Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 Quick Questions with Midnight Mischief founder Tess Nguyen (Part 2)

Transcript

6 Quick Questions with Midnight Mischief founder Tess Nguyen (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. So question number one is, what's your why? Why do you wake up every day and build this business? Can these be like long-winded answers? You can answer however you want. I call them the six quickies because that's what we did from the very beginning, but like they're never really quick. Yeah.
• 0:28
  I think I wake up just trying, like, being really grateful for my life and just trying to be the best I can be because I know that I'm very grateful to live in Australia. My parents, yeah, came from Vietnam, refugees, grew up in the war. A lot of my cousins are still back there. They didn't have the opportunities that we have. So I think it's just like maximizing what I think is successful to me and just trying to be as happy and healthy as possible.
• 0:57
  Love, love. Question number two is what has been your favorite marketing moment so far? Oh, I think right now it's the Christmas in July because like no one else does it. And honestly, it was because I saw KFC do Christmas in July campaign. And I was like, oh, that's cool. Like, why can't I do that? And then, yeah, I started that campaign in 2022 and no other pajama brand has started like selling pajamas in the past.
• 1:23
  during July. So yeah, I think I'm like pretty proud of like creating that. That moment. I love that for you. Yeah, that made it. You already recommended, you know, one podcast that you listen to for Sally, but what other kind of business resources do you go to or like creators or YouTubers or books or podcasts or newsletters, whatever, who are you going to learn from about business?
• 1:48
  Okay, I'm going to sound like a sucker, but obviously your podcast. Oh, thanks. Yeah, I think like learning off a lot of other business owners like who've been there, done that is so important, especially females. I think we definitely have our own unique challenges.
• 2:03
  But other people that I do like are like Layla and Alex Homozy as well. I think it's just they're very like fact-based and I feel like I'm very emotional. So I think just like having someone there like talking about like this is just what you need to do. Like get your feelings out of the way. Just get it done is really important. Practical. Yeah. Practical. Yeah, like very practical, very logical. So I think right now I like them. Yeah.
• 2:29
  I love Layla. I've had her on the show before. Oh, incredible. She's just very straight to the point, like direct. And I love that, you know, yeah, just tell me the thing. Like tell me the thing that I need to know, you know? It's like no excuses. And I think I really like Layla's backstory as well because I relate a lot to her. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 2:48
  Love that. Question number four, how do you win the day? What are the rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful? Yeah, I think, well, right now I'm training for a marathon, so I really love my runs. I think it's just a nice way to like set time for yourself. You're like working on your mindset. It's a great way to check into your body as well. So like, for example, last week it was pretty hectic. And so like I went on my first run and normally like 30 minutes is like really easy for me.
• 3:14
  But I was like, oh, my gosh, my legs feel so heavy. I don't feel like pushing myself. And that's just like a nice litmus test of checking in with yourself because when you're rushing around your business day to day, there's no time to just sit there and feel your body. So, yeah, I love my runs. It keeps me sane. Yeah, I love that. When's the marathon? Oh, it's in September, two months away. What date? 15th.
• 3:41
  And like, is it the Sydney Marathon? I think it's already been, right? Yeah, Sydney Marathon. It hasn't been. It hasn't been. Who want? Well, maybe we need to get a little bit of a cheer squad going on. Like, what if we're on the sidelines in our pajamas? Like, you know, being your cheer squad. I feel like there's a content moment there. I'll start a run club for your business. Okay.
• 4:01
  Love. Great. Amazing. Have you done any of those, like, I mean, it's absolutely not for me. I'm a sleeper, but like, and I think it's like psychopathic, but like psychopathic, psychotic, whatever, like 440 run club in like Bronte and stuff. They fucking run at 440 and they do 10 laps of the Bronte Hill on a Saturday morning. I'm like anyone who goes there is a psychopath, but I also love that for you and that that's what you guys do. But, oh my God, have you done any of
• 4:30
  the social kind of ones? Yeah, I've done run clubs before, but I haven't. Yeah, I haven't done a 440 one, no. Oh man, they're so full on. I'm just like, wow, that is on another level. You just never, never get me there instead of sleeping in. Okay, question number five, worst money mistake and how much did it cost to you?
• 4:52
  Worst money mistakes. Oh, I'm trying to think because there's so many. Give us a couple. It doesn't have to be the worst. Let's get to the worst, but give us whatever you've got. One that comes to mind was like I was going to engage with a wholesale agent to sell my pajamas into a lot of boutiques. And she was like, yeah, like release all these pajamas, like get all this stock in for me. And then my big mistake was not signing or contracting. So then like a few months later, she was like, oh, sorry, like if you think my contract,
• 5:19
  you know a few things have changed I don't want to take on your brand anymore and I was like oh shit I have so many pajamas and I just needed to like sell through them so that was one big money mistake probably another one was like an order mistake like I ordered in a lot of like bamboo shirts not realizing that that's not what my customers wanted I just thought that's what they wanted but you know our customers come to have those like bougier nicer luxury styles but then
• 5:47
  Yeah, bamboo shirts, like everybody sells bamboo shirts. So, yeah, kind of like ordering mistakes, shipping mistakes, I think at the very beginning. I didn't even know like Seafreight existed. So I was air shipping everything from THO Express. So, yeah. Wow. Very expensive mistakes. And perhaps maybe one last one is,
• 6:09
  not having my finances up to order and being hit with a huge tax bill that I wasn't realized, like I didn't realize was going to happen. How much was it? Oh, definitely like over 100k. Oh, shit. I hate that for you. Yeah. That stinks. Bad mistakes, but I think, yeah, it's all learning lessons. It's all just like, yeah, teething issues that if you don't come from business,
• 6:34
  like you're bound to make those mistakes. But I always think that, you know, those, you're making smaller mistakes so you can be better to manage them when you're bigger, right?
• 6:45
  Imagine if you had, you know, a million dollar tax bill, like that would have ruined me. Totally, totally. And I think it's like in business, they're just like, it's bound to happen that these like shitty bad things kind of like come up, you know, whatever mistakes or just circumstances arise. And like, you have to be prepared for that because it's not ever all rosy.
• 7:10
  yeah last question question number six what is just a crazy story good or bad from your journey oh I guess one recently was yeah I was recently on Forbes 30 under 30 which is like insane to me because I think most people um yeah most people I guess
• 7:33
  aspire to be on that list. And I think that was always on like my bucket list. I think, yeah, I think it's just a crazy moment for me because I didn't really talk about my upbringing, but I guess, you know, Asian background, grew up with refugee parents. That's not expected for someone like me. So I think it's just being able to be on a list and show other people who are like me, who were like me, that you can also do it too. Like if you put your mind to it and if you believe in yourself.
• 8:02
  So I think that's a crazy moment. That is a crazy moment. Congratulations. I think when I met you that night, we went to Hot Pot. We were celebrating. You had just won the award, I think. Yeah. That night or that day or that, you know, in that time. I love that for you. What has been the impact of that award, you know, since then? And like, how does that award come about? Like if someone's like, that's a dream, what happens? So this was back late last year.
• 8:28
  That was on my list. I honestly just like YouTubed how to get on that list. And then I also asked a friend how she got on. And she said she didn't give me much information, but she just gave me like a little background. But then I went on the website and you can nominate yourself. So I got my PR to do it because, yeah, they're the best at it.
• 8:46
  Yeah, making you look the best, I suppose. So she did that. And then a few months later in May, they reached out being like, hey, you're a semi-finalist. And they gave you a huge form to fill out. So I spent like two, three hours on that application. I was on holidays in Vietnam at the time. So I was like, no, I'm not going to dinner. Like I need to finish this now. And the funny thing was like I didn't know that they reached out to me because I was on holiday. And they were trying to reach out to me through LinkedIn, being like, hey, check your email. Like you need to submit this, like end of today.
• 9:16
  So, yeah, that happened. And then I think like midway through that process,
• 9:23
  So that was back in March. And then a few weeks later, they asked to like fact check and verify a few like numbers and things like that. And then in May, they just like emailed us being like, hey, you're on the list. And they published it. And yeah, that was it essentially. Oh my God, that's so cool. So what is the criteria that matters to them? Is it revenue and kind of like size of the business or like what are the things that they're looking for? Yeah.
• 9:47
  I'm honestly not too sure, but I think like in the form itself, they did ask a lot about like background and like how much funding you got or like did your parents help? So I think they take all of that into consideration, like you as a whole. And I think they do do a lot of background research because like when they did write my bio, like some of the information that was in it was like,
• 10:08
  like information you could only hear like through a podcast. So they definitely like listen to a lot of podcasts. So if you do want to go on that list, I definitely recommend to, I guess, like social proof yourself, like in the lead up to that, like I started posting on LinkedIn more. I had already a few podcasts out. I had news articles out about me. So there was a lot of like proof that, you know, I was real and I was alive and actually in the space. So that would definitely help you get on that list a lot more.
• 10:37
  Oh my God. Great tips. Thank you so much. This was so awesome. Thank you for coming on the show and sharing all of these amazing gems. I am so excited to watch kind of the next few months and what happens with the licensing and what happens with Cyber Weekend craziness. Yes. Thank you so much for having me on. I loved it.
• 11:01
  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.
• 11:26
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• 11:48
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