INBOX: What Recruiters Really Want on Your Resume & The Sick Day Script You Need

As a student midwife, Remy Tucker worked with vulnerable new mothers and saw women forced to make impossible choices around basic essentials, including period products. She was eventually told that if she wanted to survive in the profession, she might need to switch off the part of herself that cared so deeply. She couldn't. Years later, that same instinct helped spark ON THE HOUSE, a business built around a radical question: what if period products could be free? In this episode, Remy shares how she turned a social problem into a for-profit business model, why doing good and making money don't have to be opposing ideas, and how that aligns a company designed to create impact at scale. On today’s episode, you’ll learn: How Remy turned an experience from her midwifery career into the problem she eventually built ON THE HOUSE to tackle. How an advertising-funded model can make period products free to the people who need them while still creating a commercially viable business. What she calls “outcome debt”, and why taking a shortcut in a startup can mean paying for it later with interest. How to work out whether the thing you've been told is a weakness might actually be one of your greatest advantages as a founder.

Annie Nguyen arrived in Australia with a background in finance and business, but couldn’t land a job as a barista. So she spent less than $200 setting up a tiny market stall selling Vietnamese iced coffee instead. That stall became ANNEES, now a beloved and growing chain of coffee shops popping up across Queensland. In this episode, Annie shares how she turned genuine human connection into an actual customer-service system, what Shark Tank taught her about backing your own vision, and why starting a business might require far less money, polish and certainty than you think.

Anaita Sarkar is the co-founder and CEO of Hero Packaging, author of How To Sell Anything Online and her authenticity shines through to her MASSIVE TikTok following. But in this episode, she’s not here to give you the polished founder story. Anaita shares the mistakes that left Hero Packaging staring down a $600,000 inventory bill she didn’t know was coming, the moment she questioned whether she was actually a good business owner, and what it took to fight her way back. She also shares some of the most practical advice we’ve heard on BIZ, including the simple experiment she used to test whether there was actually a market for Hero Packaging before betting on the idea. On today’s episode, you’ll learn: How Anaita tested demand for Hero Packaging with a landing page and a $20-a-day Google Ad before properly launching.

We're constantly told to earn more, save more and somehow become better at money. But what if feeling financially secure isn't just about the numbers? In this episode of Biz, Lisa Lie and Em Vernam sit down with financial educator Jess Brady to unpack the emotional side of money, and how the way we think about it can shape the choices we make. Jess explains what your "money monster" is, and how to stop it quietly sabotaging your financial goals. We also get practical: how to automate your money so you can stop wasting time online banking, what a "fruit tree" goal is and why having one can change the way you think about your financial future. In this episode you'll learn How childhood experiences around money can create "money monsters" which subconsciously sabotage your relationship with money How to eliminate those emotional barriers to create financial freedom How to automate your finances and stop constantly checking your bank account What a "fruit tree" goal is and why you need one THE END BITS READ OR LISTEN to Jessica's Book "Get Growing: A No-Nonsense Guide to Cultivating Wealth and Financial Freedom" Support independent women's media. Got a work life dilemma? Send us all the questions you definitely can't ask your boss for our Biz Inbox episodes - send us a voice note or email us at [email protected]. You can remain anon! HOSTS: Lisa Lie and Em Vernem GUEST: Jessica Brady - Money Educator EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Courtney Ammenhauser SENIOR PRODUCER: Thom Lion VIDEO PRODUCER: Marlena Cacciotti Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone loves the idea of being their own boss. But what happens when your side gig becomes a real business? In this episode of Biz, Lisa Lie chats with Cherie Clonan, CEO of The Digital Picnic, about what it actually takes to make the leap from employee or freelancer to business owner. Cherie gets brutally honest about the reality of building a business with bub in tow: three years without a salary, the pressure of making payroll, the temptation to quit, and why business ownership isn't necessarily the freedom fantasy we're sold. She explains how she knew The Digital Picnic had "legs", what changes when you go from selling your own time to building a team, and why the biggest leap might actually come after becoming a freelancer. Plus, Cherie shares her simple "horizons of growth" framework to balance the day-to-day work of keeping a business alive with the bigger ideas that drove you to start it all. In this episode you'll also learn: How to tell if your side hustle actually has legs Why you don't necessarily need to quit your job to start a business The reality of going years without paying yourself The moment Cherie realised she had become the bottleneck in her own business What changes when you hire your first employees THE END BITS Support independent women's media. Got a work life dilemma? Send us all the questions you definitely can't ask your boss for our Biz Inbox episodes - send us a voice note or email us at [email protected]. You can remain anon! HOST: Lisa Lie GUEST: Cherie Clonan - The Digital Picnic EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Courtney Ammenhauser SENIOR PRODUCER: Thom Lion VIDEO PRODUCER: Marlena Cacciotti Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.