Episode 08- 3 Generations of Branding with Tracey Mathers

10 Jun

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Grandfather Mathers’ love of shoes started as a shoe shine boy in Ipswich Qld. He borrowed money from friends to open his shoe store in 1923. Mathers Shoes was born….

Dad realised early how important branding was for Mathers. This was for logo, image, stock, staff and more. Because of this he also realised that all things cannot be in the one place. Keeping consistency for a brand meant that diversifying across different brands and stores, although owned by the one company allowed for large market share.

The basics being that to keep the Mathers name, a kid's shoe can't be sold next to a gentleman’s shoe……

Tracey Mathers took the leap one day to take ownership of a gap that she could see, although still as ‘Tracey Mathers’ studio. To her, it was so obvious to maintain the name, especially after the family had spent so long nurturing the name.

Self-branding Benefits for Tracey:

Name already known
Customer experience with stories & histories
Name means more to people
Set expectations

Tracey’s Challenges:

Being thought of as expensive
Marketing around this

Lessons learnt:

You make mistakes for growth
Had the wrong approach to FB & Instagram
Using social media
Having someone else do FB page – as when trying to engage with people, it needs to be you.

Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode:

In this segment, Jane Anderson introduces her podcast, the Jane Anderson Brand New Show, which focuses on helping experts enhance their impact, influence, and income. She highlights the importance of personal connection in business and introduces her guest, Tracy Mathers, who comes from a long line of shoe retailers. Tracy is the granddaughter of the founder of Mathers Shoes and started her career in the family business at a young age. Jane expresses her excitement to have Tracy on the show, noting that Tracy was her first boss and that much of what she learned about personal branding came from working with Tracy and her family.
Tracy shares the inspiring story of her family's journey in the shoe retail business, tracing back to her grandfather who started as a shoeshine boy and eventually opened the first Mathers Shoes store in Ipswich in 1923. She describes her father's involvement in the business, highlighting his role in expanding Mathers Shoes into a public company with over 20 stores during the 1980s. Tracy emphasizes the importance of branding in their business strategy, detailing how they diversified their offerings under different brand names to capture a wider market share while maintaining consistency in the Mathers brand. She reflects on the challenges and successes of this approach and discusses her own transition to founding Tracy Mathers Shoe Studio at the age of 24 in 1991.
Tracy further elaborates on her journey from working with Mathers Shoes to establishing her own shoe studio. She discusses her role in managing various stores under Mathers Shoes and how changes in ownership and strategic direction influenced her decision to start her own business. Tracy emphasizes the importance of brand evolution and shares insights into her branding strategy for Tracy Mathers Shoe Studio, highlighting the need for consistency while adapting to changing market demands. She provides valuable lessons learned from her experience in the shoe retail industry, underscoring the significance of branding and market positioning in achieving business success.
Tracy explains the decision-making process behind starting her own business, Tracy Mathers Shoe Studio, after observing missed market opportunities with Mathers Shoes' strategic decisions. She recounts how she identified a niche in the market and seized the opportunity to open her own shoe store. Tracy reflects on the natural choice of using her own name for the business, considering the strong reputation and legacy associated with the Mathers name. Despite initial concerns about legal issues, Tracy decided to use her name, leveraging its recognition to attract customers and initiate conversations about the family's history in the shoe retail industry. She emphasizes the value of brand continuity and storytelling in fostering customer engagement and loyalty.
Tracy discusses the benefits and challenges of operating under her personal brand name. She highlights the advantages of brand recognition and the ability to leverage the family's legacy to create a unique customer experience. Tracy explains how using her name as the business brand facilitates customer engagement and builds trust, ultimately contributing to business success. However, she also acknowledges the challenge of overcoming perceptions of high pricing associated with her personal brand and the need to actively market affordable quality products to dispel such notions. Despite these challenges, Tracy remains committed to her brand identity and its associated values of quality, service, and affordability.
Tracy shares her reflections on her career journey and the lessons learned along the way. She emphasizes the importance of embracing mistakes as opportunities for growth and adaptation. Tracy recounts challenges faced, such as economic downturns and marketing misconceptions, and underscores the value of continuous learning and resilience in navigating business challenges. She specifically discusses her evolving perspective on social media marketing, initially viewing it as an invasion of privacy but later recognizing its significance in fostering customer connections and business growth. Tracy emphasizes the need for authenticity and personal engagement in social media management, cautioning against delegating this responsibility to others to maintain brand integrity and alignment with business values. She concludes by encouraging others to embrace social media as a powerful tool for business marketing and customer engagement, citing her own transformation from skepticism to wholehearted endorsement of its effectiveness.
In the concluding segment of the interview, Tracy shares insights into personal branding and her recent venture into mentoring. She acknowledges the power of platforms like Facebook in building personal connections and recommends leveraging one's own name for business branding, emphasizing the importance of making it easy for customers to remember and connect with the brand. Tracy offers practical advice for individuals considering using their name for their business, highlighting the necessity of sharing personal history and creating a brand identity that resonates with the target audience. Additionally, Tracy introduces her new mentoring business, TracyMathers.com, aimed at offering guidance and support to individuals in various aspects of business and life. She underscores her wealth of experience in negotiation, leadership, and people management, expressing a desire to empower others to reach their full potential. Tracy invites listeners to visit her website for more information on her mentoring services, demonstrating her commitment to sharing her expertise and contributing to the success of others in their personal and professional journeys.

Full Show Transcript:

(0:00 - 2:43)
My name is Jane Anderson and this is the Jane Anderson Brand New Show. It's the podcast for experts who want to have greater impact, influence and income for their businesses and careers. As experts, we know that people buy from people and work with people who they know, who they like and who they trust.

So I'm so glad you're here because it's that time again now to really amplify how you show up in the world. Okay, welcome to the Brand New Show today. As you know, we talk to solopreneurs and people who have personally branded businesses and also leveraging personal brand within organizations.

And we're all about the connection economy. So I'm so excited, I can't tell you how excited I am that I have a very special guest today. Coming from a long line of shoe retailers, Tracy Mathers found the business A Natural Choice.

Tracy is the granddaughter and the third generation of the founder of the famous Mathers Shoes footwear company. So Tracy's father was Sir Robert Mathers and he went on to build the Mathers name in Queensland, Australia. And to become an extremely well and well known and respected company.

And Tracy actually started her own career at the age of 14, where she went to work for the family company as a casual on weekends and late nights. And she never lost her love of shoes. And so her future was obvious to her.

Tracy opened her first own retail store. Tracy made this shoe studio in the Tattersalls Arcade in Brisbane City in Queensland, Australia in 1991. She has had up to six stores at any one time.

She currently has three stores in the Brisbane area. Tracy travels overseas regularly and each year to bring a point of difference to the stores. And she's constantly sourcing new exclusive brands.

And she loves the wow factor. Incidentally, though, the reason why I brought Tracy in is because Tracy was my first boss. And when I first left university, I remember applying for my job and the first full time job.

And Tracy Tracy gave me that opportunity. The reason why I'm so excited to have Tracy here today is because what I've learned about personal branding and a lot of it has come from me working for Tracy and her family. So I'm so excited that she's agreed for us to tap into some of her expertise today.

So thank you so much for coming.

[Speaker 1] (2:44 - 2:49)
Jane, thank you so much. I can't tell you how excited I am to actually be here today. I'm talking to you.
(2:49 - 3:38)
Thank you. Well, I mean, for those who are listening, if you're not from Brisbane, Queensland, Tracy's family has had such an impact on the Queensland putting Brisbane on the map. I think, you know, if I'd love for Tracy to share some of her history in terms of her grandfather and even her father.

So we're going to tap into that today. But Tracy's also incredibly humble. So she's so I'm going to have to probably share some some things that she might not always proclaim.

But but today, you know, Tracy, I'd love for you to share your family history and where it's all led up to today. And, you know, you have a phenomenally successful, personally branded business that's come through generations. Can you walk us through the journey?

[Speaker 1] (3:38 - 5:25)
Jane, this is something that I have no problem talking about because I'm so proud of my family history. My grandfather actually started the business and he actually started as a shoeshine boy. And that's how his love of shoes.

He actually used to walk past this shop in Ipswich that had beautiful men's shoes. And the owner actually came out one day and he said to him, you know, young boy, I see you looking in my window all the time. What are you actually looking at?

And he said to him, I just love shoes. I just love I can see that there's quality. You know, would you mind if I came inside and had a look?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the gentleman actually ended up offering him a job as a shoeshine boy, which is where he began. Right. Anyway, he used to actually have some really fun, fantastic friends.

And they used to go to the pub in Ipswich. And he used to tell his friends how much his dream was one day to own his own shoe shop. So what they actually did was they actually offered to put together some money.

And that is how Mathers was born. He actually opened up his first shop by actually borrowing money off really, really good friends. Wow.

So this is around what time? This is about 1923. It was at the first store opened in Ipswich, Mathers Shoes.

So a lot sort of changed in that time. But one of the stories that always goes around with, you know, the growth of Mathers was fairly rapid. And one of the stories that, you know, I'm not sure whether it's truth or it's a little bit of fun.

But I'm actually going with it because I have the same problem. Is that he had an overbuying problem, my grandfather, William. And he used to buy so much because he could never say no because he loved everything that he saw.

But he ended up with so much stock, he had to keep opening more stores to actually get rid of the stock. So that was how Mathers' growth actually began. All right.

[Speaker 2] (5:27 - 5:31)
So the shoe fetish has kind of gone through the generations.

[Speaker 1] (5:31 - 5:34)
Yeah, well, at least I know where I have my problem from now too.

[Speaker 2] (5:34 - 5:42)
You can blame it on that. Exactly. And so then your grandfather opened the stores and then how has that evolved from there?

[Speaker 1] (5:42 - 6:35)
So my father actually ended up coming on board and working with him. My father actually decided at first that he wanted to be a jackaroo. So he actually went out west and started jackarooing and soon realised that that was a really hard gig.

And that maybe that wasn't quite what he wanted in life. He came back and his father actually sat down and had a good talk to him and said, Look, there is an opportunity here. You know, I really want to grow the business and I do need somebody on board as my right hand person to help me to do that.

So dad was ecstatic, obviously, at that. And that was the beginning of my father's career. So he started with Mathers.

And when they actually got to 20 stores, that was when they actually looked at turning it into a public company floating the business. So it did end up being a public company, Mathers. We weren't always the only owners of it.

[Speaker 2] (6:35 - 6:43)
Yeah, right. And so then around that time, was that sort of early 80s? Correct, yes.

[Speaker 1] (6:44 - 6:44)
Yes.

[Speaker 2] (6:44 - 6:51)
And that was the time of Sir Joe Biocchi-Peterson time and the Queensland was really coming to the fore.

[Speaker 1] (6:51 - 7:06)
Yeah, it was fantastic. I mean, business was terrific back then, you know. There was so much growth, so much change and Mathers went through a huge growth spurt.

[Speaker 2] (7:07 - 7:22)
And then, so what happened at that point? Because you tell us about your dad's knighthood. He had an incredible impact on the money he raised for hospitals here in Queensland and involved in so many things and his contribution to business.

Can you tell us a bit about that?

[Speaker 1] (7:22 - 8:08)
Yeah, look, I mean, he never wanted people to know about that, Jane. You know, they were all the things that, you know, he decided that he could give back. He got very involved in politics because he felt that, you know, as a person high up in business, if you actually weren't prepared to put your money where your mouth was, if you weren't prepared to actually action and try and make changes that you needed to come forward, then, you know, you may as well not sit there and complain about it.

So he was very proactive on doing things and being part of organisations that actually he could help to make them understand the importance of looking after small business and that sort of thing, which is what Mathers was still considered at that time, was still a small business growing to a very large business.

[Speaker 2] (8:09 - 8:20)
Wow. And so if you come out of that time into where you are now, how did all that lead? Because you were in the stores when you were young.

Absolutely.

[Speaker 1] (8:21 - 9:01)
Actually, I just wouldn't mind if you don't mind. I just want to go back one step because I just want to talk about actual Mathers with their branding, which I think is so important. I just wanted to tell you that with Mathers, Dad realised at a very early time that your branding was so, so important.

Right. So whatever you chose to do, you needed to follow through on it to the absolute end. Whether that be your logo, whether it be with your staffing, with your stock, with your image, with the store looks, all that sort of thing had to be looked at very closely.

And what they realised very early on is that, you know, you can't have it all in one store.

[Speaker 2] (9:02 - 9:02)
Right.

[Speaker 1] (9:02 - 9:22)
And that's where they actually decided that they would branch out to different areas. So with Mathers, I'm not sure if people are aware of this, but we had a lot of different brands under the actual Mathers umbrella. Yes.

So we had other stores called Shirley's Shoes. We had Vic Jensen's. Yes.

We had children's stores called Totster Teens.

[Speaker 2] (9:22 - 9:22)
All right.

[Speaker 1] (9:22 - 10:06)
We then went one step further where we were working with an Australian company at the time. All shoes were made in Australia, which was called Jane Debster and Sandler. Yes.

And Footrest. So what they decided to do was to actually, those brands had become so popular on their own that we would actually open those stores under their own brand label. Right.

So we actually had a lot of Jane Debster, Sandler and Footrest stores throughout the whole of Queensland that really, I mean, they ran alongside Mathers beautifully. But they had their own outlooks, their own differentiation to the actual Mathers stores.

[Speaker 2] (10:07 - 10:15)
Right. So it was interesting. So it couldn't necessarily have to be all things to all people.

It was keeping the consistency of that Mathers.

[Speaker 1] (10:15 - 11:08)
Yes. It was most definitely keeping the consistency, but we were a large enough company by that stage that they didn't want to miss out on market share. Right.

So the only way to get market share is that there were certain people that didn't want to shop at Mathers Shoes at the time. So by diversing the brands into different names, the company, sorry, into different names, they were still going to then get a lot more of the market share. So, for instance, when a Westfield would ring Mathers, when they were opening a brand new Westfield, they would actually not just be talking about Mathers Shoes.

They would be talking about, you know, maybe seven stores in the one centre that none of them were actually clashing with each other. So we were able to offer seven different types of stores that didn't actually, you know, compete against each other. So we were able to get a huge market share within that one centre.

[Speaker 2] (11:08 - 11:10)
Yeah. Wow. That's phenomenal, isn't it?

[Speaker 1] (11:11 - 11:12)
Yeah, absolutely. It's good learning. Most definitely.

[Speaker 2] (11:14 - 11:25)
And so in terms of now you, because you're at Tracey Mathers Shoe Studio, and you've had your business since you opened your store when you were 21. 24.

[Speaker 1] (11:25 - 11:30)
24. Yeah, 24 I was. Yeah, in 1991.

And so... Giving away my age now.

[Speaker 2] (11:32 - 11:44)
You're 25. You didn't hear that. And so now in terms of your business, how has that brand sort of evolved now and how does it show up for you?

[Speaker 1] (11:44 - 14:05)
Okay, if you don't mind me going back again, because I want to tell you how it actually all sort of started. So when I was actually with Mathers, I used to look after all the Jane Debs to Sandler and Footrest stores throughout Queensland. That was my role.

Yep. And what happened was when Mathers was actually taken over or we actually organized a takeover of Mathers, it was sold out. It was bought by an American company, Woolworth America at the time.

And basically they had a very different idea of where they wanted to be positioned. So they started to close down a lot of the areas of stores that we had, you know, the most recent ones, like for instance, Mathers Imports, which was a beautiful market store. Yes.

So I myself felt that that was a massive mistake because at the time there really wasn't anyone else covering those areas. So I really didn't understand their thought pattern behind that. Right.

So what I did was I actually, part of my job with Jane Debs to Sandler was to actually go and find new sites for them to open up. Right. And there was a site that came up in the Tavistells Arcade and the architect of it actually was one of my dad's best friends, Robin Gibson, who designed the cultural centre.

And so basically I went to dad and I said, look, this is what Mathers are doing. I don't understand it. And I see a massive opportunity here.

I would really love to open up my own business, but I don't really know even where to begin. Well, I mean, if he could have jumped over the desk and kissed me, I think he would have. He was so excited.

I think that was just the lift that we both needed to, you know, get going again. Right. So that was how Tracy Mathers Shoe Studio was born because we saw such an open, you know, opportunity there of a market that was being dropped off that was not being covered by a lot of other people.

Right. So I started in, yeah, I opened my first shop in the Tavistells Arcade in 1991. And basically I just decided to not be as expensive as the Mathers Imports, but really to try and bring in from overseas, from Italy, Germany, Spain, all those beautiful brands that people were not finding once the Mathers Imports had gone.

Great. Okay.

[Speaker 2] (14:06 - 14:17)
And so did it feel like a natural progression to you to just to use Tracy Mathers? Like, did you ever consider a different business name or did it seem like so natural to you?

[Speaker 1] (14:18 - 15:10)
Honestly, I mean, some things in life are just so obvious and that was so obvious for me. I mean, we had spent, as a family, we had spent years and years building up a reputation and a name. And we had an amazing reputation and a name.

Yeah. And, you know, we had a reputation for great product, great service, great prices, and we had spent a lot of time, effort and money on doing that. So to me, the Mathers name was so well known in Queensland.

It was just an absolute no-brainer that I wanted to use it myself. Now, in saying that, I was very frightened that I would actually be stopped. So I did actually go and seek legal advice because obviously Mathers shoes, the name had been purchased with the stores.

Yes. But then I'd found out that when you're actually using your own name, there's not a problem at all. Yes.

So I didn't have any issues with it and just ran with that straight away.

[Speaker 2] (15:10 - 15:21)
Right. And so from having your own name as your business name now, what are some of the benefits that you've seen as a result of that?

[Speaker 1] (15:21 - 16:00)
Well, the benefits, obviously, is that your name is already known. So the historical. Absolutely.

So the historical side of it. So we actually get a lot of people say to us, still, even after all this time, are you actually related to the original Mathers? How does this work?

Who are you? Where do you fit in? Where do you slot in?

And it starts that conversation level for the girls to actually get those customers comfortable. They're already in the store asking questions, which is just fantastic. Let's put them on a seat and let's really tell them the history and what it's all about.

And then they're extremely comfortable and they just want to shop.

[Speaker 2] (16:00 - 16:08)
So those historical stories are almost carried through in your customer experience in the stores as part of the brand.

[Speaker 1] (16:08 - 16:52)
Absolutely. Most definitely. I'm just amazed at how many people still ask.

I would have thought after 24 years we wouldn't get those questions anymore, but we really do. And we still get all the gorgeous old ladies. Mathers was, we decided, I'm not sure what year it was, but we decided to do a Mathers credit card.

An account we called it in those days. I still get the gorgeous old loves come in and they say, can I use my Mathers account here? So it made them feel important.

It made them feel special. And they wanted us to do that. So, you know, in some ways we had to then turn that around to how we could create a beautiful experience in our store for them.

[Speaker 2] (16:54 - 17:13)
And have you ever thought about under your brand or have there been times where you've ever thought that you would have a different brand other than your name on your business? Or has there been times where you've gone, I'm not sure that my name would be the right thing to have on this?

[Speaker 1] (17:13 - 18:01)
One of the biggest challenges that I've had, Jane, and this has been a problem that has carried through for quite a few years, is that for some reason a lot of people have thought of us as Tracey Mathers shoe studio expensive equals expensive. And that has been a, you know, something that I've really worked hard to actually change. So when I've done things like, you know, maybe I've closed a store down and I've had some excess stock.

I have actually thought about when I start up maybe a website or something like that to sell the stock of actually not mentioning my name. But I think in the long run, I've always decided that my name means more to people than not. So I have actually decided to always run with using my name.

[Speaker 2] (18:02 - 18:13)
Yeah. Okay. So they get the brand promise.

And in your case, I guess that's like if you said it sets the expectation, they know what they're getting.

[Speaker 1] (18:13 - 18:53)
Yeah. And I think, you know, I mean, it's run through right from, you know, 1923 when Mathers first started. I have kept the same sort of promises.

And that is, you know, quality product, great service, beautiful environment to come into, great staff, knowledgeable staff, attentive staff. And we want the whole experience to be fantastic so that when you actually walk out, you feel like you have been looked after and that you're really happy with what you've actually purchased. Or if you don't purchase, which is great, no problem, that you actually remember us for next time and you come back because it's been such a great experience.

[Speaker 2] (18:53 - 19:01)
Yeah. Okay. And so have there been any particular challenges that you face being under your personal brand?

[Speaker 1] (19:05 - 19:35)
Yeah, I think probably the biggest challenge has been the fact of, and I'm not sure where it has ever come from, is the expensive side of it. You know, that Tracy Mathers shoe studio equals expensive. So I've had to do a lot of marketing on, you know, great quality but affordable prices.

You know, that's been one of my mantras, one of my logos that I've actually put forward to people. But that would probably be one of the only challenges that I've come up with my own name.

[Speaker 2] (19:35 - 20:04)
Okay. And, you know, you've had such a phenomenal career. You're an extraordinary third generation business owner and retailer on top of that.

But an extraordinary woman and one of, you know, I think of one of Australia's leading women in business. And if you had your time again, is there anything that you would do differently or lessons learned?

[Speaker 1] (20:05 - 21:49)
Oh my God, we haven't got enough time to give you all my lessons learned in life. But you know what? I'm a really big believer in you make mistakes for your growth.

Yeah, right. And every mistake that I've made, I can't honestly sit here off the top of my head and think of something that has been detrimental to my business. I've had a lot of changes in my business.

You know, we've had a lot of things that have happened. For instance, you know, I had a shop at the Gold Coast at Pacific Fair. And we had going back years and years, we had the airline strike.

Now that was such a massive impact to the Gold Coast. Tourism just stopped overnight. It really affected sales enormously.

We had to actually look at different ways of marketing. Now, in hindsight, what I know now, I could have done a lot better job. But, you know, as I say, they're the things that you learn along the way.

And, you know, they're the things that you'd never make the same mistakes again. Okay. So, yeah, no, there's nothing really that I would majorly change.

The only thing that I would change is that I really fought things like your Facebook and your Instagram and all those sort of things. I really felt that I had the whole wrong outlook on it. Right.

I felt it was an invasion of my privacy. I felt that, you know, people wanted to know more about you than your business, that sort of thing. Yes.

But now I really understand how it works. I absolutely love it. And I just so wish I had have embraced it years earlier.

[Speaker 2] (21:49 - 21:49)
Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (21:49 - 22:25)
Because it has become such an important tool to our marketing of our business. It has made such huge impact changes on our business. Right.

That, you know, it would have been fantastic if I had have, I mean, even yourself, you had tried to make me embrace it years earlier. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, I don't need that. I don't need that.

So, you know, I'm a bit of a slow learner. Right. But now you're killing it.

So, but now I just understand the importance of it. Yeah. You know, I would encourage people so much to get on board with it and to do something with it.

[Speaker 2] (22:26 - 23:26)
Yeah. And just while we're on that point, I think it's a significant one because you get a lot of comments, even marketing professionals, consultants who run into you at networking events and things like that, and they go, oh, are you Tracey Mavers? Oh, my God, how you run your Facebook is just phenomenal.

Now, when you look at it, I agree with you because, you know, years ago, I've always known Tracey as a fairly private person, but now you have fun on there. You know, you've got a great sense of humor. And to me it shows that when I look at the comments and people want to connect with people, people buy from people.

Absolutely. And they love feeling connected to you. Yes, you get to put product up and share, but it's not all about that.

It's about the personalization of the experience of your customers. They get to talk to you almost. And so it's not relying on you necessarily being in store.

Oh, Tracey Mavers. I'm connected to Tracey Mavers on Facebook. I get to be part of her world.

[Speaker 1] (23:26 - 23:42)
And, you know, Jane, this is where it's, you know, probably very difficult for some people, but what I've learned is that I had actually somebody, I started my own Facebook page, but then I actually put somebody else onto looking after it.

[Speaker 2] (23:42 - 23:42)
Right.

[Speaker 1] (23:43 - 24:53)
And that was a really big mistake. For me, who is trying to brand myself in a certain way, that was a really big mistake. Right.

Because what I did was, I mean, I actually read some posts where I would cringe myself and I'd quickly go, oh, my goodness, where's the delete button? That's so not me. So, you know, when you are, when you want to put your name on something, when you want to put yourself out there, you have got to, even though it takes time and energy and extra effort, you have got to watch what you portray because you are the business.

It is your name. So, you know, what you say has got to be the truth. You've got to make sure that, you know, it's your reputation on the line.

You know, it's your business, it's your reputation. So whatever you say, people are actually taking it all on board. So I learned very quickly that the only way to do those things like Facebook and that is to do it myself because it's me, you're right, it's me that they're wanting to connect with.

So if they're not getting that feeling of the connection because it's not myself that's answering, it just doesn't work. Yeah. It just doesn't work.

[Speaker 2] (24:54 - 25:22)
Yeah. If you want to see a great Facebook run by the guru who I, and you're a complete convert, this is someone who is anti-Facebook and now she's got such an amazing following. I'd highly recommend jumping on Facebook just to see here's what a great job looks like with Facebook.

I personally don't do a lot on Facebook. I put a bit up here and there, but I run most of my work through LinkedIn and we do build a lot of LinkedIn profiles. But Facebook, I think, is kind of where people fall in love with you.

[Speaker 1] (25:23 - 25:23)
Absolutely.

[Speaker 2] (25:23 - 25:35)
And I see that on your profile and your page. So it's a great example of here's what a great job looks like if you want to have a look at Tracy. It's Tracy Mathers on Facebook.

Tracy Mathers, you run under Tracy Mathers Shoe Studio?

[Speaker 1] (25:35 - 25:45)
I've got Tracy Mathers Shoe Studio or Tracy Mathers. I'd be happy for them to join both. But Tracy Mathers is where I do a lot more interaction with people.
(25:45 - 26:17)
Okay. So mindful of time and wondering, I'll ask you quickly, if somebody was looking at having their business in their name, it's quite a daunting thing, and I know for me I was very scared to do it for a lot of the reasons that you say, you know, it's your reputation and putting yourself out there. But if you came across someone who was thinking about putting out theirname.com as part of their business set up and approach or as a practice, what advice would you have for them?

[Speaker 1] (26:17 - 27:23)
Look, obviously it would depend on the circumstances of what they're trying to achieve out of it. But like for instance, if you're trying to brand yourself out into the marketplace, to me there's no other choice. You have got to use your own name.

You know, it's something that people love to hear about and you've got to be prepared to share. You've got to be prepared to share your history, give people a background. But to me, when you're trying to set yourself up in a new business, I mean, look, Jane, even, you know, you look at things like restaurants.

You know, when you're choosing a name, it is so important to think about every aspect of it. You know, there's so many restaurants in Brisbane that I love and I never go there because I can't remember what they're called. You know, there's something stupid like a long name that I can't even spell, I can't even begin to pronounce.

Right. They're like put it in a domain name. So, you know, I can't even find them.

So that's just too much hard work. Yes. So you've really got to think about right from step one to, you know, step ten as to make it easy for people, to make them, you know, feel like they're part of it, feel like it's easy.

Yes. Okay.

[Speaker 2] (27:25 - 27:33)
And so excited to hear about some of the things you're doing over the next 12 to 18 months because you're doing a few different things yourself. So tell us a bit about those plans.

[Speaker 1] (27:33 - 28:10)
Absolutely. I'm so excited, Jane. I've just launched tracymathers.com, which is my own mentoring business. Right. So I'm actually going to be looking at mentoring people in business or just even generally in life. And, you know, I've had 24 years of experience.

As we've discussed through this, I've made some serious mistakes. I've kicked some serious goals. And I'm prepared to share that with people because, you know, if you can actually not make those mistakes, it just makes life so much easier going forward.

Yes. So that's what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to be mentoring people in, you know, business basically.

[Speaker 2] (28:10 - 28:33)
Perfect. So some of the areas in business that people come to you to get help with, things come to mind to me are things like, I know Tracy's my go-to person for conflict resolution. If I'm trying to negotiate an issue with somebody, and that's where I would say, hang on, I deliver a lot of leadership programs now, and I still go back to the things I learned from you and your dad.

[Speaker 1] (28:33 - 28:38)
I mean, it would be sales. You know, it would be staffing.

[Speaker 2] (28:38 - 28:38)
Yes.

[Speaker 1] (28:38 - 30:19)
But talking about negotiation, it's not just negotiation with people, it's negotiation with, like, I feel like I have got the absolute formula now for negotiation with leases and things like that. Yes. You know, I've been doing it for 24 years.

I also had the amazing presence of my father for probably the first 10 years. Yes. So, you know, there's not a lot that I haven't learned about negotiation with leases and also with, you know, people.

And, you know, other things of leadership. And, look, I just love people, Jane. I love people.

I love trying to help them to understand. You know, I feel like I have a very good understanding of people, and I want to try to help people to actually have that situation because, you know, it actually makes your life so much easier. You know, the number of people that I come across who, you know, they've had a great staff member, you know, a lot of money goes into training staff, a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of money.

And, you know, there was one simple thing that they could have done to keep that staff member, but they chose either not to do it because of, you know, their own, their own, I can't think of the word I'm trying to use. Exactly, their own pride. It's got in the way, and it's actually stopped them.

And, therefore, they've got to start right from scratch again. I want to be able to help those people to actually put their egos and their prides aside and to actually work with people to get the best out of them so that, you know, their life is made easier as well, you know. It's all about empowering people to be the best that they possibly can be, and that's what I feel that I can bring to the table.

Well, I'm so excited.

[Speaker 2] (30:19 - 30:36)
I think that, you know, to be able to have this opportunity now to tap into your expertise, it's been channeled into business growth for so many years, and now we get to tap into it. And today was a great start to be able to do that. So people can find you, you said, at TracyMathers.com.

[Speaker 1] (30:37 - 30:48)
Absolutely. So jump on the website. My website's not up yet, but there is actually a little bit about what I'm doing, and the website should be up and running within a week.

[Speaker 2] (30:48 - 31:06)
Fantastic. So that's from June at the moment, so by the time this is up and going, so it'll actually probably be live. Fantastic.

So that's great. So thank you so much for coming in. I wish you every success.

In your mentoring business, and I hope you feel as happy as you. Thanks so much, Jane.