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The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
641: How Konnie Built A $60K/Month Swimwear Brand In 18 Months — Without Quitting Her Day Job
00:38:30
Most people spot a gap in the market and do nothing — Konnie Tsimiklis spotted one, had zero fashion experience, and built a brand around it anyway.
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- [00:02]
A
Hey, Founder fam. I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omnisend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e commerce founders. We've been recommending Omnisend to founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling to seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results. Did you know, on average, OMNISEND customers make $68 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return. And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code FOUNDER50. Just head to omnisend.com founder without the e to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. Welcome to Little Empires, brought to you by the team at Founder at Founder. Our mission is to support the next generation of ECOM founders. And so while you may know us for interviewing some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, this series is a little different. Little Empires shines a spotlight on the builders inside our own founder community. The entrepreneurs who are in the trenches, taking action, learning and building their businesses in real time. These aren't overnight success stories. These are real journeys, real lessons and real founders creating their own little empires one step at a time. This podcast is proudly produced by the founder team to give our students a platform to share their experiences, wins, challenges and honest realities of building a business from the ground up. Now let's dive into today's episode.
- [01:41]
B
We are here on the Founder Little Empires podcast where we're featuring members of our community and how they are starting and scaling their e commerce brands. I am Leah Finch, the community manager from Founder. We have here today Connie Simiclis. She is based in Melbourne, Australia. Her brand is Unity Cove Swimwear, Australia's first gender inclusive swimwear brand. She has grown this into an incredible e commerce brand. Connie, welcome to the Little Empires podcast. It's great to have you here.
- [02:14]
C
Thank you very much, Leah. Gosh, it's been an incredible journey since we first met when I was talking about the idea, I think in terms of gender inclusive swimwear and trying to build this into a brand that really doesn't exist quite so much globally or in Australia. So really excited to get into this.
- [02:32]
B
Yeah, excellent. I'm really excited to get into your brand journey, your product development, how you have made this brand come to life. So we'll get into those details. I know you've got a lot to share in terms of what it's like to start and scale a fashion brand, going through that sampling process all the way through to the marketing strategies that you've used to grow the brand. So let's get started with what your life was like before E commerce. I know you had a little bit of dabbling with dropshipping perhaps, but tell me a bit about what your life was like before you started this brand.
- [03:07]
C
Yeah, absolutely. So I mean I work in management consulting, so I'm a management consultant. I do strategy for businesses. And I think probably about 10 years ago I started dabbling in dropshipping and E commerce. I heard about this little thing, the Internet or sort of online shopping and the growth of it and it was really quite small at that, at that time I think it was probably online shopping in Australia was probably about 1% of total retail sales. So really small. And so I started thinking, right, well it's sort of taking off globally, surely in Australia it's also going to start taking off and the world's going to change in terms of how we, we shop and how we use online. And so I started just researching and dabbling into the world of dropshipping first, just trying to think, right, well how can I quickly try and build the skills of an E commerce brand and all the things that you need to kind of be doing. But it was more just focused on understanding how ads work, how to build websites, how to target your customers back then. So I've kind of taken an interesting little journey through that. But ultimately what I always wanted to do was start my own brand, which come Unity Cove, we've now got a flourishing little or big business starting to bloom, which is really exciting.
- [04:29]
B
Yeah, it's really exciting and I've loved watching it grow over time. And so let's talk about the problem that you were solving with your product. So let's talk about how the concept of gender inclusive swimwear came alive. What was that process like?
- [04:43]
C
Absolutely. So I think for me it was solving a personal problem that I had with swimwear from when I was a young child. I never like to wear bikinis or one piece suits. I didn't feel comfortable in the traditional female swimwear and what you need to wear per se. I always felt a lot more comfortable in just putting on a T shirt, putting on some shorts and going into the water. And unfortunately, you know, in the 90s that probably wasn't the norm to do that for a little girl. And so I always just avoided going to the pools. I still can't swim actually, surprisingly enough, because I just always avoided going any sort of activity that needed water or for me to dress in a way that never felt like me. And so this was, you know, an issue that I went through my teenage years, my 20s, my 30s, and I sort of felt I got to a point where I was like, this is just ridiculous. Surely there has to be some swimwear or some activewear that can kind of meet my needs in terms of being able to go into the water and feel comfortable and confident. And so as I looked around, there really wasn't any brands that were doing that. And so I was always kind of resorting to wearing men's board shorts, which, in essence, didn't fit my body, because clearly it's made for a male and it doesn't fit the female curves. And so I sort of went through this journey of researching and looking around and found there was nothing. And so I thought, look, I'm just going to solve this problem for myself. And as I started talking about it to with other people, I just found that I wasn't the only one that was alone in this, in having this problem. And so I kind of off I went. I think it was effectively, I had the idea from 2019. It was sort of trickling away in the back of my mind. And funnily enough, I actually found a. A piece of paper the other day as I was moving houses, which had my whole business model structured out. So that was in the days of doing kind of drop shipping. And then I'm an ideas person, and so I never really settled on anything until a little bit later on in that. But, yeah, it was really, in essence, just solving a problem that I had. And then as I spoke with other people, I realized that I wasn't the only one and there wasn't a solution available.
- [07:06]
B
Yeah, and that's really fascinating because something that we teach a lot of in our founder courses is scratching your own itch. And I think that comes down to being something that you're really passionate about and a problem that you're passionate to solve, but then also being able to empathize with who your target customer is because you kind of see yourself in the target customer. Does that really resonate with you?
- [07:27]
C
Absolutely. I mean, I am my target customer in terms of the products that I've been developing, the colors that I put out into the world as well. So it's all things that I would wear and that I do wear, and I rotate my clothing around in terms of the swimwear, and that was also why it's active swimwear because I wanted to make a multi use product that you can use for swimming, you can use it for the gym and you can use it for every day. Because I just generally struggle finding any type of clothing that I guess meets my, my personal preferences and needs. And so I created it to be active swimwear, which means that I can wear it all the time and so can my customers or anyone interested in purchasing as well. So it's that added value for money as well, which is, you know, a real kind of benefit and multi purpose use, I think, but definitely solving for myself.
- [08:19]
B
That brings me to ask you a bit more about how the product became developed. Right. Because there are a lot of fash brands on the market, there are a lot of activewear brands and swimwear brands as well. So could you talk us through that product development process? What did version one look like and how it came about?
- [08:39]
C
Absolutely. So you are very right in saying that it is a very saturated market. Whether you're going into swimwear, whether you're going into activewear. There are thousands and thousands of brands who are, who are selling, you know, different products or, or very similar ish products. I think where Unity Cove is really different and the design and development is that it's gender inclusive. So it's not unisex. Unisex. There's a lot of brands that are doing unisex and that is generally taking a male shape and size and almost just going down a couple sizes and you know, selling it to females. That in a hot, very high level is what unisex is. When you go into gender inclusive, then that is actually taking into consideration different body types. It's looking at the shapes and curves and where, you know, a body is very different and it's testing it on a lot of different bodies to make sure that you can get the sizes right and it fits everyone and looks, you know, generally good. Generally good. And so that process was actually quite challenging to, to do. Getting the sizing. I worked with a garment technician and a sizing technician to try and test it on various different bodies and try and get the sizing right. Going through my initial product, it looked very different to what I ended up with. I went through, I think, seven or eight sample rounds before I actually launched with a product. So it was quite a long process that I went through just because of the intricacies in terms of the design and the fit, which frankly, if you look at my product, it looks very simple, extremely simple. But there's so much that's actually gone into it in terms of developing it and making sure it fits lots of different types of bodies. Yeah.
- [10:33]
B
Wow. And so it really is approaching. It's approaching designing the product in a completely different way and challenging what happens in the industry already, perhaps. And so you. You worked with a founder coach to work through the product development phase and the sampling phase. What was that like for you?
- [10:55]
C
Yeah, I think for me, my. My coach, Kiana, is a fashion designer and I don't come from a fashion design background. And so being able to work with her was really fantastic because she was able to direct me to various sources to understand different materials, different stitching, understand what questions to. To be asking when I'm getting my samples back, when I'm communicating with the various different technicians and the manufacturers. And so, you know, she was really important, I think, in that early, early process of me building my own knowledge base and understanding the various different aspects of creating an apparel product. And then you throw in swimwear, that's a completely different ball game. And so, you know, it was really quite challenging and it was a really steep learning curve for me doing a lot of research. And so there wasn't, you know, quite a bit of back and forth with manufacturers. And then I also. Did you. I think I received three or four samples from different manufacturers to make sure that I could firstly test can they develop the products that I'm wanting to and what is the communication like? And I think there was probably one manufacturer which did superior on the manufacturing side, but the communication was very poor. And I had to make that decision, what is it that I'm going to do? And I kind of went with the communication, the company with the communication, and then I worked with them to really develop up the product through Zoom meetings. And it was actually FaceTime, WhatsApp chats, and going through a lot of communication with them and back and forth to develop it up. But I think in finding a manufacturer, really important to focus on communication.
- [12:48]
B
Yeah, I mean, that's what I was really considering. Right. Is like, how did you go about finding that manufacturer? And it sounds like the one that you ended up deciding on going ahead with was the one that had the best communication and was the most accessible in terms of how to go back and forth with them. Can you tell us a bit about what your MOQs were like and also your pricing, your timelines, like, shed a bit of light on. On that process and what that those numbers were like?
- [13:17]
C
Yeah, well, I tell you what, the numbers really shocked me because so many people say that you can start a business with $500 or a thousand dollars. And for me it was, that wasn't the case. But I also think that was a bit on me because I did my research and I knew this idea was going to work. I could, I had the facts behind it, I had the real strong hunch. And so I did go a little bit bigger than probably what I should have for an initial launch. But in working with manufacturers, a lot of them have really high MOQs. And so I was sort of stuck between the, you know, do I go with a manufacturer that can develop me one or two product sort of in, you know, a run of 50 or 100, or do I go with one that does have a higher moq, you know, volume value thing that they need. And so for me, because I knew I wanted to, you know, have a rather big launch, I think I launched with nearly a thousand products, which was against the advice of what most people told me to do. Um, and so that was a little bit of a, of a challenge trying to find, you know, a great manufacturer who was verified, who met my needs in terms of, you know, the various elements in terms of product development material, being able to customize my material. So I actually also have custom material which added to clearly the moq, as opposed to just buying off the shelf material that was available.
- [14:52]
B
And so you launch with a thousand products. What did that first run cost you? Like, what did it cost you to produce that first run?
- [15:02]
C
Yeah, I think it was about $20,000. Yeah, somewhere around there. And then the shipping was. That's the bit that really threw me out. I did express DHL tripping shipping by air. So that cost another like 2,3000. Then you had a 10% GST charge on top of that as well. And so it was all rather expensive. It was a lot more than what I expected. And that's actually been throughout my whole journey, frankly. I'm at the position now that I'm ordering, I'm getting pallets delivered every month. And so I've got open orders every month, lots of big purchase orders. And there's a lot of debt I think, because you've got a lot of cash that's tied up in an inventory and in purchase orders. And that's actually continued throughout. Throughout. I'm up to 18 months in the business now. So it is very cash intensive when you're going into an apparel, you know, high volume business, which will be challenging to manage.
- [16:06]
B
And I think that's something that's worth demystifying and sharing with, with other aspiring fashion brand owners is that you are launching with, for instance, if you're launching with a thousand units, then it can be a bit more surprising in terms of the capital upfront that it requires. And so that's helpful to learn a bit more about. And I'd love to go into your, I'd love to go into your marketing and your community building because I know that you have, you've built this really close knit community that identifies really well with Unity Cove and I think it's really special. And let's, let's start with that. Like let's start with your Instagram and also your, you did have a viral TikTok, didn't you?
- [16:49]
C
It, it, it went well and I say it went well. Maybe not so much from the number of views, but in terms of the actions that were taken. So the whole premise of my brand has been around. It's a founder led brand. I wanted people to. It's my story in essence that I am putting out in the world. And I know that that story resonates with a lot of other people as well. And so, you know, who better to sell your brand than yourself? And so because I am my target customer as well, it's just been really great for me to kind of put a face to, to the brand and just be out there and authentically talking about what my challenges were right from being a youngster through to my adult years and you know, why I started this brand and how, you know, it's benefited me, my life and you know, many other people as well who have been purchasing my customers and not even that, just supporters as well who are just loving the inclusivity of the, of the brand and what I've built. So if I was not in front of the camera, would it be as successful? I think probably not. Actually. I don't think I could have done this just through still image, product pictures and ugc. I think I am the brand and the success is also down to people resonating with me and enjoying my vibe and high energy kind of output. Videos and engagement, whether it's in person or online, I think as well. So showing up has been probably one of the most fantastic things I could have done for the brand and getting it out there.
- [18:34]
B
The TikTok that you posted there was a storytelling TikTok that spoke about the problem and how you've solved it through launching Unity Cove and how that led to quite a number of email signups. Can you talk us through that?
- [18:49]
C
Yeah, absolutely. So I created my first founder video which you know Followed a classic. You know, this is the reason why I started my swimwear brands, going through all the various elements of, you know, what my pain points were and the type of product that I've started to develop. So I put that out on TikTok probably about six months before I launched and to my surprise, it was my first TikTok and people had gone to the website and. Or gone to my profile, gone to the website and then signed up to my wait list. And it was probably about a week or so after I had posted the video that I actually realized I had probably like a thousand signups. Um, so I didn't even know because I didn't have a call to action to say, you know, go to my website or go look at anything. It was just me authentically telling my story. So that was, you know, a little bit of, a little bit of a surprise. But it was also a real good motivator or confidence booster to know that, Right. I've put in this higher moq and I'm pretty sure this is going to work now as well. And then, you know, if I'm honest, that one video still probably has brought me In, I reckon, 70% of my revenue because I use ads as a meta, ads as a channel. So it is just, yeah, it's a really great Evergreen founder ad. And then I made a couple other variations of it as well, which, you know, do really well kind of also. So it's really, yeah, sort of blow my mind that that video has done so good in terms of just attracting people and people resonating with the authenticity of my story and just me showing up there, just, you know, camera up and, you know, just kind of talking and showing all the background snippets of how I was developing up the product over the prior couple years.
- [20:43]
B
Wow. And so the, the performance of that TikTok, that video was so powerful and cut through and resonated so much with your audience. You've now used that creative in your paid advertising. Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Can you tell us a bit more about how that has been for you through that process?
- [21:01]
C
Yeah. So interestingly enough, I'm actually still working full time as well in my corporate job, which means I'm probably not as consistent in terms of developing up content in constantly posting on my, on my socials. And so I needed a bit of a booster or something else to help me sort of get that consistency and get in front of customers and the market as well. And so my main channel that I use is meta and so I effectively just create a lot of founder led videos and I put them through the ad account and they perform generally quite well. Now that does take every day you need to be in the account, monitoring, looking what's working, looking what's not working, clearly rotating ads in and out. But it's, yeah, it's really working quite well for me I think if I was to stop my ads, do I have that strong organic community that'll keep the brand, that'll keep the revenue coming at the level that it is? I don't think at the moment that it would be able to sustain it just because I don't have that time to be investing in. I try to do as much as I can but I'm running a business, you know, a Neo 7 figure business which I'm doing on the side, my little side hustle of working a full time job as well. So I'm fulfilling everything. I've got all the swimwear at home. I've actually just moved to my parents house. I've created a couple rooms there so I've got some storage there and then I've got a fulfillment room in my apartment which is kind of really exciting to be getting to that growth kind of phase. But yeah, the reality is that I don't have an abundance of time and so I need to use a bit of organic and then the main driver is the, the meta ads to find my customers and get the word out there. And then over the summertime, just this summer, I've also done a couple in person activations as well at some major queer events in Melbourne and I went over to Sydney last month for Mardi Gras their day as well. And that was so good just to get in front of customers and talk with them and it was amazing to see Unity co out in the wild. I had customers coming over there wearing their swimwear because it's activewear as well, remember so you can wear it for casual. Coming over and showing me and just you know, talking about things and meeting them, you know, engaging with them, getting to know them, getting feedback on the product as well. It's just invaluable getting out in front of people. I wish I could do it more, I wish I had more time but I hit up some major events where there were high traffic volumes and it was so cool to see that's the
- [23:47]
B
best and you can just see how your whole face lights up when you're talking about your customer, when you're talking about getting in front of your community. I think it just reminds you why you're doing this, but it also gives you so much really valuable feedback about the product and what they really love about the product. Because I think you're also constantly iterating, right, you're constantly evolving the brand and, and pivoting left and right on the back of your. So that's awesome. Now I want to backtrack a little just to share a bit more about your launch weekend. Like if we can just touch on what that launch was like in that, that first period. Just tell us a bit about how that felt.
- [24:33]
C
Yeah, it was nerve wracking. That's what it was. It was a. Yeah, it was a craz period. I'd actually delayed my launch multiple times over. So I launched in the middle of winter, I think it was July, end of July, when I was meant to launch the summer before. But for various reasons I just kept putting, putting off the launch. And so we launched in the middle of summer. In terms of the traffic and how I got my first customers, that was just through socials. I didn't do paid advertising at that time. So it was through firstly that TikTok I'd built up a wait list and just continuing to post on TikTok, I built that up. So I had a pretty decent wait list and then also just ongoing posting on socials. I had done some professional photography as well and videography which was really amazing as well because again it's. It was my, you know, target customers who were promoting, I guess the brand. And um, you know, there was a lot of sharing from the talent and the photographer and the videographer as well to kind of drive a bit of excitement and traffic. And I had a countdown launch for 10 days on social media. Um, and so there was a lot of different activities that I was doing. Um, and it was really. Yeah, I think it went really well. And what surprised me as well was there were, you know, several internationals orders as well. There was actually a lot of international orders that came through and so I realized quite quickly that, you know, whilst I did my research globally and I knew there wasn't any other brand that was doing quite what I was doing. It was just showing how desperate people are for a solution and I was providing them the solution. So I've kind of got also this international kind of expansion that I can do as well or focus on in the winter times.
- [26:25]
B
Okay, so that would have given you a good understanding around. Exactly. It's a seasonal type of product ideally. So that international expansion I also went through the.
- [26:37]
C
When I was initially designing, why it was also active swimwear. So you're not only wearing it in the summer, and then you're putting it away and you're not touching it again. You could actually wear it, you know, throughout the year for lots of various different occasions as well.
- [26:53]
B
Yes, it's more versatile, and it's really clever in terms of swim gym every day, how you created that versatility in the product for the customer. So your launch weekend. Yeah, you mentioned that you were nervous. I think it was that first three months, you did about $27,000 in sales, is that right?
- [27:14]
C
That's correct, yep. And so most of that was all organic through that. So, yeah, I think from there, once. The first three months, there was also kind of. I'll be. I'll be quite frank. There was actually some significant personal challenges and family things that were happening in the first three months, which my mind was not necessarily on Unity Co. So to have been able to do that was just absolutely blew my mind. And then things really have kind of accelerated, I think, from there as well. I mean, at the moment, we. As I said, we're getting pallets delivered, so 6, 700 kilos of swimwear every month so far. So, you know, it's kind of like. I kind of feel like the first six months or the first year, I think it was really learning. It was really getting a feel of how do you run your own branded product business? How do you manage all the different unknowns that just keep popping up? You know, one of my huge challenges was I sold out of product during Black Friday and December in my first year, and then I was left for three months without a stock, with no stock, which was horrendous. January, February, March, I was out of stock because Chinese New Year came, came along, and my manufacturer was like, okay, we can't actually, you know, create you any more products at this point. You're gonna have to wait until April so we can send you some new products. So, you know, it was a really big learning, and I think that's. That's a learning that I've taken into my second year. And now this summer, I'm just fully stocked up. And that's why I've sort of had ongoing purchase orders analyzing through AI what my best sellers are and what the different products and sizes and colors that I need to have on hand. I currently have 10 sizes, so I go up to 6 XL as well. So trying to, you know, demand planning is something that I'm definitely working on, but AI has really kind of helped with that, I think. As well in terms of really analyzing quite quickly what my best selling sizes and colors and whatnot are, making sure that I'm stocking up on those.
- [29:22]
B
Okay. So that was a massive learning experience around staying up with your demand and then leveraging AI to work that out as well. So it sounds like. Yeah, it sounds like you're gearing up for a massive year this year.
- [29:35]
C
Yeah, I'm hoping so. We've got, I'm going to start my international campaign shortly as well in the next. More within the next couple weeks as they, as the rest of the world starts to head into, into summer. So we'll start that and then, you know, up for a really big next summer in Australia and New Zealand. I'm going to introduce three or four new products as well. So at the moment I've actually only got three products and they're the three products that I launched with. But I've been adding different colors and going up in size which is why I haven't introduced new product because my main priority has been to be size inclusive and increase on sizes.
- [30:15]
B
You mentioned you have 10 different sizes per product.
- [30:18]
C
Yes, that's correct.
- [30:19]
B
So you are currently running a seven figure business with three different products?
- [30:25]
C
Yes, nearly a seven figure business. Nearly there.
- [30:28]
B
Nearly a seven figure business. So I want to ask you more about that. How, how are your sales tracking? Like, can you give us an idea of your average month?
- [30:37]
C
Looks like I'm tracking on at the moment around about 50 to 60.
- [30:42]
B
50 to 60,000 Australian dollars a month.
- [30:46]
C
Yeah. So hopefully the plan over the next six months is to get to 150. I feel pretty positive. I can do that. Fingers crossed. Just got to keep working hard, keep tipping away. But that's kind of the goal of where I want to get to in the next six months to double the business. So I've already kind of doubled and hopefully, you know, we can get it up even more.
- [31:09]
B
Set the bar high. So how, how long have you been live for? Has it been about 18 months since you launched?
- [31:16]
C
18 months now and I still kind of feel the first year was a little, as I said it was a lot of learning. There kept being times where I was out of stock because then I do hype drops and it was all all a huge learning experience. So I think in terms of strategy, my first year was very much hype drops. So get the stock in, sell it quickly. My second year, which what I'm in now was around right. Making sure I've always got stock in and I've got my best sellers on hand. So we're always, you know, kind of selling. But now my third phase that I'm moving into, and frankly should have been my first is cash flow. I need to make sure I've got that consistency of cash flow because I've got a lot of purchase orders opened up and the cash cycle is really long. So I place a purchase order, I put, you know, I've just negotiated 30% terms with my manufacturer from 50%. I finally was able to get that down. You spend 30% of whatever your purchase order is. Now I'm not going to get the stock for another, you know, couple of months, two, three months, then I need to sell it. So the cash cycle is really long, um, and you have a lot of money tied up in, in inventory and in waiting. And so now I'm going to try a few different tactics to try and focus a little bit more on cash flow. I've started introducing pre orders as well in the mix, which I didn't really do before. Um, I think I can go a little bit earlier in terms of pre orders. I think I'm still playing a little bit too safe on that front. But I'm just trying things, you know, you try different strategies and see, see what works and just keep learning and growing and applying what you learn.
- [32:56]
B
And I think naturally, as you're building this really, really close stint, supportive community of people that believe in Unity Cove, you're going to be building that trust and then you possibly can stretch out that pre order. Right, because they're familiar with your brand.
- [33:12]
C
Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, we'll just keep trying and see kind of how we go. But I do get, I do get a little bit frustrated with pre Order as well, because, you know, I want people to have their product then and there, like now.
- [33:26]
B
You want them to fully experience Unity Cove instantly?
- [33:30]
C
Yeah, exactly.
- [33:31]
B
All right, well, we'll work towards wrapping Connie, but I just want to do a bit of a reflection on how far you've come in the past 18 months or perhaps before that, when you're going through that sampling process. If the 18, the. If the Connie Smyklus from 18 months ago saw you now, what would they
- [33:51]
C
say, let's say, good on you for taking action? I think it's all about taking action and focusing, focus on the things that are really kind of going to make a big difference in your business. And don't just keep being in fairyland and thinking about, right, can do this, do this, do that, just actually set a plan and just go for it and take action.
- [34:17]
B
I think action's a really key word that you're emphasizing there in terms of actually doing the concrete things that move you forward rather than getting stuck in that research phase. And can you. Can you share with us a bit about how your life has changed, whether that be personally, mentally, financially? What's the biggest thing that stands out to you in terms of where you are today?
- [34:42]
C
Yeah, I think, you know, in terms of the biggest benefit is just that I've just grown so much confidence in myself, in the skills that I have in being able to apply them to grow a business, in how just being comfortable in talking in front of the camera, how people resonate with me and my story and the impact that I have on people as well. If you had told me, you know, two years ago that I'd be making videos and posting them online about my. My personal life, about my business, I'm very open about the business as well. So if you follow me on socials, I, you know, I'm an open book. There's nothing that I keep a secret. And I think, you know, it's just that personal growth and confidence, I think, and I've been able to apply that to so many aspects of just my personal life also. And so I think that's probably, you know, the conference piece is big financially. I mean, it'll pay off soon. It hasn't quite paid off yet. I've got high revenue, the profitability we're working on, but I'm reinvesting everything. So there's no financial benefit for me personally. I'm still working full time to make sure that I can keep reinvesting for growth and not have to worry about, you know, my bills and how I'm going to pay them. Personally, I can just focus on making good decisions to push the business forward and keep reinvesting money. And I'll keep doing that over the next 12 months, most likely as well. And so I feel confident that will work, that will come, but it's not the main motivator. For me, money's not the main motivator. The motivator is seeing my customers light up, be happy, be confident, and feel, you know, so good in their identity and how they're walking through this life. And that's what really lights me up. And it's the messages that I receive every day from people, you know, pouring their hearts out and their stories in my DMs. And it's just. It's amazing. It's really incredible. Really incredible. And going to the Mardi Gras Fair day and Midsummer Festival, I had people coming and crying, like, crying. And that's. That's the motor bit that the brand is. Is really providing for people as well. And when you think about that, you go to bed every night and you think about these stories and these people that you are impacting and touching, it's, you know, I'm happy to keep grinding on the two jobs, you know, just to make sure people can smile, I think, and bring them some happiness.
- [37:12]
B
Connie, it's just so inspiring to hear how committed you are to the cause. And this is. This is very clear in how your face lit up when you were talking about your customer and the impact on your customer, and you could see yourself in them, which I think is really powerful. And so thank you for joining us on the Little Empires podcast.
- [37:35]
C
Thank you very much.
- [37:36]
B
It's been an absolute pleasure to have you share your story of Unity Cove. And yeah, I'm really excited to see where the brand grows to from today.
- [37:45]
C
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
- [37:46]
A
Hey, founder fam. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and if you enjoyed this episode, please take the time to leave us a review and let us know what you think. This podcast is 100% free. We work so hard to go out and find the most successful entrepreneurs and founders in the world. Your feedback helps us grow, improve, and even bring on more incredible guests and insights. So if you have a second, please take a moment, leave us a review. It really makes a difference. Thanks again for listening and I'll catch you on the next show.