Hi, I'm Britney Saunders and welcome to Big Business, the place where business is far from boring. And today I'm recording on a wobbaicle land. Now, this episode in particular that you're listening to is coming out during the Chrissy Slash holiday break, and some podcasts take a break during the Christmas break, but there's no break for me when it comes to Big Business. I'm coming out with these episodes, but I thought I would mention I'm recording these from home and the quality may not be exactly the same as when I'm in the studio, but hopefully it will do.

Hi, I'm Britney Saunders and welcome to Big Business, the place where business is far from boring. And today I'm recording on a wobbaicle land. Now, this episode in particular that you're listening to is coming out during the Chrissy Slash holiday break, and some podcasts take a break during the Christmas break, but there's no break for me when it comes to Big Business. I'm coming out with these episodes, but I thought I would mention I'm recording these from home and the quality may not be exactly the same as when I'm in the studio, but hopefully it will do.

For today's episode.

For today's episode.

I'm going to be running you through how we run and operate our.

I'm going to be running you through how we run and operate our.

Businesses through the Christmas period.

Businesses through the Christmas period.

Now, before I got into business, this was something that I never really thought about and saying when I opened our very first physical Fate store in Newcastle in twenty nineteen, we actually opened that in December, but it had never cross my mind that when we are opening businesses, we are making a commitment to kind of running our business all the time. And I guess I go back to thinking, you know, when I worked in my full time jobs and for those of you that don't know. Like the last jobs that I had before I became my own boss and self employed, was working, you know, nine to five Monday to Friday. And I guess when you're an employee, you just think, oh yeah, like if you work a traditional nine to five job.

Now, before I got into business, this was something that I never really thought about and saying when I opened our very first physical Fate store in Newcastle in twenty nineteen, we actually opened that in December, but it had never cross my mind that when we are opening businesses, we are making a commitment to kind of running our business all the time. And I guess I go back to thinking, you know, when I worked in my full time jobs and for those of you that don't know. Like the last jobs that I had before I became my own boss and self employed, was working, you know, nine to five Monday to Friday. And I guess when you're an employee, you just think, oh yeah, like if you work a traditional nine to five job.

Sorry, I just whacked the microphone. When you work a traditional.

Sorry, I just whacked the microphone. When you work a traditional.

Job, it's just like natural to have time off over Christmas. I know it's completely different if you're in hospitality and retail and everything else, but I guess I went from working full time to them becoming self employed. And when I opened our first store, or even just when I started Fate, I never thought, wait a second, at one point, We're going to have to figure out how I'm going to run our business through Christmas time? Because business never stops. So how does it look for us what happens with Fate and our cafe during Christmas time. We've got so many different elements of our business, and I guess the way that we operate through Christmas has chopped and changed over the years. But I can give you a run through of what we're doing this year and what we've done in previous years. So ever, since Fate has existed for two weeks over the Christmas and New Year period all of our full time warehouse and office staff, which for a very long time we only had full time employees in both of those areas of our business. So if the history of Fate, our full timer's office and warehouse all have two weeks off, this is not forced leave. We've never done forced leave at Fate. That's actually something I don't know anything about, Like, I don't know how.

Job, it's just like natural to have time off over Christmas. I know it's completely different if you're in hospitality and retail and everything else, but I guess I went from working full time to them becoming self employed. And when I opened our first store, or even just when I started Fate, I never thought, wait a second, at one point, We're going to have to figure out how I'm going to run our business through Christmas time? Because business never stops. So how does it look for us what happens with Fate and our cafe during Christmas time. We've got so many different elements of our business, and I guess the way that we operate through Christmas has chopped and changed over the years. But I can give you a run through of what we're doing this year and what we've done in previous years. So ever, since Fate has existed for two weeks over the Christmas and New Year period all of our full time warehouse and office staff, which for a very long time we only had full time employees in both of those areas of our business. So if the history of Fate, our full timer's office and warehouse all have two weeks off, this is not forced leave. We've never done forced leave at Fate. That's actually something I don't know anything about, Like, I don't know how.

That works, but I've heard about it.

That works, but I've heard about it.

But yeah, forever and ever and ever, everyone at the opposite warehouse has always had two weeks off at Christmas and that has always and we're happy with that, but it's always left AJ and I to do everything in those two weeks. And so for the last however many years, AJ and I have always had a pretty hectic two weeks around Christmas and New Year's because everyone's off and we've still got to keep the thing going.

But yeah, forever and ever and ever, everyone at the opposite warehouse has always had two weeks off at Christmas and that has always and we're happy with that, but it's always left AJ and I to do everything in those two weeks. And so for the last however many years, AJ and I have always had a pretty hectic two weeks around Christmas and New Year's because everyone's off and we've still got to keep the thing going.

And by that I mean we have.

And by that I mean we have.

To pick all the orders, pack all the orders, get the orders out, and also do the customer service because our customer service team are also like full time in the office.

To pick all the orders, pack all the orders, get the orders out, and also do the customer service because our customer service team are also like full time in the office.

But things are changing this year.

But things are changing this year.

We made the decision this year to hire casual warehouse employees.

We made the decision this year to hire casual warehouse employees.

So throughout the year, we've had a few casual.

So throughout the year, we've had a few casual.

Members join our team in saying that, a lot of them are working like so many hours, but we've had some casuals join, and we've just had a few more join towards the very end of the year, almost like a Christmas casual.

Members join our team in saying that, a lot of them are working like so many hours, but we've had some casuals join, and we've just had a few more join towards the very end of the year, almost like a Christmas casual.

And now we've kind.

And now we've kind.

Of got some people that are going to be working throughout that two week period, which means AJ and I won't feel as pressured to be the only two to kind of keep everything going throughout that two week period.

Of got some people that are going to be working throughout that two week period, which means AJ and I won't feel as pressured to be the only two to kind of keep everything going throughout that two week period.

In saying that, and I mean I don't have to go into the.

In saying that, and I mean I don't have to go into the.

Exact details of what days our warehouse is open and closed, but just with like Christmas Day and all of the public holidays that surrounded and New Year's Day and everything, I think there's like almost five days or something where no one is at the warehouse and no orders are going to get packed, which I think is fine because in my mind, oh well, I think from my standpoint as a consumer, if I'm ordering something on New Year's Eve or like a day before New Year's Eve, I'm definitely not expecting my order to ge get shipped immediately.

Exact details of what days our warehouse is open and closed, but just with like Christmas Day and all of the public holidays that surrounded and New Year's Day and everything, I think there's like almost five days or something where no one is at the warehouse and no orders are going to get packed, which I think is fine because in my mind, oh well, I think from my standpoint as a consumer, if I'm ordering something on New Year's Eve or like a day before New Year's Eve, I'm definitely not expecting my order to ge get shipped immediately.

Kind of thing.

Kind of thing.

So there is going to be like five days or something like that, like five working week days, like not including weekends, where no orders are getting packed. And I think this is the first time we've ever done that obviously in the history of Fate. In saying that as well, AJ and I can go in if need be, because we're not going anywhere, and we'll just do like a bit of a call out to our community just to say during this date and this date, like, it's going to be minimal people at Fate, so none of your orders will get will be getting shipped during that time.

So there is going to be like five days or something like that, like five working week days, like not including weekends, where no orders are getting packed. And I think this is the first time we've ever done that obviously in the history of Fate. In saying that as well, AJ and I can go in if need be, because we're not going anywhere, and we'll just do like a bit of a call out to our community just to say during this date and this date, like, it's going to be minimal people at Fate, so none of your orders will get will be getting shipped during that time.

And then yeah, it's.

And then yeah, it's.

Quite literally that there's just a few days where the warehouse is shut and then everyone kind of comes back in bits and bobs. But the full time is I believe are all taking two weeks off. I don't know, because we don't set there leave like everyone's got different random days off. And then we've obviously got the other side of our business as well, which is our physical retail stores. And then we have our cafe in Newcastle, which is called Outdo. I've done a whole episode on our cafe if you want to hear about it and hear the whole story of how we came to build and open this cafe if you didn't know already, but it's called Outdo Espresso, and our cafe is right next door to our Fate store in Newcastle, so they're like neighbors. So that's a run through of our office and warehouse. Everyone's off for two weeks, but then there's like five days when absolutely no one's there, and then we've got some casuals as well that are going to kind of be filling in the gaps in those two weeks. And during that time as well, I'll just be overseeing and monitoring and doing our customer service emails while our customer Happiness team off And that's so fine because I can just honestly sit at home on my back deck with the laptop riding back to everyone's emails that come through every day. And then we've obviously got our retail stores. Now, when you're opening a physical business, you really are opening yourself to being open during holiday periods, especially in westfield centers and also in hospitality. So our cafe, for example, the good thing about our boutique Fate stores, So our boutique Fate stores are Newcastle, Parramatta and Hawthorne in Victoria.

Quite literally that there's just a few days where the warehouse is shut and then everyone kind of comes back in bits and bobs. But the full time is I believe are all taking two weeks off. I don't know, because we don't set there leave like everyone's got different random days off. And then we've obviously got the other side of our business as well, which is our physical retail stores. And then we have our cafe in Newcastle, which is called Outdo. I've done a whole episode on our cafe if you want to hear about it and hear the whole story of how we came to build and open this cafe if you didn't know already, but it's called Outdo Espresso, and our cafe is right next door to our Fate store in Newcastle, so they're like neighbors. So that's a run through of our office and warehouse. Everyone's off for two weeks, but then there's like five days when absolutely no one's there, and then we've got some casuals as well that are going to kind of be filling in the gaps in those two weeks. And during that time as well, I'll just be overseeing and monitoring and doing our customer service emails while our customer Happiness team off And that's so fine because I can just honestly sit at home on my back deck with the laptop riding back to everyone's emails that come through every day. And then we've obviously got our retail stores. Now, when you're opening a physical business, you really are opening yourself to being open during holiday periods, especially in westfield centers and also in hospitality. So our cafe, for example, the good thing about our boutique Fate stores, So our boutique Fate stores are Newcastle, Parramatta and Hawthorne in Victoria.

The good thing.

The good thing.

About those and there's so many like pros and cons to having a boutique as opposed to like a shopping center store. But one of the biggest pros is you can pick and choose what days you're open and what days you're closed. And one of the cons of having Westfield stores. So we have two Westfield stores for Fate. One is Westfield term Side in Brisbane and the other is Westfield Miranda in Sydney.

About those and there's so many like pros and cons to having a boutique as opposed to like a shopping center store. But one of the biggest pros is you can pick and choose what days you're open and what days you're closed. And one of the cons of having Westfield stores. So we have two Westfield stores for Fate. One is Westfield term Side in Brisbane and the other is Westfield Miranda in Sydney.

The con of.

The con of.

Being in Westfield is you have to open when they're open, and shopping centers basically never shut. I think there's what like two or three days a year or something that they're shut.

Being in Westfield is you have to open when they're open, and shopping centers basically never shut. I think there's what like two or three days a year or something that they're shut.

It's something really small.

It's something really small.

And I remember when we first ventured into our Westfield Miranda store, because that was our second store and we'd only ever had our Newcastle boutique. I remember being like, holy shit, like we're going to be open basically every single day. So our boutique stores for Fate are super flexible. We pretty much stay open throughout the holiday period and it's especially great because a lot of people travel at Christmas time and I've found over the years that Fate has become a bit of a destination for people that are on holidays, and especially you know here in Newcastle, we keep our cafe and our Newcastle Boutique open because people will be traveling to Newcastle for Christmas to visit the family or whatever and they'll go, oh, we'll go to fate and outdo So we definitely try to keep open as many days as we can, but with the boutiques, there are a few days that they're closed. And again I don't need to like run you throughout opening and closing days in particular, that's not what this pod episode is about.

And I remember when we first ventured into our Westfield Miranda store, because that was our second store and we'd only ever had our Newcastle boutique. I remember being like, holy shit, like we're going to be open basically every single day. So our boutique stores for Fate are super flexible. We pretty much stay open throughout the holiday period and it's especially great because a lot of people travel at Christmas time and I've found over the years that Fate has become a bit of a destination for people that are on holidays, and especially you know here in Newcastle, we keep our cafe and our Newcastle Boutique open because people will be traveling to Newcastle for Christmas to visit the family or whatever and they'll go, oh, we'll go to fate and outdo So we definitely try to keep open as many days as we can, but with the boutiques, there are a few days that they're closed. And again I don't need to like run you throughout opening and closing days in particular, that's not what this pod episode is about.

You can find all our hours on Google if you really want to know.

You can find all our hours on Google if you really want to know.

And then the Westfield stores are basically open the whole time. They're shut Christmas Day and they're shut no New Year's Day.

And then the Westfield stores are basically open the whole time. They're shut Christmas Day and they're shut no New Year's Day.

I think they're open.

I think they're open.

I don't know, don't quote me, but the Westfield stores open the most out of everything.

I don't know, don't quote me, but the Westfield stores open the most out of everything.

On the back end.

On the back end.

With all of our full time staff at HQ going off because a lot of our full time HQ staff support our retail stores, like from our head office. On our end, that just means we need to be super organized in the lead up to the Christmas period. We have to make sure that all of the rosters are done well in advance so that everyone knows exactly when they're working, and we just have to make sure that all the store managers are prepared for the two weeks that our head office support is going to be off.

With all of our full time staff at HQ going off because a lot of our full time HQ staff support our retail stores, like from our head office. On our end, that just means we need to be super organized in the lead up to the Christmas period. We have to make sure that all of the rosters are done well in advance so that everyone knows exactly when they're working, and we just have to make sure that all the store managers are prepared for the two weeks that our head office support is going to be off.

And bless every year.

And bless every year.

Grace, who is our national retail manager, she's based here in Newcastle, works in our head office. She oversees all of our stores and every year when she's going to have the two weeks off, and she's the kind of person that's like, now you can message me if you need anything, I'm just going to be sitting at home doing nothing.

Grace, who is our national retail manager, she's based here in Newcastle, works in our head office. She oversees all of our stores and every year when she's going to have the two weeks off, and she's the kind of person that's like, now you can message me if you need anything, I'm just going to be sitting at home doing nothing.

Anyway, I've said to her this year.

Anyway, I've said to her this year.

I say it to her every year, but I said you are not to do that this year and instead, because when my staff go on leave, I'm like, you are on leave, like, do not talk to me, do not talk to anyone, Like I would feel terrible to know that someone was answering to someone, unless it was like some type of emergency, of course, but I've said to Grace, you make sure you tell all of your store managers that they need to contact AJ and I before they think of contacting you. And she's like, oh okay, she sent out an email literally the other day and she included me in on it and she's like, all right, everyone need to make sure if you have any questions during these two this two week period, contact Britain AJ. But it all comes down to having great managers in place as well. So all of our stores have a store manager and then they have an assistant store manager and they run their stores and Grace is quite literally there to guide them, you know, train them, help them, give them anything they need. But our stores are really self sufficient because of the strong managers and the strong teams that we.

I say it to her every year, but I said you are not to do that this year and instead, because when my staff go on leave, I'm like, you are on leave, like, do not talk to me, do not talk to anyone, Like I would feel terrible to know that someone was answering to someone, unless it was like some type of emergency, of course, but I've said to Grace, you make sure you tell all of your store managers that they need to contact AJ and I before they think of contacting you. And she's like, oh okay, she sent out an email literally the other day and she included me in on it and she's like, all right, everyone need to make sure if you have any questions during these two this two week period, contact Britain AJ. But it all comes down to having great managers in place as well. So all of our stores have a store manager and then they have an assistant store manager and they run their stores and Grace is quite literally there to guide them, you know, train them, help them, give them anything they need. But our stores are really self sufficient because of the strong managers and the strong teams that we.

Have in place.

Have in place.

The last thing we would want to be doing is opening more and more retail stores and not having strong teams, like having a strong team and strong managers in that store to run it day to day and especially if you know, if we go away, not that we ever got away, but it's just vital because we can feel comfortable in knowing that Grace, who is the national retail manager, can take two weeks off at Christmas time if she wants to take some manual leave and they're not going to be like, oh my god, what are we going to do without Grace, because they're such strong teams and AJ and I of course are always on call at any given moment for anything, no matter what it is, and AJ and I aren't going anywhere over the Christmas period. We're just staying here in Newcastle. We're actually hosting Christmas at our house but AJ's family for the first time ever this year, which is super exciting. So I'm really looking forward to that. We're not going on any holidays or anything. We're just going to have a nice Christmas at home, which I'm really looking forward to. And that's a bit of a rundown on how we run our business. It's always a bit of figuring out on the back end, and I'm really excited that we have casual team members in our warehouse now because it's not going to be just two solid weeks of no one being there. I think there's like that five days where no one's there, which is quite literally over Christmas Day and New Year's and I'll feel a bit better just knowing that there's going to be some people there scattered before all the full timers come back. And another thing that we're doing this time around because last year we really fucked ourselves over, so we're doing our Boxing Day sale in all of our stores on Boxing Day, so on the twenty sixth, but we're doing our online one early this year, which we have never done, Like we've always done our Boxing Day sale for Fate on the twenty sixth, but obviously last year, I mean we've done it every year, we do it on the twenty six and that's when all the staff were off and because we had no warehouse casuals.

The last thing we would want to be doing is opening more and more retail stores and not having strong teams, like having a strong team and strong managers in that store to run it day to day and especially if you know, if we go away, not that we ever got away, but it's just vital because we can feel comfortable in knowing that Grace, who is the national retail manager, can take two weeks off at Christmas time if she wants to take some manual leave and they're not going to be like, oh my god, what are we going to do without Grace, because they're such strong teams and AJ and I of course are always on call at any given moment for anything, no matter what it is, and AJ and I aren't going anywhere over the Christmas period. We're just staying here in Newcastle. We're actually hosting Christmas at our house but AJ's family for the first time ever this year, which is super exciting. So I'm really looking forward to that. We're not going on any holidays or anything. We're just going to have a nice Christmas at home, which I'm really looking forward to. And that's a bit of a rundown on how we run our business. It's always a bit of figuring out on the back end, and I'm really excited that we have casual team members in our warehouse now because it's not going to be just two solid weeks of no one being there. I think there's like that five days where no one's there, which is quite literally over Christmas Day and New Year's and I'll feel a bit better just knowing that there's going to be some people there scattered before all the full timers come back. And another thing that we're doing this time around because last year we really fucked ourselves over, so we're doing our Boxing Day sale in all of our stores on Boxing Day, so on the twenty sixth, but we're doing our online one early this year, which we have never done, Like we've always done our Boxing Day sale for Fate on the twenty sixth, but obviously last year, I mean we've done it every year, we do it on the twenty six and that's when all the staff were off and because we had no warehouse casuals.

Last year, AJ and I just were.

Last year, AJ and I just were.

Like fuck because we had the thousands of orders to pack, like from the day after Christmas, and so we were just in that warehouse every day, just the two of us, and I just remember saying it Aja this time last year, we are never doing this again. We aren't never fuck because with two people and you're packing so many orders, it's never ending.

Like fuck because we had the thousands of orders to pack, like from the day after Christmas, and so we were just in that warehouse every day, just the two of us, and I just remember saying it Aja this time last year, we are never doing this again. We aren't never fuck because with two people and you're packing so many orders, it's never ending.

It's days and days and days and weeks.

It's days and days and days and weeks.

So yeah, we've come up with a bit more of a strategic plan this year, and the online Fate Boxing Day sale is going to be a little bit earlier when everyone's still at work, so that you know, it can be a team effort of smashing out those Boxing Day orders online.

So yeah, we've come up with a bit more of a strategic plan this year, and the online Fate Boxing Day sale is going to be a little bit earlier when everyone's still at work, so that you know, it can be a team effort of smashing out those Boxing Day orders online.

And then we'll still do our.

And then we'll still do our.

Boxing Day sale in stores because it's fun you know, for people to be able to come in and shop Boxing day with their chrissy money.

Boxing Day sale in stores because it's fun you know, for people to be able to come in and shop Boxing day with their chrissy money.

But anyway, that's.

But anyway, that's.

A little run through of our game plan for the Christmas period. And I didn't Again I always say this, but before I started a business, I never thought about, Oh, how am I going to operate this thing through holiday periods? You know, because I was just so in the mentality of working a regular job and like, if you're working full time, having two weeks off a Christmas kind of thing.

A little run through of our game plan for the Christmas period. And I didn't Again I always say this, but before I started a business, I never thought about, Oh, how am I going to operate this thing through holiday periods? You know, because I was just so in the mentality of working a regular job and like, if you're working full time, having two weeks off a Christmas kind of thing.

It's just one of those things that I never thought of.

It's just one of those things that I never thought of.

And now every year, like a month out, we're like, all right, what's our plan of attack? You know, what days is all the Fate boutiques opening? What days are we going to open out Do our cafe and like Outdo heavily relies on when Fate's open as well. We want them both to be open at the same times. People can get a coffee and shop at the same time. And then what are we doing with a warehouse? And we need more.

And now every year, like a month out, we're like, all right, what's our plan of attack? You know, what days is all the Fate boutiques opening? What days are we going to open out Do our cafe and like Outdo heavily relies on when Fate's open as well. We want them both to be open at the same times. People can get a coffee and shop at the same time. And then what are we doing with a warehouse? And we need more.

Casuals blah blah blah.

Casuals blah blah blah.

I'll be doing the emails like it's a thing every year, and it's just one of those parts of business that you don't really think about when you're going into it, and if you're at the start of your business journey, just remember this, like remember me talking about this one day you might have to sacrifice having time off over Christmas, because let me tell you, I have sacrificed that for every year so far at Fate. But I'm hoping that AJ and I are at least going to have like that five days off where everyone's off over the public holidays and stuff, so that we can relax, enjoy our new house, enjoy all the hard work that we've done this year, as well as celebrating all the hard work that our entire company has done this year.

I'll be doing the emails like it's a thing every year, and it's just one of those parts of business that you don't really think about when you're going into it, and if you're at the start of your business journey, just remember this, like remember me talking about this one day you might have to sacrifice having time off over Christmas, because let me tell you, I have sacrificed that for every year so far at Fate. But I'm hoping that AJ and I are at least going to have like that five days off where everyone's off over the public holidays and stuff, so that we can relax, enjoy our new house, enjoy all the hard work that we've done this year, as well as celebrating all the hard work that our entire company has done this year.

And that's a little look into our holiday period.

And that's a little look into our holiday period.

I'm not exactly sure when this episode is coming out, but if it hasn't been Christmas yet, I hope you all have a good one.

I'm not exactly sure when this episode is coming out, but if it hasn't been Christmas yet, I hope you all have a good one.

And a safe and happy new Year.

And a safe and happy new Year.

And I'm excited to continue this Big Business pod in twenty twenty five.

And I'm excited to continue this Big Business pod in twenty twenty five.

My blood, you love talking about this stuff.

My blood, you love talking about this stuff.