This is Alyce Tran for Female Startup Club
Hey guys, welcome back to the show - if you’re new here! Hi! I’m Doone, your host and Hype girl in business. Every week we learn from 7,8 and 9 figure female founders to understand their blueprint in business when it comes to money, marketing and mistakes. Women like Alyce Tran, the co-founder of The Daily Edited and more recently In The Round House. In this episode we’re talking through Alyce’s approach to combining work and entrepreneur life and how she was building The Daily Edited vs her current business, In The Roundhouse.
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Please note, this transcript has been copy pasted without the lovely touch of a human editor. Please expect some typos!
Hi, thanks for having me. Really excited to be here. I'm so excited to have you. Gosh, I feel like this has been a long time coming. I have this memory of maybe, like when I very, very, very first started female startup club, I'd sent you like some questions on email or something, like way back in the day. And ever since then I've been like, she's got to come on the show and now here we are three years later. No, great. No, thanks for having me. How's your day going? Some days I think are going to be quite easy. And then all of a sudden, you know, they become really jam packed. So I know you introduced me as one of the founders of In The Roundhouse. But I actually, and this is very interesting, also have a part time job working for someone else. And I think this will unfold in our conversation. But I work three days a week for another business called Reward Style for me is now called L T K. And there's a reason why I do that and you know, you can feel free to ask me about it, but um I will let's start there. Yeah. So I think if I would now describe myself as the ultimate splashy in a sense that I think I have a very, I've created a very nontraditional career path for myself. And you just said, you moved back to Sydney and you have seen like, obviously Sydney is great, but to be able to see that part of dolphins from your house one day, you kind of need to have like either a very, very successful business or, you know, have some way of like being able to purchase that house where you can see the dolphins from in like 10 years time. Oh my God. No, I was on the beach. It wasn't from my house, but I wanted to be from my house. Right. This is why I work like three different, three or four different jobs because, you know, like I'm just like kind of going for it. But essentially, um so I work three days a week for L T K because I quite like, you know, I work with a lot of different brands on their influencer strategy. Like it's an area of um marketing that I find very interesting. Like I love influencer marketing. I built my first business, the Daily Edited really through working with content creators, right? And being a content creator myself. So I'm very interested in that space as a result, even though, you know, it's work for in another business, it's in a very enjoyable um stream of topics that I like. But obviously, you know, like there's still the contact time meetings, drafting documents, things like that, right? So obviously there's still that, but it gives me the three days a week, gives me enough flexibility to work on other things. So for example, The business in the roundhouse is a really good business, but it's got a very experienced team in it. So a lot of the team members that I worked with at the daily edited work at in the roundhouse. Now, they found their way back to me eventually. And so I've got a very good team. And so as a result, I there's not enough in that business for me to work a 40 hour week unless I was doing like very manual functional things that I can easily get someone else to do. So in that business, I really, I'm only doing content and marketing strategy, product planning, things like that. But then obviously things like, you know, the boring side of the business is like accounting, um, freight operations are run by different team members. So there's not enough in there. Like, I'm not, I can't be shooting 38 hours a week in the roundhouse doesn't make sense. So there's that and then I also do, um, a bit like consulting to a few, um, different larger businesses. Um, and so, and I always, I mean, I find that quite interesting. I always, like, feel quite chuffed when someone reaches out to me. And I'm like, oh, you already know what you're doing and they're like, oh, no, you know, like, no, we, you know, would like your, would like your opinion and I'm always quite interested in that. And I'm also like, looking at working on new businesses as well because obviously I love consumer goods. I don't think it's going to end within the roundhouse. Like, you know, that is an interesting business. Um But like I have a lot more to give in other consumer goods categories. So, yeah, anyway, so as a result, I think I'm a very interesting working professional cause I, you know, I started my career as a lawyer. So, you know, here we are doing all of these things. Um you know, keeping it exciting, keeping it fresh to try to make ends meet. I love that for you. And I love, I'm so big on lifestyle design, like figuring out like what works for you and then making it work in your favor. And it sounds like for you specifically having this like three days a week working on these really exciting large scale campaigns I'm assuming, and then having this creative outlet where you're able to do all the things you love, but delegate all the things you don't love. Yeah. And you spoke to me briefly about before, like who listens to this? Right? One of the things is, is I not having all of my eggs in one basket with that business in the roundhouse means that There's less pressure on it. So, you know, I'll get on a call with our digital marketing manager and she'll be like, you know, I'm not gonna like, like, you know, I set quite high targets were not, you know, gap to goal is still, you know, 20% or whatever. And if I had everything in that business, I would feel quite upset and there's a lot of things happening in the market and especially in a product category, like in the round house where you can't control, you know, there's only so much you can control in terms of growth, growth profile and stuff like that. So it does help. I feel like people get stressed when they're running a small business because they're relying on it for their income. And I think it is really hard in this economic environment on businesses where you are creating a product that's a discretionary purchase, not like an essential. I think obviously, we all know that you don't have to be sitting here and talking about interest rates, we know what's happening. That's obviously not my area of expertise, but obviously, that's going to impact people that have these stars and businesses and then you've got to work out well, how does that, how am I going to make my life work? Right. So, yeah, and I think what's also interesting is like, I always say to people don't quit your day job, like give yourself the freedom to build this business where you can invest your own money and you can take that pressure off where you have to kind of make things back and you're making the decisions based on like out of like sometimes desperation instead of basing it on what's best for the business. And how the business will grow kind of organically over time. Exactly. And so if someone is kind of like, when should I leave my job? It's like, well, I didn't leave my job, you know, for the Daily Edited the first business until it was quite scaled. Like, people were quite shocked by that because that was my first thing that I ever did in this space. Like, you know, I didn't know whether it was going to end and whether, you know, what side and what potential it had. It was just too, it was hard to tell at the time. Um I don't know, but I'm very conservative in my approach like that, right? How big was the business, you know, monthly rave or annual rev? The business had like eight employees before I even left. What, how many years in was that like a year into it? Like it was that one was very quick. So this is the thing, you know, I think the daily editor grew really quickly in like a five year period. So like call it 2000 and I left my job as a lawyer and show my age in 2015 and then between 2015 and 2020 that business really exploded right in the round house has been a different, like a slower growth profile. It's totally a different category, very niche. So, you know, just not that kind of explosive growth. I had with that first business. So, you know, and as a result, like, you know, I don't know, it's really great when you kind of, it's not like one or the other is better actually financially as well. So it's just how much work it takes. And I think having, for me it's like dealing with the contract. Like, I'm actually still dealing with how to run a business that has a more niche clientele. That seriously, I'm actually still kind of like, how do I, how do I deal with that? So, like, I can just put this product everywhere. Um It is a certain stage in life that you would buy this product. It's a certain care factor for home and interior and then a certain aesthetic as well. So it's like very, how did you land on this as like, what was the light bulb moment for you to start this business? Oh, yes, I know. Sorry, because we just went around in circles, but I love that. Sure. Um, but basically, um, in the roundhouse actually was born out of something that happened at the Daily Edited. So my friends, the co founder of in the Roundhouse is Brooke bit more. We've been friends for, since we were in like year seven, we met at school and Brooke had a big career in magazines. So she was an editorial coordinator at like Elle magazine and went to Jones at the David Jones magazine, various things. So we've been friends and sort of in the same industry for a number of years. And when she came back from London, like you, she wanted like, something fun and stuff for her, you know, the house that she moved back into and she was talking to me about it and I was like, I don't know if I want to do that. Like, I'm extremely busy with the daily, so I don't know why you would even ask me to do. This is crazy. Um And then I, I started doing a lot of brand activations, you know, the classic things like dinners with influencers, lunches with influences that you understand, I did find it quite hard to find unique product to set the table with because you want to go on. But, and then I was like, oh, you know, there's something here, I'm happy to, you know, I'm happy to do this with you. So that is where in the roundhouse started. Like I do feel there is a nation, obviously the business gone this far because you're feeling some sort of niche to be here to talk to you about it, but it is a niche. Whereas the daily have such broad appeal, like, you know, I could sell that product to anyone. Like I could walk into Bondi Junction and speak to a man about a wallet and a phone case or an older lady about a tote bag. And I want, you know, like and a child about a little mini school God, like that product was super broad, right? So if I were to, I think about it, if I were to walk into Bondi Junction, now I say Bondi Junction for those listeners just like my local shopping center. Like if I had to drive and park and go to like a center that would be where I go. Um I don't know who I would approach to be like by my things, you know. Yeah, that's so interesting. Do you think when you think about like the journey with the Daily editor and being so broad but kind of like not having too much like it sounds like that was just the way that it was, it was super broad and then you've launched this new business where there was no intention behind it. Okay when you think about it, what would I say to people is so many people email me with like queries and things like that on my that, that's great. But, you know, each journey is really different and I don't like to give advice to anyone really unless it's on something specific. So I do and that even then won't be advice. It would be my opinion. Like even at L T K I go, this is a strategy that I think will work really well. Um Most of the time people like, yes, I think that will work really well or it's open to discussion right. So I work collaboratively with people. And I don't think people realize that in order to help someone, you sort of have to put in that kind of time to understand um that person's business, what their challenges are and then address the issue that you may have expertise in, right? And you know, we're gonna have expertise across all things. So when people just ask me blanket questions about business, I do find it very difficult. And I say, you know, is there a specific question you can ask me? So one of the things that people ask me, like, what do you think of my idea? And you're just like, oh no, I never would pass judgment on a single idea that anyone would, you know, kindly ask my opinion on. My only thing is I say is that you must really like it because in order to peddle it and sell it is essentially what you're doing in any form that you have to really believe and like it because otherwise it becomes really hard to do. So I always really loved everything that I created at the Daily Edited. I loved every single product, you know, and, and I like to use it. And so in talking to people about it, it was very, it was, it was authentic, you know what I mean? Like I never try to like push something. And even with L T K, the reason why I work for them is I, you know, I used to be a client and I believe in the product and I think, you know, it works for brands. And so therefore I'm happy to put myself out there and tell other people that it is a good piece of technology to use now and saying within the roundhouse, like, you know, I like the products. Like, I do think it's very fun to be able to have toast on a plate. That is more interesting than why it just, you know, I'm a visual person that's not everyone. Some people be like, that is a really ludicrous and unimportant thing. But, you know, I get up in the morning, I have a stand up breakfast as I call it like every morning and then, you know, I read the paper and I like it to look nice. And so, you know, I believe in that. So when I, if I would have met, you know, I'll say to you now tell me what place you want to send them to you or, you know, let me know what colors you like. And I like to put that together, but I already have it all. Exactly. But I enjoyed that. So I think part of like people and businesses, like, it's not necessarily as you say, like finding a niche or having some weird strategy behind that, that will probably come and that maybe there will be a U curve where it comes from me for in the Red House, but it actually hasn't yet. I don't feel, um, where, yeah, you've just got to love it. It's very interesting, I think. Yeah, having a business that kind of like has that almost cult following moment where it just explodes, everyone's wearing it. You can target any audience and then building something which is maybe a bit slower to get started and it's a different blueprint in your opinion. You know, I know that you said at the beginning of this recording, this isn't just the end of the brand for you in terms of you're going to do other brands and other businesses and things like that in your opinion, which would you go for if you had to choose like trying to find like something really broad or something really neat? Oh God, it just depends on the lifestyle, right? Like, okay. So, you know, the privilege of being across different industries is meeting different people and I have to say people want different things in this vertical of lifestyle products, let's call it home. Um I think the businesses are quite smaller than on the fashion and beauty side, but the people are much more relaxed, they are running smaller businesses, their teams are invariably smaller. Like if you look at the team side, let's say at iconic brands in this space like um age, right? It's a really big business in fashion, like it's a really big team heavy retail lots of head counting retail, lots of head count at head office running. That is a completely different exercise to say running dinosaur designs, which is also an iconic brand in the home where you know the decoration, home decoration space that they call it art. I don't want anyone from dinosaur designs listening to this art. Okay as that is invariably a much smaller business than age, right? And it's a lifestyle choice when you look at um you know, people get stressed over different things. I hear a lot of things again. Okay. So people will come to me with initial ideas or hr issues that they're having with staff and things like that. And I think the bigger the business, the more issues you have obviously, right? It goes without saying neither is right, you know, or wrong. It just is like, what, where are you at in life? What do you want to do with your time and what will give you fulfillment? Because so many people in the home where space is so lovely, they're so creative, they're so interesting, they're so chill. And I don't know if you would necessarily say that on the other, on the other side of the other spectrum, consumer goods. That's so interesting. I don't know if you feel the same as me, but today's mainstream news is not engaging, not unbiased and not enjoyable. The donut newsletter is all these things. It's also 100% free and hilariously, witty join 85,000 daily readers and get news that lets you make up your own mind at the donut dot co forward slash hype. That's T H E D O N U T dot C O forward slash hype to sign up for free today. I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about the money piece. It's something we always talk about on the show specifically. What did it cost for you to get started within the roundhouse? When you think about your first inventory getting, you know, your website up and running, how did it start? Maybe like under $100,000. Like the thing is, is to start businesses that don't cost a lot of money these days. Um you know, that's the thing, there's no barrier to entry. I don't believe in any vertical whether that be beauty, fashion, lifestyle goods in the consumer space. I could say it is, I think the only things that have higher barrier to entry if you want to make electronic. So, um you know, medical products and you know, actual things that have have utility. Yes, 100%. So $100,000 that gets you to launch and then how are you specifically launching that brand? Like in the beginning? How are you kind of getting the word out there and spreading the good word? It's through social, right? For me, it's like creating the content, working with other content creators to get the word out really. And it's not been like this super fast trajectory because actually the business had grown organically until last year, last year was the first year we did spend. And that's, you know, that was a conscious decision by me. You know, I could have launched with Brooke, another business having the experience that I had and gone. Well, no, we're going to spend $1 million daily edited, I I'll be very honest and I've said to people before, I don't really know what I want to do yet. So this is, you know, like, I didn't know where I'm like, am I just gonna, like, put it all into homewares? I don't know, I still can. Right. The thing is you can start like that and then go, well, actually, now I'm going to put a million dollars into it and I'm going to open three stores. I'm going to do a heavy marketing strategy with a household name, you know, like I could do a collaboration. I mean, Donna Hay has like a home with brand already but like someone like that and really, like, get this out there. Like these are things that I could still do today. So I think it's interesting. I don't know. I, again, because I'm quite conservative, I think, you know, me, if I had my time again, I probably still started small even if I had more direction. But at the time, like, and I think this is the thing, you know, I wasn't sure, like I, I, you know, I don't really, again, I think I come across as someone who has a real assertiveness around what they're doing and obviously day by day I do. But bigger picture, I think, you know, I'm still kind of figuring that out, aren't we? All, it changes all the time? The goalpost change all the time? Exactly. Exactly. I kind of want people to feel like, more comfortable by that. I think it makes me feel uncomfortable. So, yeah. So in the daily editor it was like, you know, run that business to eventuate an exit. That's what that was for. Whereas, like, I'm like, no, now, you know what I'm doing, like, you could do this for 10 years. It could say a side hustle or, well, not a side hustle. But you know what I mean? I'm not sure. Yeah, it's got more like open ended outcome kind of thing. Yes, I think it sort of developed. I don't know that I speak to other people who have just started business, like, oh, they've got a very clear idea around, you know, what their strategy is, who they will get to invest, who they will sell the business to and, you know, like the steps are being put in place. Yeah, for you, when you're thinking about like, what shifts the needle in terms of growth. Obviously, you have the organic content piece and you have these, you know, you do content so well. But when it comes to things like you did a pop up over the kind of festive holiday period at Bondi Junction, which is, which is the Westfield here in Sydney or one off retail. Feels like a really important piece for you and pop ups in real life things feels important. I love retail again because yeah, again, it's like what you like if you don't like doing it and going to it, I love retail. Like I go to the shops on the weekend as recreation, right? So, you know, that to me is part of like a brand ecosystem. Um So, you know, I and I do think, you know, the times are changing. I was speaking to someone yesterday who was quite interesting, quite senior in the retail space and it has changed a lot how people shop and I just think you need to show up wherever they are to in order to get in front of them. And so I think, you know, one of those places, it's not to say that like Bondi Junction is dead, it's just different to what it was pre COVID. So, yeah, it is, it is interesting. Like, I think if you were to listen to one of my podcasts when I was running The Daily Edited, that was pre COVID stuff, right? Like, and I was like very clear around the retail strategy, you know, like you work with this department store, you open stores here and like this will happen. I definitely think that has changed. Um And I think a lot of people still aren't sure what, what the correct or what a formula is that you could roll out to have successful retail because I do think there's a, when people go shopping, it's very, it's very high intent because people aren't like getting out of their pajama, like they're active way that they're doing. They're calling that I was in before getting in the car for no reason. So it's super high intent. Dwell time I think is lower. So it's like, how do you kind of deal with some of these new factors and changes in behavior that are sort of being displayed by consumers at a broad level and apply that to your business? I feel like for me, if I look at my consumer behavior, I just still love the retail piece. I love going into a store. I love seeing something, feeling something and then buying it like in person as opposed to online, I still do buy so much stuff online, but I like both. So the thing is I think people are browsing a lot, I mean, to a degree, but then dwell time is down. That is what the data is actually showing. Like people are spending the amount of time in the malls sometimes is lower than what it was pre COVID. But then a lot of execution because people are so happy to buy online. Now they'll execute the purchase online. And so, for example, on the weekend at Mecca completely, I've never been like, offered to purchase something online. Like they would normally try, like the girls working there would normally, to me, if I wanted something and they didn't have it, they would sell me something else. I could have equivalent. But then they were like, just, just go online, it's free delivery. And I'm like, okay, interesting. You know, so even in, I'm not sure that might have been one instance and I'm like going, oh, that's making news right now. I'm not saying that, but I do think, you know, that was an acceptable answer to me. I didn't think that was silly. You know, what is your approach being like such a creative person and so involved in the design of the brand and the look and feel of the brand? How do you approach product development and design for new pieces? Like is it just like your creative brain being like this? Is it or are you using data to influence? It's like, like I keep doing things and um it is a little bit data driven. Now, I've learned my lesson, you know, I've learned some lessons. So I will create tons of product. Like once every couple of weeks, there'll be all these new things but things that then go into production are based on data. It's like, dude, that color combination does not sell or you know, we've got to, we're holding too much inventory within that category. Like even though this is cute, you might have to park it for later, you know, that kind of thing. So uh you know, I think, you know, invent all the things and then kind of callback based on data is how, how I operate. Do you also do like is your brand community driven? Like would you do like, hey, here's the potential preorder, like what do you think or vote? Don't do any of that. I don't like doing that. So not into that, I'm so not into that mainly because I feel like as a creator, I'm here to guide the consumer around what I think is cool and what I think is on trend and present that to them. I don't think that that is, I don't, I don't know what I can't think. What brands do you think worked collaboratively with their customers to develop products? So there's like beauty brands like volition, beauty that actually work with customers and influencers and things like that to develop product and then it's kind of voted upon, but that's different, that's different, that's like a collaboration with an influencer that's different. But I'm trying to think, I feel like I spoke with someone recently who did very like kind of like this or this and like, customer votes and then that one goes into production kind of thing, not necessarily votes, but just like putting things out there to get the reaction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To get a, we do a survey around everything from service to pricing and stuff like that. I think that's always like, good. Especially when. Okay. So I did a survey recently where you got $50 to fill out our survey. So we're like, you know, like fill it out with some level of, you know, as a goodwill thing, please fill it out properly. Don't give us spam answers around. Um You know, where people thought we sat in the market, um what other products they were buying, what they would like to see from us in terms of product lines. And the reason why I did that, do you know why is because we don't have a set network of physical stores. I'm not getting to speak to customers that much. So at the daily and I would always spend time in stores at least like a day a week, you know, across, spread across. And so I interacted with customers a lot and I don't have that. Um now, so we had to do something. So, yeah, I would probably work collaboratively with customers in, you know, in that way, but I think it happens more organically. I would never go like just yes or no, these things, it would be maybe like getting a sense check from team members who are speaking to customers at a national or international level. Um, you know, for us it would be getting feedback from buyers at, you know, David Jones sacks, things like that and going, you know, because that, that's sort of our first we have wholesale in this business. Wholesale is totally new to me. Right. And so that's like a whole different thing. Um, and then, you know, I do if I go into David Jones, I'm like, quite creepy. Like I'll tidy all of the in the roundhouse displays and stuff. And then if customers are looking, I'll be like, hey, have you heard of this brand before? And they're like, who are you like, why are you talking to me and you know, general then introduce myself and people are like, really excited by that and then they'll give me their two cents, but I don't have that a lot of that at the moment with this brand. So, yeah, and I do think it is important to have that really direct touch point with your customers to really understand what they're thinking, how they're feeling, what they love, what they don't love. At the start of this episode, we were talking a little bit about your job with reward style, which is now known as El TK TK TK. I remember it very much as a reward style and I kind of want to circle back to that to understand, like, what are the kinds of campaigns you're working with them on that are kind of working in the market right now? Like, what's the kind of stuff that's, oh my God, I love this question. What's happening there? Um So with L T K, right, just to take it back a step for those who don't know what it is. But essentially there's sort of three key aspects to it, influencers who are approved by real live girls, girls working in Double Bay, let's say, um are able to get access to an app or a desktop widget that enables them to make a commission herbal linked to over 10,000 retailers, right? And that can be anyone from Dior Bottega matches iconic in the Roundhouse, what have you across beauty fashion lifestyle. So you get the app and I know you've been on it before. Um And so that you can create these links that you can put into your Instagram stories or create a whole storefront that you can put into your buy or what have you. So that's sort of like the baseline of what the business offers then, you know, obviously a brand, you know, signs onto the platform, let's say in the Roundhouse comes, we would really love to be on the platform we integrate and then it's like, okay, cool. I might have some influencers who already have my product who are actively using L T K. So they start being able to earn commission off when they set a table using, you know, a commission herbal link to tell their audience to shop the plates here or whatever. So then their audience member clicks on the link makes a purchase and they'll get the kid back. The thing that we also do though, if only life was as simple as just plugging into a platform and growing your sales through influence. All right, you're still going to like engage with influences on some level, whether that be at a minimum, gifting them product and at a maximum paying them for content and then at another maximum, collaborating with them on the product line or something. So at L T K, we've seen like a lot of different things work differently for different brands. So we do like all of the influence of work for the iconic from gifting through to brand activations, right? And I think when you work, you need to work in a holistic way, I think is the main point. I think choosing to do one thing or the other and expecting results in this ecosystem of influencer marketing is really hard, like you kind of need to play it at all. It would be like kind of turning on, I guess like what people would understand, let's say Metta ads and only running them on one segment, you know, like you wanted to create the full funnel for your influencer marketing from awareness, you know, letting letting someone like us build out that funnel for you. We've seen success though. Okay. That sounds really daunting for smaller businesses. But we've seen success on things like rates for influencers are really high in Australia like the fixed fee rates and that's got nothing to do with L T K. That is a symptom of the market. Um And you know, being savvy like we can help brands be savvy with how to engage with influences, whether that be paying them for stories only content or paying them for tiktok content where they haven't yet grown a large audience, but you know, still have a lot of their trusted audience have started, you know, all their super fans start following them on a new platforms, right? If you really love someone on Instagram and they start, you're likely to follow them and you're one of the Super fans anyway. So you're kind of like filtering out those who didn't care that much anyway. So, you know, we work like, I work in this space with my team a lot. So I think people underestimate how, how specific this knowledge is, you know, of the space. So yeah, so we've seen any, you know, for me, I guess, yeah, in a nutshell, full funnel sort of approach. And also, you know, being savvy where you speaking to someone when you have a limited budget rather than being like, I'm just gonna try to do it, you know, you know if you're not sitting on these channels all the time interacting with these people all the time, it is hard to um execute. Like I think a lot of people listening to this wouldn't execute their own meta rads or Google adwords that you go to an agency or you bring somebody in the house to do that because they are doing it day in and day out, they know how to optimize your ads. They know how to create those audience sets. They know, you know, a B testing of keywords who's actually like, who is the founder of business also does that. Maybe there is someone, I don't know how to do all of that. I definitely don't, I would work with someone else. You certainly know how to write, but you still work with someone else. And it's so it's the same with this influence system. And it's also about like, you know, if you work with an expert, they're able to, like, see the problem that's about to happen and quickly fix it or tweak it, whereas you have to go through a learning curve and then you only learn in hindsight after you've made the mistake. Exactly. And I think this game, the influence of marketing space changes like year on year, it's faster, faster movement, like it is really hard. And for me, you know, managing a team in this space where the industry is constantly changing is actually quite hard. It's much faster movement than, um, like Google adwords have not changed that much fundamentally for five years. Right. Whereas influencer marketing, I think everyone here would changed, like there was not tiktok was not a thing but five years ago, you know, whatever, it's shifting daily. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. Before we get into our last kind of six final questions, the six quick questions part of the episode. And I know you said you don't like to leave kind of broad advice where it's not specific. But if you did have to leave kind of with a lesson or a piece of advice to share broadly with our audience, what would that be? Don't be afraid to make mistakes? Like look at me, I'm just out there trying even though I am very experienced and you know, some would consider me a really like an e commerce and retail expert every day, you know, like I'm putting myself or the brand out there and we're ready to roll with it and you know, whatever the outcome may be, whether that be success, I don't believe in anything being a failure because you've obviously learn something out of it. You know, it's fine so you know, be prepared to make those mistakes and just go out there, go out there and try. I love that great piece of advice. Great lesson for us.
Question number one. What's your, why? Why are you dedicating your time in building in the round house? Because I love it. I love, I love how fun it is and how easy it is to bring joy to a table and to the act of eating. You know, either a simple or very fancy meal. I just love even just opening my drawer, my covered and seeing all the color. And I'm like, how did I live without this before? I love that. I had a nice set of white Wedgwood crockery, you know, like it was lovely. It is lovely, but like now it's just the latest color trends and the latest, you know, translation of what I think is fashionable into a plate. I mean, I love it. 100%. Love that. Love color, lovejoy on a table for sure. Who doesn't? Question #2 is what's been your favorite marketing moment so far? And this could be from the daily edited or in the roundhouse who we did something really fun with milk run for Mother's Day in the roundhouse. So like, you know, I always love one of my things is like the last mile for delivery. And I always like, I'm in all of these like fast delivery services and like, if only I could have guys on bikes, driving plates around, like, obviously that for me is not feasible, but why can't it be? I often ask myself a question but why can't it be a milk run? Are doing it? Um So we did like a last minute Mother's Day thing that you could buy, you know, the interface is quite good, like you click and buy it and it had, you know, egg cups, a platter and then the things that you would make your mom breakfast with and that was cute. It's just a very easy one. It doesn't, you know, they're not always having to be um giant, giant things that we've done giant things within the roundhouse with, you know, out some people we collaborate with and things like that and that's all good, but sometimes just like little ones are easy to go to the ground and cute. I love that. That sounds so sweet, fun. And I also love having fun in business, like doing the things that bring you actually joy in those kind of moments, especially in marketing. That's where you can have fun and do the more grassroots kind of stuff. Question number three is, what's your go to business resource if you have to think about a newsletter that you're reading at the moment or a book that you're reading? Oh, newsletter. All books are actually a more podcast podcast. I like to keep myself up to date. Right. So, it's not like I'm looking for instruction for someone but from someone, but I'm generally wanting to ensure that I have the latest in knowledge of the industry. So, you know, I like to listen to like, glossy and business of fashion podcasts. Even if it's someone who has a completely different business to me, they, everyone's got a little point of view. And so, you know, you always take away one thing like that. I don't have, I don't look at anything that's extremely instructional. It's more inspo Yeah. Love it too. Question number four is, how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM? Rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and motivated? Yeah. So one of the things that I do say that um young team members that, you know, work in my teams and things is, you know, they're like, oh, you know, I'm tired or whatever and people describe me as an energizer bunny, like I am able to just, you know, keep going and do things and it is having a very consistent lifestyle. So like in the mornings, like I get up, I go to the gym every day. I have breakfast. I take that time I read the newspaper and then I'm ready to go. Um and I go to bed and sometimes I miss out and stuff like, you know, my sister's like, I think you miss out on all the gossip because you leave so early. You know. So, even if I'm out, I leave because I'm tired by then it's not because I want to miss out on the cost or the fun part. I'm generally home before midnight no matter what, what is going on that, that evening, whether, like, for example, on the weekend it was Mardi Gras as you know. Um But, you know, a lot was going on, but I still went home and that means on Sunday that I can still do work and things because if I don't, then it really does mess up the week given the volume of work that I'm doing at the moment. So, yeah, it's that, you know, you have to have some sort of boundary routine and boundary. Absolutely agree. Question # five. What's been your worst money mistake? And how much did it cost you? Okay. So I'm single and I live in a five bedroom house right on my own. It's lovely. And I kind of bought the house because I felt like I needed to buy something post the daily editor that was like, oh, I've done something with my life is so silly. And then I listened to this like, podcast exit from Mark Boris and he's like, Australians defined themselves too much by their property. And I'm like, you know, um and I totally agreed with the sentiment. Um, it's not like it's a waste of money but, like, I don't use it. Someone was, I took a photo of my, like, my mom came in, like, my parents have keys to my house. She came in one night and she was like, so you watch TV, on your bed when you have three TV? Areas in your, yeah, I don't, the TV is here for show one of them. I've never turned on like you're like this is it? The room is the best. Yeah, exactly. So I still operate like this is a two bedroom, small house and I'm just not like using, utilizing it. And one thing is though that now I can have friends come and stay and things like that and that, and that is really nice to have that ability to host people and things like that. Absolutely. But yeah, that was dumb and yeah, it's really dumb. Australians are really into the property, you know, having the house thing. It's less my vibe. I'm more like I'm more like rent and have the freedom to move if I want to move overseas. Yes, there's nothing wrong with that. And I do think people put a lot of pressure on themselves to do that, including myself, right? Like we got on this call and I must live in a house that where I can see dolphins from that maybe that will change. But I mean, we all want that Question # six. Last Question. What is just a crazy story? Good or bad from your entrepreneurial journey? I guess it's like my level of dedication to like finding things. So again, people always want these shortcuts like, oh emails from people about how to find supplies. I'm like, dude, I don't know anything about like how to get a candle. Like it's not my, my vertical and if you are in the same industry as me, I can't help you, right? Sorry, generosity you said so far. But I've gone to the lengths of going to Jacksonville, Florida to a supplier who wouldn't respond to my emails. Um You know, because he was like this old man, he just wouldn't respond to my email. I want to order stuff from him. And so I landed in like Jacksonville, Florida like this tiny American town, like got off, got off the plane and, you know, people were wearing Greater Make America great again, trucker caps and stuff. And my general manager was really scared. I was like, I'm just gonna stop here on the way to New York. It'll be fine. I'm just gonna go and see him because once he, once I see him and I can secure the machinery, I will, I will put DHL labels and I'll get them sent back to the office. Like this is the level of like motivation that I have. So I went to his random factory in the back, you know, in the suburbs of Jacksonville, knocked on his door and he was, and I was like, I'm always trying to, I've been emailing you and he was like, oh my God, like, no one comes and sees me. He was actually really, like, why are you here? Yeah, he's like, he's like, don't you live in Australia? And I was like, yes, yes, I do. But I'm here. Can I please have some machines? Hell, yes. Did he give you the machines? Yeah. And he was like, well, these are actually on order for coach, but I will give you these because no one's ever come to see me before. No one bothered to come and see me and, you know, give me the time. I love that. And then I was like, yes, yes. And then, you know, he went and had like, I've never had because, you know, Australians, we go to America but we go to L A Miami New York. Like very few of us would go to like proper America where we were going to this diner where the drinks were like the size of half my torso, you know, plates of food. Oh my gosh. But it was worth my God. I love that. Let's all operate on that level. Just go and get it done, do whatever it takes to get it done. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that. I love chatting with you. I'm excited about all the things you're doing. I'm excited to see what else you start. Do you want to share any anything else you have in there? We can talk about it later. I'll send you it and then you'll be like, oh, amazing. Oh my gosh, Elise. Thank you so much for taking the time. I've loved this.