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 wins,
the mistakes, the challenging times and the funny moments in between. So, whether you're in business yourself, perhaps you're not in the game at all, maybe you're looking for some inspo, or you simply just want to hear the tea, this is the podcast for you. Coming up on today's episode, we are going personal. As much as business isn't personal at all, it also is in every single way.
And I thought today I'm going to share with you some of the stuff that I fucking struggle with. I'm just going to put it out there.
I'm going to talk about some of the things that I face every day. I don't want to say that they're challenges, and they're definitely all a very me problem. But I think this will give a lot of other business owners out there something to relate too, and you can know that you're not alone with having these types of thoughts and feelings when it comes to the things that you struggle with in business. So, without further ado, let's just get straight down to business.
Now.
Funnily enough, when you start your own business, if you are just starting it yourself like I did at home, you're kind of starting it for yourself. It's almost selfish in a way. Not that it's a selfish thing to do.
I think it's a fantastic thing to do to want to start your own business, but you ultimately are doing it for yourself, and from those early days, you're going to be doing everything yourself, just like the way I was, like doing every single job in the business, and you're doing it all for you, all for your own life, and all for your own enjoyment and success, I guess. But one of the unspoken parts of business, which I touch on a lot in this podcast, is how much
if you grow that business be you. You know, if you get to that point where you're moving out of your spare bedroom and you're you're stepping into a commercial space, and if you're hiring a team, whether it's one or two or seventy employees like me, you'll realize pretty quickly how much your business is no longer about you anymore, and how it is actually about everyone else. And by that, I mean it's about all of your staff, and it's
about all of your customers. And weirdly enough, my business has got nothing to really do with me, even though from the outside, from either a perspective of a customer or a perspective of my staff member who knows like from both fate isn't about me at all, even though from the outside looking in.
It might seem like it's all about me.
For me, and in my mind as the CEO and founder of Faith, my business has got fucking nothing to do with me, and it has everything to do with everyone else. And that's the price that you pay if you want to scale a business big beyond you. It's not going to be about you anymore. As a matter of fact, I think I myself put myself at the back of the priority list. And this is something that I'm trying to work on because as business owners and bosses and managers, our priorities can get put to the
very back of the priority list. You know, it doesn't matter how I'm fucking feeling, because what matters is how everyone else is feeling. And these are the kinds of things that I'm going to be touching on today. And I'd like to also start out by saying this is very much just.
To me experience.
I'm not saying that this is going to be the same for every business owner. Some other business owners in a similar position to me might feel completely different. And I've even had people tell me that I need to stop thinking this way or feeling this way. But this is just like me opening up and sharing my thoughts and feelings about some of the things that I personally
struggle with now. A lot of the things that I'm going to touch on, I when I stop and think about it, I think maybe a lot of these stem from me posting on social media for over ten years and how conscious I have become of how I portray
myself and how other people portray me. Even though it seems like everything that I post online is everything about my life and I just say whatever I want, especially when I'm jumping on my stories, it just seems really unfiltered and like I'll just say it how it is, or blurred out a random thought. I will admit that what I post online, even though it is yeah, candid and raw and real, and fun. It's also like thoughtfully curated, like I think about everything that I say, even when
I'm just rambling, like I'm thinking about I'm saying. I'm being conscious of what I'm saying, and I'm subconsciously wondering how people are going to take on board what I'm saying. And I think a lot of my feelings have stemmed from that mindset that I've had of being I guess watched on social media for such a long time, and I'm so conscious of how other people perceive me, and I think that has trickled into my business. So my first point here, and these are in no particular order whatsoever.
So the first I don't know whether to title these as struggles or feelings, but the first thing that I personally struggle with in my business journey is feeling extreme guilt when it comes to taking a holiday, whether that's two days away, whether that's four days away or five days away. I absolutely struggle with it. And I've said this a lot of times. I've said this to my friend Matt, who I co host the High Scrollers podcast with, and I've said this to a lot of people that know.
Me, and they always say, like, why the fuck do you care?
Like especially my friend Matt. I'm sure most of you would know him. He is just so funny, and he says, who gives a fuck? Like just go on the holiday, Like you've built this business, Like, who gives a fuck? Just go on the holiday, go away for three months, you know, Whereas every time Aj and I have gone on a trip, and most of the time that we've gone on a trip, it's been like we're having a little week away, or we have like a friend's wedding
or whatever. I don't know why, but I and again, maybe some of you other business owners out there can relate to what I'm saying.
I feel so much guilt around.
Taking time off work because I'm worried of what my staff would think. And I know saying that out loud sounds so stupid, but it's something that I honestly struggle with. I feel so much guilt walking away from the workplace, especially if I'm going to do something leisurely, like just simply going to feed because we can. And I'd love
to lose this mindset. And I guess I see a lot of other business owners on social media who have really successful businesses, and you know, they're flaunting being overseas all the time.
And like flashy cars and crazy.
Countries that they're going to and all the places that they're staying. And I don't know why, but I think I'm scared of coming across that way. And again, I think this all stems from like social media and me not wanting to come across like out of touch or anything. But I'm always really worried that my staff would have the mindset of, oh, like she's just going on this
flashy holiday. Like you know, I'm worried about what they would say and that sounds so or what they would think, and I know that sounds so stupid to say out loud.
But I don't know.
I guess I never want to be that boss that is never there or like she's always going on holiday. And this is so silly of me to be saying, because Matt's right, like I have worked so hard to build this company.
I should be able to go on a holiday whenever I want.
But I struggle so deeply and I have so much guilt, and every time we go away, you know, I send out a big email to everyone that would need to know that I'm going to be away, but I say, like, please contact us any time, because I just never want to be that boss that's perceived as never being there or not being available, or I only care about like lining my own pockets from my own company to live a leisurely life, when at the end of the day,
I guess, what is the shame in doing that? If you want to start a business because you want to become super successful, because you want to spend eighty percent of the year traveling around the world and reaping the benefits from the work that you've done, I don't see that as a bad thing at all, But taking time off work, even if it's going away for two days, I feel extremely guilty, and it's something that I'm working on and I really want to undo that mindset because
I'm worried that I'm going to get to the end of my business journey or my life and think, fuck, I should have enjoyed it more. I should have went on more trips, because at the end of the day, I've worked so hard over the last seven plus years of fate to get it to where it is that I feel like I owe it to myself to enjoy it a little more, and I don't know why I have this mentality, but I'm just so mindful of I guess my staff feeling like all I want to do.
Is holiday, which is so stupid. But that's the first thing. Moving on to my second thing that I not so much.
Now, I've definitely come to terms with this and I've gotten over it. But a few years back, as Fate began to grow, I delegated a lot of tasks.
I created a lot.
Of new roles for people and had them come into the business and I would hand off tasks to them that I once did every single day. Thinking back to when I first started Fate and then my team started growing, I remember handing over our customer service emails and I
started to do them less and less. But in those early developmental years, I would still help, Like you know, I'd still be helping with the emails, same with processing returns, same with counting stock, same with packing orders, being in the warehouse, being really hands on. At one stage, that was something that I did every single day. And as the years went by, I began to do those tasks less and less because we hired new people and that
was their responsibility. But I would still be helping quite a lot, and I'd be hands on and in the warehouse every single day. And I remember back then, like those few years ago, I would struggle if I wasn't helping, let's say, for example, in the warehouse. If I had a day where I wasn't being hands on and helping in the warehouse, even though I had people in their doing that and getting paid to do that, I would feel guilty that I wasn't there to help saying with
customer service emails. Like whilst it wasn't my job anymore, I'd still be very hands on and helping every day. And then if I had a day here or like two days there where I wasn't helping with the customer service emails, I would struggle with guilt. And again I think this comes from being so hands on in those early days and slowly giving away those tasks that I then struggled. It's just like a me problem. But I had this feeling and thought of you know, oh, the warehouse team are gonna be like.
Where's she today? Why isn't she helping with orders?
Even though people have gotten employed and paid to do that job. It was just something that I really struggled with delegating is really hard. Letting go of things that you've done for so long is really hard, and then feeling that guilt of I'm no longer helping with this task, like I don't pack orders anymore, Like I don't pack orders, like that's just a job that I don't do it fade anymore. And the reason for that is because we've got a whole fucking warehouse team of people that do
that every day. And I'm okay with that now, But a couple of years ago, I would feel so much guilt around the fact that my warehouse team is working every day packing those orders, and.
Like I'm never there helping them.
And it just took me a really long time to be okay with that and knowing that it's okay for me to let go of certain roles within the business, even though those roles were something that I used to do full time. Because I've got bigger fish to fry, I've got bigger things to focus on, And it was just a matter of time and coming to terms with the fact that that's going to happen.
In a business that's growing.
You're gonna let go of tasks, You're going to hire new people, they're gonna come in to do those roles and at one stage you are just going to have to step away, and that's okay. Another thing that I have struggled with a lot personally over the recent years, and I'm still struggling with today, is feeling like I can't be there every day for every person on one Now. Obviously, my company's at a size now where that is physically impossible.
I cannot, especially with our retail stores, like I can't be on the floor in our Brisbane store every day helping our churm side team. But even this spreads just to our office and warehouse. So our office and warehouse are in two separate buildings. They're like ten minutes apart, so they're relatively close. But even just me not physically being able to be there every day helping everyone one on one in their roles, it's something that I majorly
struggle with. Like I struggle with guilt of being here on a Monday, like I'm in the studio today, I feel so much guilt that I'm here, even though.
Like I'm doing my podcast and that's part of my job.
I struggle with them being at work and wondering well she's just in Sydney doing her podcast kind of thing.
And again, this is all very much a me problem.
My staff are more than capable of me being in Sydney every Monday, and they're more than capable of doing their jobs. But it's just, again, I think this all stems from just building this business from the ground up and being so so heavily involved in everyone's roles, especially in the early days, to the point where it is now where I feel like I just can't be there every single day, every single moment, and wanting to be
there to help everyone every step of the way. This is something that I'm still working on at the moment, and again, like it's it's all in my head, it's all me, Like who knows, I can't speak on behalf of like my head off of staff, but I have these fears that they would think where is she, Like she's in Sydney doing her podcasts, And I don't know if for sure if that's what they think or if I'm just fucking making that up in my head. But
it's something that I struggle with. But I also am trying to come to terms with the fact that, like fate is a bit bigger of a company now, and everyone is employed and qualified to be doing the roles that they're doing, and they all have managers that.
They can go to honestly take we don't need it.
And I'm trying to get Fate to that point where I can kind of step aside a little bit and not have to worry about like the day to day operational side of the business because there's enough management in place at Fate now where everyone has someone they can go to.
But I just still struggle.
With feeling like I can't be there to help everyone every single day when I really want to. But I think that's just like the nature of who I am as a person. I love to help anyone that needs it. And again, like I probably overcompensate with how much I say to people, like message.
Me if you need me, email me if you need me.
Like when I went to China, I'm like, message me the whole time, like I will write back. I don't care if it's fucking ten o'clock at night. My staff can call me and let me know if they need something. But yeah, that's just another thing that I'm still learning to come to terms with and also giving myself grace and just reminding myself I'm just one person, Like I'm not a fucking so woman, Like I'm not I'm just
one person. I'm one girl. It is physically impossible for me to help twenty five people full time in their roles, Like it's physically impossible, but it's still something that I
struggle with every day. Another one kind of off the back of that, and again, I mean, all of these are super personal to me and it might not be the same experience for every other business owner, but just feeling like I can't ever fucking make everyone happy when you're in the same position as me, where you have got seventy people employed.
With the company that you own.
It's hard enough if you were looking after ten people that everyone is going to be extremely happy with everything one hundred percent of the time, and when it's seventy people, obviously you're going to have more chances of people just not being.
Happy with things. And it's really tough when you're a.
Business owner because it all does feel so personal when at the end of the day, it's not, and you've really got to come to terms with the fact that, like as a business owner, as a manager, as a boss, you can only do the best that you absolutely can, and you have to accept that that still might not be enough for some people. Sometimes. I think I've definitely come to terms with that in my business journey years ago.
I came to terms with the fact that Fate isn't going to be everyone's ideal workplace, because that applies to every workplace the same as you, Xander. You're working here at Nova, you might think it's absolutely amazing, but not everyone is going to think that it's absolutely amazing.
I've been at other workplaces within media and I've hated.
It, but I'm sure there's other people that have worked there that loved it totally.
Like it's just how the cookie crumbles. Is not every environment is every for you?
Yeah, And I think the hard thing or with that is.
When it's your own business, it can feel so personal because in your mind, you have set this business up and you think it's set up really well, and you think that the way that you do things is really good, and then to hear people say that it's not for them or they don't like it, you can't help but feel like you're getting stabbed in the chest because it feels personal, even though it's not.
It makes me feel broke, do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of business owners will face this at some point in their business journey, especially as your business.
Is getting bigger.
But your workplace in your business is not going to
be everyone's cup of tea. And the sooner that business owners accept that, and as soon as business owners accept that people will come and go, the sooner you'll feel more at peace with yourself, because if you don't, you will just be constantly beating yourself up that you're not good enough, because in your mind, your workplace is perfect and amazing, but humans are so complex and there's so much out there for people to choose from these days that your business that you have set up and you
have so much pride in and you're so proud of, isn't going to be everyone's an amazing best workplace for them. And that's okay, And that's something that I have become extremely okay with, because if you don't, if you don't accept that, you're just you're just going to beat yourself up for your whole business journey. I have one more point, and also, I'd like to say, with all these thoughts
and feelings that I'm having. If you're a business owner and you employ people, or you have a company that's in a growth period and you've got a lot of people involved, I'd love to know if you feel any of these the same way that I do, so feel free to DM me on my Big Business podcast account. I also think I really need to start a little broadcast channel that's just a little side note, Xander, because I've got like a broadcast channel that's just general, but
I want to make a business one. Then we can like discuss together all these episodes. So I need to bloody do that. It's another thing for my to do list. Okay, actually I've got two more little points. One just popped into my head. Something else I struggle with, which I'm sure every single business owner out there will struggle with feeling like I am never achieving anything, or that I can't achieve enough in a day. I think that's just
the beauty of business. It's never ending, and when you have accomplished something so amazing, it's like yay, but then oh shit, now got to do these twenty other things.
And that's just the way it is in business. I'm so okay with that.
If you feel like you're in business and you're just not achieving anything because the to do list just keeps getting longer and longer and the goals keep getting bigger, especially if your.
Business is growing.
Please know that you're not alone in that one. And I think it's all about just taking a moment to appreciate all the wins, even if they're absolutely tiny, because yet business is never bloody ending. And the last thing,
which is more niche to me, I guess. But another thing that I kind of struggle with or am extremely mindful of and have become way more mindful of over the years, is I have never been more aware and conscious of what I post about on social media because I have staff now, I don't know out of all my staff members how many of them are following me on social media. It's definitely not a requirement on their behalf. I do not care if they follow me or not.
They do not need to be a follower, a listener, a fan who knows some of them might even listen to these episodes, Xander, I wouldn't have a clue. I know April does, but I don't know as for the rest. Hi, April Hi, she kind of has to listen to.
It's part of her job.
But like I said in the beginning of this episode, I've been posting my life and things about my life online for over ten years, but especially in the last few years where Fate has become so big and I have so many people on our books, I have never been more aware and conscious of what I say here on my podcast, especially on my Instagram stories, in reels everything, because the scary thing is, like, I could say something on my story one night that could fucking really upset one of my employees.
Even if it was like nothing about them, you know.
And it's one thing to have a following online and be mindful of how different everyone is and people's different views and values and being careful of what I say in general, But then to think that you've got a lot of people that you employ that might also be tuning into everything you say, Like, that's just a whole other thing where I'm thinking, Fuck, I better not say that, because who knows that might upset someone that works for me.
Yeah, it's where context is important, and even that includes the context of your relationship with people. Yeah, and so you might throw something out online and I could be looking at it being like, oh, yeah, cool, but then someone else in the context of your relationship with them would take that differently. So I can totally understand how that you can be worrisome of what you're throwing out there.
Yeah, And it's just another thing.
It's one thing for me to jump on my story and give my thoughts on something that's happening I don't know, on social media or in the world or whatever. And it's one thing to have everyone that follows me like come back to me in the dans.
Be like, nah, I disagree, blah blah blah.
But then it's just like a whole other level if it's someone that you're paying and if they're working at your company, and it's just I wouldn't say I necessarily struggle with it, but it's something that I've become like super wary of and super mindful of, and I'm just, I guess a bit more careful.
But then at the same time.
I feel like I hold back from posting because I'm scared of what my staff will think. Again, this is all just like a me fucking problem. Really, at the end of the day, I just need to get the fuck over all of it. But I thought I would share some things that I personally just think about constantly and have a bit of struggles with every now and then, or maybe every.
Fucking day, who knows.
But this year, I'm really just trying to enjoy every moment and remind myself that this is my first time owning a business. And I think, especially for staff, that's one thing that I would love staff to know, Like if you're working for a business and it's owned by one person, like you know how you see those things and it's like this is my mum's first time living life as well, Like she's just figuring it out. Same goes for like your boss, Like I'm not fucking perfect.
I would never say that I'm a perfect boss. I would say I have so much to learn. I have so much growing to do. And I'm kind of this year giving myself grace in that, rather than getting all caught up in my own worries and thoughts and laying in bed at night thinking, fuck, I'm not doing anything right. I'm just trying to give myself grace and say, this is my first time owning a business. I am still learning as I go. I'm making this shit up as I go. Quietly literally and just being okay with that
and just yolo having fun. Anyway, I'm going to end today's episode with a tip.
Was your tip of the week?
Yolo?
Yeah, yeah, that's my tip of the week. My tip of the week is, yolo, you only live once. We are not perfect. Fucking hell, business owners are not perfect. We are just people as well. We're just crazy people that took a risk one day and sometimes, like in my position, it snowballs into a big thing. Yolo, you only live once. That's the worst tip of the week. I think that I've ever done my favorite. But yeah, you know what, Yolo.
Let's bring back, let's get back. Yeah.
So if I'm doing like a staff performance review, just yolo, Yolo.
Yeah, next episode we record, Yeah, Yolo.
Anyway, that's my tip of the week, and I'll catch you in my bonus episode later in the week. And remember to chase after your dreams as if they owe you money.