things to do. I
Speaker 3: woke up the next day and I was not alive.
Speaker 3: I was so sick and had I still wanted to go,
Speaker 3: and even my mom said, there is no.
Speaker 2: Way of bawling your eyes out, there was no way
Speaker 2: I could go.
Speaker 3: And I had all the.
Speaker 1: Because this was last year, so this was like still
Speaker 1: like kind of post COVID times when it's like you
Speaker 1: really can't travel if you're unwell, and I had to.
Speaker 3: I had some stuff in my I think I had
Speaker 3: the work phones and stuff. So I had to meet
Speaker 3: AJ and Kim at the airport for when they were
Speaker 3: leaving it. I cried the whole way there, and Kim
Speaker 3: grabbed the phones off me and I was just bawling
Speaker 3: my eyes and I was like, I want to go on,
Speaker 3: but I can't.
Speaker 1: So then we had to like do an emergency flight.
Speaker 1: And then Kim, who was not involved in any of
Speaker 1: this and had to take over your job, and she
Speaker 1: came in your place, and because you were also doing
Speaker 1: all the content for the opening as well, and then
Speaker 1: we fully stop Kim her whole week change, and she
Speaker 1: came with.
Speaker 2: Us and was there for three days and did it.
Speaker 3: And poor Kim, I've gotten a lot better, but someone
Speaker 3: with content, I just like think of it and do it.
Speaker 3: So I didn't have a list of all the content
Speaker 3: I wanted to get, so Kim had to scramble and
Speaker 3: come up with ideas. And I felt horrible two ways,
Speaker 3: because I felt bad and I felt sick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was not a good time for you. Then
Speaker 2: you would have had so much fomo.
Speaker 3: Just so much FAM. I didn't even go on my
Speaker 3: socials because I was so upset seeing all the girls posts,
Speaker 3: I was like, fuck off.
Speaker 1: For all the people out there listening who are employers
Speaker 1: and they have staff, or their boss or a manager,
Speaker 1: or they're even looking at hiring for the first time,
Speaker 1: what would you say should be important to them when
Speaker 1: it comes to looking after their employees, Like, what is
Speaker 1: it that you think employees are looking for?
Speaker 2: Because there's if there's one thing, I think.
Speaker 1: It's business owners don't appreciate their employees enough, or they
Speaker 1: take them for granted, or you know, treat them like shit.
Speaker 1: So if someone's just say they're hiring their first ever employee,
Speaker 1: what do you think should be important to that business owner?
Speaker 3: I think it's important to not only see them as
Speaker 3: like an employee, but as a person, like you've always
Speaker 3: take really good care of your staff. And I think
Speaker 3: it's also really important for business owners to give their
Speaker 3: stuff the opportunity to grow within the business.
Speaker 1: I think one of the hardest things with that as well,
Speaker 1: apes is being a business owner. And I know I've
Speaker 1: spoke about this on the pod before, is growing your
Speaker 1: business fast enough that is staff can grow with it.
Speaker 1: And I think that's where a lot of business owners
Speaker 1: would struggle, is they have these staff that are eager
Speaker 1: to grow, and they're like, I want to progress with
Speaker 1: the company. I want to grow with the company. But
Speaker 1: then you've got to try and grow the company quick
Speaker 1: enough to keep up with that demand. So that's like
Speaker 1: another I guess that's a different point of view than that,
Speaker 1: but I think that is really important that people, you know,
Speaker 1: listen to their employees and give them opportunities and not
Speaker 1: just like push them into a corner and say that
Speaker 1: to a job and that's it. So great advice for
Speaker 1: those listening. Let's say they want to build a career,
Speaker 1: specifically in a small business, what would your advice be
Speaker 1: to them?
Speaker 2: Like, what have you done?
Speaker 3: Be passionate about the brand you work for? Like I
Speaker 3: am so beyond passionate about Fate. I love everything we do,
Speaker 3: and I believe in what we do so wholeheartedly that.
Speaker 2: It's easy for me.
Speaker 3: It was easy for me to grow because I was
Speaker 3: so committed, so enthusiastic.
Speaker 2: And I love my job. People need to find a
Speaker 2: brand first that they want to grow in.
Speaker 3: Kind of job you love, and then you'll never work
Speaker 3: a day in your life.
Speaker 2: It's what they say. You heard it here.
Speaker 1: First last question for you April. Yes, where do you
Speaker 1: see yourself and Fate in five years?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: Domination, Well, domination, that's what you always say.
Speaker 3: Nowhere I'm going to be in five years because I
Speaker 3: feel like like in Fate obviously, but I feel like.
Speaker 2: I'm going to come back in five years. Believe, if
Speaker 2: you're actually still with.
Speaker 3: It, I'm going to still be by your side in
Speaker 3: this podcast room, if I can tell you that right now.
Speaker 3: I reckon We'll be in New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Oh you reckon, Yeah, you reckon. We have a store there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I reckon, I have a story in New Zealand
Speaker 3: one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: I reckon. We will have a lot of stores. I reckon.
Speaker 3: We'll be the best. We already are the best brand,
Speaker 3: the best fashioned brand. I reckon. We will still be
Speaker 3: killing our social media strategy, what we're good at the
Speaker 3: last three and a half years have been the best,
Speaker 3: and we've grown so much that I'm so excited to
Speaker 3: see where we are in the next fight.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that you and like everyone at Fate like.
Speaker 1: I love how all of our staff refer to Fate
Speaker 1: as we like. There's never you never say you and
Speaker 1: like Fate apart from you like, it's very much.
Speaker 2: We Yeah, Fate's my baby too. Yeah, it's all of ours. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's our baby.
Speaker 3: We love that.
Speaker 2: Well, Apes, thanks for coming on this bonus episode.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: You got a tip of the week for everyone.
Speaker 3: Smile when you're checking into a hotel and you might
Speaker 3: get an upgrade, and an upgrade.
Speaker 2: Perfect done.