Jess Logged into Her Online Banking and Felt Her Stomach Drop when She Saw the Balance
Sep 27, 2023Original Article on www.honey.nine.com.au - read the article here.
Jessica Williamson started a side hustle at 22 and made over $300,000 in the first year, but early in her business journey she opened her banking app and found it empty.
She had just taken her brand, Ete Swimwear, to New York Fashion Week and was trying to pay $12 for parking at her day job when her card declined.
"I logged into my online banking account and it was at like negative $2 or something. My heart fell out of my bottom, I was like, 'Where did my money go?'" she tells 9Honey Money.
Jessica Williamson was in her early 20s when she came up with the business idea. (Instagram)
It was the first time she hit "rock bottom" as a business owner and Williamson had to get her mum to drive into the city and pay for her parking and lunch.
Some Aussies would have been defeated by the setback, but it only made Williamson more determined to succeed.
She had launched Ete Swimwear just a few months earlier after feeling unfulfilled in her digital marketing job, where she felt she wasn't living up to her potential.
With a deep love of fashion and social media, she knew e-commerce was the way to go and settled on swimwear because there was a gap in the market for certain styles in 2015.
"At the time there were just black and khaki bikinis, so I built a brand around feminine pinks, blues, whites … to fill that gap in the market," she says.
Jessica Williamson styling a model in Ete Swimwear. (Instagram)
At the time she had about $15,000 in savings, which she used to order stock from manufacturers in China and turn her idea into a bonafide small business.
"I had no clue what I was doing … but in less than six months I had the first batch of finished products in my hand and I was launching," she says.
Despite having zero prior business experience, the launch was a success and Ete Swimwear started amassing an online following.
One week after launching, Williamson was invited to showcase the brand at New York Fashion Week and said yes without a second thought about the logistics of it.
Jessica Williamson backstage with a model at New York Fashion Week in 2016. (Supplied)
"I had to make a whole new collection to take there, because you cannot take a six-month-old collection to NYFW," she says.
"I just said yes and then figured out how the hell I was going to pay for a whole new collection, get it done and delivered in less than six months, and pay for flights and models."
By some miracle she was able to pull it off, but it left her totally broke and her card declined at that fateful parking lot as soon as she got back.
That wasn't the only challenge in her business journey either.
Jessica Williamson hit rock bottom early in her business journey and the stress took a toll. (Supplied)
One time an entire shipment of bikinis turned up with the underwire in every bikini top sewn in sideways, so "you'd have a piece of wire sticking through the middle of your boob".
Dealing with setbacks was all about having the right mindset, Williamson says, and she focused on next steps and solutions rather than dwelling on what had gone wrong.
That helped her achieve massive milestones like making $300,000 in Ete Swimwear's first year and collaborating with model and style icon Matilda Djerf.
Social media and influencer marketing shot the brand to new heights and Williamson was able to quit her job and focus on Ete Swimwear full-time.
Jessica Williamson at the beach in Ete Swimwear in 2018. (Instagram)
She also launched several other businesses on the side and after a few years Ete Swimwear basically ran itself, raking in profits while she only had to work "two hours a day, max".
It was around that time that something changed for Williamson.
"I never thought I would want to sell it. It was my baby, and it was my passion, and it was my purpose and goal," she says. "But it wasn't giving me that fire that it once did."
The best time to sell a business is at the height of its success, rather than when it plateaus or goes downhill, so Williamson bit the bullet and began the sale process.
Jessica Williamson at New York Fashion Week in 2016. (Supplied)
'Tech bros' wanted to pay millions and keep her on as a creative director or founder, but she chose to sell the brand below market value to a couple that had a vision for it.
Six years after launching Ete Swimwear, Williamson signed it over to the new owners.
A non-disclosure agreement prevents her from revealing the exact figure they paid, but the business was worth millions at the time.
She put a chunk of the cash into investments, built her dream home with her fiancé, and then splashed out on the holiday of a lifetime.
Jessica Williamson spent close to $60,000 on a European holiday. (Instagram)
"I'm not a Gucci girl. I'll go and spend $60,000 on a vacay for me and my fiancé. We just spent two months in Europe and that's my idea of success; life experiences," she says.
Now she's a mentor and mindset coach and uses her own experience to help other Aussies starting a business from scratch avoid the mistakes she made.
Starting a side hustle can be daunting, especially when so many Aussies are scraping by, but with determination Williamson says the risk can pay off.
"We are wired to avoid danger, so it's really about just flipping that script and looking at all of the things you could gain," she says.
Jessica Williamson spent close to $60,000 on a European holiday. (Instagram)
That means believing in yourself, accepting risks and taking the leap anyway, even if you have to tackle plenty of obstacles on the path to success.
It could be self-doubt, rejection, critics, or faulty bikinis; there will always be challenges, what matters is how you tackle them.
Williamson also encourages women in particular to back themselves and not be afraid of being labelled a "bitch" for being ambitious and celebrating your own success.
"I'm tired of seeing women feeling like they have to write a disclaimer like, 'I've just had an amazing win, but I'm not bragging!' Brag away, you've earned it," she says.
Jessica Williamson now works as a mindset coach and mentor. (Instagram)
With the cost of living crisis getting worse, many people are looking for easy ways to make fast money, but Williamson warns that starting a business isn't a get-rich-quick scheme.
"People are thinking, 'let me start a business because I've heard you can make millions, and you get to sit on the beach all day,'" she explains.
"Then they start the business and they come to me for help and I'm like, 'I cannot help you if you don't have a reason why you're so passionate about this.'"