WEBVTT - How I Lost $1 Million In A Year (ft. Raquel Bouris) 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.000 Hi, I'm Britney Saunders and welcome to Big Business, the 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.560 place where business is far from boring. And today I'm 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:13.000 recording on gadigul Land. Now I somehow manage to build 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.960 an empire from the garage underneath my house, and I'm 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:17.920 here on Big Business to share it all with you, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.479 from the winds, the huge mistakes, the challenging times and 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.520 the funny moments in between. So, whether you're in business 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.240 already yourself, maybe you're not in the game at all, 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.760 Perhaps you're looking for some inspo, or you simply just 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.159 want to hear the tea, this is the podcast for you. 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.080 Coming up on today's episode, I am joined by another 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.440 special guest that I know every time I sound really excited, 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:39.519 but I am really excited for this one because I 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.880 am a customer of this brand. Today I am joined 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.440 by Raquel Boris, who is the founder of who is 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.760 a Larjah Perfume? Who is Elijah. If you haven't heard 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:50.919 of them, you've been living under a rock. They are 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.120 absolutely blowing up on social media and in the Australian 0:00:54.520 --> 0:01:02.120 retail space. So without further ado, let's get down to business. 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.800 We've been wanting to get you on the pod for ages, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.880 and being who is a larger customer myself, I felt 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.320 this is a great opportunity for both of us stuff 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.400 it and fangirling. When we reached out to you, I 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:14.920 always ask a few questions before we have a guest 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:16.840 come on the pod, and one of the answers that 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:18.880 you came back with really stood out to me, and 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:21.679 it was that you've lost about a million dollars over 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.720 the last twelve to eighteen months because of bad decisions. 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:30.720 And counting, No, not in counting. We've stopped counting. 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.000 Just ignore it and you won't see that. You won't 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:36.440 see the damage. What has that looked like for you exactly? 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.800 And how did that happen? And is it a million 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:40.679 dollars in revenue or is it like a million dollars 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:41.319 in product? 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.160 A bit of more like a million dollars in product? 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.920 Wrong decisions like with wrong suppliers, wasted money on I 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.680 don't know, like different like the wrong agencies. So like 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.480 one recent one that really stands out was I think 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.280 like three hundred and thirty thousand Australian dollars. And you 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.080 know our discovery set, the one that you bought on 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:03.000 our website. 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.520 We thought, well, we have like a good. 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.760 Purchase rate after someone has that, so let's just give 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:08.760 out a million of them? 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.200 What. Yeah, And we did it and we didn't get 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.320 that far, but a million units we thought that we would. 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.000 We didn't, but we started to in America because if 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.480 we're growing really rapidly here in Australia but not in 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.720 America or elsewhere, so we thought, you know, let's just 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:25.600 give them out for free. 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:26.800 People can pay for shipping. 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.640 And I think we gave out like I don't know, 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.639 like seven thousand or eight thousand of them for free 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.920 and no one was buying afterwards afterward, and we're like 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.920 it was like crickets. Yeah, and like that, I think 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:40.480 it was like three hundred and thirty three hundred and 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.440 fifty thousand dollars and that like we blew that in 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.120 Like that was like three weeks. Well and like that 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.680 was a big learning decision. So now we don't do that, 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.240 We don't give them away for free anymore. Yeah, So 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:54.400 that was a big one. That was like only like 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:56.280 two months ago and like, oh my god, our pana 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:57.760 looked really bad that month. 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:01.919 How did you orchestrate like giving away in like those 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.200 So was it the whole discovery set that people could 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:05.800 get for free and all they had to pay for was. 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.560 Ship to shipping, so seven dollars us shipping and it 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.679 were we just had like a like cool like Facebook, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:11.960 like we. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:13.040 Did it all through Facebook ads. 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.160 Yeah, it was just like a like a nice beautiful picture, 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:18.600 said I forget what the wording was, but like, hey 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.120 us away here, take came our discovery set for free, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.520 just pay for shipping, and like we're doing like a 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:25.280 thousand a day? 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.639 And what budget was on that ad that you were doing? 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:30.160 Like was it a daily budget or did you? 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.400 Yeah? Oh, like the cost of acquisition was like I 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.440 think it was like a dollar fifty or something like that. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.960 Like people were clicking and purchasing and. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.520 Have what spend were you putting behind that ad on Facebook? 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:41.840 Not a lot, Like we didn't have to put a lot. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:43.680 It was more just like the cost of the products. 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.360 Yeah, gotcha? Wow, I know, big fuck up. We did 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.800 something similar, but I wouldn't say that it was a loss, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.240 but it ended up being more than I thought. I 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.080 don't know if it was this year or last year. Honestly, 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.800 the years are blurring together. But for fate, we thought, 0:03:58.040 --> 0:03:59.560 what's the way that we can get more people into 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.240 our store. And so one of our best selling products 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.760 is our buttery tea. I should have brought some I 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.040 need to start bringing like freebies for the guests because 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.720 I'm finding everyone's You've brought in some perfumes today, I 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:11.960 need to bring in some clothes. So we had heaps 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:13.600 of our buttery teas, and we do it in a 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.159 bunch of different colors, like a little basic buttery top. 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.520 And we thought, let's do the name game, which is 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.120 what boost Juice has done. So every day we announced 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.320 two names and then if people had that name, they 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.120 could go into one of our four stores and collect 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.800 a free tea. And so we started it on a Monday, 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.440 and you think, like Monday is not that busy in 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.839 shops or shopping centers. So then I think we did 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.760 like Sam and some other name, and we did too 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:40.960 because we were like, how many SAMs are gonna be 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.279 free on a Monday to go into our stores and 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.840 not be at work or whatever. And then I think 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.720 on the first day we gave away like four hundred 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.400 or something across all of our stores and they had 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.800 the stock, and we like stocked the stores up to ensure, 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.880 but then yeah, we yeah, four hundred. I can't remember 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.640 how many we ended up giving away in the whole week, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.800 but maybe it was like close to a thousand T 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.040 shirts that we gave away and it just wow. But 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.600 it was obviously really worth and everyone was so excited, 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.360 like people were running into our stores, but we underestimated 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.200 just how many people would kind of come in. So 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.000 I kind of learned a lesson from that as well. 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.760 And maybe next time you can get the Buttery tea, 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.080 but you also have to spend fifty dollars in store 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.080 or something like that, like come in and spend fifty 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.120 in store and get a free Buttery tea. But we 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:26.280 live and we learned, don't we. 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.320 Oh, I've learned a lot and like kind of what 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.280 we haven't done it yet, but I talked about it 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.120 last week with my team, Like still like the Discovery set, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.600 I want that to get into people's hands, but instead 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.240 of giving it away just for free with we might 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.560 start doing like if you buy a fifty mil or 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.880 one hundred mil, you can get the free Discovery set 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.159 with it to try the rest of it. 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.400 So you still because it's just all the minis right, correct, 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:49.800 This Q and round thing. 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.440 Yeah, so like you're bound to like, well we thought 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:54.560 people are bound to at least by one full size 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.479 bottle after that. Yeah, but I think we're just targeting 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.719 the wrong people in America who just wanted a free product. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.400 Well yeah, an expensive mistake. But it's not like you've 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.440 got to look at it as it's brand awareness, like 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.640 people became aware of your brand. Tell me what other 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:09.600 things are? What else have we done lately? 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.680 Things that stand out is trusting the wrong like digital 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.960 like ad agencies. I feel like if anyone hasn't had 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:17.800 that problem, you probably haven't figured it out yet and 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:19.159 you are actually going through that problem. 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.320 I think everyone at some stage is going to run 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.040 into that. I've done the exact same. 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.440 Like now we're like now we're not. But in case 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.160 they're listening right now and they think I'm talking about them. 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:29.680 But last year, the start of last year, like we 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.680 were in a really bad financial spot because our ad 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.040 agencies telling us our results are amazing because back then 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.279 we didn't understand you know what, you know how to 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.560 work the meta platform and oh like hundreds of thousands 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:44.400 of dollars just like down the drain, and like they're 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.800 telling us all these like fucking stupid numbers, and I'm like, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:47.480 that doesn't. 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.960 Mean understand why this is their method. And it's not 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.200 to say that all ad agencies are like that, but 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:54.719 a lot of them are set up like that. I 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:57.960 think a lot of them, not all, I'm saying that now, 0:06:58.000 --> 0:06:59.680 not all, but I think a lot of these ad 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.039 agents and sees us set up to kind of take 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:06.160 advantage of people that don't understand how to run Facebook 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.680 and meta ads, and they're almost just set up to 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.160 be shady in that way, and they confuse you and 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.760 make you think it's doing well when you're not at all. 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.480 No, And I always say to people and like, people 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.280 probably hate working with me now, but I'm like, unless 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:23.000 my bank account numbers are growing, I think a fuck 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.720 about any other number exactly. But like I don't like 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.480 And I used to say it for so long and 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.160 people would be like no, no, no, and I'm like, 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.600 but it's the only number that really matters truly. But 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.560 like that was that was a big thing last year 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.880 that we learned. And because of that, Adam, my husband, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.840 he went and did e commerce equation and learned how 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.000 to do Facebook ads, and like the full and Google 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:48.760 as well, and within six weeks he turned our business 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.200 around and then it was at that point and a 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.760 financial year sale and we did our whole twelve month 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:56.680 revenue almost in a weekend. 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:57.520 Wow. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.000 Yes, and that was like that was only mid last year. 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.800 Use I think I think people have always, like, you know, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:04.400 for years, people have been saying to me like, oh, 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.240 like you're such a big business and you're so amazing 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.800 and you're perfect. I'm like, literally probably was maybe nearly 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.200 bankrupt last year because of trusting the wrong people and 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.480 making all these bad mistakes. Like maybe not that's maybe 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:16.880 being a little bit dramatic. 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:18.760 It feels like, but it does feel that way. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.600 Then this has been a really good year but also 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.760 like really hard, which is like I feel like I 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:24.920 used to hear this on podcasts. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.120 I'm like, what does that even mean? 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.520 But it's like you're growing, but like it's like a 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.800 lot to get to that next chapter of that next level. 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:34.839 And yeah, it's been a tough year. 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.160 Yeah, I personally think and I've said it before and 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.199 I'll say it again, I think the bigger your business gets, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.440 the bigger the problems get. And in business, you have 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.480 to be willing to accept the fact that nothing is 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.640 ever going to be running one hundred percent smoothly. Now. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.040 You might have one week when nothing goes wrong, but 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.640 I think every day there is at least one problem, 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.120 And the bigger that your company gets, the more problems 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.840 there are going to be, and the bigger those problems get. 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.440 And it's just a part of it. And I think 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:06.200 we can't be successful and get to that next level 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.680 or that next chapter without being open to shit going wrong, 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.160 because if it was just that easy, then everyone would 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.720 be doing it. Like you've you've got to take the 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.440 good with the bad, and I feel like, definitely, the 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:20.880 better things get, the worse things get at the same time. 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.880 But I think also it's great learning for us because 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.640 you also wrote in one of your answers that you 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.880 think that you've made every mistake under the sun. I 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.440 hope so I feel the same. And every time you 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.440 come out from the other end, when you've finally gotten 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.320 through whatever shit think it is, you're like, Okay, surely 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.840 that's it now, Surely nothing else can go wrong. But 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.000 I don't know, I don't know else waiting around the corner. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.360 I guess I think of it now and I'm like oh, like, yeah, 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.840 that was really hard, but wouldn't change it, if that 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.440 makes sense, Like we do. I feel like, you know, 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.920 myself and Adam whenever we're going through these hard, you know, 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:03.040 stages or problems, like we're always like, okay, this is 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.000 teaching us something. It sounds corny, I know, but it's 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.400 like this is teaching us something. We just have to 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.120 get through it and we know that we're going to 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:11.680 be better for it. On the other end, and I 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:13.840 feel like we've like we never fight about work and 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:15.720 like people are always like, how do you guys like 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.600 staying with you in AJ Like yeah, I was like 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.760 I can't imagine it. Not like last week we had 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.200 a really shit week. I think I left the office 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.679 twice crying and I never cried, but I was. 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:25.320 Just like over it. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.760 And I was sort of like sitting there next to 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.559 Adam having dinner, I'm like, we've had a really tough 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.679 year and we haven't like ever thought about it. I'm like, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.400 I'm so proud of us, but I think, like I 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:37.679 don't want to come on here and be like, oh, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.080 business sugs and it's so hard, but like I love it. 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:40.920 I love it so much. 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.040 I think it's just you know, if you're going through 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.560 those hard things, like what are you learning from it? 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:47.200 And like what are you doing to make sure that 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:51.040 doesn't happen again. We've definitely repeated mistakes before, but by 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.600 like the after we've done it twice, it's like we've 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:54.360 never done it again. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.160 And what were those things if you repeated twice? 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:02.000 Yeah, like the wrong hires, definitely like highring, wrong time 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:03.840 and time again, even though we think that we've learned 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.240 how to not do it, and trusting like suppliers and 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:08.040 outsourced people. 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.600 So I was like, don't trust anyone, yep, yeap. My 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.560 advice on that would be do it do as much 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.120 as you can in your business in house. 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:14.840 Yeah. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.120 Even learning those Facebook ads and all those things, which 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.480 I know can be super overwhelming, and when you first 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.280 log in to the ads manager, you're like what is 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.400 all of this? But when you actually understand it, it's 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.640 very easy, and then you can look and see those 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.360 agencies and everything that they were doing wrong. That would 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.520 be my number one piece of advice is just learn 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.000 and do as much as you can internally before you 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.800 look externally, because that's when it's going to start costing you. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:46.840 So so much money. So on your business, you obviously 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:50.120 started who is Elijah Online? Only like was that where 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:50.760 you started? 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.960 Yeah, but it was like iPhone photo put it like 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:57.320 press go live on the shop of IY website and 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:58.520 like crickets, like there's. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:11:59.160 Nothing their day one. 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:03.199 I probably like day thirty there was maybe the first sale, 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.680 but straight away I thought I am a fragrance, like 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:08.360 I need to be on the shelves in you know, 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.760 department stores or boutique. So it's almost like day when 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.239 I hit the pavement and was walking around to boutiques 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.839 around Cronulla, around Sydney and sending it to boutiques out 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.199 of state. And we had like such a good success 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.240 rate from day one of like I know, like eight 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:24.920 or nine out of ten stores we sent you they 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:26.920 said yes and then started buying our product and putting 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.320 it on the shelves. And the perfumes were just in 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.280 like a brown box that a handstand for the sticker, 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.280 No Barcoe, no ingredients, like nothing. I don't know how 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.959 I didn't get into trouble, but we were very retail 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.520 wholesale dominant for like the first like three years yep. 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:46.720 And so now you're obviously in David. 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.840 Jones Sephora, and then we've just sort of like pulled, 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.160 not pulled our stock, but we ceased partnerships with all 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.439 of our boutique retailers. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.360 Why it was just like we've. 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:03.440 Had like wholesale agencies from the beginning, and then we 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:05.640 sort of had kept working with them, probably like from 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.880 like two years ago, but they, you know, they just 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.720 were getting paid commissions, so they were just putting our 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.120 perfumes in any store that would take it. So then 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:13.920 I started to like see all these stores and people 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.199 sending me photos of my perfumes and these like you know, very. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.360 Very quaint like stores. 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.200 I don't know how to say it, like not on brand, 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.840 this is not on brand, like you know, which is 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.320 like nothing against that, but it was just like, you know, 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.160 we're going after the big beauty retailers of the world. 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.520 But then if they happened to see us in like 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.959 a tiny little boutique with like like you know, being 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.200 merchandised incorrectly or not on brand, I was like this, like, 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:40.760 we just need a cleanse. So we did like a 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.320 cleanse at the end of July. But now that was 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:46.760 again probably not the best decision because that was like 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.719 a seventy percent of our wholesale revenue that I just thought, no, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.760 it would be fine, Like let's just cut it off. 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:53.440 I don't regret it. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.079 It was a good decision, but you know, we probably 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.520 should have planned it a little bit better. And yeah, 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:00.640 so we don't. I had a little bit of a 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.920 cleanse and now we're going to start bringing back some 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.600 like small selection of boutiques around Australia and then of 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:08.480 course overseas. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.520 In your questionnaire that we sent you, you said that you 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.600 have been obviously wanting to launch into the US. You 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:19.360 tried doing the face getting get a free discovery set 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.960 and that was obviously not a great success. I mean 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:24.440 it was a success with the people that got the 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.880 free perfume. We can call it a fail, a fil 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:30.560 it's a lesson, it's it's a lesson. But you also 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.000 mentioned to us that you have been knocked back by 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.920 some US retailers. How has that Because I don't know 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.200 anything when it comes to launching into an overseas market, 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.840 I have no idea how that works. I've never run 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.080 ads overseas at all, But like, what does it look 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.800 like if you do want to just say launch into 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.640 Macy's in America or whatever it may be, Like, how 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.440 does that look? What do you do? 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.440 America is tough. I haven't figured out America yet. So 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:02.600 like what gave me confidence was it was probably like 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.479 three years ago. I got an email from safari Us. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.600 I was like, what, like, safari Us, is this my moment? 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:15.240 And they found they found his, her, Haze and MWS 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.400 in the little boutique in Montalk okay like in the Hampton's. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:21.920 They loved it. And then I think they figured out, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.320 like they quickly realized on our zoom call how small 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.480 we were because we were hand feeling at. 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.440 That stage, so you were pouring everything yourself. 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.280 Yeah, I mean at that point three years it was 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.040 two years and we had employees. Okay, yeah, but yeah 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.000 we were handpoint. We like still kind of hand poor now. 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:38.360 But we've actually just got a machine I think it's 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.000 getting delivered this week that we custom built in Italy. 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:42.720 How expensive was that machine? 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.280 Probably like three hundred thousand dollars. 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:49.080 Holy shitah machinery, And I just think, wow, that is 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.640 so expensive. I know, so like a simple thing that's 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.280 just going to fill some bottles costs so much. 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.680 It's I mean, we need it for here because there 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.960 are there's like one or two companies here in Australia 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.480 that do well say that they have that machine, but 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.200 their lead times are three months, and I'm like, I 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.680 know how quickly these bottles can feeled, So it was 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.400 much cheaper and better for us to do that for 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.200 here in Australia. But it took us like nine months 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.080 to get this machine built. But we're about to start 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.440 manufacturing over in the UK just because it's too hard 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:18.680 to send everything from here to the UK because we're 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.000 a dangerous good. And I found that. I mean, there's 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.320 so many, it's hundreds of companies over there, like contract 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.880 manufacturers to do the feeling for us, and they're lead 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.920 times like two weeks, like so easy. They can do everything. 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.480 So I'm like, oh, if only like we could have 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:31.680 done that here, it would have been. 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.440 I feel like Australia is really behind. Like obviously we're 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.080 smaller as well, so we obviously don't have the huge 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.160 facilities that other countries do. But I just feel like 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.120 it's such a missed opportunity. Maybe you need to start. 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.120 Asking me, like do you want to do like white 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.880 label manufacturing for people? Like I've got all that, you know, 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:49.960 our perfume supplies, Like we've got lots of clients asking 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.400 for this, Like maybe that'll pay off the machine pretty quickly. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.280 But yeah, we'll see, we'll see how good it works. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.960 So back onto the US, Yes, how has that looked? 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:00.160 Like? 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.200 Who have you reached out to and who was nominchy back? 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:04.200 Well, so far we still talk to you. So basically 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:05.719 I think with them, we just weren't ready for that. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.080 They need more brand exposure, not more brand awareness over there, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:10.160 which we're trying to do. 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.000 And is that a thing that plays into getting into 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.760 retailers in general, like if you have followers and if 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:17.560 you have engagement and everything does that? 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.840 Yeah, they look at everything, especially in America like what 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.639 celebrity is wearing you? And you know, we do know, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:25.840 like lots of celebrities wear our perfume, but you can't 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.800 see it in a photo. So unless they're like, you. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.760 Know, has my perfume on in that photo? I can 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:32.280 just tell. 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.879