Figure out your strengths and weaknesses. From there, focus on maximising your strengths whilst outsourcing your weaknesses. You don’t have to be good at everything and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help by outsourcing the things you’re not good at!
Civil engineer, serial entrepreneur, TV presenter and fashion editor, Amber Renae, is a popular Australian style icon who uses her life experiences to enlighten, motivate and entertain her audiences.
In 2002, Amber had a career change from civil engineering and began her own fashion label, which achieved great success in high-end boutiques across Australia, France, New Zealand, Japan and the US. The collections were snapped up by Australian retail heavyweight Myer, and its appeal among celebrities including Paris Hilton ensured the label’s editorial success in Shop Till You Drop, Cosmopolitan magazines, and Madison.
Amber has been celebrated as a style icon as she has been recognised with her appointment to the board of the inaugural Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival, appeared on the second series of the highly successful Project Runway Australia on Arena TV, and was chosen to discuss ‘Innovation in Fashion’ with the Australian Government’s Parliamentary Secretary for Trade.
With her phenomenal success, Amber went on to become the Fashion Editor for Australian Women’s Health and Fitness Magazine, the resident stylist for Australia’s largest media network, Southern Cross Austereo, and the resident fashion presenter on Foxtel’s Fashion TV where she interviewed many international celebrities such as Mel B, Melissa George and Ruby Rose.
Amber has now created e-courses to mentor, educate and empower individuals to build their own profitable business using presentation, performance and publicity. She is incredibly passionate about sharing her own advice, experiences and wisdom with her peers and her 70,000 strong global community. The courses have attracted people from all over the world, showing just how successful her learning programs are.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
I jokingly say that the universe lovingly pushed me into this role. Before I started this business I was working as a fashion editor and celebrity stylist and had two of the biggest residency contracts in the country. I lost both of those contracts within one month and done myself unemployed and unemployable. I had nothing left except for an e-course that I had created a couple of months before. I spent the next 12 months studying 18 e-courses on all things digital marketing, and the rest, as they say, was history.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I execute my day like a productivity ninja. I have studied and analysed what works best in terms of creativity and flow for my personal energy, and I play each day’s tasks to ensure that I’m always operating in a state of flow.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I personally think vision, mindset and mindfulness makes up at least 80% of your success as a business owner. If you can get your head straight, and eliminate all of your fears, stay focused and positive that’s the majority of the work done. The universe will do the rest for you.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I love that social media is going towards authenticity and moving from highly processed and curated content. Further to that, the increase of live streaming and in-the-moment content creation, I truly believe this will be the media of the future.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I’m a problem solver and I’m results driven, so when I want something I’ll do what I need to in order to reach my goals.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Relax and don’t work too hard, it is all going to work out just fine!
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I’m going to get crucified here, but I love tanning! My body loves it, my skin loves it, I just feel so much better after a day in the sun! I realise this is the opposite of what we’re all told too, but you’ve gotta do what works for you!
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
You need to develop immense self-awareness. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses. From there, focus on maximising your strengths whilst outsourcing your weaknesses. You don’t have to be good at everything and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help by outsourcing the things you’re not good at!
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Commit publicly to the venture. Making that commitment to start is the hardest part – so when you make a public announcement then you get accountability partners for free. Once you’ve done that, find a mentor or an e-course or blogs or videos or whatever you can on the venture you’re about to start and commit to learning everything there is to know. Continued education is key – in fact it’s the reason why I turned over $100k in my first year in this business. The three words to success: Never Stop Learning.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
My first business went bankrupt, and I was diagnosed with cancer, ulcers and was on anti-depressants. I then launched another business as a stylist and went on to hold two of the best positions in the country in that industry, only to lose both roles in a matter of weeks and to be left with nothing, again. These are two pretty spectacular business failures, and by all reports I should’ve gone back to my day job as an engineer, but I didn’t. I persevered and during that time I developed incredible resilience. I really say these businesses were my real life MBA – as it’ll be everything that I know now.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Creating e-courses and digital products is the only business I would ever recommend moving forward. As someone who’s previously built a product business, a service business, and now I run a digital business, I can assure you, it is the way of the future and the only way to create true freedom. In fact, I have built an entire e-course that teaches you how to create a freedom-based online lifestyle business, it’s called Freedom Funnels, and you should definitely check it out!
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I’m obsessed with learning everything about money management, overcoming money blocks and basically everything to do with money mindset. As someone who has experienced everything of money mindset in the book, it’s important to me to be continually working on this. I recently invested in a colleague’s money mindset e-course. It only cost $97 and was truly transformative. Education is the only way to spend money and get richer at the same time.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
My entire business is online now and I look to automate or streamline as much of the day to day running as possible. As a qualified Civil Engineer, I’m highly systems and process driven, and am constantly seeking new ways to innovate. In that regard, I love any tools that help increase productivity or communication with my team. Trello is a Project Management software which is good for keeping track of tasks on a big project. I love communicating tasks using Jing which lets me create screen grab videos which makes it much easier than typing a 5 paragraph email to my team. Evernote is a must-have as it’s like post-it notes on steroids. Slack is a new technology that eliminates team-to-team email which basically banishes your inbox.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod is critical in setting yourself up for a successful day. I’ve used his techniques to write keynote speeches in a week, develop online training programs in record time, and supercharge my goal strategy.
What is your favorite quote?
“Those who are certain of the outcome, can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety” – A Course in Mircales
Key Learnings:
- You learn more from failure than you do from success – don’t let it stop you.
- You need to be able to withstand difficulties and disaster, because entrepreneurship is fraught with both! You need to train yourself to become exceptionally resilient and develop a high pain tolerance.
- The key to success is to never stop learning.
- Never underestimate the power of vulnerability. Everything that you want in life lies on the flipside of that uncomfortable conversation or situation.
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Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.