September 9, 2024 • 34 mins
With over 10 years' experience in the content creation world, Simone Anderson has built up her name to be a thriving business. Simone is a social media sensation, published author, writer, blogger, health guru, speaker, make-up artist and entrepreneur. In 2020, she launched her all-inclusive activewear brand Embrace Active, a gamechanger in sportswear.
Being a trailblazer in the ‘influencer marketing’ world, she has amassed a community that trusts and loves her brand... however being in the public eye will always come with scrutiny.
Join Georgia and Simone for Episode 8 as they get real about the ups and downs of business as well as all the best tips for organising your life!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From ZM and iHeartRadio. It's Board to Boss, Real stories
of how to navigate starting your own business with me
Georgia Patton. Welcome to another episode of Board to Boss Today.
I'm lucky to have Simon Anderson with me. Simon is
(00:21):
the jat of all trades, being a social media content
creator and influencer with over four hundred and seven thousand followers.
She's a writer, blogger, public speaker, makeup artist, and business owner.
Today we're going to discuss how Simone has utilized her
platforms to create the business of Simone Anderson. So welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you so much. Honestly, when you say all of
those things, I'm like, yeah, I might do all of those,
but I don't do them all really well. So you know,
I think that's just high praise. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Take the praise and run. How's the week been.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, week's been good. Actually, I feel like at the
moment we're just battling off a little bit of sickness
in our household, trying to get through.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
And yeah, I feel like everyone at the moment has
a bit of sickness and we're all trying to run
away from it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
If everyone that we talk to and I think it
makes me feel a little bit less alone in it,
you know.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So I'm going to start you off with a scenario
so our listeners can get a little bit more of
an overview of what you do. Imagine you're at your
high school reunion and a former classmate approaches you by
some random strain of the world. They do not know
who you are, and they ask what you do for work?
How are you going to pitch them?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I always find this question a really challenging one because
I think with what I do, there can be a
lot of negative connotations being a social media influencer, whereas
I like to sort of position myself as more of
the content creator now, and that's I guess what I've
spent the last ten years of my life doing is
actually creating content online. And my mission is to create
content that is incredibly helpful and hopefully inspiring and just
(01:53):
leaves people in what I hope is more of like
an uplifted and more positive mindset. That's how I choose
to live my life, and that's the message that I
really want to sort of spread with the world. So
I guess I would start by saying, Hi, how are
you have a light, What are you up to these days?
But yeah, in terms of me, it was in August
(02:15):
it would have been ten years since I made the
decision to change my life and my lifestyle for all.
And that decision was just the absolute greatest decision that
I ever made. And it's also been the decision that
it's come with the most challenges and the most I
guess it's pushed me to my absolute limits and it's
(02:37):
made me really look right into myself and just see
and discover who I truly am and really my strength
and my power. And what I've discovered over those ten
years of changing my lifestyle is just how incredibly powerful
the brain is and when you set your mind to something,
you can truly do whatever you set out to achieve.
And I think that is something that I was definitely
I grew up with as a mentality because of my
(02:59):
mum and dad. They were just they told us how
incredible we were and how we could just do anything,
and that's definitely stuck with me throughout life. And so yeah,
it was ten years ago. I was sitting at office
desk WRO. I was interning with a friend of mine
and she had a jewelry factory, and she used to
pay me in jewelry to rule. That's what which the
goal at that age was just honestly amazing. I think
(03:21):
also being a plus sized woman at that age, no
jewelry or the body change or anything fit me. So
she'd custom make it for me and it was really special.
I just love that. And I just remember sitting there
that day and they were talking about how their commercial
scale was going to be picked up because they'd sold it.
And I hadn't weighed myself in years, like years and years,
and I thought, I just want to see what I weigh,
(03:43):
and I want to, you know, I want to just
actually face that number. And so that everyone went on
their lunch break, I waited till everyone went out of
the office and I snuck down. I took my shoes off.
I remember this, thinking that'll add to my weight, so
I'll definitely take those off, and stood on this big
set of commercial scales and had one of those or
school dials on it. And so when it finally registered
(04:03):
the way, my heart was just pounding and it registered
one hundred and sixty nine kgs. I had not seen
that number and actually having to face it and look
at that number was the hardest thing I have ever
had to do, and there was no hiding from it.
And that was a point I couldn't deny it anymore,
and I couldn't turn back. And I thought, I'm twenty
three years old. I can't continue to live my life
(04:25):
like this. Something needs to change, and at this rate
I was gaining a lot of way each year. I
was worried I wouldn't live to see thirty and I
wanted to have kids. I want to have a family
of my own, and I needed to make some changes.
So I went back to the death that afternoon and
I was just sort of in a dream in a way.
It felt like surreal. I couldn't think straight. I kept crying.
(04:46):
It was all these thoughts were going through my head,
like how am I going to change my life and
my lifestyle once and for all? And it can't be
another diet. I'd been on a diet since I was fifteen.
But I knew that when I'd been the most accountable
in the past is when I told the most people, Yeah,
I'm someone that if I say I'm going to do something,
I'm sure shit going to do it. I have them wrong,
Yeah I'm not going to let anyone down, including myself.
(05:07):
So I thought, I'm going to share this with my
friends and family and share this online. It took me
two days of crying and thinking about what my first
post would be, and then crying some more and sleepless
nights and feeling sick. And the minute I press post
on that photo, which was a photo of me and
a bra, a high wasted pair of leggings and all
(05:28):
my fat roles hanging out in a way, I felt
free and I felt like I've admitted it, I'm owning this,
and I've got to make a change. I can't stay
like this. And that was the start of what I
called someone's journey to health and what my Facebook page
is still called because I just can't figre out how
to change it, to be honest. But my instagramed now
it's some one Anderson just my name because it's evolved
(05:49):
over the years.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
I love hearing that there was one direct point in
your life that was your turning point. When you ask
people that's quite often they hum in there ah, But
for you, it was stepping on the scale and clicking post.
Like you can go back to those moments and say
that was it.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I think finding something that pushes you outside of your
comfort zone keeps you accountable is definitely a really cool
first step.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So that's how you started your social media. How did
you start to see your socials growing? What was your
thought process when all of this was happening.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I'm going to be perfectly honest, the social side of
things and having it as a business as to where
it is today, it was never an intention of mine.
I never set out to start my page to have
it as a job or as a career. When I
started social media, it was very much at the start
of when people were sort of sharing and starting to
do things.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
On that spot of people loving to follow an individual
and follow their journey.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, and at that time, there weren't a lot of
people that were sharing things like a weight loss journey
incredibly openly and vulnerably. So what I was sharing online,
not that I realized it at the time, was quite
unique and quite different and really confronting for people. So
it was something that hadn't been seen and hadn't been
done online a lot. So it was new and it
(07:05):
was fresh. About a year in when certain posts had
started to go viral. I had one post in particular,
that was a photo of my before and after, and
I had shed all my little skin. And this photo
went viral, but probably for all the wrong reasons, because
there were just hundreds of thousands of comments calling me
out for being a fake and a liar. And that's
not the same person. I've got a different nose, that's
(07:27):
a new phone. You know, everything you could think of.
The hands are different, the nails are different. That can't
possibly be the same person. And so this photo went
just so viral. I just felt so deflated by that.
I was like, I've put so much effort and energy
into this. How do you filter out those brands that
(07:47):
you want to work with? Do you have some values
that you work by or some type of products that
you want to support more than others. I started to
have businesses and brands reach out. I remember my very
first sort of co lab not that I realized it
at the time, was a biscuit company, Oat Biscuits that
were trying to do, you know, biscuits in a healthier way.
(08:07):
Reached out and said I would love to send you
this packet of biscuits. And I remember thinking, Wow, that's cool,
but why, you know, can I hear the packet of biscuits.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
To what you get now, it doesn't it seem so wild?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And so I remember getting this packet of biscuits and
I was so stoked and sharing and talking about them
and giving a little review. And that was the start
of I guess because I'd always been doing natural product
reviews on my page, shoes that I was wearing, food,
I was making, you know, stuff like this. At the
first sort of start of that, I guess sponsored ad
gifted content and yeah. From there, I was sitting down
(08:41):
with my godmother at lunch one day and she was like, so,
what are you charging these businesses? Nothing? I get you know,
I got a T shirt. She was like, ah, how
many T shirts did you sell for them?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
They told me I sold one hundred and eighty T
shirts overnight, and she was worked it all out. She
was like, oh, yeah, so they've made X amount. What
did you get?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Nothing? Just sme on, you can't do this for nothing.
And that was the start of like this tick over
in my head of actually, what I am doing does
have value in this space, and there does need to
be a charge for it because it's my time and
my I've spent now two years curating a really trusted
audience exactly how can how can I start to monetize
off this? But I still had that I get you
(09:21):
question yourself and you know, imposter syndrome. Is it worth anything?
Because at this time it wasn't really a huge.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Thing that was gonna say your godmother started influence in marketing, you.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Know, and so it was sort of like, how do
you charge for it? And is it worth charging for it?
And then just gradually over time business world reach out,
I give them an amount, I'd say, yes, I did
the work.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
What do you look for in messages when somebody's asking
to work with you?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Like?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
What tips can you tell people when they're putting together
a message to an influencer? What stands out? I like this.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Firstly, especially if it's the brand, if they have actually
they know what I'm about, They've actually followed my page,
they know my morals, my values, what I stand for
a little bit about me, and they're corporate a little
bit of that into the message. It's like, hey, look,
I know you're a busy mum of two beautiful boys xxx.
And it's like they've actually they know at least a
stock standard amount about you.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Wait for the messages to come through after this podcast
of that exact starter, and I just.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Think knowing that they actually think that we would have
a really nice natural alignment there, because for me, it's
not just about the product or the service, it's actually
about the person behind the brand. I love working with
small KEYWI businesses. I love actually forming that relationship. I
love when we get to meet in person and have
a really cool connection because what I do really does
help help them grow, help build their audience, and I
(10:41):
think it's really cool when you have that direct relationship
with them as well. I'm just a gable person. I
love humans.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
That's how we met. Yeah, I think I got you
to do a giveaway. We've paid you to do a giveaway,
and that was when I first meet you.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
It was now it just feels like such a natural friendship. Yeah,
and you see each other all the time. That is
something so all about.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I paid you for your friendship. I appreciate you in
my money. Okay, I want to jump through to your
books because you've released two books. So why did you
want to release these books? And can you kind of
talk me through the process of publishing because this to
me is just so interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, so I initially had a thought. It was again
talking with my mother. We were chatting and we talked
about the fact of how cool would it be to
write a book about my journey and about what I'd
been through that I could release that was everything all
in one spot. Because my number one question at the
time was how did you do it? What were the
steps you took, what led you to that point, what
(11:40):
was your breaking point, what was your catalyst, and all
of these things. And I remember getting all these messages
through and it was it was really overwhelming, Like, how
do I condense this enormous, the biggest decision of my
life into an Instagram message and send that off and
that'd be enough value to add to them and help
them on potentially their journey or changing their life style.
(12:00):
So I thought, how can I condense this down and
actually put it in a really like easy format. So
we talked about a book and Mum is just an
incredible writer, and so she started help. Wow, she's amazing,
absolutely amazing, and I'm terrible. So it's a good duo.
You know, started like bullet pointing out what the chapters
would be. How we could you know, go about this
(12:21):
and how we really wanted the story to look and feel.
That week, I had a publishing company reached out. Yeah,
and it was just like the most insane, divine timing,
and I thought, Wow, this is just meant to be.
And I remember sitting down with that publishing company and
it just sounded incredible and we were so on the
right page. It was all go. And then I got
(12:42):
an email saying, oh, we've crunched in numbers financially, it's
not gonna pay off, and I just remember feeling so defeated.
Thing that would have just been the perfect way of
going about it, Like, I was so excited, and then
we went back to the drawing board and thought, no,
actually was still going to do this. We're going to
self publish, and it's definitely still thing I want to do.
Two weeks later, I think it was or less than
(13:03):
two weeks later, another publishing company reached out and we
had the exact same chat, except they fully believed in
it and they had they moved through. Yeah, they had
to follow through and knew it was going to be amazing.
And I am really glad because the company that we
I ended up going with, they're just the most caring,
amazing come. They genuinely care about you, and I've still
got contact with them to this day, even though I
(13:24):
haven't released a book in a very long time. Go
to their Christmas parties each year. They just they're in
a really amazing family and they do care about you
as an individual. So that's how that process started. And yeah,
that basically went with them.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And that one was called Journey to Health.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, that one's first book, Journey to Health.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Which was and then you have a second book.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Second book was a cookbook. And for me, the cookbook
came about because I'd grown up with food and I'd
grown up a round food. Mum is an amazing baker.
She's an amazing cook. But over sort of my teenage years,
i'd lost that passion for food. I just turned to
far food, anything that was convenient, and I really when
(14:03):
I started my journey, I had to bring myself back
to basics and I had to find that love in
the kitchen again of making foods from scratch, trying to
get rid of all the crap and make it really
easy for myself. At that point, I was single, so
I was cooking for one, cooking for one as anyone knows,
is incredibly challenging on its own, and then again, once
you've had gastric sleeve surgery, which i'd had, it's even
(14:25):
harder because your portion size is like an eighth the
size of what everyone else is. So trying to find
like variety while not cooking these massive meals it could
last you a month was really challenging. So I had
to really bring it back to basics. And during this
time I rediscovered a total love for food, for really
easy recipes and that's.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So delic Okay, let's move on to your next venture.
Let's talk about Embrace Active. So this is your Actively brand? Yeah,
how did this come about? So?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
For me and Active came from an absolute pain point
and something that's still to this day. The feelings of
just bring me back to such a deep dark place.
Being a size twenty eight, if not say thirty at
the time and wanting to embark on this journey but
just wanting to even just wear active where it fit
(15:19):
my body and made me feel good, and not being
able to find a single brand on the market that
catered to me just was the most defeating feeling. I
felt so unworthy, I felt so unseen. And I never
ever wanted another female to feel this way at any
stage of a journey, whether she's trying to lose weight
(15:41):
or not. It's just I think everyone should feel included
and part of a market and feel like they are
seen and valid and worthy. And that's where Embrace started.
So my husband and I decided that we wanted to
start Embraced Active, which was a business basically that catered
to women of all shapes and sizes when it came
(16:01):
to active wear. And it has been the coldst but
one of the hardest things that we've ever done. And
I think doing it as a husband wife duo has
taught us a lot about each other too. We both
had very different amazing skill sets and together it works
really well. And so yeah, I wanted to create something
that made women feel feel amazing when they put it on.
(16:25):
It worked in all the right places, that held you in,
It wasn't see through, it gave you great support. And
I wanted to design active wear that was actually designed
for a plus sized body, not just a size range
that was extended to cater to a size eighteen or
a size twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
What are some of those differences.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Things like your with the ankle sizes. As you gain weight,
your ankles don't get that much larger. So what you'll
see in a lot of active wear is there's stagging
and you know, like gaping and behind the knees and
in behind the ankles. The same with your waist. You
wanted to make sure it's still fit the woman's body
and it still gave room for froment body shapes or
not leaving a sagging and unsupportive log. And again with
(17:05):
things like the crops, we needed to increase the size
up the top because as your breast size increases, you
need more fabric to cover again under your arms. And
then when it came to actually the Passion design, it
was taking things that I knew I wanted and I
loved in gear. This is tens of thousands of dollars
(17:25):
worth of samples back and forth to get one pair
of tights and one crop. So it was you think
you nail it, and you get it back and you're like, oh,
it's not right.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Oh it's so disheartening, isn't it so dishartening?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
And you're like, here goes the process again. So that
was two and a half years from start to finish
with just something.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And this was all self funded.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yes, yeah, this point was once we decided to actually
go fully into this, we got a business loan, and
then that business loan it was what we used to
get our first finish a lot of stock and now
we're self funding again.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Can you actually talk us through the business loan process,
because that's something a lot of businesiness owners are looking
down the avenue or was it hard for us?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
It came through talking to every connection that we had
of anyone in business. Oh yeah, yep that wanted to
get involved and our business in a small way where
we could give them a small percentage share yep, and
have them come on and fund the business short term.
Amazing and obviously.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
With such a different way of starting, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It was for us at the time, having just purchased,
like we'd gone into our first house, we didn't have
a lot of lending available there, and so we had
to think, how do we do this. Do we want
to start really incredibly small and just bring in tiny
runs or do we want to actually bring in a
substantial range and have something for our audience straight away?
And we went with the substantial range straight away.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's really cool. Hopefully there's some people out there listening
and wondering where to get funding from, and there is
more than one way of doing it, you know, I
had to fund it.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Do think connections is a huge thing. If you start
talking to people, you'll find someone that has done something
in that area. Like we literally as we were starting,
we found someone that had had a failed business in apparel.
They gave us connections to a few different factories, you know,
because they're not in the game anymore, and so they
were happy to help in that area. And people are
more than not willing to help, they want to see
(19:15):
others succeed.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Obviously, owning a product based business, there is so much
that can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
So much, and I feel like all we've done with
Embrace the past few years has put out fire after fire.
I've actually come to realize that owning a business is
just you constantly dealing with issue after issue, and it's
it's once you realize that and realize that that's just
part of owning a.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Business, that is your job. Now, that is your job,
Yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And once you can wrap your head around that, that's
how you can push through and that's how you can
realize that actually that that is just normal. It's not
just you. And once you start talking to other people
in the industry as well, that is something that you
realize that you were definitely not alone. And it doesn't
make easier to deal with, but it definitely it helps
you think I'm not so alone in this.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Some people out there who go through the exact same
thing as you do, because you know so many other
people with product based businesses. So I know, I definitely
call a lot of the girls. I think we have
the same group of business friends and you call them
up and you go, this has happened. What do I do?
And they'll be like, I went through this last month,
this is what I did, and it just kind of
makes you feel a little bit more settled in your decision.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So taking it back to launch, why not go the
full range instead of just slowly drip feeding new samples.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yes, So what we decided to do was get our
large business loan and buy large amount hundred thousand dollars
loan and invest that all in our first round of stock.
And so this was across tights and t shirts and crops,
and yeah, we wanted to have a large range. We've
got eleven sized skews, So that alone is a huge
amount of stock to hold. It's a massive undertaking. What
(20:48):
sizes do they go from from size six to size
twenty eight? Yep, Well it's a large range, and so
that's just a lot of stock. In general. Even if
you had a small amount of each product, and you
say you had a minimum or of even ten per
item up, it adds up really quick. And so we thought, okay,
let's do this. We want to really launch with the bang. Yeah,
(21:09):
we had our first range. You know, everything came and
we had it all shipped out to our customers and
we'd sold thousands of tights in our first drop, which
was so excited. So everyone started receiving these tights, they
were wearing them quite quickly. After even less than a week,
we started getting feedback that our branding, our large E
on the tires had started peeling off, and this, Oh
(21:31):
my god, how could this have happened? So we got
back in touch with the factory and they did some testing.
So first time and they'd been in business for ten
plus years that they'd ever had this, and it's because
they hadn't cured it for quite long enough. So the
entire range five and I think we had five and
a half thousand tights. No, didn't have the e cured
(21:53):
properly on, so as you washed it, it just started
just flaking off. And it was a large branding because
we wanted to be seen and we wanted it to
be and we wanted to people recognize us, which was
again probably one of the worst mistakes we could have made.
Having conen this would have happened, but we didn't know.
Luckily amazing factory that was really credible, so we ended
up they re produced this entire run for us.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, oh my god.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So shipping, we don't get back the customer service, which
was ours every single day of dealing with customer service.
And so from the get go our business was in
a hole.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
We hadn't made money on our first range of tights,
and I crying. I thought our business was over. And
also to launch a business and that be what people
see of your business and expect of your business, how
do you rebuild from there? And I thought, people aren't
going to trust us. They're going to think we've got
a shitty product that's cheaply made, which is just the
(22:48):
opposite of everything that was true and that we wanted
to achieve with this business. The minute we knew that
this was an issue and this was something that people
were going to start to see even if they hadn't
seen yet, we sent out a company wide email to
every single you know, one of our audience database let
them know this either will happen if it hasn't already,
(23:08):
or will start to happen. And what we wanted to
do for them, which was exchange the type for them
as soon as we've got stock, and that's what we did.
And actually, because of how we dealt with that customer
service experience, and we've got Trent's mum does our customer
service now, because it just got all so much at
the start. She would call customers and actually talk them
through if they were upset, and we got customers that
(23:30):
went from being incredibly upset to being quite pissed off
with embraced thinking like you've just taken you know, one
hundred and twenty dollars of my money and you've given
me a shitty product, to being lifelong loyal customers now.
So I think that was a big learning lesson too,
is actually, even if something goes wrong, it's not the
end of your business. It's how you how you deal
with it, and how you front fort it, and honesty
(23:51):
is key. We thought we can't just like pretend this
is not happening and hope it will go away.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
That is such a rude awakening to business. I can
only imagine something like that going wrong. The first couple
of months. That would just be, oh, my gosh, what
have you got ourselves into?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
It was that founding for you and I was wondering
at that point whether we did even want to continue on.
But yeah, once we push through that, and oh, obviously
we've had multiple other challenges along the way and things
that haven't quite worked in our favor, but that is
definitely one of the biggest that we've dealt with.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So with these two let's call them brands, with Simon
Ederson and with Embrace, you've built these incredible communities. So
how do you go about building and maintaining these communities?
And what are your tips to people who want to
build a really strong community.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I think at the end of the day, for me,
what I've realized about building an online community is people
want to feel seen and they want to feel heard,
and that is the number one thing. Some people are
looking for that connection and they want to feel seen
and valued. So when it comes to both my page
and then also Embrace is actually evolving audience in that process,
(25:01):
asking them questions, getting them involved, getting them involved in
the design process, asking what their pain points are, taking
their feedback on board. When it came to our crops
and our first design of crop, which we had great
feedback on, but we still had a lot of women
that had little things for us, like they found it
hard to get on as a plus sized woman because
they had a class at the back, so as they
(25:22):
were getting on, they found it an uncomfortable experience. And
I never want our gear to feel like an uncomfortable experiences.
I don't want a woman doing a salmon dance getting
into our crop and feeling awful. You know, we have
to take on board that customer feedback and really involve
them in the journey. For me, it's been responding to
every single message. I've responded to every single message I've
ever received on Facebook and Instagram over ten years now.
(25:44):
There was I went while through the daily mail where
some days I got two and a half to five
thousand messages that backlog. What took me four and a
half years to clear through, but I clear through it
every night. I want me sit there six to eight
hours a day some days, is what I on messages.
It's a wow of what I do. I think people
(26:04):
they really devalue that part of the business of their
actually communicating with your ears people if they don't feel
seen and they don't feel heard. And I try my
hardest on every single time someone comments on a post.
I will respond, even if it's a love heart and
it's me, because I wouldn't do what I do without
my audience base. And that is something I will never
(26:26):
ever forget. And there might be a point where it
grows to an unachievable amount where I might need to
get someone on board to help out with that. But
I still want to make sure, even if it's coming
out of my own pocket, that my audience feels valued,
because it's not a one way thing.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I respect that. That's a lot of time and I
can only imagine the messages I get nowhere near that
many messages, and I feel overwhelmed with my inbox.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Sometimes it overwhelming, and I think what I do when
I hit points where it is incredibly overwhelming is I
just turn my inbox off.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You always have great tips and tricks for people to
stay on top of life, tows they're cooking all of
the ins and outs of business. What is your let's
go top three tips at home for staying on top
of things.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, firstly, when it comes to like busyness, I actually
someone was talking about this at a business event the
other day and it's something that really resonated with me
and I've never really thought about it, and it was
that busyness is a choice.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
It's not something that just happens in your life.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Oh, I choose it correct.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So I when people complain about being busy, I think
you always have to bring it back and go that's
my choice. I've said yes to all of those different
opportunities or all of those different things. It doesn't need
to be this way. So if I don't want it
to be that way, I can actually actively make a
change and switch that up and learn to say no yes,
learn to say no. It's a really powerful thing. So
(27:46):
I do think that busyness factor is is just that
perspective and reminding yourself, like everything in life, that it
is a choice, and actually, for me, when I'm busy.
I thrive off being busy. The one thing that children
have taught me is actually to enjoy and relish in
those slow moments. Back to it. Sorry. Three tips when
it comes to staying on top of things is calendar
(28:08):
organization has to be on point. Do you time block everything,
every single thing? So I make time, Like in my calendar,
there's time when I'm showering in the morning, when I'm
prepping food, when i'm it is all in there way
you see it and I can visually look at it.
I know I've got time for that, and I know
I'm not gonna get overwhelmed. People find it ridiculous, but
(28:29):
I schedule in once a month to deep clean my
dishwasher and to deep claim my washing machine and all
those little mundane things that people you don't find time for.
It's not important for it.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
No, sorry, I can't have a meeting today. I'm deep
cleaning my dishwasher.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I'm blocked out from eight till nine. But you know
that you can always readjust it around. Number two would
be learning that Noah is a really powerful thing. Is
that you don't actually need to say yes to everything.
I turn down a lot of events these days. If
I don't feel like that they're a brand that I've
got ongoing work with where there is something like an
actual a connection there that's going to add value. If
(29:07):
it's something that it doesn't sit or does in the line,
I'm just not going to go to it. It has
to be a paid opportunity for me gone to get.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Do you get fomo? Because I've said no to a
few events recently, and then I see all my friends
going to these events and I'm sitting at home going.
I know I need this time at home, but man,
I really wish I went.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Is something I used to experience a lot of and
now I honestly I get the opposite where it's I'm
so stoked up teach at home doing this work I
need to do. I guess I just probably don't watch
it so that helps. Yeah, that would really check out
watch it the next day when you're busy.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, that's probably a good point. Okay, So saying no.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
What else would be number three? Actually this would probably
be my third one if it was being perfectly honest.
It's doing small tasks frequently, so rather than letting my
washing build out for two or three days, it's one
loaded day, the minute it's full, and then I put
it away that night. It's like those little things. There's
just never a big deal.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I need to learn from you, and I will be
taking a few leaves out of your book. I feel
like I'm leaving here a new woman. PEX do you
feel the same?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I do learned a lot.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
It's probably the perfect time to ask the listener question
as well. ALI would like to know how you manage
to stay on top of posting across so many different
platforms on social media.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
What I like to sort of view my socials as
is like ninety percent of the time, it's just supernatural.
It's in the moment. I don't want my content to
ever feel forced or really really thought of. I want
it to just be what I'm doing in the moment,
every single day, so and every day, even if you
don't realize that, there is so much that just can
(30:41):
be content. People really love to see the behind the scenes.
They love to see what you're eating for breakfast. Little
things like if I'm cleaning, I don't know the fridge.
That is like one of my most watched videos this year.
I set up a tripod. I've watched it I filmed it,
and you know, it just popped off. Yeah, I think
four hundred and something thousand views of deep Cleaning a fridge.
So it's like the little things that you don't really
(31:03):
think of is content really are what people want to
see and that is the tiny little moments that you
share that you think are that really resonated. So that's
sort of how I view my content on the day
to day. And then at the start of every week,
So on a Sunday night, I sit down and I
do a little bit of a content plan and this
will be around the recipes that I'm going to do
for the week, any specific posts. So I've seen like
(31:24):
something online that resonated with me that I think, oh,
that's a really cool idea. I could do that this week,
and then schedule that in so I've actually I know,
I've got the time that week to achieve them. And
then the other thing I do with content is just
save little folds of stuff that really I see that
I think, oh that's amazing, Well that's super helpful, and
whether it's a hook idea, So I've got a hook
(31:45):
idea folder, and so that's just hooks that I've got
hooked into online and so I file that away. I
might not use that for a year. But when I
go to create a video and I think what would
be a good hook for this video, I scroll through
my hook folder and I see something that perfectly aligned
with that little clip I've just taken boom.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Do you have different plans for TikTok and Instagram? For example?
Is your Instagram more polished than your TikTok or they
both as equally polished.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So for me, because Instagram is just the platform that
I have grown with and what I know the best,
that is what I'm passionate about. That's what I create
content for. But what I have realized is probably over
the past eight months, is that actually the content for
TikTok is what's performing really well on Instagram. So even
though my focus is on my Instagram platform, the content
(32:33):
that I'm creating is tailored for TikTok. So I'm doing
that really hard, fast hitting content that's really engaging the
first three seconds something to draw people in. So I'm
creating TikTok style content that I'm sharing across both platforms.
I'm never creating specific content for one or interesting either
of the platforms. I just like to I don't have
(32:53):
enough time to create TikTok specific content and Instagram specific content,
so I just do a free for all and then
post it on both channels. And what's really interesting actually
is that the content that performs well on one is
usually the content that performs well on the other toes.
So if a video goes viral, it's usually gone viral
on both platforms, which I find really interesting.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So you've got the customer base that are looking for
both the same content on both platforms, whereas we've got
customers who look for completely different things on both platforms.
Instagram's a little bit more curated and then TikTok's more
behind the scenes, And I think that's maybe the difference
between more I guess product based business. Do you do
the same for Embrace?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
For Embrace, we just do not do a TikTok. I
don't have the FACI for it right now, but I
really should, so don't call me out right now. I
definitely need to get onto that, but yeah, it would
probably be different.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
You're right anyway, I think we should probably wrap it
up there because we've been talking for a while. Thank
you so much for coming on. I'm stepping away with
so much knowledge and especially with like organizing my life
around business, I feel like I'm leaving with a whole
new bucket of tools. So you're Lacology, but thank you,
(34:01):
thank you, thanks for listening. Bad Boss is a z
M podcast for iHeartRadio with me Georgia Patten. This episode
was produced by Pixie Copperrell, engineered by Meg Putt and
Call It with production help from Sam Harvey. If you
liked it, hit subscribe to get notified whenever we release
a new episode. Listen every Tuesday on iHeartRadio or wherever
(34:23):
you get your podcasts and make your business idea a reality.
From ZM and iHeartRadio. It's Board to Boss, Real stories
of how to navigate starting your own business with me
Georgia Patton. Welcome to another episode of Board to Boss Today.
I'm lucky to have Simon Anderson with me. Simon is
(00:21):
the jat of all trades, being a social media content
creator and influencer with over four hundred and seven thousand followers.
She's a writer, blogger, public speaker, makeup artist, and business owner.
Today we're going to discuss how Simone has utilized her
platforms to create the business of Simone Anderson. So welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you so much. Honestly, when you say all of
those things, I'm like, yeah, I might do all of those,
but I don't do them all really well. So you know,
I think that's just high praise. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Take the praise and run. How's the week been.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, week's been good. Actually, I feel like at the
moment we're just battling off a little bit of sickness
in our household, trying to get through.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
And yeah, I feel like everyone at the moment has
a bit of sickness and we're all trying to run
away from it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
If everyone that we talk to and I think it
makes me feel a little bit less alone in it,
you know.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So I'm going to start you off with a scenario
so our listeners can get a little bit more of
an overview of what you do. Imagine you're at your
high school reunion and a former classmate approaches you by
some random strain of the world. They do not know
who you are, and they ask what you do for work?
How are you going to pitch them?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I always find this question a really challenging one because
I think with what I do, there can be a
lot of negative connotations being a social media influencer, whereas
I like to sort of position myself as more of
the content creator now, and that's I guess what I've
spent the last ten years of my life doing is
actually creating content online. And my mission is to create
content that is incredibly helpful and hopefully inspiring and just
(01:53):
leaves people in what I hope is more of like
an uplifted and more positive mindset. That's how I choose
to live my life, and that's the message that I
really want to sort of spread with the world. So
I guess I would start by saying, Hi, how are
you have a light, What are you up to these days?
But yeah, in terms of me, it was in August
(02:15):
it would have been ten years since I made the
decision to change my life and my lifestyle for all.
And that decision was just the absolute greatest decision that
I ever made. And it's also been the decision that
it's come with the most challenges and the most I
guess it's pushed me to my absolute limits and it's
(02:37):
made me really look right into myself and just see
and discover who I truly am and really my strength
and my power. And what I've discovered over those ten
years of changing my lifestyle is just how incredibly powerful
the brain is and when you set your mind to something,
you can truly do whatever you set out to achieve.
And I think that is something that I was definitely
I grew up with as a mentality because of my
(02:59):
mum and dad. They were just they told us how
incredible we were and how we could just do anything,
and that's definitely stuck with me throughout life. And so yeah,
it was ten years ago. I was sitting at office
desk WRO. I was interning with a friend of mine
and she had a jewelry factory, and she used to
pay me in jewelry to rule. That's what which the
goal at that age was just honestly amazing. I think
(03:21):
also being a plus sized woman at that age, no
jewelry or the body change or anything fit me. So
she'd custom make it for me and it was really special.
I just love that. And I just remember sitting there
that day and they were talking about how their commercial
scale was going to be picked up because they'd sold it.
And I hadn't weighed myself in years, like years and years,
and I thought, I just want to see what I weigh,
(03:43):
and I want to, you know, I want to just
actually face that number. And so that everyone went on
their lunch break, I waited till everyone went out of
the office and I snuck down. I took my shoes off.
I remember this, thinking that'll add to my weight, so
I'll definitely take those off, and stood on this big
set of commercial scales and had one of those or
school dials on it. And so when it finally registered
(04:03):
the way, my heart was just pounding and it registered
one hundred and sixty nine kgs. I had not seen
that number and actually having to face it and look
at that number was the hardest thing I have ever
had to do, and there was no hiding from it.
And that was a point I couldn't deny it anymore,
and I couldn't turn back. And I thought, I'm twenty
three years old. I can't continue to live my life
(04:25):
like this. Something needs to change, and at this rate
I was gaining a lot of way each year. I
was worried I wouldn't live to see thirty and I
wanted to have kids. I want to have a family
of my own, and I needed to make some changes.
So I went back to the death that afternoon and
I was just sort of in a dream in a way.
It felt like surreal. I couldn't think straight. I kept crying.
(04:46):
It was all these thoughts were going through my head,
like how am I going to change my life and
my lifestyle once and for all? And it can't be
another diet. I'd been on a diet since I was fifteen.
But I knew that when I'd been the most accountable
in the past is when I told the most people, Yeah,
I'm someone that if I say I'm going to do something,
I'm sure shit going to do it. I have them wrong,
Yeah I'm not going to let anyone down, including myself.
(05:07):
So I thought, I'm going to share this with my
friends and family and share this online. It took me
two days of crying and thinking about what my first
post would be, and then crying some more and sleepless
nights and feeling sick. And the minute I press post
on that photo, which was a photo of me and
a bra, a high wasted pair of leggings and all
(05:28):
my fat roles hanging out in a way, I felt
free and I felt like I've admitted it, I'm owning this,
and I've got to make a change. I can't stay
like this. And that was the start of what I
called someone's journey to health and what my Facebook page
is still called because I just can't figre out how
to change it, to be honest. But my instagramed now
it's some one Anderson just my name because it's evolved
(05:49):
over the years.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
I love hearing that there was one direct point in
your life that was your turning point. When you ask
people that's quite often they hum in there ah, But
for you, it was stepping on the scale and clicking post.
Like you can go back to those moments and say
that was it.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I think finding something that pushes you outside of your
comfort zone keeps you accountable is definitely a really cool
first step.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So that's how you started your social media. How did
you start to see your socials growing? What was your
thought process when all of this was happening.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I'm going to be perfectly honest, the social side of
things and having it as a business as to where
it is today, it was never an intention of mine.
I never set out to start my page to have
it as a job or as a career. When I
started social media, it was very much at the start
of when people were sort of sharing and starting to
do things.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
On that spot of people loving to follow an individual
and follow their journey.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, and at that time, there weren't a lot of
people that were sharing things like a weight loss journey
incredibly openly and vulnerably. So what I was sharing online,
not that I realized it at the time, was quite
unique and quite different and really confronting for people. So
it was something that hadn't been seen and hadn't been
done online a lot. So it was new and it
(07:05):
was fresh. About a year in when certain posts had
started to go viral. I had one post in particular,
that was a photo of my before and after, and
I had shed all my little skin. And this photo
went viral, but probably for all the wrong reasons, because
there were just hundreds of thousands of comments calling me
out for being a fake and a liar. And that's
not the same person. I've got a different nose, that's
(07:27):
a new phone. You know, everything you could think of.
The hands are different, the nails are different. That can't
possibly be the same person. And so this photo went
just so viral. I just felt so deflated by that.
I was like, I've put so much effort and energy
into this. How do you filter out those brands that
(07:47):
you want to work with? Do you have some values
that you work by or some type of products that
you want to support more than others. I started to
have businesses and brands reach out. I remember my very
first sort of co lab not that I realized it
at the time, was a biscuit company, Oat Biscuits that
were trying to do, you know, biscuits in a healthier way.
(08:07):
Reached out and said I would love to send you
this packet of biscuits. And I remember thinking, Wow, that's cool,
but why, you know, can I hear the packet of biscuits.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
To what you get now, it doesn't it seem so wild?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And so I remember getting this packet of biscuits and
I was so stoked and sharing and talking about them
and giving a little review. And that was the start
of I guess because I'd always been doing natural product
reviews on my page, shoes that I was wearing, food,
I was making, you know, stuff like this. At the
first sort of start of that, I guess sponsored ad
gifted content and yeah. From there, I was sitting down
(08:41):
with my godmother at lunch one day and she was like, so,
what are you charging these businesses? Nothing? I get you know,
I got a T shirt. She was like, ah, how
many T shirts did you sell for them?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
They told me I sold one hundred and eighty T
shirts overnight, and she was worked it all out. She
was like, oh, yeah, so they've made X amount. What
did you get?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Nothing? Just sme on, you can't do this for nothing.
And that was the start of like this tick over
in my head of actually, what I am doing does
have value in this space, and there does need to
be a charge for it because it's my time and
my I've spent now two years curating a really trusted
audience exactly how can how can I start to monetize
off this? But I still had that I get you
(09:21):
question yourself and you know, imposter syndrome. Is it worth anything?
Because at this time it wasn't really a huge.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Thing that was gonna say your godmother started influence in marketing, you.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Know, and so it was sort of like, how do
you charge for it? And is it worth charging for it?
And then just gradually over time business world reach out,
I give them an amount, I'd say, yes, I did
the work.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
What do you look for in messages when somebody's asking
to work with you?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Like?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
What tips can you tell people when they're putting together
a message to an influencer? What stands out? I like this.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Firstly, especially if it's the brand, if they have actually
they know what I'm about, They've actually followed my page,
they know my morals, my values, what I stand for
a little bit about me, and they're corporate a little
bit of that into the message. It's like, hey, look,
I know you're a busy mum of two beautiful boys xxx.
And it's like they've actually they know at least a
stock standard amount about you.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Wait for the messages to come through after this podcast
of that exact starter, and I just.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Think knowing that they actually think that we would have
a really nice natural alignment there, because for me, it's
not just about the product or the service, it's actually
about the person behind the brand. I love working with
small KEYWI businesses. I love actually forming that relationship. I
love when we get to meet in person and have
a really cool connection because what I do really does
help help them grow, help build their audience, and I
(10:41):
think it's really cool when you have that direct relationship
with them as well. I'm just a gable person. I
love humans.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
That's how we met. Yeah, I think I got you
to do a giveaway. We've paid you to do a giveaway,
and that was when I first meet you.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
It was now it just feels like such a natural friendship. Yeah,
and you see each other all the time. That is
something so all about.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I paid you for your friendship. I appreciate you in
my money. Okay, I want to jump through to your
books because you've released two books. So why did you
want to release these books? And can you kind of
talk me through the process of publishing because this to
me is just so interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, so I initially had a thought. It was again
talking with my mother. We were chatting and we talked
about the fact of how cool would it be to
write a book about my journey and about what I'd
been through that I could release that was everything all
in one spot. Because my number one question at the
time was how did you do it? What were the
steps you took, what led you to that point, what
(11:40):
was your breaking point, what was your catalyst, and all
of these things. And I remember getting all these messages
through and it was it was really overwhelming, Like, how
do I condense this enormous, the biggest decision of my
life into an Instagram message and send that off and
that'd be enough value to add to them and help
them on potentially their journey or changing their life style.
(12:00):
So I thought, how can I condense this down and
actually put it in a really like easy format. So
we talked about a book and Mum is just an
incredible writer, and so she started help. Wow, she's amazing,
absolutely amazing, and I'm terrible. So it's a good duo.
You know, started like bullet pointing out what the chapters
would be. How we could you know, go about this
(12:21):
and how we really wanted the story to look and feel.
That week, I had a publishing company reached out. Yeah,
and it was just like the most insane, divine timing,
and I thought, Wow, this is just meant to be.
And I remember sitting down with that publishing company and
it just sounded incredible and we were so on the
right page. It was all go. And then I got
(12:42):
an email saying, oh, we've crunched in numbers financially, it's
not gonna pay off, and I just remember feeling so defeated.
Thing that would have just been the perfect way of
going about it, Like, I was so excited, and then
we went back to the drawing board and thought, no,
actually was still going to do this. We're going to
self publish, and it's definitely still thing I want to do.
Two weeks later, I think it was or less than
(13:03):
two weeks later, another publishing company reached out and we
had the exact same chat, except they fully believed in
it and they had they moved through. Yeah, they had
to follow through and knew it was going to be amazing.
And I am really glad because the company that we
I ended up going with, they're just the most caring,
amazing come. They genuinely care about you, and I've still
got contact with them to this day, even though I
(13:24):
haven't released a book in a very long time. Go
to their Christmas parties each year. They just they're in
a really amazing family and they do care about you
as an individual. So that's how that process started. And yeah,
that basically went with them.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
And that one was called Journey to Health.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, that one's first book, Journey to Health.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Which was and then you have a second book.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Second book was a cookbook. And for me, the cookbook
came about because I'd grown up with food and I'd
grown up a round food. Mum is an amazing baker.
She's an amazing cook. But over sort of my teenage years,
i'd lost that passion for food. I just turned to
far food, anything that was convenient, and I really when
(14:03):
I started my journey, I had to bring myself back
to basics and I had to find that love in
the kitchen again of making foods from scratch, trying to
get rid of all the crap and make it really
easy for myself. At that point, I was single, so
I was cooking for one, cooking for one as anyone knows,
is incredibly challenging on its own, and then again, once
you've had gastric sleeve surgery, which i'd had, it's even
(14:25):
harder because your portion size is like an eighth the
size of what everyone else is. So trying to find
like variety while not cooking these massive meals it could
last you a month was really challenging. So I had
to really bring it back to basics. And during this
time I rediscovered a total love for food, for really
easy recipes and that's.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So delic Okay, let's move on to your next venture.
Let's talk about Embrace Active. So this is your Actively brand? Yeah,
how did this come about? So?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
For me and Active came from an absolute pain point
and something that's still to this day. The feelings of
just bring me back to such a deep dark place.
Being a size twenty eight, if not say thirty at
the time and wanting to embark on this journey but
just wanting to even just wear active where it fit
(15:19):
my body and made me feel good, and not being
able to find a single brand on the market that
catered to me just was the most defeating feeling. I
felt so unworthy, I felt so unseen. And I never
ever wanted another female to feel this way at any
stage of a journey, whether she's trying to lose weight
(15:41):
or not. It's just I think everyone should feel included
and part of a market and feel like they are
seen and valid and worthy. And that's where Embrace started.
So my husband and I decided that we wanted to
start Embraced Active, which was a business basically that catered
to women of all shapes and sizes when it came
(16:01):
to active wear. And it has been the coldst but
one of the hardest things that we've ever done. And
I think doing it as a husband wife duo has
taught us a lot about each other too. We both
had very different amazing skill sets and together it works
really well. And so yeah, I wanted to create something
that made women feel feel amazing when they put it on.
(16:25):
It worked in all the right places, that held you in,
It wasn't see through, it gave you great support. And
I wanted to design active wear that was actually designed
for a plus sized body, not just a size range
that was extended to cater to a size eighteen or
a size twenty.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
What are some of those differences.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Things like your with the ankle sizes. As you gain weight,
your ankles don't get that much larger. So what you'll
see in a lot of active wear is there's stagging
and you know, like gaping and behind the knees and
in behind the ankles. The same with your waist. You
wanted to make sure it's still fit the woman's body
and it still gave room for froment body shapes or
not leaving a sagging and unsupportive log. And again with
(17:05):
things like the crops, we needed to increase the size
up the top because as your breast size increases, you
need more fabric to cover again under your arms. And
then when it came to actually the Passion design, it
was taking things that I knew I wanted and I
loved in gear. This is tens of thousands of dollars
(17:25):
worth of samples back and forth to get one pair
of tights and one crop. So it was you think
you nail it, and you get it back and you're like, oh,
it's not right.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Oh it's so disheartening, isn't it so dishartening?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
And you're like, here goes the process again. So that
was two and a half years from start to finish
with just something.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And this was all self funded.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yes, yeah, this point was once we decided to actually
go fully into this, we got a business loan, and
then that business loan it was what we used to
get our first finish a lot of stock and now
we're self funding again.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Can you actually talk us through the business loan process,
because that's something a lot of businesiness owners are looking
down the avenue or was it hard for us?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
It came through talking to every connection that we had
of anyone in business. Oh yeah, yep that wanted to
get involved and our business in a small way where
we could give them a small percentage share yep, and
have them come on and fund the business short term.
Amazing and obviously.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
With such a different way of starting, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It was for us at the time, having just purchased,
like we'd gone into our first house, we didn't have
a lot of lending available there, and so we had
to think, how do we do this. Do we want
to start really incredibly small and just bring in tiny
runs or do we want to actually bring in a
substantial range and have something for our audience straight away?
And we went with the substantial range straight away.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's really cool. Hopefully there's some people out there listening
and wondering where to get funding from, and there is
more than one way of doing it, you know, I
had to fund it.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Do think connections is a huge thing. If you start
talking to people, you'll find someone that has done something
in that area. Like we literally as we were starting,
we found someone that had had a failed business in apparel.
They gave us connections to a few different factories, you know,
because they're not in the game anymore, and so they
were happy to help in that area. And people are
more than not willing to help, they want to see
(19:15):
others succeed.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Obviously, owning a product based business, there is so much
that can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
So much, and I feel like all we've done with
Embrace the past few years has put out fire after fire.
I've actually come to realize that owning a business is
just you constantly dealing with issue after issue, and it's
it's once you realize that and realize that that's just
part of owning a.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Business, that is your job. Now, that is your job,
Yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And once you can wrap your head around that, that's
how you can push through and that's how you can
realize that actually that that is just normal. It's not
just you. And once you start talking to other people
in the industry as well, that is something that you
realize that you were definitely not alone. And it doesn't
make easier to deal with, but it definitely it helps
you think I'm not so alone in this.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Some people out there who go through the exact same
thing as you do, because you know so many other
people with product based businesses. So I know, I definitely
call a lot of the girls. I think we have
the same group of business friends and you call them
up and you go, this has happened. What do I do?
And they'll be like, I went through this last month,
this is what I did, and it just kind of
makes you feel a little bit more settled in your decision.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So taking it back to launch, why not go the
full range instead of just slowly drip feeding new samples.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yes, So what we decided to do was get our
large business loan and buy large amount hundred thousand dollars
loan and invest that all in our first round of stock.
And so this was across tights and t shirts and crops,
and yeah, we wanted to have a large range. We've
got eleven sized skews, So that alone is a huge
amount of stock to hold. It's a massive undertaking. What
(20:48):
sizes do they go from from size six to size
twenty eight? Yep, Well it's a large range, and so
that's just a lot of stock. In general. Even if
you had a small amount of each product, and you
say you had a minimum or of even ten per
item up, it adds up really quick. And so we thought, okay,
let's do this. We want to really launch with the bang. Yeah,
(21:09):
we had our first range. You know, everything came and
we had it all shipped out to our customers and
we'd sold thousands of tights in our first drop, which
was so excited. So everyone started receiving these tights, they
were wearing them quite quickly. After even less than a week,
we started getting feedback that our branding, our large E
on the tires had started peeling off, and this, Oh
(21:31):
my god, how could this have happened? So we got
back in touch with the factory and they did some testing.
So first time and they'd been in business for ten
plus years that they'd ever had this, and it's because
they hadn't cured it for quite long enough. So the
entire range five and I think we had five and
a half thousand tights. No, didn't have the e cured
(21:53):
properly on, so as you washed it, it just started
just flaking off. And it was a large branding because
we wanted to be seen and we wanted it to
be and we wanted to people recognize us, which was
again probably one of the worst mistakes we could have made.
Having conen this would have happened, but we didn't know.
Luckily amazing factory that was really credible, so we ended
up they re produced this entire run for us.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, oh my god.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So shipping, we don't get back the customer service, which
was ours every single day of dealing with customer service.
And so from the get go our business was in
a hole.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
We hadn't made money on our first range of tights,
and I crying. I thought our business was over. And
also to launch a business and that be what people
see of your business and expect of your business, how
do you rebuild from there? And I thought, people aren't
going to trust us. They're going to think we've got
a shitty product that's cheaply made, which is just the
(22:48):
opposite of everything that was true and that we wanted
to achieve with this business. The minute we knew that
this was an issue and this was something that people
were going to start to see even if they hadn't
seen yet, we sent out a company wide email to
every single you know, one of our audience database let
them know this either will happen if it hasn't already,
(23:08):
or will start to happen. And what we wanted to
do for them, which was exchange the type for them
as soon as we've got stock, and that's what we did.
And actually, because of how we dealt with that customer
service experience, and we've got Trent's mum does our customer
service now, because it just got all so much at
the start. She would call customers and actually talk them
through if they were upset, and we got customers that
(23:30):
went from being incredibly upset to being quite pissed off
with embraced thinking like you've just taken you know, one
hundred and twenty dollars of my money and you've given
me a shitty product, to being lifelong loyal customers now.
So I think that was a big learning lesson too,
is actually, even if something goes wrong, it's not the
end of your business. It's how you how you deal
with it, and how you front fort it, and honesty
(23:51):
is key. We thought we can't just like pretend this
is not happening and hope it will go away.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
That is such a rude awakening to business. I can
only imagine something like that going wrong. The first couple
of months. That would just be, oh, my gosh, what
have you got ourselves into?
Speaker 2 (24:03):
It was that founding for you and I was wondering
at that point whether we did even want to continue on.
But yeah, once we push through that, and oh, obviously
we've had multiple other challenges along the way and things
that haven't quite worked in our favor, but that is
definitely one of the biggest that we've dealt with.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So with these two let's call them brands, with Simon
Ederson and with Embrace, you've built these incredible communities. So
how do you go about building and maintaining these communities?
And what are your tips to people who want to
build a really strong community.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I think at the end of the day, for me,
what I've realized about building an online community is people
want to feel seen and they want to feel heard,
and that is the number one thing. Some people are
looking for that connection and they want to feel seen
and valued. So when it comes to both my page
and then also Embrace is actually evolving audience in that process,
(25:01):
asking them questions, getting them involved, getting them involved in
the design process, asking what their pain points are, taking
their feedback on board. When it came to our crops
and our first design of crop, which we had great
feedback on, but we still had a lot of women
that had little things for us, like they found it
hard to get on as a plus sized woman because
they had a class at the back, so as they
(25:22):
were getting on, they found it an uncomfortable experience. And
I never want our gear to feel like an uncomfortable experiences.
I don't want a woman doing a salmon dance getting
into our crop and feeling awful. You know, we have
to take on board that customer feedback and really involve
them in the journey. For me, it's been responding to
every single message. I've responded to every single message I've
ever received on Facebook and Instagram over ten years now.
(25:44):
There was I went while through the daily mail where
some days I got two and a half to five
thousand messages that backlog. What took me four and a
half years to clear through, but I clear through it
every night. I want me sit there six to eight
hours a day some days, is what I on messages.
It's a wow of what I do. I think people
(26:04):
they really devalue that part of the business of their
actually communicating with your ears people if they don't feel
seen and they don't feel heard. And I try my
hardest on every single time someone comments on a post.
I will respond, even if it's a love heart and
it's me, because I wouldn't do what I do without
my audience base. And that is something I will never
(26:26):
ever forget. And there might be a point where it
grows to an unachievable amount where I might need to
get someone on board to help out with that. But
I still want to make sure, even if it's coming
out of my own pocket, that my audience feels valued,
because it's not a one way thing.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I respect that. That's a lot of time and I
can only imagine the messages I get nowhere near that
many messages, and I feel overwhelmed with my inbox.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Sometimes it overwhelming, and I think what I do when
I hit points where it is incredibly overwhelming is I
just turn my inbox off.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You always have great tips and tricks for people to
stay on top of life, tows they're cooking all of
the ins and outs of business. What is your let's
go top three tips at home for staying on top
of things.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, firstly, when it comes to like busyness, I actually
someone was talking about this at a business event the
other day and it's something that really resonated with me
and I've never really thought about it, and it was
that busyness is a choice.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
It's not something that just happens in your life.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Oh, I choose it correct.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So I when people complain about being busy, I think
you always have to bring it back and go that's
my choice. I've said yes to all of those different
opportunities or all of those different things. It doesn't need
to be this way. So if I don't want it
to be that way, I can actually actively make a
change and switch that up and learn to say no yes,
learn to say no. It's a really powerful thing. So
(27:46):
I do think that busyness factor is is just that
perspective and reminding yourself, like everything in life, that it
is a choice, and actually, for me, when I'm busy.
I thrive off being busy. The one thing that children
have taught me is actually to enjoy and relish in
those slow moments. Back to it. Sorry. Three tips when
it comes to staying on top of things is calendar
(28:08):
organization has to be on point. Do you time block everything,
every single thing? So I make time, Like in my calendar,
there's time when I'm showering in the morning, when I'm
prepping food, when i'm it is all in there way
you see it and I can visually look at it.
I know I've got time for that, and I know
I'm not gonna get overwhelmed. People find it ridiculous, but
(28:29):
I schedule in once a month to deep clean my
dishwasher and to deep claim my washing machine and all
those little mundane things that people you don't find time for.
It's not important for it.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
No, sorry, I can't have a meeting today. I'm deep
cleaning my dishwasher.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I'm blocked out from eight till nine. But you know
that you can always readjust it around. Number two would
be learning that Noah is a really powerful thing. Is
that you don't actually need to say yes to everything.
I turn down a lot of events these days. If
I don't feel like that they're a brand that I've
got ongoing work with where there is something like an
actual a connection there that's going to add value. If
(29:07):
it's something that it doesn't sit or does in the line,
I'm just not going to go to it. It has
to be a paid opportunity for me gone to get.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Do you get fomo? Because I've said no to a
few events recently, and then I see all my friends
going to these events and I'm sitting at home going.
I know I need this time at home, but man,
I really wish I went.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Is something I used to experience a lot of and
now I honestly I get the opposite where it's I'm
so stoked up teach at home doing this work I
need to do. I guess I just probably don't watch
it so that helps. Yeah, that would really check out
watch it the next day when you're busy.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, that's probably a good point. Okay, So saying no.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
What else would be number three? Actually this would probably
be my third one if it was being perfectly honest.
It's doing small tasks frequently, so rather than letting my
washing build out for two or three days, it's one
loaded day, the minute it's full, and then I put
it away that night. It's like those little things. There's
just never a big deal.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I need to learn from you, and I will be
taking a few leaves out of your book. I feel
like I'm leaving here a new woman. PEX do you
feel the same?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I do learned a lot.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
It's probably the perfect time to ask the listener question
as well. ALI would like to know how you manage
to stay on top of posting across so many different
platforms on social media.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
What I like to sort of view my socials as
is like ninety percent of the time, it's just supernatural.
It's in the moment. I don't want my content to
ever feel forced or really really thought of. I want
it to just be what I'm doing in the moment,
every single day, so and every day, even if you
don't realize that, there is so much that just can
(30:41):
be content. People really love to see the behind the scenes.
They love to see what you're eating for breakfast. Little
things like if I'm cleaning, I don't know the fridge.
That is like one of my most watched videos this year.
I set up a tripod. I've watched it I filmed it,
and you know, it just popped off. Yeah, I think
four hundred and something thousand views of deep Cleaning a fridge.
So it's like the little things that you don't really
(31:03):
think of is content really are what people want to
see and that is the tiny little moments that you
share that you think are that really resonated. So that's
sort of how I view my content on the day
to day. And then at the start of every week,
So on a Sunday night, I sit down and I
do a little bit of a content plan and this
will be around the recipes that I'm going to do
for the week, any specific posts. So I've seen like
(31:24):
something online that resonated with me that I think, oh,
that's a really cool idea. I could do that this week,
and then schedule that in so I've actually I know,
I've got the time that week to achieve them. And
then the other thing I do with content is just
save little folds of stuff that really I see that
I think, oh that's amazing, Well that's super helpful, and
whether it's a hook idea, So I've got a hook
(31:45):
idea folder, and so that's just hooks that I've got
hooked into online and so I file that away. I
might not use that for a year. But when I
go to create a video and I think what would
be a good hook for this video, I scroll through
my hook folder and I see something that perfectly aligned
with that little clip I've just taken boom.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Do you have different plans for TikTok and Instagram? For example?
Is your Instagram more polished than your TikTok or they
both as equally polished.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So for me, because Instagram is just the platform that
I have grown with and what I know the best,
that is what I'm passionate about. That's what I create
content for. But what I have realized is probably over
the past eight months, is that actually the content for
TikTok is what's performing really well on Instagram. So even
though my focus is on my Instagram platform, the content
(32:33):
that I'm creating is tailored for TikTok. So I'm doing
that really hard, fast hitting content that's really engaging the
first three seconds something to draw people in. So I'm
creating TikTok style content that I'm sharing across both platforms.
I'm never creating specific content for one or interesting either
of the platforms. I just like to I don't have
(32:53):
enough time to create TikTok specific content and Instagram specific content,
so I just do a free for all and then
post it on both channels. And what's really interesting actually
is that the content that performs well on one is
usually the content that performs well on the other toes.
So if a video goes viral, it's usually gone viral
on both platforms, which I find really interesting.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So you've got the customer base that are looking for
both the same content on both platforms, whereas we've got
customers who look for completely different things on both platforms.
Instagram's a little bit more curated and then TikTok's more
behind the scenes, And I think that's maybe the difference
between more I guess product based business. Do you do
the same for Embrace?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
For Embrace, we just do not do a TikTok. I
don't have the FACI for it right now, but I
really should, so don't call me out right now. I
definitely need to get onto that, but yeah, it would
probably be different.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
You're right anyway, I think we should probably wrap it
up there because we've been talking for a while. Thank
you so much for coming on. I'm stepping away with
so much knowledge and especially with like organizing my life
around business, I feel like I'm leaving with a whole
new bucket of tools. So you're Lacology, but thank you,
(34:01):
thank you, thanks for listening. Bad Boss is a z
M podcast for iHeartRadio with me Georgia Patten. This episode
was produced by Pixie Copperrell, engineered by Meg Putt and
Call It with production help from Sam Harvey. If you
liked it, hit subscribe to get notified whenever we release
a new episode. Listen every Tuesday on iHeartRadio or wherever
(34:23):
you get your podcasts and make your business idea a reality.
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