How One Mum Turned a Job Loss Into a Multi-Million Dollar Comeback

My name is Natasha Bamblet.

I'm a proud first nation's woman,

and I'm here to acknowledge country.

T. Glignan Ganya.

Neyana Kakayali in Binawaka.

Neyana Ganya in Bina Yakarumja.

Duminya Gumiga, Duminya Ithawaka,

Nidawaman Daman Imalan.

Momobangara Bama in Nyanwaka.

Ganya Yakarumja.

Wutuna Rana.

Hellay, beautiful friends.

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We thank, acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land

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Take pleasure in all the land and respect all that you see.

She's on the money podcast,

acknowledges culture, country, community, and connections.

Bringing you the tools, knowledge, and resources for you to thrive.

She's on the money.

She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the money.

The podcast that lets you be pervy about other people's money habit,

for educational purposes, of course.

We'll come back to another one of our money diaries episodes

where we get to talk with one of our incredible She's on the money community members

all about their journey and this time business.

Let's jump straight into it because this week I got an email and it sound exactly like this.

Dear She's on the money.

In 2018, my world shifted overnight.

My corporate management role was gone,

along with the security of a six-figure salary.

I was so stressed and overwhelmed by the uncertainty.

But this was the perfect opportunity to launch a business idea

that I'd been sitting on for a while.

What began as a one-woman operation in a granny flat

quickly evolved into something much bigger.

And I'd love to share the story with you.

Money diaries, welcome to the show.

Hi, how are you?

Lovely to be here today.

Oh my goodness, sorry.

Just a one-woman operation working out of a granny flat.

Was that because you lived there or was that your office?

No, so I had a granny flat built at the side of my house for my mom

when she came to stay with us.

Yeah.

But she hated it.

She hated it.

She refused to stay in there.

So we had this incredible little space and...

And she was like a granny flat?

No, I'm sleeping in your bed.

Yeah, she wanted to be in the house with the kids and the family

and being the thick of family life,

which is beautiful in itself.

But...

But also sometimes we need some space, Mum.

What's that about?

Yeah, and then I just thought it would be the perfect space

to launch the next step of my career.

Perfect.

And you're dead right.

I was in this in this place of complete uncertainty.

I'd lost my job overnight.

I was like, what am I going to do?

I had two young kids.

No, that just adds to the stress.

I really didn't want to go back to traveling for work.

And so I was like, it's now or never.

Let's do this.

Now's the time.

So the granny flat was a perfect place to start the business.

I needed to separate work and home.

And that's where the business was born.

I'm obsessed.

So let's go back a little bit.

I want to know before we get into asking about your money story

and how that came to be.

What grade would you give your money habits from A through to F

if I asked you to give them a grade?

I'd say an A minus.

Oh, okay.

Let's go.

What's really important?

No, I love it.

I'm also like, why not A plus?

We've got questions.

But money, Doris, let's rewind.

Tell me a little bit more about your money story.

So I think the money story for me started at quite a young age.

I've been brought up in a family where both my parents

were highly educated,

big focus on education for myself.

And I always saw Mum and Dad being very astute

with how they spent their money.

You know, they saved well and those habits formed

in me at quite a young age.

In saying that though, they never let me work until I was 18.

My focus was on education up until I was 18.

They made sure that school and education

was the primary investment of my time.

Then when I turned 18, I was studying

and I worked three jobs.

Three, you went, oh, I've got to make up for lost time here.

I did. I did.

You're exactly right.

I had to make up for lost time.

And I diligently saved for my first house,

which I purchased at 19.

Sorry, what?

You weren't allowed to work until you were 18.

Uh-huh.

I feel like I'm saying that in a way where you were like,

I don't know, deprived.

But I have a sneaky suspicion.

It was more because your parents really wanted you to like,

just focus on education.

Is that right?

Like, was that attention point?

Not 100 percent.

Yeah, okay.

Mum and Dad's focus for me was to make sure

that I made the most of my education

that I didn't have any distractions.

Yeah.

I was very involved in sport as well.

So my downtime to work was limited.

But they really wanted to make sure

that my focus was on my education.

So I could then leap frog,

I guess, into a really good career.

And I'm extremely grateful for them

setting those boundaries with me at a young age.

But also learning from them.

Yeah, I love that.

That's such a privilege

because so many kids are like,

oh, I'm 14, nine months.

Gotta get my first job and manage all of that.

Like, how good?

And don't get me wrong.

I still had jobs that I had to do at home.

Like, I still had to contribute to...

I'm getting the vibe that your parents

were pretty switched on in terms of like

teaching you about responsibility

and, you know, being astute with money

and focusing on the way that you've been talking about this.

I'm like, okay, I kind of picken up the vibes

and I think everyone else is.

I just really wanted to clarify them.

Like, when you said you weren't allowed,

it wasn't like some financial abuse situation

where you're not allowed a job.

It was more a supportive situation.

And I just want to be really clear about that.

Yeah, definitely not.

Definitely not.

Their focus was always on education.

And I'm very grateful that they gave me

that opportunity to dial in to my studies.

And that's a habit that I'm still to this day

furthering my education, still in my 40s.

It's a big part of my life.

I've got a lot of questions

about you buying your first home at 19.

But I want to pick up on something

that you said just before before I get there.

Because I'm like chomping at the bit to ask about that.

But if you were, you know, not allowed to work

or like your parents were like, you need to focus on education.

But all your friends had probably some pocket money

or disposable income.

What did that look like?

Because like, I remember, you know,

using my income for the things that I wanted to do

and go to the movies or, you know,

buy another rocksy pencil case from their surf shop.

Like, what did that look like?

Was there any, like, I don't know, envy of your friends

who had disposable income or?

Definitely not.

Mum and dad were very generous.

I must say that too.

They were very generous.

But that didn't also avoid me

from the responsibilities of my jobs

that I had to undertake at home.

So there were still roles and responsibilities

that I had to fulfill as being part of the family unit.

And that's where I guess the fruits of having

a little bit of cash from the weekend came from.

But yeah, I was very lucky.

They were definitely very generous.

I never felt like I missed out

on being able to do things that my friends were doing.

Yes, they, my friends definitely

did have more resources available to them

in terms of surplus, surplus money.

But I never felt like I missed out.

Yeah, good.

I was like, what did that feel like?

Because I mean, I'm a mum now and everybody knows that.

But I'm like, oh, hold on.

I haven't even thought about Harvey getting his first job.

Do I want that?

Do I want him to be like, how do I want this to figure out?

So it's just nice asking those questions.

But now we get to leapfrog to you being 18.

What was your first job of three?

Yeah, my first job was a waitress.

I think probably the right of passage for a lot of people.

Yeah.

So I worked as a waitress.

And then I also worked in a club in a local club.

I got my responsible service of alcohol

and poured beers in a club.

And I think those skills definitely gave me the ability

of how to communicate with people.

Absolutely.

And how to provide exceptional customer service.

I think that was found in me very, very young.

And then I got my first job as a trainee receptionist

as well at 18.

So I worked those three jobs

and squirreled away every single cent that I could

during that time.

So I could say it's for us.

Where did that work ethic come from?

Because you know, you haven't been able to work for so long.

And then you get your first job.

And I would assume that a lot of people in that situation

would be like, oh my goodness, first time I've got access

to essentially disposable cash.

Like, can I also be really pervy?

Were you still living at home at that point?

I was.

I was still living at home.

Mum and dad as soon as I turned to 18.

And I guess they got that year 12 over with for me.

My dad took a job overseas.

So mum and dad moved overseas.

They're breathing a sigh of relief.

They're like, she's done with year 12 money win, life win.

And they moved overseas.

So they gave me what was the family home?

Wow.

Again, that came with responsibility.

So I had to learn really quickly how to take care of yard,

mow the lawns, make sure, you know, I had enough money for food.

And the house was clean.

Like, it definitely taught me a lot.

You kind of quite moved out on your own, but not.

Yeah.

And I used that 12 months to really become an adult

to learn how to stand on my own two feet.

And my goal was to buy my own house.

I knew that they'd be away for a couple of years.

So I wanted my own place when they got back.

And I achieved that.

That work ethic, because I think a lot of 18-year-olds

would have been like, first job, waitress, going to the club.

I'm going to spend my money on beers and drinks.

But you just have your head screwed on.

Like, I just feel like you've got yourself set up.

So how much were you able to save in that first 12 months?

Because you already told us, I bought my first home at 19.

Girl, first job at 18, house at 19.

Yes.

So how?

I will preface that too.

Mum and Dad obviously helped me towards getting into my first home.

They made some really smart money choices when I was born.

And they put some money into an endowment fund.

Let's call it when I was born.

Oh, thanks, Mum.

Which they gave to me when they knew

that I was going to purchase my first home.

So I got $10,000 from them when I got into my first home.

And I saved the other $30,000 on my own.

OK, so 10K from Mum and Dad, and then 30K on your own

that you saved with entry-level jobs in 12 months.

Yeah.

Post-tax.

That is incredible.

I love that.

So $40,000 deposit.

What kind of house are we buying with that?

I know that I'm jumping ahead.

But like, girl, this is cool.

So I bought on the outskirts of Canberra.

So I was born and raised in Canberra.

So I obviously couldn't afford anything too wild,

but a three bedroom, single bathroom home

in one of the outer suburbs of Canberra.

And yeah, I purchased that home for $264,000.

And I have to be real pervy.

I know that you're 44 now.

What year did you purchase that first home in?

Because I feel like the tides are per changed.

Yeah, so that was 2001.

I would like to go back there.

I would very happily give you that amount of money

for a three bedroom home.

That would be very nice.

If you ever want to sell that to me

for what you purchased it for, you just keep me up.

Yeah, definitely.

You want me both.

I'd buy that house back in a second now.

Yeah, I know, right.

First home at 19.

What happened after 19?

Did you move in?

Did you rent it out?

Like, what's the journey?

Yeah, it worked really, really hard.

So after that short period of time,

I then decided to get back into education.

So that 12 months was just working,

saving with the goal to buy my own home.

Then after that slow career progression

in terms of just slowly started climbing the ladder.

So I went from a trainee receptionist

into an admin assistant role during that time I was studying.

So I was undertaking my diploma of accounting

at that time after hours.

So three nights a week,

I'd go to a local business college

to do my diploma of accounting.

That took me just over 18 months

to finish that off.

And again, all in the background,

I'm building my skills,

building my abilities in and around work

and getting lots of really good work experience.

And I chopped and changed a few jobs during that time.

And finally, sort of worked my way up

into low level management by my mid 20s,

probably 25, 26, my first office manager role,

which I loved in the building and construction sector.

And I sort of sat in the building and construction sector

for the next five to six years.

Yeah, okay.

And what kind of salary are we looking at?

Like are we looking at like as an office manager?

I feel like sometimes that could be really entry level.

But it sounds like you worked your way up

to getting into a good office manager role.

And then when you lay it on construction,

I was like, oh, they pay pretty well.

So like, what are we talking?

So I think in around 25 or 26,

I can't remember exactly.

But I think I was sitting somewhere around the 65 K per atom.

And that's pretty good.

Because that's backward 2007, 2008.

Yeah, 2007, 2007, 2008 around that time.

I'm just trying to do my maths as you're telling your story.

I'm like, always fact checking.

I'm always like, yeah, okay, and then what?

Okay, and then what?

Yeah.

So I mean, it was, you know, I definitely was living comfortably.

But there was a period of time before that.

Like you mentioned before with, you know,

all of my friends, you know, having access to cash.

When I first bought that house,

I remember some weeks, I would have, you know,

$40 left in the bank by the end of the week.

By the time I put petrol in my car,

I did my groceries, paid the bills, paid the mortgage,

squirreled the money away from red zone insurance.

Like there were some weeks that I was like, wow,

I don't have much left, you know, in the bank at the end of this.

But I also knew that I was sitting on an asset

that at some point that would pay off.

And it most certainly did.

Yeah, and that's like the compromise you make.

It doesn't feel incredible at the time.

Because you're like, oh, hey,

Emma, what are you doing today?

And then Emma says, I'm going out for drinks with the girls.

And you go, have fun.

It's just, it's not great.

But you also need to zoom out and be like,

oh, a bigger picture.

I'm doing pretty alright here.

But in the moment, it can feel like you're really missing out.

Yeah, it does.

And I guess I got back into my enjoying life.

And I guess a bit of a party girl phase in those mid 20s

when I had a bit more

disposable income available to me.

I think I made up for a bit of lost time

during that period of time.

And definitely enjoyed life a bit more.

Oh, good girl.

Now, it's about to say like, I won't call you highly strong,

but you're clearly highly motivated.

Has there been room for fun in this budget?

Like, and in this journey?

Because it's, sorry, three jobs, 18,

working your butt off, saving a heap,

buying it 19.

Yes, you will like, oh, thanks, mom and dad helped.

But they did only give you 25% of your,

and not only like a bloody privilege,

but like 25% of your deposit had you saved for a little bit longer,

you would have been able to do it all in your own.

Fantastic.

I would say the appearance aren't the reason

you got into your first home in general.

But that's a lot.

And then you're working your butt off.

You're in this like boozy office management role.

I'm like, hello, so yeah,

I had a lot more fun in my 20s.

And I regret some of these things.

But also, where's the fun bag?

Yeah, no, there was definitely fun in those mid to late 20s.

There was a lot of good times that were had then.

And I think I made up for it.

And I'm really glad I had that period of my life, too.

I think a bit more financially secure,

had a career.

There's definitely been fun.

And there's still fun now to this day,

even though the situation is much different today.

Still make sure that I have fun.

Okay, so then let's zoom forward.

Your 26 office manager role, 65 grand, it's 2007.

When did you move into this corporate management role

where you were earning six figures?

That happened in my late 20s.

So around 29, 30, I landed a very high-flying corporate role.

I was a national revenue manager

for a very large multinational corporation.

And I worked there for a couple of years

until I fell pregnant with my first child.

And there was travel involved with that role.

Oh, very cool.

And significant travel.

And that's where I started earning some really big dollars

during that period of time.

What's really big dollars mean?

I doubled my income at that point.

So it was around 120.

Yeah, wow.

And that is, especially in now, I'm keeping track, 2010,

a lot of money.

So 120K, bougie, what do you mean travel?

So you're like going around to the country,

around the world or...

Around the country, working with

on a large government contract,

even though it was a private company,

but working on a large government contract,

doing a lot of travel during that period of time.

Oh, how cool.

Yeah, it was great, really great experience,

skills that I've learned from that job.

I carried through with me today.

Love.

And so I've just heard the journey from basically 18 to 2930.

Can I ask about your personal life?

You said you had your first kid.

Have we met, like, the love of our life during that time?

Like, he takes two to 10, go to make a baby.

So how, where's that person come in?

So I actually met my husband when I was 14.

No, stop.

This is so cute.

Yeah, so we first met when I was 14, he was 16.

Oh, that's a big age gap back then.

It was, it was.

And, you know, we were in and out of each other's lives,

you know, up until I was about 18.

And then we don't live in the same town.

We didn't live in the same town.

And then when Facebook became a thing,

we reconnected.

And yeah, the rest is history.

So reconnected, we're together for about 12 months,

engaged, married in 2011.

Our daughter came in 2014.

Oh, my goodness.

So you'd been working at this, like,

National Rev Manager role for a few years

and then ended up pregnant.

That is so special.

Talked me through that change that you would have gone through

because going from, sorry, the National Revenue Manager

of a multinational corporation

to pregnant and planning maternity leave.

Fantastic, but also can feel really jarring.

That's a change of pace.

It was, it very much was.

And I went back to that role after my daughter was born

and loved it, but it was definitely challenging.

Being a first-time mom with the travel, with all of it,

I went back to work when our daughter was six months old

and was very, very challenging period of time, for sure.

You know, trying to operate in a role like that

on next to no sleep, pumping, you know,

in the bathrooms in my break.

Like, it was challenging.

But I loved it.

I was still very lit up by my role,

but they did come a time where I decided

I couldn't continue on at that pace.

And an old boss of mine had reached out and asked me

if I'd come back to work for him.

And yes, set me up with my own office

which stopped the travel.

And I did that for another couple of years

until that flipped on its head.

Yeah, wow.

So daughter in 2014, and then you went into this next role

with your old boss that hit you up.

When did you have your second baby?

I had my son in 2016.

Yeah, two years later, that's a good age gap.

Yeah, yeah.

So he came along in 2016.

And I definitely felt, everybody says,

you know, when you have two children

because the jump from one to two feels like one to 10.

And that's definitely how my life felt.

I feel really, so I should be scared for the future.

Okay, all right, I'm just prepping myself

as someone who wants babies always.

Yeah, it was a significant shift

having two young children still working

in a very senior role within an organization,

all of the pressures that came with that role.

Thankfully, having that flexibility was really important.

Like, I could work at whatever time during the day

in and around the kids, which was great.

I'd often work late of the night to find that balance,

which was awesome.

But having the two kids and balancing a job like that

definitely was a challenge for us.

And as a family.

Yeah, and so when you took this new role,

was it because it obviously gave you flexibility?

You like, I can't travel anymore,

but were there salary benefits as well?

Or were you like, no, I'll be on about the same?

It was funny.

Yeah, she's earning more, you should see her face.

It's funny when my boss contacted me

and was like, I'd love you to come back and work with me.

I remember saying to him,

you can't afford me anymore.

Like, we had a really good relationship.

Sorry, I've had a little bit of a finance glow up.

Yeah, we had this really great friendship.

And he was like, how do you know I can't afford you anymore?

And I was like, because you can't.

I know you can't.

Like, sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, but.

Yeah, and he was so proud of me

that I had worked my way up to a salary like that.

I remember him saying,

because I'm so proud of you.

Like that's what you've achieved.

You should be very proud of.

That's so good.

He met me at the salary I was on.

I didn't get an increase, but he met me at that salary level.

But I was saving a lot of money.

The travel.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And the mental load and the time, just the time

and just that flexibility of being able to be more present

with my kids.

I couldn't put a dollar value on that at the time.

Yeah, that's so good.

I love that for you, but you also said,

I had that job until it flipped on its head.

So tell me about that.

So it literally all came crashing down overnight.

He's empire of companies.

I can't deal with too much into what happened there,

but it wasn't like you came to work one day

and he was like, money-darest,

I don't even like you anymore, you're fired.

It wasn't that it was like definitely not, definitely not.

It was a lot more complex than that.

Businesses went bankrupt or something like that.

Yeah, it was definitely a lot more complex than that.

Very sad sort of events that transpired there.

Thankfully, none of them were due to financial mismanagement

or anything like that.

It was a very stupid businessman.

Just made some poor decisions.

So I'm going to ask you about that offline.

Yeah, you can ask me on point for sure.

You're going to be like, give me the tea.

Give me the tea because that sounds juicy.

And you know what I love?

I love gossip that doesn't involve me.

Anybody I know, don't want to know.

But some man that I've never met, I need to know his gossip.

It was actually a really, really difficult period of my life,

but also really enlightening because it pushed me.

It gave me that big push to go, right?

It's now or never.

You've now got the perfect opportunity

to start your own business.

Like you game enough to do it.

How old were your kids when you made the decision

to start your own business?

So that was in 2018.

So my daughter was four and my son was two.

Oh my goodness.

Do you know anyone have kids that are in school

and you've got all this extra time

and you basically are still in toddler and kind of mode?

Yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

They'll both in daycare.

It's crazy.

I love it.

It gave me some flexibility, which was really nice.

Yeah, it was definitely a wonderfully challenging period of time.

So what's it like to build your very first

and very own business, like 2018?

Tell me about that.

I remember waking up a couple of days

after my world came crashing down with my previous job,

but I remember saying to my husband,

I was like, will you back me if I go out on my own?

If you said no, grounds for divorce.

So yeah, good, I'm glad that worked out for you.

And because I knew that it would come

at a financial cost to us for a while

and he was like, yeah, absolutely.

What are you going to call this business?

Love.

And I like that that he's like, oh, it's not about the semantics.

What are we calling this because we're doing it?

Yeah.

Yeah, he 100% backed me.

He's still my biggest backer to this day.

He actually works in the business now.

So, oh, stop it.

Yeah, so he has always been my biggest supporter,

along with my parents, looping my mum and dad back into it again.

You know, during that period of time,

I relied on them very heavily for their wisdom and guidance

and leaned on them a lot during that period of time.

I love that.

And I slowly started building a team of people around me.

I knew that if I wanted to execute this business well,

that I would have to build a team around me

that we're really good at the things that I wasn't good at.

Okay, yep, perfect.

And I feel like that takes a level of like self-understanding

to go, I'm not very good at this.

And that can be really hard.

Yeah.

I wanted to be out there growing the business as well

and meeting people who needed my services

and making sure I was networking

and getting in front of the right people.

And thankfully, the country town that we live in

has a really strong business community.

And I leveraged into that a lot.

And the first two years, I didn't pay myself.

So, it was only thanks to good saving

and having a good pot of money behind us,

my husband and I, that allowed me to really invest

everything that I own for the business back into the business.

Oh, how good.

So tell me, what type of business is this

and how much does it earn each year?

Yeah, sure.

So there's two businesses now.

Oh, okay, big dog.

Yeah, two businesses now.

One is a business solutions firm.

We provide full-end office support to businesses.

So that's bookkeeping, admin, virtual reception,

social and digital marketing, human resources.

Oh, very cool.

So a one-stop shop for businesses to outsource

the pain areas that they find in their business.

Yep.

And the other business is a debt collection business.

Oh, I love that.

Do you know what?

I reckon you'd be terrifying on the phone in a good way.

Do you know what our slogan is for that business?

Is it's debt collection with a difference?

Love.

And we go about debt collecting, not in your typical way.

I believe that everything is resolvable

through good communication and good relationships.

Yeah.

And if you assign those same principles to collecting money,

you'll often be quite successful.

You're smart woman.

So we just go about it a little bit differently

to what you would envisage your typical debt collector to be.

I don't have any debts that need to be collected now,

but next time I do, I'ma call you.

Yeah, sure.

Please do.

So tell me now what type of revenue and like employee head

count are we looking at?

You said you've already know you've got employees.

What's that look like?

Yeah.

So we've got a team of 20 now.

20.

20?

Yeah.

Look at you go.

And we turned over last year in excess of $2 million.

Excuse me.

I love this for you.

Do you sometimes go, I did that.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm very, very proud of what we've achieved.

I'm very, very proud of the staff that we have

and the people that we've developed within the business

being in a small country town has had its challenges

in recruiting talent, but we have been able to develop

and grow some exceptional women.

We've got a very large female employee base

and we've been able to really develop those staff.

And some of them now, they run rings around me.

Good.

And I'm really, really proud of that.

I say that all the time about my business.

Like, I actually want you to be better at this than me.

Yeah.

Like, I'm hiring you because I think you're way smarter than me

and better at it, otherwise I would be controlling

and just do it myself, which can be humbling

when I'm like, hey, guys, I've got this good idea

and they're like, oh, no, I'll go, oh, OK.

I'll just go sit in the corner then, thank you.

I think the really important thing about building

a successful business is leaning into the people

you have around you.

Great.

And also empowering them to show up at their best

and also working on their strengths.

There's some people within our team

that I can really identify where they're going to succeed

very quickly.

And I'm like, let's do more of that.

It's paid off.

You sound like a leader, not a manager.

And I love that so, so much.

I still love being on the tool, so I still

love getting my hands dirty.

But a leader does that.

A manager does them.

Yeah, true.

I'll lead a show's people by being with them

and working with them, not sitting above them

and quite leading.

And you're not cracking a whip.

You're literally in the trenches, getting it done with them.

That's what good leadership is about.

Now, I'm going to pivot back to your personal life.

And I also want to touch on the same thing

for business, I suppose.

What are your current big money goals?

What are you currently working towards?

My big money goals would be to set my children up,

breaking into the property market these days is so difficult.

I'm seeing some of my friends with older kids

really struggling to get into the property market.

So one of my big goals would be getting myself to a point

where I can buy a couple of investment properties

to leverage that for them.

They've still got high school education to come.

I was privately school educated, and I thank my parents

every day, not in any way, discrediting our public system.

We have got a fantastic public system,

but I loved my private school education,

and I believe it has set me up for life.

And I want to be able to give my children

those opportunities.

So I know I've got a few years of quite

taxi school fees coming up for them.

So that's been one of my big savings.

I've been working diligently towards that

to make sure that their school fees will be covered.

And they're crazy these days.

Like they're crazy.

I did not realise how astronomical school fees have gotten,

like I had the privilege of going to a Catholic school.

So it was definitely not a full private school,

but it was Catholics also, kind of like that in between,

I suppose.

And I really, really value to that.

But it's one of those funny things

where the public education is great.

And I go, that's fantastic,

but I didn't have that experience.

Like I don't know what that looks like.

But what I know is I got a good education

and I also want my children to have that,

and if it's financially viable for me,

like that's what I'll do.

And that's honestly human nature.

We do what we're comfortable with.

So it kind of makes sense.

So true.

And, you know, I'm really grateful

for my parents affording me that.

Yeah.

Because I can look back now and retrospect and go,

those things that I learnt through school

are the values that have now been instilled in me.

It's an adult woman.

And I, you know, I'm very grateful.

And I want to be able to give my kids those opportunities,

not to say they might not get to the end of year 12.

And I'd be super, super happy for, you know,

them ending up in a trade or doing whatever.

But just giving them that foundation

to do whatever they want to do is really important to me.

No, I love that.

And I'd love to retire early.

That's my other big money goal.

That's sexy.

What would that mean?

Like, but you've got businesses.

Like, you're not coming across as the kind of gal

the ones to hang out boots up yet.

And no, I'm not, I'm not really,

definitely not ready to hang my boots up yet.

But I would love to be semi retired, sort of in my mid 50s,

another 10 years.

It would be nice to take a bit of a back seat,

maybe sit on some not-for-profit boards

or do something with my time.

Yes, please.

I can contribute back a little bit.

Would be nice.

And just not being a rat race, you know, running business.

I think in about 10 years' time,

I'll be ready to maybe work a little bit part time.

Yeah, I love that.

Now, I have to be even more pervy

because you said your business has a $2 million revenue,

which is fantastic, and that you didn't

for the first two years in business pay yourself.

But you did drop earlier that your husband now works

in the business.

It does.

What would you say is like your combined family income now?

So we're over 250.

OK, so very comfy.

Yeah, look, we don't pass up to you.

As well as asking combined, I'm like,

I know that people are going to recognize your voice

in your business.

So I was like, just tell me what like combined.

Yeah.

On average, because some businesses, right?

Like, they go, oh, we're still skimping.

Like, you know, I've got all these big money goals,

but like, we're still paying ourselves 40 grand a year.

Or on the flip side, it's like, I do genuinely,

like, you have to be in the trenches

for a little bit to establish things.

But then I also believe in paying yourself first

and putting yourself as a priority first

because you can't pour from an empty cup.

So true.

And look, it's very easy to get to,

like, we had an exceptional year last year.

So there's some dividends there

that, you know, I can play around with as well.

So yes, I could pay myself more.

We could take home more, but we don't need more.

At this point either.

So I'd rather the money sit there in the companies.

I can make longer term decisions

and have access to those funds

to help grow the businesses further.

Not to mention that's very tax effective.

So we're very comfortable.

We're very comfortable.

And, you know, the good thing is,

if I need access to further money in the future,

well, then I know it's there.

Yeah, no, and I love that as well.

I obviously try to be as transparent as possible

with my business journey just because I know it helps people,

but then also, I'm like, where is the boundaries here?

Because I am a public figure.

Like, you know who I am when I talk about my income,

but I do the same.

Like, I have this base salary that I pay myself

that I go, okay, cool, like, you know,

my husband and I have done our budget

and we work out between his income and my income,

what that looks like.

And then, you know, at the end of the year,

when it's usually June actually,

I sit down with my account

and we do like some tax planning

and he'll let me know whether I can pull money out

of the business or what that looks like.

And to be honest, I love sitting on

a little bit of cash in the business

because one, tax effective.

Obviously, if I pull it out,

I'm paying my marginal tax rate

instead of the effective business rates.

But two, I just, I feel so secure knowing that if,

you know, something happened and like,

I don't know, I needed you to collect some debts.

I could still pay my bills in the interim

and my staff are, you know,

gonna be able to keep roofs over their heads.

Like that just, there's a lot of responsibility

and you probably feel that too with 20 staff.

Yeah, there definitely is a lot of responsibility

and look, cash is king, cash is king

and having options for cash is power for me.

So yeah, it'd be great to be rolling around

in wards of $100 notes, you know,

that'd be lovely and buying all of the,

you know, designer things and what have you.

But that's not where I get my value from.

It's not your journey either.

I really enjoy being able to just live comfortably.

That makes me happy.

Live comfortably.

We don't have to worry about money,

which is really, really nice.

I've been there.

I've worried about money.

It's been a part of my life in those younger years

when I was in my house for the first time

and then also those couple of years

where I was growing the business.

We accessed all of our savings, you know,

we, that was a stressful period of time for us financially.

So yeah, it's absolutely nice to not have to worry now.

But also plan for the future is also important.

Adore, so now flip that question.

So what are your big money goals for the business?

So the big money goals are for the business to continue to grow.

So we want to open up another office outside of the regional base

that we're in at the moment.

Get into one of the big city centers

which we're planning on doing in 2027.

That's so exciting.

You do need some cash for that, though.

Definitely just to access talent

to take the business to the next level

means that we have to establish ourselves in an area

where we can access more talent.

Yeah, totally.

That's so exciting.

All right, I have a lot more questions for you.

So let's go to a really quick break in on the flip side.

We're going to be talking investment and more about debt

and best and worst money habits.

So guys, don't go anywhere.

All right, money diarist.

I'm going to dive straight in.

I'm going to make the assumption that the biggest investment

you have in your life is your business.

Is that correct?

Yes, most certainly.

I feel like most business owners are like that.

But what are your thoughts around investing?

Is that something that you guys are doing?

Is that something that you're like,

no, everything goes back into the business at this point

because, like, sorry, you've got a business

with a $2 million revenue.

So that's pretty good.

That's a pretty good ROI.

Given you built that from scratch.

Yeah, well, look, we do have some investments.

I've got some crypto investments.

There's a family share portfolio.

But nothing, definitely nothing extravagant.

There's nothing extravagant sitting in there.

I'm definitely not a savvy investor.

I do work closely with a financial planner

to make sure that we keep things on track

and we're smart with our money.

One of my biggest things is we do pump a fair bit of money

into our super girl.

That is something I've been doing for a long period of time.

And now that I've got more resources

to be able to do that, pushing money into super

is probably one of my investment strategies at the moment.

I love that.

Why super over having, you know, you said

you had a family investment portfolio.

Why have you gone, all right?

Well, only because I'm literally following this

along with a fine tooth comb.

If you want to retire early, like in your 50s,

how's that part of the strategy?

Yeah, so obviously I work with our financial planner

to work out where's the best way

and most tax effective way as well to invest some money.

100% and super is one of our strategies at the moment.

So it could change in 12 months time,

but that's the strategy at the moment.

We don't have a huge shift portfolio

or anything savvy or extravagant like that,

but we do have some money tucked away there in shares.

Hopefully for a bit of a rainy day payout one day.

Yeah, totally.

And I think this is going to say,

I'm just sharing parts of my journey

because I feel like it resonates as well with the episode.

But I've been talking to my financial advisor,

which I think a lot of people are really confused

that I have because they're like,

weren't you an advisor?

And I was like, yes, but it's kind of like the plumber

who has a leaky tap.

Like if you don't have your finger on the pulse

and for me, an additional third party checking in

and going, hey, Vee, like, what have we thought

about this, this and this?

I just leave it to the wayside

and we've just started having conversations

about subrenuation that, you know,

I obviously know what I'm talking about.

But they're like, Vee, I think that we should be pumping

a bit more in here now.

I'm basically making, hey, well, the sun's shining,

it's more tax-effective, et cetera, et cetera.

Because until now, everything has really gone

into my personal investment portfolio

because I do want to retire early.

But I also want to make the most of a very sexy

tax environment and like also set future me

who, yeah, she hopefully will be retired

by the time she gets to that.

But can have an even cushier life?

Like there's just a lot going on.

So I just think it's so interesting that both of us,

like you are obviously two really incredible businesses

and I would say someone who runs a business solutions

business covering literally everything,

you probably could do it yourself.

But sometimes you need the outside help

and the like guidance and someone that just kind of like,

goes, yep, this is what we're doing

and then helps you facilitate it.

Yeah, I think you need experts in their field advising you.

So I'm definitely not a financial planner,

or a financial advisor.

So I lean on people who are experts in that field.

You know, I've got a fabulous accountant who,

you know, as you had mentioned before, tax planning,

like that's something that I do with her every year.

I really enjoy that time with her.

We ask lots of questions and, you know,

work out the best strategy to make sure that

when minimizing our tax,

you're getting the most benefit for the businesses

and ourselves personally.

So yeah, definitely relying on the network of people around me.

I don't have all the answers, most certainly not.

And they do.

So I'll talk to them about it.

Money win.

Talk to me now about debt.

So in both business and then in personal life,

what debts are you carrying?

What does that look like?

So right at this point in time at this exact point in time,

two mortgages, because we've just sold our family home

and moved in for a new family home,

which has been really, really exciting.

So how fun.

We just in the process.

Yeah, it's so exciting.

It's been lovely.

My husband and I built our first home

and we've raised our kids there.

And it's in the process of being sold.

And we bought a new home

and we've been in here for a little while.

So we're carrying two mortgages at the moment,

but that should all be done at the end of this month.

And when you say done, you mean you'll drop back down

to like one mortgage, single mortgage, single mortgage.

And then we've just got two motor vehicles.

That's the only debt we have, including the business.

And are those personal cars or business cars?

Business cars.

Yes, I was about to be like,

tell me you've got that in your business.

Like don't get it wrong.

There's a whole heap of like things

that you take into consideration.

But we definitely pay FBT on those cars

because we use them as a hybrid of business and personal.

But yeah, both cars are purchased under the company.

But yeah, other than that, we have no debt.

Love, that's so sexy, especially from a business owner.

Sorry, $2 million in revenue

and you have no business debt.

Oh, that's so sexy.

No debt.

And I'm very impressive.

Are you proud of that?

I'm really proud.

And one of my strategies going into business was

that I didn't want to have a huge amount of debt to carry.

I wanted to slowly build the business.

And the sacrifice for that was that we depleted our savings

during that period of time because I wasn't able to pay myself

because I just reinvested everything back into the business

in the hope that it would pay off.

And it did.

But that meant that I wasn't carrying debt.

Which when I say we don't carry debt,

we have a company credit card

which we pay off every month and we utilize that.

But no significant debt.

No, that doesn't count.

Like don't get me wrong.

Like yes, I know a lot of people will be like,

well, that's bad debt.

But that's the same as us.

Like we have a business credit card

because I'm like, well, that for our business makes the most sense.

And it also from a security perspective,

like my team have that.

They can put their expenses on the credit card.

But no one has access to all of our business savings

if we get hacked or whatever.

I'd prefer it to be on a credit card.

Also points like all of that is very fun.

And then on top of that, it just gets paid off every month.

So it's just a cash flow strategy

rather than a debt strategy.

Exactly.

And look, I believe that the right debt can be good too.

I do too, but I'm scared of this.

Yes, it is scary.

It is scary.

But I'm also not opposed to going

if the right opportunity came my way.

And I needed to leverage debt to execute that opportunity.

I would definitely do it.

Yeah, agreed.

It'd have to be the right opportunity for me to do it.

You have worked so hard

and this is just also exciting.

But how are you protecting it?

Do you have personal insurances set up?

If so, how?

If not why?

So yes, I most certainly do have personal insurances

to protect myself and the business

to ensure it's future growth and longevity.

And also if the worst situation was to ever happen

and I was unable to work in the business.

So some of the insurances that I do have

from a personal perspective is obviously

my death and permanent disability,

which is insurance that's held and through my super fund.

So I have a phenomenal financial advisor

who makes sure that every year we touch base,

we review my insurance policies

in and around death and permanent disability.

I also have income protection insurance.

So in the event that I'm unable to generate an income

or something unfortunate was to happen

that my family had some protection

in and around the income coming into the family home.

And one of the other insurances

that I have been looking into lately,

I haven't yet taken out this policy,

but it's something I'm talking about with my broker

is in and around key man insurance.

And it was something that was foreign to me up until recently.

And key man insurance is something

that is in place for owners of larger businesses

who play a key part in the income generation of that business.

And if something unfortunate was to happen

in terms of if I was incapacitated in any way

that the income that I bring into the business,

there was some insurance in and around that.

So that's something that I'm looking at at the moment

to see if that will be of benefit to me personally

and to the business.

I love you are so switched on and at the very start,

you said, I'm an A- so girl, what's your best money habit?

I think I'm all over my numbers.

I can tell.

I eat, breathe, sleep.

This stuff, I watch my numbers daily.

Cash is king, as I mentioned before.

You know, I'm always looking at my cash flow projections,

you know, making sure I'm all over that.

Making sure the business is meeting its goals and expectations.

If we do have revenue, peaks and troughs,

am I prepared for those?

What do they look like?

My financial literacy I'd say is quite high.

Is it the best? Definitely not.

Have I got errors to improve? Absolutely.

But I'm pretty all over that.

Yeah, elite, I love that.

And then flip it.

Do you actually have a worst money habit?

I do. I've got a few.

Booking holidays on a whim would be one.

Okay, that's good. No, I love that for you.

Because I'm like, girl, you work so hard.

I'm not mad about this.

Yeah, probably not putting some thought processes

into booking holidays would be one.

And last minute, Christmas shopping.

I'm just, why am I the same as you?

I'm just the worst when it comes to that.

And then I overspend and I'm not prepared.

Every year, I say, I've got next year's going to be different.

Next year's going to be different.

And it's not. Every time. Every time.

No, but you know what I have done?

I now have a list in my phone.

And I've always had like a gift list,

but I made a specific Christmas list.

But I feel like that's a step in the right direction.

Yep. Well, well, look, you're part way there.

Which is good. I think I probably need to do the same.

I look now that you've said that,

maybe that's something that needs to go down

on the, on the goals list for this.

You don't need to probably write it down

to make sure that I hold myself accountable to that.

No, I love it. All right.

Now, final question I've got for you.

You said you're an A minus.

Why not an A plus?

What would it take for you to be an A plus direst?

Look, I think there's always capacity

to be better in every aspect of life.

I don't have all the answers all the time.

So I don't think I could be an A plus just yet.

Maybe upon retirement, when I'm sitting comfortably,

I can say, you know, like we did it, we've achieved it.

But yeah, I think, I think I'm an A minus

and I'm quite comfortable sitting there

for the time being always room to grow and develop.

That's a very good report card.

So I'm not mad about that.

I'm always just so pervy.

And the benefit of you being anonymous means I can ask anything.

And it's just so fun because if we'd run into each other in person

and I'd be like, oh, tell me about your business.

You'd be like, yeah, it's good.

And I'd be like, well, I wonder what a revenue is.

But I wouldn't have the balls to ask.

Oh, my God. No.

So thank you for that.

So I'll probably be able to share to anonymously

with people, because I know there's lots of women out there

that are probably sitting on the fence

about jumping into their own business,

whether, you know, insecurity showing up for them

or fear, but they don't quite make the leap.

Hopefully, sharing my story gives them the motivation

to be able to go, yeah, I can do it.

I can absolutely do it.

I could not agree more.

That is literally why the podcast exists.

So I'm like, guys, it's not out of reach.

It really isn't.

It does take some work.

It really does.

Yeah.

But it's not impossible.

Stories like this make me so excited.

And it also make me so sad, because I'm running out of time

and I can't ask more pervy questions.

But I just know that the community is going to love having

listened to this in the same way that I

loved getting the privilege of recording it.

So thank you so much for your time.

Thanks so much for your time.

Really nice to chat with you today.

You too.

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