Super Car Blondie | Fast Cars, Big Money, and Burnout
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January 27, 2025
TLDR: Alex Hirschi (Supercar Blondie) discusses her media empire built from scratch, revealing a revenue of 2 billion views per month and staff of 70. She talks about turning down a 100 million acquisition offer, making $11 million during COVID with just a few staff members, battling burnout, selling a 30-million dollar house in Dubai, and more.

In this engaging episode, Rob Moore sits down with Alex Hirschi, widely known as Supercar Blondie, to delve into her remarkable journey in the world of supercars, her impressive social media empire, and the challenges she has faced along the way.
Building a Media Empire
- Rapid Growth: Alex shares how she built her media empire with 70 staff members and amassed 2 billion monthly views in just five years. This explosive growth stems from her unique content focused on luxury cars and her knack for engaging storytelling.
- Innovative Ventures: She recently launched SBX, an online auction platform for premium cars, which she believes has the potential to become a billion-dollar business.
- Opportunity Blossoms: Alex turned down a $100 million acquisition offer for her media business two years ago because she wanted to explore larger opportunities and fulfill her vision for the brand.
Financial Success Amid Challenges
- Profitable Strategies: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex revealed that she managed to generate $11 million with a 98% profit margin, all while maintaining a small team of just 3-4 people.
- Real Estate Investments: Beyond media, Alex shared her success in real estate, detailing her recent $30 million house sale in Dubai after investing only $10 million, showcasing her savvy in diversification and long-term investments.
Battling Burnout and Mental Health
- Personal Struggles: In 2020, Alex faced severe burnout, often getting just one hour of sleep per night, which led her to a complete breakdown. This prompted her to seek professional help and prioritize her mental health.
- Candid Conversations: Throughout the podcast, Alex is transparent about her journey, firmly advocating for mental health awareness, especially in high-pressure environments like media and business.
Insights on the Automotive Industry
- Shifting Trends: The conversation touches on the current state of the automotive market, discussing the hype around collectable cars and the impact of supply chain issues during COVID-19.
- Alex mentions that while some car prices have dropped, collectable and exclusive cars are still selling impressively due to affluent buyers.
- Performance and Functionality: The hosts debate the evolution of car designs, specifically lamenting the lack of soul in fully electric models compared to traditional supercars.
Expert Industry Opinions
- Alex shares her thoughts on the balance between innovation and tradition in the automotive industry, asserting that companies are swinging too far into the electric realm. She believes there's room for both petrol-powered and electric vehicles to coexist as buyers’ tastes evolve.
Key Takeaways for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
- Building Relationships is Key: Alex highlights the importance of networking, especially in industries like automotive, where reputation and connections can open doors.
- Know Your Worth: After establishing herself, Alex learned to value her time effectively, charging around $250,000 for a two-hour brand shoot based on her extensive reach and influence.
- Mental Health Matters: The episode emphasizes that regardless of success, mental health must be prioritized in business—acknowledging that celebrity or fame brings its own set of challenges.
- Adapt and Innovate: As markets change, flexibility and the ability to pivot—like launching SBX—are essential for long-term success.
Conclusion
This episode offers an inspiring glimpse into the dynamic world of supercars through the lens of Supercar Blondie. Alex's journey exemplifies how passion, resilience, and strategic thinking can pave the way for success, even in challenging times. Whether you're in the automotive industry or any other field, her insights resonate widely and encourage taking risks while maintaining personal well-being.
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We've had a few years of hype and price booms in the car market. And it seems like it's crashed. Why is it crashed? Has it crashed? I think prices are dropping. I think the hype of way overpaying for cars. Yeah. Well, I mean, you look at COVID, right?
And it was so interesting that so many people lost their jobs and there were a lot of people suffering. But when it came to the multi-millionaires and the billionaires, they weren't affected at all. In fact, they started investing, putting multi-millions into cars and the market just went through the roof.
I mean, even for watches, right? Everyone was buying watches. The market for watches just went through the roof. And so I suppose it had to kind of settle from there a little bit. But it just depends on which car market you're talking about, right? I mean, if we're talking about those super exclusive collectible cars,
It's not gone down. It's not gone down. It may take a little bit longer to sell, but you've still got the multi-millionaires, billionaires who want these collectible cars and they're selling. Yeah. Do you think part of the price boom was limited supply because they couldn't make many cars through COVID? Yeah. I mean, that's part of it, I suppose. But it did affect a lot of the car companies who do in bulk.
Right, but well, even so, even so the ones who do limited production, I know for myself, I ordered a car, it was a limited edition, 20 vehicles. I don't even want to say what it is at this point because they've let me down and I've withdrawn my order because, yes, they said, they're making steel, they were meant to be made two years ago, I was meant to have it two years ago.
ordered it in Covid and of course their excuse was okay we don't have the parts you know we don't have the chips all of this and you know I that's understandable everyone was kind of going through the same thing yeah but then it just dragged on and on and on and I just feel like I'm not sure what the real excuse now is yeah so yes in a way yeah of course manufacturers were were impacted by that by that shortage
Yeah, I mean, look, I'm not an expert in the car market when it comes to exactly what's happening with supply and demand and investable cars. I have people for that. But you know what you know? Yeah, I know what I know and that's pretty much all I know. So I just know from personal experience what cars I've dealt with, what manufacturers I've dealt with and the problems that they've gone through.
You own some cars surely? Yeah, I own some cars. Not many actually. A lot of people think I have like a huge garage. We're going to come to that later. It's not that exciting unfortunately. Just because, well, if I'm going to have cars, I want to drive them. And because I travel so much.
I can't really drive more than, say, two, three cars. And I just think having cars sitting there and not driving them is a little bit of a waste at this point in my life. But what about if they're one of 20 or a collectable? Would you have it as an investment like the billionaires do? Absolutely when I'm a billionaire.
You must be pretty close. I mean, no. We'll come to that. Yeah, okay, we'll go on to that. Okay. So, because I remember the day, because I have seven cars, I remember one day I tried to drive, my first car wouldn't start the second car, and I had five cars that wouldn't start out of the seven. So, I understand the first world problem of... What do you mean they wouldn't start?
Well, when you have super cars and classic cars, often they just don't fucking work.
What did you have? A Lamborghini event at all. It didn't work. No, I mean, at least once a year, I pressed start on the event. And every fucking light comes on. Has the melt there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because there isn't a Lambo garage near me because I live a bit in the sticks in the UK. So they have to bring a low loader. It has to go back to Leicester. And then it's there for two weeks. And then you get the bill and there's 35 grams worth of upsells on it. Oh, you need a new gearbox.
Yeah. Do you know? Oh, no. You can't know. How do you know? You can't know unless you have a pro in your team. Yeah. To go actually you really don't. No. Don't be spending on that. Yeah. So.
Yeah, I had an event at all at one point, just a borrowed. By the way, I love that car. I still have that car. Probably won't ever get rid of it. Love it. At least yours didn't overheat on a one-way road in the middle of JBR, one of the busiest areas in Dubai, and have smoke coming out of it. And everyone saw the idiot Blom stand next to the event door with the smoking up. And no one could get by because it was a one-way road.
And everyone, Alan caused a traffic backlog for about an hour. And we really well known them as well. They know who you are. Oh my God, what an idiot. It's not me. It's not me. I kind of walked away from the car. It's not mine, I promise. But it was during the summer here in Dubai. And when you know that, when you don't get
air flowing through the event door constantly. We were just crawling along this street. It wasn't constant airflow and it just started smoking and it just couldn't handle the heat. I mean they're very finicky cars, right? They're beautiful cars but they're very finicky. And what do you think about the Rov-Weltar? I think that's how you say it. Yeah. So I own the event door and I won't be buying the Rov-Weltar. Really? Okay. And I can afford it. Reason being number one is
My eventador is probably worth what now, 200. And a specked up Revolto, probably 50 pounds. So is it two and a half times better? And then it's not the same V12 classic sound. I'm 46, so I like the old naturally aspirated V12 sound. It looks a bit better, but I think they've overpriced it. What do you think?
I love the railroad. But it's because I love hybrid cars. I love the combination of having this beautiful, beastly, naturally aspirated engine. And then you get that talk and that quick note.
speed right off the mark from the batteries yeah so that part of it I love I love I love the updates that I've done inside because you know Lamborghini they've been so old school inside for so long it looks so old you can't do anything you can't connect your phone you like there's no touch screen but do you have an event or to connect your phone
Yeah, but do you know what? They're not an eventador. I never have. No. I mean, no, it's Aldi now, but you don't have an eventador to connect you find. No, but you might get a Revualto to do that because it's an easier drive. I wouldn't take my eventador just to go shopping. It's too luggy, it's heavy, it's a beast. Yeah. The Revualto feels a lot lighter, it's more of like a day. I hate saying that. I hate you guys. Is that not then against what it's supposed to be?
No. In the eventador, it sounds amazing as you know. And you know you've got the little window and you can bring it down and the engine screaming at you there. And you can, the engine there and you can hear the exhaust there. And everyone, everyone for miles stops. And like, the new modern car doesn't have that visceral experience anymore. I don't know. I wouldn't say that because it still has a naturally aspirated engine. And for me, it doesn't sound the same, though.
No, of course it doesn't. But I think we need to, what I like about manufacturers is they're moving forward. I hate seeing manufacturers stuck in the past and what they've always done. I think there's a new market for these cars. People are not, not every Lamborghini buyer is in their forties. A lot of Lamborghini buyers are now in their teens. Like they're there. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm nearly there, so. I'm in your... I'm 46. Yeah, well, I'm 39, so it's like my last year of the 30. So I'm going to hang on to it as long as possible. No, you've got people now who didn't grow up with these naturally aspirated V12s and they're ready or they're kind of used to cars that don't sound like a V12. They want something that's more
tech savvy, they still want the loud engine. Well, you get a daily for that. Because if you combine a Revuelto, you can buy five others. You can have both. You can have your Lamborghini that you drive every day. That still sounds incredible. It has the talk. It's straight off the mark. It's got the tech. We only have a hurricane for that. Yeah, but the hurricane isn't as cool as the... No, but it's a bit of daily, surely. It's not a daily.
I mean, I... No, Lambo. The Uruz probably still isn't a daily. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It totally is. It's so easy to drive. They're making these cars very easy to drive, and I get that. Maybe too easy. With some supercars and hypercars you get in, and I'll say this about the Bugatti Chiron. It's almost too easy. It's almost too passive of a drive. It's super quick, super fast, super...
comfortable, but almost too much so. Right. And like you're paying millions of dollars. So you're saying something similar to me, going back to the hardcore roots, like the Mercialago. Oh, that's hard to drive. Yeah. Yeah. But you feel it. I think you need a little bit of both. I mean, look, the event door isn't going anywhere, right? These older cars that are hard to drive and actually a lot of fun to drive. They're not going anywhere. They're going to be collectibles. Yeah.
But I think we do kind of need to move into what the younger collectors want as well, and I'm not sure that they all just want these naturally aspirated, hard-to-drive V12s. I think at some point, and I think we're seeing it a little bit now already, that we've kind of swung too far into the electric world. You know, a lot of car companies were like, right, by 2030.
30, we're going to be fully electric. We won't have one petrol car on the road anymore. And now they really, yeah, and now they're realizing never. I think we're overstepped, you know, and I think the pendulum swung a little bit too far this way. And I think now car companies are realizing that they kind of need to bring it back into the center a little bit more. Like, for example, the Bugatti tourbillon, how crazy is it that all the supercars, hypercars were kind of going into the
full, either fully electric or hybrid way. And then the tourbillon was like, right, we're going to do everything the opposite from every other car company and put in a naturally aspirated V16.
have everything, all the digital dials have now gone back to analogue. Was that with Jacob and Co? Was that with Jacob? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Because they do that Bugatti watch. Yeah, they have a... I like that. I thought it was quite classy. I think so. And I think what's really interesting is a lot of collectors have gone right. I've already bought my Bati star that's fully electric. I've already bought my Lotus Avaya that's fully electric. And now I want something again that's just fully like naturally aspirated.
fully electric Lotus has got no soul. I know you can't. I'm not going to throw you under the bus. I feel like we're completely opposite when it comes to car, but I think we think about cars very differently. I'm open to learning. That's why I'm asking you. I love the Lotus Avaya. That has got no soul.
Okay, so what I love about... The look, the sound is like... What? No soul. What is wrong with you?
Probably quite a lot, probably quite a lot. Have you seen the back, that incredible design where it looks like the jet engines, you know, the huge, big, like, rear design with the headlights and the, oh, come on, man. I've become good friends with Karl Hartley who's got, son of Tom Hartley, they're big in the UK and he said, the worst supercar brand by a mile Lotus. Yeah, sure.
Sure, sure. It's been like that for a little while. I wouldn't even say most of that. It's a Chinese company now. But I wouldn't even say most of their cars are supercars. Do you remember the oldest brie? Do you remember the oldest brie? Sure. I'm showing my age here on it. Sure, I know it a little bit.
Yeah, but like that was a super well, that was a sports car. Yeah, I think they're more sports cars. They're more like like a buggies, like super buggies. You feel everything. They're super lightweight. You know, you feel like you're sitting on the road, which is super cool, but I wouldn't call them like super cars. But then when it comes to the Avaya, what I love about these fully electric super cars are hyper cars.
is the fact that they don't now have to design their cars around an engine. But do you think that makes them look a lot uglier? No, I think it makes them look even prettier. But surely a car with a grill that growls. I have a DBS. Tell me a better looking car from the front than a DBS. I mean you're rubbing, I can see you rubbing the chair there. Tell me a better looking car from the front than a DBS.
Better looking car from the front. That big grill. Just thinking quite a lot. What? What looks better from the front? Like universally, because the eventador or the Revolto looks fine, but a lot of women don't like them. A lot of older people don't like them. But man, woman, young or old, DBS, they fall in love with it. The look from the front.
What about a, okay, this might be a bit old school, maybe not everyone falls in love with this. But for example, like a Rolls Royce in the front, it has the huge grill, it has that stance. That's because it's got a big engine in the front. And you said they're not restricted by the engine, I get that. But don't you think now there's no grill and no radio? I don't think they've got the design right. It's not a Tesla, not one of the ugliest looking cars. Yes, it is. And that's why I haven't bought, well, my husband bought one and I was like, I'm not getting him that.
I refuse to. Yeah, we'll travel separately. Yeah, no, literally. You'll get in that and I go, right, well, I'm taking the roles. Yes, it's ugly. And that's why, yeah, I never really want to get a drive on. So what I think car companies have had to really contend with is, are people ready?
for cars to look so different. I think they're going right. We're moving away from engines, so we'll do electric. That's still a huge shift for people's mindset. Do I go into an electric car? Imagine if they did everything at once. They go fully electric and they make a car not look like a car anymore. It doesn't have the big grill.
It doesn't have, you know, the... All the intakes, yeah. Whatever we've grown up with cars looking like, right? We know that's what a car should look like, kind of. And now the fact that they don't need the air intakes and, you know, the huge grill for that and everything else, you've got these electric cars like the EQS with the big grill still, but it's like all digital. But I think they've done it the right way because I don't think people are ready yet for cars to look completely different.
But does it, like for example, you've got the Porsche Taycan, then you've got the Aldi version. I think the Aldi version looks quite good. The Taycan, I think they've got it wrong with the way it looks. Well, I'm not a fan of any, oh God, people are going to hate me. I'm not a fan of many Porsche designs. I like the way you changed any tremendous.
What about the... You know why? What about the bad boy's whale tail? 9-11. You know the big whale tail tail. Oh, I hate it.
That was one of my childhood pin-ups I bought that. No, I hate it. I think it's... Do you know what? A Porsche is such a good car to drive. It's an all-rounder. It has everything. It doesn't need a massive... Like, can I swear? Are we a swear channel? We are a whatever you want channel. It doesn't need a big fuck off wing on the back. Sorry. It doesn't. It looks like it's trying too hard. That's how I feel.
all of these, you know, like the GT2 RAS and all of that. But is that not... I mean, I don't really feel like that's Porsche, but are they not trying to therefore compete with Ferrari Lamborghini by... Yeah, but why? I just don't... Look, the one... Porsche, I think, is a beautiful design, but the problem is it just hasn't changed that much. And I like it. I think it's part of their philosophy. Yeah, I know. And that's fine, that's their thing, but that personally doesn't buy it with me.
I like it when our companies kind of change it up and push the boundaries of the design a little bit more. And it means there's a market for different people, for different cars within that one brand. And now I feel like with Porsche, you either love Porsche or you
don't love Porsche because Porsche is like you can't love one car and not the other because they all look the same. Do you know what I mean? Yeah I used to feel like that because I used to feel you know your little Cayman or your GT3 RS it almost looks like the same car but obviously that's part of their philosophy. Yes and and do you know what I don't like the fact that you can drive a a boxer
And you can drive it. Yeah. And then you've got a GT, three hours or whatever, decided that costs six times more and they look the same. And it's just, sorry, no. Yeah. I'm going to let that land. I think I agree with you. But let me just let me. But the Porsche Panamera Turbo S, which was my daily for years until I got the DBS, which isn't as good a daily, but that Panamera Turbo S with the hybrid engine 700 horses,
Yeah, everything in the back. That was a good daily. Yeah, no. And you know, when the spoiler comes out, we get to a certain speed. Don't get me wrong, Porsche is fabulous. I love driving porsches. I think they do that better than this hyper supercar. Sure, sure. I would want a Porsche for a daily. I think they're beautiful cars. I'm just saying I don't think they look special enough when it comes into the supercar hypercar league.
You know, they kind of still carry the same frame as like, you know, the boxer or, you know, Carrera, whatever, the standard entry level. And so, for me, I love the drive. I think it's an amazing all-rounder. It could be a great daily.
But if you're going to spend the kind of $200, $300,000 mark, I wouldn't get one. And I wouldn't spend that money on a Porsche. I'd spend a rather on a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or something like that. But you know them when people think, OK, and they'll go and buy a McLaren for the same money. And then the thing goes wrong the time. Oh, yeah. That's McLaren. Right.
Although that's your event at all too, right? Well, no, my event at all is much better than a McLaren. Yeah, exactly. There are some McLarens that look great, that perform great, and everyone's warned me of owning one. So I just sold my 720S. Right. And I bet that you sold it for less than you bought it for. Yes. Which isn't normal, by the way, until the last five years.
Yeah, I suppose so. Well, look, I can't talk about before five years because I was not in the Supercar World five years ago. I couldn't afford a Supercar five years ago. No frickin' way. I was a journalist on the radio. I earned...
$3,000 a month. And I drove a rental Toyota, whatever, I can't even remember those cheap cars. That was just five years ago. You have blown up in five years. So don't talk to me about how the market has changed from five years ago to now because I have no clue. I can talk about the last few years. Surely you must know kind of pre-COVID lockdown. It was pretty normal that you buy a car and it goes down in value.
That was pretty normal. No, it depends what. Yeah, but remember, you know all these billionaires and these one of 20s, but other than that, they're super limited. Anything from there down, you buy it and you sell it a lot less. And sometimes, like, my DBS was 305 new. I paid 135 for it.
So that was actually quite normal. So why would you buy that new? I agree. I've never actually bought a Rolls new and that was my husband wants to kill me because it's already come down so much. And so that's the first car I ever bought new because I agree with you. I think he's going to bring this up.
I agree with you that it doesn't make sense to why I can't you. Unless you really, really want to spec it out and you want one of the first. For me, it was one of those moments where I went, do you know what? I'm going to spend fucking money on a new Rolls Royce and spec it. How much was it? Just because I can. How much was it? It was $650, $670,000. Wow.
which is too much for a specter. It's too much. That is a beautiful car though. It's beautiful. I love it so much. I love it. I don't regret buying it at all. It's not overpriced though. Yes.
I'm glad you admit it. You know, you can get a very, very nice supercar for less. So all of my cars that I have bought up until the Spectre were always second-hand.
They were pretty much brand new still. They only had like, I don't know, 50 miles on the clock or something. But they had already come down so much because of just that 50 miles. So I agree with you there. It's kind of stupid to buy new. Yeah. And do you think? So we had this price boom with under supply, maybe. But do you think the car manufacturer has either got smart or took the piss?
and thought, we're going to bang the price of everything up and we're going to make a lot of these limited editions. And we're going to make you buy four Ferraris before you get the limited one or four pourshes before you got the GT3. I know some people who think that's a bit of a scam. What do you think about all that?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's a bit of a joke. But it's the same with watches, isn't it? In that league, you can't just go to Patek and get the most collectible Patek from them unless you've bought all of the shitty ones first. You know, you need to drop a few $10,000 on this one, $10,000. On a Patek and the rest, yeah. Yeah, I mean, the shit, like, okay, let's not talk about Patek, then let's talk about something that has the shitty ones Rolex, right?
What is coming out of my mouth right now? The shittier ones.
Who have I become? Oh, you're so out of touch. You can start at a certain price tag. The ones in the window, the ones you don't want, the Daytona's are in the back. They've got them, but they make you buy four or five. That's what I'm saying. So you buy the shittier ones in the front, right? You drop 10 grand on a few blah, blah, blah. And then you can get on their list to buy the more. And there's no guarantee? No, no. And you know what? I'm still not on any of those lists.
to go for this year. I'm spending way too much money on the second hand market because of course once you get it from them it's 80,000 50,000 if you get it directly from them and then shoots up to you know 180 and so I'm buying them at 180 and others are getting them at 50 but as you say yeah I feel like
I don't know if I'll, I can't speak to that now because I am not in a position because I'm putting in so much money into my business right now to grow it that I'm not, I'm asset rich cash poor right now. And so I'm not in a position where I can just splash 200, a couple of like $200,000 on this Ferrari, $200,000 on this Ferrari.
this Ferrari, this Ferrari, just so that they'll offer me the SP1, SP2, SP3. You know, I'm not in that position. So I don't know if in future when I'm a billionaire, we say we're on the spot. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Assumptive clothes. You know, if I will do that, I might do that because that's the only way you can get these cars. I don't know if that'll ever change, but I do feel like, damn, that is, that's, that's pretty mental that you have to do that.
Yeah, I can't decide. So I've grown up loving Ferrari Porsche Lamborghini. What's your favourite car brand? Probably Lamborghini. Yeah. As I've done better in business, I've become less showy. But for the first 10 years of my business, I was a bit showy. Sure, sure. I have the tester ossa, which was my pin up car when I was a kid. Yep. And that drives like a tractor and I love that it drives like a...
It's hard, isn't it? It won't go into seconds, but it's often straight to third. Exactly. In Lambo, I love the story of Lamborghini. The myth is that they made tractors, and I think it was Enzo Ferrari, so you just make tractors. It's like, you watch. Yeah, opera. You watch me. Yeah. And what I like, Porsche's evolution, Lamborghini is absolute revolution, and Ferrari's maybe in the middle.
For me as well, I love the older fries, but they look like Chrysler's now. They look like American cars to me. I'm really, some of the people I interview in the UK, we're similar age, you're making me realise I've probably got, I'm probably old and a bit out of touch.
Because don't you think a lot of the newer fries, they look like Christless, they look like American cars, like, where are the round lights at the back that they had for 50 years and they make them square like a cries? What are you doing? It's going to be okay. It's not going to be okay. We'll sort this out today so you can be asleep better. AP used to invite me everywhere all around the world. Treat me like a customer.
And now, no, we make all these limited dishes with animals in, and we charge 300 grand, and we give it to Serena Williams. Fuck you, we've been buying them for years. Yeah, no, that sucks, dude. That really sucks. Sorry for you. It's a bit like you only buying a Rolls Royce. Yeah, I know. Terrible. Am I being grumpy here? Or are we getting the piss taken out of us by these brands?
I think you being a little bit grumpy. Yeah. I admit that. I'll keep my tester roster. I'll keep my 11. I'll keep my events. Look, I can't speak to Ferrari. I don't love Ferrari as a brand. So I think they're very snobby. And I look, I've heard quite a few stories about customers being
very good customers for a long time, and then basically just being snobbed out, and they don't talk to them ever again. Is that because they gave them a bad review? No, yeah, I mean, it could literally have been them talking to a friend in private, and that conversation got back to Ferrari, and they'd be like, screw you, we're not giving you another car. Wow, wow. It's just, I don't... Well, isn't Justin Bieber blacklisted from Ferrari? No. Can Kardashian, she get black? I'm not sure, honestly. Look, I almost got sued by saying that once.
I said, was it, there was some celebrity and we wrote a story about it on our website. And then we got a legal, we got a notification from their lawyer and said, you better correct this because they are not blacklisted by Ferrari. So you got a pre-legal letter from Ferrari. No, not Ferrari from the celeb from the celeb saying, I am not blacklisted.
do not spread that rumor because that's very important to Ferrari people, right? If you love Ferrari, the worst thing that someone can say is you've been blacklisted from Ferrari. They're just very Ferrari people. I feel like I'm not a Ferrari person.
No, but I'm pretty sure there are some celebrities who, for example, changed the exhaust and after marketed it and got banned. I wouldn't be surprised by that at all. I know some people who are banned by Ferrari, but yeah. I can't decide if I think that's good or bad. So let me ask you. I don't like it. I think it's... Aragon. I think it's so arrogant. Yeah. I think it's... When you buy a car, it's your car. It's not their car anymore. It's yours. So Ferrari wouldn't think that, would they? Exactly. Right.
It's your property now. You should be able to do whatever you want to that car. Why should they have a say in that? You've put down good money, hard earned money for that car, just like anything else you buy in life, right? It's mine now. You don't get to tell me what to do with my stuff. And so I don't like it how they have that hold on you. They're like, right, if you touch this in any way, if you do anything to the brand that we don't like, you're out.
If you leave a bad review, yeah, it's just I'm sorry. I don't like that attitude. And I think it I think they're going to get left behind honestly. So something that happened with us when I was going through this whole social media journey. And it still happens today with Ferrari. They don't understand social media at all. They are still mainly catering to the old white man who they always sold Ferrari's to for the last, you know, generations.
So they're still like, right, we really, really value the old white man. And they don't really, they haven't really caught on to the fact that you now need to reach the younger generation. You need to be where the younger generations are watching. And if they're seeing Lamborghini on their social feed every day, they're seeing. Lamborghini, they seem well in touch with the young. Oh yeah, and also think about Rolls-Royce, how much they've changed their image. With the latest ad, with the Rolls-Royce crashing through the brick wall, and you've got the surfboard on top, and they've got a disco inside.
You know, they're appealing to the cooler, younger crowd, right? And Ferrari just, I feel like, has not caught on to that. They are still so traditional, so classic, and I think they're gonna get left behind. At some point, this generation's gonna die out. I mean, that's just what happens, right? I mean, they need a new audience, and they are not focused on that. That's how I feel. God, I'm gonna be banned from Ferrari after this.
But you don't like them anymore. And that might just make you cool. Whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I'm not, I'm not a huge fan of how they're. Do you think they give a fuck? No. And they should. But isn't like, if you've got a two star Michelin chef, isn't him being a bit cocky and arrogant part of the experience? Cause I can't, I agree with you. But on the other hand, I think a bit of arrogance and like, Oh, you want the brand? This is exclusive. Probably makes you want it more.
I don't know, but then you look at Lamborghini, you look at other brands kind of in their league. People still really want Lamborghini. They want to be a part of the Lamborghini culture. They want the latest super one off exclusive. And it's fun to be a part of the Lamborghini crowd. People are cool and fun and nice and want to welcome you in. And I would much rather that experience and lay down my money, having that experience with a company, then lay down my money with a car company that goes, give me $3 million and fuck off.
Yeah. How does that make you feel? Does that make you feel valued and good? No. I have really gone off Ferrari. Oh, you have? Yeah. And I grew up, in my age group was Testeros at F40, which named me a sexier car looking car than the F40. I mean, anyone my age is probably going to say that. And I grew up where it was Ferrari.
And now they look like American cars and now they're brand really arrogant. Oh, yeah, that's what you were saying. Yeah, and I've got brought by a Roma. I mean, what is that? That doesn't know what it is. Yeah, yeah. I've got to buy all these cars and the, you know, all the newer versions of my, I had my first supercar was a 430 spider.
and look beautiful, sound beautiful. And then the 458 Spider. And then everything just looked the same and then Americanised. And from the 458 up, how's it got any different? And yet they're supposed to be revolution. I'm with you. And then you've got to buy four or five and then there's no guarantee.
Yeah. And then you buy them hoping that they'll go up and then they drop. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, most of the Ferraris just like most of Lamborghinis. They're not limited, right? I mean, you buy... They tell you they are. No, not all of them. No. Not all of them are limited. No. Like, for example, Purasang, like, you can buy Purasang. I mean, what is that?
I hate it. What is that? What is it? I hate it. What did they go? They called it a purosaurus. Cole called it a purosaurus. He had one behind us in this weird colour. Yeah, and he called it purosaurus because he thought it looked like a baby dinosaur.
It's so, it's nothing. I don't understand the design. The design is so meh. It's like any other SUV on the, not even, it's worse. I just think it's so meh to look out. I was speaking to someone who owned one the other day and they're like, it doesn't even have the lag is so bad. I don't understand why they put in such a big lag.
It doesn't feel like a Ferrari. I don't think people are that happy with them, honestly, and I'm not surprised why. When I saw it, I was like, it's a bit, it looks a bit small as well. It doesn't really look like an intimidating SUV, you know? If I'm gonna get an SUV or want something that sits high on the road, like looks intimidating is big and spacious and all of that. And it just looks a little bit like a mouse. Or a baby dinosaur. Or a baby dinosaur.
And then it's 350,000 pounds. No, it's too much. It's crazy, man. Way too much. Do they know something we don't or are they lost touch for? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know because I don't spend that much time thinking about them. Wow. But that is, but I mean, pretty much most famous highest ranked brand ever would be Ferrari.
Yeah, yeah. The, the, there was a study out or something recently about the, how exclusive a brand is versus the perception of the exclusivity from people. And Ferrari was ranked number one in people's thought that it's exclusive, right? So Ferrari is like really off there and yep, Ferrari is exclusive, exclusive and it matched
the actual exclusivity of Ferrari, which was interesting. And then there were other, there were other car companies like, Oh God, I don't even, I've forgotten most of the stats now, but the Ferrari one stood out. And I forget where we were going with this. What did you ask? We're talking about something about the, they are probably the most famous. Oh, yeah, most famous. Yeah, yeah. But I think
I think now those, I don't know who they interviewed, I don't know who the, what do you call it, the sample size or who these people were, what age group or where they lived. But I think if you were now to interview teenagers who like cars,
I don't know unless their parents are car lovers because the parents will talk about their favourite cars and a lot of them will mention Ferrari because they grew up with the Ferrari on the wall just like you did, etc. So those kids will still know Ferrari and say Ferrari. But if they don't grow up with car loving parents, I'm not sure that they would mention Ferrari.
So you think Lambo's more in there? I think so. I think so. I don't know what words to say, but it just seems like fine excitement, passion. You think of Lamborghini as those now, whereas I think that's what you used to think about Ferrari. Oh, totally. Totally. And it's amazing that they are holding on to that exclusivity and that whole feeling of people when they look at them.
I just think that they really need to do a little bit better with the younger generations. And they need to advertise on social media more. Oh, so you're still work with them, even though you don't. Oh, if they give me money, I'll sell my soul mate. No, no, that's not true. What's actually worked so well for my brand and me and why I've gotten not the only reason, but one of the only reasons, one of the reasons, let's put it that way.
where I've got to where I am today is because I have rejected 98% of brands coming to me wanting to advertise. Because it just didn't sit with what I liked or what I thought my audience would like. And so many people starting out, they just sell their soul, basically anything.
to get a brand on their page to pay their bills, which is a normal thing in life. Everyone needs to pay bills, right? But you need to think long-term, because as soon as you start putting a dishwasher on your content, on your page, alongside it, I've been offered a special pillow. This is how my neck looks. Literally a pillow, I think I've been offered
Look, even this old hotel, I got offered this, it even goes this far. I got offered a beautiful custom made table made out of a Ferrari engine.
First of all, I was like, I don't really like Ferrari. At this cost a lot of money, right? They've taken an actual Ferrari engine and made it into this beautiful table. Don't really love Ferrari, but also I don't love doing collabs very much because do I need a Ferrari table in my life? Is that going to help me pay my bills or build my business? No.
It's just another thing to have. And yet they get all the free marketing and advertising because they've given it to me for free. And so I'm working my ass off for them selling their product. And what do I get back? Honestly, what do I get back? It's nice to have a Ferrari table, but does that improve your business and help you grow? No.
So there have been a lot. I was just trying to work out if you could market a table effectively to grow your business. Because I'm an entrepreneur and I couldn't come up with it. No, exactly. So I said no. I'm sorry. If you want to pay me to market it, I'm happy to because I do love the product. Maybe not the Ferrari engine, but they have other ones or whatever.
Yeah. I'm happy to market it for you but it has to be paid because listen I'm growing a business here like I can't do this for free. I also need to pay my staff and my bills and everything else. So there've been a lot of things products offered to me for free that I've turned down. Just because it doesn't help me. No.
You know, and receiving gifts is a no-no. I never receive gifts. I have so many friends. So I guess I must keep sending this, yeah. No, because I don't give anyone my address. And if it rocks up here, you're sending it's never a gift. It is something with an expectation attached to it. And if you don't give that expectation back to them,
then you're written off. It's like, well, why did you send it to me? It was a gift, right? A gift comes with no expectations. There's no such thing as gifts in this business. No.
And so I will say, like literally, I've had car brands say, oh, I'll send you a beautiful, we're doing like new suitcases now. And they got just for travel and all of this. Send you one. I'm like, why? How does that help me? Like, I'm just going to be walking around with your brand through the airport around the world, advertising your brand for free. And what do I get? A suitcase. I can buy a suitcase.
You know what I mean? I can buy a suitcase tomorrow. I have that money. I don't need just a suitcase. You know, so there have been a lot of decisions I think that have actually helped in the long run. It'd be nice to have a lot of stuff. Like, look at all this stuff. And you just get given this stuff, which is cool for content. There's a difference, right?
So if it was useful to you and you could use it and it was something you'd want, then maybe you'd consider it. Yeah, because if it's good for content, that's how we get views and that's how we make money. Right. So if we, if someone reaches out and says, Hey, do you want this? And we look at it and we go, Oh my God, that is awesome. That's going to make an awesome video. That's going to make an awesome story. Let's show this and blah, blah, blah, give it to us. Yeah. You know, because it's a mutual benefit, they get advertising. We get awesome content.
So it just always needs to be mutually beneficial. Yeah, amen. Right. Well, I don't think a lot of people are open from either side. Like you said, you get gifts and they make out. It's just a gift when it's not. And then a lot of people aren't really very open about how they monetize their social media. Like you said, this is a business.
Of course, I mean, look, I never knew that it would turn into a business. I fell into it because I love cars and I just wanted to drive cars and that's why I started filming. I didn't actually want to be on camera, but I needed to.
to be able to drive the cars. So it kind of happened that way. And then I realized, oh my God, this is a lot of work. We need to start hiring people to help. And then once you start hiring people, you've obviously got a lot more responsibility. You've got salaries to pay, et cetera, et cetera. And it turns into a real business where it's not just you saying every day, oh, do I want to get up today? No, not feeling it. It's not like that anymore. You've got stuff. Like we've got 70 staff now.
And it's like, would that got to get paid? 70. Yeah. So, you know, it's... What do they all do? Yeah, I don't know. No, they've never come to the office, do you? I've never come to the office. No, they're amazing. So we... Is that mostly around content? Yeah, so I would say the majority is...
video content. So our headquarters is in London now. It used to be here in Dubai. This was our first office. So I think we only have about 12 people here now in Dubai. The majority in our content produces editors, directors, everything that goes into creating content sitting in London. Because people don't understand how much resource you need to create content. No. And it was so important for me.
that I created a sustainable business. I got into the social media game old. I started at 31. That's old for social media. Like people are getting into social media when they're 13. And they're already millionaires by the time they're 16.
And they're doing it on the side of school. I started on the side of my full-time job on the radio. But at 32, then my husband joined me, then we ran around the world for two years, just doing everything, the two of us. Then we started hiring during COVID, so that was only four years ago, so that means I was 35. So at 35, I'm like, right, I can't be 45 or 50 running around the world as crazy as I am right now, filming content. It needs to be sustainable.
So that's when we need to start building it out. We need other talent. What was amazing is we had this huge community of car lovers all over the world through the social media, all the followers. They would start sending in their content to us to be featured on the page. It's cool.
that they might have access to a car that we don't have access to because it's down the road somewhere in a small village in Colombia. Who knows, right? And we can't just send our team over there. So they'll send their content in and then our producers and our directed, they will get together and go, wow, this is a cool story. How do we tell this?
So we've got a whole team of people just working on content that doesn't involve me at all, which is fantastic. And that's why I can sit here with you today. Because two years ago, I wouldn't have even had time to sit down for an hour. I was traveling 300 days a year. And 300 days a year, I mean, not just like every month to a different city. It was every day or two days to a different city.
for 300 days a year and I worked my guts out and in 2020 COVID ended that and I'm so grateful for that. So let's talk car collections. So I know you said you intentionally don't have a load of cars but I bet you've still got a few. What car's you got?
I'm gonna disappoint you. Okay, so I've got the Rolls-Royce Specter, right? That I bought new... $6.50. Stupid money. You called it something else earlier. Fuck you, money. Fuck you, money. Yep, yep. And then I've got my Brabas G800. So, what's that?
I don't actually know. I thought it might have been around the 650. So it's kind of a hypercar. As well, 600? Right. I got mine fully custom, full Tiffany Blue interior. Oh, wow. I'm like, well, that's so beautiful. I freaking love that car. Yeah. And then I just sold my McLaren, as I said. And then we've just got a couple of company cars, like a BMW, Ix.
Like a little Mercedes like just so that's it. Yeah. So what I want. So okay. So let me tell you what's going on. I in the last year, right? I've launched this auction company.
We have in the last two years built a whole journalism website. So we write about automotive news and stuff like that. So we've had these two businesses that have just, we've just put everything into over the last two years. And so to be honest with you, collecting cars and spending money on cars right now has not been my priority.
We have put millions of dollars into these businesses even in the last year, a few million dollars into it. This year will be a few more million. We're looking for the first time to raise. In the next few months, actually, it'll be our first raise. Well, for either just for the auction or for the whole thing, for the media and the auction together. That's SBX, is it? So the auction is SBX and then SB Media Group.
So that's where we do all of this. And your brand is in the media group? Yeah, so Supercar Blondie falls under the media. Right. Media brand. And you might raise money to sell shares in the whole group. Might do. Because with the auction platform, our leverage is our marketing power, right? That would build this huge audience.
It kind of wouldn't make sense for an investor to come in and go, right, we'll just invest in SBX because you need the power of the media brand behind that to make it work. So let's see what happens. I mean, it's a different risk appetite for both businesses, right? The media businesses has been going on for several years now. It's profitable. It works. This one.
just started seven months ago. And we're not profitable yet. So it's a tech business. You've got to kind of burn quite a lot of money at the beginning, right, to even build the platform and then hire the right people. And then, you know, it takes quite a lot of money. So the risk appetite to get into that is different to the one in the media group. And that one's going to grow
exponentially faster, the SPX auction, than the media group will. But you blew up over five years. You blew up in five years. With the media, yeah, yeah. But it's safe, like it's in gross. You still think the auction business is going to blow up more?
That's going to be my baby. Are you sure you haven't got distracted? No. Because sometimes you do your thing, you get really good at that. Yeah. And then you're like, oh, look at this. New toys. Yeah. Yeah. No. And I'll tell you why. Yeah. Because as I said before, I want to build long-term sustainable businesses.
We've built this audience, right? And there are a lot of content creators. I'll just throw out Mr. Beast, for example, who built this incredible audience. And yes, you can grow the media brand through that audience, but it's kind of steady growth, which is good. Yeah.
you know, you don't want things to shoot through the roof and then suddenly crash. It's a steady growth, which is great. But you blew up over five years. Yeah, but also it feels like a steady growth because each year it's been, you know, just steadily growing, growing, growing as in monetary wise. Like audience wise, yes, it blew up, but monetarily, you know, it's steadily growing up and up. What do you do with the audience you've created? Where do you take that? You've got, you've got an active audience watching every day. Yeah.
Mr. Beast, other creators, Logan Paul, whatever, KSI, did the energy drink. Mr. Beast did the burgers. My product that I'm creating, it didn't make sense to do burgers, I'm in cars. Didn't make sense to do a drink, I'm in cars.
make sense to do cars as a side business, sell cars because I'm in cars. So we've got this really engaged community of, you know, 120 million people around the world who love cars, who actively buy cars, premium cars, why shouldn't we be the people they're buying those cars from?
So you've got all of these, you've got the traditional auction houses that have been around for donkeys years, they've done amazing, but it's all been very traditional old white men kind of feel, right? Where you fly into a fancy location somewhere in the world, you've all got your tuxedos on and everyone's very proper and drinking champagne.
Fantastic, it's worked for a long time. But now there's new rich, there's new millionaires, billionaires, tech entrepreneurs, people who don't know that world at all, they want to buy cool cars, but they don't feel welcome in that world. And they don't necessarily even want to be a part of that world. You know, they want to be a part of a new car world. And so then you've had businesses go online selling cars, like bring a trailer, right, in the US. But they have mainly been selling
$30,000 cars, like on average, it comes down to about $30,000. And that took off fantastically well for them. It's great. But there's a massive gap right now, OK? Between you've got your traditional auction houses where you have to fly in, be there physically, or you have to get someone on the phone, or someone needs to be there physically anyway. Or you've got cheaper cars for sale online. Where is the middle ground where you can buy premium cars that you want from home online?
There was no one. Bring a trailer does a little bit of it, but it's not bespoke enough for that clientele. If you're going to buy a $3 million car online, you want personal service, right? You want to be able to pick up the phone and go, hey, you know, tell me a little bit more about the car or how's it done? These people are busy people.
They want that kind of service, so we're like, right, we've got all, we don't know, every multi-millionaire in the world, of course, but we've created this incredible network of car lovers and collectors all over the world through content by going and visiting their car collection and getting to know them.
We've got access to these people who want access to these super rare cars at a lower price because we don't have the overhead of a physical location where the auction happens. So we only charge 5% to the buyer, 5% commission, and pretty much nothing for the seller. When you look at the traditional auction houses, they can charge 15, 20% to both buyer and seller.
I mean, they are raking it in, but that's a lot of money to pay on top of a $3 million car that you're paying at all, that you're buying at auction, right? And then you've got us, we only charge 5%, which is a huge markdown for these guys buying these cars.
And it is super convenient. You don't have to fly anywhere. And we're going to do all the work for you. We go and inspect the car. We take all the photos. We make sure all of the details are there for you to access. You can pick up the phone, talk to our specialists. Like, we're creating this whole new space where you can buy a premium car just from home.
Right. This is like the modern business model, isn't it? Because Uber don't own any cars. Airbnb don't own any hotels or real estate. So you're not having to buy and sell these cars in stock, which could be a massive risk to you. Yes. Because if you go in on the wrong end of that, watch dealers, loads of them, like, lost everything because they bought high in the market crash.
So yeah, so we're not doing that we're keeping you as a seller if you want to sell your event at all which I know you don't You sell that kind of car on your course anything like about a hundred thousand dollars and up. Yeah
But it has to be really good quality. So you had a tester roster just like mine on? Yeah, yeah, we sold a few tester rosters. What's cool is you also don't have to ship your car to a location for it to be sold, right? So if you wanted to sell your car through a traditional auction house, you would have to physically ship your car there so people can see it. You just keep your car at home if you want to keep it up. So people are buying these cars and they're not even viewing them? No, because our team will go out and spectrum.
Right. Sometimes, if they're really valuable, they will send someone to go and view them if that's what they want. Yeah. Like, for example, we sold Lamborghini Veneno from the Middle East into Hong Kong. How much for? And $6 million. We broke a world record. Like the highest valued car sold online. And so... $6 million. Yeah, and so... Yeah, and so... That's the highest online car sale. Yeah. Finano, wow. So... Why is it the Daytona or a practical sell for $20 million? And it's a watch.
You tell me. Yeah. I'm asking you. I need the questions. You did well to them. Six million. Yeah. And you know, he just came to the site because he knew my brand. He was like, right, well, I trust you because I know you. You got 5% or 6 million. Yeah. And a bit. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And all we did was because he wanted to see the car, but he wasn't going to send anyone in. So we just got someone from our team to go and
literally on a live Zoom call, just literally take him around the whole car, see underneath. Inco, she's fantastic, she's been with us for four years, she was doing it. And she's in a skirt underneath the car, on the Zoom. And so we care, you know, and I really care because I built this brand and I, what
I need to maintain the integrity of the brand I've built. And so I really care about all of the details and the customer service. And I think that's what we're doing better than any other online auction house.
Well, I hope it blows up like your personal brand. When it blows up. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, look, it's hard, though. I'm not walking into this thing, it's easy. It's not. It's not. Nothing is worth it is easy. No, we've had to completely revamp our team. Put millions in it. Put millions in it. Build the whole tech thing, which took a year before we even launched. We just actually hired a CEO.
for SBX, which is so exciting because he knows so much more about this space than we do. We're marketing. We're in marketing. We know social media. We don't know everything about the auction business. We're not idiots. We're not going to go into it and go, oh, we're social media experts. We're going to sell cars online. We don't know anything about it. You have to hire people who are better than you at that, right? And you learn from them. So we've had to revamp the whole team and get really amazing people in. And so now is the big push. Just in the next few months, there'll be a huge push.
Well, exciting. It is. Xbx. Sbx. Sbx cars. Sbx cars.com. Did you get that? I think we got it. Do you want to say it again? Yeah. So how many social media followers across all the platforms across the world as super car blondie got? Just over 125 million at this point. I know it's crazy. Do you not ever just sit down and go, wow, do you pinch yourself?
It doesn't feel real. Yeah, it doesn't feel real at all. It only feels real when you're walking around and people are actually like, oh, hey, I love your content. You're like, oh my God, these are real people. That's nearly twice the population of the whole of the UK. Yeah, it's insane, isn't it? That's a third of America. Yeah. How many views do you reckon you've had in total of all your videos? Oh my God, it's such a good question. I don't know because... I'm gonna guess 100 billion.
More, I think it'd be more. Because we do 2 billion a month. 2 billion a month? Yeah. We do 150 million a year. And I think, from a guy from Peterborough, he did all right. 2 billion a month. Yeah. So, I really don't know. Nick, do you know his Nick here? He'd know that figure. Anyway. I just got bored of you already. He's gone. He's gone. Yeah. He asked me to ask you one question, which was, why are you so boring? That was what he wanted me to ask. He's such a shitbag, isn't it? Yeah. That's my husband and my business partner. Oh, God. Can you imagine how to live with?
He was stirring. Oh, he loves it. He'd be good on the pod. Oh, yeah, yeah. If he was honest. If he was honest. Two billion a month.
Yeah so two billion a month and now we've just in the last a month we just set a record for our website so the journalist you know writing everything. I don't know you, editorial website right? I think it was 80 million unique visits and we really only just started that
a year and a half ago. Wow. And that was in one month and so we're really just ramping that up now. It's grown by three times in revenue in one year and so it's just, that's another baby that I can see. I just love, I love success and I love it when people do well. Yeah and I love, and you know what, it's interesting that you are British and you love other people doing well. You're quite rare, yeah. Because I'm Aussie and people in Australia generally don't like other people doing well.
No, tall poppy syndrome. It's horrible. Australia Island, England, where, yeah. But like, it's not a zero-sum game. If you do well, that doesn't mean I can't. Exactly. And if you do well and I do well, then... We bring each other off. Yeah. Honestly, that's the honest truth. People think, oh, it's such bullshit. It's not bullshit at all. And where I learned that was in the States.
Coming from Australia, you go, who do they think they are? They're doing this, but oh, they drive a supercar, what a dickhead, you know, all this, you know. And then I'm driving their supercars and I get, like, spat at when I go back home in Australia. Really? You know, like, oh, you're fucking stupid dick and, like, you know. Wow. And because no one wants you to do well. No.
And so they'll cut you down, cut you down. And then I went to the States. And everyone's like, oh man, I love what you're doing. Let me help you out. And then I'd be like, oh cool, let me help you out. And they're like, yeah, of course. Let's do it together. And I was like, oh my god, this is completely different. And we used to make fun of the Americans. We used to go, oh my god, dude, you're so amazing. Because they compliment each other all the time. And we just call everyone tickets. And that's our compliment. And so when I first saw them all complimenting each other in real life, I was like, actually, I like
this. This is nice. Well, surely it's a better way to live, isn't it? Well, it is. It really is. And out of all the people that have helped me the most, I'd say most of them have been Americans, because they are, they get it. They are in that mindset of, I will help you, you help me, we grow together, and let's be a success together. Yeah. So how did you make it then in the UK then? Well, yeah, that's a great question. How did it? Because
And most people wanted me to fail. Yeah, of course. Even some family members and friends. Yeah. I suppose I just had to shut it all out. Stop drinking the day I started my business. I moved on from my old circles. I actually studied a lot online and back then CDs and tapes. And everyone I listened to was American. So I guess I'm probably a pretty Americanized Brit.
There you go. It's exactly what happened to me. I think something really needs to change in our culture. People are never going to make it if they are around people constantly putting them down. Because the one thing, for me to have made it, I needed that support system. I needed my husband, who is a very positive person, he's not Aussie, he's Swiss.
So he didn't have that tall poppy syndrome in him. And then I had friends from all over the world who weren't Aussie or British and they didn't have that in their system. So I had all of these people supporting me and I needed that so much, especially with all the online hate and the people in real life bringing you down. Have you had that as a woman in a very manly, driven world? I'm a mate. Yeah. I was, oh, that was rough. Really, really rough. I didn't belong at all. I didn't belong at all.
Did you ever think about quitting then? Absolutely. Really? Absolutely. I hated it. I was so upset. I started by going on press trips, right? That's how you get access to nice cars initially. Because you're not in this world. You don't know billionaires with huge collections. I was driving in my Nissan Centro. And then driving a beautiful Ferrari on the weekend from Ferrari. And then going back to my rental car. So I wasn't in that world. So we'd go on these press trips.
And of course, since time began, the journalists covering cars have always been men. So it would be all men, and then me, and not only am I not a car journalist, I'm also on social media, and also a woman. So I had like all three things working against me. So I was on a man.
I wasn't like a car expert who had looked into cars for the last 30 years and had written about engines and knew everything about them. And then I was also the ditz on social media, right? Because they weren't on social media. They believed in the true word, you know, the power of the written word, right? That's journalism.
And so they didn't even want to embrace social media. They just thought it was for idiots. And so I had all those three things coming into every press trip. And non would talk to me. I'd walk into a room full of men and I immediately heard them all whisper, oh my God, there she is, that stupid idiot or something, you know, just something horrible. Non would talk to me. And I would just have to try and get on with it. And it was hard, honestly, because I'm not someone who grew up not caring what other people think.
That's my way. I do care. Now I don't. I've learned not to and I don't care anymore. But initially, of course, that hurt. I didn't understand why they didn't like me. Like, that hurts. And so it brought me down a lot. And then I also, not only in real life, got it online. So as soon as I left the press trip and then uploaded my content, then people would bash me online as well. And what was it worse in the room face to face with older men or the trolls on social media?
Do you know what? I think the trolls on social media, because it was just so many of them. You know, you can be in a room full of men, 10, 20 men. It's only 20 people. Yeah, and they're whispering. Yeah, and they're whispering. They're not telling you exactly. And they're not saying the worst things ever about you. They're just saying you're an idiot or something. But online, you can say whatever you want.
The caliber of the insult was times 10, you know. And so, you know, people would wish I was run over by a car and, you know, died and now I laugh about it. But everything you can think of. And just the really like, I think really old school stuff as well, like get back in the kitchen. Like how boring is that?
Come up with a better insult than that. Come on, man. We're like, 2024. Come on, trolls. Step up your game. Yeah, step up your game. Like, that's boring. You know, that's what we were saying. We were saying that to women like 20 years ago, come on, have we not moved on a little bit from that? That's so bad.
That would be fun. Like make me a sandwich. What sandwich would you like? I would literally like what would you like Bolognae or Jeez. That's you. Surely. And you get to a point where you find that. Yeah. And I'm just like, and then of that would shut them up and everyone else would laugh. And that's where I kind of got my confidence. And I just thought, you know what, I'm just going to make a bit of fun back. And then eventually they all went away because I didn't.
They thought I'd go away. That's what their goal was, right? And then I didn't go away and they thought, oh shit, then I'm going to have to go away because I don't want to be around her. So I'll have to leave. So all the trolls left. Really, I've only got supporters. I rarely get trolls now.
Or you've proven yourself. Yeah, I've just had to keep going. Yeah. And now what can they say? Oh, you're a fucking idiot. You're so successful. You're a fucking idiot. You've got two billion views of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, is there in a way a sense that they kind of hardened you enough to make you streetwise? They kind of did you a favour in a way? They did.
Yeah. They did. Otherwise, I'd still be a shy little mouse going into these events or doing anything that I thought I wasn't welcoming. Like, it could be in any kind of male industry, right? It could even be. Watches are still very male-dominated.
could be real estate, not so much anymore. I think there are a lot of very successful women in real estate, but used to be. There are a lot of businesses that I think women feel, oh, I don't want to go into that. I'd love to, but I don't want to. It's too hard. There's too many people telling me that I don't belong there, but do it. Just do it. Get through it. And you're going to be a success because at the end of the day, you have something unique and they don't.
because you came in as a woman in a male-dominated world. It's really hard to begin with, but then once you rise up and get even better than them, you have got something unique to offer to clients and to customers and to everyone, because you're the only woman. And you do it better than the men. Amen. And how did you get yourself through the lowest moments?
A lot of people are struggling right now, especially in the UK. It's not the greatest place. So how do you get through the darkest moments?
Yeah, I've been through some. What specifically? Yeah, well, when 2020 happened, when people talk about burnout, if you've not been through it, I don't think you really understand what it is. And that's totally normal if you've not been through something. I was so bad, so badly burnt out that I forgot how to fall asleep. I was so anxious and nervous about my entire existence.
Anxiety was just cursing through me. I remember at one point I turned to my husband and I said, how do you fall asleep? I can't remember how to fall asleep. And he's like, I just closed my eyes. I'm like, yeah, I used to do that. I literally cannot sleep anymore. I got an hour of sleep a night if I was lucky. And that went on for...
a couple of months before I went into complete breakdown. I went into depression. I couldn't function. I couldn't remember things anymore. I couldn't like I would go out and try and film something. My husband's going, what is wrong with you? You can't remember one sentence. I'd have to stop every sentence. I was completely done. And then I actually went to speak on a panel and
Surprisingly, I mean, it all just fell into place. Things just happen sometimes, right? On the panel was a sports, not sports only, high performing psychiatrist. So he deals with high performers. So they could be CEOs, they could be elite sportsmen. Anyone who goes through really extremes and then have to recover and go back through extremes. That's who we dealt with. And he said, he looked at me on the panel and he said,
Something's really wrong. Do you want to talk to me after this? And as soon as I sat down with him, I burst into tears and I told him, I couldn't deal with anything anymore. And he goes, right, what you haven't realized is you're not just on social media, you're a high performer, which means
You have to get in front of the camera for hours on end. Energy is 300% of a normal person for hours on end. Then you go to an event where everyone expects you to be high energy for three hours. Then you get on a plane. Then you need to do, you are a high performer and when are you taking your rest? Because when you are a sports person, you go and perform and you give it, you are all for like four hours.
But then what happens is you come back stage, you've got a therapist, you've got a masseuse, you've got a team, you've got a coach, you've got a whole slew of people around you helping you to recover from that intense period. He said, when do you ever do that? And I was like, I've literally never taken a recovery time ever in the four years I've been doing this, not even two hours. And he said, that's why he burnt out.
You need to realise that if you're going to put in that much energy into everything, every day, you also need to put in just as much energy into recovery. And that really helped me. So then I saw him for a while, just talked through all my issues. I got on medication. The one thing that really spurred this was I lost my dog like a few months before that and she was my baby. You know, I'm an animal lover and so everything just came together.
And so how do I get through it? Professional help, my husband helping me, my friends, everyone just supporting me and going, do you know what? Just take the time. People will be here for you when you're ready. They're not just going to go away.
just explain what's going through what you're going through. So I would be really honest. I just picked up the camera and I spoke to my audience and I like, start crying. I was like, I just want you guys to understand that I need your support right now. I can't do this every day. That's why I'm going to hire people. And when you see them on my on my page, don't bash me for it. Don't be like, Oh, who the hell is this? And why aren't you on it? Because I can't survive anymore doing it all myself. So when you see them, can you just like support me in it? Yeah. And people did. Yeah. Wow. I was open with it, you know?
Yeah. So... I just went on a massive rant. But yeah, that was a hard time. That was probably the worst time I went through. So two or three times on our discussion it's come up where things have been hard and afterwards...
It's better. Nothing. Everything's temporary. That's what we've learned. Yeah. Even the joy is temporary. Hard times temporary. Everything's kind of temporary. Yeah. So I've not let what I used to do is let the, it's a huge roller coaster of emotions. Something one day you can get a call from Bugatti and they're like, Oh my God, come and film.
the newest thing, it's exclusive and all of this. And so we're on a high, we're like, oh my God, we're doing so well, awesome. An hour later, we'll get a call from a lawyer saying you're being sued by someone and it's gonna cost you $200,000. So those emotions, you go high and then you go low and then something else high happens and so you're up, you're up, down, up, down. And when you're an entrepreneur, that could be multiple times a day. A day, a day, exactly. And so I've kind of had to learn to not let the highs get me too high and not
Get the lows get me too low. So I kind of have to regulate my emotions throughout the day Yeah, and so Nick will come to me and say oh my god Have you seen this amazing article and what they've written about you? I said no and I don't want to read it because I don't want to let what other people say about me affect my mood and my emotions even if it's good Yes, because I need to affect my emotions and my mood not them
Do you know a mentor of mine said once, we're in the back of a car because he was coming to speak at one of my events and he's very spiritual and he was kind of meditating in the car and he looked at me out of no and he said, Rob, I gave up happiness years ago because it made me so damn depressed. And it took me years to understand because it's like a Yoda moment in Star Wars.
But happiness, especially elation, shoots you up there. I think it's a law what goes up, must come down. So when you said what you said, I understand the wisdom in that. And I realised that some people might listen saying, you don't want to regulate your happiness, you don't want to regulate your joy. But what goes up must come down.
If you're going to the extremes of the highs, then you're going to go through the extremes of the lows. And I will let myself, like, when we raise money or whatever for the company, I'll let myself enjoy that high. You know, I'll enjoy it. But I just know the next hour, I'll get a call from a frickin' lawyer or something. Just saying, you know, everything's shit, everything's going to shit, you know. And I just need to be ready for it. That's all, you know. It's so interesting, isn't it? Yeah, I believe that,
There is upside in all downside. And obviously a lot of people are going to be moved by your stories, which they should be. But I don't think you would be as strong as you are now if you hadn't had the haters. Absolutely. And I don't think you'd be as emotionally regulated and controlled and have purpose of vision and really want to grow SBX if you hadn't burned out and been so depressed and on meds.
Yeah, because I know the lowest. And if SPX doesn't work, you know, I don't want to put it on to the universe. But if something doesn't work, because I've launched another business, it didn't work. If it doesn't work, I still have a roof over my head. I can still afford to eat.
If you still have two billion views about this. Still is, yeah. You know, there are still, I think you need to put things into perspective, right? What is the worst that can happen? And so if something fails, I still have my family, I have my friends, I have my whole media business, I have, say the whole media business goes away, right? We talk about this because, you know, sometimes I'm scared. I'm like, oh my God, where is this guy? And blah, blah, blah. And we go, what's, if it all goes away, okay? Let's just pretend everything fails tomorrow. We've got nothing.
I can always go back to my family, live with my family, have support, love, I have my husband, my dogs. That is the worst that can happen and I'm still going to be okay because I have food to eat, I have support from my family. Like, I'm not going to be on the streets.
And so if you're starting something where the consequence of that not working is being on the streets, totally understand that's really freaking scary. That's your bottom, right? But if you've already been on the streets, maybe that's okay. You just go back to the streets, right?
I've, growing up with my parents, I've lived there. I've, you know, not always had my own business and money and stuff. And if I go back to that, then that's what I go back to, you know? And that's what gives you the power to try new things. Take the risk. Take the risk and go, right, I'm going to take the risk because if this doesn't work out, it's going to be fine. Fuck it. Yeah, fuck it. Because if you don't take the risk, you're not going to get there. Yeah. You're not going to make it.
Now and also the asking what's the worst that can happen.
gives you a floor. But then ask yourself, what's the best that could happen? Exactly. And the best that could happen has no ceiling. Yes, you're absolutely right. No ceiling. Yeah, absolutely right. Do you feel like you've achieved everything? No. I mean, you never do. No. No. I mean, I don't know if anywhere near the views that you do. No, but it's not about views for you. You've got a cash cow. You've literally got money coming in every day from your real estate.
Yeah, but I could have more. Yeah, of course, of course. I only have seven cars, 100 Tate House, however many dozens. I know there's always more, right? But I'm kind of OK with that as well. Yeah. And I think you need to get to a point where I...
the friends that we have now are you know I mean they're beyond wealthy and I'm okay with not getting to that amount of wealth because I'm not sure your happiness goes up double fold triple fold by if you have a hundred million or if you have five hundred million or you have a billion I don't think your happiness
goes up that much more just because you have... Diminishing over tons. Yeah. So it's okay if I'm not... It's okay, like I joke about it, but I would like it. It would be amazing. But is my happiness going to be tenfold? Probably not. I probably have more stress. So you just need to kind of watch out for it. Yes, you want to be successful. Yes, you want to have money.
But at some point you've got to realize, right, if earning more and putting more time into earning money and not being with my family and not doing all the other things I love will make me more money, but will it actually make me happier? No.
right, then let's just be happy at this level and keep succeeding, but have balance. I spend some of that time with your family instead of working. And that's something I've learned just in the last year, because actually my husband went through a health scare. And this was really scary just this year in May. He went in for a normal, like a very routine surgery to get rid of a benign tumor.
And I dropped him off at the hospital. And this is a guy who works all the time, all the time, 24-7. Never puts it down. We've got an office in LA with our team over there for the auction up until 2-3am every morning with them because there's a time difference.
That's the secret to staying together long-term. I saw an elderly couple have been together for like 80 years, which is a secret to staying together forever.
Not seeing each other too much. And then you can not get it out. Yeah, so it's also separate bedrooms as well. You're not meant to sleep together because you get a bit of sleep. Yeah, I hear all the couples do that. Yeah, and we've already started doing not separate bedrooms, but we had a massive bed made so we don't even know we're in the same bed at night. Yeah, literally, literally. So that's what we do. But anyway, I dropped him off at the hospital and make this quick, but it changed our life. And it happened just a few months ago.
Yeah, so I went in for this surgery, I went home and he's meant to be out in two hours and I'm waiting for the call and I get a call from the anesthesiologist. And he said, listen, I need you to come in. And that's never a good call. Instead of, hey, he's out of the theatre, he's in recovery room, whatever. So I went in and he goes, listen, he, his lungs have collapsed. He can't breathe on his own. We're going to continue with the surgery because we haven't got this lump out or whatever.
But just to let you know that we're going to have to put him in ICU. And we're going to have to intubate him and all of this. And I'm just like, holy shit, what is going on? And so they took him up to intensive care. And I saw him, I'm not attached to all of these machines. You know how intense that room is, right? Just everything is breathing for you. He couldn't move. He was paralyzed.
And he was all bloated from all the air stuck inside his body. And I waited there for four days for him to wake up. And on the second day, the doctor in ICU said I didn't want to tell you this yesterday, but it wasn't looking good. And I was like, what?
And I just burst into tears. And when he came out of it, I think he went through a major realisation that something even worse could have happened. I could have lost him. He could have lost his life. And he turned into, from serious Nick week now, call him party Nick. He's literally like literally will take nights off just to go into the pool and have a few drinks and turn on the music and just have fun and laugh and live a little bit. And it's made our lives completely different together.
and the business is better too because you know the more you can chill and just be a little bit more top line about things and look at it from a very strategic point of view and not get into all the weeds every day and try and work out every single problem it's actually better for the business so there was a massive turning point this year for us so there's another hardship that ended up making things better yeah yeah and that's what happens you know if the worst did happen I would have found another husband
Well, you've got 120 million followers. Yeah, exactly. You know what would be hard? It's fine. You could have run a little social media competition. I could have done that. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the more cars, the better. I'm glad he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route. No, he's left the route.
You know, they just see your success, and they say, oh, well, why can't I have that? Well, it's because you need to go through all the shit as well. And not many people want to do that. No, they don't. Amen. So why did you sell your McLaren 720s? Oh, yes. OK. So... Because I feel like it's supposed to be brilliant cars. They are. I loved it.
It was so quick. Oh my God, you get in that, it zips off and it's beautiful and I loved it. No sound, the sound didn't sound very good. I missed the, because I had a Lamborghini before that, missed it so badly, the sound. And also it's very interesting, if you haven't driven one before, when you grab the wheel, it's all very like mechanical, like it has little noises, like little computer noises that it makes, like...
So it sounds like you're kind of driving a computer a little bit. It's not as raw as like driving a Lamborghini. So I just, I didn't feel like I was one with the car. It didn't have any problems, to be honest with you. The only thing that went wrong is when we first got it. And this was pretty much brand new. Both of the, I, what do you call them? Shields. Sun shields. They fell off.
I don't know what, 300 grand cars. Yeah, they fell off. They fixed them, fine, whatever. But nothing serious went wrong with it. It was pretty good car actually. In the UK, I don't know if it's globally, but McLaren have the worst reputation for aftercare and service in it going wrong all the time and everything costing so much money. I was pretty lucky. Nothing really went wrong. Have you had a McLaren?
No, but probably for that reason. Also, I would consider it now that because there's, like I said earlier, I think every downside as an upside, every upside as a downside. The upside of that is second hand, they're cheap as shit. Well, mine wasn't. No, you get it nearly new. Yeah, they draw. They draw. But yes, I know they drop like crazy. Like five, seven, five, and the six, is it six, twenty fives? They're not a lot of money.
Yeah, no, yeah, I mean, you can, yeah, once once they're out and you're by them second hand, yes, it's not. I mean, we're talking still like into the hundreds of thousands. It's not like they're cheap cars, but yeah, they do drop quite quickly. I'm just thinking for.
collectable McLarens. What have you got? Help me out here? What's collectable? There are quite a lot now. Oh, God, help me out. You mean the P1? The W1 has come out. Yeah, I mean, P1's an amazing car. Sorry, but I just have to say I freaking love the P1. Yeah. And actually, they're about not even a million. Well, just over a million, sorry. Yeah, I haven't checked. That feels like a pretty decent price right now for a P1.
love the P1 it is a beauty sorry I mean I slammed the hole I didn't feel at one with the 720s but the P1 is just also such a beautiful looking car I drove one that was um fully exposed carbon yeah
Oh my god, it's just so beautiful. And then the pattern... Sorry, I just... I do love that car. I mean, the F1 as well, hasn't that... Aren't they 20 million now? Yes, 20 million. You're McLaren F1. Yeah, and that's kind of... That's mad. Yeah, it's going to appreciate... If you can get a hold of one of them, that's going to be one of the big ones to keep going up. Right. I mean, the P1 sounds cheaper, just over a million. I'm talking pounds. Yeah. If the F1 is 20. Yeah, I mean, who knows?
Would you ever buy cars just for them to appreciate? Of course. She says with Rolls Royce that it's dropping like a star. Both cars that go down in value. I will once, I make enough fucking money to put it into something and just let it sit there.
At the moment, as I said, it's not my priority. I want to put a lot of money back into my business. But if I have the opportunity to grab a car at a good price that I think it will appreciate or get it straight from a manufacturer, absolutely 100%. Yes. Even Ferrari.
I don't think that ever offered in any way. So I don't really think I have to think about it. Yeah, but you could just go buy one second hand on the market. Couldn't you put it in Nick's name or someone else's name? Yeah, exactly. It's always a way. It's not mine. It's not mine. It's gross. Like, buy it away. Even though it's probably it. Look, I don't know. Let's see. I don't, I'm not in the position right now to be throwing millions of dollars at a car and just let it sit there. I'm just not. We're about to sell. I never offered you a car to give you a car. Never. No.
bitches yeah so they literally they just they'll they'll just pay you they will they will pay me to come and well it depends who they are right are they a collector are they trying to sell their car is it a manufacturer whatever right yeah it's all different but the power is do they want to sell it
here's an audience of over 100 million people, you'll probably find your buyer, they'll pay me to come in and put their car on my social feeds, right? Same with the manufacturers, right? It's a new car, they need to get the word out there. You'll be part of their marketing budget. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. And, um, and yeah, so there's, so that's pretty much how it works. You've been paid by a car company to do some content. Hmm. Good question.
well my my rates if i need to fly somewhere and you just put the diva there what if i had to get out of it you know and brush my hair well then um no if i have to because otherwise i send one of my team right because um
I am super busy and I'm trying to focus mainly on this new business now So if I have to go and fly somewhere and film content and take my mind away from building the other aspects of the business My like my price starts at about a quarter million dollars just for like a two-hour shoot. Yeah, so
It requires not only, you know, it sounds so deaver. Oh my God, I'm so sorry if you're like shaking your head at this, listening to it because it sounds like crazy. But be go full diva. I just go full diva. It starts at 250.
How much for the blue M&M? Oh my god, I wish. I was like, excuse me, there's a red M&M here. It all grows. No, I'm Ozzy. Can we just say, I'm still down to it. I'm a normal person. I don't like it when people go deeper. I'm not that at all. It's just that I know my worth. I know my value and I know what I can bring.
when car companies have access to 100 million people who all love cars, then that's of worth to them, right? And my time is valuable because I run an entire business now and I could be either
focusing on some other part of the business to make that work or I'm going to dedicate my time to you. It's opportunity cost. So it has to be at least a quarter of a million now and it has been for a few years actually. I have rejected deals of a few hundred thousand dollars because
Either I've, I needed to concentrate my time somewhere else. It would take me too long to go somewhere with the jet lag and then it would actually not be a two-hour shoot. It would end up being a five-hour, five-day shoot because, you know, you'd fly in, you'd have to recover for your fear, then you'd do the shoot, then you'd have to, I don't know, fly somewhere else. You know, it becomes the whole thing. So you just need to work out where is your time best spent. And so I have,
said no to a lot of money before, but I think it was the right decision. I don't think I've ever said no to something and then regretted it afterwards.
Yeah, that reminds me, I think it was Michael Kane that said this, but he said, you know, if I get paid 10 million for the film, it's two million for the film and eight million for the promotion. Yeah, exactly. And the name that he's built, everything. It's not just the promo. It's not just the hours, it's not just the hours. It's the name that you've built. Because why are they paying, you know, Jim Carrey 40 million for a movie? And his co-star, who is not well known at all, gets
a million or less. It's because Jim Carrey has worked his ass off his entire life to build that name. It's a bigger pool. It means that the movie is going to say, Jim Carrey's starring in this. Everyone's going to want to go and throw their money at it, concierge in the theatre, blah, blah, blah. So he deserves more money. Even though there's same caliber of actor, right? They're both as good as each other. The other one hasn't built up the name and the promotional worth, right, that the client gets.
That's the other thing, you know, when I represent brands, it's not just my time. It's the last seven years that I've spent building this brand to get to the point where I can reach 100 million people. And that takes a lot of hard work and dedication. So you're not just paying for the two hours, you're paying for the seven years, previously. Yeah, and the 70 staff you've got. Yeah, and all your overhead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So what are your yearly revenues in your business?
I don't know, are we going there? No, he's like, shit, that's off limits. He's next had nothing. I know, that's true. And remember, I have a lot of entrepreneurs that follow me. This is purely just out of interest to get an idea.
So when? Tens of millions. Yeah, okay, so let me put it this way. So during COVID, it was our biggest year. We only had three staff, four staff, and we made $11 million. And the profit margin was 98%. Wow. Okay, so we pocketed in over $10 million. The next year, we started hiring. Yeah. So, you know, all of that kind of came down. Another story. Yeah.
You have to put in, you have to accept that things are going to, you're not going to make as much money, but in the long term, that's the goal to make even more money, right? So then we went to eight mil, huh? Ten?
Yeah. So then we went to eight. Yeah. Then I think six. And now we're at the bottom. Yeah. Because now we've established everything. Yeah. Now we're really, we've got the team in place. We've got the, we've got out. We fund everything at the moment. So we've got the funding. We can inject lots of money into it still. Yeah. The editorial website is taking off. SBX is just taking off now.
and the media business, everything is in place. So next year, now we're looking at going back up to about 10 million. So for quite a few years, we pocketed 10 million each year. And then, yeah, it went down to a few million less while we were hiring. But now we're really, I'm excited because now we're really on the trajectory to actually go 10 million this year and then next year, even more than we've ever made. So let's see.
Well, thank you for sharing that. A lot of people are like, are we going there? I'm like, oh, I got a really... It's relevant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, see, and, you know, like, I... So, for the business...
Two years ago, I think it was. We didn't have the editorial business, we didn't have SBX, we just had our media business and we were offered a hundred million dollars to sell it, so to completely sell it. Hard off, a hundred million. Well, it was worked out over five years, you know, over five years. So they'd retain you for five years? Yes, we would have to say only five years for five years, etc, yes.
We'd have to hit certain targets, et cetera, to get the full payout, but we would be confident of that. So 100 million with some of it up front and the rest on and on and out.
Exactly. So we said no. Because we had so much more to do. We knew we could get more. We knew this was worth more. And so that's when we started the... We knew we were just on the precipice of something amazing. We were just about to start this editorial website. We saw the potential in all of these other side businesses. We haven't made it yet. We've made the media, but we haven't really made it yet. We know the potential of this.
And so we said, no, I'm glad we did because everything, you know, it's been tough. It's been tough. I'm putting everything in ourselves over the last few years and not having help from anyone else. But worth it because now we've got these extra two businesses. One of them is doing incredibly well. And another one is we have every, every expectation that it will be a billion dollar business. So it's going to be the billion dollars. The billion dollar business. Yeah. Wow.
So what I'm getting to is
We're doing our first raise in the next few months. And so let's see what comes in. And you'll sell shares in the company. Yes, yes, yes. And so it'd be nice to get a little bit of money in. Obviously, we want to put a lot back into the company so we can really just like drive growth. But also take a little bit off because we put so much of our own stuff in there. I would love to be able to buy a nice car again, you know, and just put a couple of million dollars into a car.
You know, whereas right now, I don't want to do that. I have the money sitting there, but for me, I feel stupid putting it into a car right now. When I know that I could use it to fuel the business. And then actually, we're just about to sell a house. So we got into real estate a little bit a couple of years ago. Got an old, pretty run down,
house in a very, very good area. It's always the best thing, right? All of your neighbours are... Worst house, best street. Best street, exactly. So we bought that and we completely demolished it. We kept just the foundation and it's just about to be finished this month. It's taken two years and we put about, well, probably $10 million into it. We're going to sell it for almost $30 million. Right.
So just over two years. Like 15 years, that would be worth 60 million. Yeah. I mean, what do you do? What do you do? I mean, I'd like some money. Yeah. Well, I developed 23 flats years ago. I mean, I bought 400 units. Yeah. Wow. It's intended. Yeah. I was reading all about it. Yeah. But I kept them all because I had a 23 apartment development did when I could hardly grow a beard. I was really young. I didn't know.
We did it well, but I sold that made in the low millions and that's gone up and up and up and up since. Incredible. So you're not going to sell anything, you're just going to keep them as like rental cash cows?
The property has doubled every 12 to 15 years in the UK since 1088. Where do you have most of your property? Just outside London. Yeah. London's pricey. So we get better cash flows, better yields, and we can buy a lot more. So we have a 99 apartment block, 135,000 square foot, with 160 tenants in. Well. In London it would probably be 200 million. Yeah. In Peterborough it's 20 million. Oh well.
So when you are buying in the UK, because we were looking at buying in Switzerland, my husband's from there, it's a very stable market, which is great, but it doesn't give you any potential for much upside-right when you sell. What's it like that for you then? I don't know, when did you buy these apartments? Have you seen much growth if you want to sell? Yeah, we've been buying for 18 years, and the first stuff we would buy was between 40
and 70 grand for two bedhouses and flats and now they're 180 to 250 and in 1088 all the land and all the property in the UK was worth about 1 million in Chelsea now a car parking space in the certain areas might be 1 million so it's not Bitcoin it's not only been 20 years so yeah like
your money, your life, we've just met. But if we meet and do a round two in 25 years, I'm going to make you go and check out how much that 30 million properties that you sold, because it will be 75 million. This is true. And you will wish you kept it. No, I don't reckon because what we'll be able to do with that money now is go and make a billion dollar company or make a billion dollar company and also just go rebuild and get something else that's, you know, worse house in the best street, rebuild that.
make sure that we're going to make another 10 mil off that when we sell that. I would much rather take those kind of smaller steps along the way than just hold onto one asset because also it's the UAE. It's not... Oh, so it's here. It's here. It's an incredible opportunity to make a lot of money.
because of the growth here of this market. But you don't know what's going to happen in 50 years, right? It's not as established as a market like, you know, London or somewhere else like that. So I would much rather keep it for two years, take the money and then go and reinvest and do something else with it. Yeah, in the UK there'd be a lot of taxes on that. Taxes here are lower, are they? No, you don't pay any.
You don't pay any property gains tax or anything. Sorry to break that too. You paid tax for breathing in the UK. Is that why you moved to Dubai? No. I actually moved here right after university. I actually moved here because my husband got a job here out of university.
And it was actually our honeymoon destination. This is where we wanted to come for our honeymoon. And he actually got his first job out of uni here. So we were like, right, well, let's just move there. And so we moved here. Yeah, 16 years ago. And it was a different city completely, 16 years ago. I moved here. Yeah, I didn't have a job. I tried to get a job, but we landed here right as the financial crisis.
was about to hit, so end of 08 we landed and so things went bottom up and it did that well though didn't they? Mate it was something else huh?
and you know the rumors about the cars being left here on the streets all true because people had the debt and they couldn't pay off the debt and they just had to leave the country and so things have changed a lot a lot in the last 16 years laws have completely changed but back then you know you couldn't have debt if you had debt you'd go to jail so that's why everyone left yeah now of course there's ways to pay it off you know it's all very very structured yeah
But yeah, it was a weird time and then I got into journalism because that's what I studied and that's what I love to do. So I was on the radio for a bit and I had odd jobs and whatever, you know what you do after you need, you just try and get some money. And then fell into the car thing.
I mean, coming over here and just seeing all of the beautiful cars all the time, it sparks your interest. It definitely does. I mean, I come from the country, mate. Like, I come from a 2000 people small town south of Brisbane in Australia. Well, were you all right? Yeah. And I've never, like, never seen a Porsche, you know? And so, obviously, I wouldn't have the same career there. And I probably didn't have the same interest in cars, because I didn't see the same caliber of cars around me, right?
But when I came over here I was like, wow. It feels like a really entrepreneurial place. It is. Where the people who run this state country are entrepreneurial and they want the people here to do well. They want people to succeed. 100%. UK, are you listening? Yeah, no they really do. Because, look, it's a small population of Emiratis here, the locals.
In order to build an international globally renowned financial hub and city, you need people. You need talent. And so how are you going to get talent? You need people to come into the country from overseas. And so they foster that growth. They want you to move here and be successful because if you're not successful, you'll leave and then the city won't grow. You need outside talent. It's not like London has all the talent. You've got millions of people already, a lot of talent.
They didn't have that, they had a very small population. Are you noticing more Brits coming here? Because so many people I know are either moving here or planning it. Oh mate, too many Brits. I was going to come. You're welcome. Thank you. Yeah, look, there's people from everywhere. I think there's so many Aussies, there's just from everywhere.
But that's what I love about it. I'll sit around a table, we'll have a group dinner of good friends. Every single person out the table is from somewhere else. I love that. One is from Argentina, one is from Armenia, one is from the UK, South Africa, Australia, Slovakia, everywhere.
Saudi, one of our good friends is Saudi, it's just so interesting. And you talk about each other's cultures and how you grew up and what's different about the cultures and mindset and you learn so much. Harry and I are going to have our honeymoon and we're never going back. And it's fucking freezing right now in the UK, minus 100. Here we're freezing actually, at 10 degrees at night. We're like, oh, stop gloating.
10 degrees at night. Yeah, you have to put two thin layers. Yeah, it's terribly hard work, you know. Yeah, it sounds it. What do you think of Andrew Tate's car collection? I don't know anything about it. Well, you know he's got a Bugatti. Yeah, but I don't... Does he own that Bugatti? I have no idea. I don't. I'm not interested in what... I'm not interested, first of all, in him and his car collection. What do you think of him?
Nothing, because I just don't have that much interest in getting to know him. I mean, I know that's crazy, right? Most people have an opinion of him. I don't want to spend my time getting into it. I just don't have the time for it. And so if I'm going to perform an opinion of someone,
I want to make sure that I know quite a lot about them and their history and like why they do the things they do and is what people say in the news accurate is like, but because I don't want to just throw around opinions for people because that's what people do of me. Yeah. So I'm just not, I'm just, I'm not interested in giving opinions of anyone unless I know their story. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And you? Because you interviewed him, right? Yeah, I know Andrew very well and he's interviewed him twice. And by the way, I really respect that.
What you just said because I do think opinions are cheap and I think people Yeah, I don't know him right it's like how can you yes? You can have an opinion, but I mean then I might meet him the next day and go actually is a really nice guy I don't know and so what's what's the value of my opinion absolutely zero?
Well, everyone else in the whole world seems to value his opinion. So he's slipped into the questions on our podcast. Because everyone wants to know about him. What do I think about him? I think he's a genius marketer. You're a genius marketer. You've figured out social media when the old guys were writing on a typewriter. And I think he's a genius marketer. I imagine there's some things he's done, which he'd want them to stay in his closet. He wouldn't be the only human.
So yeah, but I've enjoyed having him on the show and I've enjoyed, you know, one thing I will say is we were talking about this when we took a break. There's been a bit of laziness and entitlement, especially in the UK. People don't really want to work anymore. They want to be given it. You know, I remember when I started, I wanted to work harder and longer and over time. I took my first job, no salary or commission. I wanted to earn the right to show what I can do.
since lockdown it's been a lot more entitlement and like we should pander to them and give them everything and you know they use chat GBT to find out HR law and hack you and all that and you know Andrew's been like you know just be capable just get really good just work hard and be capable and you know you want to get a great woman be a great man and I like that message yeah no I totally agree with you I mean I think we're pretty much grew up
with the same mentality. You know, I did several internships for free.
I didn't expect any money, of course, because I wanted the experience. These people don't work with us anymore. When I say this, they're not part of my team. But we have had people come in, and they're from the younger generation, and they would be working with us for four months, and they actually hadn't had any social media experience, so they'd learn everything on the job.
And then four months into the job, they would say, well, now I need a promotion. I'm like, what? Sorry, what? And they're like, well, now I'm ready to be moved up.
After four months. And get paid more. And get paid more. And then also, literally after every six months, why am I not getting a pay rise? I'm like, look, can you just do your freaking job? Just concentrate on doing really, really good work. And then the pay will come. Yes. If you have to, I get so frustrated because people will just want to leave at six and go, oh, my job is done for the day. Oh, in the UK, they want to leave at five. Yeah, go for beers.
Yeah, and they want a role in it.
It's quarter past nine. Yeah. And chat for 50. And look, we sound like old Foddy Dolly's, right? We are. OK? We probably are. Yeah, but some of those values are good. Sure. Always do more than you're paid to do, and you'll get paid more. Yes. What happened to that? Yeah, OK. However, OK. Now I'm, OK. The younger generation, they don't, they're not going to work for free. I get it. They're not going to do it. They're not going to say past six. Some of them will. I'm generalizing. Some of them will. Well, those that do are going to do well. Right.
But it's because their values have changed. We grew up with completely different values. We grew up thinking if we work hard, if we dedicate a lot of our time to other people, we will get better raise. This is expected of us and then we will have more money to buy a house and settle down. This is just how life works.
They have grown up with a completely different value system, which we think is wrong, but actually it's just different. They value work-life balance, like we have never valued work-life balance growing up. We knew that we had to work hard and work long hours just to get the job and to stay in the job.
They go, I'm going to work nine till six because actually I value my time after work just as much or even more. So that's fine but they can't get all the upside perks.
Yes. Because everything comes at a cost. Yes, yes, yes. But they are, I think they expect the upside per. Yes, no, no, they do. They do. And you're right. You can't have both, but I feel like the mindset of a lot of people is shifting that they don't even want the promotion now. Like a lot of people are saying, I don't want to be promoted. I'm happy just where I am getting my salary because if I get promoted, I'll have to work more.
And I actually then won't be able to do all the other things that I love on the weekend and after work, etc. But then someone who works better, smarter, harder, we'll just... No, no, totally. An inflation or wipe out their salary. Something needs to change. I'm not saying that this is sustainable. I don't feel like it is.
something will need to change because we need hard workers. You know, we need people's ethics, like, really to come back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, exactly. It's not even about the money. It's like, if I know that I've done a really fucking great job today and it's not just good enough. Like, oh, that's good enough. I go, I can never do good enough. I needed to go the extra amount because it made me feel good. It wasn't even about my boss or my salary. It was about me internally going,
Fuck, I'm proud of myself today. You know, and tomorrow I'm gonna be proud of myself. And I'm not sure we have as much of that anymore. And I'm not sure why.
Well, I think something you said about the value is changing. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. I do think, and fuck it, I'm just going to say it, I do think we've got a bit woke. I mean, I'm from the UK and there's so much entitlement and everyone wants everything before they give anything. Everyone is wrong, but a generation or even some parts of the generation. And, you know, there's so much inclusion without merit and
I have a theory as well that because society up, probably up until lockdown, we had a little recession. But for 30 years in the UK and many parts of the world, life's been quite easy and good. Because imagine we'd just been in the Third World War. No one would go, I just want to work half a day and one would be rebuilding the city. So in a way, maybe we've been a victim of our own success and things have been too good for too long. But in the UK now, everything's ruined. Taxes.
VAT 20% corporation tax 25% income 39% Nash insurance 15% business raises that's got to be another 5 to 8% pension contribution 3% I've worked it all out and then then get this for a scam right just let me have my round faces go and read the beans are coming out yeah they are like
Okay, tax me on what I earn, fine, but then don't tax me on what I spend. In Dubai, they don't tax you on what you earn much, but they tax you on what you spend, one or the other. But in the UK, they pillage us on what we earn, and then they pillage us on what we spend. And then you go to London and a camera catches you, fine. Oh, I'm on that, just on that yellow line, fine.
He loves it when I run out this year. Are you okay? No, I'm not okay. Do you know what's funny? That therapist you had, I might need a connection. Yeah, you might be wondering, oh, I'll hook you up. I've never paid tax in my life. I did like you until right now. Can we still be friends yet? No. We can. Can we ask? Because I don't judge. Oh, thank you. I just need to know what you know. Yeah. I actually, well, the secret's been moved to Dubai straight out of university.
I've never had a job outside of Dubai. So you don't need to pay corporation tax? No, we do. Now it just came in a couple years ago. Basically. But it's low. It's very low. No income tax. No income tax. However... No, national insurance on your staff are 15%. No. But we do have to pay their insurance. But it's, you know... No, but national insurance is a tax. It's not insurance. They call it national insurance. Insurance. It's not. It's fucking tax. I don't understand the word you're saying. It's tax. Yeah. But...
It's propaganda. They call it the AT, value added text. Where's the fucking value? Yeah, I know. There's no value. Yeah, we've got that now here, but you know, it's not. It's nothing. Five percent, is it? Yeah.
I don't understand what you're saying because I've never paid tax. Can we stay in touch? Literally, let me tell you something. I've just met with the federal organisation here.
Their goal for the next, I think it's five or ten years, can't remember, over the next five to ten years they want to bring in 10,000 creators to live in Dubai and what they're going to do is they're going to give you a golden visa which basically means
you can renew it for the rest of your life. So you can live here for the rest of your life. They will set up any kind of studios that you want, like your business, whatever's going to help you thrive as a content creator here, like podcaster, whatever it is.
They will help you set up that infrastructure. They will help you get the staff that you need. That is their goal to bring in all of these people and build this industry. Yeah, I know. He's just had his first baby. Oh, mate. Oh, mate. You get on not you, the wife, right?
You get a nanny here, you know, back at home in Australia, no one can afford a nanny. Here everyone has a nanny. And the good thing is like, some people don't treat their softwell and I don't like that. If you're a good person, obviously you're going to pay them a fair wage and that wage is more than fair for what they get for it back home.
Do you know what I mean? So, you know, it doesn't seem like a lot here in comparison to what we earn, but they make a much better living from being here than they would back home. So you can get a nanny, you can get a driver, you can get infrastructure built, you can get your golden visa. I mean, seriously, like they are putting a lot of effort into building an entire industry over here.
the new industry, the creator industry. So, ooh, I see like the cogs are turning, yeah. We've been sweating blood for 1213 over the episode. No tax mate, no tax. Look, a little bit of tax, but, you know. Yeah, but a little bit of tax is fine. I don't mind paying tax, but I paid fucking tens, maybe. Yeah, it's crazy. Because the millions in tax. I don't know. I don't know, but yeah. So how much are you earning then a year?
Well, I mean, we'll do 23 million this year in sales in our training businesses. We've got our real estate portfolio. We've obviously been doing it 18 years. We've been investing for 18 years. So we do all right. I'll answer anything and obviously you're not interviewing me.
My business partner my accountant and my wife have all sworn me to never share net worth. Oh really? Yeah, because there's no upside. There's a lot of downside. But yeah
You know, we're doing all right. You're doing all right. We're doing all right. Tens of millions, not hundreds of millions, but not far off. But I've been paying tax in the UK for 1890. I've got 100 staff. I pay all their national insurance. I pay the VAT on the business. That's millions a year, just there. And there's no support.
Honestly, like this is a real thing. I'm talking about we can talk about it Yeah, love to because it is it's exciting being here as well Look things are getting more expensive because so many people are moving here because they see the opportunity So things are getting more expensive just to get here. I said oh my god. I'm late because the roads are They're trying they're expanding the roads now. They're having to double the lanes and they're already wide enough Yeah, and now they're doubling them because so many people are moving here
The opportunity is here. It's so safe. I was talking to you about this before we started. This is the safest country for women. Whenever I leave the country, I don't feel as safe as I feel. So safe. I can walk around anywhere, anytime of the night, by myself, as a woman. Even just simple things like
You know, growing up in Australia or UK, you'd be walking down the street as a woman and you'd just get cat called out of the window of some idiot from a construction site or from out there window, yeah. What about, I don't know what they say, but it's been a long time since I got cat called. I can't remember.
It might feel good if you go back to the UK. It might actually feel good. You don't get any of that. There's just no harassment. People just respect your space and your privacy. You can't film anyone without that permission. You can't take a photo. There's no paparazzi here. That's really good. It's a good place and I love it. I've been here a long time and there's good reason for that. All right, Harry, we need to have a talk on the way.
Yeah. Right, let's do a super quick fire round. OK, love it. Before we go. Thank you for all this. I've really enjoyed it. Yeah, well, thanks for coming. It's been awesome. And it's taken me back to my radio date, so I've had fun. Like, talking into a mic, it's been a long time. Yeah. Love it. So, rate and rank these supercar brands one to four. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, McLaren.
Top to bottom Ferrari Lamborghini Porsche McLaren was was the fourth worst and the first best Okay, so fourth is the worst right yeah, so Ferrari Ferrari's the worst well for me. Oh, yeah
Yeah, I'm sorry, I just added a bit of spice. Oh my God, Ferrari's last place. That was a bit lighter than me. Yeah. Look, I... Most people would put Ferrari top with that. No, I know. Look, I'm a bit... I'm being a bit extreme. I understand what Ferrari is built. It's incredible. They do have incredible cars. They irk me a little bit. They rub me the wrong way. So I think I'm just being a bit petty as well. That's fine. It can be. Yeah. So they're in fourth place because of my petties. Yeah. Not because I think their cars are total shit. Yeah. Do you know what I mean?
So fourth place Ferrari, then you said Porsche McLaren and Lambeau, right? Then probably, oh, this is hard. Lambeau is going to be at the top for me. So then second and third would be, I'd say McLaren second Porsche third. Wow. That's really controversial, isn't it? Yeah, I mean Ferrari third and fourth. It is. I don't think anyone I've asked that has ever said that.