The Psychology of Your 20s – Episode 362: "How to Start a SUCCESSFUL Business in Your 20s"

Featuring: Host Gemma Spike & Brittney Saunders, Founder and CEO of Fate the Label
Release Date: December 8, 2025

Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, host Gemma Spike sits down with Brittney Saunders, a pioneering Australian entrepreneur and the founder of the fashion brand Fate the Label. Brittney shares her unfiltered journey from school dropout and YouTube beauty guru to influential business owner, diving into the real psychology, practicalities, and emotional realities of launching and scaling a business in your twenties. Together, Gemma and Brittney talk about self-doubt, risk-taking, the power of starting small, learning from mistakes, and the evolution from influencer to CEO. The conversation is candid, down-to-earth, often funny, and packed with actionable advice — making it a must-listen for anyone considering their own entrepreneurial path.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brittney’s Unconventional Career Path

• Early Life and Education
  • Brittney grew up in Newcastle, Australia, and, uninterested in academia, dropped out of school at 16 to waitress. She was "a born and bred Newie gal" ([06:13]).
  • Felt pressure from teachers/careers advisors to pick a life path at 15:

    “I am 15, I don’t even have a lobe to develop. Like it's not there.” — Gemma ([07:19])

• Experimenting with Side Hustles
  • Dabbled in mobile spray tans, freelance makeup, selling iPhone cases, and YouTube, viewing them as fun hobbies, not “real businesses” ([10:15]).
  • By age 21, she’d had over 20 jobs attempting to find her “thing.”

2. Becoming an Influencer: The First Australian Wave

• Origins of YouTube Success
  • Started a YouTube channel as a teen and, over six years, grew it from zero to 80,000 subscribers, becoming a “full-blown influencer” ([11:08], [12:57]).
  • Experienced the OG YouTube/influencer wave with brand trips and paid posts.
• Dealing with Labels and Stereotypes
  • Known among peers as “the bogan one” for her authenticity, which set her apart from other beauty creators ([13:43], [14:02]).

3. From Influencer to Founder: The Start of Fate the Label

• Finding the Business Idea
  • Fate was not born of a grand business plan, but from a DIY, “think of it and do it” mentality; Brittney leveraged her audience as potential customers ([16:47]).
• Organic Growth and Taking Risks
  • Started Fate at home with help from friends/family, packing orders and teaching herself everything (Shopify, logistics, customer service).
  • Over time, the brand scaled “one foot in front of the next,” taking on a lease, then opening a first store “by accident” ([22:14]).
  • Emphasized risk-taking:

    “Great things can happen if you just take that step.” ([23:56])

Notable Moment

On running things DIY and not overthinking:

“I didn’t see past that moment when I started it... If I could have my time over...I would 100% document [the garage setup]. People love to see that behind the scenes.” — Brittney ([19:40]–[21:30])

4. Business Lessons You Can’t Google

• The Emotional Side of Entrepreneurship
  • “Google couldn’t have prepared me for...the emotional journey of starting a business. And also how much starting a business isn’t about you at all.” ([28:59])
  • Discussed evolving from founder-centric to employee- and team-centric mindset.
• Most Costly Early Mistake:
  • Hiring friends and family for convenience, which blurs personal/professional lines and stunts organizational growth:

    “People will either make or break your business.” ([33:00]) “Avoiding hard conversations was another big one...because, yeah, we’re naturally people-pleasers.” ([32:37])

Memorable Quote

“The first three years of a business is like a trial. And then after three years, that's when it turns into a real business.” — Brittney ([32:02])

5. Scaling Up: Systems, Delegation, and Letting Go

• Growing Pains
  • Moved from a home-based side hustle to a company with 70+ employees and multiple storefronts.
  • Learned to hire “A players” and people “better than you” to achieve real growth ([34:22]).
  • Emphasized the value of paying for expertise over saving and training from scratch.
• Letting Go of Influencing
  • Gradually stepped away from sponsored content to become a full-time CEO. The influencer income initially let her reinvest into Fate for years without taking a salary ([37:34]).

6. Inside the Day-to-Day Life of a Founder

• Current Role
  • Heavily involved in marketing, campaign planning, customer initiatives (e.g., customer brand trips), and major decisions ([39:15]).
  • Still handles all stock buying and Facebook/Meta ads.
  • Expressed the challenge of balancing detailed work with big-picture thinking as Fate grows ([41:45], [42:14]).
• Unique Customer Experiences
  • Created “brand trips” for loyal customers, not influencers — “Lucky Seven” and “Fate Eight” — to celebrate Fate's birthday, building community and content ([39:20]).

7. Future Plans & Advice

• New Ventures
  • Brittney dreams of starting “a faceless business” or even Fate’s direct competitor, as a social experiment to prove she can succeed without a pre-existing following ([51:17]):

    “I would almost love to start a faceless business...and never tell anyone...and then come out and be like, this was me and none of you knew.”

• Philosophy on Luck and Hard Work
  • Acknowledges the benefit of having an audience, but emphasizes years of “hard work, determination, and persistence” ([53:25]).
• Advice to Her Younger Self / People in Their 20s
  • “Do it scared.”

    “The number one thing that holds people back...is being scared. ...You can just do it and still feel scared at the same time.” ([55:06])

8. Fate’s Bestsellers and Denim Rant

• Favorite Product: Downtown Pants (“like a dressy corporate pant...with an elastic back, comfy, easy to dress up or down") ([56:27]).
• Best-Selling Category: Denim; new jeans range coming in 2026. Gemma shares her personal vendetta against Levi’s, sparking laughter ([57:23]).
• On Competition:

  “Every brand can exist together and there's enough customers...I would love to collaborate with a competitor of ours.” —Brittney ([58:59])

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “I am 15, I don’t even have a lobe to develop.” — Gemma ([07:19])
• “Back then I remember, like the OG YouTube days. To have 80,000 subscribers was, like, kind of a big deal.” — Brittney ([11:21])
• “What would you do if you didn’t have this YouTube stuff?” — Brittney reflecting on her own Q&As ([17:59])
• “I am a very ‘think of it and do it’ person.” — Brittney ([16:50])
• “Business is just making mistakes constantly and learning better for next time.” — Brittney ([29:01])
• “The first three years of a business is like a trial.” — Brittney ([32:02])
• “People will either make or break your business.” — Brittney ([33:00])
• “Do it scared.” — Brittney ([55:05])
• “Every brand can exist together and there’s enough customers... I would love to collaborate with a competitor of ours.” — Brittney ([58:59])

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | |----------------------------------|---------------------| | Brittney’s background, leaving school, YouTube origin | 06:11 - 13:24 | | Influencer era, “bogan” label, brand trips | 13:24 - 15:58 | | Fate the Label: from idea to launch, early DIY | 16:11 - 23:56 | | Business isn’t about you; hiring mistakes | 28:59 - 34:22 | | Scaling, hiring experts, letting go of influencing | 34:22 - 39:41 | | Leading as a CEO: tasks, customer trips | 39:41 - 42:27 | | Future ambitions: faceless business, competition | 48:32 - 52:31 | | Advice to 20-somethings: “Do it scared” | 54:45 - 56:08 | | Fate’s top products, denim, on competition | 56:27 - 59:57 |

Tone & Atmosphere

• Conversational: Banter, candid admissions, and plenty of laughs (“I just always stayed true to myself...the Aussie, like the bogan one.” [13:43]).
• Inspiring, but honest: Both host and guest acknowledge insecurity and mistakes, showing the highs and lows of starting a business.
• No-nonsense—“no bullshit, straight shooting advice”: As Gemma promised at the start ([04:36]).
• Warm and relatable: Without glamorizing entrepreneurship, the episode normalizes uncertainty, imperfection, and learning as you go.

Closing Thoughts

If you’ve ever considered starting a business in your 20s (or at any age), this episode demystifies the process. Key takeaways: Start scrappy, learn as you go, hire carefully, document your journey, and above all—do it scared. Fate the Label’s success is not a fairytale of overnight fortune; it’s a story of relentless experimentation, self-teaching, gradual scaling, and learning from every misstep.

Find Brittney Saunders on social media, listen to her “Big Business” podcast for more entrepreneurship insights, or visit one of Fate’s five Australian stores — and maybe, just maybe, keep an eye out for her “secret” competitor brand.

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