LADY-BRAINS

This episode was produced in partnership with Twisted Healthy Treats.

Today’s guest, Cass Spies, is the founder of ice cream brand Twisted Healthy Treats. In this chat she shares why her dream was to be ‘the next Janine Ellis’ and create a frozen yoghurt retail franchise (and how this didn’t pan out) how she went about building her own manufacturing facility, how she landed retailers like Woolworths, Coles and Costco in the US, and how she managed to get into 5000 school canteens across Australia. 

You’ll learn: 

• How Cass phased the transition of her business away from retail and into wholesale when her stores weren’t making money 
• Why opening her own manufacturing facility was one of the scariest things she’s done thus far 
• Why getting her products into school canteens pretty much saved her business 
• Why she listens to the signs the universe puts in front of her 
• When to know when to continue pushing forward vs. giving up and letting go of the plan 
• How landing a deal with Costco saw her increase sales by 70% 
• The process of exporting her product to China 
• Why Cass has chosen to finance her business via loans instead of seeking external investment 

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Carlisle Homes, Australia’s number 1 builder for 2021.  Tune into their new podcast show Home Files (hosted by us!) to uncover all the truths about what knocking down and building your dream home. Listen here.

Is it possible to build a profitable, fulfilling business, working 3 days a week? If you're asking Jen Bishop, former newspaper journalist and magazine editor, the answer is a resounding YES. She's built The Interiors Addict, Australia's largest interior design, styling and renovation blog, doing just that. In this chat Jen shares how she’s designed her business around the lifestyle she wants and how she’s intentionally kept her operation lean, employing contractors to create the majority of her content while focusing her time on bringing in the cash. 

You'll learn:

• Birthing her business after being made redundant 
• Being a commentator not an expert 
• Monetising her platform through sponsored content, partnerships and brand ambassadorship gigs 
• Getting through COVID despite losing most of her cash flow 
• Her preference for working with contractors over agencies  
• Why being kind is her guiding principle 

~ Connect with us ~  

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au   

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains  

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse 

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here 

Sign up for our Black Friday Marketing Crash Course here and have your best sales weekend ever 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is proudly brought to you by Eugene, Australia’s first end to end genetic counselling and testing service. To receive $50 off your first genetic test, use the code LADYBRAINS50 at checkout. Just head to eugenelabs.com to shop now.   

How do the most successful people in the world manage their time, energy and relationships? Today’s guest is Dr Amantha Imber; organisational psychologist and the founder of behavioural science consultancy Inventium, host of the How I Work podcast and author of Time Wise, a guide to how the world’s most successful people dominate their day. 

You'll learn:

• What ‘work smarter, not harder’ actually means 
• How to stop being a slave to your inbox 
• The importance of understanding your chronotype in designing the most effective structure to your day (and your team’s too!) 
• How knowing your values can help you identify the right times to say no 
• How to overcome the planning fallacy 
• How to be aware of, and avoid, the Iceberg Yes 
• The difference between synchronous work and asynchronous work 

~ Connect with us ~  

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au   

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains  

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse 

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here 

Sign up for our Black Friday Marketing Crash Course here and have your best sales weekend ever 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Black Friday and Cyber Monday, 1 in 3 Aussies are ready and willing to open their wallets, and as a founder, we want you to be prepped and ready to earn your slice of the pie. If you want to maximise this sales opportunity for your business, then listen up! In this episode we chat to Beth Wilson, who participated in our Black Friday Marketing Crash Course last year, to learn EXACTLY how she grew her sales by 445% across the sales period. We also get Digital Marketing Expert, Gabriella Singh, back on the line to give us her top tips for BF/CM 2022. 

You’ll learn: 

• How Beth from Saint Jack 5x’d her sales during Black Friday 2021 (and how you could too) 
• Why consumer mentality around Black Friday is even stronger this year, despite the fact we're facing inflation and cost of living pressures 
• Why planning your activity early (6-8 weeks out) is KEY to your campaign performance 
• How to engage your existing audience through teasing your offer in advance via emails and social 
• How to find new, high-quality leads to add to your marketing funnel 
• How to re-engage your disengaged segment through creating a new, personalised nurture sequence 

~ Connect with us ~  

Sign up for our Black Friday Marketing Crash Course here and have your best sales weekend ever 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au   

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains  

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse 

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To celebrate lady-brains' 100th episode, we're listening back to some of our favourite chats of all time. In this episode, you'll hear:

• Author and activist, Cleo Wade, chatting about her version of imposter syndrome; feeling random (ep 1)
• Jo Horgan, founder of MECCA, sharing how she thinks about business as a game, and one that's she's determined to win (ep 31)
• Hannah Spilva, founder of LVLY, sharing how she figured out how to send fresh flowers through the Aussie postal system (ep 47)
• Jodie Fox, founder of Shoes of Prey, telling us what it was like to experience failure (the liquidation of her business) in a very public way (ep 42)
• Kate Morris, founder of Adore Beauty, sharing a story of crying in the carpark because she couldn't make payroll the following week (ep 32)
• Maeva Heim, founder of Bread Beauty Supply, telling us how she landed a deal with Sephora before she launched her brand (ep 54)
• Jenna Holmes, aka. Plant Mama / Pasta Mama, on the funny moment she decided she'd only deal with customers who valued her time (ep 53)
• Bianca Spender, recorded live at Australian Fashion Week, on the decision to split her business from her mum's, Carla Zampatti (ep 92)
• Sarah Friar, CEO of Next Door, on how startups look polished on the outside but are full of holes on the inside (ep 26)
• Jane Martino, serial entrepreneur, on the power of letting go of a product, project or business when it's no longer serving you (ep 37)
• Artist CJ Hendry, on the fact her art exhibitions have almost bankrupted her (ep 25)

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To celebrate our 5th birthday, we've curated our top 5 pieces of advice for any founder starting out in business.

1. If you’re taking the leap into the business full time, do your due diligence 
2. Say yes a lot in the early days. Say no more than yes, the further down the road you go. 
3. Stay aligned to your values.
4. Set a short deadline to solve every problem. 
5. Be bold, be brave. 

Resources mentioned:

• VIA Character Assessment: www.viacharacter.org

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's lady-brains' 5th birthday 🎉

In this episode, Anna & Caitlin reflect on the last five years in business, and share their favourite moments, biggest lessons and most memorable guests.

You'll hear:

• How Anna & Caitlin were given a huge scoop (that they kept to themselves for 3 years) before the information became public
• How they were two degrees of separation away from Beyonce on their 2019 NYC recording trip
• The moment they broke their Base Camp sales page the night before the program was due to launch
• The moment they were threatened to be sued by a podcast guest
• The common characteristics and attributes that their podcast guests have possessed
• How they've monetised the podcast and leveraged it for other opportunities
• The ups and downs of managing small business cashflow
• Why it took 2 years to create Base Camp

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was brought to you by Vitable, Australia's first personalised vitamin subscription service. For 40% off your first order with Vitable, use the code LADY40 at www.vitable.com.au (T&Cs apply).

Today’s guest is Kirsten Tibballs, founder of Savour; the world’s first online chocolate and patisserie school. You may have seen her as a judge on Masterchef, or know her by her official title The Chocolate Queen. 

Kirsten started out 20 years ago by teaching classes to pastry chefs, and since then she’s expanded into a retail store and online school with over 400 tutorials and thousands of subscribers, amassed over 750k followers on Instagram, hosted 3 series of her TV show on SBS, authored multiple books, and worked with brands from Bulla to Bvlgari. 

You’ll learn: 

• How she expanded her offering over the years, from in-person classes, into retail and online 
• Why she hasn’t updated her online school pricing in 10 years 
• How she’s able to produce a new online class every single week 
• Why she credits being fluid and embracing change as being pivotal to her success 
• How she maintains a strong relationship with her husband, who also happens to be her business advisor 
• The impact that Masterchef had on her broader business 
• Why she’s structured her business so that all personal and talent gigs are separate from the online school 

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was produced in partnership with Eugene.

Zoe Milgrom is the co-founder of Eugene, a health tech start-up whose ambition is to make genetic testing available to everyone.  

Zoe began her career as a genetic counsellor; she decoded complex information for patients about their genetic conditions, and provided emotional and psychosocial support for a genetic diagnosis. 

In 2017 while on mat leave, she started thinking about how there had to be a simpler and more affordable way to offer genetic tests to the broader community. It was at this exact moment the stars aligned and she met her co-founder Kunal, and after 6 months of co-founder dating, they set out to change the genetic testing landscape, providing an end-to-end online experience for patients.  

You’ll learn: 

• Why it took Zoe and her co-founders almost two years to build their MVP 
• The challenges around scaling a health tech company where the margin of error is zero 
• How Eugene secured millions of dollars in venture funding to scale the business, and how they’re deploying that capital 
• How the current economic climate has forced them to rethink their fundraising strategy 
• How overcoming fear has been a central theme of Zoe’s start-up story 
• How Zoe approaches the never-ending juggle of founder-life and parenthood 

Use the code LADYBRAINS50 at the Eugene checkout to receive $50 off any test! Head to eugenelabs.com

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was produced in partnership with Vitable.

How do you build a fully personalised business, to scale?   

Larah Loutati is the founder of Vitable, Australia's first personalised vitamin and supplements subscription service.  

Vitable works like this; consumers jump onto the website and take a quiz, and from your unique answers, an AI-powered algorithm recommends a unique vitamin and supplements pack for you out of 1.2 million possible combinations. These daily, personalised vitamin packs are then delivered straight to your door each month in plastic-free, home compostable sachets.  

Since launching in 2019, Vitable has delivered over half a million recommendations to consumers, grown to a team of over 20 people, and has expanded internationally into New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines. 

You’ll learn: 

• How she fell in love with subscription-based businesses during her time at meal delivery start-up Hello Fresh 
• Why Larah has remained committed to her decision to develop her own products rather than purchasing white label vitamins, despite the fact it’s way more expensive to do it this way! 
• How she manages her investors’ expectations 
• How the current economic climate is changing conversations with investors, and how it’s brought in new challenges for start-ups in managing their pathway to profitability 
• The unique operational challenges she’s facing while scaling a business that sends out fully personalised deliveries to customers each month 

For 40% off your first order with Vitable, use the code LADY40 at www.vitable.com.au (T&Cs apply).

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.