Hi, I'm Britney Saunders, and welcome to Big Business, the place where business is far from boring, and today I'm recording on gaddigul Land. Now I somehow manage to build an empire from the garage underneath my house, and I'm here to share it all with you, from the winds, the huge mistakes, the challenging times and funny moments in between.
And that's a good little segue.
Into this episode because I am definitely talking about the mistakes today. So whether you're in business already wanting to start one, or you're not even in business at all and you're just looking for some inspiration, or you want to hear a funny story or the tea.
This is the podcast for you.
Coming up on today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you a list of fuck ups I have made in my business journey.
It's as simple as that. So let's just get straight into it.
Now. I want to start out this episode with a little bit of an acknowledgment or a disclaimer. I do not regret any of the following things that I'm going to be sharing with you. This is quite literally how you learn in business by making mistakes. You mess something up, you get yourself in a bit of shit, you're in trouble, you come out on the other side, and you learn better for next time. That is quite literally how business works. We must make mistakes in business in order to grow.
That's my little acknowledgment. Let's get into it. The first mistake I have made, not so much in my business, but in my career, was when I was an influencer.
For those of you that don't know, I'm sure a lot.
Of you do by now, but before I was a business owner, I was an influencer. I became a full time influencer when I was twenty one, so I was really young and silly, and I all of a sudden started earning a lot of money, like a lot of money, and I thought, wow, this is amazing. You know, I've gone from dreaming of earning one thousand dollars a week. That used to be a goal of mine when I was working full time in my life eighteen's and twenty years old, my goal was fifty two grand a year,
one thousand dollars a week. And then when I became an influencer, I was earning, you know, at the start, not much at all. Because I had to start at the bottom and work my way up. But once I got to the point where I was able to make it my full time career, I was making just enough
to live. And then over those few years of me becoming a more popular influencer, I started earning one hundred thousand dollars a year, one hundred and twenty thousand, one hundred and fifty thousand, two hundred and something thousand dollars a year, and I think at my peak I would have been earning yeah, maybe two to three hundred thousand dollars a year as an influencer, which is insane. I know, trust me. And I was in my early twenties, so
my life had essentially completely changed. I was still the same old me that I am today, and I was the same back then. But I didn't know anything about money, and because I was earning all this money, I thought this is great and I would just spend it lucky. I also was saving, like I don't know what it was, but I I was saving in this time. But I didn't know how to be self employed. I didn't know how it worked. I was so used to working my
Monday to Friday full time job. And getting my pay slip every week and seeing the tax being taken out, and then all of a sudden, I'm working for myself. At twenty one years old, I didn't know how tax worked. I also didn't have like a supportive family network, like no one ever taught me.
About money or how to save or tax or anything like that.
So when I became a full time YouTuber, like I had no one in my life that was going to say, hey, like this is great that you're becoming self employed, but here's what you need to do.
I didn't have an accountant. I didn't know that I needed an accountant. And I think a lot of.
People that do go into business will experience this, like they just don't know what to do. They don't have an accountant, Like no one's around, like dad's not in the picture. Mum isn't educated, you know, so no offense, but she wouldn't know.
Like she'd never been self employed either.
So for around two two years, when I was an influencer and earning all this money, I just simply didn't pay tax because when you own your own business or you're working for yourself, because I essentially was my own business as an influencer, Like, I didn't know how I was meant to pay.
Tax, Like how do you do that? Like what do you genuinely do?
Because when you're getting paid as a self employed person and you've got payments coming in I was working with brands, the money just goes into your account and that's it. Then you have to work out how you're going to pay tax on that. But you don't pay tax every week the way that employees do. You have to collect that all together and then have an accountant process.
It for you, like for the end of financial year. And I just I didn't know that.
And I was living in Sydney and living my best life and traveling around the world. And I ended up getting an accountant because I thought, shit, like it got to two years of I hadn't done my tax for two years, I'm gonna need to get an accountant. So I finally got one, and I was like, you need to help me out because I haven't paid tax for two years. Mind you, I hadn't been chased up by the ATO or anything by this point. You eventually will,
of course, And I was so embarrassed too. I think that's why I kept putting it off.
As well, Like.
It was this weird feeling of I haven't paid my tax. I'm too embarrassed to go to account and then tell them. But I eventually got one and I said, look, help me out. I haven't paid my tax for two years. And I know a lot of small business owners would do this, like just say they've been running their small business for two years, they're probably not paying tax because
they don't know how. And I then had this accountant work out the last two financial years for me, and then I got a call from the ATO and I owed one hundred thousand dollars. And I'm in my early twenties and I owe one hundred thousand dollars, which in saying that, I know that's a crazy amount, but if you're owing that amount, you're earning quite a decent amount.
So it was like two years built up one hundred grand.
So then I went on a payment plan and it was like a certain amount every month that I was paying or whatever. And I did have a lot of money in savings by this point as well, So I remember I started on the payment plan and then I just ended up paying like big, bigger chunks than I was supper too, because when you're in debt to the tax man, the interest that you get charged is like twelve point five percent or something. So I owed one hundred grand and was paying twelve point five percent interest.
So I paid it a lot quicker than I was supposed to. And that was a great lesson for me in my early twenties is you need to understand your finances. So that was a great lesson for me in my early twenties and something that I will never forget. I remember I felt sick over it, like owing that amount of money and just having to pay it down. But it was a great lesson for me to be more smart with my money and have my finances in order. And this was before fate that I learned this lesson.
The next mistake, I had a massive blunder with money that ended up costing me seven or eight thousand dollars. When you are importing any goods into Australia that you have made overseas and you're importing them in, you will get charge import tax when it arrives at the port. The Australian government will want you to pay to bring that into the country because you're going to be making money off it.
It's really great. I love paying import tax.
And this was this was years ago, this might have been two thousand and nineteen. Maybe we had launched our swimwear range, which is called Staple Swim and our swimwear is made in Bali, and so I did all the importing. And again this was my first time kind of doing something like this, like importing from Bali.
So I think I went through DHL.
And when you're importing stuff, like you have to fill out a lot of documentation and I was just feeling it out myself, like no clue if I'm doing it right or not. And then in on the form when you're importing stuff, you have to declare the value of those goods, and so I thought, all right, and this was like a quite a decent size collection. I was like,
all right, the value of goods. So then I looked at like all the stock, and then looked at what it would be if I sold it all, like the retail value, And in that little box I put the retail value if we were to sell, like I don't know why I didn't think twice, because again this was the first time doing this, so I don't know how
much money this was so long ago. But maybe if we'd sold it all, like, we would have made fifty thousand dollars, let's say, so I put fifty thousand or sixty thousand dollars on that declaration to say that's the value.
The lesson in this is you just.
Need to put the value of what it cost you to make the cost of the goods, not the retail price.
But I had no idea.
So then I filled that out, and then I got a call off the people at the port or whatever, like where you pay the tax to and it was like seven thousand and something dollars for the import tax. And because at the time when i'd filled this out, I didn't know that I was feeling it out wrong, and it was my first time importing from BALI, I was like, shit, that's expensive, Like man, like, that's fucking a lot of money. But I thought, oh, well, like this must be the price that I have to pay.
So I went right ahead and paid that seven thousand and something because your products won't get released to you unless you pay it, and I was really desperate because I really want to launch that collection. I didn't learn until maybe months later that I put the wrong value in that I should have just put what it cost me instead, which would have it still would have been thousands of dollars, but it wouldn't have been seven thousand dollars.
Looking back now, like I feel like I almost could have gone back to them and said, hey, like I put the wrong value, but I don't know. I just took it as a lesson at that time, a very expensive one at that and I learned for next time. The next mistake that I made and have made many times over the years and especially in the early days of Fate, was not setting my pieces at a cost that I was happy with and that would keep my business going in fear of people saying it's too expensive.
I wasn't.
I mean, I'm still not good with numbers, Like, don't come to me for financial advice. Ask aj he does all of our numbers. Like, I'm not good with that. But I remember in those early days of Fate, I had no idea that I should be pricing my styles at a calculated number. In I would say, well, if this hoodie costs US thirty dollars to make, I'll sell it for fifty because that's more than what I've paid. And like if you're making something for thirty dollars and
selling it for fifty. Like in my mind, I was like, yeah, because it's more than what I paid for it. Like that was my mentality. It was never calculated mathematically, and I did that for honestly, like the first three years of Fate, I would say where I wasn't thinking about the prices. I was just going, yeah, I cant fifty dollars or I go or maybe forty five because I don't want people to say it's too expensive. As long as it was higher than what it was costing me,
I was happy with that. And again, like I was just none the wiser and didn't know that you can't just make up a price out of thin air. And I also did majorly have that fear of my customers in those early days saying this is too expensive, and like you get that guilt of like, oh, I really should sell that for eighty five dollars, but then what
if people say it's too expensive? But you really have to let go of that mentality as a business owner and set your prices at what you know the peace is a worth and also what's going to keep your business moving forward. And that's something over the years that
I've become a lot more comfortable with. I even remember the first time we ever made items over one hundred dollars because I always wanted to keep everything like sixty dollars seventy dollars, and we've slowly allowed ourselves to, I guess, make styles that need to be more expensive, For example, coats and blazers that are more tailored. They cost us a whole lot more to make, so we have to
sell them at a higher price. And I still remember being so scared, like, no one's going to want to buy from me if something's like one hundred and nine dollars, you know, But you've got to like let go of that mentality and understand you need to price your genes at one hundred and ten dollars because that's the price they need to be to reflect their quality, but also
because you need to keep your business moving forward. It's not about like what you want to sell it for, It's about what the business needs you to sell it for. So that was another great lesson for me. The next one, and I've spoken about this before on the pod mistake, I guess that I made a lot in those early years of fate is not knowing when to speak up and have tough conversations with staff. I feel like I've done a whole episode on this about being way too nice.
I feel like it was one of my very first episodes of this pod. But I really want to stress to all of you business owners out there, hard conversations easy life. Easy conversations, hard life. I've said that before in the pod, and over the years, I have definitely learned that you just need to have those uncomfortable conversations in order to just keep everything flowing. In those early days, I was way too scared. I didn't want to upset people.
I had friendships with staff members, which I've spoken about as well already on the pod. Being too personal with staff it can just create a world of problems for you in the future. So if I could do my time over again, I would have more confidence in myself
to have tough conversations with people. And by tough, I don't mean you're being nasty or whatever, but just having those uncomfort conversations or pulling someone up on something if you've noticed something, Whereas back in the day, I would just brush it to the side and hope that it would go away.
But yeah, that was another thing that I did.
It was way too nice in those early days and avoided tough conversations and I've definitely learned differently now. Another huge mistake that I made that I know a lot of business owners will is by signing.
Up to marketing agencies.
I spoke about this in my episode with my good friend Anita if you want to go and have listened to that one if you haven't already. And I also spoke about the exact same topic with Mlusen from Napoleon as well, So there's two episodes out there already if you want to hear more about it in detail. But I put trust in companies that I had no idea about to run our Facebook ads, and the thing with these agencies, and look, I'm sure there are some good ones out there.
I'm not shaming all agencies. I think that's important to mention.
But I signed up and you get yourself locked into a contract and you have to pay them. I think the one that I was in, it was eight thousand dollars a month just to be in their agency and to have them run your ads, and then you're spending your ad money on top of that. So we were doing what to maybe two thousand dollars a day on ads, plus eight grand a month to them just to run them. And I wasted so much money with them running our ads. I had no idea how well the ads were performing
because I didn't understand how to run ads. I had no idea if they were making money. I had no fucking clue. And it's just the biggest waste of money ever. And I got out of that, and they were really upset about it, and like really tried to win us over and I'm like, no, Like, I don't want to give you my money anymore. And I then took the time and learned how to do our Facebook ads myself,
and now that is my job. Like I run our Facebook ads every single day, and now that I know how to do it, it can be really tricky to learn. Now that I know what I'm doing, I'm like, how the fuck were they charging me eight thousand dollars to run my ads? Because I do it now? And so yeah, huge. I know some people are with agencies and they are
amazing and it works for them. And if you can find an agency that's going to run your ads for you and you're going to see, you know, a good return on ad spend by all means, go for it. But that was a huge mistake on my part. I never, ever, ever should have partnered with them. I wish I had just learned it myself from the start. But again, like I said at the start of this episode, you got to do these things to learn for next time, and now I know I'm never paying another market date marketing
agency ever. Again, sorry to all of the marketing agency owners out there. Another mistake is just not having a thorough enough hiring process and hiring people after just chatting with them once. This is a big one and something that we all learn as business owners. I have always said that hiring and staffing in general is the hardest part of business. That's the hardest part of business for
me and I'm sure for a lot of others. And in those early days, as I mentioned in my main episode about hiring, I would hire people after talking with them once and it's just resulted in getting not the best people on your team. Now we have a thorough hiring process, which I have an entire episode out on as well. If you want to hear, like every single step of our hiring process is a whole episode out there on it, and it's just been a game changer for us because now.
We're only getting the best of the best. But you live and you learn.
I've got two more mistakes I'm going to share with you, and trust me, there's about fifty more that I could share, but I can't sit here all day. The next mistake that I have made, and you know what I continue to make this is doubting myself. This is something that all of us experience in our life in general. If you want to throw yourself into owning a business, you'll get a whole new level of doubting yourself because you're making crazy decisions that scare the shit out of you,
and you'll just constantly doubt yourself. I've doubted myself a lot in my business journey, even though it obviously will come across like I'm super confident and I am now, But in those earlier, earlier years, I would always.
Doubt myself and go, oh, I don't know.
And I just think it's really important to back yourself, especially in your business journey where you are making bold moves, because that's the way that you're going to continue to grow is by just believing in yourself and being confident and if anything, doubting yourself will only limit yourself and
your growth. And the last mistake that I have made in my business journey, and it's been a great lesson for me, it's not so much a mistake, but it's playing it too safe when I should have pushed the limits, not realizing that I had to spend more money to
continue growing and to make more money. You get to a point in business where you're at a good point, let's say, like your sales are great and you're really happy, and you could stay there, or you can take it to the next level if you want to keep growing. But the way that you have to do that is by not being safe, and you need to throw more money into your business in order to grow. For example, we had to up our stock levels. While there, I was playing it really safe with our stock orders and
we were selling out all the time. I mean, we still do sell out, which is a great thing. You want to sell out of your products. But if you want to take it to the next level and like increase the revenue of your business and keep growing and be able to hire more people, you need to spend more money on your business to make more money. And I think, if anything, I've held myself back a little over the years by playing it too safe in some
areas or not taking that risk. And I know this sounds, I don't know, counterintuitive because we're doing so much, but I've definitely learned over the years, if I want to continue making this thing grow, I've got to make that next scary decision or invest in that collection, even though it's going to be huge and really expensive, because it's the results that come from doing that that will continue
your business growth. That's a whole lot of talk, man oh man, but that's another episode of Big Business wrapped up for the week. Thank you all so much for listening, and I'm going to leave you with a tip of the week. As always, I'm gonna keep it nice and easy for this one. Don't let your mistakes define you. I feel like when we do make mistakes, they can be really embarrassing. You can feel embarrassed and always go back and.
Think about it, but in business, you're gonna make hundreds.
I still make mistakes every day of the week, but I'm still out here going for it. So that is my tip as always make sure to subscribe to my podcast if you aren't already, and turn on your notifications so you don't miss an episode. I upload my main shows every Monday and bonus episodes on Wednesday, which are a little bit more rogue if I don't say so myself, And if you haven't already, I would love if you could leave me a review five stars, preferably only only
only five stars anyway, my friends. Until next time, remember to chase after your dreams as if they owe you money.