December 8, 2025 • 48 mins
Brittney Saunders is the founder of Fayt the Label, one of Australia's biggest clothing brands and empires. She launched the business from a shed in her backyard in her 20s and has grown it into a multimillion dollar brand. Before Fayt, she launched a number of other businesses as well, and today she tells her story and gives her best advice. We discuss:
- Britt’s journey from influencer to business owner
- Why it took her 4 years to start paying herself
- The most costly mistake when starting a business
- Should you hire your friends and family?
- How to actually make a product that people want?
- How to try again after failing
- The power of doing things a little bit scared
Plus so much more!
Follow Brittney HERE!
Shop Fayt HERE!
*Please note the views of guests are not necessarily shared by our host. We invite open discussion and differing viewpoints, experiences and information.
Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast
For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com
The Psychology of your 20s is not a substitute for professional mental health help. If you are struggling, distressed or require personalised advice, please reach out to your doctor or a licensed psychologist.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everybody. I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the
Psychology of Your Twenties, the podcast where we talk through
the biggest changes, moments and transitions of our twenties and
what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back
(00:26):
to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners
on listeners, wherever you are in the world. It is
so great to have you here back for another episode
as we, of course break down the psychology of our twenties.
Starting a business during this decade. Starting a successful business
in this decade is a big goal that I know
a lot of you guys have. I so often get
(00:48):
requests for advice on this or to bring somebody on
who can give us some no bullshit, straight shooting advice
on what it takes, how to formulate an idea, how
an ex an idea, how to handle money, investments stuff today.
I am so lucky to have that somebody on the
podcast who can talk us through all of these things.
(01:10):
Britney Saunders is the founder and CEO of Fate the Label.
It is an iconic Australian clothing brand, iconic that has
exploded in recent years, and she started this business in
her twenties. I'm so excited to have her on and
to hear her story. Britney Saunders, Welcome to the Psychology
of your twenties.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Thanks for having me, Gemma. I feel like your voice
is so calming. Do people say that to you?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
They do, they do. I don't know what it is though,
because I find my voice really irritating.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But I feel like I need to match the way
that you talk so that we can no, oh, really
that because my voice is like naturally very loud. Yeah,
you're being really calm, So I'm like, I think I
need to.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Be cum everybody. Well, I was saying I love having
tea before this, it's like I love having another Australian
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I feel like you need to get some more on
I know, I do, I do.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I don't know. I do a lot, but like just
this year, I just have just hasn't happened.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
That's kind of cool though, if you're mixing it up
and getting people from all over the world.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
But I feel like people always say my old Yeah,
like you don't have a strong Australian accent, and I'm like,
I think I do.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Hearing your accent, mine's pretty strong.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, and I love it. I'm like, well maybe I
should really, maybe I should get back to my roots. Yeah,
the fun I really get into it, and I like,
really we.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Can talk about that the rest Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Often?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah are gone?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, okay, Well tell me a little bit about your story.
I feel like I'm going to get ahead of myself.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Where did you grow up?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
What's like the history of brit So I am from Newcastle, which,
if you're not familiar or anyone listening, it's a little
regional city two hours north of Sydney, or maybe two
and a half, depending on what part of Sydney you're
coming from, because Sydney is massive. So I'm a born
and bred Newie gal. I lived like around Australia in
(02:53):
my late teens and early twenties and a long story
short is in high school I discovered this website called
YouTube and I thought that looks fun. So I just
started that as a hobby and did it all throughout
high school. I dropped out of school when I was
sixteen to be a waitress because I hated being at school.
(03:14):
I had no interest in school. I wasn't bad in school,
like I was actually pretty good, and especially like in
year ten, like at the subjects that I chose, but
I just like had no interest in being there. And
I feel like from a young age, like when you're
a teenager, you're kind of told by all of your
teachers and the careers advisor, you know, you've got to
(03:34):
figure out what it is that you want to do
for the rest of your life right now, and it's
like I am fifteen.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I don't even have a lobe to develop, Like it's
not there.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I so vividly remember being in like year nine and
going into year ten and I was a year young
for my year as well, so I was going into
year ten and you know, you'd have like we got
introduced to the school careers advisor.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, home, and they used to make you do this quiz.
Did you do this quiz? Like this? It was like
ten pages and it was like what are you going
to be when you grow up?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah? And it's like just how do go? And I
remember back then thinking I have no idea what I
want to do, Like I had no idea. I had
no interest in the idea of going to UNI. And
I remember all my friends in school at the time,
like they knew that they were going to go to
UNI become a nurse because their mum was a nurse
or whatever, or they want to be a teacher. And
(04:26):
I remember going to the career's advisor and thinking and saying,
I don't know what it is that I want to do,
and something really random. At one point, he was trying
to sell the idea to me of going into the
army reserves.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Oh my god, I just got chills because that happened
to me as well. I genuinely just got chills. I'm
running and we got gooseby I got goosebumps because that
happened to me. They were like, you should really join
the army reserve. And I was like, what part of
me makes you think that that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I'm not this young girl. Yeah, like no clue.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And I don't know if they were like incentivized.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Maybe that's what I was just called brochures and percent
fleps and he's handing them all to me, and I
was like, oh, okay, maybe this is what I want
to do. So then I went to some like career
day at like the Army or something, and so like
I just had no idea. I applied for a couple
of like hair dressing apprenticeships, because you know how like
when you get to year ten, everyone's dropping out to
(05:20):
go become a beauty therapist or a hairdresser. I was like, yeah, okay,
that's what I wanted to tell you. Yeah, so I
went and did a couple of trials to become a
first year apprentice.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
How many hours did you work when you were doing that?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I have so many, right, yeah, I think like one
trial was a week unpaid unpaid. Yeah, back then, I
think you have to get paid.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I don't even know. I honestly wouldn't put it past.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Them back then, Yeah, I remember I got paid nothing
and all I did was sweet floors and make cups
of tea for a week at this one place, and
then they handed me like a big pack of shampoo
and conditioner at the end they said, sorry you didn't
get the from there, like crying, but looking back now,
like I'm so glad that never worked out. So, yeah,
I dropped out when I was just waitressing in Newcast
all was working on my YouTube channel. I had over
(06:04):
twenty different jobs in my teens and into my early
twenties and worked in every industry because I was just
trying to figure out what it was that I wanted
to do doing the YouTube. And then throughout those lateeen years,
I also dabbled in what I didn't know at the
time were businesses, but I just thought that was like
little hobbies or something, you know. So I did like
(06:26):
mobile spray tans, and then I set up a little
spray tan business at home because I had this like
lawn mower storage underneath my house.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Like I's very smart.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It was like on a sloping block, and then you
knew how they'd be, like the wooden door and then
like a brick room under the back.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Of the house. Yeah, this is a very Australian thing.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah. I used to always walk past these and be like,
there are children trapped in there. Yeah you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
While I was in there doing spray tans. Well, so
I set up a business there. I would have been
seventeen or eighteen at the time. Taught myself how to
do makeup and was doing a bit of makeup on
YouTube and stuff. So then I was doing freelance makeup,
tried decorating and selling iPhone cases on Facebook, there were
just so many things that I did in those early
developmental years that I just thought were like fun, you know,
(07:11):
I never really made any money out of them. And
then my YouTube kind of really kicked off.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Do you remember the video.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
It wasn't a video, it's because I'd been doing it
for years, like from ages of fifteen up until twenty one,
which is how many years?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Six six years?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, So from yeah, about fifteen years old to twenty one,
I went from zero subscribers to eighty thousand, and back
then that was kind of like a big deal.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That's still a big deal. Yeah. Back then, I remember
like the og YouTube days.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, and so to have eighty thousand subscribers was like
kind of a big deal. And I was twenty one
and I was working full time in an admin role
in Newcastle, and I was just earning like a little
bit of money off the ads. And then this is
when Instagram had come out as well. So I had
maybe twenty thousand followers on Instagram and I started getting
paid like fifty dollars for an Instagram post, one hundred
(08:03):
dollars for an Instagram post, you know, just like holding
up a protein powder next to my face or whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
But how like how low energy it used to be?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yes, I would add back then it was like one
brand that I worked with back then was Protein World,
I don't know if you remember that, and they had
like this slender shake or some shit. It was in
like the Skinny Me Tea days.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I was just thinking that, and I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I did like one of those Detox Tea posts too,
and like you would literally get sent the product and
I would just hold it next to my face and
smile in a selfie and put that on Instagram and
I'd get like one hundred and fifty dollars and so
that was like the start. Yeah, So that was the
start of me like earning money through Instagram and obviously
making a bit off the YouTube ads. And again long
(08:45):
story shot, but at the age of twenty one, I
kind of looked at the money that I was earning
through my YouTube and Instagram, which was nothing, and I
was living in a sharehouse at the time with like
three other people, paying like one hundred dollars week rent,
sixty dollars on petrol, fifty dollars on groceries. Back then,
I remember working out, Okay, this is how much it
(09:06):
costs me to live. I'm going to quit my full
time job and try to make this YouTube thing my
full time job. What's the worst it's going to happen. Yeah,
if this doesn't work out, I will just go and
get another job, because I've had over twenty by this
point and have been working for myself ever since. So
it's been eleven years now. I'm thirty two now. And
(09:27):
obviously the YouTube then absolutely boomed. In three years that
eighty thousand subscribers I built to a million, and then
I was like a full blown influencer in that first
wave of influencers in Australia, which was so surreal. Looking
back on now, it just doesn't feel real.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
What was the coolest thing you got to do whilst
you were because to break the fourth wall? Like I was, well,
I'm how much younger than you? I'm seven years younger. Yeah,
so I remember being in high school.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You're a little teenager.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I was a teenager and I knew who you were. Yeah,
you were this is the you were like the one
of the girls.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, like the Bogan one because that was in the.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Era of like beauty Guru, and I know there's all
these others, like there was that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Curtis Clone morellas Shannie Grimman, Chloe Zere and then there
was me going here the fuck a ya, and then
everyone would go, she's the bogan one.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I always stayed true to myself, you know, I did
the most A real thing back then probably would have
just been all the opportunities of traveling with brands, like
getting taken to Spain with Nas Cosmetics for a global
brand trip when they were launching a new Mescara, just
(10:45):
going all the way to Spain for three days just
for them to launch the red Climax mascara.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Which, by the way, but that's kind of iconic. Yeah,
I have that mascara. Yes, I still have it.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
We went to the launch of that that.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You know what, this is just this whole economy where
people think that like influencing and like content creation is
like that's not a real job. It's like no, no, no,
Like the money behind these industries is billions and billions.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And yeah, exactly right. And it's changed a lot since
back then when I did all of that, Like the
industry as a whole is completely different. And I guess
back then we were lucky because what we were doing
was aspirational. It was like, oh my god, did you
see Brittany got to go on the trip and with
tart trips, you know, to Hayman Island.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I remember those. Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
It was like cool because it was new and it
was this whole new era of influencing and then influencers
got picked and then everyone was almost like excited, like oh,
this is so cool, whereas it's been so interesting now
to have been around for so long where a brand
or do a brand trip now and people go, this
is tone deaf, you know, like like.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
They're sick of it. This is two did you see
this thing the other day? It was like having a
life core where it's like I saw this post about
this the other day, where it's like we don't want
unattainable things, like people are moving back to like the
authentic yeah, like content of like this is unattainable. Come yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
People love to see just everyday life people going to
work and then documenting that. But I guess I feel
lucky that I was in that kind of first wave
of influencers in Australia because it was new and it
was cool and everyone's like o'h, my god, this is amazing. Goals.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Okay, so this is this like amazing journey You've been on,
fun journey, like when did you decide to quit influencing
and when did you first get the idea for Fate.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So the idea of Fate came about probably around the
age of twenty three to twenty four. And people will
always look at Fate now and go, oh, like, what
was your business plan? Like you must have had, you know,
all of your ducks in a row to like looking
at what Fate is today. But I always say, when
I started Fate, it was much like when I started
(12:54):
the spray tans under my house. It was not this big,
grand plan. I dabbled in lots of other small, little businesses.
I think the only difference with Fate and going into
the world of e coom was I was a little
bit older. I was still very young, but I also
had an audience. Yeah, so I knew obviously, well, I've
got all these people following me, I've got these YouTube
(13:16):
subscribers of over a million, I've got potential customers here.
So that was the biggest difference for me, and it
was definitely an advantage. But that doesn't mean that I
knew how to run a business. It didn't mean that
I knew how to build one from scratch or scale
one or sustain it. But I had that audience and
it was very much a I'm like a very think
(13:38):
of it and do it person Like I'll like lay
in bed at night and then have an idea pop
into my head and I'll go, ajay, I've got this idea,
and then I'll start doing it tomorrow. It was very
much the same when it came to Fate. It was
just learning everything myself. And I think like I had
the experience of working with so I worked with so
many brands, like in my early twenties, I had ongoing
partnerships where brands were paying me every month to do,
(14:02):
you know, a post for their products and stories, and
so I guess I kind of thought, in the back
of my mind, why don't I do this but with
my own products instead of just always promoting other products.
And when I was influencing I even think back to
you know, when YouTubers would do like a Q and
a video yes, and it'd be like, send me in
your questions and I'll do a Q and A and
(14:23):
then you'd be like, Hi, guys, welcome back. Stay, I'm
going to do a Q and A, and then you
would get like thousands of comments asking questions. And I
remember one common question that I would always get back
then was what would you do if you didn't have
this YouTube stuff? Like that would always be a question
that would come up in my Q and as. And
I would always say, and I could probably go back
(14:44):
and find one of my old videos, they're all archived,
but I would always say, I know that I'm not
going to do this forever. I knew that it wasn't
sustainable for me to be an influencer forever. I mean
I definitely could. I could still be, you know, a
full blown influencer now just doing brand deals every day.
But like even back then, like when I was in
(15:05):
the peak of the YouTube stuff and like the influencer
sponsored posts, like, I always knew in the back of
my mind, I don't want to do this forever. I
felt like I had more that I wanted to achieve
or do. I just didn't know what it was. And
so when it come to me launching Fate, it wasn't
this big grand idea. I didn't think, I'm going to
turn this into a really popular brand and we're going
(15:25):
to have all of these sizes. It was very much
I'm just going to start this thing. I hired Aj,
who's my partner, his mom's family, friend's daughter, to just
come and work with me because it was just at
my house, you know. So I was like, yeah, just
come and work with me, like two to three days
a week and just help me pack the orders and
do the customer service and go to the po box
(15:47):
to get our returns. And so it was very DIY.
And Aj he was an electrician at the time, so
he would just he helped me like set everything up
and like I was post accounts and website. I just
learned how to build a shopifire website DIY.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And I didn't see past that moment when I started it.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Do you think that was helpful? Yeah, just to be
like we're just gonna make this now.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And I think again, much like
how I started my influencer journey really early. I'm also
glad that I started Fate eight years ago because I
didn't have all these expectations that maybe someone starting a
business now would have, because I could imagine it would
be really overwhelming for let's say someone's wanting to get
(16:31):
into e comm and start a little Shopify store. This
episode is not sponsored by shop Fight.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I know I can't, but they're just really good.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, we use STOPI FI for Fate. You know, if
I was starting today, and I like, when I started Fate,
this was before like small business TikTok, Like there's no
such thing as that, you know, people, no one was
creating content about their business. And I even remember back
then when I started Fate, thinking, oh, like, I don't
(16:57):
know if I'm going to be able to put this
like social media, because I don't know if my audience
will like this, because they want me to do kmart
hall and vlog you know, going to Shopping Hill West, Yeah,
Q and A, and so I started posting a couple
of little YouTube videos about it. And I would never
(17:18):
show my shed at home because that's where it was
set up first. But I would go upstairs into my
spare room be like, this is my HQ in office.
But then I would never show the garage because I
was embarrassed of it. Whereas now, like in twenty twenty
five or twenty twenty six, you if you were starting
a business in your garage, you document the shit out
of that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Well maybe that's like why it's so hard these days,
because it's like you have to get over this this
like it just feels like everything has to be public,
so all the things have to be perceived. So if
it's not looking great, not looking perfect, then it's like, yeah,
so visible.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
But back then, because no one else was doing that,
I was like, oh, well, I'm not going to show
these people aren't going to take me seriously. But if
I could have my time over, or if I was
starting now and I was still starting in my spare
bedroom and all the plastic tubs in my shed, I
would one hundred percent document that because people love to
see that behind the scenes. And again, long story short,
(18:11):
fate just grew over those first few years and we
moved out, got our first little warehouse in Newcastle, hired
employee number two, employee number three that we had a
little team. In twenty nineteen, we opened our first store.
And that's a whole other story as well, But the
only reason that we opened our first store was because
we had to move again because we were growing and
the building that we had a little showroom downstairs, oh cool,
(18:35):
let's do it. Yeah, So that was twenty nineteen, just
before COVID. Again, I had no idea how to run
a store, but I would just get on Google. Again,
this is before chat, GPT or anything, so I was
just googling this stuff. And I just remember googling, like,
what's a good point of sale system like to have
in Australia, you know, how to get shopping bags made?
Like I'm just googling everything. Yeah again, hired people I knew, family,
(18:59):
friends or what ever. And like I just worked in
the shop myself most of the time when we first opened,
and when I opened that store, I had no intentions
of ever opening another one. It's just been like this
natural snowball effect over the eight years of fate that
it's gotten us to where we are today. But it
all started from me just going, yeah, I'm going to
give this thing a go.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
And just like the one foot in front of the
next kind of makes it exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And the more that you do things that obviously scare
the crap out of you, Like I remember when I thought, Okay,
we're outgrowing my little double garage at home. I think
I need to get a commercial lease. Like Times of Money. Yeah,
it was I was looking around and the one that
we got it was like one hundred square meters, like
(19:43):
quite small, and I think the rent was like thirty
five thousand dollars a year. And I just remember thinking, well,
I've got my one employee and I'm having to pay
her a casual and then I'm going to have to
pay thirty five grand a year. What if we don't
make money or what if people just stopped buying from us?
You know, but you take that risk, even though it
scares the crap out of you. Then you move in.
(20:03):
You go, oh my god, like this is working. Then
you move on to the next step. And it's not
until you actually make those decisions and take those risks
that you'll soon realize great things can happen if you
just take that step.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Oh yeah, when you take a break here, I'm gonna
I'm gonna get over get over my head with questions.
Okay if I don't take a break now. So we're
gonna take a break here, and then I want to
talk about this feeling. Okay, of like, you know, when
the time is right, what were some of the mistakes
you made? What are some of the things Googled didn't
teach you? So stick around. We'll be right back. Speaking
(20:42):
of Google and speaking of like a very diy intuitive
gut kind of approach, what's something that you could never
have Googled that you learn in like the first two
years of building fate.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Everything everything business is just making mistakes constantly and learning
better for next time. You're never going to be perfect
at any of it, like you just always. It's like
a self improvement journey owning a business. But some things
in particular that Google couldn't have prepared before. One of
the main things would be probably the emotional journey of
(21:19):
going on a business, going on a business, starting a business,
you know what I mean. And also how much starting
a business isn't about you at all, because when we
start a business, it is kind of selfish, right because
you're like, I want to start this for me, because
I have worked in over twenty jobs and I hated
(21:39):
them all, and I want to start this for me.
But if you actually want to start a business and
you want to turn it into something, it's eventually going
to involve other people. And when you own a business
and you have staff, it's no longer about you anymore.
And looking at my business now, people would probably see
like our fate social media and my social media and
(21:59):
it probably just looks like the Britney Show because I'm
like the face of the brand and whatever. But in
my day to day life, when I'm at work from
Monday to Friday in the office, it is not about
me at all. It's about everyone else. And I think
that's something that Google couldn't have taught me. You learn
as you go from you know, people management, dealing with
people's wants, needs, emotions, their personal lives and things that
(22:21):
they bring into work from the outside. Just learning to
manage people. I didn't have one day of experience as
even a team leader in any of the jobs that
I had, so I think it's like the people an
emotional side of business that Google definitely couldn't have prepared
me for.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
What was like the most costly mistake that you made
in like the early days. Do you remember having a
moment where you were like, oh my god, we cannot
make that mistake again.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yes, I definitely have an answer for this, but at
the time it wasn't an expensive mistake. But if I
could do my time over again, I would have done
it differently, and that would be hiring the right people
at the beginning of my businesses. When we start a business,
especially when it's small, and it was just at home
for me at the beginning, and because I wasn't taking
(23:10):
it seriously, because I didn't have this big business plan,
it was easy for me back then to go, I'm
just going to hire all my friends, all my friends
friends and all my family friends, and I.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Do I've done this.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I feel like every business owner does.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
You want to help. It's just a thing of like
who do I trust the most.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Exactly right, And you think, oh, this is going to
be fun. Yeah, you know, because you're not serious about
your business. You just want it to be fine. I'll
work with my best friend and my cousin and this
and that an the other sides. And at the beginning
of any business, it's fine for it to be that way.
And you know, some businesses are family run or friends
together and it works. But for me personally, one of
(23:49):
the biggest discoveries for me probably for the first three years.
I always like to say that the first three years
of a business is like a trial, and then after
three years that's when it's into a real business. Okay, yeah,
but yeah, for the first three years of fate. It
was pretty unserious. It was a lot of fun. I
was best friends with everyone that I employed. We were
all hanging out outside of work and drinking on the
(24:12):
weekends and going to each other's house and all that
kind of stuff. And then as the business grew, I
realized I can't have this mix of personal friendships and
relationships in a business because the lines just.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Become everything becomes a personal Yes, insult every piece of feedback,
and you hesitate to say things that you really exactly
right as you care.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
About avoiding hard conversations was another big one of mine
in those early years, because yeah, we're naturally people pleasers.
We don't want to upset anyone. And then if we're
besties with someone that's also working for us and they
kind of do something wrong or they've slacked off, you
don't want to go, hey, like I just noticed that
you're dropping off in your work performance, because then you're
worried they're going, what are you talking about? Like, you know,
(24:57):
because you're friends. Yeah, And so I would say, looking back,
if I could do my journey all over again, I
wouldn't redo it at any point. But I guess if
I was starting today one of the biggest lessons that
I've learned in my business journey, and it's great advice
for any business owner out there. It doesn't matter how
far you are into your journey. Is it's cliche, but
(25:19):
people will either make or break your business. And if
you're serious about your business, which I wasn't at the start,
and not many people are because you just don't think
big picture. I would hire the right people that are
serious about my business and not take the easy route
of just hiring friends and family. But you know, I
have no regrets and it worked at the time. Yeah,
(25:41):
But on reflection now and looking where we are in
twenty twenty five, where I've just got a team full
of a players who are so serious about fate and
their careers and they want growth and progression, and I'm
watching them build careers right before my eyes. I'm like, oh,
I should have done this from the beginning, But I
don't think you can. I think you've got to go
through all the moss and again, like learn from your
(26:02):
mistakes so that you can do better in the future.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah. I like what you said. I think what you're
really saying is like, if you had the option or
if somebody listening to this has a fledgling business and
has the option take the option of hiring somebody you
don't know well, somebody who is coming in as an employee, full.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Stop, nothing else exactly right, and also hiring people that
are better than you. Yeah, that's another one again, like
all business owners, and I don't want anyone to think
that what I'm saying is wrong. But for the first
four years of Fate, I was so fine with hiring
people that had no experience at all and teaching them
everything that I knew, because I had taught myself how
(26:43):
to do every part of the business, from packing orders
to doing our email campaigns in canvar and building Shopify
and doing products and all this kind of stuff. So
for those first four years, I would always just hire
someone that was nice and friendly and that I got
along with. But another lesson for me, especially like in
the most recent years, is it sure it might cost
(27:04):
more to hire someone who comes with a wealth of experience,
And as a business owner, you know that can be
scary to have someone who's wanting a higher pay based
on their experience, but it's priceless to have someone come
in who knows their shit and knows what they can
do for the business, rather than bringing someone in and
sure you might not have to pay them as much
(27:25):
because they've got no experience, but then how much time
are you spending teaching that person everything and double checking everything.
So that's probably another one of mine is yet hiring
the right people and not being afraid to hire people
who are better than you at certain things so they
can come in and own their space, rather than you
being a helicopter boss trying to make sure you know,
the email looks right before it goes out and the
(27:47):
Instagram stories are all good, just all those little things.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You can just do it. Yeah, what does a typical
day in your life look like nowadays? And you kind
of gave us an insight, but you used to of
you know the history of brit It's like you used
to be really prominent social media and you were mainly
influencing and now you're running this business and like what
(28:09):
does that mean? You know when people always like, oh,
you run a business, what do you do on a
day to day? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Cliche, but no two days are the same. I gave
up influencing. I want to say, two or three years ago.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Did you make an announcement or were you just like.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
It was very gradual over the years. I went from
doing a sponsored post like every second day on Instagram
and I really narrowed it down and by the end,
I think I was only working with two brands that
I had ongoing partnerships with. They were Esme's skincare. Do
you know as Mesme. I don't know the proper way
to say it, E s M. I.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Oh, yeah, yea. You probably know it if you saw
I know when you said I, I was like, yes,
Australian brand, Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
And Canadian Club because I'd worked with them a heap
of time.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
That's not what I expected you to say.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, So at the end, they were the two brands
that I was left working with, and I'd given up
like all the hairstyling tool brands like I worked with
GHD for a really long time, all sorts of ones,
and I ended up only having the two partnerships. And
I sat on the idea for maybe a year or
two to also give those up because I had like
(29:14):
ongoing partnerships with them.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
And I went to my.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Accountant and I said, I think I would just want
to give up this all together because I was like
Britney Lee Saunders as a company, and then I had Fate.
And the great thing about being an influencer was I
didn't have to pay myself anything from Fate for the
first like four years of Fate.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
That was one of my questions.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, I didn't pay myself anything. I worked on Fate
and had my influencing on the side, and the influencing
was my personal money. And then all the money that
the business generated paid my staff and went back into
the business. And so yeah, it would have been two
to three, maybe three years ago now I decided I'm
going to give up the brand deals. I'd already given
(29:55):
up YouTube by that point. Yeah, just because I was
getting too busy running the business and I had to
prioritize and not spending my time making YouTube videos to
grow the business. And then yeah, I bit the bullet
and said I'm not doing any more brand deals. And
that was yeah, three years ago now, And I think
over those three years we've done like two that have
(30:15):
come our way that were like too good.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
To pass up kind of things you cared about.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, like maybe two years ago KFC said can you
please do something for Christmas in July? And they had
these funny, ugly sweaters. I was like, yeah, we'll do
that one because that's really fun. But I've just done
a couple over the last three ish years. But yeah,
fully gave it up, which just then allowed me number
one to start paying myself from Fate as an actual
employee and getting a pay slift and everything everything, which
(30:41):
was really exciting. And then it's just allowed me to
fully focus on Fate rather than worrying about, Oh, I've
got to get this post done for so and so brand,
what my day looks like today. I'm a very hands
on founder and CEO. I work heavily with our marketing
(31:02):
team for all things marketing at FATE, whether that's big
campaigns that we're doing, any of our customer brand trips
that we do, which has been awesome to do, like
off the back of like influence.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Explain what these are. The customer brand trips are pretty
iconic for you guys.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yes, we've done two now. We started it on our
seventh birthday last year to celebrate our seventh birthday. Every year,
our birthday comes around and the team will go to
be shit, it's our birthday in two weeks. Like, we
haven't organized anything. And last year, I think we thought
about our birthday like two months before, because you don't
think about your business's birthday. You got too much going on.
And it's in September, so it's like coming up to
(31:40):
the busy period. And I was like, well, why don't
we take seven customers on a brand trip, kind of
like how I used to go on all the brand
trips back in the day. But instead of taking influencers,
let's take customers and like treat them like influencers. And
so then that's where the idea of the Lucky Seven
came to be. And we did a big old giveaway
and seven ran customers won a trip with us, and
(32:03):
it was like such a hit and we got so
much content out of it, and they had the best
time and they all made such great friends. We were
with them for three days.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
How did you go?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We brought them to Newcastle. We were like, let's start
it at home.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, Newcastle is also a vibe.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, and we've got like five star hotels now, so
we put them in.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I have a five star hotel and new we've got two, which.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
We never used to have, but new is really up
and coming. But yeah, they all got their own hotel
room and we decked out the bed with all the
goodies from all the different brands. It was like a
full influencer trip. And so that was such a success
that we've done it again just this year in September,
and we called it the Fate eight for our eighth birthday,
and last year was a Lucky seven and again just
to give away eight customers, we took them to Port Stevens.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
This time.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I don't know if you know where that is. We
got this big, beautiful house and it was more of
like a retreat vibe. So that's been really cool to
be able to do. But yeah, I work heavily with
our marketing team. I oversee our leadership team at Fate.
One jobs at would surprise people that I still do
in Fate and I don't know if I could ever
(33:04):
give it up. Is I do all of our stock
buying and ordering?
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Oh? Really?
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah? So every piece of clothing that comes into our
business is my responsibility to order, and all of our
store stock and buying for all the stores is me?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
No way. That's like one of the hardest jobs.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It's a big job. But I think because I've been
doing it since day one. I could do it with
my eyes closed. And because we've grown so gradually, it's
been easy for me to learn, like ordering my stace yeah,
and this store needs this and that store needs that. Yeah,
And I work with our operations manager on that. But
that's like one of my main tasks. I run out
ad accounts.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, so I love meta and Facebook ads. I do
a lot still, yeah, as the owner and founder. But
I'm definitely getting to the point in my business journey
where I am feeling like I need to kind of
step away and start being more of a founder rather
than getting caught up in what UGC creator hasn't sent
their content in you know what I mean. But I again,
(34:00):
it's something that all founders, if their business grows to
a certain size, they will find themselves in that situation
where you do get pulled into the day to day.
But I'm definitely learning as we're growing, I need to
focus on those big picture things rather than what did
that customer say in that email? You know, but to.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Ignore, yeah, at least you delete, at least well.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Put it in a say it went to them. Yeah,
but yeah, no, two days the same, And I'm still
very much involved with the whole business, from retail to
warehouse and everything in between. But I love it at
the end of the day. So I literally haven't worked
a day since I started Fate.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I like that. We're going to take one more break
and then I have three more questions for you, so
stay with us. So we're talking about you not replying
to emails.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Maybe that's my job I have given up is replying
to our customer s emails, which is being nice because
I feel like it gets to a point where it
feels so much more personal when it's your business. Like
let's say someone is emailing and they're upset with something,
and then if you're reading that, it's.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Like, fuck, anytime I get a bad review, it really
does it? Really?
Speaker 2 (35:16):
No, We've got people that reply to those, which is great.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
I don't I as a reply to them. But looking
towards the future, what are you planning next? Do you
think that you will launch another business? Yeah? Oh, like
god cool?
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I would love to What.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Do you think it would be? And if you have,
have you had an idea recently where you're like, I
don't know if you're like me, I have like a
list of my phone twenty million business ideas. Sometimes I
just give that I just randomly mentioned them to people
and like.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
You should make you do this.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, I don't know how to do that, but you
should do it. Yeah, you do something like that.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
There's so many things that I would love to do.
It's just a matter of getting around to doing it.
And also I've kind of stitched myself up because Fate's
quite a big company. It's huge, So yeah, I kind
of have got tied into fame.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
You're like you're stuffering from success. I love it.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
There's so much that I want to do. I have
my business podcast called Big Business, which I absolutely love doing.
I feel very drawn to helping others on their business journey,
just based off everything that I've learned. So I love
doing my episodes. I do two episodes a week on
that podcast, and I just love that. I love making
content around business, and I've noticed that people love when
(36:28):
I talk about business in like my tiktoks and reels
and stuff like that. Part of me wants to become
like a business coach or a mentor. Like maybe in
another life I'll do it, or I'll get around to it.
In this life. Got a lot more life to leave, Yeah,
and I think as well, Like I've been doing a
(36:50):
lot of keynote speeches lately. I just recently did a
ted X talk which was awesome, like really cool. That
was just a couple of weekends ago. So I doing
keynotes and talking in front of crowds, whether it's about
business or just being inspirational in general. I guess. So
I love that. I'd love to do like a tour
(37:12):
slash workshop thing of my own one day, but I'd
love to do anything and everything. I had this one
idea recently that I made a little video about a
lot of people have said to me over the years
that well, you've had it easy, and it's you've been
lucky because you had an audience online, so like, of
course you've been able to do what you've done, And
(37:33):
I'm like, kind of at the start, yeah, sure, but
it takes something completely different to actually grow and scale
a business into the size that fate is. Any influencer
can launch a product, but like not everyone can keep
it going and then grow it.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
And sorry to say this, a product versus how many
products do you have right now? Like so many you
would have at least we're in every chategtry and fifty
items for say, probably more.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, and we've got you know, five stores seventy, so
like it's grown into something bigger than me just being
an influencer and being lucky. But off the back of
people saying those comments to me, like, oh, it's easy
for you because you were an influencer back in the day,
I would almost love to start a faceless business.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Interesting and do that? Do it? And I think about
this is crazy, Like do like an anonymous business, yes,
and never.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Try yeah, never tell anyone, and try to make it
super popular or even medium size, and then come out
and be like this was me and none of you knew,
just to show that I have what it takes on
the other side of being the face of a brand.
And I'm gonna give away my other idea here. I'd
love to make Fates competitor.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
That's crazy that you are so like in the game
that you're like, I want to be my own competition now.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah, and start like another clothing brand and with standard sizes. Yeah,
do it all and like different to Fate. And you know,
I obviously wouldn't use myself or my face, but instead
we'd have to It's an investment. You'd be working with models, creators, influencers, UGC,
paid ads, and paid media, and I'd love like it
(39:15):
would take it would take years, but I'd love to
build like Fate's competitor and everyone becomes obsessed with this
other new clothing brand that's got all these sizes and.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Everything and can more experimental.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah, and then it's just me at the end of
the day, and then I'm like, surprise it with me,
and then I merge them together, Kate and Fate. So
that's an idea of mine. But I'm open to anything,
and I definitely think I will start other businesses in
my lifetime. I still feel like I'm just getting started
with Fate, So there's a lot of exciting things to
(39:48):
explore with Fate. I never thought that we would get
to where we are today. You're like my kid. You know,
I couldn't see past that garage when I first started.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Which I think that's like the coolest part of your
story and for people being like, oh, you know what,
you a platform. You also dropped out of school at
sixteen years old, Like, yeah, you didn't. You didn't have
a do you get a high school dippoment when you
got job out of the year ten.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
No, yeah, oh no, I think I got my utense
certificate tenserificate. Yeah I got that. Yeah, like nothing.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, but that's like being like turning to someone and
being like, well you had a university degree, so like
that's how you start your business. Or everyone has a
one up, or like your parents they had a cafe,
So like everybody has some kind of advantage. Yes, everybody
has good luck, some kind of good luck.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
The YouTube subscriber is sure that was an advantage for me,
but also I got that YouTube channel for years. I
built that community for years, and you know, I could
have launched fate and it could have been good for
a year and then it could have flopped. But it's
been like the hard work and determination over those eight
years and the persistence. You know, I worked seven days
a week, but I love it so I never feel
(40:52):
like I'm working. But it's that that's gotten to me
where like to where I am. Sure the subscribers helped
at the start, because I had people placing orders from
day one, but scaling is a whole other.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
All of a ball game. Yeah, I can only imagine. Yeah,
I have one final question for you, Yes, and this
is the question that we ask everybody who comes on
the podcast.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
I could see here for hours, by the way.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I know, I honestly you know we've been have to
get me back for part I kind of want to.
There's so many questions that I want to ask, and
and like what was it like to fire your first person?
Like what was it?
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Blah blah blah, like so warning letter?
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, what has already will copy you like all that stuff.
But I have one final question, which is the question
of the podcast. What is one piece of advice you
have for people in their twenties or perhaps your younger
self that has nothing to do with what we talked
about today, completely.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Separate, has nothing to do with anything. I know.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
You can't can't talk about business, can't talk we can,
but never know, like try and if it's about love,
if it's about friendship, and it's about.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
I've got it saying that I absolutely love, But I
don't know you can tell me if this ties into
what we've been talking about. It kind of does, but
it can apply to any aspect and element of your life.
And the saying is do it scared? Can I say? That?
Is my answer?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Okay, scared?
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Do it scared? I think the number one thing that
holds people back from doing anything in life. And this
doesn't mean just starting a business. It could be saying
hello to the guy that you keep seeing at the
coffee shop but you're too scared. Or it could be
asking your boss for a raise or a promotion. It
could be speaking up in a team meeting where you'd
normally stay quiet because you're worried that you know people
(42:30):
might judge you. It could be anything. It could be
telling a friend of yours that they've been upsetting you
lately by things they've been saying, but you don't say
anything because you're too scared. I just love the saying
do it scared because it's very easy for us to say,
oh no, I won't do that, like I'm too scared.
We use that as an excuse to not do whatever
the thing is. But I think it's a good mindfulness
(42:53):
thought to think I can still do the thing even
with the scared feeling. Being scared shouldn't be someone's reason
to not do something. You can just do it and
still feel scared at the same time. Yeah, and you
trust me, you'll feel a million bucks after you do it,
no matter what it is.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
I love that saying I do it scared. I think
it's honestly a beautiful representation for this episode. Okay, I
said I had noble questions, but what final questions? I
have to ask this question just because it's keme to
my mind. Yeah, what is like the favorite thing that
you guys are selling right now? What's your favorite product
that you guys have at face?
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Ooh? I would say our Downtown pants, which don't look
at mine today because I've gotten so dirty today because.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
The year's a day.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah, I've got like sandwich and something else in black
stuff from Australia Post for me. But I would say
it's our Downtown pants. They are a they're kind of
made of like a blazer material and they're like your
stock standard, like dressy kind of corporate pant. We have
been making our Downtown pants for maybe I want to
(43:54):
say three years now, or maybe three to four years,
and they've only gained popularity in the last twelve months,
so it's like a style that people have finally realized,
like these are the best pants ever. We've done them
in like eighteen different colors and they've got like a
little elastic on the back, so they're really comfortable, and
they're just like a pair of pants that you can
(44:14):
like wear to work to the office, but then also
like fully dress them up with some heels and wear
them out at night. So I'd say it's probably our
downtown pants, but our best selling category is denim.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Yeah, I will say this is this is what you
guys known for. Yes, your genes. Yes, the jeans are
I keep saying iconic.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Yeah, We've got a whole new denim range coming out
in twenty twenty six, which I'm really excited about it.
I thought our jeenes were already really good because we
sell so many of them and they have the best
reviews ever. But it's about to come scout in a
whole new level.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
You know what. I also say this, this is something
that's completely like Levi's need some competition. Well, I don't
like Levi's jeans, and I don't know why, I just
have to say it.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
There's actually like a massive gap in the market for
good denim because when you think of a brand in
Australia that is known for their jeans, who is.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
It, like probably Levi's or like just jeans. Yeah, but
it's like they do this is like just such a
personal vendetta I have against sleeves jeans like, I've.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Never worn a pair of Levi's great.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Don't like they only like they just don't fit.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Like the new jeans when they come out.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
I think I might just order some. I already own
a pair of your jeans. I actually own tube pairs
of your jeans. I own like your classic like straight
liked ones.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Billy jeans.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yeah, I think that's what they're called. They're great. I
think they're.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
They're about to get a whole lot better. There's a
new version of billy coming out. We've done like a
whole new range. Yeah, we've done a whole new range
inspired by our current jeans, but they're just leveled up.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Is this coming from fate? Okay? Imagine if you, dude,
maybe you should just launch a whole denim company.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Don't because that was my idea.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Really Yeah, dang.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
I've even got a date for it. I've got a
name for it that we won't say.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
No, don't say it because if somebody does their idea
better than you, though, you know.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Yeah, and you know, I think there's a there's room
for everyone in business. So no, I want to create
Fate's competitor as a social experiment. But every brand can
exist together and there's enough customers out there for everyone.
And also I would love to see in twenty twenty
six and beyond more businesses coming together and collaborating, Like
I would love to collaborate with a competitor about I'm
(46:23):
saying like competitor in quotes because like, imagine if there's
two women's fashion brands that come together and come out
with a collection together, bringing both audiences together to go, well,
now we love both of these brands.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Like back and Bridge and Fake the label. Yeah, it's
like a cool like I would sanitize like Formal Rangers.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
I would love to collaborate with another brand that would
be considered our competitor. Like I'm friends with you know,
women that own fashion labels, and like I don't see
them as competitors. I'm like, we can learn from each
other and vent to each other when we're stressed about something,
like we can all exist together, like we can all win.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
And it's honestly the best feel. That's when you have
your competition becomes to your community. What people want to
be you to have this competition, but come to your
community absolutely. That is a very positive message to finish
and actually finish this episode.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
You sure you don't have one more question? Oh?
Speaker 1 (47:12):
I have like several more, but we just don't have time.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Let us know. Should I come back for part two?
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I love to drop a comment below if you want
Britt to come back for a part two? Where can
they find you? I'll leave a link to fate dot
com yam below, But where else would you like them
to find you?
Speaker 2 (47:27):
On socials? You can just find me Britney Saunders. I've
got two podcasts. One is called Big Business and the
other one is High Scrollers with my bestie Matt, which
is just like an absolute piss take and it's really funny.
It's really nice to have that like funny creative outlet.
And then we have five stores in Australia. We've got
three New South Wales which are in Newcastle where I'm from,
(47:48):
Paramatta and Westfield Miranda in Sydney. We've got one in
Brisbane which is in Westfield Term Site, and then down
in Melbourne we have a boutique in Hawthorne and that's
about it. You can find me on TikTok and all
the other stuff. Find her everywhere, read my book, just
do whatever.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
This woman is busy, you can find her.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Yeah, you can find me.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Well, thank you again for coming on. As always, if
you guys enjoyed this episode, leave a five star review.
If you feel cool to do so, make sure that
you're subscribed or following us wherever you are listening to
the podcast, and follow us on Instagram at that Psychology Podcast.
We've been doing these really cool announcements for each of
our guests, and as we kind of come to the
end of guest month, we've got some cool ones lined up.
(48:29):
But until next time, stay safe, be kind, be gentle
to yourself, and we will talk very very soon.
Hello everybody. I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the
Psychology of Your Twenties, the podcast where we talk through
the biggest changes, moments and transitions of our twenties and
what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back
(00:26):
to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners
on listeners, wherever you are in the world. It is
so great to have you here back for another episode
as we, of course break down the psychology of our twenties.
Starting a business during this decade. Starting a successful business
in this decade is a big goal that I know
a lot of you guys have. I so often get
(00:48):
requests for advice on this or to bring somebody on
who can give us some no bullshit, straight shooting advice
on what it takes, how to formulate an idea, how
an ex an idea, how to handle money, investments stuff today.
I am so lucky to have that somebody on the
podcast who can talk us through all of these things.
(01:10):
Britney Saunders is the founder and CEO of Fate the Label.
It is an iconic Australian clothing brand, iconic that has
exploded in recent years, and she started this business in
her twenties. I'm so excited to have her on and
to hear her story. Britney Saunders, Welcome to the Psychology
of your twenties.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Thanks for having me, Gemma. I feel like your voice
is so calming. Do people say that to you?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
They do, they do. I don't know what it is though,
because I find my voice really irritating.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But I feel like I need to match the way
that you talk so that we can no, oh, really
that because my voice is like naturally very loud. Yeah,
you're being really calm, So I'm like, I think I
need to.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Be cum everybody. Well, I was saying I love having
tea before this, it's like I love having another Australian
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I feel like you need to get some more on
I know, I do, I do.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I don't know. I do a lot, but like just
this year, I just have just hasn't happened.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
That's kind of cool though, if you're mixing it up
and getting people from all over the world.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
But I feel like people always say my old Yeah,
like you don't have a strong Australian accent, and I'm like,
I think I do.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Hearing your accent, mine's pretty strong.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, and I love it. I'm like, well maybe I
should really, maybe I should get back to my roots. Yeah,
the fun I really get into it, and I like,
really we.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Can talk about that the rest Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Often?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah are gone?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, okay, Well tell me a little bit about your story.
I feel like I'm going to get ahead of myself.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Where did you grow up?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
What's like the history of brit So I am from Newcastle, which,
if you're not familiar or anyone listening, it's a little
regional city two hours north of Sydney, or maybe two
and a half, depending on what part of Sydney you're
coming from, because Sydney is massive. So I'm a born
and bred Newie gal. I lived like around Australia in
(02:53):
my late teens and early twenties and a long story
short is in high school I discovered this website called
YouTube and I thought that looks fun. So I just
started that as a hobby and did it all throughout
high school. I dropped out of school when I was
sixteen to be a waitress because I hated being at school.
(03:14):
I had no interest in school. I wasn't bad in school,
like I was actually pretty good, and especially like in
year ten, like at the subjects that I chose, but
I just like had no interest in being there. And
I feel like from a young age, like when you're
a teenager, you're kind of told by all of your
teachers and the careers advisor, you know, you've got to
(03:34):
figure out what it is that you want to do
for the rest of your life right now, and it's
like I am fifteen.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I don't even have a lobe to develop, Like it's
not there.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I so vividly remember being in like year nine and
going into year ten and I was a year young
for my year as well, so I was going into
year ten and you know, you'd have like we got
introduced to the school careers advisor.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, home, and they used to make you do this quiz.
Did you do this quiz? Like this? It was like
ten pages and it was like what are you going
to be when you grow up?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah? And it's like just how do go? And I
remember back then thinking I have no idea what I
want to do, Like I had no idea. I had
no interest in the idea of going to UNI. And
I remember all my friends in school at the time,
like they knew that they were going to go to
UNI become a nurse because their mum was a nurse
or whatever, or they want to be a teacher. And
(04:26):
I remember going to the career's advisor and thinking and saying,
I don't know what it is that I want to do,
and something really random. At one point, he was trying
to sell the idea to me of going into the
army reserves.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Oh my god, I just got chills because that happened
to me as well. I genuinely just got chills. I'm
running and we got gooseby I got goosebumps because that
happened to me. They were like, you should really join
the army reserve. And I was like, what part of
me makes you think that that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I'm not this young girl. Yeah, like no clue.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And I don't know if they were like incentivized.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Maybe that's what I was just called brochures and percent
fleps and he's handing them all to me, and I
was like, oh, okay, maybe this is what I want
to do. So then I went to some like career
day at like the Army or something, and so like
I just had no idea. I applied for a couple
of like hair dressing apprenticeships, because you know how like
when you get to year ten, everyone's dropping out to
(05:20):
go become a beauty therapist or a hairdresser. I was like, yeah, okay,
that's what I wanted to tell you. Yeah, so I
went and did a couple of trials to become a
first year apprentice.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
How many hours did you work when you were doing that?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I have so many, right, yeah, I think like one
trial was a week unpaid unpaid. Yeah, back then, I
think you have to get paid.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I don't even know. I honestly wouldn't put it past.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Them back then, Yeah, I remember I got paid nothing
and all I did was sweet floors and make cups
of tea for a week at this one place, and
then they handed me like a big pack of shampoo
and conditioner at the end they said, sorry you didn't
get the from there, like crying, but looking back now,
like I'm so glad that never worked out. So, yeah,
I dropped out when I was just waitressing in Newcast
all was working on my YouTube channel. I had over
(06:04):
twenty different jobs in my teens and into my early
twenties and worked in every industry because I was just
trying to figure out what it was that I wanted
to do doing the YouTube. And then throughout those lateeen years,
I also dabbled in what I didn't know at the
time were businesses, but I just thought that was like
little hobbies or something, you know. So I did like
(06:26):
mobile spray tans, and then I set up a little
spray tan business at home because I had this like
lawn mower storage underneath my house.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Like I's very smart.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It was like on a sloping block, and then you
knew how they'd be, like the wooden door and then
like a brick room under the back.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Of the house. Yeah, this is a very Australian thing.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah. I used to always walk past these and be like,
there are children trapped in there. Yeah you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
While I was in there doing spray tans. Well, so
I set up a business there. I would have been
seventeen or eighteen at the time. Taught myself how to
do makeup and was doing a bit of makeup on
YouTube and stuff. So then I was doing freelance makeup,
tried decorating and selling iPhone cases on Facebook, there were
just so many things that I did in those early
developmental years that I just thought were like fun, you know,
(07:11):
I never really made any money out of them. And
then my YouTube kind of really kicked off.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Do you remember the video.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
It wasn't a video, it's because I'd been doing it
for years, like from ages of fifteen up until twenty one,
which is how many years?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Six six years?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, So from yeah, about fifteen years old to twenty one,
I went from zero subscribers to eighty thousand, and back
then that was kind of like a big deal.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That's still a big deal. Yeah. Back then, I remember
like the og YouTube days.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, and so to have eighty thousand subscribers was like
kind of a big deal. And I was twenty one
and I was working full time in an admin role
in Newcastle, and I was just earning like a little
bit of money off the ads. And then this is
when Instagram had come out as well. So I had
maybe twenty thousand followers on Instagram and I started getting
paid like fifty dollars for an Instagram post, one hundred
(08:03):
dollars for an Instagram post, you know, just like holding
up a protein powder next to my face or whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
But how like how low energy it used to be?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yes, I would add back then it was like one
brand that I worked with back then was Protein World,
I don't know if you remember that, and they had
like this slender shake or some shit. It was in
like the Skinny Me Tea days.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I was just thinking that, and I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I did like one of those Detox Tea posts too,
and like you would literally get sent the product and
I would just hold it next to my face and
smile in a selfie and put that on Instagram and
I'd get like one hundred and fifty dollars and so
that was like the start. Yeah, So that was the
start of me like earning money through Instagram and obviously
making a bit off the YouTube ads. And again long
(08:45):
story shot, but at the age of twenty one, I
kind of looked at the money that I was earning
through my YouTube and Instagram, which was nothing, and I
was living in a sharehouse at the time with like
three other people, paying like one hundred dollars week rent,
sixty dollars on petrol, fifty dollars on groceries. Back then,
I remember working out, Okay, this is how much it
(09:06):
costs me to live. I'm going to quit my full
time job and try to make this YouTube thing my
full time job. What's the worst it's going to happen. Yeah,
if this doesn't work out, I will just go and
get another job, because I've had over twenty by this
point and have been working for myself ever since. So
it's been eleven years now. I'm thirty two now. And
(09:27):
obviously the YouTube then absolutely boomed. In three years that
eighty thousand subscribers I built to a million, and then
I was like a full blown influencer in that first
wave of influencers in Australia, which was so surreal. Looking
back on now, it just doesn't feel real.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
What was the coolest thing you got to do whilst
you were because to break the fourth wall? Like I was, well,
I'm how much younger than you? I'm seven years younger. Yeah,
so I remember being in high school.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You're a little teenager.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I was a teenager and I knew who you were. Yeah,
you were this is the you were like the one
of the girls.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, like the Bogan one because that was in the.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Era of like beauty Guru, and I know there's all
these others, like there was that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Curtis Clone morellas Shannie Grimman, Chloe Zere and then there
was me going here the fuck a ya, and then
everyone would go, she's the bogan one.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I always stayed true to myself, you know, I did
the most A real thing back then probably would have
just been all the opportunities of traveling with brands, like
getting taken to Spain with Nas Cosmetics for a global
brand trip when they were launching a new Mescara, just
(10:45):
going all the way to Spain for three days just
for them to launch the red Climax mascara.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Which, by the way, but that's kind of iconic. Yeah,
I have that mascara. Yes, I still have it.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
We went to the launch of that that.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You know what, this is just this whole economy where
people think that like influencing and like content creation is
like that's not a real job. It's like no, no, no,
Like the money behind these industries is billions and billions.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And yeah, exactly right. And it's changed a lot since
back then when I did all of that, Like the
industry as a whole is completely different. And I guess
back then we were lucky because what we were doing
was aspirational. It was like, oh my god, did you
see Brittany got to go on the trip and with
tart trips, you know, to Hayman Island.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I remember those. Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
It was like cool because it was new and it
was this whole new era of influencing and then influencers
got picked and then everyone was almost like excited, like oh,
this is so cool, whereas it's been so interesting now
to have been around for so long where a brand
or do a brand trip now and people go, this
is tone deaf, you know, like like.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
They're sick of it. This is two did you see
this thing the other day? It was like having a
life core where it's like I saw this post about
this the other day, where it's like we don't want
unattainable things, like people are moving back to like the
authentic yeah, like content of like this is unattainable. Come yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
People love to see just everyday life people going to
work and then documenting that. But I guess I feel
lucky that I was in that kind of first wave
of influencers in Australia because it was new and it
was cool and everyone's like o'h, my god, this is amazing. Goals.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Okay, so this is this like amazing journey You've been on,
fun journey, like when did you decide to quit influencing
and when did you first get the idea for Fate.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So the idea of Fate came about probably around the
age of twenty three to twenty four. And people will
always look at Fate now and go, oh, like, what
was your business plan? Like you must have had, you know,
all of your ducks in a row to like looking
at what Fate is today. But I always say, when
I started Fate, it was much like when I started
(12:54):
the spray tans under my house. It was not this big,
grand plan. I dabbled in lots of other small, little businesses.
I think the only difference with Fate and going into
the world of e coom was I was a little
bit older. I was still very young, but I also
had an audience. Yeah, so I knew obviously, well, I've
got all these people following me, I've got these YouTube
(13:16):
subscribers of over a million, I've got potential customers here.
So that was the biggest difference for me, and it
was definitely an advantage. But that doesn't mean that I
knew how to run a business. It didn't mean that
I knew how to build one from scratch or scale
one or sustain it. But I had that audience and
it was very much a I'm like a very think
(13:38):
of it and do it person Like I'll like lay
in bed at night and then have an idea pop
into my head and I'll go, ajay, I've got this idea,
and then I'll start doing it tomorrow. It was very
much the same when it came to Fate. It was
just learning everything myself. And I think like I had
the experience of working with so I worked with so
many brands, like in my early twenties, I had ongoing
partnerships where brands were paying me every month to do,
(14:02):
you know, a post for their products and stories, and
so I guess I kind of thought, in the back
of my mind, why don't I do this but with
my own products instead of just always promoting other products.
And when I was influencing I even think back to
you know, when YouTubers would do like a Q and
a video yes, and it'd be like, send me in
your questions and I'll do a Q and A and
(14:23):
then you'd be like, Hi, guys, welcome back. Stay, I'm
going to do a Q and A, and then you
would get like thousands of comments asking questions. And I
remember one common question that I would always get back
then was what would you do if you didn't have
this YouTube stuff? Like that would always be a question
that would come up in my Q and as. And
I would always say, and I could probably go back
(14:44):
and find one of my old videos, they're all archived,
but I would always say, I know that I'm not
going to do this forever. I knew that it wasn't
sustainable for me to be an influencer forever. I mean
I definitely could. I could still be, you know, a
full blown influencer now just doing brand deals every day.
But like even back then, like when I was in
(15:05):
the peak of the YouTube stuff and like the influencer
sponsored posts, like, I always knew in the back of
my mind, I don't want to do this forever. I
felt like I had more that I wanted to achieve
or do. I just didn't know what it was. And
so when it come to me launching Fate, it wasn't
this big grand idea. I didn't think, I'm going to
turn this into a really popular brand and we're going
(15:25):
to have all of these sizes. It was very much
I'm just going to start this thing. I hired Aj,
who's my partner, his mom's family, friend's daughter, to just
come and work with me because it was just at
my house, you know. So I was like, yeah, just
come and work with me, like two to three days
a week and just help me pack the orders and
do the customer service and go to the po box
(15:47):
to get our returns. And so it was very DIY.
And Aj he was an electrician at the time, so
he would just he helped me like set everything up
and like I was post accounts and website. I just
learned how to build a shopifire website DIY.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And I didn't see past that moment when I started it.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Do you think that was helpful? Yeah, just to be
like we're just gonna make this now.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And I think again, much like
how I started my influencer journey really early. I'm also
glad that I started Fate eight years ago because I
didn't have all these expectations that maybe someone starting a
business now would have, because I could imagine it would
be really overwhelming for let's say someone's wanting to get
(16:31):
into e comm and start a little Shopify store. This
episode is not sponsored by shop Fight.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I know I can't, but they're just really good.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, we use STOPI FI for Fate. You know, if
I was starting today, and I like, when I started Fate,
this was before like small business TikTok, Like there's no
such thing as that, you know, people, no one was
creating content about their business. And I even remember back
then when I started Fate, thinking, oh, like, I don't
(16:57):
know if I'm going to be able to put this
like social media, because I don't know if my audience
will like this, because they want me to do kmart
hall and vlog you know, going to Shopping Hill West, Yeah,
Q and A, and so I started posting a couple
of little YouTube videos about it. And I would never
(17:18):
show my shed at home because that's where it was
set up first. But I would go upstairs into my
spare room be like, this is my HQ in office.
But then I would never show the garage because I
was embarrassed of it. Whereas now, like in twenty twenty
five or twenty twenty six, you if you were starting
a business in your garage, you document the shit out
of that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Well maybe that's like why it's so hard these days,
because it's like you have to get over this this
like it just feels like everything has to be public,
so all the things have to be perceived. So if
it's not looking great, not looking perfect, then it's like, yeah,
so visible.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
But back then, because no one else was doing that,
I was like, oh, well, I'm not going to show
these people aren't going to take me seriously. But if
I could have my time over, or if I was
starting now and I was still starting in my spare
bedroom and all the plastic tubs in my shed, I
would one hundred percent document that because people love to
see that behind the scenes. And again, long story short,
(18:11):
fate just grew over those first few years and we
moved out, got our first little warehouse in Newcastle, hired
employee number two, employee number three that we had a
little team. In twenty nineteen, we opened our first store.
And that's a whole other story as well, But the
only reason that we opened our first store was because
we had to move again because we were growing and
the building that we had a little showroom downstairs, oh cool,
(18:35):
let's do it. Yeah, So that was twenty nineteen, just
before COVID. Again, I had no idea how to run
a store, but I would just get on Google. Again,
this is before chat, GPT or anything, so I was
just googling this stuff. And I just remember googling, like,
what's a good point of sale system like to have
in Australia, you know, how to get shopping bags made?
Like I'm just googling everything. Yeah again, hired people I knew, family,
(18:59):
friends or what ever. And like I just worked in
the shop myself most of the time when we first opened,
and when I opened that store, I had no intentions
of ever opening another one. It's just been like this
natural snowball effect over the eight years of fate that
it's gotten us to where we are today. But it
all started from me just going, yeah, I'm going to
give this thing a go.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
And just like the one foot in front of the
next kind of makes it exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And the more that you do things that obviously scare
the crap out of you, Like I remember when I thought, Okay,
we're outgrowing my little double garage at home. I think
I need to get a commercial lease. Like Times of Money. Yeah,
it was I was looking around and the one that
we got it was like one hundred square meters, like
(19:43):
quite small, and I think the rent was like thirty
five thousand dollars a year. And I just remember thinking, well,
I've got my one employee and I'm having to pay
her a casual and then I'm going to have to
pay thirty five grand a year. What if we don't
make money or what if people just stopped buying from us?
You know, but you take that risk, even though it
scares the crap out of you. Then you move in.
(20:03):
You go, oh my god, like this is working. Then
you move on to the next step. And it's not
until you actually make those decisions and take those risks
that you'll soon realize great things can happen if you
just take that step.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Oh yeah, when you take a break here, I'm gonna
I'm gonna get over get over my head with questions.
Okay if I don't take a break now. So we're
gonna take a break here, and then I want to
talk about this feeling. Okay, of like, you know, when
the time is right, what were some of the mistakes
you made? What are some of the things Googled didn't
teach you? So stick around. We'll be right back. Speaking
(20:42):
of Google and speaking of like a very diy intuitive
gut kind of approach, what's something that you could never
have Googled that you learn in like the first two
years of building fate.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Everything everything business is just making mistakes constantly and learning
better for next time. You're never going to be perfect
at any of it, like you just always. It's like
a self improvement journey owning a business. But some things
in particular that Google couldn't have prepared before. One of
the main things would be probably the emotional journey of
(21:19):
going on a business, going on a business, starting a business,
you know what I mean. And also how much starting
a business isn't about you at all, because when we
start a business, it is kind of selfish, right because
you're like, I want to start this for me, because
I have worked in over twenty jobs and I hated
(21:39):
them all, and I want to start this for me.
But if you actually want to start a business and
you want to turn it into something, it's eventually going
to involve other people. And when you own a business
and you have staff, it's no longer about you anymore.
And looking at my business now, people would probably see
like our fate social media and my social media and
(21:59):
it probably just looks like the Britney Show because I'm
like the face of the brand and whatever. But in
my day to day life, when I'm at work from
Monday to Friday in the office, it is not about
me at all. It's about everyone else. And I think
that's something that Google couldn't have taught me. You learn
as you go from you know, people management, dealing with
people's wants, needs, emotions, their personal lives and things that
(22:21):
they bring into work from the outside. Just learning to
manage people. I didn't have one day of experience as
even a team leader in any of the jobs that
I had, so I think it's like the people an
emotional side of business that Google definitely couldn't have prepared
me for.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
What was like the most costly mistake that you made
in like the early days. Do you remember having a
moment where you were like, oh my god, we cannot
make that mistake again.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yes, I definitely have an answer for this, but at
the time it wasn't an expensive mistake. But if I
could do my time over again, I would have done
it differently, and that would be hiring the right people
at the beginning of my businesses. When we start a business,
especially when it's small, and it was just at home
for me at the beginning, and because I wasn't taking
(23:10):
it seriously, because I didn't have this big business plan,
it was easy for me back then to go, I'm
just going to hire all my friends, all my friends
friends and all my family friends, and I.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Do I've done this.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I feel like every business owner does.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
You want to help. It's just a thing of like
who do I trust the most.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Exactly right, And you think, oh, this is going to
be fun. Yeah, you know, because you're not serious about
your business. You just want it to be fine. I'll
work with my best friend and my cousin and this
and that an the other sides. And at the beginning
of any business, it's fine for it to be that way.
And you know, some businesses are family run or friends
together and it works. But for me personally, one of
(23:49):
the biggest discoveries for me probably for the first three years.
I always like to say that the first three years
of a business is like a trial, and then after
three years that's when it's into a real business. Okay, yeah,
but yeah, for the first three years of fate. It
was pretty unserious. It was a lot of fun. I
was best friends with everyone that I employed. We were
all hanging out outside of work and drinking on the
(24:12):
weekends and going to each other's house and all that
kind of stuff. And then as the business grew, I
realized I can't have this mix of personal friendships and
relationships in a business because the lines just.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Become everything becomes a personal Yes, insult every piece of feedback,
and you hesitate to say things that you really exactly
right as you care.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
About avoiding hard conversations was another big one of mine
in those early years, because yeah, we're naturally people pleasers.
We don't want to upset anyone. And then if we're
besties with someone that's also working for us and they
kind of do something wrong or they've slacked off, you
don't want to go, hey, like I just noticed that
you're dropping off in your work performance, because then you're
worried they're going, what are you talking about? Like, you know,
(24:57):
because you're friends. Yeah, And so I would say, looking back,
if I could do my journey all over again, I
wouldn't redo it at any point. But I guess if
I was starting today one of the biggest lessons that
I've learned in my business journey, and it's great advice
for any business owner out there. It doesn't matter how
far you are into your journey. Is it's cliche, but
(25:19):
people will either make or break your business. And if
you're serious about your business, which I wasn't at the start,
and not many people are because you just don't think
big picture. I would hire the right people that are
serious about my business and not take the easy route
of just hiring friends and family. But you know, I
have no regrets and it worked at the time. Yeah,
(25:41):
But on reflection now and looking where we are in
twenty twenty five, where I've just got a team full
of a players who are so serious about fate and
their careers and they want growth and progression, and I'm
watching them build careers right before my eyes. I'm like, oh,
I should have done this from the beginning, But I
don't think you can. I think you've got to go
through all the moss and again, like learn from your
(26:02):
mistakes so that you can do better in the future.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah. I like what you said. I think what you're
really saying is like, if you had the option or
if somebody listening to this has a fledgling business and
has the option take the option of hiring somebody you
don't know well, somebody who is coming in as an employee, full.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Stop, nothing else exactly right, and also hiring people that
are better than you. Yeah, that's another one again, like
all business owners, and I don't want anyone to think
that what I'm saying is wrong. But for the first
four years of Fate, I was so fine with hiring
people that had no experience at all and teaching them
everything that I knew, because I had taught myself how
(26:43):
to do every part of the business, from packing orders
to doing our email campaigns in canvar and building Shopify
and doing products and all this kind of stuff. So
for those first four years, I would always just hire
someone that was nice and friendly and that I got
along with. But another lesson for me, especially like in
the most recent years, is it sure it might cost
(27:04):
more to hire someone who comes with a wealth of experience,
And as a business owner, you know that can be
scary to have someone who's wanting a higher pay based
on their experience, but it's priceless to have someone come
in who knows their shit and knows what they can
do for the business, rather than bringing someone in and
sure you might not have to pay them as much
(27:25):
because they've got no experience, but then how much time
are you spending teaching that person everything and double checking everything.
So that's probably another one of mine is yet hiring
the right people and not being afraid to hire people
who are better than you at certain things so they
can come in and own their space, rather than you
being a helicopter boss trying to make sure you know,
the email looks right before it goes out and the
(27:47):
Instagram stories are all good, just all those little things.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You can just do it. Yeah, what does a typical
day in your life look like nowadays? And you kind
of gave us an insight, but you used to of
you know the history of brit It's like you used
to be really prominent social media and you were mainly
influencing and now you're running this business and like what
(28:09):
does that mean? You know when people always like, oh,
you run a business, what do you do on a
day to day? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Cliche, but no two days are the same. I gave
up influencing. I want to say, two or three years ago.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Did you make an announcement or were you just like.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
It was very gradual over the years. I went from
doing a sponsored post like every second day on Instagram
and I really narrowed it down and by the end,
I think I was only working with two brands that
I had ongoing partnerships with. They were Esme's skincare. Do
you know as Mesme. I don't know the proper way
to say it, E s M. I.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Oh, yeah, yea. You probably know it if you saw
I know when you said I, I was like, yes,
Australian brand, Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
And Canadian Club because I'd worked with them a heap
of time.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
That's not what I expected you to say.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, So at the end, they were the two brands
that I was left working with, and I'd given up
like all the hairstyling tool brands like I worked with
GHD for a really long time, all sorts of ones,
and I ended up only having the two partnerships. And
I sat on the idea for maybe a year or
two to also give those up because I had like
(29:14):
ongoing partnerships with them.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
And I went to my.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Accountant and I said, I think I would just want
to give up this all together because I was like
Britney Lee Saunders as a company, and then I had Fate.
And the great thing about being an influencer was I
didn't have to pay myself anything from Fate for the
first like four years of Fate.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
That was one of my questions.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, I didn't pay myself anything. I worked on Fate
and had my influencing on the side, and the influencing
was my personal money. And then all the money that
the business generated paid my staff and went back into
the business. And so yeah, it would have been two
to three, maybe three years ago now I decided I'm
going to give up the brand deals. I'd already given
(29:55):
up YouTube by that point. Yeah, just because I was
getting too busy running the business and I had to
prioritize and not spending my time making YouTube videos to
grow the business. And then yeah, I bit the bullet
and said I'm not doing any more brand deals. And
that was yeah, three years ago now, And I think
over those three years we've done like two that have
(30:15):
come our way that were like too good.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
To pass up kind of things you cared about.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, like maybe two years ago KFC said can you
please do something for Christmas in July? And they had
these funny, ugly sweaters. I was like, yeah, we'll do
that one because that's really fun. But I've just done
a couple over the last three ish years. But yeah,
fully gave it up, which just then allowed me number
one to start paying myself from Fate as an actual
employee and getting a pay slift and everything everything, which
(30:41):
was really exciting. And then it's just allowed me to
fully focus on Fate rather than worrying about, Oh, I've
got to get this post done for so and so brand,
what my day looks like today. I'm a very hands
on founder and CEO. I work heavily with our marketing
(31:02):
team for all things marketing at FATE, whether that's big
campaigns that we're doing, any of our customer brand trips
that we do, which has been awesome to do, like
off the back of like influence.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Explain what these are. The customer brand trips are pretty
iconic for you guys.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yes, we've done two now. We started it on our
seventh birthday last year to celebrate our seventh birthday. Every year,
our birthday comes around and the team will go to
be shit, it's our birthday in two weeks. Like, we
haven't organized anything. And last year, I think we thought
about our birthday like two months before, because you don't
think about your business's birthday. You got too much going on.
And it's in September, so it's like coming up to
(31:40):
the busy period. And I was like, well, why don't
we take seven customers on a brand trip, kind of
like how I used to go on all the brand
trips back in the day. But instead of taking influencers,
let's take customers and like treat them like influencers. And
so then that's where the idea of the Lucky Seven
came to be. And we did a big old giveaway
and seven ran customers won a trip with us, and
(32:03):
it was like such a hit and we got so
much content out of it, and they had the best
time and they all made such great friends. We were
with them for three days.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
How did you go?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We brought them to Newcastle. We were like, let's start
it at home.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, Newcastle is also a vibe.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yeah, and we've got like five star hotels now, so
we put them in.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I have a five star hotel and new we've got two, which.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
We never used to have, but new is really up
and coming. But yeah, they all got their own hotel
room and we decked out the bed with all the
goodies from all the different brands. It was like a
full influencer trip. And so that was such a success
that we've done it again just this year in September,
and we called it the Fate eight for our eighth birthday,
and last year was a Lucky seven and again just
to give away eight customers, we took them to Port Stevens.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
This time.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I don't know if you know where that is. We
got this big, beautiful house and it was more of
like a retreat vibe. So that's been really cool to
be able to do. But yeah, I work heavily with
our marketing team. I oversee our leadership team at Fate.
One jobs at would surprise people that I still do
in Fate and I don't know if I could ever
(33:04):
give it up. Is I do all of our stock
buying and ordering?
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Oh? Really?
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah? So every piece of clothing that comes into our
business is my responsibility to order, and all of our
store stock and buying for all the stores is me?
Speaker 1 (33:19):
No way. That's like one of the hardest jobs.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It's a big job. But I think because I've been
doing it since day one. I could do it with
my eyes closed. And because we've grown so gradually, it's
been easy for me to learn, like ordering my stace yeah,
and this store needs this and that store needs that. Yeah,
And I work with our operations manager on that. But
that's like one of my main tasks. I run out
ad accounts.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, so I love meta and Facebook ads. I do
a lot still, yeah, as the owner and founder. But
I'm definitely getting to the point in my business journey
where I am feeling like I need to kind of
step away and start being more of a founder rather
than getting caught up in what UGC creator hasn't sent
their content in you know what I mean. But I again,
(34:00):
it's something that all founders, if their business grows to
a certain size, they will find themselves in that situation
where you do get pulled into the day to day.
But I'm definitely learning as we're growing, I need to
focus on those big picture things rather than what did
that customer say in that email? You know, but to.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Ignore, yeah, at least you delete, at least well.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Put it in a say it went to them. Yeah,
but yeah, no, two days the same, And I'm still
very much involved with the whole business, from retail to
warehouse and everything in between. But I love it at
the end of the day. So I literally haven't worked
a day since I started Fate.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I like that. We're going to take one more break
and then I have three more questions for you, so
stay with us. So we're talking about you not replying
to emails.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Maybe that's my job I have given up is replying
to our customer s emails, which is being nice because
I feel like it gets to a point where it
feels so much more personal when it's your business. Like
let's say someone is emailing and they're upset with something,
and then if you're reading that, it's.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Like, fuck, anytime I get a bad review, it really
does it? Really?
Speaker 2 (35:16):
No, We've got people that reply to those, which is great.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
I don't I as a reply to them. But looking
towards the future, what are you planning next? Do you
think that you will launch another business? Yeah? Oh, like
god cool?
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I would love to What.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Do you think it would be? And if you have,
have you had an idea recently where you're like, I
don't know if you're like me, I have like a
list of my phone twenty million business ideas. Sometimes I
just give that I just randomly mentioned them to people
and like.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
You should make you do this.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, I don't know how to do that, but you
should do it. Yeah, you do something like that.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
There's so many things that I would love to do.
It's just a matter of getting around to doing it.
And also I've kind of stitched myself up because Fate's
quite a big company. It's huge, So yeah, I kind
of have got tied into fame.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
You're like you're stuffering from success. I love it.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
There's so much that I want to do. I have
my business podcast called Big Business, which I absolutely love doing.
I feel very drawn to helping others on their business journey,
just based off everything that I've learned. So I love
doing my episodes. I do two episodes a week on
that podcast, and I just love that. I love making
content around business, and I've noticed that people love when
(36:28):
I talk about business in like my tiktoks and reels
and stuff like that. Part of me wants to become
like a business coach or a mentor. Like maybe in
another life I'll do it, or I'll get around to it.
In this life. Got a lot more life to leave, Yeah,
and I think as well, Like I've been doing a
(36:50):
lot of keynote speeches lately. I just recently did a
ted X talk which was awesome, like really cool. That
was just a couple of weekends ago. So I doing
keynotes and talking in front of crowds, whether it's about
business or just being inspirational in general. I guess. So
I love that. I'd love to do like a tour
(37:12):
slash workshop thing of my own one day, but I'd
love to do anything and everything. I had this one
idea recently that I made a little video about a
lot of people have said to me over the years
that well, you've had it easy, and it's you've been
lucky because you had an audience online, so like, of
course you've been able to do what you've done, And
(37:33):
I'm like, kind of at the start, yeah, sure, but
it takes something completely different to actually grow and scale
a business into the size that fate is. Any influencer
can launch a product, but like not everyone can keep
it going and then grow it.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
And sorry to say this, a product versus how many
products do you have right now? Like so many you
would have at least we're in every chategtry and fifty
items for say, probably more.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah, and we've got you know, five stores seventy, so
like it's grown into something bigger than me just being
an influencer and being lucky. But off the back of
people saying those comments to me, like, oh, it's easy
for you because you were an influencer back in the day,
I would almost love to start a faceless business.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Interesting and do that? Do it? And I think about
this is crazy, Like do like an anonymous business, yes,
and never.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Try yeah, never tell anyone, and try to make it
super popular or even medium size, and then come out
and be like this was me and none of you knew,
just to show that I have what it takes on
the other side of being the face of a brand.
And I'm gonna give away my other idea here. I'd
love to make Fates competitor.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
That's crazy that you are so like in the game
that you're like, I want to be my own competition now.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yeah, and start like another clothing brand and with standard sizes. Yeah,
do it all and like different to Fate. And you know,
I obviously wouldn't use myself or my face, but instead
we'd have to It's an investment. You'd be working with models, creators, influencers, UGC,
paid ads, and paid media, and I'd love like it
(39:15):
would take it would take years, but I'd love to
build like Fate's competitor and everyone becomes obsessed with this
other new clothing brand that's got all these sizes and.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Everything and can more experimental.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah, and then it's just me at the end of
the day, and then I'm like, surprise it with me,
and then I merge them together, Kate and Fate. So
that's an idea of mine. But I'm open to anything,
and I definitely think I will start other businesses in
my lifetime. I still feel like I'm just getting started
with Fate, So there's a lot of exciting things to
(39:48):
explore with Fate. I never thought that we would get
to where we are today. You're like my kid. You know,
I couldn't see past that garage when I first started.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Which I think that's like the coolest part of your
story and for people being like, oh, you know what,
you a platform. You also dropped out of school at
sixteen years old, Like, yeah, you didn't. You didn't have
a do you get a high school dippoment when you
got job out of the year ten.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
No, yeah, oh no, I think I got my utense
certificate tenserificate. Yeah I got that. Yeah, like nothing.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, but that's like being like turning to someone and
being like, well you had a university degree, so like
that's how you start your business. Or everyone has a
one up, or like your parents they had a cafe,
So like everybody has some kind of advantage. Yes, everybody
has good luck, some kind of good luck.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
The YouTube subscriber is sure that was an advantage for me,
but also I got that YouTube channel for years. I
built that community for years, and you know, I could
have launched fate and it could have been good for
a year and then it could have flopped. But it's
been like the hard work and determination over those eight
years and the persistence. You know, I worked seven days
a week, but I love it so I never feel
(40:52):
like I'm working. But it's that that's gotten to me
where like to where I am. Sure the subscribers helped
at the start, because I had people placing orders from
day one, but scaling is a whole other.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
All of a ball game. Yeah, I can only imagine. Yeah,
I have one final question for you, Yes, and this
is the question that we ask everybody who comes on
the podcast.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
I could see here for hours, by the way.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I know, I honestly you know we've been have to
get me back for part I kind of want to.
There's so many questions that I want to ask, and
and like what was it like to fire your first person?
Like what was it?
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Blah blah blah, like so warning letter?
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, what has already will copy you like all that stuff.
But I have one final question, which is the question
of the podcast. What is one piece of advice you
have for people in their twenties or perhaps your younger
self that has nothing to do with what we talked
about today, completely.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Separate, has nothing to do with anything. I know.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
You can't can't talk about business, can't talk we can,
but never know, like try and if it's about love,
if it's about friendship, and it's about.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
I've got it saying that I absolutely love, But I
don't know you can tell me if this ties into
what we've been talking about. It kind of does, but
it can apply to any aspect and element of your life.
And the saying is do it scared? Can I say? That?
Is my answer?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Okay, scared?
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Do it scared? I think the number one thing that
holds people back from doing anything in life. And this
doesn't mean just starting a business. It could be saying
hello to the guy that you keep seeing at the
coffee shop but you're too scared. Or it could be
asking your boss for a raise or a promotion. It
could be speaking up in a team meeting where you'd
normally stay quiet because you're worried that you know people
(42:30):
might judge you. It could be anything. It could be
telling a friend of yours that they've been upsetting you
lately by things they've been saying, but you don't say
anything because you're too scared. I just love the saying
do it scared because it's very easy for us to say,
oh no, I won't do that, like I'm too scared.
We use that as an excuse to not do whatever
the thing is. But I think it's a good mindfulness
(42:53):
thought to think I can still do the thing even
with the scared feeling. Being scared shouldn't be someone's reason
to not do something. You can just do it and
still feel scared at the same time. Yeah, and you
trust me, you'll feel a million bucks after you do it,
no matter what it is.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
I love that saying I do it scared. I think
it's honestly a beautiful representation for this episode. Okay, I
said I had noble questions, but what final questions? I
have to ask this question just because it's keme to
my mind. Yeah, what is like the favorite thing that
you guys are selling right now? What's your favorite product
that you guys have at face?
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Ooh? I would say our Downtown pants, which don't look
at mine today because I've gotten so dirty today because.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
The year's a day.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah, I've got like sandwich and something else in black
stuff from Australia Post for me. But I would say
it's our Downtown pants. They are a they're kind of
made of like a blazer material and they're like your
stock standard, like dressy kind of corporate pant. We have
been making our Downtown pants for maybe I want to
(43:54):
say three years now, or maybe three to four years,
and they've only gained popularity in the last twelve months,
so it's like a style that people have finally realized,
like these are the best pants ever. We've done them
in like eighteen different colors and they've got like a
little elastic on the back, so they're really comfortable, and
they're just like a pair of pants that you can
(44:14):
like wear to work to the office, but then also
like fully dress them up with some heels and wear
them out at night. So I'd say it's probably our
downtown pants, but our best selling category is denim.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Yeah, I will say this is this is what you
guys known for. Yes, your genes. Yes, the jeans are
I keep saying iconic.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Yeah, We've got a whole new denim range coming out
in twenty twenty six, which I'm really excited about it.
I thought our jeenes were already really good because we
sell so many of them and they have the best
reviews ever. But it's about to come scout in a
whole new level.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
You know what. I also say this, this is something
that's completely like Levi's need some competition. Well, I don't
like Levi's jeans, and I don't know why, I just
have to say it.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
There's actually like a massive gap in the market for
good denim because when you think of a brand in
Australia that is known for their jeans, who is.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
It, like probably Levi's or like just jeans. Yeah, but
it's like they do this is like just such a
personal vendetta I have against sleeves jeans like, I've.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Never worn a pair of Levi's great.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Don't like they only like they just don't fit.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Like the new jeans when they come out.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
I think I might just order some. I already own
a pair of your jeans. I actually own tube pairs
of your jeans. I own like your classic like straight
liked ones.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Billy jeans.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yeah, I think that's what they're called. They're great. I
think they're.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
They're about to get a whole lot better. There's a
new version of billy coming out. We've done like a
whole new range. Yeah, we've done a whole new range
inspired by our current jeans, but they're just leveled up.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Is this coming from fate? Okay? Imagine if you, dude,
maybe you should just launch a whole denim company.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Don't because that was my idea.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Really Yeah, dang.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
I've even got a date for it. I've got a
name for it that we won't say.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
No, don't say it because if somebody does their idea
better than you, though, you know.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Yeah, and you know, I think there's a there's room
for everyone in business. So no, I want to create
Fate's competitor as a social experiment. But every brand can
exist together and there's enough customers out there for everyone.
And also I would love to see in twenty twenty
six and beyond more businesses coming together and collaborating, Like
I would love to collaborate with a competitor about I'm
(46:23):
saying like competitor in quotes because like, imagine if there's
two women's fashion brands that come together and come out
with a collection together, bringing both audiences together to go, well,
now we love both of these brands.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Like back and Bridge and Fake the label. Yeah, it's
like a cool like I would sanitize like Formal Rangers.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
I would love to collaborate with another brand that would
be considered our competitor. Like I'm friends with you know,
women that own fashion labels, and like I don't see
them as competitors. I'm like, we can learn from each
other and vent to each other when we're stressed about something,
like we can all exist together, like we can all win.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
And it's honestly the best feel. That's when you have
your competition becomes to your community. What people want to
be you to have this competition, but come to your
community absolutely. That is a very positive message to finish
and actually finish this episode.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
You sure you don't have one more question? Oh?
Speaker 1 (47:12):
I have like several more, but we just don't have time.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Let us know. Should I come back for part two?
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I love to drop a comment below if you want
Britt to come back for a part two? Where can
they find you? I'll leave a link to fate dot
com yam below, But where else would you like them
to find you?
Speaker 2 (47:27):
On socials? You can just find me Britney Saunders. I've
got two podcasts. One is called Big Business and the
other one is High Scrollers with my bestie Matt, which
is just like an absolute piss take and it's really funny.
It's really nice to have that like funny creative outlet.
And then we have five stores in Australia. We've got
three New South Wales which are in Newcastle where I'm from,
(47:48):
Paramatta and Westfield Miranda in Sydney. We've got one in
Brisbane which is in Westfield Term Site, and then down
in Melbourne we have a boutique in Hawthorne and that's
about it. You can find me on TikTok and all
the other stuff. Find her everywhere, read my book, just
do whatever.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
This woman is busy, you can find her.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Yeah, you can find me.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Well, thank you again for coming on. As always, if
you guys enjoyed this episode, leave a five star review.
If you feel cool to do so, make sure that
you're subscribed or following us wherever you are listening to
the podcast, and follow us on Instagram at that Psychology Podcast.
We've been doing these really cool announcements for each of
our guests, and as we kind of come to the
end of guest month, we've got some cool ones lined up.
(48:29):
But until next time, stay safe, be kind, be gentle
to yourself, and we will talk very very soon.
Host
Jemma Sbeghen
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com