August 31, 2025 • 21 mins
Join Naomi Simson in conversation with Adriana Brusi, Managing Director of CrowdsNow, as they dive deep into the real challenges of startup life. From the three critical mistakes that derail new businesses to why authentic relationships trump expensive marketing campaigns, this episode reveals the uncomfortable truths about building a business that lasts. Discover why your customers should be your best ambassadors and how to create genuine connections in an increasingly digital world.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Apoche Production.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello, I'm Naomi Simpson and Handpicked Season five is here,
and the entrepreneurs this time are not going easy on me.
Those questions just keep coming, whether it's about building a
brand in a taboo subject or what about sales, Oh yeah, sales, sales, sales.
We're all trying to find more customers. And what about
(00:34):
changing customer demands or balancing high tech with high touch.
These entrepreneurs and business owners are really really asking the
questions that will help every business owner and their team
just get more ideas on how to cope with everything
they're tackling in the day. Now, new episodes drop every Monday,
(00:57):
and remember to subscribe so that here the next Lotus episode. Anyway,
join me on Handpicked on Mondays. Hello, I'm Naomi Simpson
and this is hand Picked the podcast. I'm really pleased
to have Adriana Brossi with us today. She's been on
quite a journey until she ended up here with me today.
(01:21):
But maybe you'll give us a little background before we
get started into those hard questions.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Thanks so much, Naomi for having me so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Currently, I am the managing director of a company called
crowds Now, which is based on the premise of everyday
people elevating and amplifying businesses. So it allows every day
people to earn an income without needing an additional skill set,
essentially becoming ambassadors for all brands and really allowing communities
(01:53):
to thrive by elevating and amplifying their businesses.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
A little bit of a disruptor if you like. For
the influencer arena.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Okay, So it differs from the influencer. How does it.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Differ from that, because my whole precedence and sentiment is
influencers are not necessarily your avatar for your brand. So
you might have someone that you're paying as an influencer,
but they're not your demographic. And my sentiment is attention
is not necessarily intention that converts. I like to window
(02:24):
shop and look at lots of things, but that does
not necessarily mean I'm going to buy from that brand
for a number of different reasons. And we talk a
lot about let's say, the lack of customer service that
is happening I will say globally, but let's talk about
let's say in Australia currently, and if you are not
nurturing your current market segment and your current customers just
(02:46):
by way of example, who are your active billboard if
you like you know that word of mouth. If they're
not your raving fans, what makes you think that you're
going to be able to look after any new potential
clients that comes in. So if they're not doing the
work for you, if they're not already going out up
and saying how great that new lipstick is, and they're
(03:07):
not creating social safety for your brand, then you're really
throwing away money on marketing because you're trying to leverage
use money to create attention for your brand.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And really what you need to build is trust.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Trust is everything when it comes to reputation. And you
came to this, how long have you been in business?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So I've been. I had my own first business when
I was sixteen.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
So so I was born and raised in Hong Kong.
So I started in the events industry and I was
working for everything from corporate. So I still have that business.
I've had that for eighteen years now. Obviously changed a
little bit along the way, and then from that was
focusing on CRMs, ERPs, LMSs and really what that conversion
(04:00):
point was from whether it was bricks and water in
person and obviously as the digital or came and really
wanted to you know, they say it takes ten thousand
hours to become a guru at anything, so it was
really focusing on that. Remit COVID changed everything. It was
literally like ripping out everything from underneath. And as I
had to pivot to look at different things. I'm a
(04:22):
single one, I have two young girls. As I was
pivoting and rebuilding, I wanted to take what I had
done so successfully for me and look at how I
could project that out. And it was the sentiment of
together we rise, And it was how can I, especially
in a world where the new generation that's coming up
(04:43):
is about doing as little as they can, And it
was how can I harness what the environment and ecosystem
that they're in to utilize the fact that they don't
seem to want to do too much and still work.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
With that and elevate and amplify businesses.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And that was how it was like, let's see how
we can help businesses be carried by the crowd, and
that was how crowds now was born.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Got it So there was a few acronyms in there,
but let's just talk. I'll just to clarify those they're
all marketing tools and customer relationship management. And there was
a bunch of others that you call, you spoke about,
and I guess that's the point. Marketing used to be
about the big idea and placing an ad maybe in
(05:29):
the Yellow Pages or in the media, whereas.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Now it's really very sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
All the tools that we have available to us as
marketers are they changing, they're evolving, but the more accurate
that we can make them in terms of what we
would say look alike audiences is understanding who buys our
product and finding more people like it. It's not all
things to all people. But Adronda, let's get stuck into
those questions.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
What have you got for me?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yes, absolutely, I do.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I've actually very much been looking forward to this, namely
because I think not everyone's necessarily familiar with your backstory
and Red Balloon, and I think what it really took
to get those vendors signed up and customers to engage,
and I don't think it was necessarily so different to
when you started to now, even though we're in this
(06:19):
digital arena and I think we live in a time
where people are disappointed from the results they don't get
from the work they didn't do. And you've never taken
an investor and you built this business from the ground
up that was thriving.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
So I would love to know what other three mistakes
that you continue to see startups do or small businesses
in their first year.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Oh, it is.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Hard to generalize because everybody's different, but I think a
few things that I've seen is what is is this
journey right for you? And especially if somebody has a
great job corporate career and then they say, now.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I'm going to start a business.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
And I have met many a person who has left
investment banking or a very secure, well paid job and
decided to start a cupcake business, for instance, and because
they think it's a wave and it's an opportunity, or
they might have wanted to turn their hobby into a business.
So being a founder or a business owner is not
(07:28):
necessarily for everyone. So first of all, understanding as a
human being, what makes you thrive? Like where does your
energy come from?
Speaker 5 (07:40):
And I was.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Literally talking to my husband about this over the weekend
because obviously you know Big Red Group, which has Red
balloon in it is much bigger than it once was,
and I said, I really miss the talking to customers,
just hearing how they're using a red balloon voucher, because
that used to drive me the energy. Like I loved
(08:02):
that moment of connection, like loved it, and that's what
gave me energy. What I didn't particularly like was a
lot of the stress that comes with either leading and
managing people, you know, business planning and so forth. I'm
an ideas girl, so I had to understand my strengths
and my passion. And that's why I have business partner
who I'm the ying and here's the yang. We have
(08:23):
very different skill sets and understanding that. So I guess
the first thing is you've got to know yourself. Can
you live without an income? Secondly, is it a passion
or is it a business? And working out whether people
will pay for whatever your idea is, so even before
(08:46):
you really started is understanding the minimum viable product.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
I remember we had a.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Pitch on Shark Tank and these people came in and
they had a really fabulous drink of some sort of
product and they were looking for investment. And I said,
but people like it, and they said, yeah, friends and
family they love it, and I go, yeah, but if
friends and family are always going to say that you're
very clever and it's fantastic. And I said, before you
start asking for investment, go to a market. Just start
(09:16):
getting subscriptions of people who want to get this delivered
to their house to start small.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And the third thing is people often.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Think I can't tell anybody my idea beforehand because they'll
steal the idea. I had so many people coming to
me and going, oh, I was going to start a
business like Repallon, but you did it. I wish I
had a dollar for every time somebody said that to me.
But really you've got to test your concepts. You've got
to be able to be to tested and making sure
(09:46):
that people would be prepared to pay for it, because
you can't ask somebody else to put their money in
without those proof points.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
And I'd say the third thing is how many people?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So you can have a really fabulous boutique business, really
amazing and do great things. But as you scale, finding customers,
which you know absolutely becomes harder and harder and harder.
So being able to size the market I think is important.
So the first thing is am I meant to be
an entrepreneur? Second thing is do customers will customers spend
(10:20):
there really harder and cash on my product? And thirdly,
is are there a lot of people like that that
are easily accessible and that I can find. You mentioned
that we've never take an investment at Rebuluon or Big
Red Group. I think if we go offshore that might
have to change, as we have a much bigger aspiration.
But one of the things was it was also about
(10:42):
if you're not prepared to put your own money and
back yourself, how are you going to really get somebody
else to back you. You've really got to have some
skin in the game. And I know private equity particularly
they like the leaders and executives in their businesses to
have skin in the game.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
It's really important.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, one hundred percent, and Desert going to take a
couple of branches off. And just for the couple of
questions I have from the things you shared, one of
the things you mentioned early on was around people and
managing of people. And I know correct me if I'm wrong.
I think in the first ten years of your business,
I think you expanded to nearly fifty employees, and managing
(11:22):
people is no easy task. You know, whether you're in
an organization, you're generally managing people. You're growing a business
and that expansion as you you know, move and growing
company culture from the inside out is often completely underestimated,
and I feel like one of the things that can
almost intrinsically unwind a company is toxic culture.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
So what are some of the things that.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
You learned as you were growing Red Balloon that ensured
you had a great team and culture. And I'll almost
juxtapose that if you're open to sharing with what were
some of the biggest mistakes that you felt were made
within the organization as you scale that you're open to
(12:08):
in parting with us.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's such a great question and a big question. I
guess one thing is to also understand why would anybody
want to work with me?
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Like, why would anybody want to work at Reballoon.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Sure we've got a really fabulous and interesting product, but
we know that you don't get to do.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
It all the time, like you know, we do actually
do some work there.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So the first thing is that people have to believe,
they have to want to be a part of something
bigger than themselves. They have to feel that their contribution
is worthwhile and that it's seen.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
And that comes back to how you.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Talk about purpose over and over and over again, and
you connect the dots for people on you know, like
so rebellion was changing gifting in Australia forever, Well what
does that mean? That means that people get to do
things with the people they love, you know, that they
get to have out with them, and you tell the
(13:07):
stories because it's the stories that allow people to connect,
So they have to believe first of all. Secondly, I
would say fundamentally, people talk about values all the time,
but the feedback that I've always had is just do
what you say you're going to do. It was always
our first value at read Balloon during all of that
(13:28):
time that I was the CEO, because that meant you.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Could count on people.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And finding suppliers in the early days was really difficult
because they've never heard of us, they didn't know what
we stood for, they didn't believe us. And so making
sure that I looked after the detail. If I said
I was going to send a document, send the document.
If I said I was going to provide them with images,
provide them with images. So building the trust that people
(13:57):
can count on you, whether that's your employees, your stakeholders,
it speaks volumes for trust and you're brand. And if
we only had one value, it would be just do
what you say you're going to do, and if you
can't get it done, let people know that you can't
get it done. And in that core, then people will
(14:17):
want to give their toil. They have a choice about
where they work and quite frankly, it's difficult in small
business to compete against the big guys, the globals and
the massive Australian corporations who have all sorts of benefits.
But if somebody is only working for us because of
the money, they're in the wrong place. Sure they will
(14:40):
be fairly compensated. But we want people to feel that
their work made a difference. And to me, that's at
the core of any culture. It's not about whether you
buy easily bars or have a pool table. It's about
I get to hang out with people who deeply care
about our community and we're doing good work. And that's
(15:02):
the number one thing for driving culture. The other thing
is if you do get somebody in who's cynical, they're
not getting on with the program, you've got to get
them out sooner rather than later. Because cynicism, particularly or
that didn't work or I've tried it before, or honestly
they are away with the pixies.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
It's not helpful.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
And it's not to say I don't want challenge. I
think we all need to have different voices in the conversation.
But if somebody is just by nature negative and cynical,
they don't belong in your organization.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
You've got to set them free to go and work
for your competition.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
It's interesting.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I was having a conversation the other day with someone
else about actually how important it is even more in
a society where we can have whatever we want without
any social connection right just at a swipe left and
a swipe right, and we can up the grocery is delivered,
and there's the dating apps, and there's medical teleheal and
does just we're lacking all of that. So that connection
(16:02):
and that being seen and being valued.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
If the more that you create.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
That in any arena, I think, the more you actually harness,
whether it's internally in an organization or those connectivities with
relationships with vendors, with customers, and it's that role on effect.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Yeah, you're quite right. I've been writing this a lot
in my blog.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Naomi Simpson dot com about AI is for tasks. Relationships
are for people, and we still want to do business
with people.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And as humans, we.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thrive in community, we thrive in family, we thrive in
time workplaces. So you know, yes, sometimes I think I'm
far more productive if I don't go to the office,
But then I don't know which conversations I don't get
to have, so and you don't know who you're going
to inspire or you don't know what.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
You're going to learn. So yeah, AI and all of
these tools.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Are great for tasks, but let's not forget the human
nature of business. Now.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
You've got one last quick question.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
For I do, and it's around marketing, which is you know,
I couldn't be missing that because I think it's obviously
extremely important.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And I think going back to.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
That conversation where startups and sms think that they need
marketing to buy attention, what we were referencing is what
they actually need to do is to buy trust. And
what I love about your founder's story is that it
was your incredible relationships that you forged over years building
(17:36):
with your initial vendors that and it was a trust
that you had built with them, which was a huge
contributing factor that led to everything that was from that
ground up. And I think people believe that if they
just throw money at management fees and third party entities,
that it will just build their brand and they can
(17:57):
just sit back and these leads and traffic will come
in and all of a sudden, the magic will happen
and the conversions will happen, and they completely lost sight
of the social safety and the actual connection that you
were just referencing. So what advice would you extend to
people who are starting their businesses on a shoe string
(18:17):
budget and are under the impression that they need tens
of thousands of dollars to spend on marketing to get traction,
especially in a very now digitally driven arena where everyone's
fighting to get visibility.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
We used to say we've got one hundred advertising images
a day. Now we're up to hundreds of thousands of interactions.
So fighting for airtime is really very difficult. And it
comes back to the value proposition. Why are you different?
Why are you special? And if you really articulate the
story very well, other people will tell your story for you.
(18:55):
I think it's Airbnb who've only just started doing any advertising.
They never really advertised. They definitely don't spend any money
with Google. They were just two stunts. They were, you know,
build the Barbie house or you know, Robinson Crusoe house
and get.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
That PR going.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So PR can be a really interesting tool or publicity. However,
it has to be newsworthy, and sometimes people kind of
just go, oh, I've got a new business, so like, you.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Know, why is it different? Why is it special? Watching
unique proposition? What's his name?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Seth Gordin wrote a book one hundred years ago called
Purple Cow, and now I've literally seen a dumpster business
in Sydney that's called Purple Cow. And they go, oh,
they've clearly read the book. But it's how do you
stand out and how do you be different? I guess
one of the things with the naming of Red Balloon,
people sometimes say to me, why did you call.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
It Red Balloon? It's because it's memorable.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So Red Balloon was a nineteen fifty six movie and
was also a book and it won an Oscar Award,
And it's about a little boy whose best friend is
Red Balloon. So he goes off on all these adventures
and so forth with this read balloon, and I always
thought it's a symbol of happiness, enjoy and anybody could
(20:07):
see any red balloon and they'd be reminded of what
they were given or what they gave. So what I
would say to any startup is how are you going
to be memorable? So be really careful about the language
you use and the words that you use, so you know,
if you're making up a word to name your business,
how are you re enforcing that. The other thing is,
(20:32):
and I've probably said this before on this podcast, is
you don't have to go to line who's already talking
to that audience that you could partner with and to
find partnerships that.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Give your brand authority.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
There is so much that I could say about marketing,
but I have seen a lot of businesses spend a
lot of money on billboards. Nothing against the out of
home guys, they do a terrific job. But unless you've
got the follow through of the customer experience, you can
spend a lot of money on building a name without
(21:05):
the consistency of all the different touch points. You've got
to work on all of the customer touch points, not
just the first touch points. It says, we're really great.
You've got to actually drive it through the whole business.
I could keep talking to you forever. I'm very curious
about how your business works.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
I'm going to find out more. But Adriana, thank you
so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you've gotten
value from it and to our fabulous listeners that they've
also learned a little bit more about how they can
grow their business with all sorts of marketing techniques.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Thank you for coming on the show.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Thanks Naomi
Apoche Production.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello, I'm Naomi Simpson and Handpicked Season five is here,
and the entrepreneurs this time are not going easy on me.
Those questions just keep coming, whether it's about building a
brand in a taboo subject or what about sales, Oh yeah, sales, sales, sales.
We're all trying to find more customers. And what about
(00:34):
changing customer demands or balancing high tech with high touch.
These entrepreneurs and business owners are really really asking the
questions that will help every business owner and their team
just get more ideas on how to cope with everything
they're tackling in the day. Now, new episodes drop every Monday,
(00:57):
and remember to subscribe so that here the next Lotus episode. Anyway,
join me on Handpicked on Mondays. Hello, I'm Naomi Simpson
and this is hand Picked the podcast. I'm really pleased
to have Adriana Brossi with us today. She's been on
quite a journey until she ended up here with me today.
(01:21):
But maybe you'll give us a little background before we
get started into those hard questions.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Thanks so much, Naomi for having me so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Currently, I am the managing director of a company called
crowds Now, which is based on the premise of everyday
people elevating and amplifying businesses. So it allows every day
people to earn an income without needing an additional skill set,
essentially becoming ambassadors for all brands and really allowing communities
(01:53):
to thrive by elevating and amplifying their businesses.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
A little bit of a disruptor if you like. For
the influencer arena.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Okay, So it differs from the influencer. How does it.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Differ from that, because my whole precedence and sentiment is
influencers are not necessarily your avatar for your brand. So
you might have someone that you're paying as an influencer,
but they're not your demographic. And my sentiment is attention
is not necessarily intention that converts. I like to window
(02:24):
shop and look at lots of things, but that does
not necessarily mean I'm going to buy from that brand
for a number of different reasons. And we talk a
lot about let's say, the lack of customer service that
is happening I will say globally, but let's talk about
let's say in Australia currently, and if you are not
nurturing your current market segment and your current customers just
(02:46):
by way of example, who are your active billboard if
you like you know that word of mouth. If they're
not your raving fans, what makes you think that you're
going to be able to look after any new potential
clients that comes in. So if they're not doing the
work for you, if they're not already going out up
and saying how great that new lipstick is, and they're
(03:07):
not creating social safety for your brand, then you're really
throwing away money on marketing because you're trying to leverage
use money to create attention for your brand.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And really what you need to build is trust.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Trust is everything when it comes to reputation. And you
came to this, how long have you been in business?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So I've been. I had my own first business when
I was sixteen.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
So so I was born and raised in Hong Kong.
So I started in the events industry and I was
working for everything from corporate. So I still have that business.
I've had that for eighteen years now. Obviously changed a
little bit along the way, and then from that was
focusing on CRMs, ERPs, LMSs and really what that conversion
(04:00):
point was from whether it was bricks and water in
person and obviously as the digital or came and really
wanted to you know, they say it takes ten thousand
hours to become a guru at anything, so it was
really focusing on that. Remit COVID changed everything. It was
literally like ripping out everything from underneath. And as I
had to pivot to look at different things. I'm a
(04:22):
single one, I have two young girls. As I was
pivoting and rebuilding, I wanted to take what I had
done so successfully for me and look at how I
could project that out. And it was the sentiment of
together we rise, And it was how can I, especially
in a world where the new generation that's coming up
(04:43):
is about doing as little as they can, And it
was how can I harness what the environment and ecosystem
that they're in to utilize the fact that they don't
seem to want to do too much and still work.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
With that and elevate and amplify businesses.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And that was how it was like, let's see how
we can help businesses be carried by the crowd, and
that was how crowds now was born.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Got it So there was a few acronyms in there,
but let's just talk. I'll just to clarify those they're
all marketing tools and customer relationship management. And there was
a bunch of others that you call, you spoke about,
and I guess that's the point. Marketing used to be
about the big idea and placing an ad maybe in
(05:29):
the Yellow Pages or in the media, whereas.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Now it's really very sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
All the tools that we have available to us as
marketers are they changing, they're evolving, but the more accurate
that we can make them in terms of what we
would say look alike audiences is understanding who buys our
product and finding more people like it. It's not all
things to all people. But Adronda, let's get stuck into
those questions.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
What have you got for me?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yes, absolutely, I do.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I've actually very much been looking forward to this, namely
because I think not everyone's necessarily familiar with your backstory
and Red Balloon, and I think what it really took
to get those vendors signed up and customers to engage,
and I don't think it was necessarily so different to
when you started to now, even though we're in this
(06:19):
digital arena and I think we live in a time
where people are disappointed from the results they don't get
from the work they didn't do. And you've never taken
an investor and you built this business from the ground
up that was thriving.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
So I would love to know what other three mistakes
that you continue to see startups do or small businesses
in their first year.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Oh, it is.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Hard to generalize because everybody's different, but I think a
few things that I've seen is what is is this
journey right for you? And especially if somebody has a
great job corporate career and then they say, now.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I'm going to start a business.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
And I have met many a person who has left
investment banking or a very secure, well paid job and
decided to start a cupcake business, for instance, and because
they think it's a wave and it's an opportunity, or
they might have wanted to turn their hobby into a business.
So being a founder or a business owner is not
(07:28):
necessarily for everyone. So first of all, understanding as a
human being, what makes you thrive? Like where does your
energy come from?
Speaker 5 (07:40):
And I was.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Literally talking to my husband about this over the weekend
because obviously you know Big Red Group, which has Red
balloon in it is much bigger than it once was,
and I said, I really miss the talking to customers,
just hearing how they're using a red balloon voucher, because
that used to drive me the energy. Like I loved
(08:02):
that moment of connection, like loved it, and that's what
gave me energy. What I didn't particularly like was a
lot of the stress that comes with either leading and
managing people, you know, business planning and so forth. I'm
an ideas girl, so I had to understand my strengths
and my passion. And that's why I have business partner
who I'm the ying and here's the yang. We have
(08:23):
very different skill sets and understanding that. So I guess
the first thing is you've got to know yourself. Can
you live without an income? Secondly, is it a passion
or is it a business? And working out whether people
will pay for whatever your idea is, so even before
(08:46):
you really started is understanding the minimum viable product.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
I remember we had a.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Pitch on Shark Tank and these people came in and
they had a really fabulous drink of some sort of
product and they were looking for investment. And I said,
but people like it, and they said, yeah, friends and
family they love it, and I go, yeah, but if
friends and family are always going to say that you're
very clever and it's fantastic. And I said, before you
start asking for investment, go to a market. Just start
(09:16):
getting subscriptions of people who want to get this delivered
to their house to start small.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And the third thing is people often.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Think I can't tell anybody my idea beforehand because they'll
steal the idea. I had so many people coming to
me and going, oh, I was going to start a
business like Repallon, but you did it. I wish I
had a dollar for every time somebody said that to me.
But really you've got to test your concepts. You've got
to be able to be to tested and making sure
(09:46):
that people would be prepared to pay for it, because
you can't ask somebody else to put their money in
without those proof points.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
And I'd say the third thing is how many people?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So you can have a really fabulous boutique business, really
amazing and do great things. But as you scale, finding customers,
which you know absolutely becomes harder and harder and harder.
So being able to size the market I think is important.
So the first thing is am I meant to be
an entrepreneur? Second thing is do customers will customers spend
(10:20):
there really harder and cash on my product? And thirdly,
is are there a lot of people like that that
are easily accessible and that I can find. You mentioned
that we've never take an investment at Rebuluon or Big
Red Group. I think if we go offshore that might
have to change, as we have a much bigger aspiration.
But one of the things was it was also about
(10:42):
if you're not prepared to put your own money and
back yourself, how are you going to really get somebody
else to back you. You've really got to have some
skin in the game. And I know private equity particularly
they like the leaders and executives in their businesses to
have skin in the game.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
It's really important.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, one hundred percent, and Desert going to take a
couple of branches off. And just for the couple of
questions I have from the things you shared, one of
the things you mentioned early on was around people and
managing of people. And I know correct me if I'm wrong.
I think in the first ten years of your business,
I think you expanded to nearly fifty employees, and managing
(11:22):
people is no easy task. You know, whether you're in
an organization, you're generally managing people. You're growing a business
and that expansion as you you know, move and growing
company culture from the inside out is often completely underestimated,
and I feel like one of the things that can
almost intrinsically unwind a company is toxic culture.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
So what are some of the things that.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
You learned as you were growing Red Balloon that ensured
you had a great team and culture. And I'll almost
juxtapose that if you're open to sharing with what were
some of the biggest mistakes that you felt were made
within the organization as you scale that you're open to
(12:08):
in parting with us.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's such a great question and a big question. I
guess one thing is to also understand why would anybody
want to work with me?
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Like, why would anybody want to work at Reballoon.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Sure we've got a really fabulous and interesting product, but
we know that you don't get to do.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
It all the time, like you know, we do actually
do some work there.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So the first thing is that people have to believe,
they have to want to be a part of something
bigger than themselves. They have to feel that their contribution
is worthwhile and that it's seen.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
And that comes back to how you.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Talk about purpose over and over and over again, and
you connect the dots for people on you know, like
so rebellion was changing gifting in Australia forever, Well what
does that mean? That means that people get to do
things with the people they love, you know, that they
get to have out with them, and you tell the
(13:07):
stories because it's the stories that allow people to connect,
So they have to believe first of all. Secondly, I
would say fundamentally, people talk about values all the time,
but the feedback that I've always had is just do
what you say you're going to do. It was always
our first value at read Balloon during all of that
(13:28):
time that I was the CEO, because that meant you.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Could count on people.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And finding suppliers in the early days was really difficult
because they've never heard of us, they didn't know what
we stood for, they didn't believe us. And so making
sure that I looked after the detail. If I said
I was going to send a document, send the document.
If I said I was going to provide them with images,
provide them with images. So building the trust that people
(13:57):
can count on you, whether that's your employees, your stakeholders,
it speaks volumes for trust and you're brand. And if
we only had one value, it would be just do
what you say you're going to do, and if you
can't get it done, let people know that you can't
get it done. And in that core, then people will
(14:17):
want to give their toil. They have a choice about
where they work and quite frankly, it's difficult in small
business to compete against the big guys, the globals and
the massive Australian corporations who have all sorts of benefits.
But if somebody is only working for us because of
the money, they're in the wrong place. Sure they will
(14:40):
be fairly compensated. But we want people to feel that
their work made a difference. And to me, that's at
the core of any culture. It's not about whether you
buy easily bars or have a pool table. It's about
I get to hang out with people who deeply care
about our community and we're doing good work. And that's
(15:02):
the number one thing for driving culture. The other thing
is if you do get somebody in who's cynical, they're
not getting on with the program, you've got to get
them out sooner rather than later. Because cynicism, particularly or
that didn't work or I've tried it before, or honestly
they are away with the pixies.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
It's not helpful.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
And it's not to say I don't want challenge. I
think we all need to have different voices in the conversation.
But if somebody is just by nature negative and cynical,
they don't belong in your organization.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
You've got to set them free to go and work
for your competition.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
It's interesting.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I was having a conversation the other day with someone
else about actually how important it is even more in
a society where we can have whatever we want without
any social connection right just at a swipe left and
a swipe right, and we can up the grocery is delivered,
and there's the dating apps, and there's medical teleheal and
does just we're lacking all of that. So that connection
(16:02):
and that being seen and being valued.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
If the more that you create.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
That in any arena, I think, the more you actually harness,
whether it's internally in an organization or those connectivities with
relationships with vendors, with customers, and it's that role on effect.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Yeah, you're quite right. I've been writing this a lot
in my blog.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Naomi Simpson dot com about AI is for tasks. Relationships
are for people, and we still want to do business
with people.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And as humans, we.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thrive in community, we thrive in family, we thrive in
time workplaces. So you know, yes, sometimes I think I'm
far more productive if I don't go to the office,
But then I don't know which conversations I don't get
to have, so and you don't know who you're going
to inspire or you don't know what.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
You're going to learn. So yeah, AI and all of
these tools.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Are great for tasks, but let's not forget the human
nature of business. Now.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
You've got one last quick question.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
For I do, and it's around marketing, which is you know,
I couldn't be missing that because I think it's obviously
extremely important.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And I think going back to.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
That conversation where startups and sms think that they need
marketing to buy attention, what we were referencing is what
they actually need to do is to buy trust. And
what I love about your founder's story is that it
was your incredible relationships that you forged over years building
(17:36):
with your initial vendors that and it was a trust
that you had built with them, which was a huge
contributing factor that led to everything that was from that
ground up. And I think people believe that if they
just throw money at management fees and third party entities,
that it will just build their brand and they can
(17:57):
just sit back and these leads and traffic will come
in and all of a sudden, the magic will happen
and the conversions will happen, and they completely lost sight
of the social safety and the actual connection that you
were just referencing. So what advice would you extend to
people who are starting their businesses on a shoe string
(18:17):
budget and are under the impression that they need tens
of thousands of dollars to spend on marketing to get traction,
especially in a very now digitally driven arena where everyone's
fighting to get visibility.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
We used to say we've got one hundred advertising images
a day. Now we're up to hundreds of thousands of interactions.
So fighting for airtime is really very difficult. And it
comes back to the value proposition. Why are you different?
Why are you special? And if you really articulate the
story very well, other people will tell your story for you.
(18:55):
I think it's Airbnb who've only just started doing any advertising.
They never really advertised. They definitely don't spend any money
with Google. They were just two stunts. They were, you know,
build the Barbie house or you know, Robinson Crusoe house
and get.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
That PR going.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So PR can be a really interesting tool or publicity. However,
it has to be newsworthy, and sometimes people kind of
just go, oh, I've got a new business, so like, you.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Know, why is it different? Why is it special? Watching
unique proposition? What's his name?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Seth Gordin wrote a book one hundred years ago called
Purple Cow, and now I've literally seen a dumpster business
in Sydney that's called Purple Cow. And they go, oh,
they've clearly read the book. But it's how do you
stand out and how do you be different? I guess
one of the things with the naming of Red Balloon,
people sometimes say to me, why did you call.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
It Red Balloon? It's because it's memorable.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So Red Balloon was a nineteen fifty six movie and
was also a book and it won an Oscar Award,
And it's about a little boy whose best friend is
Red Balloon. So he goes off on all these adventures
and so forth with this read balloon, and I always
thought it's a symbol of happiness, enjoy and anybody could
(20:07):
see any red balloon and they'd be reminded of what
they were given or what they gave. So what I
would say to any startup is how are you going
to be memorable? So be really careful about the language
you use and the words that you use, so you know,
if you're making up a word to name your business,
how are you re enforcing that. The other thing is,
(20:32):
and I've probably said this before on this podcast, is
you don't have to go to line who's already talking
to that audience that you could partner with and to
find partnerships that.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Give your brand authority.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
There is so much that I could say about marketing,
but I have seen a lot of businesses spend a
lot of money on billboards. Nothing against the out of
home guys, they do a terrific job. But unless you've
got the follow through of the customer experience, you can
spend a lot of money on building a name without
(21:05):
the consistency of all the different touch points. You've got
to work on all of the customer touch points, not
just the first touch points. It says, we're really great.
You've got to actually drive it through the whole business.
I could keep talking to you forever. I'm very curious
about how your business works.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
I'm going to find out more. But Adriana, thank you
so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you've gotten
value from it and to our fabulous listeners that they've
also learned a little bit more about how they can
grow their business with all sorts of marketing techniques.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Thank you for coming on the show.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Thanks Naomi
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