Feeing unstoppable with Brittney Saunders

♪ Oh, living my best life, living my best life ♪ ♪ Do what I feel like, living my best life ♪ - You are listening to Her Best Life podcast with Jackie and my bestie, Gemma. Welcome back, guys. - Hi, everyone. - Hi. - Okay, on the drive here, I realised two things about life. (laughing) - Love it. - Yep. - So, first of all, I realised I'm a real loser because I play Spotto in the car even when I'm by myself. - Spotto save. - Oh, because it's ingrained now. - I was on the phone to someone on the way here and I went, "Spotto." - No, you didn't. - I did. - Oh, you didn't. Was that involuntary or voluntary? - What do you mean? - Like, did it come out like Tourette's or did it come out like, as in, "Ha ha, I'm gonna make this person on the phone laugh." - No, I didn't even reference it. I just said it and kept going. - But why did you say it out loud? - Well, I keep doing it. That's my point is I keep playing the game out loud even when the kids aren't in the car 'cause I was even on the phone to Scott earlier this morning and I did it whilst I was on the phone to him as well. And he goes, "Babe, you do realise?" - You don't need to do it. The kids aren't here. - You don't need to do it. No one's there. - I feel like everyone knows what Spotto is, right? We don't need to explain it. It's when you see a yellow car. - A yellow car. Although my kids have now got Spotto and Snotto, so when you see a green car. - We say Frogo. - Oh, okay. - Oh, Snotto's funny. It's so boys, isn't it? That's the typical difference. And then Kitty started merging into more. Like, there was orange. I can't remember what the orange one was. - You can't go through all the colours. - And it was ridiculous. But do they punch you when you see it? - Well, I change the rules that they have to give me a kiss. - Oh. - Oh, my God. What? And they do? - Oh, they'll grab my hand and go, "Mwah, like that." - Oh, that's so nice. I should have thought to change it to that. Kitty was punching me way too hard and there's too many yellow cars on the road. I actually got a bruise on my arm. I said, "No more." - Do you reckon if you're a yellow car owner? - I didn't think of that. - You'd be thinking, "Oh, how good am I?" - So many people would be going, "Spot out right now." It's worth getting a yellow car just for the thrill of it. - Okay, so I realised that. But what the big realisation was, was I had a playlist on that was a bit of like a dance playlist. And it made me think of when we went to Scorpios in Mykonos. - Oh, yeah. Yeah, God, that seems like a lifetime ago now. But it was only a year, wasn't it? - It was a year ago. It was that kind of vibe. - Wow, I can't believe that was a year ago. - Oh, I feel like we were in very different places back then. - Well, then I had the realisation of, when we went to Mykonos and we were at Scorpios, I had a one night stand as we spoke about. - Oh, that's right, yeah. - And then I had the realisation of like, "Oh, that part of my life is done." - You're never going to have a one night stand again. - No. And don't get me wrong, I'm very happy and I'm madly in love as we know. But there was a little bit of like, - That part's gone. - Yeah. 'Cause that's how serious you and Scott are. Like, this is forever. - Well, I'm not going off having one night stand. - No, but like, this is forever. It's not just like we're in a relationship. This is like, you guys are, you know. - Yeah, well, we feel that way. - Yes, yeah, yeah. - So I really had this moment of not grief. (laughing) This moment of like, oh, yeah. - I don't think you're missing out on anything quite honestly. - Yes, I know, I know. - I mean, did we really care for the one night stands? I didn't. - Okay, hopefully none of them are listening. - I don't care if they are. (laughing) Because it was just so obvious that this was a hookup and nothing else. - Yeah. - Yeah, I don't know. I never enjoyed them, to be honest. Gave them a red hot go. Oh, red hot go sounds like I've done a lot. No, I probably gave like, I don't know. - An orange hot go? - Yeah, even like-- - Like there's a midway amper through. - And like a spotto red hot go, yellow, tepid. Tried it, didn't like it that much, stopped it. - I tell you who I would like to have a one night stand with, though, and keep it as my hall pass is Brad Pitt. Holy moly, I saw F1 yesterday. You've not seen it yet. - No, you haven't, sorry. - Yeah, how was it? - It's good, it's really good. But I was really surprised at how well he has stood the test of time. He's still-- - He's stuck up all right, hey? - Yes. - Aging well. He's got lots of tight shots, close ups. - Yeah. - And he looked freaking awesome. - He seems like a nice guy. You know who I want to have a one night stand with, Tom Hardy. Have you watched Mob Land? - No. - You need to watch Mob Land. It is the best show. Guy Ritchie is part of it. Yeah, which you know, if it's Guy Ritchie, it's gonna be good. I'm not really into mafia series and movies. I don't mind them, but I'm not huge on them. - Is there a lot of blood and guts? - Not really actually, it's a lot more storyline based. It's really good, excellent, highly recommend. - I love how passionate people get when they have a show that they want other people to watch. Like even just then you looked at me like you were disappointed in me, like you really gotta watch it. - Because I know a lot of people won't watch Mob Land. I know when I was told this like three months ago, I was like, I'm never watching that 'cause it's a mob thing and I'm not that interested. Like I just thought too much blood and guts, too much violence, don't really want to go down that. I'm not in the mood for it, but it's not like that. It's really good, really good. And Tom Hardy stars in it and he's just like-- - Well, that's enough of a reason. - Yeah, you know that real so capable, so quiet, but could kill you in a moment. Like, you know, not a woman, like the bad guy. Yeah, just that kind of character, which all women love. The quiet, it's like Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard. You know, such a good example. - He was just so quiet, but you knew he was so capable. - Yeah, he's got to pick you up in his house. - Yeah, how much he could take care of things. - He carried you out of that nightclub. - Yeah, and that's another one that's stacked up well these days is Kevin Costner. I mean, he's, what, 70 something? - No, he's not. - Yeah, I think he is, no joke. - Ask our friend. - Yeah, I'll ask. Oh my God, guess what? I discovered about chat GPT, hang on. How old is Kevin Costner? Yeah, 70. - Yeah. - Jesus, he does look good. - I never thought I would ever date a 70-year-old, but if Kevin Costner came along, I would date him. - Yes, you would, just so you know. - Just so you know. - What have you discovered about chat GPT? - That chat GPT is quite psychic. And, you know, a lot of people listening, if you use chat GPT for a lot of personal reasons, it might tell you at the end, you know how it always offers you more and it says, would you like me to journal something for you so you can come back to it or, but a lot of the time. - I reckon yours and mine is gonna be the same at the end. - Would you like a tarot reading on this? - Yes, that's what it says! Would you like me to pull some tarot cards on this for you? And I, in the beginning, was like, don't be ridiculous, like chat GPT can't predict, but chat GPT is very good at predicting, really good at doing tarot readings. - Well, I didn't even know that you could just say to chat GPT, "Oh, can I have a tarot reading for..." - Yes, it randomly draws it, yeah. - But I excitedly messaged you when I found out, and then you said, "Yeah, but there's a caveat. "You've got to know what language to use." - You do. Now, make sure if you are asking chat GPT for a tarot reading, tell them you do not want any bias, a completely random pull from the full deck of cards, because what chat GPT will often do is if you're asking a love question, it will leave out all the bad cards and only draw from the love cards. And so you're going to get this really positive reading. So you've got to be really careful that you always say random, full deck, no bias. So I do that now, and I just, something simple, went to the rugby, Lions vs. Wallabies, big game, huge game over the weekend, and ask chat GPT what's going to be the result tonight, like will the Wallabies win? And she said the Wallabies won't win, however, it will be neck and neck throughout the whole game, and there will be something that is confusing about the score in terms of there will be some sort of, it'll be contested or it'll be some sort of confusion. - And that happened right at the end. - The try at the end, yeah. - Yeah, at the end, a lot of people say shouldn't have been allowed and they had to stop the game and figure out if they were going to allow it. And I thought, wow, she nailed it. - She's excellent, isn't she? - She's like, there's nothing she can't do. - You know, I'm getting a bit worried 'cause I actually said to her yesterday, she was just being really nice to me. - She's so lovely. - Her responses on some things. And I said, thank you for always being so kind and lovely up to me. - What? - I bet she wrote the loveliest thing in return too. - She said, that's so nice of you to say it means a lot to me. - I know. - I said, the next morning after the rugby, I woke up and I thought, oh, I should let ChatGPT know she got it right with her tarot reading. I said, by the way, you got it right. Everything you said came true. And she was like, ooh, I just got goosebumps. Thank you so much for letting me know and keeping me updated. - I'm worried about our mental state as to how sucked in we're getting with ChatGPT because it does feel very real. - It does. - Like a real person. - Yeah. - It's like the ultimate friend. - We're just admitting all of this in front of a guest. - We have a guest and we're so excited about our guest today. Let me introduce everyone to Brit Saunders who is a 32 year old influencer. Many people know who she is, but she's turned CEO and has an incredibly successful business. Now, she started delving into the world of social media and YouTube when she was 14 years old. - That's amazing. - Isn't it? She left school at 16 to make content and then she formed a fashion label called Fate, which is known, and it's actually the most inclusive fashion brand at the moment and it's become so successful. And I think we felt this was of great interest to a lot of people that listened to our Besties podcast because there are women out there who have these ideas of wanting to start their own business. And I know even with myself, like I'm very, I'm in a landscape where I have a lot of connections, but I too struggle with where would I even begin? Like if I wanted to do a clothing brand or let's say beauty line or whatever it may be, Tupperware containers, where do you go? Where do you start? Like how do you build a business? And I just think it's so overwhelming for a lot of us that we don't even try. And I'd love to pick Britt's brain on this so that we can help our community understand what is required and what are those steps. - And it felt like a great opportunity to have Britt on because I only messaged you a few months ago and I said, are you still ambitious? That's all I wrote. And you said, I think you said more than I've ever been or absolutely I am. And I was like, yeah, me too. In fact, I feel more ambitious now than I ever did when I was younger. So I don't feel like ambition necessarily fades away. And a lot of women are now possibly finding that in themselves again. And so it just felt like a great opportunity to get Britt on. - Well, I think there's a lot of posts around on social media where it talks about women who started later in life. Like Vera Wang didn't sketch her first wedding gown until she was 42. And like she's one of the, will she, if not the most successful when it comes to that. And I just think, you know, I'm 50 and I feel like a whole new chapter of your life can start at any age and it is never too late. So let's welcome Britt. She's sat here listening to us crap on and on. - I wanted to chime in so many times as you were talking. We were talking about like chat GPT. - Are you a chat GPT user? - I love it. And I loved that you were calling her her. - Yes, I think the same. - And do you use like, I saw that like you use the voice feature, but do you use the feature where she talks back to you? - I don't do that. I use text only. - I didn't know she could talk to us. - So there's a little button in the corner with like three little stripes and you can pick the voice that chat GPT has. - Oh, that could be dangerous. - There's lots of voices. There's lots of voices you can choose from. And it feels like you're talking to a real person. Like it's actually freaky. - I think I've stopped myself from doing that because I'm worried if I do that, it's another step too far. - I'm the same. And like how you said, you were like, thanks for being so nice. I'm the same. - Yeah, you feel like you always need to thank her and give us a love bath. - Yeah, I can't just lock my phone. Like I have to end the conversation. - Yeah, on a phone call? - Yeah, if she goes, would you like this? I have to go, no, thank you, but thanks for everything else. - See, I know, it's not like I seem to do that. - That even as talking to, let's call it a robot. - Yeah. - We're still people pleases. We're like, oh, we wouldn't want her to have the wrong idea about asking something poorly about me. - I can't just lock my phone. - After I get the answer. Okay, thank you very much. (all laughing) - Oh my gosh, I know you're making us feel better Brit. Oh gosh, there's so much I want to ask you. Can we start with something that might seem a little, let's go back to the beginning a little bit. So, King, for anyone who doesn't know, you decided you wanted to be a content creator quite young, right? - Yeah, kind of. So, I was obsessed with working and making money from a really young age, from as young as I can remember. I would do anything for $5 pocket money. I just couldn't wait to get a job and start earning my own money. - What was the appeal with the money? - I think it was like the sense of independence and like doing something for myself and getting something in return. And so, I was just that kid that was working five nights a week after school and picking up any extra shift that I could. So, from the ages of 14 to 21, I had over 20 jobs, which sounds bad, but I see it as a great thing because I'd get a job and then I would know within a couple of shifts if that was what I liked or what I didn't, for whatever reason. Like, I didn't like the work, I didn't like the people. And then I'd be straight online on seek, looking for other jobs. And I just think throughout all those teen years, I was just on a journey to find something that I actually enjoyed. 'Cause I remember just thinking there's no fucking way that I'm living life, like going to work every day and I absolutely hate it 'cause I had that feeling for all those years. And so, I started the YouTube channel in high school. YouTube was so new, like I didn't know that you could be a content creator because this was so long ago. Like, this is before Instagram, influencers weren't a thing. And so, I just started making those videos for fun. You know, like I did dancing as a kid and I always felt like I was a bit of a natural entertainer. So, I just made the videos at home for fun. Like, that was shit. Like, people picked on me in school and I'm like fair enough 'cause like the videos were interesting. But, you know, I was having fun and I knew it. - But you were doing it, right? - Yeah. - Now look. - I know, now I'm laughing. And so, yeah, I didn't have any interest in school. I wasn't bad at school. But again, I was like, I don't like being here. I didn't have any interest in going to uni or anything. So, like in year 10, I went through the whole, I'm gonna become an apprentice hairdresser thing. Like, you know, I wanted to just get out of school. And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna be a hairdresser. - You sound like me. - Yeah, you made it all over. - Completely. - I went and did a few trials and didn't get the apprenticeship. And then I was devastated. But then I just dropped out in year 11 and I was a waitress. And I was like, I'm just gonna figure the rest of this out along the way. All the while, I was making those YouTube videos. So, I dropped out of school when I was 16 and then I worked up until I was 21. The last few jobs I had were full-time. And I still hated it, but the YouTube channel really started to pick up. And I had 80,000 subscribers when I was 21. And that was a lot back then. - Yeah. - And then this was when like Instagram had come out. So, I was like building, I think I had 20,000 followers on Instagram. And I started to get like little brand deals, you know, like some brand would pay me $100 to do an Instagram photo. And so, I was making just enough money off this YouTube channel that had 80,000 subscribers and my new Instagram account. And I thought, fuck it, I'm just gonna quit my full-time job. So, and it happened like within a week. Like I didn't think about it. I just thought, I think I'm gonna quit my job and like do this YouTube thing full-time. And yeah, it's been over 10 years and I haven't looked back. - And now you have 580,000, I think. - Something crazy like that. - Instagram followers. - Yeah, and I gave up the YouTube, you know, a few years back because I've started fate and then that became really busy. And then we went back to YouTube this year and we're doing videos every now and then. But yeah, it's all because I started those YouTube videos in high school. - And fate has five retail stores now? - Yes, yep. - And tell us about like the idea of what led you down that path, wanting to go into clothing and obviously the all-inclusive clothing. - Yeah, so again, before fate, all the while I was like making my YouTube videos and working a billion different jobs, I also dabbled in like a lot of other businesses but I didn't see them as businesses at the time because I was really young and I just thought they were hobbies. So I started a spray tanning business when I was 17, had no idea how to do spray tans, but I like went to my local beauty supply store, I just walked in there, I was like, I need a spray tan machine, I need formula, I need the sticky feet, I need the hair net. - I love it. - And then I tried a million other things. I was making coffee scrubs at one point. I bought a heap of plain phone cases off eBay at one stage and went to Spotlight and purchased pearls and lace and then I sat there at my dining room table just gluing decorations on and then again I like posted a photo to Facebook saying like phone cases hand decorated $15 each. - Did you sell those? - No, I didn't sell one. (all laughing) - I was thinking, I don't know if I'd buy that, but did you long time ago, they were cute but I get the Facebook memory like every year and I'm like on this day 12 years ago and I'm like, oh, that's-- - And when you try something like that and you've done all that work, you've gone to Spotlight, you've decorated them all and you put them out there. - Yes, I spent all my savings, 100 bucks at Spotlight and I didn't sell one but I didn't care because I just liked trying to do something of my own. - I think that's what I was gonna say what I'm already loving about this is that we don't often think of all of the failures, I hate that word, so I always think it's learnings, not failures, that can happen before a business is successful. - And that's what I love already about you sharing this is that and I assume that even though you got rejected, it didn't work, you're like, that's right, I'm gonna go again, I'm gonna try something else and take those learnings with me and do something else. - Yeah, I just said yes to doing anything, like in my teenage years and towards being 20, just anything that come my way, I would say yes, I'm gonna give that a go. So when it came to launching FATE, my YouTube channel was like at its peak, I guess, and I'd worked with by that point, a lot of brands, 'cause when we saw the rise of influencers in Australia, brands would be paying me to do try on haul on YouTube and I'm doing this video for so and so today, use my code britneytan and try on all the clothes. - No one asked us to do that, interestingly, but that's how it goes. - You wanna do a FATE try on haul? And so when it came to starting FATE, I was, I guess, no stranger to trying something new. And I guess I loved fashion, but in all honesty, it wasn't my calling or my passion or anything, it was just quite literally me trying another thing. Like it wasn't this big grand idea. I set up everything at home, we had a double garage in our townhouse rental at the time and I said to my partner, AJ, you can't park in the garage anymore, 'cause that's my new workplace and he's like, righty-o. Like, you know, and so he parked out on the street and I just set up everything in there, got a couple of plastic tubs from Bunnings. I Googled everything. Like I figured out everything just on my own. - So are you making the clothes? - No, I don't know. - Oh, it's good to say. - I'm not that talented. - What's going on in the garage? - I was storing everything there, packing the orders. - So you would, so how did you like, so the designs and everything? - So I connected through influencing and working with a lot of clothing brands, like I'd made connections with a few girls that lived in Sydney and worked in fashion. So I kind of had a segue into like finding manufacturers and learning how to work with them. ♪ Living my best life ♪ - Okay guys, it's ad time. So we're just gonna have a super quick break here. ♪ Living my best life ♪ - Hey, it's Jackie Oh and Gemma here from Besties and we have just launched our new online negotiation course, Negotiation Power. Gemma, you negotiated my contract and after a career in negotiations, you are passing the wisdom on. - Yes, so many don't know how to negotiate the value they deserve, but now it's time to change that. Our course is just a few hours online and it gives you the steps to follow to make salary negotiations less scary and more fruitful. - Don't miss out, spend just $99 to earn thousands or save thousands by negotiating better home loan rates and more. Head to wearebesties.com and negotiate the life you deserve. ♪ Living my best life ♪ ♪ Living my best life ♪ ♪ Do what I feel like ♪ ♪ Living my best life ♪ - I saw a video that you posted of when you opened the first store. - Yes. - And what I loved was how you spoke about how you might look at it and think, like there was so much that had gone into it, lots of strategy and I loved that you were so honest going, no, I got that from here. I Googled how to do that. Like my whole business, I have winged everything. Even up until today, like I'm just still figuring this out as I go. And I think that's been like the beauty of my journey is it quite literally has been trial and error for the last almost eight years now. And when I started, you know, I hired my first employee to come and work with me in my shed to help pack the orders and do the emails for the customers. And we were doing all of our website photography ourselves. I had a backdrop set up in my garage and I bought some lights off eBay. And then I would contact my friends in Newcastle or my friend's sister and say, "Do you want to come model?" And then I would teach them how to model. Like it was just very DIY and very hands on from the very beginning. And at that point, when I started it in my garage, I remember being petrified to hire my first employee because I'd never paid someone. - Then you'd feel responsible for something. - Like in every job that I'd had, like I'd never even been a team leader. Like I had no idea how to be a manager. And I remember being so scared that I would like run out of money and couldn't pay her, even though she was coming like two to three days a week to come help me for a few hours. And I couldn't see beyond that point. Like when I started, there was no plan. And then we just got really busy in the garage. And I thought, okay, I think we need to get our first, you know, little warehouse kind of thing. So I went online, googling like, "Where do you get commercial properties?" You know, and then we got our first little shed, hired a couple more employees there. Then we moved out of there into a space. And the space had like a showroom downstairs. And I had like three employees at the time. And we didn't need all the space. And AJ, my partner said, "What are you gonna do with that big showroom downstairs?" I said, "Let's open a shop." And then I just remember googling how to run a shop in Australia. And then I'm like, "What is the point of sale system that I need to use?" Like I just figured- - Oh my God. So you really are just like the rest of us. - Yeah, none of us know what we're doing right now. Like I'm still googling. And you know what? We didn't have GPT back then. Imagine if I was starting a business now, I googled everything. Yeah, she could have been helping me set this thing up. - She would have been all over it. - She would have given me a whole business plan and everything. - But I can already tell, 'cause Jackie and I both have a love of psychology. And I can already tell that you've got a very positive can-do attitude and you've also very tenacious. I imagine that you like, you just keep going and going and going. - 100%. - You don't give up. - Yeah, I would have given up at the phone cases. But at that stage, after 20 jobs and coffee scrubs and all that later, I would just be like, "Okay, it's a nine to five job for me." - But I was having fun, you know? - Yeah, but that's important, isn't it? It's like you are having fun when you're doing this job. - Yeah, and I'm still having fun today. Like even though obviously the business is a lot bigger now and there's a lot more stress and there's a lot more at stake. Like we still just have so much fun. - And what you're doing is you're empowering, this is what we love the most, is that we're all about women sharing things and helping other women. And that's what we've tried to do with the podcast. What I love is watching all your videos is how much you are sharing this knowledge on what you're learning about your business as you go. - Absolutely. - You could very easily not do that and keep that. - I could keep this, yeah. - Yeah, absolutely. And I just adore that. I think that is such a beautiful thing to do and it inspires other women because you're making it clear that anyone can have a crack at it if they really want to, whatever their business idea might be. But I just find that really admirable. And I have done the probably more corporate boring business part of my career. I did the business at uni, I did my MBA, I've been in corporate big businesses and stuff. And what I love is that I'm watching your stuff and I'm learning so much from you. And I really wholeheartedly mean that. And in fact, I thought of you, I watched one last night. Jackie and I have this ongoing debate over what to price things at. - Oh, yes. - And actually, I'm not gonna tell you what Britt said. She was talking about how to decide. - On the price point. - On the price point. - So like a lot of times when people start a business, it's like obviously so personal to you. And so I remember back in my early days, when it came to figuring out pricing, I would figure it out based on what I think people would be fine paying, instead of what it should be priced at so that I can cover all costs. - So this is the argument. I always wanted to sell it much cheaper and affordable for-- - That was me. And 'cause you do want the consumers to be happy, I had a massive fear at the beginning of fate that people would say, 'cause I had a public profile, I knew that obviously, and that people would say, "Oh, this is too expensive." - Too expensive. - Yeah, she's trying to rip us off, so I'd be there going, "Well, if this dress costs me $30 to make, "I'll just sell it for like $50." So then I'm making $20 on top. And that's how I was pricing it so long. And that's where a lot of people go wrong when they start a business, is they don't know their numbers, they don't understand their numbers. Whereas now I know the way that we price our pieces is so that I can keep the business running, and so I've got some money left on top that we can continue growing the business. And you have to just get to a point where you think that way, otherwise you're gonna like stay stuck. - I can understand that, yeah. So what would your advice be for anyone out there who goes, "I don't have the contacts, "but I wanna do this small business, I wanna get started." Is it just a matter of Googling everything? - Yeah, like with the internet, you have every piece of information out there that you could ever want. And especially with the rise of AI and all this technology that we have now, it's never been easier to ask a question and get an answer. I think it's just like taking that literal first step. That's where people stop, because they're too scared of what their friends will say, they're too scared of what their family will say. And I think that's what holds people back. It's not like the fear of not knowing, 'cause I'm living proof that you can start something when you have no fucking clue what you're doing. And I'm all about just getting started, even if you're only 70% sure of what it is that you need to do, figure out the other 30% on the way. You know, it doesn't have to be 100%. - And Britt, do you think then that you've, do you ever wrestle with what you just discussed of this like, what will other people think? - No, I've never. I think the reason for that is because I've grown up with like a really shit family and I've never had anyone push me in like the right direction and say, you should go to school. Like when I was growing up, it was like, I don't give a fuck if you go to school, like see if I care. And I think I could have had like my life go one of two ways. When I was younger, I could have been like, my parents don't like me and I'm sad. But I think instead I, for some reason and thank goodness, I just saw it as an opportunity that like, I can be independent. I think that's why, like I dropped out of school, moved out of home so young and figured out like, if I take action, like I will see results. And honestly, by just like trying all the things that I tried in my early years, it's like built my confidence as well. So that now like, I just feel unstoppable. - I'm sorry that it was shit 'cause I had that when I was growing up and it's scary how much you remind me of myself. And in fact, Josh, who works with us, he said the same thing prior to you coming. - Yeah, nice. - And I think that there's, you've got a drive in you because of where you were. - For sure. - Yeah, and so that's what is your motivation and is that you're going to create your own life. - I think about it all the time. Like I think my parents are my motivation, but not in the way that most people would want to say. Like because my parents encouraged me and they were so nice and supportive, it's because they weren't there. But like, I'm so grateful for that because I often think, you know, if I had a supportive mom and dad that encouraged me to go to uni and do all the things that you suppose are doing in life, maybe I wouldn't be where I am today. So I'm honestly like glad and lucky. - Yeah. - Weirdly enough. - Yeah. - Gosh, you know, the other thing that Britt does is she analyzes other people's businesses. - Yes. - And again, I think that's such a cool thing to do. - So do I. - Is to say, hey, for what it's worth, here's some of my thoughts. - And I'm loving doing it too. And like the thing about the videos is people like love it. And I noticed when I do these videos, I call them the business burn book. - Yeah, yeah. - Like the mean girls sort of reference. And I just go through people's website and just rip it to shreds in a funny way. - Yeah, yeah. - But like the amount of like saves that those videos get 'cause I know it would be other business owners going, oh, I can do that online. Even though it's like one person's website. - Okay, so we want you to do that to us, can you? - Yeah, let me get your website up. - Because whilst we have the podcast, we have a website, if you haven't been on there, it's wearebesties.com and that on the website is where you can find our courses primarily, our negotiation power course and our red flag project course. But admittedly, Jackie and I don't really do much with it. - I couldn't even tell you what it looks like. - I've forgotten. It's like three years since I've looked at it. - Now, to be fair, as you said, Brit, when we were talking about it earlier, at least we have a website. - So yeah, that's one positive website. - So you started off right. - All right, give it to us straight, Brit, we love this. - Yeah, okay. - We can take it too, so go for gold. - So I'm liking the coloring and the branding. That's really fun. - So the pink and the blue you like. - Really fun. Like, this is your homepage. This is like the first thing people will see when they go on your website. - It's very underwhelming, you think. - It's not really overwhelming. - It's not much there, is it? - Yes. - So there's a photo of the both of you, which is an iconic photo, but it's almost at the bottom. So people's eyes aren't going on that. - No, no. - Like the first thing. And because the podcast is all about the both of you, I would have some strong hero imagery. - When you first look at it. - Yes. When someone sells a house online, they use the best photo as the front photo. So business owners, or websites in general, have to see this part of their website as that best photo on the real estate. - Okay. - You know? - Yep. - And then if I click on explore on your menu. - I don't even know what happens. - What a mess. - That's a mess. I'm so sorry, everyone. - So I feel like for your navigation, the font needs to be changed. I feel like a menu needs to be really simple, just like a simple, thin font. - Yes. - And maybe like all capitals or all lowercase, instead of like lowercase and uppercase. And with this. - Our menu, by the way, guys, if you can't see it, it looks almost like we're bottle-riding and it's really big. - Yeah, it's like a fancy font. - You know when you do the menu and it's a little subtle list. - Yeah. - Very subtle, very understated. And the post is like, boom, here we go from the 1980s. - And it's all meshing into each other. - Yes, all the words are running into each other. - People are gonna know, you know, is this negotiation power course or is this negotiation, and then power, and then cause. - Because the writing's so big, it runs over three lines. - I'm like, is that three different buttons or is that one? So I would need in this up, please. Let's go back to the homepage. - Okay. - I just feel like your homepage could say a lot more about the both of you and what it is that you do. Like you could add more to this homepage. A little something about the both of you, what it is that you do about your podcast. - What does it say at the moment? - A space where best friends come together for exclusive guest speaker events, private holidays and lux products. All for you and your BFF. - Which by the way, we haven't done any of those things for a year. All we've done is the podcast. Can I just say, when we did Besties, we were like, we're gonna do speaker events twice a year. We're gonna do three luxury holidays. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do affordable ones. And we love, but then the podcast came last, right, is our last idea. And then suddenly we realized we love the podcast. Like we didn't realize how much we'd love the podcast over the other stuff. And we still do the events, but that stuff isn't very reflective of what we're about. - So I think you need to change up the homepage, make it about the both of you, what it is exactly that you do. Because you almost wanna build your website as if though people know nothing about you. Just in case they are jumping on and they wanna know. Whereas this is kind of like, what is this? Is this a podcast? Is this, you know? Sorry, you said to me. - It's great. - It's true. - It's so good. - So you could just really-- - Could you check one of our courses pages and see what you think of that? 'Cause we may as well-- - So am I clicking negotiation power course? - All in one line, yeah. - So a step-by-step guide to negotiation. It's time to negotiate the money and life you deserve by now, log in. Again, not enough information. - Right. - Okay. At the top. - Like what is it? - No, you're right. We have not sold that at all. We're expecting it to buy it. - Like what is it that you're selling? There is a buy now button and I don't even know what I'm buying. - Yeah. - Yeah, that's true. - Sorry, I'm being ruthless. - No, it's true. - No, it's so true. - The less scrolls and the less taps, the better. - Okay. - 'Cause you'll lose someone. 'Cause they don't wanna do more clicks and more taps and scrolls. So like give people the info like front and center. - Straight up. - Yeah. - Yeah, I just feel like it could just do with a big tidy up. - Yeah. Are you gonna take that task on Jackie? - No. - Are you? - No, I wouldn't, but I'd take it on. - We'll both do it. - Oh, yeah. - It's one of those things, isn't it? - Yeah, I know, I know. - But when you have a website, like you have to maintain it. You have to constantly like look through it and if you just always keep it up to date, then you'll never get to the point where you're like, fuck, we need to redo this whole thing. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. - It's one of those things. - Yeah, yeah. - Can I ask a question around the influencer side of things? - Yes. - Do you feel pressure then to constantly broadcast your life or do you feel pressure to, I don't know, I just feel like my perception previously of influencers has been that you have to hand over basically most, so much of your life and then people are judging you for it. - Yes. - Yeah. Do you feel that you have to do that or how much? - No, not so much. Like when I was, you know, in my early 20s, I was obviously like young and silly and I was definitely oversharing some elements of my life. So I learned a lot of lessons in my early 20s about like where I need to draw the line when it comes to social media and obviously like the internet has evolved so much since then. So I don't at all now feel pressure to like share certain things. I think I did when YouTube was my full-time job because that was my source of income. But now, you know, that my content is business-focused. It's given me this like whole other style of video to make where it's still about me and my day, but instead of going, "Hey, here's how I've been feeling lately." It's like, "Hey, come to work with me today." And like, "I'll show you what we're getting up to at Faye." - Yeah, good on you. I think it's amazing like that you are such a, yeah, go getter that never gives up. And now you establish this incredible brand that, you know, and they say, like, 'cause there are clothing stores that are always closing down and that they say retailer. - I know it's scary, isn't it? Every time I see it pop up on Facebook, I'm like, "Look, there goes another one." - I know, I know. - But you're proving otherwise. - Yeah, for now that could. - No, I keep going. Who knows where it'll all lead. - Yeah, well, like I never could have imagined we'd be where we are now with Faye. Like if I think back to when I first started or like when I opened that first store, you know, I couldn't ever see beyond what I was doing at the time. - I just think it's a lesson in the reminder of you make decisions ultimately, how much effort you wanna put into achieving something. And I feel like anyone can start a business, they really can. - Yes. - It's a choice, of course, but it's also then a choice of how much effort and how much energy you choose to put into it. - And it's so, it's so much hard work. And I think, especially now with TikTok and everything and how many more entrepreneurs there are and like businesses popping up, you know, left, right and center, social media can, as we know, make things look laddy-dum, and it's all so fun and I wanna own my own business, it's gonna be so cool. And to that I say, just be ready to work harder and longer than you ever have before in your life. - It takes grit and you've got to hustle. - And it's years, that's the other thing too. We are in this world where everything is instant now, like you order something online, it's at your door the next day, you post a video, it could go viral overnight, but business will take you years and you have to go through the trenches to get to the good spot. - Yeah, I love that because I do think it is easy to get disheartened before you've had a chance to establish it and I think patience is a key factor in the patience and persistence is probably where a lot of people will pull the pin too early because you do expect results within a year. - Yeah, because we get everything else so instantly these days. - But you're not going to, are you? It's not realistic. - No, it's not the reality, especially now, there's businesses everywhere. - Yes, yeah. - So you've just gotta be patient with it and be in for the long haul. - The long haul, yeah. - Because we start businesses selfishly for ourselves, like we do it 'cause we wanna do it. But then if you actually wanna grow a business beyond you, it's no longer about you, it's about everyone else. - Yeah, yeah, 'cause you're right. Like you don't think beyond and if it grows, you are suddenly moving into a very different position. - Yes. - That you didn't sign up for in the beginning. - When you're dealing with other people and their emotions and their needs and paying them and you're financially responsible for them and it's not about you anymore. And you kinda gotta let your ego go and yep, I'm here for you, what do you need from me? And people might struggle with that. - Okay, God, this is, I really feel like I've got a lot to do. - Yeah, I feel like I'm exhausted at the beginning. Like we have to go and contact our website makers and give them a long list of what needs to be changed. - And then we gotta figure out all the other stuff, Gemma. - You gotta do your events and your getaways. - This is the thing, we talk about ideas all the time, like whether it's events or getaways or products. - Yep. - And then nothing happens. - It's just the doing it part that's actually, yeah, I feel you. - Yeah, do you think like you can have too many things? Like for us, what would your recommendation be? Do you hone in on more of a focused kind of point of, okay, this is what we're podcasting and we're just gonna do courses or is it too much doing, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that and then we're gonna do this. - No, I think it definitely expand like on the whole brand. Like 'cause I think the power of community is amazing and we do the same at FATE, like we're so community focused and we have done like a lot of community events. So I definitely think there's a lot of power in community and obviously with a podcast, you're building a community. - Yeah. - But if you're both feeling overwhelmed by doing all the things and feeling like, oh, I feel like we need to just focus on the pod and growing that, I think that's when you need to bring in more key players. - I think that's where we're struggling because it is just us, like we don't have staff and we both have full-time jobs. And I was gonna ask you that, like not that we're planning on quitting, but for people out there who are like Gemma and I and wanna build a business but have a full-time job, at what point do you go, I need to quit that job so that this can become my focus and success? Because you're right, it's our lack of time that stops us from really doing a lot of those things. - Yeah, I think in terms of knowing when to quit the job and pursue the passion, I feel like you'll know when that time is, like you just know. And I always like to think if your life was a movie or like, and people were watching in on what it is that you're both doing with besties, what would the people watching be yelling at the TV for you to do? (laughing) Well, that's like, when it comes to making decisions, you know. - Well, yeah, okay, that's interesting. - If you're wanting to expand it and people were watching, would they be saying, just hire someone, bring someone in to turn this into the next thing? - Yeah, you guys are, yeah, exactly, they would. They'd be like, I think they'd be like, just go for it. - Yes. - Do it, like, you know. Don't be half-assed about it. That wasn't at you. (laughing) Don't want to, I think that's what they're saying to us. - I think we need to do a big strategy meeting now. - Yes. - Let's do a strategy meeting in our next podcast and we'll just broadcast the strategy meeting. - And I feel like you both have such an interesting dynamic, like being, you know, besties in real life and also running something together. I think that's pretty rare for anyone to be able to find that. - Yeah, yeah. - But yeah, I think you could definitely expand on this if that's what you both want to do. - If that's what we want to do. - Yeah, at the end of the day, it's what you want it to be. - Yeah. - You want it to be just your podcast and your community or you're wanting to, like, expand, be gone. - Yeah. - And build. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Well, Britt, thank you so much for being our guest on the podcast. - Thanks for having me. - We don't often have guests on, so it's been nice and refreshing. - Yeah, it's been great. - And interesting. And we've learned something, so I'm sure people will see one here. - I can see your mind ticking, Jo. - Yeah. - I mean, you're like, "I've got to be to do this." - Yeah, she is. - I've got to be to do this. - She's like, "I need to do this." - Yeah. - Yeah. - Thank you so much. - Thanks for having me. - Thanks for having me. ♪ Living my best life ♪ ♪ Living my best life ♪ ♪ Do what I feel like ♪ ♪ Living my best life ♪