Young Aussie reveals big business move after being made redundant
A young Aussie has revealed the moment she lost her job and the wild gamble she took afterwards.
Fashion
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When Alice James was made redundant, she wasn’t filled with straight-up panic because it meant she could focus on her business.
Ms James worked like a dog to climb the radio ladder and land the role of executive producer on the Jase and Lauren Melbourne Breakfast Show.
When she was made redundant, she was gutted but also felt a spark of excitement.
“It felt like a blessing in disguise,” she said.
The 33 year old had just started her own business with her best mate Kelsey in October, and by December, she’d been made redundant.
The business is called Rack it Club, a store in Melbourne where women can rent clothing racks and sell their clothes.
Ms James and her business partner take 15 per cent of the profits from sales their clothes in their store.
It is basically like an op shop, but women are shopping other women’s wardrobes instead.
Kelsey and Ms James supply the racks and the store where people can sell their clothes.
“You can come in and buy a dress to go to the races for like a third of the price,” she told news.com.au.
It is both a more sustainable way of shopping and allows women to make money from their wardrobes.
At the time, Ms James and Kelsey had opened one store in Melbourne; now, they have three: in Hawthorn, Malvern East, and Brighton.
Ms James said they each invested around $10,000, maybe even less, because they were prepared to do everything themselves.
“We really worked hard to not invest too much. Instead of paying someone to fit out the shops we did it ourselves in the most economical way,” she said.
“You also have to be careful with rent because if it was too expensive the business wouldn’t have been sustainable.”
Ms James said they could have gone “crazy” and invested everything into the business but they decided to be conservative and not overextend.
They were both confident in their business idea because they were passionate about it, but it was still risky.
“We spoke to a lot of people, thought about it, and asked if this risk was worth the reward.” She said.
Ms James said she found that when she pitched it to men, they didn’t understand the concept, but when she spoke to her female friends, they immediately said it was a great idea.
Before they opened the store, Ms James was anxious. She’d always worked for someone else and now she was going to be running the show.
“We were so nervous. There are those times when something goes wrong and you’re calling each other and saying, “Have we made a huge mistake?” she said.
Ms James overcame her anxiety because she’s passionate about keeping clothing away from landfills.
Once they opened the doors to their store it also quickly became rewarding to see women being able to find affordable clothing.
“A girl came in and bought a dress for her 21st, which she couldn’t afford to buy online. Seeing her face makes it worth it,” she said.
“It makes all the nerves worth it.”
Ms James said it has also been great to see women hire out racks and make bank from their wardrobes. They’ve even had supermodel Megan Gale rent out a rack.
“You see women making $1500 from a bag of clothes that was just sitting in their wardrobes,” she said.
Even with three stores under her belt, Ms James said she’s still earning “definitely less” than what she did in radio, but she’s also so happy.
“The business is my baby and you want to put everything into it,” she said.
Originally published as Young Aussie reveals big business move after being made redundant
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