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 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 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.

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.

Thanks for having me, Gemma.

I feel like your voice is so calming.

Do people say that to you?

They do, they do.

I don't know what it is though, because I find my voice really irritating.

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.

Be cum everybody.

Well, I was saying I love having tea before this, it's like I love having another Australian on the podcast.

I feel like you need to get some more on I know, I do, I do.

I don't know.

I do a lot, but like just this year, I just have just hasn't happened.

That's kind of cool though, if you're mixing it up and getting people from all over the world.

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.

Hearing your accent, mine's pretty strong.

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.

Can talk about that the rest Yeah.

Often?

Yeah are gone?

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?

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 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.

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 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.

I don't even have a lobe to develop, Like it's not there.

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.

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?

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 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.

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.

I'm not this young girl.

Yeah, like no clue.

And I don't know if they were like incentivized.

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 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.

How many hours did you work when you were doing that?

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.

I don't even know.

I honestly wouldn't put it past.

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 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 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.

Like I's very smart.

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.

Of the house.

Yeah, this is a very Australian thing.

Yeah, I don't know why.

Yeah.

I used to always walk past these and be like, there are children trapped in there.

Yeah you know what I mean.

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, I never really made any money out of them.

And then my YouTube kind of really kicked off.

Do you remember the video.

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?

Six six years?

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.

That's still a big deal.

Yeah.

Back then, I remember like the og YouTube days.

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 dollars for an Instagram post, you know, just like holding up a protein powder next to my face or whatever.

But how like how low energy it used to be?

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.

I was just thinking that, and I'm pretty sure.

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 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 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 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.

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.

You're a little teenager.

I was a teenager and I knew who you were.

Yeah, you were this is the you were like the one of the girls.

Yeah, like the Bogan one because that was in the.

Era of like beauty Guru, and I know there's all these others, like there was that.

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.

Oh my god.

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 going all the way to Spain for three days just for them to launch the red Climax mascara.

Which, by the way, but that's kind of iconic.

Yeah, I have that mascara.

Yes, I still have it.

We went to the launch of that that.

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.

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.

I remember those.

Yep.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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.

Yeah.

And I didn't see past that moment when I started it.

Do you think that was helpful?

Yeah, just to be like we're just gonna make this now.

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 into e comm and start a little Shopify store.

This episode is not sponsored by shop Fight.

I know I can't, but they're just really good.

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 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 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.

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.

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, 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, 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, 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.

And just like the one foot in front of the next kind of makes it exactly.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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 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.

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.

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 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.

Do I've done this.

I feel like every business owner does.

You want to help.

It's just a thing of like who do I trust the most.

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 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 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.

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.

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, 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 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, 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 mistakes so that you can do better in the future.

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.

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 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 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 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 Instagram stories are all good, just all those little things.

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 does that mean?

You know when people always like, oh, you run a business, what do you do on a day to day?

Yeah?

Cliche, but no two days are the same.

I gave up influencing.

I want to say, two or three years ago.

Did you make an announcement or were you just like.

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.

Oh, yeah, yea.

You probably know it if you saw I know when you said I, I was like, yes, Australian brand, Yes.

And Canadian Club because I'd worked with them a heap of time.

That's not what I expected you to say.

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 ongoing partnerships with them.

And I went to my.

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.

That was one of my questions.

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 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 come our way that were like too good.

To pass up kind of things you cared about.

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 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 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.

Explain what these are.

The customer brand trips are pretty iconic for you guys.

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 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 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.

How did you go?

We brought them to Newcastle.

We were like, let's start it at home.

Yeah, Newcastle is also a vibe.

Yeah, and we've got like five star hotels now, so we put them in.

I have a five star hotel and new we've got two, which.

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.

This time.

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 give it up.

Is I do all of our stock buying and ordering?

Oh?

Really?

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?

No way.

That's like one of the hardest jobs.

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.

Cool.

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, 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.

Ignore, yeah, at least you delete, at least well.

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.

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.

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.

Like, fuck, anytime I get a bad review, it really does it?

Really?

No, We've got people that reply to those, which is great.

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?

I would love to What.

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.

You should make you do this.

Yeah, I don't know how to do that, but you should do it.

Yeah, you do something like that.

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.

You're like you're stuffering from success.

I love it.

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 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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

Interesting and do that?

Do it?

And I think about this is crazy, Like do like an anonymous business, yes, and never.

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.

That's crazy that you are so like in the game that you're like, I want to be my own competition now.

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 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.

Everything and can more experimental.

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 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.

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.

No, yeah, oh no, I think I got my utense certificate tenserificate.

Yeah I got that.

Yeah, like nothing.

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.

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 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.

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.

I could see here for hours, by the way.

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?

Blah blah blah, like so warning letter?

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.

Separate, has nothing to do with anything.

I know.

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.

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?

Okay, scared?

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 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 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.

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?

Ooh?

I would say our Downtown pants, which don't look at mine today because I've gotten so dirty today because.

The year's a day.

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 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 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.

Yeah, I will say this is this is what you guys known for.

Yes, your genes.

Yes, the jeans are I keep saying iconic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Never worn a pair of Levi's great.

Don't like they only like they just don't fit.

Like the new jeans when they come out.

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.

Billy jeans.

Yeah, I think that's what they're called.

They're great.

I think they're.

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.

Is this coming from fate?

Okay?

Imagine if you, dude, maybe you should just launch a whole denim company.

Don't because that was my idea.

Really Yeah, dang.

I've even got a date for it.

I've got a name for it that we won't say.

No, don't say it because if somebody does their idea better than you, though, you know.

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 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.

Like back and Bridge and Fake the label.

Yeah, it's like a cool like I would sanitize like Formal Rangers.

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.

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.

You sure you don't have one more question?

Oh?

I have like several more, but we just don't have time.

Let us know.

Should I come back for part two?

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?

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, 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.

This woman is busy, you can find her.

Yeah, you can find me.

Well, thank you again for coming on.

As always, if you guys enjoyed this episode, leave a five star review.

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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.

But until next time, stay safe, be kind, be gentle to yourself, and we will talk very very soon.