Transcription
00:00:02
Hello and welcome to the Champagne Lounge. Hello and welcome to episode one of the Champagne Lounge podcast. I am so excited to have Amy Clarke, founder of Confetti Rebels, on the show today. Welcome to the Champagne Lounge, Amy. Hello.
00:00:21
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be the first person. I'm so excited rebrand of the podcast. I could not think of anyone better to come on the show and talk about business. Highs business know all the things celebratory because my latest photo shoot, ladies and gents, if you haven't already seen that, Amy, let me have one of those amazing rainbow skirts a little bit early so I could get it in my photo shoot.
00:00:48
And I'm feeling very privileged for that. So thank you. You're welcome. You look fabulous in it, as I expected you to be. I absolutely love it.
00:00:59
And we talked about skirts, but Confetti Rebels fierce tees for fierce women, right? Yes, absolutely. Now, I've read your about page and something you've written on there really sparked. Well, I want to start the conversation, really. You said at the beginning in your letter to your audience, your customers, you said, Sometimes I lose my way.
00:01:20
I have my own shit to deal with. But most of the time I thrive seeing my customers happy, content and confident, which I love. And you say, if I can give a little bit of that through your clothing, then you're one happy lady. Now, I know a lot of people that wear your T shirts. I'm wearing one of my favorites.
00:01:38
Now, you definitely bring joy through clothing, but business isn't for everyone. Amy in the retail space. Now, why did you start Confetti Rebels and what's it all about? Well, I think firstly, the reason why I started Confetti Rebels was because essentially I knew I had something to offer. I'd worked in Big Corp beforehand, and it's really easy to work those super long hours, slave away for the big man and get paid very little and still really love it because you're still renting or you're childless and you're still living.
00:02:20
That sort of like, even though I was in a relationship single life. But then I had children, and that changed absolutely everything. My hours of when I could work changed, my mental health changed, and all that kind of extra stuff that comes with children changes, and you have to put them first rather than yourself. And then you're like, well, I've also got to try to make a little bit of income, like, how am I going to do this? And I dappled in a few small businesses in between having finishing up my Big Corp jobs and then having my child.
00:02:57
And I thought, you know what? I really like this lifestyle. I love working my own hours and doing everything to the beat of my own drum and not having to report to anyone except for myself. But little did I know a whole lot of other big things come with that that aren't necessarily the most amazing things. But, yeah, it all started the seed planted when my children were born and I decided to really make a go of it and create confetti rebels and God, there's a whole story behind that that we could go on for hours.
00:03:31
But, yeah, it was just kind of like my light bulb moment and I'm like, I love slogans. I used to paint my own T shirt things and I used to do my own stencil drawings and stuff and I'm like, hey, why can't I do this for a living? Why can't I make a slogan T shirt that's quite edgy and sell it to people? If there's people like me that love them, surely there's other people like that. And as we can see, there are.
00:03:55
There'S heaps of us. And where do the slogans come from? Where are they, things that come through? Are they slogans in your world that you just go, yes, they've been on a postit note for a while. Where do they come from?
00:04:06
Some of the slogans are ones that people have heard before. At the end of the day, I don't think I am original in the fact that I own a slogan because I'd have to pay. I reckon people like songwriters to come up with something like that because I think if I hear something along the traps and I'm like, oh, that's really good. Mainly a slogan to me is something that resonates to me. About a year ago at Christmas time, I had a big falling out with some family members and it was just like, oh, you're too much, you're just a drama queen, blah, blah, blah.
00:04:42
And then I kind of was like, well, I'd heard a few years before some slogans along the way like, I'm too much, go find less. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to use that one, that's a really good one. If I'm too much, get lost, go away. That's not my problem for being like this. So, yeah, they really have to resonate with me and they really have to really get deep down into the fills with me.
00:05:09
As I said, my T shirts aren't for everybody and if that's the case, then that's okay. But majority of them are, but yeah, so I kind of come up with a slogan and then obviously the design and creation is mine. I'm a graphic designer by trade, so I love having even though I just put like, sometimes they're just font based, but it's still really fun, like working out. Oh, what font really suits this slogan? Yeah, I love them.
00:05:39
And you hit the nail so cleanly on the head with that with that slogan particularly is as business owners, as people that are doing things to their sound of their own drum, they aren't for everyone. We are different. We do do things differently and we are a lot sometimes right that we are. What role has the community that has your community played in the growth of your business and also the community that's built around confetti rebels in the growth and the sharing of what you do and how you make women happy through that clothing? Yeah, well, essentially, I've got like a 50,000 people cheerleader squad, so essentially I've got so many people that resonate, and some people aren't customers.
00:06:25
Some people are like, I love to cheer from you from the back. I don't like wearing T shirts, or I don't like wearing slogan T shirts or Your style of T shirts doesn't suit me, but hey, that doesn't matter. They still share my profile or they still share my social media or they still comment. They still like and that kind of support is so invaluable. Like just having people message you saying, oh, my God, I wore your T shirt the other day, and it made me feel so empowered, and I felt so good, and I felt so confident.
00:06:58
And I felt like I could tell the world exactly how I was feeling by not having to actually tell them and things like that. Really? I know this sounds really yark, but it gets me off. Like, I love that. Gets me off on more of a dopamine high rather than any other way, but I just get so happy and so excited from hearing things like that because essentially I want people to be able to express how they feel, and not everyone is comfortable expressing how they feel.
00:07:29
But as I said, the T shirt that you've got on sorry I'm late. I didn't really want to come. I didn't want to come. You're kind of just saying it without having to say it, and it's just people can feel more comfortable wearing an item of clothing with a slogan rather than actually verbally saying it. Yeah, I love that.
00:07:47
And this is my favorite T shirt of yours. I really need to bring it out in another color. I think pink is my favorite color. So you nailed it for me. For me, it was all around boundaries, right?
00:07:59
Like, I know as business owners, I'm very strict on my boundaries when I do time, when I have time for other people. And a big thing for me when I bought this T shirt was around not doing what I think people think I should do, what I wanted to do. And so that's what I love about the slogan on this T shirt. It is good boundaries as well. A few years ago, I would have someone message me every day, and it was literally like a mental health dump.
00:08:29
And I had to eventually kind of emancipate myself from her because it was starting to take a toll on me. I checked my messages last minute at the night to make sure she know messaged me so I could see if she was okay. And my husband's just like, Amy, you've got to get off this. You've got to stop. You've got your own stuff to deal with.
00:08:49
Pippa's upstairs vomiting. I need help. And I'm like, yeah, but this woman I'm really worried about. And he's like, Amy, it's not your responsibility to save the world. You can do your best.
00:08:59
He goes, but this is not your best, because you've got to show up in other places that are, unfortunately a bit more important. So it's like working out those boundaries is really hard. Super hard. It is really hard, because you want. To please everybody until you put those.
00:09:15
Boundaries in place and realize that you need to make yourself happy first, right? Yes. And pass it on. But on the topic of struggles, what has been your biggest struggle in growing confetti revolution? So I'd say, like, business wise, the biggest struggle is working out where I want the brand to be in, like, 510 years.
00:09:37
I'm bordering almost 40 years old, which is great. I'm loving it. I'm enjoying this time of my life. But I'm like, can I still be selling out there far out T shirts in ten years? Maybe I can.
00:09:48
I don't know. The society changes every time. So I say sometimes the struggle can be to adapt to an environment and work out. Is this going to work this year? Because every year since I started, I'm coming up to my 6th year of being in business.
00:10:05
Never done this before. The first two years, I was kind of like, yeah, I'm making a little bit of profit here. I'm able to buy this for myself and this for myself. Then I hit COVID. And sadly for some businesses, they went belly up, and that was just, like, horrific.
00:10:23
And I felt terrible because watching some friends and family members businesses absolutely tank because they relied on social people around them and people to be out physically. Whereas my business was absolutely booming. I was sitting on a couch making $1,000 in an hour because people are like, We've got nothing else to do. We've got job seeker JobKeeper. We've got money to spend.
00:10:50
We want to put it back in the economy. I need something that makes me feel happy and uplifted right now in this really hard time of the world of my life. People were really splurging on non necessary items, and so my business just absolutely catapulted into. Whereas I was like, one day I was packing orders in my very small garage to renting out 150 square meter warehouse and going, Right, let's capitalize off this. I got myself a social media team.
00:11:20
I got myself a VA. I got myself this, this. And those two years were absolutely epic. Like, I was saving money. My husband came downstairs because he's got a really good job.
00:11:32
He's in software dev. And he said, Amy, I'm so proud of finally. Like, not that this is a bad thing, but you have actually made more than me in the last six months, and I'm so proud of you. And I'm like, wow, this is epic. Like, I never thought I could make money off something that I love doing because I love my job and I don't kind of care what I get paid.
00:11:52
I've never ever strived for the big bucks kind of thing. It's just not in my DNA. Even though it's in my family's DNA, it's not in mine. But having that and then going from that to pumping out really relevant T shirts at that time and then all of a sudden, COVID is kind of like a thing of the past now and people are getting back. To their okay, so we're going to spend money now on our property, or we're going to spend money on holidays, because we can actually go on holidays now.
00:12:23
We've got excessive interest rates to pay off now. This is where now I'm like, okay, I've got to really shape up and sharpen up the business because it's a completely different type of spending module now that people are buying differently. Their priorities are in different pockets now. So, yeah, it's working. How I can evolve and change the business up again, which is exhausting.
00:12:55
The Champagne Lounge isn't just a podcast. It's an instant digital community for ambitious businesswomen and entrepreneurs like you, wanting more connection, community and celebration. So wherever you are in the world, whatever stage of business you're at, if you're looking for that ultimate female cheer squad of like minded women, head over to thechampainlounge.com to come and join us.
00:13:20
Who are you bringing on to help you if anyone navigate that? Have you got a little tribe that you have that think with? How does that work? So I enlisted in a business coach last year because obviously sales were sort of starting to not dwindle, but just like, obviously compared to the last couple of years before that. And she's really great at obviously because I'm absolutely shocking with money.
00:13:46
I don't even look at my budget each month and go, right, I have fifteen, twenty k to spend on T shirts. I'm just like, I want a T shirt, I want a T shirt, I want to buy T shirts, I got to order T shirts. And she's now reined that in and gone, right, this is your budget per month. This is your PNL. This is how much money we've got to make in order to cover our expenses and things like that.
00:14:08
Enough to make profit. So she's been really good at reining that in for me because obviously having ADHD myself, I'm just like all over. I'm like literally a deer in headlights when it comes to something. Like, I'll quickly go on to my supplier and go, right, I want to order blah, blah, blah. And she sits down, she's going, wait a second, why have you ordered this many?
00:14:30
Why didn't you order this many of different styles? Rather than one of the same. And I'm like, oh, I should have done that. So she's been really good like that. And yeah, she's a really amazing person at making you feel accountable for your actions as well.
00:14:47
Like, on social media, she's like, make sure you say this, make sure you do that, and she holds me accountable. And I love it. So I needed someone like that. But yeah, unfortunately, towards the end of last year, I had to make the really hard decision to cut my social media team for paid ads and all that kind of extra stuff, because unfortunately, ROAS were completely dying in the ass. And I think ever since all those horrible iOS changes have happened, facebook ads, unless you're absolutely pumping a shit ton of money into them, they just weren't working for me.
00:15:24
And I was finding I was getting more return on investment through just organic social content on Instagram and Facebook. And I should say TikTok, but I barely make anything off TikTok. So, yeah, I had to make that really hard decision to cut costs last. Yeah, and she was right behind me helping me go through that. So it was really good.
00:15:46
Yeah, cutting team and navigating the unknown, that's the hardest thing as a business owner, because you've got that whole, you'll be with me from the beginning, or We've done this really amazing thing and now working that way anymore and I've got to be bad cop for like ten minutes. It's so hard because I form a relationship with people as well. And they were really amazing digital ads company. Like, I couldn't fault them. And if I had the money I could spend on ads, I would 100% go back and use them again.
00:16:17
It was nothing that they did wrong. It was completely me and not being able to afford that budget anymore. But yeah, I cried for a little bit. It was really hard because we'd formed that relationship and I was like, I'm so sorry. And they're like, hey, it's all good.
00:16:35
We know you'll be back. You're an amazing business. And that's what I loved. I love that. I love that.
00:16:40
They know, right? When you're with the right people and you're with the right team and the right, they just know. Let's move away from struggles to more of celebratory stuff. Like you said, there was that time when your husband came down and we're like, You've nailed this, babe, proudly. That's amazing.
00:16:57
You can't have that one as your biggest achievement now. But I'm going to ask you, what's been the biggest achievement for you to date? Honestly, I would have to say, and I know probably some of the listeners might go, oh, I don't really like that T shirt, but obviously during COVID and having I'm pro vax and I'm all for medicine and things like that. So I did a let's get shots T shirt, and that was a big risk. It was combining my love for alcohol and vaccines in one.
00:17:29
And I put it on a T shirt and I'm like, I've got so many friends in first responders, teachers, everyone's struggling right now. Let's get this shit sorted. And I wanted to bring that message out there and it was so 50 50 mixed with talking to my friends and family about it. They're like, oh, I think this could break your company. It's a really sensitive topic on some people.
00:17:49
And I'm like, hey, I'm not saying if you don't vaccinate, that's your problem and I hate you. I'm saying for those that do want to vaccinate, let's get this going kind of thing. So I did this T shirt and I probably printed maybe 100, 200 T shirts. And I sent one to an influencer down in Melbourne who is very she's quite prolific pro vax and in that sort of space. And I was meant to launch it on a Sunday night and she posted it on a Saturday.
00:18:19
And I had about 300, 400 DMs saying, when's the T shirt available? When's it and I'm like, Stop it, let's go. So I hit a preorder and I sold like something like 3000 in the day. And I'm like, oh, my God. And then my husband's like, well, of course you're going to sell that many.
00:18:38
Like the stats don't lie. There's like 90% of Australia that are vaccinated, so they're going to buy the T shirt if they know your brand. So, yeah, that went off like and I was giving a discount to, obviously, first responders and nurses and doctors like that. I gave them the T shirt for half price to wear it. So that was a really big thing and a really daring, should I say, thing for me to do.
00:18:59
Because, again, going back, I love to please people. I hate pissing people off. I hate getting negative talk about me. And I thought, God, this could make or break me, but I'm so passionate about it. And it did.
00:19:12
It went really well. So I would say that was like one of the proudest and strongest moment I felt within the business to go, hey, this is the direction I want to take. I'm going to own it. I'm not being disrespectful to other people. I'm just encouraging what I believe in and what I like.
00:19:28
And if you don't like it, that's fine. You can go get a different T shirt and I'm sure there's those available, but if you like this and this is what you believe in, then let's get this done. So, yeah, it was quite a big thing for me. That's huge. And I can only imagine posting that supply, like the first supply going send, like that whole, this is either going to be really great or really terrible.
00:19:55
Well, I had a really small time frame of like a few a month or two to get these T shirts out because people wanted getting vaccinated and people were wearing them to their 1st, 2nd or third Vaccination. So I really had to get them out pretty quickly. So my screen printer was just like, under the pump so bad. But he was happy because he was making money.
00:20:17
T shirts in Australia. So the T shirts are as Color brand and they're ethically made, really amazing quality T shirt. They're actually made in Bangladesh, but as Color are one of the highest rated for their book. They don't use child slave labor. Their working conditions are I wouldn't even say subpar.
00:20:35
Their working conditions are really good. Like, the ratings are really high on them. A lot of I'd say slogan, t shirt companies use them in Australia. They're one of the biggest. But I do locally screen print, so my screen printer literally, I can see just past my house.
00:20:49
He is so he's about two minute drive down the road. He hates that I love it because I can go and hassle him all the time. But, yeah, we've formed a really strong friendship over the last six years. He's about 1015 years older than me, but we've got a really great relationship. And if he knows I'm under the pump and I really need to get some T shirts out, he's happy, he doesn't care, he'll stay back and print them or whatever.
00:21:14
Yeah, it's a really good relationship we've got. And yeah, having them locally printed, I have a lot of local people that love that I support local, so they're happy to support me being local. As, yeah, that's phenomenal. Yeah, supporting local is a big thing for me, too. So I love there's a nice mix to that.
00:21:30
It is. Look, ideally, I'd love to get T shirts made in Australia, don't get me wrong, but I'd have to charge probably double the price. And that's fair enough because everything's going up in price, so therefore people's hourly rate would go up. And as I said, if there's a market for it, I'd 100% do it. But my target market are people like me that don't have money to spend on T shirts all the time.
00:21:54
And I'm not in the high end sort of area. And I wouldn't charge $80 for a T shirt like this because I don't feel comfortable with that. So, yeah, my markup even getting them printed in Australia isn't horrendously huge, but I can go to sleep at night knowing that I'm selling really good quality T shirts and they're locally printed. That's amazing. And now, before we hit the record button, you and I were talking about what's next for confetti rebels?
00:22:25
Like, what's this 2023 have to hold for the brand and what are you doing? Because it is a tough market out there. COVID was amazing. Now a little bit slower, thanks to rising interest rates and all the things. How are you navigating that?
00:22:39
And what does 2023 look like for you guys? Yeah, damn interest rates. Everyone could just shove them in the bum. Really? I think ours have gone up by like $1,000 a month.
00:22:52
It all adds up. So I think really importantly, creating a product that people can really resonate to, whether that's mine or any other small businesses out there that are listening, it's so important to be relevant. And constantly, you've got to constantly change either your branding or your messaging. Giving a story about your product and making people go, oh, I can really relate to that. Therefore, I'm going to get that product.
00:23:23
Making products feel like they're a necessity rather than a luxury right now is really important. So, yeah, as I said, I flew high getting that huge warehouse, and I unfortunately, last year not really unfortunately, I just made the really smart decision to move into a different space that was 20K cheaper a year. It's only ever so slightly smaller as well. It just doesn't have that aesthetic feel that I love. But I can sleep going, oh, this is all I've got.
00:23:52
This is only what I have to pay. So I've cut those kind of expenses down. Yeah, as I said, cut down on things that you really need to go through, go through your P L, work out what you're hemorrhaging money in, and is that really going to make that return on investment back for you. So if you can go and learn how to do your own social ads, try and do that. Because paying an agency, even though I love agencies, don't get me wrong, some of their management fees are horrific.
00:24:21
And then you've got to also spend double that in ads. So you've got to work out if that's worth it for you. That's what they're good at. They're great at selling a product to you, so they're going to tell you that you're going to need it. So if you can learn how to do your own SEO, your own ads, things like that, just for the year to cut down on those extra expenses that might not make your money back, definitely do.
00:24:44
So I'm doing more preorders rather than printing stock up front because A, I don't want to add too fast fashion and necessity, like unnecessary printing and making of clothing. But yeah, this year I'm literally just riding on the coattails and hoping that I can still pay my monthly wage, which I'm very comfortably doing right now, but also making that little bit of extra profit. And then I think the next few years after that are going to be really good. So, yeah, 2023, I think it's going to be tough, but I think you got to think smart and spend your money very wisely. Don't get caught up with all you've got to spend heaps of money to make money.
00:25:26
Because right now, I don't think that's the way to do it. That's me, personally. I would totally agree with that. And you took the words right out of my mouth there in terms of working smarter, thinking wise, keeping the dream big. Yeah.
00:25:38
And look, I'm still working harder. Like, I'm working harder than I've ever been, but I can step back and go, I still do what I love. And I think also making sure that you're doing what you love, and if it starts becoming a resentful process, that's when you've got to step back and go, right, how can I change this? Because the minute you start resenting working for your own business, because you're working hard and not that profit margin or you're not making that profit, then you've got to step back and really do a full scale, and there's amazing people out there that can help you do that. So, yeah, like my business coach, I've got a marketing coach as well, so it's great.
00:26:19
It's having that tribe, babe. It's having that tribe. That is it seeming the straight and narrow, for sure, and away from the bright and shiny. Before I let you go, Amy, the question I'm asking everyone on the show, because I love celebration and I'm a big champagne lover. What was the milestone you achieved in your business and how did you celebrate?
00:26:39
Oh, okay. So last year, I launched this really strange, unique product, which, even though it was a T shirt, they had these extravagant tool sleeves, like this rainbow. They were very similar to the skirts, but literally take the skirt and put it on a sleeve of a T shirt. And after having a really tough year last year, I was in kind of a lot of self doubt. I'm like, these are so different, they're so unique.
00:27:02
Are my customers going to love them? Well, they sold out in 90 minutes. Wow. And I was like, oh, my God. I was prepping for the two weeks ahead to getting people to come and help me pack for the two weeks, and I said to them, I might need you guys for the next three days because it's going to be like, I've sold them all.
00:27:22
And yeah, so something like that. That was a real champagne popping moment after quite a difficult year last year, navigating and working out the business and working out what sells or not, that was just my I call it an AHA product. I know this sounds really weird. I can't launch an AHA product all the time. I mean, I wish I could, but sometimes products that you think are going to be an AHA product aren't like, the chill skirts coming out are going to be my AHA product.
00:27:46
But, yeah, that was just like, wow, this is awesome. And because it was so close to Christmas, too, I was literally celebrating. So, yeah, that was a real massive milestone for the business. I managed to recoup a lot of money that I'd lost unnecessarily. So, yeah, that kind of got me back on track.
00:28:03
So there was really good, positive vibes around that T shirt. Altogether amazing. I love this. And I cannot wait to see those rainbow skirts come out because I think that's going to be the next big milestone moment, right? I think so, yes.
00:28:18
And if they sell out, then you just wait till what's coming for Christmas this year? I can't believe we're talking about it in March, but I have to unfortunately start thinking about christmas is my favorite. Time of year and I am very.
00:28:33
Awesome. Amy, I'm going to put the website and your Instagram handle in the show notes. Thank you ever so much for being guest number one of the Champagne Lounge podcast. US. Cheers to you.
00:28:46
Thank you. I feel so honored and I love it and I can't wait to listen to all the rest of the podcast coming forward. It's going to be amazing. Stay tuned. Thank you.
00:28:55
Bye.
00:28:58
Thanks for listening to the Champagne Lounge podcast. If you'd love to be part of our thriving global community, head over to thechampaignlounge.com to join us.
