the bossbabe podcast - 410. Made in Chelsea’s Rosie Fortescue: Finally Setting The Record Straight, Building a Global Jewelry Brand + Finding The Right Team Members

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Rosie Fortescue is a british entrepreneur, fashion influencer, and star on hit reality show ‘Made In Chelsea.’ Rosie found herself at the center of what the media labeled “one of the most ICONIC moments in reality tv history” and she’s never set the record straight… until today. Natalie + Rosie talk all things entrepreneurship, what it was really like behind the scenes in reality tv, what it took to launch her personal brand, red flags when hiring team, Rosie’s full guide to London, and so much more!  TIMESTAMPS 1:15 - Becoming an Entrepreneur + Living in London 10:20 - Rosie’s Experience on Reality TV 19:15 - Launching Her Personal Brand + Blog 26:15 - Intentionality + Determination  30:40 - Hiring Team + Red Flags 36:30 - Marketing + Finding Customers 43:15 - Rosie’s Guide To London 49:15 - Favorite Podcasts 53:15 - Quick Fire Questions RESOURCES + LINKS Shop Rosie Fortescue Jewellery Here! Join The Société: Our Exclusive Membership To Help You Build A Freedom-Based Business. Get Our Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More.  Drop Us A Review On The Podcast + Send Us A Screenshot & We’ll Send You Natalie’s 7-Figure Operating System Completely FREE (value $1,997)  FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie Rosie Fortescue: @rosiefortescue & @rosiefortescuejewellery

I saw a Mel Robbins quote, you don't always have to tell your side of the story, time will. I've actually never properly like put it out there and said like what happened or whatever. But like Millie accusing me of getting with Hugo like never happened. Rosie Fortescue is a British entrepreneur, fashion influencer and star on hit reality show Made in Chelsea. Unintentionally, Rosie found herself the centre of what the media labelled as one of the most iconic moments in reality TV history and she has never set the record straight until now. Rosie has since went on to launch Rosie Fortescue Jewelry, an incredibly successful global brand with a huge cult following. I just winged it and it was my money and I was careful with it and I just slowly grew it. I had no intention of really like blowing it up from the start

and throwing money at the situation and giving away equity. I genuinely, this is a lifetime passion project for me and it really was something I still love every single day. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much. I feel like this is overdue. I've been like stalking your stories for so long. It feels like me too. Yeah, I think it's been years and years and years. Yeah, I love it. Well, welcome. I'm so so excited to meet you. I have so many questions,

but I want to start with, I've been reading a lot about you coming up to this podcast, because I'm always so interested what makes people get into business because I feel like entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It's for very specific demo people. And so I'm curious with your upbringing, how do you think that informed your decision to become an entrepreneur? So I also think the same thing as you. I think you're either born with it or you're not.

It's like takes a specific type of person to really want to just do it all and throw themselves in I have a twin sister and I genuinely think that having a twin really made us push ourselves we kind of had to be individuals we had to do our own thing and my mum was actually amazing and separated us after nursery so we weren't the twins we had our own identities we were Rosie and Lily not the twins and I think genuinely I really think that that helped us strive to be your own people want to do our own things and like go out and get what we wanted separated you what do you mean just like made sure no one was calling you the twins how did that look so we're actually in separate years well my i don't know whether i could say this

there's actually a story that my sister was like getting me to carry her school bag into school can you cope when we were like three and my mum was like oh okay I might separate them so I went into the year above but then we went to the same boarding school out of London when we were 11 and we are the best of best friends now and I think just those early years it was just really nice to have that separation a little bit and just be individuals as if we were in different years as opposed to just being the same person and also being comfortable around each other I think it was really nice to have that space to grow yeah that actually makes total sense because I was really close friends with twins um in my early years in nursery and primary school and I actually remember they did try and have their their separate friends and their own

groups and that was so I can totally see why you would want to do that you want your identity to be separate I'm curious what was it like growing up in London you know I feel like when you grew up in a big city I didn't when you grew up in a big city, I didn't. When you grew up in a big city, you're around people doing a lot of things. From a young age, were you seeing that and were you inspired by that? Well, I actually, we left London at 11 to go to boarding school. We would always come to London at the weekends.

But very early on, I realized that I didn't want to do the same as what all of my friends and everyone from my boarding school did. So it was very like, you know, to go on, take a gap year, make money, go traveling, then go to Leeds or Newcastle or Bristol University and binge drink one pound drinks for three years. That was me.

And I just like, was just like, I could do that in London. I just felt if I was going to reside myself to a gap year and then three years out of London, I saw London as like the working world. I thought if I go and do four years away from London, I'm going to feel so disconnected. And we had a really good friend actually from our school that had a house in Brazil.

She grew up in Brazil. So all of my sister and lots of my friends started their gap year there. So I ended up getting a job with them at the same time as London in London as I started university, because obviously you only have a few lectures a week. And then I went to Brazil with them and sort of started their gap year with them. I went to Brazil for two weeks, which was their gap year with them I went to Brazil for two weeks two weeks which was so lovely to get that kind of traveling fix and then I just went to university and I was so happy to be in London and working and I had a Saturday job in a cupcake shop

and I just worked wherever I could just to make money but also I just liked feeling like I was in the real world so did you have have that from a young age, like that sense to want to be independent, not necessarily do what everyone else was doing? Yeah, I didn't feel the need to follow everyone else. And I kind of, in a way, I guess everyone took gap years. Everyone went to university out of London, mostly, well, all of my friends anyway.

I kind of really just wanted to do something different, be in London get to work I didn't want to actually even go to university but it was just so encouraged by my boarding school that I ended up going but I thought best of both worlds if I'm in London I'll kind of feel like you know I'm in the thick of it yeah that makes total sense and did going to boarding school at 11 do you think that instilled in you a sense of independence as well to be away from home? I'm sure it did actually. I've always been pretty self-sufficient and independent,

but definitely, but also I have the most incredible group of friends from my boarding school. It was all girls. We've got a really lovely friendship. It's girls that I don't have to see 10 times a year. I can see them once or twice a year and we're still so close. And you really have that lovely, lovely, deep friendship because we grew up together. We were at school from 11 to 18. So I love that. Yeah.

You're like each other's family. Yeah. And that's absolutely. I love that. So, okay. Going into university years, you started working, you went back to London, you were starting to work. When did that entrepreneurial itch start to come around for you? So I was at university, I was doing a history of art degree at Goldsmiths. My dad's in the art world. I'd always loved contemporary art. And for me, it just felt like the right degree. And then I was just working. I was doing little odd jobs here and there. I was working in a cupcake shop. I worked at Joe Malone. I worked at All Saints on the King's Road. I just, anywhere I could just make money and work two days a week whilst I was at university and what I really, really hated was that, you know, you go and work, wherever you work, you're starting at the bottom and you're interning and someone says to you, I don't know, sort out that filing cabinet because the person before you did a really

shit job. And I just thought, why do I keep going into these companies where I'm just like making things right for people before from a crap job that someone did before me. And I'm super organized and super just really neat and tidy and everything. And I thought I'm doing such a good job of this. What's the person after me going to do? They're going to have a great time. They're coming in. It's all been sorted and fixed. And I just thought, why do I keep going into these companies? And I'm just sort of fixing other people's problems who've done a crap job before me. And it was really good to get experience, but I just knew deep down that I really wanted to be able to start my own business. And that was going to be the goal.

So I was reading about your Made in Chelsea journey. And one thing I read, I don't know if you said it was in an interview, you had said you went into the show knowing you wanted to go in there and build a brand. Is that right? Yeah. So I actually did the, I did the went into the show knowing you wanted to go in there and build a brand is that right yeah so I actually did the I did the pilot for the show um so I was one of the first and then kind of brought lots of people in that enabled me to have the I guess control to kind of not date on the show and not make it about that for me. That was never what I was going onto the show for. I was reserved. I was not in it for the fame. I was not obsessed with reality shows,

wanting to be famous and get airtime. It was a very competitive environment. I am not competitive. And I think it was nice in a way because I was like, I'll leave you guys to it. You can all fight for airtime. You can all fight and do whatever you want. And, you know, it was very competitive. And I just kind of sat in my own lane. And that's always how I've lived my life, just in my own lane, enjoying life, doing my own thing. And I had started my blog and it kind of

just worked from there. It was like, you know, I was documenting the outfits that I was wearing as I filmed. And then I would upload blog posts when the show aired with what I was wearing and linking the outfits before you could get commission for linking. But so that's kind of how I got I started working with brands. But that was the aim, really, for me. I thought, you know, I have a year to play around with because all of my friends and contemporaries were they took the gap year they were a year behind me essentially so I thought I have a year to play around with let's go into this with the business mind and see what can happen I think that's so smart you know I feel like when you were on that show things were different it wasn't just you know you would go viral overnight on Instagram and then you had

this huge following it was being able to get airtime or some kind of PR that would get you out there so I think it's so smart at a young age to think okay I know I want to build a brand I know the success to having a brand is going to be having an audience why don't I I do this like this is going to be such a straight path so how did all of that come about and how did you find yourself even in the situation in a pilot where you were bringing people in so um it was when I was in my last year at Goldsmiths and actually just before I went to Goldsmiths I was asked to do another show with friends and um my friend Amber was like do you want to do this like fun thing with me? Bloody, bloody, bloody.

We ended up just like doing the pilot. I don't even know. I mean, it's so long ago now. And then we and then I bought in like Hugo, Spencer, all of that lot. And it just kind of went from there. And how was that experience? Is it real? Is it not real?

Is it very produced? So it's a reality show, but it is real. It's completely real. Obviously the scenes are set up because it's a reality show. It's glossy. So you have to turn up somewhere at a time,

but it was real and it was really tough at times but I genuinely don't regret anything because it enabled me to start my my business and I wouldn't have been able to save up to start my business and own 100% still to this day had I not had this incredible opportunity and you know what it was really before there were loads of reality shows around I think there was one other at the time and we were doing something that was a huge risk but it was also you know it kind of paid off the market wasn't as saturated as it is now and it was I mean it was a wild experience and I mean the fans and Twitter I remember people were just like mean and rude the whole time and it was a wild experience. And I mean the fans and Twitter, I remember people were just like mean and rude

the whole time and it was savage people selling stories on you. But genuinely, as I said to you before, like I'm not competitive and I always stayed in my own lane. Like if someone wants to call me pale and someone wants to call me whatever, like I genuinely didn't care. I'm just like, oh great, okay,

but I think you look like shit. So I'm just not gonna choose. I would never message anyone online and say that, but I'm like, look at that little profile picture on Twitter or Instagram and be like, kind of laughs on you. Because like genuinely great if you feel that way about me, but like I'm happy yeah I'm trying to think about timings for for all of our audience in the US was it around the same time as do you

know Laguna Beach and the Hills yes yes it was it was just after that yeah so that's when it really kicked off in America and then in the UK there was only I think one other show that had like just had one series yeah so we were very much at the beginning before everything else here yeah that's what I was thinking it sounds like similar time and it's so interesting being in the US I'm a lot of the entrepreneurs that I see have done so well actually started on shows like that too yeah you know before it was you know growing a following on instagram they got some kind of start they got to start their own personal brand in that way and it really evolved very naturally for them and to see what they've built now i mean to have

i just think to be that smart and switched on so young because really i mean how old were you when you started the show must have been been quite young. 20, 21. Yeah, so to even- Yeah, to go in even thinking, okay, I know what I'm gonna get out of this. I know what my long-term plan is. I'm not here to be in the drama or whatever is so smart because I think about myself at 20

and I wasn't even thinking like that. It's so interesting just, yeah, seeing how you were so, okay, here's my path. Here's where I want to go. Here's all the paths I could probably take. I'm going to choose this one. Was it hard to keep yourself out of big drama

and like you say, the competitiveness of it? Or did you feel like, oh, if I don't, you know, get involved in everything that's going on, am I going to be dumped from the show? Or was there ever any thoughts like that? Yeah, I mean, it was savage at times. I got like savaged by friends. On the show?

Yeah. I think it was like everyone for themselves. And I did not partake in that. And I mean, I'll give you an example. I've actually never properly like put it out there and said like what happened or whatever. But like Millie accusing me of getting with Hugo, like never happened.

And I was abused by the country. And the way that the show was filmed was, it was like the end of the series, I think. It was like, I didn't get my right to reply. And it made it look like it was just her word against mine. It was like, end of the series I think it was like I didn't get my right to reply and it made it look like it was just her word against mine it was like you hooked up with Hugo and it was like no I didn't you've already cheated on him he's already cheated on you I have not gone near him he's tried to tried it but like it hasn't happened yeah and it was like led to believe that I had done this awful

thing and I didn't have the right to reply and then suddenly everyone's like you're a whore you're a slut and I'm like okay that's funny because I'm actually not wow but then it was like you know then I had all of these newspapers and magazines be like, sell your story, tell, tell your side of the story. And I just, that's not me. And I thought if the public want to believe what they want to believe, fine. I know what my friends believe and all of our mutual friends know, and they know the truth and how unhappy they were as a couple at the time and that kind of thing. And it was just kind of like, for me, I thought, I more just thought, oh God, you've really done something in order to gain yourself. And like, I believe in karma. So me personally, I'm like,

I'll let the universe deal with this. Yeah, I saw a Mel Robbins quote recently and it really resonated with me for other reasons but it was um you don't always have to tell your side of the story time will yeah that is so apt yeah I remember reading that and just thinking oh because there's been times where I've also felt like oh I need to jump in and defend myself I need to jump in and tell my truth or whatever and I thought for what for for who exactly as long as you know what happened the people around you and your close friends know what happened that's really all that matters for me I again as I said like I always kept to my own lane it wasn't me trying to one-up anyone like I couldn't care

less like if you want to try and oneup me, then you're obviously jealous of me in some way, shape or form. So like, we'll leave it at that. That's not who I am as a person. So it got really hard in that respect, but also that was more like shame on, I don't know, shame on the mother on Instagram who's like DMing me, calling me a whore

and a this this that and the other and I look at these people and I'm like I feel sorry for you you're you I feel sorry for your children you've got children and you're an adult woman or you're whoever and you're messaging me calling me a whore sometimes when people message me now and say something I literally reply and I'm like I'm embarrassed for you I'm embarrassed for you that you are so affected by this now that you're watching a reality show and that you genuinely think is acceptable to message someone something like that on Instagram or wherever like I'm embarrassed for you it shocks me I was just listening to a podcast on the drive-in it was Pia Baroncini I think I'm saying her name right and she was saying

she gets so all this hate all these comments and she was like sometimes i really just want to take that person's profile and just like tag their employer or like tag their boyfriend yeah and say do you realize this is who your partner is or do you realize this is working for you? I was actually showing this to a friend the other day. Like I actually, there was somebody who keep, there's somebody who keeps writing like really inappropriate shit to me on Instagram. But like Phil, right? And like I've blocked them now. But like their profile picture is like them holding,

is some man holding his like child in a, in a, what's it called? Car seat walking out of hospital and i thought that is the father of someone's child the potential husband of somebody and i'm like unwell do you ever just want to put them on blast i'm claim your man who's whose man is this can someone lock him up and just sort him out please my that would probably be my response yeah who come and get your man someone come and collect your man um so so going into so you you went on that show and was it two three years and you started your blog how long no i actually

started the blog from the very beginning okay it had just started and I started it with Amber and then took it over on my own started it from the very beginning and then with the brand I had launched Rosie Fortescue Jewelry just as I was leaving and I knew at that stage that I didn't want the brand to be just associated to the show and just bought by fans of the show. So I knew that my time was up and I knew that it was really time to launch my business and leave. And by that stage, it was kind of like, I was just sick of talking about other people's relationships

because I was never giving that side of my life. It was just a lot of talking about other people's relationships and who cheated on who, and it was just time to go. What you not want to talk about that side of your life in the show I have just always been a private person and for me a lot of it was you know the more you give the more you get out but for me I got out what I wanted to get out I built my business I bought a property I had enough money saved to start my business and those were my two aims so for me I was like I don't need to sell my soul

in order to be a bit greedy and gain more potentially I was happy with what I told myself I wanted to achieve yeah that makes sense so when you when you started your blog and then you went on the show did you notice it really started to grow from that? Yeah, I think so. And I think also just the interest from working with brands, which for me, I'd always loved fashion. I'd always loved design. I'd always loved this curation of an outfit. So for me, I mean, as much as I look back and I'm like, God, I dress like shit. But I really loved that, the visual aspect of creating the blog post and all of that. So it just, it worked well. It just enabled my creativity.

And then I just really felt like I was ready to piece everything together to build a business, to work at something from scratch and really see it grow and what was that like when you you had your blog you were growing that you decided you were going to start your jewelry company what was that like making the decision to start with no investment and just really from the ground up like where would you even begin with that so I I am somebody who I really like to kind of learn on the job. And I knew that as much as I had no idea about business or anything, I was good at maths and I was super, super organized and I was determined.

And I think for me, I was ready to work nights, weekends, anything that it would take. I really had that in me and I knew that. And I knew some people I think don't understand how much work it is you know you can never switch off I'm eight and a half years in and I've never once not woken up and thought about something I need to do or you know I still go away and I think I cannot switch off but I knew I had it in me so So I just worked from the ground up. I mean, everything from like the website to the design. I actually had somebody at the very beginning

who helped me with the factory, who I swiftly got rid of. So I had the introduction to the factory there, which I guess is a big main step. But everything from just, you know, I draw like a child which is really unfortunate but the factory are amazing and I still work with this factory they're still my main factory I work with other factories now but they're still my main factory and they didn't mind they did the

CAD drawings for me which was amazing that's incredible yeah because because lots of people are like oh who does your CAD drawings and how does it work but actually they would I would send them my drawings I would do all of the measurements write really good descriptions for each sample send them the drawings and they would make the CADs and from the CADs I can very quickly kind of understand whether something is right or wrong I love that and what I'm hearing and I hear this with every successful entrepreneur is resourcefulness there's never uh oh you know I don't know how to do that oh yeah I wouldn't be able to figure that out it's like okay I want to start a jewelry company I believe I can what are the steps okay well I need to draw it I need to get it designed I need to get it manufactured it's just like you

go one by one by one yeah literally I was learning on the job and I absolutely loved it I didn't have a business plan until three years ago when I did this Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business program. I've just, I just winged it and it was my money and I was careful with it and I did everything. I think I only, when did I hire my first employee? Like three years in. I did it all. My mom used to help me with fulfillment as well. Then I got my first office and I just slowly grew it. I had no intention of really like blowing it up from the start and throwing money at the situation and giving away equity. I genuinely, this is a lifetime passion project for me. And it really was something I still love every single day that I go into the office. I have no one, I have no one breathing down my neck telling me what to do. I love that I'm the boss. I love that I call the shots. I work my ass off still.

And I really, really love it. And I'm still learning, you know. I think that's such an interesting decision too. And I always sit on both sides of the fence where I would say now I'm kind of in the middle. I obviously, you know know started in the beginning there was no one just like answer to no one ground up we grew to having you know this office in LA and tons of employees and then COVID hit forced us to like figure out and now I would say I'm in the middle like I have I think we have 13 on the team so I still do answer to people. And I'm like, did I prefer it

when I didn't answer to a single person? Do I prefer it now why I have a team of people way smarter than me? Like which one did I prefer? And what's really interesting is, and I speak to a lot of entrepreneurs about this. It was never, they were never so intentional about what they wanted in the beginning.

And they weren't so intentional about maybe wanting to be their own boss or having that freedom I wasn't and I felt like I went on this magic carpet ride of shoulds in business I should hire this employee I should get this fancy office I should do this I should do that and then when I had my baby I was like firstly this isn't I have no freedom and I'm gonna need a bit more freedom this secondly I look around I'm like did I really want to create this business I don't know yeah and so it's interesting because and I'm going to need a bit more freedom this. Secondly, I look around, I'm like, did I really want to create this business? I don't know. Yeah.

And so it's interesting because what I'm hearing so much from all of the parts of your journey is how intentional you've been. Even when you talk about being on the show and saying, you know, you got from it what you came for and then you decided, okay, I'm going to move on to my next chapter. I'm not going to like sell out to push for more. I think, and same with your business that's so intentional like where did you get that perspective to do this so intentionally that's so sweet of you now you're saying it like that it does seem very intentional but I'm not sure I don't set myself goals with like

timelines and I'm not somebody as I said who's who's sort of competitive. I just go with me and how I want to do things. And obviously, you know, I have to be intentional in a way that's quite fast with business in order to grow and you have to plan ahead. But I don't set like mega targets and mega figures and really knuckle down. I genuinely have built this business through enjoyment and it's been successful which I've been eternally grateful for you know it could have gone one or two ways but I think my determination from the start was always going to be positive for me and for this business and I think just the hours of work I've slaved away the everything I've learned along the way I think you can make it work if you have that determination and that intention um but I think yeah I think

it's funny that you know you were saying now you're in the middle and I'm launching a new business later this year with my twin sister that is a very sort of problem-solving business. And that business is not going to be a hobby, put it that way. I think we're really excited by our idea and I'm really really excited to launch a different side of business that is problem solving as opposed to sort of accessorizing your life and I think that is going to change me and maybe fuel a different hunger from within me yeah that's so interesting but I and I also think it's great that you've you've got the perspective of you've tried it one way yeah and you've enjoyed it yeah

and now there's a curiosity of what's the other way versus being thrown in the deep end like oh my goodness I went far too fast far too quick now what have I built yeah I think what's so scary and I think for me as well, like I hate the idea of just sort of spending someone else's money and just throwing it around. Would these people build their businesses had it all been their own money? Like would they be throwing money like that in a situation? I have so many friends that have taken investment and run businesses into the ground in like a couple of years because they have just thrown cash at a situation. Any business can they have just thrown cash at a situation any

business can grow if you throw cash at a situation but is it going to be profitable if you've suddenly got 50 employees probably not I think for me with the jewelry there was always just such a sweet spot of this profitability but also having the right amount of employees, but also enjoying a certain lifestyle for myself as well. And for me, you know, I work like a dog and I want to treat myself. And that just, you know, makes me happy. I love it. And I know that's going to resonate

with a lot of people listening to this podcast because definitely the theme of the women who listen are wanting businesses that help them build freedom. They're not necessarily here to raise a lot of people listening to this podcast because definitely the theme of the women who listen are wanting businesses that help them build freedom they're not necessarily here to raise a ton of money and be on that hamster wheel they have these life goals and I think business and entrepreneurship is such a beautiful vehicle for helping you get there like when I think about that myself it's been such a vehicle to get me where I am and where I want to go but it's not everything and I'm not going to give my entire life to it I want it to fuel my life yeah but it takes that intention because it can so easily go the other way oh god yeah and also the responsibility like some days I

wake up I'm like I wish someone was paying my pension someone paid my salary I knew how I was paying my rent every month and I knew you know the extra of what I could spend and sometimes I'm like oh my god like you know and then you're responsible for other people and paying their pensions and their rent and everything like that and sometimes it would just be so easy to have some set days off of the year and just a salary but this is what fuels me in my life and I wouldn't have had the life I've had without I don't think you know being on a salary and working for someone else I like the freedom as you've spoken about and I love the life that I've created for myself and I'm super grateful

I love this so what's been some of the more challenging moments in business what's been some of the more challenging moments in business? What's been hard? I think for me, hiring, I find really difficult, really difficult. COVID bred a breed of employees that love to work from home. Yeah. And I don't love to work from home. I think there's a joy for me in getting up in the morning getting dressed and going to an office and being around people where we can bounce ideas off each other and that's really how I like to run my business um even when I was hiring last year

you know in all of the ads office based everyone's know, wet hair in a tracksuit on Zoom. I would only do Zoom interviews from, I think that's what made it quite easy post-COVID that you could do a five-minute Zoom interview within seconds, I know, whether I like someone or not. Yeah. Without being too savage. Wet hair in a tracksuit at 10 a.m., unacceptable.

And when people don't think about their backgrounds oh my god and you just think this is a job like i always think about am i being too harsh and i think about no if i was interviewing for a job i wouldn't be having like my unmade bed no god no but you know what i actually i did another podcast recently where you talk about your sort of business superpowers and mine is discipline and I am disciplined up to my eyeballs what's your sign Capricorn same are you Capricorns are so disciplined yeah yeah I am disciplined up like to the nth degree and I love it I get up I do my workout I drink my ag1 I take all my vitamins, I get ready for the day,

I put on an outfit that makes me feel empowered, I put on my jewelry, I'm ready to go. Like getting up, doing something for me, I listen to podcasts as soon as I finish working out, I get in the shower and that for me, that discipline makes me so happy. I'm set up for the day, I'm raring to go. If I'm interviewing someone who at 10 a.m. got wet hair like we're not gonna we're not gonna get on I feel like I'm nodding so I'm like oh now it makes so

much sense that you're a Capricorn like I just know my friends listening to this who call me off being so Capricorn are like oh my god she would say the exact same thing like I really yeah like I I would I say I wouldn, that wouldn't be a good fit for me because I'm like on it. Yeah, I'm get up and go. And then someone tries, you're at the end of the interview and you're like, oh, I like this person.

And they're like, so, you know, would there be scope to have like one or two days working from home? I'm like, hell no. Honestly, you've just wasted my time. That really pisses me off. In the, you know, the advert for the job it says nine to five in the office and it's also it's nine to five we never stay late the office is lovely

like come on it's not strenuous work so I think hiring for me it was really really hard and then I hired a manager who was like late every day every day I can't with the late every every day left her keys behind late every day I'm like how can I help you you live 20 minutes away how can I help you and that was not a fit and then actually I have someone amazing who works for me now who is so divine and it just really really it changes everything if you once you've got your team nailed it's just a delight it's the best yeah and honestly like I talk about this a lot but I don't feel like to stand out uh in this job market or honestly as a business owner right now is that hard because no not people are trying to do the

minimum yes and get away with it yes i see that all the time and my team that i have now i'm so grateful for but to be quite honest i have had to let two people go in the last let's say six months because when you have a team of a players who they're there on time, even virtually that they're on time, they care about the work. Every T is crossed and I is dotted. When you have people that don't necessarily have those same values,

it puts other people off. Oh, for sure. And it's not just you. But I remember reading somewhere the most common reason an A player will leave is because they're working alongside b players and that's always stuck with me because every time now i've noticed someone on the team not pulling their weight not just for a short amount of time but like over and over and trying

to phone it in and stuff like that i'm like i it's my responsibility to let this person go because it's gonna mean that i lose people that actually care yeah yeah no that's so interesting I know and it's so true though as well like honestly it's so true that sort of um the atmosphere the vibe the energy in a team in an office is so important and if one person's slacking and getting away with it it kind of puts the down on everyone else that's trying hard yeah but listen for everyone listening I mean you're obviously one of those doing the most because you're listening to this kind of podcast, but even hiring we've been doing lately, sometimes we'll get on calls and the things people say, I just think, oh my goodness, I would never do that if I was looking for a job. And it feels like to stand out, you just have to be like, you have to

give a shit and it's not that hard i know interesting it's it's wild it's honestly it's wild i just i don't know what something's happened from covid something has happened and it's crazy yeah it's honestly crazy it's interesting um but then it means when you do find someone like you said like the person you've got yeah you you hold on to them and you look after them and and people like that will continue to grow and see that absolutely so i love that um so i want to go back okay started your brand what was your marketing plan and how did you think about bringing customers in because i know that's such a minefield when you start a business like i've got the idea i'm gonna get it made but how

am i going to bring people in? How are people gonna buy? Because even just having an audience doesn't mean people are automatically gonna buy from you. So I had my blog still when I started the brand and then I also Instagram had started. So it was kind of a mixture between the blog and Instagram and yeah, my blog had been going for years and years

by that stage and had a good following on there who then kind of translated over to Instagram. So I think like the timing was right and I was quite lucky in that respect. I never, it sounds crazy because I've just told you I'm like super, super organized, but I have actually never sat down and like made plans marketing plans or set goals and targets I think I just went along with it I had this routine from my blog where I was documenting my outfits anyway so the jewelry just fit into that and I I create jewelry that I want to wear so basically like I live and breathe the brand genuinely absolutely adore. And I think that just came off genuinely. And also I was just wearing it the whole time.

I was out and about, I was at events, I was seeing friends and I think just sort of word of mouth helped as well. So when you were creating content from your blog from the beginning, did you have in your mind, eventually I will have a fashion brand or a jewelry brand? No, no. Jewelry for me, I've been a fashion brand or a jewelry brand no no jewelry for me I've been a magpie for as long as I can remember and you're wearing one of my rings I know

tell tell me about what I'm wearing that's that's the new pair drop collection okay stunning and uh you've got the same size fingers as me which is a j which is small and basically I'd bought rings from brands before and always found it really hard to find a small size so for as long as I've I've worked since I was like 16 as I told you like the odd jobs here and there and I would treat myself I remember I bought these rings from Netta Porter these three gold bands actually wore them on Made in Chelsea and like ASOS copied them I remember I was like fuming because I spent like 300 quid 200 quid on these rings and i was like you fucking kidding and they tarnished after like two weeks i was like are you kidding me i've spent 200 and something pounds on these rings and they were just like gold plated on i think brass i

don't even know well they went like blue so brass and when I started my brand I was like it has to you know look like real diamonds be really good quality CZs but then also be good quality so um like 95% of everything I make now is plated on sterling silver still it's for May so it's 2.5 micron plated it's like a thick plating and it's great quality for the price it's stunning quality and these earrings too so those earrings like blew up when I launched them and they sold out and sold out and sold out and I have to say I'm obsessed with them myself I wear them to death I've seen them on your show I'm like oh my god they are incredible I need them I'm obsessed you're gonna see me wearing them constantly um so was that always a thoughtful

process you had from the beginning of here's exactly who I want to target here's how I want to do it like did you know who your ideal client would be yeah so for me there was like it was a very small demi fine market at the time I think I would describe my jewelry as demi-fine because it's plated on sterling silver, but it was a really small market at the time. And for me, I knew that that was going to be my price point. And then as much as possible, I just wanted to keep my pricing down. I wanted it to be not just something

that you would buy for birthday or Christmas for a friend or for yourself or save up for. I wanted it to be not just something that you would buy for birthday or Christmas for a friend or for yourself or save up for I wanted it to be accessible enough obviously it's not all accessible price wise but I wanted it to be accessible enough that you could have a crappy week and treat yourself or you could buy for a friend for her birthday or just treat yourself because why the hell not and yeah and so for me, keeping the pricing down was really important. And how have you managed thinking about buying inventory, being able to predict what's gonna sell out?

Am I gonna be holding loads of this stock? How have you thought about that? Because that's such a, in a product-based business, it's such a consideration. It's been really difficult, to be honest. That's been the one struggle, because I never go on sale officially right so what I wanted as well with the brand that it wasn't going to be seasonal it was you know pieces that you could keep for life and that was really difficult because I took someone on who was managing that and did they

do a bad job yes so I was left with so much stock of so many things that I was like how has this happened how have I allowed this to happen and I really hated myself for hiring that person because I delegated and I let them do their role and it was the first time that I really regretted giving up part of the business and allowing somebody to take control in a side that I wasn't fully fully fully overseeing um and that really annoyed me because then we had to put things on sale in order to sell through the inventory and that was not really what I wanted the business to be it's not seasonal it's not going to go on sale automatically and it certainly won't be you

know we do the odd discount but that was not the purpose of the brand to ever launch it that it would be this seasonal you know that fast fashion effect vibe it was very much like this is going to be something that you treat yourself that you're going to have for life it's not going to go in and out of fashion and how have you found marketing campaigns not being a kind of a seasonal brand you know is there a way that you think about email marketing or any of your social campaigns where you can still generate that level of excitement that you might get say if you're putting a sale out there, but without doing that? I mean, we do. I mean, we do do Black Friday and we do do some sort of discounts if it's for my birthday or that sort of thing. But we actually tend to do more with emails. We tend to just give discounts to customers to reward them for how many times they've shopped, which I think is nice

because you're really being loyal to the people that are supporting your business like through and through. I love this. Let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all in one platform, Kajabi. You know, I've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity, which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place so it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business you know.

Get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible i definitely recommend kajabi to all of my clients and students so if you're listening and haven't checked out kajabi yet now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering boss babe listeners a 30-day free trial go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial that's kajabi.com slash boss babe okay um i want to ask you some london questions for any of our american listeners who want to come visit yes which i know we have a lot um i want to get all of your recommendations i'm going to create a rosie's guide to l to London okay so if if we're talking to an American who's never been to London before yeah I want you to pretend they're coming in

blind okay uh where should they stay okay so you've just stayed at Chiltern Firehouse which I love um stunning hotel great food but I just love the courtyard. The bar is so good. I love the martinis there. And it's so cozy. It is so cozy in winter. The courtyard in the summer is so nice. I love it. I love walking around there.

I actually don't spend much time around there. Love Chiltern if you're gonna stay. Ooh. They just opened the hotel at Sloan in Chelsea if you want to do more Chelsea vibes by Sloan Square. That's the same owners as Hotel Cost in Paris. Amazing. Really chic. It's got a really nice bar downstairs.

Kind of like cool vibes downstairs. Restaurant wise, I'm obsessed with food and good drinks. For a long time I've been obsessed with gold in Notting Hill. Incredible food, great drinks, great vibes. Opposite gold on Portobello is a restaurant called Zephyr, which is Greek, love greek food all the dips great cocktails too um it's a fish restaurant on the king's road called chikama which i

love yes i've been there i love it they i'm allergic to gluten so for me if i find gluten free puddings that are banging i am there time and time again they've got a like a blackened baked cheesecake and then they've got this banana yuzu like it's got this like marshmallow we burn on top pudding sold oh i'm unwell it's so good um where else do i love and then for someone that wants to get their steps in they want to go on a good walk and see some things a good walk see some things I love walking around Hyde Park around the Serpentine so lovely my twin sister lives nearby we always walk around there with her kids love that so much and it's just so pretty and even if you're on your own and you just want to get some

steps in plug in a podcast go for a walk in a new city I love doing that yeah I've just moved to a new area actually and I just love walking around at the moment I walk everywhere on the weekends I walk to the park if I'm walking to Notting Hill for lunch I just love to get some steps in I never used to be that girl but now just plugging in a podcast listening to some good music or calling a friend. I'm really up for walking. And London actually is so beautiful. And so easy for walking. It's so good for walking. I like had this podcast concept

where I want to like do 10K episodes where I like want to see how long it takes to walk 10,000 steps and create a podcast that's for that length. And then halfway through the podcast, be like, okay, you've walked your 5,000. We're halfway there. That's such a good good idea because i love just like putting it on not thinking about how many steps i'm doing but then to be told along the way or a quarter of the way

stop and get a coffee like that's my dream is to i love i travel a lot and i love the day that i get to a new city put my headphones in i've got no way we get the stroll out and just walk just do my 10,000 steps somewhere and just see the place I don't always get my steps in and I don't really count them but I know when I've kind of like been at my desk normally when I get to the office as well I like make I'm such a loser I make lunch boxes and take them in oh wait tell me what's in your lunch at my desk so I always used to just get Deliveroo and then you'd be so disappointed when you've waited 45 minutes for something and it arrives and it's wrong and again i'm allergic to gluten and prawns and i never have my epi pen with me so i always just felt like there was this risk of just

like danger ordering so i make lunch boxes and i go through motions with them it's either we have a microwave in the office as well in the winter I was doing loads of brown rice I would make the salmon baked salmon at home and like lots of broccoli peas green sriracha soy sauce just loads of it in a big bowl together at my desk chili flakes done that's so elaborate for a lunch i love it is it oh my god i'm like a sandwich girl are you but i'm like squeezing it in five minutes yeah and then but the thing is i'll make like two out the night before i'll make for the next day and the next day so it's kind of done it doesn't take long for me okay and then at the moment i'm really into chicken thighs.

Same. With what's it called? Harissa, baked with Harissa, sliced up with roasted butternut squash, courgette, red pepper. Wow. Red onion, garlic, loads of veggies, maybe some brown rice as well.

Just like nice food at my desk like it really feels like a treat for me and again I actually really enjoy cooking so if I'm at home and I can make two lunch boxes for the next couple of days and I know I'm gonna be at my desk from like I never go in at nine but I'll go in a bit later like 10 10 30 if I'm literally sitting down apart from when i go to the loo from 10 30 to 5 at least the joy of having like nice home-cooked food for me just like makes me happy i love that this inspiring me i always cook for dinner but i find my lunch i'm so grab and go yeah i cut up my game a little bit i'm inspired i'm not where the office is in Parsons Green that isn't really there aren't really like grab and go like preps or whatever like that nearby so it is a more of a delivery vibe so for me I'm like I'm happy to make it yeah okay um tell me about some of your favorite

podcasts who you're listening to when you're on your walks on your morning routine okay so Okay, so yours, obviously. Thank you. I listen to, I listen to My Therapist Ghosted Me with Vogue and Joanne and that's like a proper laugh. I listen to, my friend Brian, he has a podcast called Beyond the Mat. I listen to loads.

I listen to Erin and Sarah Foster's podcast. They changed the name of it. It used to be called The World's First Podcast. I don't know, I've just listened to them on him and her show and it was really good. They're really good. Even when they're just chatting about business, I just like to hear people chat.

Like sometimes I don't wanna actually listen. I love Steven's podcast. Sometimes I haven't, I'll listen to them on chat. Like sometimes I don't wanna actually listen. I love Steven's podcast. Sometimes I haven't, I'll listen to them on like a Saturday or a Sunday when I know that I'm at home for much longer and I'm doing laundry, working out, washing my hair, drying my hair. It's a whole process.

You know what I mean? When you're at home, longest stint because his podcast is so long. But I love Erin Serra's because his podcast is so long yeah um but i love erin sarah's theirs is so good who else god why have i had a mental blank um i'm curious too um when because i feel like i'm kind of living between two worlds now having a house here i'm kind of like starting to integrate back into like britain what it's like and like all the british things that i like podcast british podcast british brands like i'm integrating back into like Britain. And like all the British things that I like, British podcasts, British brands,

like I'm integrating back in, but I've been in America for so long. I'm curious if you're listening to any kind of American podcast, do you notice a big difference in terms of business and entrepreneurship in the US versus the UK? Oh, for sure.

A hundred percent, the economy in America is 10 times better than in the uk right now that's really what i'm learning and it kind of makes me sad when i listen to these podcasts and everyone's talking about growing and investing and all of this stuff and i'm like i think from what a lot of my friends are saying a lot of my friends actually have brands it just feels like we're playing survival of the fittest right now and i you know i just i congratulate myself for surviving the day and i just feel like we're playing survival of the fittest right now. And I, you know, I just, I congratulate myself for surviving the day. And I just feel like we're in the thick of it with the economy right now. And it's really tough. And it's a struggle. And I feel like post COVID was so much better. There has been this horrific dip since the end of last year where business has been tough and it's so sad that this is what is happening to the country and it's tough i really appreciate that you're talking about it and saying it because i do think

sometimes too in business it can feel like you've got to put on this front of like everything's fine you know that meme where you're like everything's fine you're just like strapped in fine and and when the economy isn't in a great place being an entrepreneur is really scary yeah and really challenging and like you say every day every week you're like just grateful i'm making it through it's really challenging because there's no safety net to fall back on no you know you're responsible for yourself, but for other people. Absolutely. And I think it's really sad, but I feel like, you know,

my business is going to be nine years old in October and I've come this far. Like, you know, I'm not failing now, but it's tough because it makes it harder, but I like a challenge. I also feel like I'm in my 30s now I'm 34 and I these are the best years of your life I know that people are like when they're in your 20s they're like oh I don't want to be 30 like honestly I've never been happier I've never been more confident in

who I am and what I want and what I'm able to achieve and I just think I've survived so much shit in my past like I can survive this you know so let's go I love it okay some quick fires yeah so if someone is brand new to your brand and wants to go and pick maybe two to three things to get started what are the most popular or what do you think they should start with to start building a collection oh such a cute idea I think um I think definitely a tennis bracelet would be a really good start or a tennis necklace so classic easy to wear um with our rings I would say maybe the rainbow emerald cut ring is really that was really uh been a bestseller for years and years and those rings make me so happy and then um maybe the skeleton earrings that you're wearing these have to be a

must they i've never had wait lists before i've never sold from uh pre-order ever but the demand and the oh my god i've never seen anything like it when I launched those earrings. It was madness. Yeah, how did you have the idea for them? They're so different. I had designed them years ago and I don't know why, I just didn't launch them

because I didn't feel like they fit a collection. But then I started wearing the samples and people were like, holy shit, what? When are they launching? And I think, cause you can wear them in the day and you can wear them at night and then brides were buying them and then everyone wanted them.

And I've just never seen that reaction before. So I just thought they actually don't need to be part of a collection. They can be on their own. and then I did a matching necklace so I launched them in gold with white stones then I think they sold out in a day I launched them in was that not insane I died ah I died and then I was like oh my god I'm gonna have to put on pre-order and I've never done this before but I'd already actually because of the fuss that people were making every time I wore them I'd actually already ordered with the factory because normally the wait is eight weeks so I think it was only a four week pre-order which

I think was manageable for people so I kept on making sure that I had stock with the factory coming so then if they sold out again and the pre-order went on it was only for three to four weeks and I think that that is what made people happy to part with their money because i would never personally really do that um and then i launched in silver with white stones and silver with pastel and gold with rainbow and pink and yeah so genius and where do you ship to we ship worldwide yeah and i actually just changed all of my shipping it was it's so difficult for a business like mine to pay for everyone's duties and you know I did not vote for Brexit when I get a customer who's angry who emails me and says why am I paying duties firstly we do write it at

checkout that you're going to have to I didn't fucking vote for Brexit whoever did didn't have a friend that had a business in the UK. It was such a shitty decision. It was the worst decision ever. And it's really unfortunate because I used to have, I'd say 20% of my business was Irish customers who I love. And I lost 18% of them overnight, which is so sad. But what I have done is I've really just lowered all of my shipping rates for worldwide. And we actually do

free shipping to the US oh my god amazing for anyone listening who doesn't know Brexit was when the UK decided to leave the EU yes which was terrible terrible so now all European countries have to pay duties when they order from the UK which is so sad yeah well okay I'm gonna link I'll link below all of your links but I'll link these specifically because I think people are going to be obsessed when I seen them on you. I was like, oh my God, I need to have them. I need to have them. And is this one of your tennis bracelets for anyone that's watching the video? Tennis bracelets. And then these are my new earrings as well that I launched a couple of weeks ago, the pair drop collection that matches the ring. So nice. Thank you. Okay. One more question for you in our quick fire. If you could go back to

the Rosie that was just about to get started on Made in Chelsea and could never, I'm sure, have predicted all of the things that would have ensued, what piece of advice would you have for her? I would say keep your head down, stay in your lane, and you can do it. I love it.

Just, yeah, keep going. I love it. Just, yeah, keep going. I love it. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you so much. This was so fun. Thank you. Where can anyone find you? So rosyfortescue on Instagram,

rosyfortescuejewelry on Instagram and yeah, rosyfortescuejewelry website. Amazing. I'll link everything below. Thank you. Wait, wait, wait wait before you go i would love to send you my seven figure ceo operating system completely free as a gift all you've got to do is leave us a review on this podcast because it really supports the growth of this show this is my digital masterclass where i'll show you what my freedom-based daily weekly and monthly

schedule looks like as an eight-figure CEO mama and high performer and I'll walk you through step by step how to create this for yourself it includes a full video training from me and a plug and play spreadsheet to literally create your own operating system it's one of our best trainings and it's worth $1,997, but I will unlock access for you for free when you leave us a review. I know, wild, right? All you have to do is leave your review on the podcast, take a screenshot of it, and then head over to bossbabe.com slash review to upload it. And then you'll get instant access to the seven-figure CEO operating system. Again, head over to bossbabe.com slash review to upload your screenshot and get access. We are so, so grateful for all of your support and can't wait to hear how the podcast has supported you.