In today’s chat with Donielle Brooke we learnt what it really takes to create a business - things we’ve never covered before around the planning and moolah.

Donielle is the founder of Designer Wardrobe, an online buy, sell and rent marketplace that has over 100,000 members. What started as a way to pay rent while she was going through cancer, has evolved into a website, an app and now a concept store. 

“More than 50% of our members were using our website from their mobile phones…we were like, we need to make an app”

In this episode Donielle talks us through business and the importance of having a clear vision. Something many people don’t realise is Designer Wardrobe is exactly what it was planned be from day 1 - Donielle covers what it took to get there, from launching with a very basic website to see if there was demand, to surrounding herself with the right people.

“Reach out to people that you think will help...it's hard when you think you can do it all.”

When Designer Wardrobe decided to crowd fund to take the business to the next level, they raised nearly $2 million in just a couple of days. Yeah you read that right, $2 MILLION. We talked to Danielle about what it took to attract the right investors and surpass their crowdfunding goal so fast. She also gave us insight into the importance of taking your customer along for the journey.

If you want to know what it really takes to create a successful business, listen to this episode.


Find Donielle on insta @doniellebrooke
Find Designer Wardobe on insta  @designer.wardrobe
Join Designer Wardrobe www.designerwardrobe.co.nz

Building a Business and Attracting Investors with Donielle Brooke of Designer Wardrobe

Welcome to the Babe Chats podcast - your source of advice  and inspiration on all things branding and business. We ask your favourite Biz Babes, influencers and marketers the big questions about life and branding - so that you can learn from their mistakes and their wins.  Brought to you by Brand Babes Studio - a remote branding agency helping female founders build profitable brands

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GET YOUR STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO WORKING REMOTELY IN BALI available for pre-order!

Use our 20% off discount code PODCAST20

In today’s minisode we covered one of our most asked remote work questions - how do you communicate and work with clients so well?

When you have the right tools and processes, it’s pretty easy Babe! In this episode we broke down exactly which tool we use to work remotely and what makes them useful. We covered four key areas - project management, file sharing, communication and payment portals.

For each area we delved into our top apps and how we use them to make our process and communication great both internally and with our clients. For those who listen all the way to the end, there’s a sneaky discount code on ‘Your step by step guide to working remotely in Bali.’

Here are your links Babe:

Project management:

Asana https://app.asana.com/

GSuite https://gsuite.google.com/

Loom https://www.useloom.com

Calendly https://calendly.com/

Communication: Slack https://slack.com/

Zoom https://zoom.us/

Skype https://www.skype.com/en/

Facebook video call www.facebook.com

File sharing:

Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/

Wetransfer https://wetransfer.com/

Google Drive GSuite https://gsuite.google.com/

Payment portals:

Paypal https://www.paypal.com/in/signin 

Stripe www.stripe.com/

Your step by step guide to Bali. https://www.brandbabesstudio.com/shop-bali-book/

Tools You Need To Streamline Remote Work

Today's minisode was created by you, our Babes! We gathered questions from our instagram audience and answered them on the spot. These questions were all based around running a business remotely and moving to Bali.

In this minisode we cover:
Managing clients remotely, including managing different currencies
How to get over your fears through 'Fear Setting.'
Ideas to run a product based business remotely
Marketing  online as a remote business
This blogpost is handy for email databases
This is where you find the Bali guide and use your discount code

"When you have a plan scary things stop being scary, they just become 'things'"

Q&A Session: Working Remotely In Bali

With the release of our new guide, Bali is top of mind for us. Megan took the chance to interrogate Alarice about how she overcame fear to move to Bali. The interesting thing about this minisode is that all of the techniques and steps Alarice touches on can be applied to any life change.

Alarice talked us through the key steps that helped her navigate her big ticket dream, using working remotely from Bali as a example. These steps included:
- How to shift your mindset by defining your own version of success.
- Using that mindset and vision to drive your actions.
- Creating a plan and a back up plan.
- Talking to real people who have done what you want to do.
- Questioning your fears legitimacy vs internal dialogue.

"Is this rational? Is this just an idea in my head that I'm scared of?"

Get you remote working Bali guide on pre-sale while it's only $29 https://www.brandbabesstudio.com/bali-book-presale/presale
Listen to Alarice's tips for design your Life in this episode https://www.brandbabesstudio.com/podcast-1/episode-3

Overcoming Fear of the Unknown

“I am Tatiana. I am just me. I like to say that because often when we ask people who they are, we’re defined by our labels”

We’ve felt something in the air lately. It’s almost like there’s a shift in mindset happening, like the wellness movement is filtering into the way we think about our careers and our hustle. Today’s episode with Tatiana Hirovanaa delved into this idea of slow business and slowing down in general to see what’s really important.

In this episode Tatiana talked us through the way she slows down in her coaching business, Soul Centre. Coming from a background of career ladder climbing, long days and flying around the world, she’s open about finding this approach both challenging and fruitful. 

“You are going to have seasons of hustle. My mission is recognising when it’s a time to hustle or when it’s a time to rest or slow.”

During this episode we began to define what ‘slow business’ actually is. It’s not about not working hard, it’s about doing one thing and a time and about not rushing onto the next task. Just from chatting this through with Tatiana, we believe this approach sounds more productive because you’re assessing where you’re spending your time and how that aligns with your intentions, rather than just reacting.

“Getting slower helps me to see where I am and where I am spending my time, so I can cut off the things that don’t matter”

“When you slow down enough to see what really matters to you and what you want to do in your business ,that removes the noise of the things that are spreading you thin.”

Tatiana gave advice for those who are used to constantly being on the go, who feel like they are always busy but not necessarily getting anything done. In her own experience she began with just 15 minutes a day of solitude, of what we would usually think of as ‘doing nothing.’

“Our minds get noisey, our souls get noisey - it all gets really noisey so if we just take some time out and be really intentional about it…we get clarity.”

In this episode we also covered the ‘show up fatigue’ that we’ve been feeling on instagram lately and the idea of social media as a tool, rather than as its own world. Some ways we discussed to deal with this included re-evaluating when you’re forcing, protecting parts of yourself, and being the same person everywhere.

“The true power of social media and the true power of instagram…is bringing whatever connections you’ve made online and bringing them back to the real world”

Tatiana finished the episode sharing with us how to check in with yourself and evaluate if you’re working towards the person you want to be and the life you want to be living. She assesses who she wants to be in the next season of her life against these sections - spiritual, emotional/mental, financial, relational, occupational, physical - by asking the question ‘who is the ideal me’ against each. Listen to the end of the episode for details and try this task out yourself - we did, it’s an empowering way to look at how you want the year to end.

“I don’t believe in living ‘balanced.’ - to me that means everything’s mediocre…everything’s operating at 60% percent.”

If your agenda is overwhelming and exhausting, perhaps you've picked up things that God never intended for you"



Read the book Tee mentions - High performance habits
Visit Soul Centre Website - https://www.soulcentre.co/
Follow Soul Centre on the ‘gram - https://www.instagram.com/soulcentre.co/

Slow Business & Intentional Living With Tatiana of Soul Centre

Today’s episode is amazing. It’s amazing because we somehow had fun learning about intellectual property (IP) and think you will too. This is all down to our guest for today, Fi, the founder of Girl Friday IP. Her instagram bio says “no legalese, real talk, occasionally foul mouthed” and that is 100% accurate. 

Get your FREE small biz resources:

Copywriting Guide

Download IP Guide

Girl Friday IP is a boutique IP practice, specialising in protecting small biz and start-ups.

In this episode Fi puts IP into human terms, educating us on what intellectual property is as well as why it’s so important for any business to consider. It all comes down to protecting your brand -  being proactive rather than defensive.

“It’s an investment, not just for when the shit hits the fan”

“It’s your hard earned effort…coming up with a brand takes a hell of a lot of effort. You have to protect that.”

Do your homework. Homework, homework, homework is the key outtake of this episode. IP is all about a little bit of homework to save you having to backpedal later. And if you don’t want to do your homework, get someone else to do it for you. 

“It might be a great idea, it might be a great brand, but it’s not going to see the light of day if you’re stepping on someone else’s toes.”

“You can take a calculated punt - do a little background research”

Fi also shared with us her own experience with branding and how important it is to create something ownable, that you can protect and claim as yours. She reflects on her own brand values and how these are so necessary for attracting the right personalities and clients. And as a bonus, she covers the importance of being different - both for your branding and for ownable IP.

"If you can get consistency across the board, bring home that branding and message every time, people will remember you."

If you haven’t considered the importance of IP, this episode needs to be listened to.

Follow Girl Friday IP on instagram 

Check out her website

Building a Business and Attracting Investors with Donielle Brooke of Designer Wardrobe

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