120,000 round beach towels later, co-creator Victoria Beattie shares her secrets to running a very chilled business | #464

Can you believe the round beach towel wasn’t a thing until just six years ago?! Like, how did it not get invented decades ago?! Well, stop scratching your head because you’re about to meet Victoria Beattie, the creator who’s already sold 120,000 of them!

A little bit more about The Beach People’s Victoria Beattie (and her sister Emma) …

The Beach People was founded in the summer of 2013 by sisters Emma Henderson and Victoria Beattie in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia. Inspired by their family, friends and seaside lifestyle, with their passion for creating beautiful and iconic products, their first collection of round towels sold out in weeks. A few short years later, they are building a globally admired brand of seaside luxe essentials for everyone, everywhere to enhance one’s living spaces and life experiences from the beach to home.

So strap in as Victoria shares:

• Where the idea for a round beach towel came from
• How they got it to market
• The ups and downs of starting an ecommerce business
• How she manages the multitude of rip-offs flooding the market
• Why they’ve expanded beyond beach towels
• Plus plenty more marketing and business insights …

Here’s what caught my attention from my chat with round beach towel co-creator Victoria Beattie:

1. The story of how Victoria got her truck license so she could drive to the docks and pick up her stock is a great reminder of just how passionate and motivated (and a little cray cray) us small business owners are.
   
2. I love how Vic doesn’t have a background in marketing, but has such a passion for it. If you’re not enjoying your marketing then hand it off to someone who does or listen to the entire back catalogue of this show … 464 episodes and counting!
3. I love the fact that the girls have a Watch List with 80 brands on it who may potentially steal their ideas.

Victoria Beattie Interview Transcription

Tim

Hey, Victoria Beattie of the beach people welcome to the small business big marketing show.

Victoria

Thank you for having me. It’s good to be here.

Tim

Now Vic why did it take so long for someone to invent the round beach towel?

Click Here To Download Full Transcription

Resources mentioned:

• The Beach People’s official Australian website
• The Beach People’s official American website
• Last week’s interview with Robbie Bell on how to offer amazing service as a wholesaler
• Interviews I’ve done with others who’ve had a whacky business idea and created a successful business from it:
  • Renae Bunster from Bunsters Hot Sauces
  • Mark Livings from Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits
  • Laura Klein from Snotty Noses
• Winner of this week’s Monster Prize Draw is Dan McQuillan of Gold Coast Real Estate agent Kollosche
• Interview with business owners who have found the courage to truly lean in and create successful businesses:
  • #447 with Bali entrepreneur Janet DeNeefe
  • #441 with donut entrepreneur Phillip Kuoch
  • #384 with roast check entrepreneur Wally Khawli

“My tips for starting a business? Trust your gut, it’s usually right. Work to your strengths and outsource your weaknesses, don’t stick your head in the sand on important things like accounting.  Know what you are and aren’t, don’t try to be everything to everyone. Define your brand and stick to it!”

– Victoria Beattie,
The Beach People

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