Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Bonus episode: Get to know us!

Transcript

Bonus episode: Get to know us! · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is your weekly Hype Girl chat with Doon and Josephine.
• 0:13
  Hello and welcome back to the show. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. This episode slash series is a really exciting development in the female startup club universe. We have a new co-host joining us, Josephine, and every Friday, Josephine and I will be checking in to talk about what's current and trending in the world of business with tips on how you can leverage that too, and what's coming up inside the Facebook group.
• 0:42
  This episode is actually more like a reintroduction to us both, so you can get to know us a little. And this series is new, so stick with us while we find our groove on Fridays. If you want to explore something in more detail, join us, drop into the group, and we will see you there. You can find it linked in the show notes. Let's get into it. This is the weekly Hype Girl chat with Doon and Josephine.
• 1:09
  Hi, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hello, thank you for having me. It's nice to be on this side of things. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited about this. I feel like we should start by giving everyone a little bit of a context, a little bit of a preview of what's happening here and what's going to be happening in your ears every Friday. Yeah. This is Josephine. Josephine's our newest guest.
• 1:37
  FSC co-host on the podcast. And since we just signed with ACAST, which I feel like I've mentioned a couple of times on the show now, we are introducing some different kinds of content series onto the show. And this being one of them, every Friday, Josephine and I are going to be chiming in to answer questions. We're going to be talking about different topics that you've asked
• 2:06
  kind of just chit chat about what's going on in the world of business for women. Yes. So here we are. I also feel like I've been talking about this with you for months, months and months and months. It must have been like maybe even six months already since we spoke about doing this. And I feel like one of the things that comes up on the show all the time is like,
• 2:30
  start before you're ready, like don't wait for perfection. And I kept like delaying, delaying, just being like, oh, I'm not sure, like this way, that way, this way, that way. So anyway, I didn't follow my own advice, but we're here and we're not waiting for perfection. We're going to see how it goes. And just jump in and go for it. Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here. Like you said, we've been talking about it for a little while.
• 2:56
  And it's exciting to be on this side of things. And I think also for the audience to just get to know a different side of you, because you're always, you know, asking the questions and you're still such a familiar voice in people's ears. And I think it's time to get to know Dune.
• 3:15
  So I'm excited that we can make that happen. And Josephine, and Josephine, this is a good chance to reintroduce ourselves to the show. Everyone knows you from Instagram, but not who is Josephine. Let's just start by talking about how was our day, because I want to like rant about something. How was your day? Oh, it's morning for you. How was your weekend? It's morning for me. I treated myself to such a good morning routine this morning, and it's a game changer.
• 3:44
  I did all the things that you know that you should do and usually kind of fall away in the haze of the week. And last week I had, I mean, we touched on this a little bit already. I had a particularly bad week in terms of this. And you just feel that spiral, right? And by the weekend, I was just, you know, a bit spent. And I think with the clocks changing and I'm based in London, by the way. So people in the northern hemisphere can relate. It's getting pretty cold and dark.
• 4:14
  I made a point of getting up at seven, having a shower, made this concoction of lemon, turmeric, ginger, pepper, bit of salt, all the things, had a meditation, went for a little walk and got a bit of sunlight before hopping on. And now we're here and yeah, just remind you why, why they say to do these things.
• 4:40
  Bliss, absolute bliss. I also started my day really well today. I was doing this, I think her name's Rachel Attard, and she does these kind of like...
• 4:51
  workout nutrition kind of plans for women who have gone through kind of like some kind of fatigue and go through burnout and overwhelm and things like that. So it's things that are like gentle on your body instead of kind of high impact exercise that adds more cortisol into your system. Yeah.
• 5:11
  And so I started her program today and I did it outside. The birds were chirping and I was like, this is just so nice. So nice. Best way to start the day. And I've had a great day besides this thing that I'm going to rant about. Super nice. I'm going to, I haven't heard of her, but let's link her in the show notes and I'm going to check that out next week as well. Yes. She's a Gold Coast gal. Gold Coast girl. What do you need to rant about? What happened? What happened?
• 5:37
  Did you see my Instagram? I imagine because it's morning for you, you haven't seen it yet, but did you see what I was on Instagram today? No, it's an 8 a.m. Monday. I'm sitting under a rock. Tell me. Okay, so it's some internet drama that I'm just like, it is 2023 and this is just wild to me. But basically the short gist is on the weekend,
• 6:05
  There was this woman that I follow. She's a venture capitalist. She posted about an article that she was quoted, you know, in the article kind of thing. And she was quoted just sharing her opinion on the landscape of VC and the funding gap. And the article is great. It's amazing. Her post was literally like one sentence, like, here's my feature in this article kind of vibe. And then...
• 6:27
  post the article. And so, you know, usually on LinkedIn, that's where it ends. It's like, great, quick post, couple of cool comments, like congratulations, blah. Congratulations, exactly. The clap. Yep, the clap. But that's not where this ends.
• 6:41
  Basically, this guy who I've seen around LinkedIn before starts chiming in. And mind you, this was Saturday night. So, you know, it's all just a bit odd. But he starts ranting about how diversity is the dumbest shit of the century. And that's a direct quote. How we as women are the majority in everything. But it's just classic that we just complain and complain and like all this other stuff. It kind of goes on for a while. Yeah.
• 7:09
  And then he starts throwing out these low-key threats of assault to other women in the comments, kind of like he said some really weird one that was like would bang you, then abortion. Oh, my God. Like just weird out-of-line stuff.
• 7:24
  stuff. Anyway, so he basically deletes the post, but of course... Damage has been done. Damage has been done. The screenshots have been taken, my friend. Welcome to the 21st century. Doesn't work like that anymore. Doesn't work like that anymore. And he deletes his LinkedIn, all gone. And anyway, so this is kind of like unfolding on LinkedIn. There's been like some update posts and
• 7:50
  It was just one of those things where I was like, who, like, what? Just what? Like, how are we here? How are we here and how are we hearing this kind of stuff all the time still? Anyway, then today...
• 8:03
  the story evolves. Basically, the company posts this apology, like, on his behalf. It's kind of like a, I reckon they've chat GPT'd it. It's really simple. And then, you know, there's like him apologizing within the kind of post. And then one of the things that they say in the apology is like, this is, I think for word for word, they say,
• 8:25
  This is part of an ongoing pattern of behavior, but, you know, like this person's going to go and get therapy kind of thing and like still works for the company, like still, you know, going to keep doing all the things, but basically just like the weirdest apology that is being made. Oh, no. And also kind of excusing it. Yeah, excusing it. Like this is part of a bigger picture, so it's fine that he's doing this because people do this.
• 8:50
  What? Yep, exactly. And I was like, this is a two out of 10 apology. Like it's literally a two out of 10. What the hell? Anyway. And zero repercussions. I'm subscribed to this story. I'm going to share updates, but this guy, I'm like, bro, just try and come back to LinkedIn. What the hell? It's a good reminder. I think, I don't know if you feel like this as well, but it's
• 9:15
  I think with working on the show and that being such a positive message, I kind of, I sometimes get a clouded view that women are just killing it and it's going great. And obviously the stats still come through and they always, you know, shock you to the core and remind you, but this is such like a stark reminder of just how it is out there still. Yeah. How people's minds are still working, how like it's, it's so backwards. It's,
• 9:44
  It's so backwards and I'm always like gobsmacked when I hear this kind of thing. And I've had, as you know, people say some pretty crazy shit to my face disguised as like wisdom. But it's kind of gobsmacking. But then on the other side, like I'm not even surprised because I feel like –
• 10:02
  I don't know, just the more you like peel off a layer, the more you're like, wow, a lot of people have these like weird thoughts as if like there's, as if like gender like equality is like, I don't know, not real or something. I'm like, bro, look at the stats. Like...
• 10:18
  Funding gap is real. Pay gap is real. Women are entering into poverty on retirement at like a crazy rate. Like what? It just blows my mind, like really blows my mind. Anyway, that's my rant. I wanted to get it off my chest. I would have told you this whether we were recording or not, so I figured I'd put it in the show. Yeah.
• 10:39
  I'm glad you did. Please keep me updated. And let's also talk about it on our Instagram and keep people updated. Yes. In the community. Yes. Yes, we should. We should. I want to see where this goes. I'm like...
• 10:53
  I'm like, what the heck? What the heck? What the heck? All right. How should we start this episode? I feel like we need to start an episode or this episode and this series with an introduction to you and how we know each other and how we got here. Yeah. I love this story. Do you want to start with a little something? Yeah.
• 11:12
  Absolutely. Let's see. I just turned 27. And then I start kind of thinking about how long ago things were. I don't know if you do the same. I saw some friends from high school at the weekend. And wow, it's now been 15 years that we know each other. Last week was 14 years. And I had the same thinking about you. It's been nine years ago that we met. No. Which is wild. Yeah.
• 11:39
  We met nine years ago. Are you sure? Nine? Nine. That's nearly 10. That's a decade. Nine is nearly 10. Wait, you were 17? No, I was 18. Almost 19. You were 18. Yeah. Okay. But I just turned 27.
• 11:56
  Wait, what? Oh my God. Okay, you tell the story. You tell the story. So we met in London. I was 18 going on 19. I was in my first year of university in Amsterdam at the time. And I had grown up kind of in the south of England and a lot of my friends had moved to university in that time. So in the summer I would come back and be around there.
• 12:22
  Often. And a friend of mine was working in a cafe in, I was called, called Overunder. Shout out to Overunder Cafe. Shout out to Overunder. Shout out to it. It's my local. Exactly. Also happened to be Doon's local coffee shop from where she was living and working at the time with PA, her husband. And they had...
• 12:43
  cool events on sometimes a friend of mine was working there and she was like hey just come along and see what the vibe is and maybe you want to stick around they do these coffee inspired cocktails and it was cool it was a nice vibe I don't know if they still do this but they should and Ed sold the business oh he did they've gone kind of they're all over London now I put it into my Google Maps the other day and it just popped up everywhere I was like oh hello yeah
• 13:10
  They grew well. They got bought by, I think it's like Blank Street Coffee. Oh, that's the name. I think. Very cool. I'm getting that right. Anyway, I digress. Go on. We love an exit story.
• 13:24
  I do love an exit story. And yeah, I just went along. It got super busy for her. So I was helping a little bit with the serving and making the drinks and tidying up and things like that. And then we got chatting to each other and you were working at the time for Sweet Pea.
• 13:46
  a creative agency that you had together with PA. And I think we just had a good vibe with each other, stuck around with each other for the evening. And you gave me your number and said, hey, look, if you ever need an internship, just drop me a message. And I think I called with...
• 14:03
  the enthusiasm of an 18 year old the next day. Nine in the morning, like, hi. It's me. So about this internship, you were like, yeah, this chick loves a spreadsheet. We need her.
• 14:18
  And that was that. I joined you for two weeks, two or three weeks, I think it was, that same summer. Had a great time, and we just always stayed in touch. I think whenever we would both happen to be in London, we'd hang out. And it was a couple of years later that you asked me to jump on board with Female Startup Club and start kind of part-time helping when things were picking up. And that was about three years ago now, I suppose.
• 14:48
  That is so crazy. I love our story. I'm like, this has just evolved into the coolest thing. You started part-time. You were kind of running the Instagram at that point. And I think that was in 2021 that we started doing that while you were finishing your degree. Exactly. Then for part of your degree, you had to do another internship. So we trialed working together full-time, which was a real vibe. And...
• 15:16
  Then I hired you full time and now here we are, kind of a year into you working full time.
• 15:23
  and now co-host of the podcast. It's a long journey and it's a good one. I know. It's so cool to see that evolution and kind of how that's gradually happened as life has changed as well, kind of how first it fitted around university, and then now it's turned into this. And in the meantime, having such a close relationship with you, I was literally saying yesterday, I was like, I don't think I have consistently spoken to someone as often as we chat. Yeah.
• 15:52
  Yeah, it's like every other day. It's been a good three years that we talk for an hour every week and we're constantly back and forth over message. So, yeah, I feel very, very lucky to be part of the team. Me too. I feel lucky too. I love this evolution for us. It's a real vibe. Yeah. It's a real vibe. Absolutely. So for this episode today, I thought it might be nice for –
• 16:20
  either people that are new here or people that haven't heard you speak on other podcasts before to get a bit of a sense of your background, how you got started with the podcast, and maybe even a few kind of practicalities for how this first came about those three years ago. So I know, kind of knowing you, that your story starts off in a particularly special way in the Australian bush with a hustler mum who's working to make ends meet.
• 16:50
  I just wanted to talk a few minutes about this upbringing and what this experience was like for you. And...
• 16:58
  Yeah. Yes. Let's do it. It's funny because I was giving a talk at Canberra, I think it was two weeks ago, and like showing photos and kind of talking about my story. And so it's really like front of mind at the moment. And I had a conversation with my mom about it, which I'm going to share in this episode that I thought was just such a cool insight and
• 17:22
  struck me really. But okay, my background, where does it start? So to paint the picture, I grew up in the middle of the bush in Australia in this tiny, tiny, it's not even a town. It was
• 17:38
  on a creek. I think the population, well, I know the population is circa 90 people, nine zero. And we lived this really like off the grid lifestyle down like a very, very, very, very, very long dirt road. We lived in a little shed that my mom did up over time. And
• 18:00
  no electricity in the beginning, outdoor toilet, lived off the land, ate our own veggies, all that kind of thing, and chickens, which was horrible. Eating your pet chickens is just on a whole other level. But anyway. Character building. Character building, yeah. You'll never see me pluck a chicken, I can tell you that. Not anymore.
• 18:24
  So that's how we grew up. And that was totally out of necessity. My mom had no money. She was poor. And she was just doing the best she could to get by and kind of, you know, survive. So she was raising me in the bush. And it's a story that I used to be really embarrassed about. And I know I've told you that before. It's something that I used to feel this kind of weird shame in my early 20s being like, oh, yeah.
• 18:51
  you know, my upbringing looks different to other people. And I always just carried this kind of just weight around it. And I didn't really know why. I guess just immaturity and not being able to see it for the blessing that it actually is. And through Female Startup Club and hearing other people's stories and kind of, I
• 19:16
  yeah, I guess a sense of maturity, I just started to really cherish my story and want to tell it because it was so beautiful and it really shaped who I am. And, you know, it's this story that got me interested in money. It got me interested in wealth. It got me interested in why things are the
• 19:38
  Yeah, it just really shifted my perspective, I guess, when I started to cherish this upbringing instead of being kind of embarrassed about it. So now I love to tell that story. And I was talking to my mum about it the other day because I was telling her
• 19:54
  I think it was like a month ago I was hosting an event at a conference and I was telling the story there and I was telling my mom, you know, I'm going to be on stage, mom. Like we're going to be telling our story. And I was talking about it and she was like, oh, wow.
• 20:11
  But like, Dune, I never saw myself as poor. That's not how I would ever have described myself. She was like, I'm rich in so many ways. Like that's just not a word I ever would have said. And I was like, wow, that's crazy because that's definitely how I saw it. Definitely rich in lots of other ways too, but you know.
• 20:35
  To me, that upbringing and not having what other people had and being different and kind of being a bit of an outsider, I definitely likened that to being poor. But, yeah, I thought it was really interesting that her perspective was very different to mine. Absolutely. And it also just was like, wow, that's powerful, mum. Yeah.
• 20:56
  Yeah. Go you, girlfriend. Exactly. How two people can be in the same situation but have such wildly different experiences of it. Yeah. That's super special. Yeah. And I think especially these things that we have when we're younger, anything that sets us apart is just such a source of insecurity. And when you're older, you realize that those things are your superpower. And those things are the things that make you stand out against the rest and you're
• 21:24
  you know, give you that original thing that makes you you and makes you succeed in a specific thing. And when you look back to this upbringing, were there any specific experiences or people that you can see connecting back to your mission with Female Startup Club today, that you can look back and go like, oh, that makes sense. Like that little girl was going to
• 21:46
  Be the host. Yeah. I mean, I think that, I don't know if this is going to answer the question properly, but I think that throughout like the podcast, like starting by hearing all these other like brilliant women's stories and understanding that everyone has a kind of different backstory and we all have these little seedlings that drop in over our lifetimes that kind of shape who we are.
• 22:09
  From those conversations and through that connection to all these brilliant women, I just started to be like, oh, gosh, like, yeah, my story is also a story that I should be talking about and telling because even though I've lived, you know, 20 something years at that point, thinking one way about my background now, I feel really different about it. So yeah, definitely through the show, that's kind of brought it out of me, I guess. It's beautiful. Absolutely.
• 22:38
  I love that. And let's dive a little bit into the practicalities of getting started with the podcast and creating Female Startup Club and creating this community. It might be interesting for people who are starting their own thing, maybe even starting a podcast, but also starting a business to kind of look back to that origin story.
• 23:01
  period and how you were able to make that happen. And as we love to ask this question on the podcast, you probably know what's coming, but what was the money piece for you like in those early days? Like how did you practically get the stuff together, get the time together to be able to, you know, jump into this full time and create a female starter club?
• 23:22
  Yep. Okay. So starting with, you know, kind of the early origin stories of Female Startup Club, it's important to note for everyone listening, and it's just so lol that I've built a career in talking and conversation, but I had no business in public speaking.
• 23:40
  absolutely zero, nada, none. I was terrified of public speaking. I was terrified of public speaking to like a room of three people. I was terrified of telling stories. I was terrified of being on camera. Like everything just gave me the like absolute chills and you would never catch me putting my hand up for something like that. But then...
• 24:02
  Rewinding back to 2018, I had started my direct-to-consumer jewelry business. And I guess that got me a little bit more comfortable kind of talking, you know, on Instagram stories and things like that, talking about the brand. Because I guess I just had to, right? Like I had to build this profile online to talk about the brand. I wasn't good at it, but I was trying. And...
• 24:29
  Even if it wasn't my face, it was just a voiceover or something like that. Even that was hard for me at that point. But that probably built up a tiny, tiny, tiny little piece of, like, practice, I guess. And then in 2019, it was, like, maybe a couple months before...
• 24:51
  I got married. I had been reading this book called Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. And the book is amazing. It's huge. It profiles like billionaires and athletes and kind of like high performers to understand really direct insights into how they work, how they make money, how they kind of win the day, all that kind of stuff. And I loved it. I was like, this is so cool. But I'm not
• 25:19
  I don't really see myself in, you know, this dude who's a billionaire. Like he's not really a role model to me because our circumstances are just different. And in the book there was like 10 women. It was really, really small or 10% of the book was women. And so I was like, cool, like I want to know this same kind of stuff but from the female perspective and a woman's perspective. So maybe I'll just start by, and I think actually at the time I thought about doing this on Netflix.
• 25:48
  email. Like it was going to be a blog, I think at the very, very beginning. And I just had my six quick questions that I was sending to people on email. They were replying. And I think I was posting them to Instagram, like really, you know, just nothing. Then somehow I don't remember what made it change, but somehow I was like, oh, maybe we should do
• 26:08
  these kind of like five to 10 minute videos on IGTV. So then I shifted it from kind of like written form and written form was like my most comfortable state. I was like, yep, like there's nothing face to face here. I'm not having to kind of like put myself out there. This is just like the written form.
• 26:26
  And so then it changed to video. And I think we did maybe like two or three before 2019 finished, like really just nothing. And at the time, Instagram had this feature, IGTV, where you could post these longer videos. And it was such a shit feature because it had no discoverability. So you were posting this content that wasn't going to all of your followers and
• 26:51
  And also didn't have an opportunity for people to really find it. It wasn't discoverable. So, and that's why that feature doesn't exist anymore. So at the time my husband was like, you should start a podcast. Start a podcast. This is like the thing. And I was like, oh my God. Oh, absolutely not. Like just not even a chance of that feels right. But
• 27:14
  In that feeling, in that moment, I was like, but I wish I could. I wish I did have the skill to talk publicly. Like I want to be that person that can talk publicly. I want to be that person that can share my voice and my ideas and my stories. And I felt really scared, but I also felt like I wish that I did have that. And it was that tiny little moment of a feeling where I was like, I wish I did have that, that made me be like,
• 27:42
  What if I just tried? What if I just started the podcast and just saw what happened or see what would happen? And, you know, it's not going to be a big deal. It'll be great for like building connections and network and all that kind of stuff and just see what happens. So I think it was like maybe December or maybe January 2020.
• 28:04
  December 2019 or January 2020 that I posted like those 10 minute videos as a podcast. And you can still go back to the very beginning of my feed and listen to these and they are not good. Let me tell you. If your first version isn't embarrassing, then you started too late. That's what they say, right?
• 28:22
  Yes. And that is a hundred percent true facts over here. So I started posting those and at the time, you know, it was pre COVID. So I'd been traveling and I was traveling in my husband and I had been living out of a suitcase for like a year and a half traveling around. So I was like, Oh, I'm in Australia. Then I'm going to be in the UK. I'm going to the U S like, I'll just do it in person. I'll do maybe one episode a month or something like that. Just no real plans for the
• 28:51
  Fast forward to March 2020, I had kind of had this feeling that I didn't really want to continue with the jewelry brand. And mixed in with these thoughts around like, you know, hearing more perspectives of successful women who are doing cool things in this kind of really direct, no bullshit approach, um,
• 29:13
  I decided I was going to shut the jewelry brand down because COVID rolls around. And I was like, yeah, this isn't what I'm going to focus on right now. I'm going to just pivot basically because at that point, maybe I'd done like a few of those kind of
• 29:28
  small episodes. I think I'd posted four or something to the podcast feed. And I really liked it, even though I was really scared and they're a bit awkward and all this kind of thing. So made the decision to shut down the jewelry brand, decided to start the podcast. At the time I'd gone on this, like, I think back in 2018, I'd gone on this rampage of buying all these
• 29:50
  like domains on GoDaddy. So I had LASartupClub.com, BrisbaneStartupClub.com, LondonStartupClub.com, ParisStartupClub.com, all around the world, like literally 30 major cities. And one of them was FemalesartupClub.com. So I didn't even put a second thought into it. I was like, well, I already have that domain name.
• 30:09
  I may as well put one of those domains to use because there's like 30 on there that constantly get renewed and it's ridiculous. I need to let them go. Do you still have them? Yes. It's bloody annoying. I need to go through and remove all these stupid domains that I have. Glittergummybears.com. Yeah, that's my favorite. Attachment issues. Oh, my God. GoDaddy.com. Yes, attachment issues. I need to get rid of these. Seriously.
• 30:38
  And so just, you know, started with the podcast, put it up, started kind of posting about it. And then the way that I got to monetizing it was really interesting because a lot of the advice out there online, and I think even the advice Tim Ferriss shares, is something like once you get until, no, what does he say? Wait until you get to 100,000 downloads and then you can start looking for a sponsor. And I was like, wow.
• 31:06
  Nah, I need a sponsor now because otherwise I can't hire an editor and I need to hire an editor because I can't do this myself. And my husband and I are trying to do it and it's driving us both insane. So that's just not an option for me. So I put together a really simple pitch deck.
• 31:22
  No, it wasn't even a pitch deck. It was a pitch email. It kind of said, like, here's my vision. Here's what I'm thinking. Here's my audience. And by that time, I think we might have been already at, like, May 2020. And I think we had total 4,000 downloads. So literally nothing. Penis. A whole lot of nothing. Yeah.
• 31:44
  Peanuts. And so I make a list of the sponsors that I thought would be a great fit for the show when it came to e-commerce. And it was like Klaviyo, Shopify, and like whoever else is big in e-commerce, the big players. There was literally 10.
• 32:01
  I go to Klaviyo, can't find an email, fill out a contact form, copy paste in my pitch email. I go to Shopify, I do the same and I just do that for the 10 emails. Great. You know, laptop closed, go to bed. Literally just their general info line over. Yep. Wow. Wow.
• 32:19
  Yep. No, for Klaviyo, a contact form. Literally a contact form. There's nothing there. Just a contact form. Next day I wake up, I have this email from Mary and Mary's like, love this. Perfect timing. Let's get on a call. And I was like,
• 32:34
  cool, let's get on a call. And that call was such a pivotal moment at the very beginning of Female Startup Club because, you know, I was so naive, just kind of like putting something together, throwing it out there. Like there was nothing fancy or tailored about it. There was no, you know, slick one pager. There was no nothing. But
• 32:54
  Somehow I hit the right message at the right time to the right person who believed in what my vision was and saw what I saw and just decided to go for it. And so in that call, we, and I don't know if it was that call, but like from that call, I landed a $25,000 deal with Klaviyo and that made me sit right up and be like, wow, maybe this could be...
• 33:23
  my new business. Like maybe this is what I meant to do because I loved the podcast. I'd already just gotten so into these conversations and chatting and learning from these really smart women. And it had never crossed my mind that it could like be a business. I was just kind of like, this is a podcast that's, I don't know, just kind of mucking around. I'm on my friend's floor. We're
• 33:47
  What the heck? And then, yep, got the $25,000 deal. And that was the start of Female Startup Club. Oh, it's amazing. I feel like there are so many lessons to unpack in this story. And I'm sure we could sit here for hours going through all of them. But I really want to touch on this idea that
• 34:08
  People, at least I, and I think a lot of us tend to feel like we need to lean into the things that come natural to us and the things that might seem obvious. Whereas this is such a story of, you know, going out of your comfort zone and just because something isn't immediately easy doesn't mean that it's not for you.
• 34:30
  And there's ways to like dip your toes into that thing to keep chipping away at it before doing that big scary thing. Like this idea of writing the blog post before, like,
• 34:42
  It all happens so kind of naturally on your path. But when you look back, it's so funny to see like, okay, clearly scared of public speaking. I'm going to instead write a blog post and put it out there. But you still wanted to get that message across. Okay, get a bit of attraction from this. Feel this feeling onto the next step. I'm going to record very short videos. Still not loving it, but I'm going to do it. And these all prove to be little warm up points. Okay.
• 35:07
  for when you got to that podcast and did that big, scary thing. And I think that's such a big lesson there of, you know, this mountain that looks so daunting and scary, but there's ways to chip away at that in the meantime and dip your toe into things that feel uncomfortable until you get to that point. Absolutely.
• 35:26
  Yeah, I just, I love this story and I'm so happy that you did that. As far as I'm sure all the listeners are. I'm so happy about that. I also think like something that I thought, and this is a really great reminder for anyone listening who wants to try something. When I first started the podcast and when I was having those early conversations with Mary, I was like, yeah, I'm going to be a little bit more.
• 35:50
  I just decided I'm not really going to focus on the numbers. I'm going to give myself a hundred episodes. Let's do a hundred episodes this year. Cause I needed a goal, right? And you know, I love to set a goal every year. I needed a goal. And so it was May at this point. And I was like, I need to do a hundred episodes and then we'll see. We'll have a good amount of data to determine whether this is something or whether this isn't something and whether we pivot or whether we stop.
• 36:20
  posted our 100th episode on the 29th of December in 2020. And at that time, it was just already really obvious that that's what was happening. You know, I felt like...
• 36:36
  Around episode 70, I remember starting to really come into my confidence on the show. I wasn't so scared and having like a bloody heart attack every time I was getting on these interviews. And that's also when I started hearing from our community, like, you know, I've been following since the beginning. I've really seen the change and it's just gotten, you know, a lot better. Like I got that direct feedback. And so...
• 37:04
  That combined with, you know, downloads and with interest from other sponsors and, you know, things kind of just naturally kind of growing. Yeah, it was like it's good to set yourself a test ground is, I think, what I'm trying to say. Absolutely. And have that big kind of 2019, I guess at the time it was, vision that you work towards for that whole year and just tell yourself this is going to be it. Yeah.
• 37:32
  And I'm going to focus on that. And then we'll see at the end, you know, what's come out of that.
• 37:38
  Yes. And I focused just on the podcast as well. I was like relentless in like this hundred episodes. At that time it was three episodes a week to get there. And I just like consistently chipped away every single day, like just small wins, small wins, small, small progress, because I knew that that compounded effect over the course of a year, we'd actually be able to look back and be like, oh, okay, yeah, this makes sense or this doesn't make sense.
• 38:07
  Mm-hmm. Absolutely. When you look back at, especially, I mean, we've spoken about this fear of public speaking that has now, I mean, judging by your events last week and the week before, you had BitchCon, you had the talk at Canva. How does that feel for you now to stand in front of a group of people like that? And are there any other big kind of personal development leaps that you feel like you've made in the last few years because of the podcast? Yeah.
• 38:37
  I mean, it's so different being on the other side of...
• 38:43
  the microphone or the other side of talking on stage, it's really like I'm learning the skill set almost from scratch because I'm so used to being interviewer and I'm so not used to being interviewee. And it's definitely something that I'm probably more comfortable now, you know, in these situations being interviewed on a podcast, but talking live is...
• 39:07
  Talking live to hundreds of people is absolutely terrifying, like absolutely terrifying. I thought I was going to have a heart attack before BitchCon. It was just unbelievable. 550 people, I couldn't believe it. It was crazy. I was exhausted afterwards. I'd been stressed about it for weeks. Yeah.
• 39:27
  But it's really, really fun as well once you kind of come out the other side and you're able to just like reap the benefit of the adrenaline. Oh, good, yeah. It's great. To prove to yourself that you can just do that.
• 39:41
  You know, to feel that fear and then to stand up there and do it anyway. I don't think there's a better way to prove to yourself that, you know, you're doing the right thing and that you're a badass. Saying like, hey, buddy, look what I'm doing. Honestly, it's crazy for anyone who wants to get into the like public speaking sphere of,
• 40:01
  It's so hard because you're like, oh, how do I practice? And the way that you practice is by just saying yes and just throwing yourself in and doing it. And then you learn really fast because...
• 40:16
  I mean, there's just no other option. So it's hard, but it's great. And you should just throw yourself into it. Yes. It's rewarding. All the yeses. All the yeses. We touched upon it a little bit there that you have a big goal every year that you set yourself. I know it's a little bit early, although it's creeping up on it. Oh, my God. Don't ask me what my goal is for next year. I haven't thought about it. Wait, let's set it now. Let's set it now. Yeah. 2024.
• 40:46
  What comes to mind? Oh, okay. Do you have any ideas? Well, what comes to mind for you? What's your big goal for 2024? My big goal for 2024 is
• 40:58
  This is a reminder for everyone to start thinking about your big goals for 2024. Exactly, it's coming up. And also I'd like to know what your 2023 goal was and if we're online to reaching it. But maybe we'll hit on that first and then we'll see if that sparks an idea for our 2024 goals.
• 41:17
  So my 2023 goal was, I didn't hit it. It was a revenue goal. And it was kind of building off the momentum that we were doing last year. Last year, we did multi-six figures in sales. I wanted to do more multi-six figures in sales this year. And we definitely did not hit that, which was such a shame. But the other goal, I said it.
• 41:38
  couple, not even a couple of months ago. I said it at the beginning of the year, but not like January at the beginning of the year. But another goal that kind of started, I started observing that I was saying all the time was that I wanted to join another podcast network. And so I was originally in a podcast network in 2020, maybe 2021. And I could see lots of benefits from being in a podcast network.
• 42:03
  I just wanted to be in a different one. And that was my goal for this year. And so I honestly usually am the kind of person that really takes steps towards my goal. And I definitely took steps in different directions, but I wouldn't say I was relentless in the way that I was in like 2020. But then out of the blue, a couple of weeks ago,
• 42:27
  Glenn James from My Millennial Money, who is just the best hype guy and such a cool person. Shout out to Glenn, Glennie. He and I were having lunch a couple weeks ago, and I've spoken to ACAST before.
• 42:43
  You know, like I'd been on their radar like maybe at the end of last year or something like that, like a while ago. But we were having lunch and then we were walking around the park afterwards just kind of like having a coffee and chatting. And I was telling him, you know, I really want to join a podcast network. And he was like...
• 43:00
  well, ACAR's office is just over there. Like, we should just go in and say hi. And I was like, what? What do you mean? And I was like, what? They'll all be working. It's like 4.30 on a Thursday. Yeah. And he was like, no, let's go in. Let's just go in. And basically, this is the beginning of...
• 43:21
  this spiral into me signing with ACAST, which... You just walked in there? Talk us through that. We just walked on in. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, it was amazing. It was amazing. We just walked in, had a meeting, and...
• 43:38
  you know, just somehow all things ended up lining up in an amazing way. And now here we are, proudly part of the ACAST podcast network alongside some really amazing talent in Australia and around the world, but podcasts like Shameless in Australia, if you know it, they're signed with ACAST. Girls That Invest, also part of ACAST talent. And yeah, awesome.
• 44:05
  So goal ticked, feeling pretty good about it. Lots of cool stuff to come. My new 23 goal ticks off the list. That's super exciting. Yes, it was a goal that I wasn't expecting to happen, but it did and I'm so stoked. And, yeah, it's a reminder to set yourself goals so that you have those North Stars that you're working towards and, I don't know, you'll get there. Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 44:32
  I think what comes to mind from that small 2024 goal is to get our video content strategy pristine. So we have some great video content going. We can share little clips. Watch this space. Watch this space. Yes. Watch this space. It's coming. It's coming. Before we move on to the six quick questions part of the episode. Oh, my God. I forgot about the six quick questions.
• 45:02
  I'm so not prepared. Good, good. That's the best. I wanted to ask you one question that came from our community. It's something that's also been a hot topic in Magic, our private community for founders and future founders recently. And I would just love to get your take. So this is a message from at Paulina Monica Polak. She popped into our DMs and she asked,
• 45:27
  Hi there. I'm currently managing my full-time job and two businesses and would love any advice on how to actually do this successfully. I would love some advice on how to actually find time for everything, including dating and social life. It's so confusing. I mean, this resonates big time. I think...
• 45:46
  everyone can relate to the struggle of timekeeping and making things work within the business, but also how to balance that with a dating life, a social life, and where to find that, you know, lifestyle balance. If you could give one piece of advice to Paulina on how to manage your time as an entrepreneur, what would you tell?
• 46:07
  Oh, man, there's a lot of things. I feel that pain. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. My one piece of advice would be to, and this sounds so lame and so basic, but honestly...
• 46:22
  It's key. It's time blocking and doing the dream week template. I should link it in the show notes because I got you to do it. I did it. It's something, it's this really simple exercise where you kind of look at your calendar, look at everywhere that you're spending time. Yeah.
• 46:42
  deciding on what your priorities are going to be and then making sure that you've kind of mapped out enough time to each of those different buckets throughout the week and creating like this. It's like the dream week. If you could have the dream week where you hit on, okay, here's my full-time job, but here's also, you know, my dating lifetime. And here's also my time for business one and business two.
• 47:07
  And basically blocking in that time, scheduling it into your calendar and prioritizing that and being just really consistent with it. So if you only have time for, you know, dating one night a week and that's scheduled for a Monday, like, great, schedule it in and then show up like,
• 47:28
  feeling, you know, amazing every Monday consistently and dedicate that time. If you are prioritizing business number one more because business number one's going better than business number two, and that's giving you energy, great. Make sure you schedule the time, whether that might be, you know, like a Saturday afternoon or whatever it is, Thursday night.
• 47:50
  However many nights that you want to focus on it, but just deciding, prioritizing, scheduling it in the calendar and being consistent because it doesn't matter if like, you know, one day it doesn't work out and you kind of like don't hit your goal for that week or whatever, but yeah.
• 48:06
  Over time, consistent action is just like absolutely key in getting towards your goals because nothing happens overnight. Everything takes time and it compounds over time the effort that you put in. So I would...
• 48:22
  basically prioritize, I would time block, and then I would just consistently take action to the things that I want to achieve. Yeah, I love that. That one 1% effect that we know. The 1%, exactly. If you can only do the 1% every day, then you're giving yourself 100%. So, or you're giving 100% of yourself. So that's absolutely perfect. I love it. 1% all adds up over time.
• 48:52
  Exactly. So now we're moving on to the six quick questions part of the episode. You know the drill, so let's dive straight in. Question number one, what's your why? Why are you waking up every day and working on Female Startup Club?
• 49:10
  What is my why? My North Star with Female Startup Club is to champion and empower women who want to build wealth through the lens of business, especially early stage founders when you're in those crazy times of overwhelm and doing everything yourself and solo founders and it's just so bloody hard.
• 49:33
  That's my North Star. I really want to continue to educate and empower people who want to learn and change their own circumstances. So yeah, that's my why. Love it. And number two, what's been your favorite marketing moment so far?
• 49:53
  Oh, what's been my favourite marketing memory? Oh, my God, the book. Oh, my God, no. No, not the book. Buckingham Palace. But the book led me to Buckingham Palace. Published our book in 2022, Your Hype Girl on Amazon. You can get it now. And that book...
• 50:10
  It was just such a nice buzz moment for us online. I was actually thinking back to like the launch strategy that we were doing in the lead up to that. And it was just such a fun time. We should do a book again. Maybe that's going to be the goal for next year. I don't know yet, but like that sounds pretty cool. Anyway, launched the book. The book then like through a series of random events led to me winning Young Australian of the Year in the UK presented by the High Commissioner to Australia at Australia House, which is the embassy there.
• 50:40
  And that moment led to a series of random events of me being invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the King and Queen of England. And that hands down is like the marketing moment that came from kind of like the book that led to the award that led to Buckingham Palace is just like best marketing moment, best career highlight of all time. What a year. Yeah. What a sequence of events. Amazing. Just craziness. Yeah.
• 51:08
  So amazing and so weird. Okay, question number three, what's your go to business resource? So where are you hanging out to get smarter?
• 51:19
  Oh my God. This is so on the spot. Damn. And I would have so many good ones. Just give me a second here. I'm going to ponder. I'm going to ponder. I want to highlight some good ones. Do you know? Have I told you any recently? What's my answer? Help. Help. I just finished a book yesterday. I've gotten really, really into reading fiction again recently. And I've noticed how
• 51:44
  reading things that aren't necessarily, you know, self-help or directly educating you on a certain thing are really helpful for me to kind of unwind and still help you get an insight into things. And this book, it's called The List. I'll link it in the show notes. It's, I think it came out last year. It's set in 2020. So it's very kind of topical. Oh,
• 52:08
  Oh my God, I love her. Yes. Yeah. It's amazing. And it speaks a lot about kind of the role of women in society now and the time that we're living in, in the age of social media. And it actually very closely links back to this LinkedIn post that we spoke about at the start of the episode. And
• 52:26
  how something like that might come to light and what's behind that and how we can respond to that kind of inner world and live, live alongside each other. So I can highly recommend that one. And just, yeah, reading fiction in general, it's been a game changer these last few months. I agree. I've switched. I don't really read too many business books, especially at nighttime anymore. And I just try to read for pleasure and I read a lot, a lot, a lot. And I've
• 52:55
  Something I did read, though, recently, which was kind of businessy but just so fascinating, is this book called Mother of All Invention. I think you mentioned it to me. Yeah. I would have. I probably shouted about it to everyone who would listen. Mother of Invention by Katrine...
• 53:15
  someone. Anyway, the book basically talks about how gender has influenced ideas and innovations throughout history, going way, way back to a long time ago. And it's very interesting. It's almost a bit overwhelming because it's just so messed up, but it's such a good read. And I highly recommend that. And you'll definitely learn a lot.
• 53:43
  Love that. From my reading list right at the top. Question number four, how do you win the day? So what are your AM and PM rituals and habits that keep you happy, successful, and motivated?
• 53:57
  Yes, my AM rituals. I need to start my day with a cold shower. I love cold showers. I'm addicted to them now. I get like such a dopamine hit and it just instantly wakes me up, gets my blood, you know, pulsing through my body. And it's just like an instant mood booster for me. So I love a
• 54:21
  Not that I have one, but, you know, if you're in a place that has one, like Bali, an ice bath or something like that, cold therapy in general, or just like a dip in the ocean, just anything, anything. Cold shower, cold bath, cold whatever. Love that vibe to start the day. Love cuddles with my dogs. I just had dogs. I have one. I have absolutely one dog. Maybe it's a sign. 2024 goal. Sweeties getting a something.
• 54:51
  Cuddles with my dog and my husband. Yeah, cold showers, cuddles with them. That's me starting the day right. Yeah, amazing.
• 55:01
  Oh, wait, and no phone. It's a new thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you've been good with this recently. I've been so up and down with this, yeah, in like my lifetime. But like since I got back from that trip a couple months ago, I have just been like absolutely religious about leaving my phone out of the room. So before I go to bed, I read on my Kindle.
• 55:22
  And then in the morning I don't have my phone, you know, maybe for the first hour or two hours after I get up. And it is a game changer. Like a cold shower is a real game changer. But also I notice a difference in like my state of how I started the day within a few days. Like, you know, when you start your day by looking at your phone properly,
• 55:48
  You just open yourself up to be bombarded with messages and even things that really aren't something to be a cause for anxiety can just like spiral you in some way. And I just, by letting my brain kind of wake up naturally over the course of an hour or two and allowing my like natural coping mechanisms to like kick into place, it's just, it's crazy. And I highly recommend it to anyone who struggles with the phone addiction because...
• 56:15
  it's worth it. Yeah, absolutely. I think especially in these mornings, right? I think it's the thing that comes up most consistently in this question on the podcast and also a lot on advice columns that you read and, you know, when CEOs talk about their routines and things like that. And that's for a reason. It's like you said, it's important to kind of
• 56:38
  ease into that day, get those defense mechanisms up before you open yourself up to this bombardment of, you know, access from the world. Absolutely. Question number five, what's been your worst money mistake in the business and how much has it cost you? Oh man, I've had so many and so many little ones that are just so annoying, but
• 57:03
  And I always still believe it's worth trying, like to keep trying because sometimes it'll work and sometimes it just won't. But I would say the most kind of money that I've probably spent is with hiring like agencies or companies.
• 57:20
  Things like that. Like, yeah, just retainer style cash is where I tend to blow money. But I still believe that when you, because the reality is I've also,
• 57:35
  spent kind of you know retainer of thousands of dollars a month and it's been amazing so it's worth it but that's definitely where it's easy to easy to light money on fire yeah hard to find that good fit but when it is there yes it's amazing yes when the good fit is there it's amazing um but yeah
• 57:57
  And last question, question number six, what is just a crazy story, good or bad, from the journey of building Female Startup Club? Oh, damn, I really wish I prepared for this. Sorry. No, don't. I mean, we've already touched on three wild stories, which is meeting the King of England.
• 58:20
  I'm Australian off the wall. I mean, I think it's still crazy. Like any time I get a message, you know, just about the show or the impact that it's had on someone or like when people kind of come up to me in the street, which has happened now a number of times, I'm just like this is crazy. Like this is just so crazy to me.
• 58:46
  And it just absolutely fills my soul with like the best kind of vibe. I'm like, wow, I just, yeah, I like radiate joy when someone slips into my DMs with a cute little message or I meet someone on the street. I'm like, what the heck? This is wild. Wild. It's seeing the real life effect of what you're doing, right? Because you're...
• 59:10
  There's so much impact through the podcast, but at the same time, you're behind a screen and you're not necessarily directly seeing what's going on on the other side. And I think these little moments are so valuable. I remember the first time someone came up to you and you messaged me straight afterwards.
• 59:27
  You never guess for that. So crazy. I have a photo of that moment because I was just like, what? Me? You're talking about my podcast? This is crazy. Yeah. Absolute thrill. So crazy. I love that.
• 59:43
  Love that. Well, thank you. Thank you. I'm excited. I'm excited for our Friday rendezvous on the pod. Me too. For anyone listening, if you don't know this yet, but you may have because I've mentioned it a few times now, we have revived our Facebook group.
• 1:00:00
  Today we had like 30 new members join after the newsletter went out and I was like, oh damn, it's happening. I'm getting really excited. So for anyone listening, come join us in the Facebook group. We are going to be taking or crowdsourcing questions that are being posted in there and we're going to answer them on Fridays. So...
• 1:00:21
  So get in there, post questions. We're also going to share every Monday who I'm interviewing for the week in case you want to ask specific questions to founders. We have some really good episodes coming up with women like Matilda. She's the founder of Stacks and Sarah, the founder and TikTok star of Contour Cube. So come find us in the Facebook group and tune in to our Friday episodes with Dune and Josephine.
• 1:00:49
  Yes. Looking forward to it.
• 1:00:55
  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.
• 1:01:20
  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.
• 1:01:42
  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.