Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Best of ‘22 - 6 Questions with Rosie Jane Johnston, Founder of By Rosie Jane (Part 2)

Transcript

Best of ‘22 - 6 Questions with Rosie Jane Johnston, Founder of By Rosie Jane (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Hi, it's just me popping in with a quick message to wish you and your loved ones a beautiful break this festive season. I hope you're able to take some time for yourself to recharge and reset and come back full of energy in 2023.
• 0:15
  Over the next few weeks, our team will all be taking a much-needed break, and you'll be hearing the best episodes from 2022. When I look back over this year, there were just so many amazing episodes. It was near impossible to choose just one handful, but we did, and they're amazing, and I'm sure you're going to love them.
• 0:34
  For now, I'm off to spend some quality time with my mom and my family in Queensland after three whole years of not seeing her. Can you believe it? Three years. Oh my gosh. I'm going to be doing all the little things that are good for my soul over this period and dreaming up my goals for 2023, which you're going to hear about when I come back in January. I'm so looking forward to reconnecting with you in the new year and bringing you more of the good stuff with Female Startup Club.
• 1:03
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. So question number one is actually a really nice tie in from what you were just saying. But what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing?
• 1:25
  You know, for me, it's sort of two-pronged, right? My initial why is I love to experience products that have an impact in the moment that I use them. That, for me, is like I love it. That's why I love fragrance, right? It's an instant. When I put it on, it does something to me immediately. And that is as I push out into all of our products. That's really for me. But
• 1:51
  I, you know, lifestyle is such a massive why for me. It's what drives me. I love the idea of a light, filled, happy lifestyle, good work balance, right? And that's my why. That's what I think drives me every day is because I love so much what I do and I love continuing to build and create the lifestyle that that means so much to me and my family.
• 2:18
  Amazing. I love that. Question number two is what's been your favorite marketing moment so far? Oh my gosh. So, I mean, obviously we talked about our sample collection, which I love, but you know, we had this random one, we did this game event. Oh my God. Can I tell you, it was my, it was a wheel. You would spin it and you would have to answer a question. And then if
• 2:48
  is just so brilliant. People love a game. People love the game. I love a game. I love a game. Love a good game. And that for me, we were at a clean beauty event and everyone was like having these moments of like, hey, discover my brand, discover my brand. And we just did this game wheel and it was just about having fun and like,
• 3:11
  winning, not even, you know, like, it's not like we were giving like hundreds of dollars away. It's like, you can win a sample, you can win a hat, you can, but people just want the game element. It's like that spin the wheel. That's like the Shopify plugin, which people also love, right? Yes. Yes. It's like at the start of your web, like when you, when someone enters your website kind of thing, but you've like brought it into the real world, which is how it used to be. And it makes sense that people love it.
• 3:39
  It's also like a connection moment, right, because you're spinning the wheel and people are cheering and people are watching. They want to see what you win. Actually, a great idea at an expo or at a booth of some kind because, of course, it attracts attention. And even if you're not interested in what necessarily the brand or the product, you just want to play the game.
• 4:00
  You're just like, yeah, yeah, okay, I want to do it. And if people are excited and cheering. So that's, you know, it brings me back to like our two up days in Sydney, in pubs, right? I loved those. Oh, my God. It was my most favorite. Lots of vibes. Yes. So probably that today. I love that. That's so much fun. Yeah, we need more of those around the place. Everyone listening, creative wheel. Have it at your booth. A game. A game, Morgan. Create a game. Yeah.
• 4:27
  Question number three is what's your go-to business resource when it comes to book, newsletter, or podcast? I mean, it's really basic. It's honestly, it's like Google.
• 4:40
  I Google everything to start. That's what, like, my everything I start there because when I Google it, what I love about it, it's so terrible. I feel like I'm, like, advertising to them. It's, you know, it leads you to the podcast, to the book, to the thing that maybe you kind of can spiral down. But my, like, I also listen to How I Built This, which is, you know,
• 5:05
  And for me, I really listen to it. I'm assuming it's like this podcast, why people listen to it. It's more about hearing a story that you're like, oh, okay, I can keep going now. I've heard that story. Totally. Everyone goes through something. It all starts from the place of an idea and you realize that you're not alone when you're having those really shitty days and you're like,
• 5:31
  Why? Yeah, and the no's are not the end, right? That's the most important. I think every entrepreneur wants to hear that. You're like, oh, okay, you got massively rejected. You lost a bunch of money. You did this. You did that. But it ended up guiding you to where you are now.
• 5:49
  entrepreneurship is really just a series of rejections and disappointments and you just get better at dealing with it. Yes, I think that's why actors always end up with like entrepreneurs, like later in life, they're always like, oh, she married the billionaire of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, that's because they're both two people that are massively familiar with rejection. Yeah, 100%.
• 6:14
  Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM and PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated? So working out for me has become like an addiction much more later. So in life than before, but I
• 6:36
  Working out is like every, it just, it sets me up for the day. It makes me like want to get dressed, want to put on makeup, want to put on my perfume in a whole new way. And, you know, I hate to say it, but in the evening it's really alcohol.
• 6:54
  I love, you know, not even lots. I just love a wine. You know, it's honestly, it's like it just sort of puts a full stop. Like even when I'm working, just one glass of wine to come, it's sort of, you know, you're all up here in crazy days and that glass of wine just allows me to...
• 7:18
  really kind of reset, you know, and I'm a meditator, don't get me wrong, but it's harder sometimes to find the time to do that than the other things. And working out is like a level of meditation. Same, I agree. Question number five is what's the worst money mistake you've had in the business and how much did it cost you?
• 7:43
  I've probably had a few, honestly. You know what it is? It's more of, it's not that it was such a massive amount of money. My biggest mistakes, and even if I would do it now, I would still be the mistake, is when I try and throw money at a situation. It's always a disaster.
• 8:03
  Because what it generally does is it pulls, you know, when you're growing a business, you have your hand in everything all the time. And sometimes when I get to a challenging moment like growing retailers or marketing or whatever and I'm just like, okay, clearly I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just going to pay this company or I'm going to pay this person to just do it. It always ends up costing me a fortune and I'm like,
• 8:29
  That was a disaster. It didn't work. No. It takes a personal, it takes your sort of, you know, personal touch out of it. Like you always collaborate with them. But that for me is every time I've done it, even with an employee, anything where I'm like, you know what?
• 8:45
  I'm just going to pay someone a big fat salary and they're just going to take over the marketing side of my company. I'm like, that person was a disaster. It's definitely, you want the magic fix. You want the like the magic bullet and nine times out of 10. Although I actually still think, because I've done this so many times as well. And I've talked about this on the show a few times. It's like,
• 9:10
  worth keeping on trying though, because the time that it hits and it's really worth the money and you're like, oh, okay, this is great. Yeah. And I think what is the point of difference is when you are strategically looking for your next step, as opposed to generally feeling like, I don't know how to get out of the situation, or I don't know how to jump to that next level. I'm
• 9:39
  throw money at the situation, right? So if I'm strategic about it, where I'm like, even if it ends up costing you the same, but you're like, this is thought through, I want to get to, like you have your plan of where you want to get to, then you can pull in the right people, the right partners. But sometimes when you don't know where you want to get to, but other than success, you know, that's where it gets real shaky. And for me,
• 10:08
  that's always been my, I'm like, why the hell did I do that? I don't know why. I just, you know. 100%. I'm sure there are so many people listening right now that are nodding their head, being like, I'm with you. I've been there. Yeah. You know, and it's really, I think for people when they're starting their company, it's like, okay, I have a product. I want to get it into 25 stores, right? Or I want to get it into 50 stores. I'm just going to hire someone to do that for me.
• 10:34
  No, that is going to be the disaster of your life. Yourself, yeah. Yes, you have to start it. And then you can be like, you know what? Now I know what got it in, what got it out, you know, working. That's where I think is always the hardest thing. 100%. It's also the case for ads in today's landscape. I think people often jump to being like, oh, like ads, I'm just going to invest a buttload of money into ads and it's going to work. And it's like, actually...
• 11:04
  In today's landscape, it's not going to work. Maybe TikTok. Maybe TikTok's like the new Instagram ad kind of landscape. But like...
• 11:16
  Facebook and Instagram has changed so drastically. It's a tough one. Yeah, and it used to be so – it felt – I remember when it first all started and I was like, dude, it just feels too easy. Like nothing is going to stay like that and, of course, it hasn't. And even with those campaigns like Facebook and all those, there is huge amounts of strategy and creativity and, you know,
• 11:42
  that goes into those campaigns, right? Like you can't just be like, oh, here's a, you know, 50 grand, 10 grand, whatever, and just run an ad. You know, you've really got to know what you want to get across, how you're talking about your brand, who you want to talk to. It's like running an ad on TV now. It's, you know, you've really, there's got to be a lot of process behind it and care and, yeah.
• 12:07
  100%. Okay. Last question. Question number six. What's just a crazy story in the business, good or bad, that you can share?
• 12:17
  You know, I mean, my craziest story is actually what we already spoke about. I always think about this where in, you know, 2008 where I literally thought everything was going to shit and I was like, that's it. We're done. You know, we have like no stores. No one's really buying the product. You know, I'm going back to makeup full time. I'm done. Yeah.
• 12:40
  And then it just opens up some new arena of just someone saying, hey, have you thought of doing fragrance? And I'm like, you're out of your mind, woman. What are you talking about? You know, that to me is just, it's such every time I hit like a rough patch, I always think
• 13:03
  okay. You just got to think to yourself, it's going to be okay. It's not going to be maybe what you thought it was going to be, but it's going to be okay. And that story to me is just sort of, it's like my driving force every day. It's kind of weird to think like you just had this strange passing comment that really could have just been forgotten in the moment and just, you know, move on, but it planted this seed and it changed the direction of your business and
• 13:34
  These weird moments that they can make or break your path kind of thing. It's kind of weird. And I think what makes them so brilliant, right, as much as we all, you know, are really impatient, is that you don't see where it's going to go, right? Right.
• 13:50
  Because it would change everything that you did. That's what's so sometimes about that whole like trusting the process. It's like, you know, right now or whenever anything's happening, you can't see where the silver lining is coming from. Just you've got to trust and know that it is somewhere where you just don't know. But that is what is so crazy about all of the risk that you take, right? Everything that you do is a minor risk that way.
• 14:20
  So, yeah. This has been so cool, Rosie. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your journey in creating by Rosie Jane. I've loved chatting with you. Loved hearing your Aussie accent. Yeah, I know. Thank you so much for having me. You know, I always feel so strange when I'm talking only about myself.
• 14:39
  Oh, my gosh. What? But it was so lovely to meet you as well. And I love that we're like two Aussies on here. It's so random, right? I'm like, you're in London and I'm in L.A., but we're both from Sydney. That seems crazy. We both love Vegemite. Well, I hope we both love Vegemite. Yes, it is like the cornerstone of my diet.
• 15:07
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 15:31
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 15:54
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show, and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 16:10
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 16:34
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 16:57
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.