Transcript Episode 124

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:03:11

DAY ONE intro

You're listening to a day one FM show.

00:00:08:03 - 00:00:33:21

Fiona

So yeah, Repo Festival was born out of a frustration that Mia and I felt around the same speakers, the same format, the same kind of big empty hype that happens at business conferences. And we wanted to create something that was different. We wanted it to be a full body experience where we have the best minds in small business meeting alongside art, music and comedy. So rather than just complaining about how we didn't see events that we wanted to actually go to, we decided to put our money where our mouths are, and we are now building a whole new genre of business event for the small business community.

00:00:47:11 - 00:01:14:22

Lucy

Welcome to another episode of the Mums and Co podcast. Today we're sitting down with two really incredible women making waves in the small business world. Mia Fileman and Fiona Johnston. These two powerhouses have come together to create Ripple Festival. It's a conference designed to inspire and empower small business owners to take bold and scary steps towards making a really big impact and running a profitable business. This sounds pretty great, right? Mums and Co are fierce supporters of the Ripple Mission, and we wanted to meet with Mia and Fiona to understand what's driving their ambition. How are they making this conference work? Well, it's running a small business at the same time. And what advice they'd have for our community when it comes to starting out.

So exciting, and I'm thrilled to have both of you on the podcast. Welcome to Mumbition. Thanks for having us, Lucy. It's my pleasure. Big fans of both of you and really excited, about repo the concept and can't wait to get into all the detail about that.

Can you describe to me the Ah Ha! moment that led to the concept of Ripple?

00:02:00:18 - 00:02:02:15

Fiona

That you want to take? And so I'm here.

00:02:02:15 - 00:02:06:09

Mia

I’ve got it down as yours on my trusty list.

00:02:07:08 - 00:02:09:23

Fiona

Gotcha. Yeah. Look, I think, I don't know if it was one moment. I think there were many moments of saying the same people on stages at events all over Australia that have already talked about the same things, you know, 50 times. I also feel that we have a real lack of diversity on stages at business conferences, too. When I say diversity, I mean that in all forms. So body shapes and sizes, ethnicity, religious backgrounds and every sort of, diversity that exists in humanity needs to be on stage representing the small business world. Because when you look around at the actual small business world, we are a really diverse group of people. And that's what I really want to see on stage. I'm also just so passionate about small business deserving its own space. I feel that there's a lot of conferences that are for the tech startup world. There's, conferences that are for, you know, a very kind of retail and e-commerce heavy sort of scene, which is great, but there are so many more small businesses than tech startups and e-commerce businesses. We love to see all of those, but we want a space that really owns and honors small business.

Mia

Yeah, because we are 90% of the economy is small businesses. And particularly when we look at like trades, businesses, they have nowhere they are not welcome at any conferences and events. And we think that it would be awesome to have service based businesses like us, alongside tradies. Like the flavour of that is just chef's kiss for me.

00:03:49:18 - 00:04:17:05

Lucy

Yeah, I absolutely love that. And certainly something that we, you know, in alignment with. I started my small business kind of investigations that into sort of the editor of flying solo, which back then was the first website for micro business owners in Australia, which was the terminology used, and I don't know so much use now. But that groundswell of small business, I'm sure it's always existed, but that number doesn't surprise me at all. And also the percentage of that percentage that are female is also really interesting to me. Is that something you're seeing reflected in who's attending your wonderful event?

Mia

So far, every single person that is attending is a woman and that is representative of our individual communities. So we launched Ripple Festival in February. And so of course, the people that have bought tickets already very early on in the game are people who are known to Fi and I, and so they're going to be female. However, we would love all genders at the event, but yes, it's very much skewing female at this point.

Fiona

I think what you're saying, Lucy, though, is about, the fact that so many women are starting small businesses, and I think it's coming from the frustration of the lack of flexibility available in the workplace. I don't know the stats myself, but I think Mia and I see it reflected in our own small businesses and in Ripple Festival that there is a big appetite for female entrepreneurship. And what mayor and I are trying to do is actually help those women to make money, because we can't be in business if we are not financially viable.

Lucy

I mean, and that's such a big piece of the puzzle. And I think, that's sort of, you know, that's also why mums and co is created to actually give some structure to these ideas.

We know that about 50% of the 365,000 Australian women who are mums running a business, 50% of those have come off maternity leave into a business space. So it's one thing to try and escape that inflexibility, but it's quite another thing to then create a business that actually works. And then who's paying you? So thank goodness for you to being in that space, and making that possible. Now, one of the things I'm loving watching at the moment is your the journey that you're sharing about this, wonderful conference, including the way you're reaching out to potential sponsors, through LinkedIn. It's really exciting. And the words are escaping my mind now, but it's so transparent it's that makes it even more compelling. I just wondered if you could share a bit about that, and how that process may or may not be changing your view of the outcome of the conference?

00:06:46:16 - 00:07:11:13

Mia

Yeah, I'll take this one, because that speaks to the strategy that we've chosen for Ripple Festival, which is to build in public and we don't have a lot going for us in terms of money and resources and clout. You know, and I hope I can mention it here, but South by Southwest is an American owned franchise with so much more money, like 100 times the budget that we have. What we have is a grassroots movement and that kind of pounding the pavement, that they don't have, they can't be the underdog anymore. So we're using what we have. It's a very risky strategy, Lucy, because when you agreed to build in public, it means you have to accept that you will also fail in public. And we are expecting that, too, that we're going to make mistakes very loudly and proudly and own them. And there's even a risk that the festival may not go ahead. Very unlikely now that we've just brought Squarespace on as a as a partner, and we have a couple of other brand partners that have signed on as well. But there is always a risk. No business is guaranteed tomorrow that this business might not go ahead and we are going to own that publicly. So, I feel that that speaks to the ethos of Ripple Festival, which is that no one cares about the polished final reality. It is actually the messy middle that defines a business. And that we need to focus more on that rather than the results and the outcome, but also how the sausage is made. We are showing people exactly how this sausage is made.

00:08:30:13 - 00:08:52:21

Lucy

I love that analogy. I love that. Did you want to add anything to that, Fiona?

Fiona

I think the reason why mayor and I are comfortable and confident enough to build in public is because of our strong friendship, but I think it's also because we've actually got the foundation under us, like both of us have been in business for more than ten years. We're not overnight successes. Sometimes I wish I was, but, you know, we have a lot of experience. We have each other. And I think if you want to try something where risk is possible, you need to have a safe landing. You need to actually be safe to fail. And I feel really safe to fail with Mia. And I think Mia feels safe to fail with me. We're doing it together. So we're drawing on all of the skills and talents and experience and contacts we have. But yeah, this risky strategy of doing it all in the public eye takes a lot of confidence and a very strong business partnership, too.

00:09:35:21 - 00:10:06:10

Lucy

Yeah, I love that. And that's actually what I going to talk about next. Because obviously you guys are in partnership around Ripple. But you each are individually small business owners yourself. So Leanne Faulkner does a bit of work with us here at Mums and Co and she's done a PhD into mental health of small business finance. And she was talking to us about the types of conversations that you need to have with your, your business partner, like the people in your life, like your, you know, your husband or your partner, your friends and your family when you're setting up the foundations of something.

So I'm just wondering how you're making this work. Did you sit down and have a conversation about this is okay with us? This is not okay with us. This is how I'd like to communicate and how you're doing your business. And the conference because, you know, we understand conferences, even from six national one. It's not a small it's not a small deal. So how are you managing it?

00:10:27:14 - 00:10:51:10

Mia

we've got a really amazing relationship because we tend to agree on almost everything. There's been very few times where we disagree and when we do, it's on really trivial things. And I think that that's what made us very good business partners is that when it comes to the fundamentals, in terms of our values, those things were a no brainer.

So like I would be thinking something like, we don't want fast fashion at Ripple Festival and then fee would be thinking the exact same thing. So those big decisions were easy to make. And we've both been in business partnerships in the past and that I think is the key part of it, because I was in a business partnership with someone before where our values were fundamentally different. We work our individual businesses, Campaign Del Mar and Peach business. We still work together on those businesses in in certain ways. So we have a retreat coming up that we co host. So I'm very aware of what Fi needs to do every week with both Ripple Festival and with Peach Business. And she's the same with me and she knows that I have two kids and my husband's a defense partner who's away all the freakin time. So we're very understanding of each other's roles and responsibilities, and what we've done is we've gone with the division and conquer. So Fi runs the programming for Ripple Festival, and that is a mammoth task because you are literally playing human tetris, trying to get all these people in a program. And we have just made things even harder for ourselves because we've incorporated music, comedy and art in our programming. So we need to find space for that, as well as thinking about the small business landscape. And so there's marketing and there's people and culture, and then there's sales and then there's money. So it is enormous. And so Fi handles that. And she's doing an extraordinary job. And she's not a programming director by trade. So we are building this plane while it is flying. And then I am doing the marketing and the partnerships and the sponsorships. And I did not know anything about partnerships and sponsorships three months ago, but it turns out I'm quite good at it. So we're really loving the fact that we are upskilling in new ways. And, we do regular check ins of obviously what we need to do to make Ripple happen, but we speak probably every single day. And a lot of our conversations start with, how are you holding up? How are you doing? What can I do to support you? I don't think that I'm out of line for saying this, but I would burn Ripple to the ground before I would ruin my friendship with Fi.

Lucy

That's beautiful. That's true. Makes sense. Yeah. We don't want that to happen. But yeah, I hear the sentiment there.

00:13:27:05 - 00:13:55:11

Lucy – AD-

The founder of Grow My Money, Pascale is a multi-award winning entrepreneur who uses innovation to solve big picture problems. As Finder's superannuation and wealth expert, Pascale is now bringing her entrepreneurial and financial services experience to bear in her new podcast. If you're looking to upscale your wealth, your finances and your mindset, the Dare to Be Rich podcast encourages listeners to take control. Think bigger and build the unapologetically wealthy life you deserve.

00:14:05:13 - 00:14:07:14

Lucy

You've said lots of wonderful things there. What I'm picking up the most is that values alignment. And I just wonder, what would your advice be for someone who's, you know, it might be a conference, but these two individuals coming together to collaborate and they're not friends and they don't have that. How do you gauge a person's value, sorry, value alignment in that conversation?

00:14:28:17 - 00:14:39:13

Fiona

look, I've been in quite a few business partnerships before. And because I'm an accountant by trade, I've helped many, of my clients who are in business partnerships. I've helped them start and I've actually helped quite a lot of them to cease as well. So I feel like I actually have a really good insight of what it takes to have a business partnership. I think going into business with somebody that you're not friends with would have some benefits actually, because the business relationship would be the primary relationship there. So in some ways I could say that that could work if the two people did actually work really well together. I think having a values alignment is really important, but you don't actually see what people's values are until something goes wrong. So it's all well and good to say all look, my values are integrity and something, but until something actually challenges that and it becomes hard, you can't actually see what someone's true values are. So I think probably the best advice I would have about going into a business partnership would be to really take it slowly at the start, because everything about business in the early days is really exciting, like any type of business. And it's actually good to be a little bit naive at first because you need that naivete to sort of drive you through the really hard bit. So I'd say take it a little bit slower than your gut is telling you to. I think you need to look at do we actually have the same skills? If so, it's probably not a great partnership. The thing that's great about Mia and I is that we both love marketing. We both love small businesses, we both love impact making. But I have really specific skills in business strategy and money coaching. And Mia has really specific skills in marketing and specifically campaign marketing. So because our skills are really complementary, it means that we're not fighting over the same roles in the business. Yeah. And I think the other thing that really bodes well for us is that our existing businesses are actually quite similar. So we already have very similar clientele, and we have a similar business model. So both of us run small business memberships. So we really get each other's day to day. And I think that really does make a difference because we know what we're doing, whether we're working on Ripple or we're working on our own businesses. We've got that sort of insight. This doesn't answer your question directly, Lucy, but I think the number one thing required in a partnership is communication. So you can't have a partnership if you're not able to say, hey, I'm struggling, I need a break or I need help or to be able to put yourself, your own boundaries in place and say, hey, I'm not happy with this decision that we made last week. Like, if you can't have that kind of communication, while things are good, when things are bad, you've got no hope. It's going to go straight to mediation or lawyers if you can't have an honest conversation.

00:17:45:01 - 00:17:47:23

Lucy

So we'll say it. I think that answers it perfectly. And also sounds like you guys are a match made in heaven. I mean, you couldn't find that.

00:17:50:06 - 00:18:17:16

Mia

We think so. We can like I think the fact that we're a bit battle tested and we've been in business partnerships before means that we've learned the hard way. I just want to add a, a really practical way of perhaps going into a business partnership is try it first. So we co-hosted a retreat before we started Ripple Festival, and it went so well and it was high stakes. We were both exhausted. We made a fatal flaw of not hiring someone to help us in the kitchen. And so Fi and I were running a retreat, but also doing all the washing up, all the making of the coffee. By the end of the three days we were so tired, but we were so happy and we did it together. It was amazing. And then after that we're like, cool. We've tested this in a really high pressure environment and it worked. And so it gave us the confidence to go full, full, 100% in.

Lucy

I love that great tip. And yeah. Who's making the food at ripple? Not you guys. Somebody else, but lots of other people.

Mia

It's Graceland where we're holding Ripple Festival is called the Foodies Playground, so it's permanent gourmet food trucks. And there is incredible food options, from Southeast Asian cuisine to Turkish to Greek to seafood. It is one of the reasons why we chose it. We call ourselves the aunties. That's how we sign off all of our emails. We want people to feel hosted, really looked after. Fi is the best auntie you could possibly ever ask for. I'm Greek background, so we're natural nurturers. And so yeah, food was a big consideration. Probably too big of a consider never to be, I think not.

Fiona

But what will we be feeding them?

Mia

Yeah. What am I eating? And then let's sort the rest.

Lucy

Yeah, well, they need to have energy. Thank you for sharing all that. I'd love you both to answer this. We talk a lot about the Co in our business and our name Mums and Co, the people that support us. I'm really keen to know outside of your own beautiful friendship, who supports you guys in your in your endeavours the most?

00:20:16:06 - 00:20:38:14

Mia

So apart from each other, who are, of course, where our number one support is, it has been our existing customers that have thrown all of their support behind us. The day we released ticket sales, we sold about 20 tickets that day. And we were just so delighted that so many of our existing customers were the first among the first ticket holders. So surround yourself with good people. No brainer. They will. They will support you everywhere you go.

00:20:45:08 - 00:20:56:00

Fiona

My biggest supporter is myself. It's a different angle than how may. I answered the question, but honestly, I'm solo in business. I'm solo in life. Unfortunately, I didn't have the privilege of getting to have my own children. So it's like, you know, I've got to fend for myself. I've got to back myself. I've got to like, I've got to be the person that is supporting me the most, or else business just doesn't work. And I think a lot of people have a lot of support from their husband. Some people don't get support from their husband or friends. My other biggest supporter would be my dad. He's just so interested in everything that happens in my business, which is just awesome. But what Mia said before is that, like, you need to have people around you that back your decision to be a business owner, because it's really friggin hard work. It is so hard being a business owner. I think it's a lot harder than being an employee, regardless of what your circumstances are outside of your employment. And so you need people around you who are going to understand when you're perhaps more tired than you want to be, or that you're actually not able to come to that thing that they're able to because it's a public holiday, because the small business owners public holidays don't necessarily equal the day off. So, yeah, I think we all need to be our own number one supporters. Mia is my second supporter outside of myself. And yeah, I mean, our clients are absolutely amazing. We have a lot of crossover black clients that work with both of us. And I always say I have the absolute best clients in the whole universe. Like they I love them with every fibre of my being. I love their businesses, I love what they're doing, and they feel that love. And that's why they want to keep working together.

Lucy

Well, I just love that. Thank you so much for sharing all that. And you know what? Particularly the first thing you shared because I really feel that in our community, women generally don't own that space for themselves. They find it difficult to back themselves. And as you so perfectly said, unless you do your business, your business suffers. Everything suffers like you need to be your first advocate. So thank you for those beautiful responses. What are some of the more surprising or unexpected marketing successes you've had in the journey so far? I know, the acquisition of Squarespace as a partner must have been a massive thrill like watching that. But, you know, feel free to expand on that. Or is there something else that's happened already?

Mia

The brand partnerships has been I don't want to say easy, but it has been joy, a lot more joyful than I expected. So just for a bit of context, I am the campaign lady and we knew we needed to have a campaign for this. And actually it was for me that suggests to this idea of get Squarespace to Ripple. And, based off a couple of campaigns that we had seen, like get Chris to Cowra. And so, we came up with this creative of, get Squarespace to Ripple. We put it on LinkedIn and Instagram within 24 hours, I'd heard back from the sponsorships and partnerships manager at Squarespace saying, you know, ha ha, you've got our attention. And then a calendar booking got made for the next week. And then I think it was four weeks later. We had cold, hard cash on the way, which is so exciting. So it has definitely been, the easiest part of Ripple Festival has been just having these really joyful partnerships. It just goes to show it, it validates it for us. You know, it's not just about the money, Lucy. It's about the validation that people have bought into this idea of doing business differently. And I was very firm and Fi 100% agreed with me that we were not going to be slapping any logos on any merch and putting them up on screens and doing partnerships in the traditional way. It just felt really incongruent with everything else that we were going to do. We're not doing a traditional business conference, so why would we do partnerships this way? So doing that kind of user generated content on behalf of our brand partners, where we include them in this strategy of building in public, just felt so much more genuine and so much more fun. Like, it's easy to just talk about the fact that I had a second partnership conversation with Squarespace today, and this is what we did. And, so, yeah, that has definitely been so great. And something that now I can bring into my own business and talk to people about how they can approach partners and sponsors. And so I really feel like this has been a really professional development opportunity for me as well.

00:25:48:07 - 00:26:14:03

Lucy

Yeah. Yeah. Look, I am I massive, massive respect for that approach. It's so needed. I think the old way is just so tired. But I also think it takes a type of person or persons in this case to be able to pull that off. Not everyone can. So I think your level of integrity, it's palpable. It's tangible. And that's going to help. But, you know, I would love to attend a workshop with you guys on how you do that and how to approach that, because I feel like it's the next revolution, particularly in this space. So well done. That's really phenomenal.

Mia

Thank you, Lucy, for this.

00:26:32:20 - 00:26:49:17

Lucy

So this podcast is designed for women in business. But this particular season, I really wanted to nurture the woman who might be considering, because there's a lot of them out there as well, who are hopefully being educated beautifully. But I'm listening to you guys about the way to approach things. But what would your, individual piece of advice be for a woman, who might just be starting out or just considering to focus on the tactics that matter the most in that really early stage of business? If you can take your minds kind of back then, because I know it's been a while. That would love to hear your perspectives on that.

00:27:12:04 - 00:27:34:11

Fiona

I’d love to kick this one off Lucy. I think, one of the things that you need to understand as a business owner is that so I've been in business nearly 15 years, and I've never done anything as well as I wanted to, but somehow I've been very successful. I have a great brand, a great reputation and a great client base. Right. So something that you really need to wrap your head around quickly as a business owner is that you need to do things you can't think your way to having a business. And I think a lot of women get stuck in the overthinking sort of space when they're getting started. And what you really need is customers. So people will tell you that they think your business idea is great, or they'll say, oh, whenever you launch that range of swimwear, I'm totally going to be your first customer. But it's unlikely that they actually will be. So nothing is going to give you more certainty than asking somebody to give you money. Until somebody actually hands over their credit card as a customer, everything that you've talked about with them until that point is just an idea. So I think the quicker that you can move from having an idea to actually validating that with actual customers, the more successful that you are going to be. But you need to accept the fact that it is not going to look the way you want it to. It's not going to sound the way you want it to. It's not going to go the way that you want it to, and that's okay.

00:28:50:04 - 00:29:12:22

Mia

I know it Lucy. It was it was exactly the same thing that I was going to say about making sure that there is enough demand for your product or service. I am seeing way too many businesses throw on the pile. They want to become an Instagram coach. They want to have a gift hamper company because they love gift hampers. They love receiving them. They love creating them. But at the end of the day, there needs to be an unmet need or a demand for your product and service. And one of the biggest reasons why 60% of small businesses are closing in their first three years of business is because they cannot attract enough customers. So everything is theoretical until we launch, which is exactly what Fi said, which is why we seriously we can finish each other's sentences.

00:29:42:20 - 00:29:57:21

Lucy

Absolutely love it. And it's such salient, salient advice. I mean, as much as we don't love to sit here and go just because you have that wonderful idea and it might be really wonderful, it's just not enough if what you're needing to do is actually also make money. So thank you for sharing that. Is there anything we've forgotten to talk about that you are bursting to share with me? So we can pass it on to our community?

00:30:08:03 - 00:30:16:19

Mia

Buy a ticket, please. We'd love to see you at Ripple festival. We'd love to meet you.

00:30:16:19 - 00:30:27:22

Fiona

What I'd love to say before we get into the details of the dates, etc., is that small business deserves to be in the spotlight in a major way in this country, and it is not. I am sick of hearing about tech startups in the media. The media field seems as though the only stories they want to tell are about the tech startups that get funding and then go broke. And I'm sick of reading about that in a smart company every week. What I really want to hear about is the small business owners who are employing people. They're doing great work in the community, they're donating to the local whatever. You know, small business owners are amazing people, and they deserve a really big spotlight. And small business is so much better when you have a great community around you. Ripple Festival is that community. So we are not building an event. We are building a whole community. The event is just one part of what we are creating, and what we are creating is a place where small business owners can come together to learn, to make more money, to find customers, to find their business bestie, to find help. People that can help coach and mentor them, to see people on stage that are just like them. But five steps ahead. And that is what Ripple Festival is all about. It's not just about going somewhere to get some selfies, it's about actually connecting with other small business owners so that we can all make more money and impact together. And I'll hand over to Mia from there.

00:31:51:02 - 00:31:59:04

Mia

I guess this is all being an exercise in bravery. And if we can pass on anything to other people, is that playing it safe is the riskiest strategy of all. When we know the high failure rates and the noise, we've seen incredible business events shut down. And we know that we're up against giants with budgets we will never touch, even with great Squarespace money. But honestly, I would rather go down swinging than sit on the sidelines and play it safe. Because playing it safe, playing it small is just really not our style. And if people listening are like that sounds like me, then you're exactly the kind of person we would love to meet at Ripple Festival.

00:32:34:23 - 00:32:51:15

Lucy

So good, I wish I mean, I'm giving you a standing ovation in my head right now. You’re both brilliant.  Can you share a date for ripple with us and the best place to buy tickets, assuming the website. But over to you for that so we can get that info.

00:32:51:15 - 00:32:57:00

Fiona

Ripple Festival is happening on the 12th and 13th of November 2025. We hope it will be happening every year from then on, but the best way to support us is to buy a ticket and come to the festival. You can do that at RippleFestival.com.au Also come and follow us on Instagram if you want a backstage pass to everything that we are doing, you need to be on our email list and you are going to get the best emails you've ever received in your life written by Mia. The festival itself is two days. There are workshops, there are keynotes, there's live music. We might even be singing in the audience, too. There's comedy. There's art being made before our eyes. We are going to feed you. We're going to give you a coffee. We're even going to give you alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages while you partake in a dance party. So this ticket that you are going to invest in is going to be firstly voting for the sort of bravery that you want to say in small business, but it's also going to allow you to join a community of freaking awesome small business owners who all want to help each other. And yeah, if you want to come to a Ripple Festival, the sooner you buy your ticket, the less dollars it is going to cost you because we want to reward people who buy tickets early by giving you the best price.

00:34:16:02 - 00:34:19:10

Lucy

Thank you both so much. That was just phenomenal. It sounds so wonderful. And, I'm really proud that we can play a small part in supporting it. So if there's anything else we can do, let me know.

00:34:27:16 - 00:34:29:02

Fiona

Yeah. Thanks, Lucy.

00:34:32:13 - 00:34:47:23

Carrie

Thanks for listening to today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe via Spotify or Apple Podcast. Mums and Co is a network helping business learning women to start, connect and grow. Join us today at Mumsandco.com.au

00:34:49:07 - 00:35:04:15

Carrie

The information provided by Mums and Co is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or other professional advice. Content is general in nature and does not consider your personal circumstances, financial situation or needs.

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