Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How to build a 9-figure empire

Transcript

How to build a 9-figure empire · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:09
  Hi, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Thank you so much for tuning into this week's solo episode. Today is all about diving into the learnings of some of the highest revenue generating business founders that we've had on the show so far. Those who are producing around the nine figure mark. For those counting in their heads right now, that's revenue of $100 million and above. Don't worry, it took me a quick Google search myself.
• 0:39
  This is an impressive and particularly interesting milestone for a business because of many, many reasons. It's often said that in order to be considered as a potential investment by VCs, you should be telling a convincing story which could catapult your startup to forecast in the $100 million annual revenue mark.
• 0:59
  In other words, should $100 million revenue look realistic some point in your future, you'll be catching some serious VC eyeballs and attention.
• 1:10
  The funny thing is that when we look at the numbers, only 0.04% of companies ever reach that mark. And I can imagine that when we look at women-founded companies, we can look to add another load of zeros in front of that number. These are really slim chances of success, giving all the more praise to the female founders we've had on the show that are actively breaking through this glass ceiling.
• 1:36
  And on that note, I'm actually a bit hesitant to call these founders the most successful founders we've had on the show because success in business isn't just down to the level of revenue you're creating. Whilst it's important to audit what success looks like to you, there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach here. You can aim for growth. You can aim for building an amazing community. You can aim for fame. You can aim for a sense of fulfillment. You can aim for happiness. You can aim for whatever you want. Success is up to you.
• 2:06
  But here are the key learnings from the highest revenue generating businesses we've had on the show to date. And I want you to keep a pen and notepad at the ready because there is so much gold here.
• 2:20
  Just a couple of months ago, I had Rowena Bird on the show. She's the co-creator of your favorite bath bomb brand and an absolute joy to speak to. Over 27 years, she and her co-founders have built a household name globally. They now run over 700 stores and currently bring in more than a billion dollars in annual revenue.
• 2:41
  Let that sink in for a second. A billion dollars. What the heck? I'm speaking about Lush, of course. We chatted about everything from innovating in the early days to their ever inspiring social impact across the world. But the thing that we kept coming back to is just how important it is to surround yourself with the right people when you're on this journey. Yeah.
• 3:04
  In everything from your co-founders to your investor relations and the people you hire, business continues to be all about relationships and people. When it comes to the people you're building this with, the people you're facing every single day, it's important to genuinely like and respect them, not just for your sake, but for everyone involved.
• 3:27
  At the end of the day, if you're not looking forward to talking to someone, you might not be opening up to them about issues in the business, and that's obviously an issue. In Rowena's eyes, if you like who you're working with, it simply makes life much easier and much more fun. It feels a lot less like work, and you're enjoying that day-to-day. You're always supporting each other. There's a lot to be said for that because business is such a challenge, and you need to be prepared to be challenged.
• 3:55
  When it comes to hiring, the right people are often the people that are better than you. And some might find this a difficult pill to swallow, but hiring a copy of yourself isn't going to be any good for the business you're building. You need to hire based on your weaknesses and you'll still be the founder. You'll still call the shots, but you need to surround yourself with those people who can educate you in different areas and lift you up.
• 4:19
  Keeping this in mind, it's also important to know when to cut ties with relationships that are no longer serving the business. If a partner isn't right, don't ignore it. If something isn't working, don't wait to sort it out. The longer it goes on, the worse the situation will get.
• 4:37
  I also had the chance to talk to the co-founder of Froyo company, Yasso, earlier this year. Amanda Klain dove into the journey to building a business that does hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, and she had a lot of great insight to share. For Amanda, the key thing her success comes down to is not getting complacent with your product.
• 4:57
  That means evolving with the times, keeping a pulse on the trends, and meeting the customer where they want to be met. The trick lies in not getting too attached to what you created at the beginning, but evolving it to make sure your product can be the best it can for that particular moment in time.
• 5:15
  13 years on, Yasso's recipe is still being tweaked regularly, especially when it comes to food and bev because the place is so bloody crowded. You want to make sure you're consistently creating something that's filling a customer need. So get out there, talk to your customers, and continue to iterate. Next, I want to dive into the story of a founder we had as a guest on the show back in the early days of Female Startup Club.
• 5:39
  Juru launched Hero Cosmetics back in 2017 and now boasts selling a product every three seconds. That means she's already sold multiple products in the time it just took me to give her an introduction. Can you imagine? That is so nuts to me. It comes as no surprise, she hit the $100 million mark in annual revenue just last year.
• 6:02
  For Jew, the key reason to this insane growth really comes down to the power of bootstrapping. A quote that stuck in my head ever since our chat is that bootstrapping puts focus on profitability, and she's totally right. Together with her two co-founders, each partner put personal capital into a dedicated bank account to get the business going.
• 6:23
  Many startup entrepreneurs find that having limited capital can prove to be a blessing in disguise. And because having a tight budget forces you to think twice about every move you make and be resourceful and creative. Further down the line, showing an investor that you've gone through this process and made it through the other side can be seen as a big plus for credibility and ultimately sets you a higher valuation for the business.
• 6:46
  Bootstrapping in the beginning was good because it forced them to really focus on being profitable from the very beginning. They couldn't pay themselves fancy salaries or spend too much on PR firms and all that kind of stuff. So it was boots to the ground, which means they were always really resourceful, which in turn makes them more attractive as a business to investors. And I think this is such a key insight for them.
• 7:08
  Focus on bootstrapping your business in the beginning until you've proven traction and figured out the foundations. And then you might need to find that you either don't need to raise or you might only need to raise a fraction of what you needed to raise before. Now let's get into the journey from the elusive world of fashion. Fashion veteran Elise Ahrens spent more than a decade building Kate Spade, and now she's gone on to do it all again with Frances Valentine. Okay.
• 7:36
  In building a fashion empire the second time around, she's been able to take all of her learnings from almost 30 years in the space, and I am absolutely obsessed with her blueprint this time around. Her blueprint to building a nine-figure brand is creating things that you love. It's that simple. When you have that passion for what you're creating, it really makes it all the more fun and achievable. You need to enjoy what you're doing to really love the process of it all.
• 8:03
  If you have a really great product that you truly believe in and you have other people around you who believe in you, then you can totally get it done. But if your heart and your passion aren't really in it, definitely do not do it. Keep true to what you started it out with.
• 8:20
  You're never too big to hold onto your ethics. While the passion is there, stay with it. When it's not, move on. And with that advice, nothing is insurmountable. We all started somewhere. We all started with an idea. Literally every single founder out there. Most of us were broke when we started and we still make it through. It's a matter of grit and perseverance and it's also a matter of loving what you do and loving what you're creating.
• 8:47
  And last but not least, I want to get into the story of Leila Hormozy. You've probably heard of her. She bootstrapped an empire that generated $100 million in revenue all before turning 28 alongside her partner, Alex. Alex.
• 9:03
  If that's not wildly inspiring, I don't know what is, to be honest. Today, Layla is an American entrepreneur. She's an investor, a speaker, and a consultant. And if there's one person you should take business advice from, it's this woman right here.
• 9:18
  She's telling you that when you see an opportunity, take it as quick as possible. With a business idea, the big piece is just being fast enough to take it and not letting anyone catch up with you. That's where a lot of people make a mistake. They don't move fast enough. They don't build the team. They don't build the infrastructure and they can't grow fast enough.
• 9:39
  There's a reason companies want conservative growth. It's much more sustainable. But in order to capitalize on opportunities, like the ones we're seeing now that the internet is a thing, you have to go about it all differently. How you do things now is completely different than with traditional businesses.
• 9:56
  Yet a lot of people take traditional business infrastructure ideas from how they ran things five to ten years ago and try to apply that to the age we have now. But it doesn't make sense. We've got the internet now. The ones that thrive are the ones that break the rules of the norm and have that go, go, go attitude.
• 10:15
  Actually, SmartSweets founder Tara Bosch mentioned on the show last month that you should always imagine that 10 other people are doing exactly what you're doing in this moment. And think to yourself, who's going to be the one that makes it? Them or you?
• 10:32
  Alrighty, that's all for today. I am so grateful to get the chance to speak to so many brilliant minds and that I get to share these conversations with you. These are five women and conversations that have really resonated with me enormously over the lifetime of Female Startup Club, and I hope that you're able to get as much out of their journey as I have. I'm going to link every one of their episodes in the show notes if you want to dive deeper into each of their journeys.
• 11:01
  And remember that this week and next, I'm giving away signed copies of my book to anyone who makes a TikTok video about the Female Startup Club podcast. All you need to do is post the video and send it to me on email at hello at femalestartupclub.com. I hope you have the absolute best day ever and see you soon. Bye.
• 11:39
  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.
• 12:04
  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.
• 12:26
  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.