Aussie reveals how she went from going bankrupt to making $1 million in one year

An Aussie has shared the moment she got a phonecall where she had to face a terrifying money reality and exactly what she did next.

Going bankrupt is most people’s worst nightmare, but one Aussie has explained why she didn’t panic, which ultimately led to her making millions.

Candy Kemp, 42, went bankrupt at 25. At the time, she was a single mum with three kids, and she found herself left with nothing after a business venture fell apart.

Ms Kemp has always been someone prepared to put in vast amounts of work to provide for her family.

She started a dumpling business, and a health food chain she opened with her friend and business partner.

The single mum doggedly tried to find work that allowed her to spend time with her children and not have to put them into daycare full-time.

She poured everything into her company, but it all went wrong.

In reflection, she can see that somewhere along the way her “magic ingredient” of being a community-minded business got lost, and she definitely paid the price.

Candy Kemp was 25 when she went bankrupt. Picture: TikTok/candycocokemp

She never wanted to give up even when it was hard. TikTok/candycocokemp

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Ms Kemp ended up going bankrupt, not just the business, but herself, because the chain started to fail.

Speaking to news.com.au, she said the experience was “devastating” and not easy to recover from.

“We built it up to 10 stores and then we lost everything. We couldn’t even afford rent,” she said.

When her business partner called and said they would have to declare bankruptcy, she knew immediately she didn’t want to let this experience stop her moving forward.

“I just remember saying to her, ‘let’s just think about it for a minute. What is the worst thing that could happen, it’d be humiliating?’” she said.

The business partners didn’t relent, instead they scaled back the business, went back to just one cafe and started from scratch.

“We built it back up again,” she said.

She's always worked so hard. Picture: Supplied

She was prepared to fail to succeed. Picture: Supplied

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Bankruptcy made everything tough. It wasn’t as simple as before, suddenly, they weren’t just starting from scratch, they were starting on the back foot.

“It was difficult to do anything,” she said.

“I had moments where I could only buy real food for my children and I’d just be eating noodles or canned food.”

Ms Kemp said that, even at her lowest and down to her last $10, she always found ways to “make money”, whether it was by selling something or just briefly working for someone else.

What kept her motivated was that she’s typically not an anxious person, and she has always believed that she’d get ahead again.

“Even when I was a single mum, didn’t have money or a job and couldn’t afford anything, I don’t know if this is healthy, but I always believed I’d be fine,” she said.

The bankruptcy wasn’t too bad in terms of assets; she was still renting at the time and didn’t own anything worth a substantial amount, but it was super limiting because no one would loan to her.

Ms Kemp just went back to basics, invested her time, worked hard to rebuild the community around the cafe, and focused on customers instead of expansion.

She also got more business partners in to help rebuild and, in the end, they bought her out of the business. After this, she decided to start her own skincare line.

She stared a skincare line. Picture: Supplied

The skincare line Supple Skin Co was a moment of genius. She started using hemp oil to fix her acne-prone skin and realised how much better her skin looked.

Through this process she found a gap in the market, leading to her starting the business.

She ran the hemp based skincare business from her home and hustled hard, advertising it online and connecting with her audience. This formula work, with Ms Kemp seeing the business grow before her eyes.

“It happened so quickly,” she said.

One month, the business made $20,000, then $30,000, then $50,000, and eventually, she was clearing a million in a year.

Ms Kemp decided to sell the skincare business recently so she could focus on building up her coaching business.

She’s “fallen in love” with helping others build their own careers and she’d built the business up enough to be able to sell it for a very solid amount.

The biggest thing she’s learnt from all her failures and successes is that you can’t be “afraid to fail” along the way.

Originally published as Aussie reveals how she went from going bankrupt to making $1 million in one year