Okay, while it’s still early days, 2018’s still looking near-identical to 2017. Trump‘s still holding office, Danielle Bregoli‘s still having a red-hot crack at becoming a rapper (she’s the Cash Me Ousside gal, FYI) and we’re still navigating life in what ~thought leaders~ have deemed The Golden Age of the Influencer. And just like all Golden Ages, there are several figureheads responsible for their growth. Wondering who’s leading the charge on our home turf? We’ve gotta say that Taryn Williams is definitely one of them.
Just as any entrepreneur worth their salt should, Williams has her elevator pitch down pat, as she told to PEDESTRIAN.TV in our latest Founders University podcast:
I’m the Founder and CEO of theright.fit, which is a two-sided marketplace for creative talent. We have everything from photographers, hair and makeup artists, influencers, stylists, videographers. Pretty much anything you would need to bring a creative campaign to life – whether it’s online content, or a TVC, or a print campaign.
Williams founded theright.fit to help creatives connect with work without all the headaches that have risen with the advent of social media. Technology threw a spanner into the works for businesses seeking all the humans necessary to pull together a branding campaign during the rise of platforms like Instagram/LinkedIn, and it took a while for things to ‘catch up’ to these advancements. In Australia, theright.fit has literally been an embodiment of ‘catching up’ happening within the industry – solving issues like late payments, scheduling and a whole lot more for both organisations and talent.
As you might have guessed given the sheer brilliance and scale of her business, this isn’t Williams’ first rodeo. With a hefty amount of production and modeling experience behind her, she started her first venture WINK Models at just 21. Nope, you didn’t read that wrong. And yep, she did struggle with people respecting her because of her age – but hey, if she could get through it, so can you.
Her knowledge of both sides of the industry was one of the reasons WINK Models rose to dominance upon opening its doors – successfully launching with 30 models on the books for a campaign with Nokia in Sydney. And although she’s no longer completely steering the ships (having handed the wheel over so she could focus on theright.fit), it’s still going strong with over 650 models and offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Oh, and did we forget to mention that she pulled off such a huge feat completely solo? Yep, no business partners or anything. And funnily enough, not having a business partner gives her a unique perspective on whether finding one will be theright.fit for you (soz, had to).
I’d never had a business partner. I look at people who have business partners and think, ‘oh, that would be so nice to share 50% of the load with’ and to have someone help you carry those big boxes up a hill. I think it’s a double-edged sword – you have to find someone with the same vision and the same drive. Someone who is really aligned on what success looks like.
Having the same outlook on success is something she also preaches when trying to secure investors for your venture.
It’s what I so strongly recommend to people when they’re looking for investment; it’s sitting down and thinking what does success look like. Are we looking to be a global international company, or just are we just going to be a Sydney-based platform? Making sure you see eye-to-eye on that is really hard.
So yeah, Taryn Williams knows what’s what when it comes to starting a startup – and if you’re an aspiring hustler then we highly encourage you to cop even more of the brilliant insights she has to share in the latest episode of our Founders University podcast. In addition to the big chunks of holistic advice you’ll live and die by as a future business person, she delves into nitty-gritty details like the need for a great accountant, how something small like your choice of phone plan can impact your entire operation, and the need for a great HR lawyer as you’re scaling. Give it a listen below or head HERE.
