She's On The Money - How Victoria Devine Built a Multimillion-Dollar Small Business

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Ever wondered how She’s on the Money went from a Facebook group to a full-blown empire? In this special episode, she finally shares the real story: the chaos, the challenges, and the wild, unexpected moments that turned a side hustle into a multimillion-dollar brand. No highlight reel, just what actually happened behind the scenes. She also answers the questions we hear all the time: How do you know if your idea is worth backing? How do you grow an audience? And what would she do differently if she were starting today? Hit play for the business advice, behind-the-scenes tea, and lessons Victoria learned the hard way — so maybe you don’t have to. Watch Victoria's special Youtube video "Things I wish I knew before starting my (multimillion dollar) business!" FREEBIE ALERT: Try Constant Contact for free for 30 days and when you’re ready to take things to the next level you can use the code #SOTM30 to enjoy 30% OFF your membership for 6 months. Click here to try it! Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that reminds you your dream job probably isn't something you find on Seek, it's something you build yourself. You know that tiny idea you keep thinking about the one you swear you'll get to when life slows down well what if that's the thing that changes everything if you just back yourself i'm back side and with me of course is the one and only victoria divine the one and only sounds so dramatic one and only i'll take another divine i mean you don't i know your sister alex divine yeah but i don't know another victoria divine no no and that's like kind of good because i am trying to build a profile here in australia and it could get a little bit competitive.

So stay out, Victoria Devine. We only have room for one, unfortunately. And if you are also a Victoria Devine, like that's cool, but please don't become a money influencer. Yeah, true. If you are Victoria Devine, hi and welcome to the show. Please reach out because we'd love to have you. Yeah.

And replace other Victoria Devine. Oh, thanks. Now, V, after how much love the last episode got where you shared your money story, we knew we had to do a follow-up. So did we, we knew or you knew? I knew. I hope you like these. I love them personally. Yeah, look, I'm not going to lie. I got into the studio and I got ambushed. Our producer Emma said, guess what you're doing today? It wasn't so much about consent, more about telling me. I think that the team is at a point where you guys are like, you know what? We're just going to ask for

forgiveness, not permission. I think we're just going to have to do that. You just do you guys. Yeah. And unfortunately, given how many downloads it got, I have to agree that it is working. Thank you. And you always ride that wave with us. And I really appreciate that. You know better. I do know better because due to very, very, very popular demand, we've done the money story. Now let's talk business. I'm in. You're in?

Yes, as ready as I'll ever be. Amazing. Amazing. Okay. So I've just got 752 questions for you. Great. Fantastic. I'm ready. Perfect. You could have got me a coffee. I think it's better when you're a little bit tired and delulue. Okay. All right. Let's go. Well, I'm going to start here.

All right. We heard in the last episode that you always knew you wanted to be a business owner. I did. So can you give us a quick backstory? Like how did that turn into Zella and then eventually she's on the money? Where do I even start with this? So I've always known that I wanted to be a business owner because I think like my ADHD story really intertwines into this, right? And it's not because it's topical or I feel like at the moment it seems like a little bit trendy to talk about

ADHD, but to understand ADHD from my perspective and why I think it's part of my story and why I became a business owner is I run at 6 million miles an hour. Like I am the type of person who thrives in chaos, which is not everybody, right? Like I'm the type of person where if you give me one thing to do for an entire day, Bec, I'm doing it at 11 59 PM right before, like I cannot do it earlier. Like most normal people would be like, one thing to do, let's just knock that off this morning so I can have a free day. I'm actually going to cripple myself with analysis paralysis for the entire day going, I can't do anything until this other thing is done, but I'm not going to do it. I'm just going to stress about having not done it. But if you gave me 50 things to do

in one day, I thrive. Like I will get up early. I'm back to back. I can work my butt off. And that's not to say that everybody with ADHD does it that way. That's just how I operate. And so as somebody who thrives during chaos, I think I've always known that I wanted to be in control of that chaos. And I'm also very aware that that makes me not a good employee. Like it doesn't make me the best person to work for you because I run my own schedule and it doesn't matter how important it is. If I, for some reason, I'm not motivated, I'm just not going to do it. Like, and that's not a good thing. I wish I was a bit different and could be like, oh, well, my boss asked me to do X, Y, Z. Like, I'm just not that good at it. And it used to take a lot of

energy for me to do those things when I was employed. And I mean, I did get feedback like, oh, V, you don't seem to take this seriously. And in the back of my head, I'm like, it's because I don't care. Like, and that's not cool. That's not cool. So for me to be a business owner meant a lot more control. And I also just, I love new stuff. I love shiny stuff. Having ADHD means like I get very excited about something new, a brand new idea, a new hobby, a new whatever. So creating kind of comes very naturally to me, I would say. So I feel like with all of that in mind, it leads me down wanting to be a business owner and taking a few steps backwards. I didn't know what that meant. I've always like been a little bit entrepreneurial, like sold stuff as

I'm growing up. Like, you know, I was selling friendship bracelets at school. You want a Scooby? I'll make you a Scooby. I will charge you for the Scooby. I also used to sell my notes. So like I used to take like really good notes. And one of the reasons I took such good notes at school and in university was because I knew I could sell them. It wasn't even because I was trying to learn at that point. Like my motivations have always been a little bit different to other people's. So I guess that's what led me to wanting to be a business owner. But what got me into finance was I have, for those of you who maybe don't know my backstory, I have two degrees in psychology. I have my undergraduate degree, I have a postgraduate degree, and then I have an MBA.

and I started psychology because like, I'm so interested in how people work. I'm so interested in having an impact and hopefully making other people's lives better. But then really, once I got my first job, that was not it. Like I worked in consulting and psych and just realized I didn't like the corporate vibes. I didn't like being told what to do by mediocre middle-aged white men who I didn't think knew what they were talking about. I consistently, and this is not me saying I did know better, but I consistently felt as though I could do these things better. And I think that for a lot of the part, I won't say I wasn't wrong, but it was because I was always so willing to try something new, try something different. Like there's a new system we could try. Why aren't

we trying that? Like I was consistently being told, no, that's the way we've always done it. And I'd be like, but we don't have to, you know? So didn't love that. Ultimately ended up in the finance space because one of my clients when I was working in org psych was a financial advisor. And I'm like, oh my goodness, like this is cool. Like it's not as much about numbers as it is about impacting people's lives. And like, I was taking all this advice home to my friends and my family and being like, Beck, did you know about super? Like, it's so cool. Like you can get really rich doing X, Y, Z. And yeah, ultimately it became my career. And I decided that when I was going to do that. I didn't want to do it for somebody else. Like I could see the structure. I did work in

that structure as an employed financial advisor for a bit, but that was kind of to find my feet. And once I started Zella, I loved it. I loved being in control of my day. I loved, you know, being able to set the guidelines of how my business would work, not just for my clients, not just for me, but also for my staff. Like something that I have held very, very close to me is making sure that my staff are enjoying work hopefully as much as I do and giving them like I employ adults Beck let's just treat them that way yeah you don't thrive in the morning don't start in the morning like I need you to do this amount of work I don't care how you get it done like I think that that respect is not something that comes often but then once you have that in a business

that impacts the clients it impacts our outcomes like it means that as a business like we're thriving because the vibes are just high all the time. Yes. And people want to be involved in that, right? Yes. So I think that's kind of where Zella came from. It was for me essentially wanting to control everything and something I don't think I've shared publicly before. I mean, I've mentioned it on like my Instagram stories like once or twice, but when I started Zella, Beck, it's so hard to name a business. Like how do you even name a business? Oh my God, I know. Like what do I call it divine associates. If I was going to become a financial advice business, like Victoria divine financial advice or divine advisor, it all sounds like terrible. Yeah. Like all of it's crap. And so

I was brainstorming with my mom and my mom was like, why don't you use your Nana's name? Oh, so Zella is actually my grandmother's name. That's her first name. Gorgeous name. Exactly. and it's not very common. And I think that given I wanted to start a business that impacted women, it made sense to name it after one of the most powerful women I know. Yeah. And then I was like, oh, cool. Like Zella sounds fun. Like it's giving like strong vibes. When I looked up the brand Zella, Bec, it means the one who knows the way. Like that's perfect. That's perfect. I think that everything from the beginning, when I started, it just felt right. It just felt like

it started in the way that it was meant to start. And yeah, like it's still a business that thrives today. I suppose it's a bit different to the financial advice business that I started. And then ultimately She's On The Money came from. Yes. To explain that a little bit, I feel like I'm just yapping, but to explain that a little bit, She's On The Money was actually initially a workshop. So it was me as a baby financial advisor going, I want to work with women. how do I work with women? You know what I could do? I could run lunch and learn sessions. I could run a lunch and learn session and go into your workplace, Bec, sit down, your HR, hopefully we'll like buy some sandwiches. And then I'm going to be up the front talking about

financial advice. I'm going to tell you about super savings, all of that stuff. And they got really popular, but initially I was running them for all genders or literally anyone. And I realized that in more corporate settings, women weren't putting their hands up. like women weren't asking the hard questions. They were emailing me after to be like, Hey, so you mentioned this. I was just wondering X, Y, Z. And I was thinking like, why aren't you putting your hand up? And it was because the male colleagues in the room often dominated the conversation. Yes. They'd be like, Oh, you will. I've been investing since X. Sit down, Craig. Like, and so I decided to add to my offering of like my financial advice workshops,

a female only one because you know when you get women together they support each other and yeah the she's on the money workshop was born and then I thought let's make a Facebook group because all of these women we could like chat like we could ask these questions and like back each other if we had like a platform we could all connect on if you've been to one of my workshops join my Facebook group so like if you went to one of my early workshops you know that my last slide was always like a stay connected. And it was like a link to my Facebook group. And yeah, when that Facebook group got big, got to like 1700 people, I remember thinking that was the most amount of people in the entire universe, Bec. Like I just thought that was so many people.

It's close too. Yeah. I asked them what they wanted and they said video content. And I said, absolutely not. Like I hate being in front of the camera. Hypocritical now, right? Look at her now. I'll give you a podcast. And so we went down that route and then just never stopped. And I guess that's where She's On The Money was born. But I think a lot of people assume She's On The Money came first and then I built a business from that. But the financial advice or the like more fuddy-duddy legitimate business has always been my like base or my foundation.

Yeah. Okay. That is such a beautiful origin story. Thanks, I think. Yeah, absolutely. I hadn't really ever thought about it, but I find it funny when people are like, yeah, it's so good that she's like built a business off the back of She's On The Money. And I'm kind of like, well, no, like Zella and its success meant that I could do She's On The Money. And for literal years, Beck, She's On The Money made no money. It actually cost me a lot of money. And that money came from my financial advice business because I felt like that was an

investment that I was making. And it was something that I was so passionate about. I wanted to support. And now it definitely makes money and it employs eight women full time, which is so cool. But yeah, the financial advice business or now mortgage broking business, I think is my bread and butter and where I would say I spend most of my time. Yeah. People again, find very surprising. I just think it's so lovely that really all you want to do is teach people and in particular women. I'm obsessed with it, Bec. Like, you know what I'm like, I'm like, I'll get you off air and I'll be like, sit down. We're doing this. Can we talk about this? Like, oh, you mentioned you're doing this? Is that the best decision? Like, I just, just want people to be in the best possible

position. Absolutely. That's so beautiful. Now, moving on, when you first started She's The Money, what made you think, okay, this could actually be something? Was there a moment or something people were doing where you kind of realized people actually want this? Yeah, it was the Facebook group. Yeah. Okay. So it was literally that number 1700 is like so solidified in my head because I just remember thinking like, can you imagine 1700 people in one room? Like that's huge. exactly and like our numbers now in comparison astronomical and I'm so proud of it but I just remember being like wow like that's so many people what should I do and it was at that point that I thought maybe we could be a podcast maybe we could do something and I mean initially I thought that

the podcast would literally be 12 episodes and that would be it and then Beck if you had any questions I'd send you back to one of those 12 episodes that I'd done and you could have the advice there. I thought that that would be it. And that's why it's so funny. I actually get a lot of messages about this. People are like, weren't you involved with Shameless Media at the start? But yeah, absolutely. And I think people think there's tea there to share. They're like, oh, like what happened? Nothing. Like we're still on good terms. I just engaged them to produce the first 12 episodes because I didn't know how to make a podcast and they were lovely and beautiful and all of those things. But when the podcast literally blew up and did really well,

I don't think any of us anticipated it to do as well. And they were a thriving business that didn't have capacity to do another season of the podcast when I wanted to. So I did it myself. And that's the teabag. I think people go, oh, well, what happened there? It's like, well, they had some really cool options on the table for them at the time and they'd already signed off on them. Like, remember when they did like Bumble podcast and like that love pod, like they did so much cool stuff and their actual podcast was thriving. Like they just didn't have capacity to do another season and edit it all and, you know, do the hard yards with She's On The Money. So I outsourced it and just did it myself. That is not nearly as juicy as I would have wanted.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Like, I'm sure like if I called them up and said, hey, let's make some juice out of this. Yeah. We could find something. Can you find something? We'll find something. Make something up for me, would you? Yeah. Okay. Sorry. No, it's okay. Okay. Next question. Yes. If you were to start another business in all your spare time, of course, because you have so much spare time. Yeah. What would you be looking at to indicate it's a good business idea before moving forward with it? Oh, Bec, I want another business, but I feel like it's like having children. Like at what point do you just not have capacity for more. If I was to do another business tomorrow, I would love it to be

product-based. And I'm taking this question in two ways. I'll answer it in a more general way in a hot second. But like, if it was me, I'd want to do product and oh my God, I'd want to do stationery. Stationery? Oh my gosh. Yes, Becca. Like I don't think anyone saw that coming, but I'd want to do like notebooks and planners and post-it notes. Like all of these like aesthetic ones. Like I would want like little letter writing kits, like, you know, really good quality tactile paper and like journals that you actually want to use, like that are really well planned that like, don't just do your diary. They do like your budget. Like these are things that I would love to do in the future. And I think it would work because I have an audience who are already

interested in that and they know I love making a plan. Like, I don't think it's a secret. I love organizing. I love planning. I love a container. Like I think that that would bring all of that together for me. And that's why I think, you know, I would look at it and go, well, that hopefully would work. And if it didn't work, I'd have a really good time because up until now, the businesses I've run are not product based. Like I've never, apart from my books, never gotten to hold something in my hands and be like, this is my product I can sell. Like it would just be cool to see people, you know, putting my product in their handbag and stuff like that. But if I was to look at a product and I didn't have a preexisting audience or a business, and I was trying to work

out whether it was a good idea, I would really be working out my community first. I would be wanting to look at like, okay, cool. Who am I actually serving here? Because it's going to be much harder for you to start a business. If you are going to be trying to convince someone that your product is important. Whereas if you can create a community and then service their needs and take them on the journey, you won't be selling. You'll be responding to a need that your community has. So I think working out, well, what problem does this product solve? Like what does this provide? How does this work? I think is the question you need to be asking yourself. And it's a hard question because sometimes you're wildly passionate about

something and it might just be you. So we need to be a little bit more pragmatic about going, well, let's just like, look at this. Like if I scaled this, how many people are going to buy it? If I did this, how many people want that service? And what would their expectations be if I did offer it? Like time, energy, effort, like the client experience, what does that all look like? And I think that that's what I would be looking at. Yeah. Okay. So V, when She's In The Money was still a baby brand. How did you get people to care? What did you do in the early days that actually helped you grow your audience? I feel like that's a good one, but I don't think I was trying to get you to care, Bec. Right. I think I've always taken the stance that I don't need

to convince you that you should care about my business. Like if you do, that is so fantastic and like, come in, have a cup of tea, enjoy the time that you have with us. But like, I'm not trying to convince you that I'm the right business for you. Because I think that when brands do that, they often dilute their value because they're trying to appeal to everybody. Like I'm acutely aware that she's on the money isn't for everybody. And I'm okay with that. I'm not trying to be everything to everybody because when you do, you can't service the community that you have. So I don't think I've ever been trying to convince people to care. But if you're in my community, I am love bombing the shit out of you. You know what I mean? Like once you're in,

like, I'm not trying to convince you to care. I actually care. Like I care so much about my community. And like, I think anyone who's been in my community knows that anyone who has been in my team is like, Oh no, like V absolutely walks the walk. And that's something I'm really proud of. But I think that, yeah, I'm not, I'm not trying to convince you to care about my business. I'm actually trying to convince you to care about yourself because I'm wildly passionate about financial literacy and putting you in the best possible position. And just like the way people light up when they have more power, like that gives me so much gratification. Like knowing that Beck is probably getting a little bit like, not emotional, but like ego maybe? Sure. But like

the idea that when I'm like 60, there are going to be women who are also 60 who are retiring comfortably because they got advice from me. Yes. That's so cool. That's very, very cool. That's changing an entire generation. And like, to me, just having an impact is why I do what I do. And like, I'm not here to convince you to care about my business. I don't, if you don't like it and it's not for you, move over because there's somebody else I can be looking after. There's somebody else I can provide immense value to. And if it's not you, that's cool. Yeah. That's fine. that's fine that's fine so how did I convince people to care I think by caring more about them than about what they thought about me I think profound I don't know if it's profound but yeah

beautiful I'm trying I'm not very articulate when you're asking questions about me am I I'm a bit like oh no you you're doing a great job and that's why I don't want to finish yet okay all right well what else have you got okay I want to know what do you think the difference between people who run a business and people who build a brand? Like what actually separates the two? That's a hard question to answer because I think that they can be harmonious. But if you're building a business, you're probably just thinking about, okay, cool. I have my niche. I have my product. I have my service. I just one plus one equals two and then sales and profit and revenue, right? But I think when you're talking about building a brand, you're zooming out from all

of that. Like that's important because you're not going to have a sustainable brand if you're not caring about any of that, but you're actually really diving deep into the community, what people need, how you can serve them, what that looks like, what real connection in your community looks like. And that's what it takes to build a brand. And like, if I say, Hey Beck, like list off some brands more often than not, you will list off like Adidas and Apple and whatnot. And there's a very clear delineation between a business and a brand when you can tell me what that brand makes you feel, what that brand makes me think, like, what do you think their vibe is? Like, you know the answers to all of those. You'd be like, oh yeah, like Apple's kind of cool. It's a bit edgy.

It's tech. It's this, you know what I mean? Like there's a vibe to these things and a brand is going to have people lining up for whatever you're about to sell them. But a business is going to have you trying to convince people that you are needed. So from my perspective, building a brand is essential in 2025. It's not about building a business and being like, yep, I service a need full stop. Like you can do that. You could probably make millions doing that and that's fine. But if you have a product-based business or even a service-based business, building a brand is giving your business a personality. It's giving your business a reason people want to connect with your business, not just your product. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, I don't know if that answers it.

No, that definitely does. I wish I'd gotten these questions so I could have Googled it and been like a little bit more philosophical, but you get what you get apparently. Oh my God. And I'm happy with it. Yeah. There's like something like, you know, you go to, you walk down the road and you see like those little shops that fix your phone and then you're like, you need them when you need them. That's a business. But then like Apple is kind of teasing something. We're lining up for that. Exactly. I see what you're saying. Yeah. That is a fantastic point. How do we get people to line up for what we're giving? And often that's about community and connection. That's gorgeous. Okay. What's something you did imperfectly at the start that had a big impact

and how do you stop perfectionism from holding you back? Do you know what? I was so rogue at the beginning. Like I think because She's On The Money really started in that Facebook group. I was like, it's just a Facebook group. No one's paying to be here. Doesn't matter. Like I was just posting rogue stuff, like nothing inappropriate, but just like, here's all this stuff I have on Super and it was full of like spelling mistakes. Or like, it was like me making a graphic on my Microsoft PowerPoint and then screenshotting it and using that as the image to explain to you. Like it was not perfect. Like my first logo I made on Microsoft PowerPoint and screenshot it and uploaded it. Like she'll be right, mate. Yeah. Because I kind of never thought it would be a

really serious business. And then when it became serious, I became a perfectionist and then I got analysis paralysis over like putting out perfect content and making sure that things were really well. And I still struggle with that. It's why I'm not showing up at the moment on TikTok in the way that I want to, because I'm like, well, how do I create this content that they're asking me for and my team literally back, like, you know, this, they shake me and are literally like Victoria, you're already doing it on your Instagram stories. Like, but for some reason, I just want to make sure that if the video is going to last longer than 24 hours, like it's like perfect or something. Yeah. Fair. But you can say it's holding me back. Like, you know,

I really want to connect with the audience that I have built and hopefully will build into the future on TikTok. They're like, I'm just shooting myself in the foot because I just have this expectation of myself now that She's On The Money is a business and does have a following. I just don't want to mess it up. So I didn't do anything perfectly at the start. I really did a done is better than perfect kind of vibe. And I think that as that started to happen, I started to put more pressure on myself and I wish I could like step back and be a little bit more imperfect. But I think just trial and error and being honest with yourself is the best way to run a business. Test it. Doesn't work. Don't do it again. That's fine. Like I'm all about testing things like, oh, cool.

Let's get a free trial of this software. See how it goes. If it doesn't work for me, delete. No worries. How will you know if you don't try? Exactly. Yeah, totally. Okay. Let's take a really quick break because I feel like I've thrown so many questions at you. Just a couple. And I feel really bad about it. So I'm going to have a little mental break. And when we come back, we're talking about what She's On The Money did differently, the stuff that no one talks about, and the one thing more businesses should be doing, but probably aren't. Okay, guys, we are back. And I need to know, V, what did She's On The Money do differently that helped it grow the way it has? And what's one underrated thing you wish more businesses

focused on? I think when we started She's On The Money, I didn't realize how necessary She's On The Money was. Like we're talking to an audience of women who haven't felt included in finance conversations until now. And I mean, there are a lot of options on the table now when it comes to finance content creators. And that's great. Like I actually love that because the more content that you can absorb when it comes to money, the better. But I think that we were offering a space where people felt like they could have these conversations. Like it used to be gatekept by the mediocre middle-aged white man who was using an acronym here and there, because it made you feel like you weren't in the loop or in the conversation or didn't understand. And this stuff isn't

complicated. Like, and I say that in the nicest possible way, because if you're finding it complicated, that makes sense because you've never focused on it before. But once I've taught you, once you have learned, you go, oh, that's easy V. Like I liken it to being able to ride a bike. Like at the very start, it's hard. You're going to fall off. Like you might graze your knee. You might have a really hard time. It might be really stressful. Like you don't want the person teaching you how to ride the bike to let go because you might fall over. Like it's really scary. But then, you know, once you've learned how to ride a bike, you can get on one after 10 years and ride it with no issues. And I think that that's what finance is like. You've never

learned. Why would you know how to do it? But then all of a sudden it just becomes inherent and it becomes second nature and it's not hard. And that's what I mean. It's not complex. And I feel like for literal years, the space has been made up of people who have made a lot of money from taking advantage of your naivety. And I find that gross. And so I think that's why I've worked so hard to have she's on the money and have a space that women feel accepted and can ask the quote silly questions because they've never had someone that they felt safe to ask those questions to. It's funny. I did an Instagram Q&A last night, Bec, and someone asked me like, why are all your team members female? And I was like, how cool is it that I have been able to

create a space in a sector that is dominated by men that is entirely run by women. That's cool. That's cool. Yeah. Like I don't want to change that. Like it's not actually my recruitment strategy, but maybe it should be. But at the end of the day, like we have women running my mortgage broking business. There's like 16 of them running a mortgage broking business. And then there's, you know, eight of us in She's On The Money and we're all just women and we're killing it. And I love that. And I think that that is, yeah, we're just walking the walk. So when it comes to, you know, She's On The Money and what we've done to help us grow, I think it's about staying true to our roots. Like we are at the end of the day, She's On The Money. And, you know, I have had

regrets before and been like, Oh, I wish I didn't call it. She's on the money because it's not, you know, as inclusive as it could be. But I feel like once people are in our community, they know I don't get who you are. You're a guy and you resonate with my content slaking come in. I don't care. It's for you as well. If you resonate with my content, you are welcome. But I would say when it comes to like an underrated thing that we didn't focus on early enough and that other businesses could focus on, I would say is like that email marketing side of things. So you know how like you get on social media and you see heaps of followers and you just think that's really impressive. They're not necessarily your customers.

They're not necessarily bought into the journey. They just hit follow and you don't actually own them like Instagram does or Facebook does or TikTok does. And so for me, I think it would be about owning my audience sooner so that if any of those platforms went down, like, girl, I have your email, don't worry. I can keep you in the loop. I can email you. I can create a one-on-one connection. So I think that that's where a lot of companies are not making hay while the sun is shining. Like, especially if they have like videos going viral and stuff, collect that content, like make them your community as opposed to just a community that follow you on social media, which is not yours. Yeah. Yeah. But that's, yeah, that's what I think. Cool. Okay. Now you said

email list. I did. Do you have any tips on growing an email list and making sales? I think that when it comes to growing your EDM, a lot of people are really focusing on this idea that that is really content heavy. Like, oh my goodness, Beck, I'm going to have to, you know, send them a newsletter every week. And that's a lot of work and I don't have time for that. But like, you don't have to send out a newsletter every week. Like you can literally do whatever you want because it's your business, Bec. Yeah, true. But for me, I would, you know, if I was just starting, I want to treat people who join my email list as like the VIPs because they've like given you their information to contact them. So like, don't spam them, don't abuse that, but like tell them that they're the

VIPs, like send them a welcome email to be like, hey, you know, it could be you, like you've got your small business on the side, Bec, and you are very creative, but like you could do an EDM where people sign up and you go, hey, thanks for signing up. I'm Bec. Here's what to expect from me. Like I'm rogue. I do crafts. I do art. I do all of these things. I'm not going to blow up your inbox unless it's really important. And you're my VIP and you're on this VIP list. So if I do anything cool, you're going to be the first to know about it. Yeah, totally. Okay. So like, okay, you set the expectations and then maybe you're just updating them. So like you don't even have to send out a weekly or even a monthly email, but like you do something cool, Beck,

you make a new creation. Maybe you send out an email because you're excited about it. Your community want to share that excitement with you. Maybe, you know, flip it back to she's on the money. Like I'm so grateful that people join. I'm always sending free stuff to them, like free spreadsheets, downloadable, like savings trackers. Like if I think of making something, girl, I'm so excited to have a business that I can do this, but like I'm making a savings tracker and then my team are sending it out to you. Like make it something that they want to be a part of because then ultimately down the road that can become your sales funnel. Those are people that want what you're giving. So I think it's when it comes to like growing an email list, I would

always say give more than you take. Like give them links to things. Like Beckett doesn't even have to be like stuff. Like you don't have to give them free art, but like if it was your email list, you could give them a list of like your favorite websites that, you know, have other art on them, or it could be a book list. Like here's Beck's favorite books, like as a little hot tip. Like people are often joining, especially if you're a small business because of you individually, give them a little bit of insight, give them a little bit of juice. They love that. And then when it comes to making sales, you've already made friends. Use that VIP structure. Hey, you're my VIP. I've just released this new print or I've just done this and I'm going to offer it to you

first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then social media can find out about it later. Make them feel special. She knows what she's doing. I do try. Well, thank you, Vidi, for all the insider trading knowledge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't tell anybody. I'm actually keeping that in the back pocket. Yeah, don't tell anybody? No, I won't tell anyone. Let's not even release this episode actually. Okay. So you've juggled a lot over the years, study, work, business, motherhood, life. What are your go-to tips, habits, or mindset shifts for not burning out when everything's happening at once? Oh, like I can give you some tips, Bec, that work for me. They might not work for you, but I also need to disclaimer this, that I have burnt out officially twice in my life.

And I'm not proud of that. It's because I just lied to myself and was like, this is fine. This is what all business owners should be doing. They shouldn't be doing this, Bec. Like I've ended up in hospital twice. I ended up with shingles last time. One out of 10, cannot recommend. But I think it's about having a good idea of what balance looks like to you. Like knowing what your priorities are and what you want to prioritize. Because I think that often as a business owner, you assume you're meant to do a lot of things. Like I used to, Bec, assume that to be the best business owner. I had to be the first one in the office every single morning. I had to go to the gym first. I had to be the first one at my desk. I had to greet you all. I had to be the one leaving

last. Like all of these outdated ideas that that doesn't mean anything. So I think that making sure that you understand what helps you thrive. I think it's so lame when people are like, I just do Pilates. Like, great. That works for you. But like doing that doesn't actually make you a better business owner, understanding that maybe moving your body physically is something that helps you. For some people, they're like, I can't think of anything worse than going to a Pilates class after a long day. Like I want to go home and lay on my bed for 20 minutes and mindlessly scroll on TikTok and that's valid too. So I think for me, my go-to like habits and tips are more about just like having a structured calendar, making sure that those times that you want to protect

are carved out. Like my team, no, I do not take meetings on Mondays or Fridays. End of story. You can contact me, you can call me. And if I'm available at the time, I'll answer, but like not always. And we have those boundaries in place because I'm with my son. Like I want to prioritize that, but I also am aware that I run a business. So I need to make sure that that's still thriving because in a way that's a baby as well. When it comes to mindset shifts, I just, I'm one of those hippy dippy people that like thrives on gratitude. Like I love gratitude and I feel like it brings so much to my life. Like I'm just so lucky to be able to do what I do. Like I'm so lucky to have my team. I am so lucky to have the family that I have. Like, and often if I'm overwhelmed

and it's like 3am and I'm like up with my baby really late, Beck, which is no fun. I just go, you know what? Like I'm so lucky. There are so many people that would do a lot to be in my position right now with a screaming baby. And I also like try to zoom out and be like, oh, this isn't fun. But like, I can almost guarantee that if I was 80 sitting in my rocking chair on the front porch of my house, reflecting on life, I would give anything for one more day here. Yeah. Like how cool, like think of me at 80. I would love to go back and podcast for another day or I'd love to go back to my team and see what, do you know what I mean? Like, I think that when you can shift your mindset and like, that's not easy to do, but when you can shift your mindset

and make it really resonate with yourself, that's helpful. And that might not work for you, but that really works for me. So I think gratitude and being able to go, oh my God, like I'm so lucky. And I have a list in my phone. I have like, it's pinned to the top and it's like good things happen to good people. And then I just write down good things that happened to me. It's gorgeous. Lame. No, that's not lame at all. I really like that. Okay. V finally. Okay. Last one. Oh my goodness and it's only because we've run out of time and not because I don't have many more questions so so if people want more you're gonna go fishing and be like did you want me to do that I think the burning question right now for everyone is how much was a scooby oh it was like

do you know what it was like a gold coins I think it was two gold coins so like you know like I think it was like three dollars because I had to yeah well I needed three at least because like I needed that for the canteen at school. Ah, clever. Yeah. I feel like as a kid, you can't ask for notes. No, that's true. Notes are like, you don't feel like they have as much value. I honestly, I wish I could go back and like remember this properly, but I'm pretty sure it was really dependent on your colors too. So if you wanted like the Scoobies, I don't know if you remember them, like you would like braid them. And I made bracelets and I made key chains and people would put the keychains on their pencil cases at school. I think it was color dependent.

So if you wanted two colors, it was like, I think like $3. And if you wanted like more colors, it was like $4 or something. Oh, that's so cool. I don't know if bracelets or like keychains were more or less. I can't remember. Like I didn't provide the keychain part, just the Scooby part and you had to attach it yourself just of course. Yeah. Like I'm not an actual business guys. Sorry to trick you. That was not the last question. So there is one more question. Yes. What is it? and this one is, I feel like a good one to end on. What are your favorite time-saving hacks and what do you automate? Oh, I automate everything. What's my favorite time-saving hack? Having a great team. Is that a good time-saving hack? I reckon. We're done. No. Honestly, I think time-saving

hack is just having clear process. So like everybody is on the same page about how we do things, what we do. So whether that is creating the podcast or if that is in my mortgage breaking business. Like in my mortgage breaking business, we have automated so much like emails. Like the second you book in with us, you get an automated email that triggers to send to you to go, okay, cool. Thank you so much for booking back. Here are your links. Here is like a link to our client center that you need to fill out. And I would say that saves us a lot of time because like you don't have to send that individually out to clients. And on the flip side, like when clients meet a certain trigger point. Like they've finished their loan and we've settled their loan and we're so

excited. Like one thing that obviously helps me is like positive reviews. Like we've automated an email to go out to our customer or our client that goes, Hey Beck, like we would love it if you could leave us a review and just like stuff like that saves us so much time. And it's like one and done. Like you just write it the first time and then we upload it and like tweak it all, make sure that it like feels personal. But like there are things that can be automated. So yeah, maybe email automation is genuinely like such a time saver. The same thing for like onboarding of new clients for She's On The Money, right? So like if you sign up on our website to get a free thing, like all of those emails that you get are automated with your downloadable. Like I don't

have to send it to you because you're like, you're DMing me being like, hey, can I please have that spreadsheet. Like that would be an admin nightmare. We've automated it. And then also just like automation of experience. Yeah. So like, as I said before, you know, you join the she's on the money mailing list. You're going to get an automated email. I promise I've put a lot of love into it, but it's going to set the expectations. It's going to outline exactly who we are, what we do, what you can expect from us. And I think that that is something that a lot of businesses don't do because they go, I'll do it later. I'll do it later. But it's so easy and adds so much value and ultimately makes us more money. Like, let's be honest, like the more engaged your community,

the more they feel like you are communicating with them, the more sales you are going to get. So to be blunt, automation. Cool. Okay. Okay. Time is money. Well, I mean, I do think so. And automation means that money can be made when you're not spending your time. Oh, that's fantastic. Let's end there. Yeah. Fantastic place to end it. Thank you so much, VD. So thank you so much for sharing the behind the scenes again. It's always such a great chat with so many takeaways. I feel like it goes really rogue because you have really long lists of questions and then I gap for too long and you're like, Victoria, I didn't get to ask all my questions. And then I'm like, well, I'm not sorry.

But if people are super excited about, you know, small business and talking about what happens and like, even if you're interested in automation, I actually did a YouTube series recently, me, which is new for me. I don't do a lot of video. And if you guys don't go and watch it, I won't be doing a lot of video in the future, but I did a YouTube video with a company called Constant Contact and they have been honestly fantastic to work with. You know, those people that you just like vibe with and you connect with and you're like, I like you guys and their product is elite. So it's just so easy, not going to lie, to work with them. So I'll link that in the show notes, but that's a lot about like small business, setting up your email system, like how to actually

add value to your community and like it goes back to honestly a lot about brand you know how we're talking about the difference between a business and a brand before like building a brand is really hard and there are lots of things that you need to kind of like make sure you're focusing on so we've tried to add heaps of value in those videos so I'll make sure that they're in the show notes but we've also got a heap more small business content coming up with them because yeah I just feel like I vibe with these guys. And they were like, would you do some like small business stuff with us? Absolutely. Say less. Yeah. Heck yeah. As you learned from this episode, born to yap about small business. If you love today's episode, make sure you're following the show. Leave us a

review and send this to someone who's sitting on a side hustle but needs a little nudge. We'll be back next week. And yes, the How Victoria Got Out of Debt episode is still on the list. Don't you worry. We'll see you again on Friday. Bye, guys. the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision if you do choose to buy a financial product read the pds tmd and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs victoria divine and she's on the money are authorized representatives of money

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