[00:00:00]
I hope that everybody in the crowd gets something so valuable from being there. I want them to meet somebody really impactful. I want them to hear something from the stage that helps them do things differently in their businesses from the next day onwards. This festival, the program, everything that we have on offer is about providing incredible value.
Intro
A unique value if we want to be able to tip the scales towards the favor of marginalized people. We need to understand the secrets to making money in small business. The more we talk about money and this. Secrets that usually stay at the golf club, the more likely we are to be able to make money. My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically good business people like you. This is Money Secrets, the place to learn about the money secrets of successful small business owners. Let's go. [00:01:00]
Acknowledgement of Country
This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wie people of the KO nation, and I'd like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work, and play on. I'd like to pay respects to elders both past and present, and notes that sovereignty has never been seeded. This always was and always will be. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
Fi
If you are listening to this in real time, then this morning the gates open for Ripple Festival and it is the biggest thing I've ever done. Hi, my name's Fee Johnston. I'm the host of the Money Secrets podcast, the co-founder of Ripple, and perhaps I should be a future member of Optimus Anonymous about a year ago.
I had this crazy idea, which I pitched to my business, bestie Mia FileMan. The idea I had was that [00:02:00] small business is so inspiring, creative, multi-ethnic, multicultural. There are so many incredible people doing so much good in the small business world, and we are fun people. But when you look at small business conferences, they are boring.
It's the same speakers, the same topics, the same formats, and I think that small business deserves better. What is really awesome and will always be awesome is live music and live comedy and art. When I. Pitch this idea to my friend Mia. Really, all that I had in my heart was optimism about what we could pull off.
In the last 12 months, we have bought Ripple Festival to life. This crazy idea was that we could bring together the concepts of a small business conference and a music festival into the one [00:03:00] venue, the one lineup, the one stage. And over those 12 months, we have built that business, that brand, the event from the ground up.
We have decided to build Ripple Festival in public. We've talked about this on the podcast before. Building in public takes a lot of courage, and it also requires you to be okay with getting things wrong. We have gotten many things wrong. We over programmed the event, so there were many more events and stages planned for Ripple Festival.
In the end, we needed to strip those back to suit the venue and the crowd that is coming. We didn't sell anywhere near as many tickets as we wanted to, but we are so happy with the amount of tickets that we have sold. We are so happy with every name that comes through our inbox saying that they are voting for a small business event where we are showcasing what is amazing about small [00:04:00] business so that we can bring each other together.
The stuff that I've been working on for the last 12 months has been supporting Mia with marketing, so she is my co-founder in Ripple Festival. She's the best marketer I know. Her roles within Ripple were to be in charge of marketing and partnerships and sponsorships. She's nailed it. Our brand is incredible.
Our tone of voice is incredible. Everybody keeps telling me that they love seeing the market roll out. And Mia has been the custodian and the, you know, the strategist behind all of that. Some of my work has been coming up with social media content alongside her and our, our social media content creator, Elise Campbell.
But the main bulk of my work has been in building the program. How did I do it? The first thing that I did was to think about what are the topics that small business owners need to learn about. I've been in business for 15 years and I've been working with small business for [00:05:00] 25 years, and that experience gives me insights into the sort of topics and training and, you know, ideas that I think business owners who attend Ripple Festival are really going to benefit from.
So I started by thinking about what are the different. Topic areas that we need to cover, and in my mind, those topic areas were making and managing money, that's where my specialty lies marketing. Talking about all aspects of marketing, because marketing is such a huge topic. So we've really tried to bring together strategy copy websites, SEO, ai, LinkedIn, uh, sales strategy, which sits alongside marketing strategy.
So yeah, we've brought together lots of different parts of marketing. We've also programmed for leadership and scaling a business with a team. So we have some incredible speakers on our lineup who have grown really significant teams and we want [00:06:00] to talk to them about how they've done it. How have you managed to grow this incredible business to a team of 20, 50, a hundred or 150, depending on the speakers?
'cause we have a range of business sizes represented on our stage. The topic that we absolutely had to have was impact and purpose. I'm so passionate about the idea of impact being embedded into all small businesses, and I think that small business owners are some of the most impactful purpose led humans that I know.
Of course, I wanted to showcase impact led social enterprise and purpose led founders who are really successful in their craft and in their field, who've grown really significant organizations and businesses that we can all look up to. We also wanted to talk about things like what's it like to grow an online community and how do you make money from that?[00:07:00]
We wanted to talk about how do you get found by the right clients and how do you keep them coming back? We wanted to talk about things like what does it actually look like inside an impact led business? We wanted to talk a lot about the concept of creativity and possibility. We have a panel called The Future Belongs to Creativity, and Mia and I both believe that creativity and community are two of the things that we need most in small business to be able to continue as a cohort of people into the future.
So these are some of the topics that we wanted to cover at Ripple. I'll also be doing a keynote around how to make business easier while still making money.
Ripple Festival Ad
You already know Ripple Festival isn't a typical business event, but what you might not realize is how it. Feels to be there Two days of big ideas, fresh perspectives, and conversations that stick with you long after the two [00:08:00] days. The return on investment is clarity, momentum, and connections that drive meaningful results in your business. Ripple is for forward leaning, future thinking, small business owners who want profit and purpose. We've carefully curated everything. Speaker, every panel, every performance, so you leave inspired and equipped.
Come and join us at Ripple Festival on the 12th and 13th of November. We'd love to see you there, and you can grab your ticket at Ripple Festival au.
If you are coming to Ripple Festival, then while you are listening to this podcast episode, you might be getting ready. You might be thinking about how you are going to be arriving at the festival. I hope you'll be coming on the train because I love the sustainability of public transport, and one of the reasons we chose Graceland as a venue is because it has great access to a train station, and the venue itself [00:09:00] is 100% compostable.
Everything that goes into that venue needs to be composted or recycled, and they actually have a commercial composting facility so that everything actually does get composted, not just is able to be composted. So we've made all of these decisions about how we wanted Ripple Festival to feel from a programming perspective.
We've also included live music and live comedy on stage. We have chosen artists that are really complimentary to each other and who are gonna help us have a really damn good time. We are also gonna have movement breaks each day to help keep us moving our bodies so that our bodies and minds can be keeping up with the incredible stuff coming from the stage.
We also have lots of space in the program for people to have one-on-one conversations with each other. That's sometimes one of the best things about a festival is when you meet somebody in the coffee queue or [00:10:00] you run into somebody you haven't seen for a long time in the bathroom queue, or you are, you know, choosing what you are having for lunch, and all of a sudden the person next to you becomes, you know, a new person to talk to who may go on to become a customer, a supplier, a team member, or just a friend.
All of these decisions that we've been making about Ripple Festival in the last 12 months have all been leading to this moment. So I will be waking up in my bed. Hopefully I will have slept, but I've accepted the fact that I probably won't sleep the night before Ripple, because there are just so many things that I'm considering that I'm thinking about, that I'm hoping will go a certain way.
And although we have had support with Ripple, we've pulled in support where we could, most of the decisions and the legwork and the pressure and the responsibility has fallen on me and me and my co-founder. So we've taken on a huge amount of stress and pressure, and also a financial [00:11:00] commitment and risk by bringing Ripple Festival to life.
I hope that when this podcast episode comes out, I'll be waking up from a really amazing sleep. Who knows, and I'll be getting myself ready to head to the festival where everything is going to come to life before my eyes. Here's what I really hope happens at Ripple Festival. I hope that everybody in the crowd gets something so valuable from being there.
I want them to meet somebody really impactful. I want them to hear something from the stage that helps them do things differently in their businesses from the next day onwards. We want the sort of advice that we can take away from that stage being actionable and practical. We've designed a program and we've curated topics that are for established business owners.
We haven't catered to a startup or early stage business audience because there are lots of [00:12:00] other events focusing on those spaces. So this festival, the program, everything that we have on offer is about providing incredible value and unique value for established small and medium business owners. Who want to develop their business, their skills, and their mind by attending something that is going to be a full body experience.
There is going to be delicious food, coffee, alcohol for two hours in the afternoon, a DJ dance party, live music going all through the day. A lovely big lunch break to be able to hang out with people. There's a chill out zone where people will be able to get away from human and people, if that's what they like to do.
There will also be a conversation quarter where people can go and actively have conversations with people. There's lots of space in the program for people to be able to move their body and move around the venue. We also have a founder speed dating [00:13:00] session happening. We have an art workshop happening.
We really have tried to think about everything, and what I hope is happening when Ripple Festival goes live is that I hope that all of the people walking into the space feel really proud and excited to be part of such a unique and different event. The people who bought our first ever tickets, we call them our platinum and gold ticket holders.
Our festival cannot go ahead without ticket holders. And we feel so grateful and excited and inspired by the people who bought those first tickets because they are the ones who gave us the clarity, the strength, the optimism that we could actually pull this off. So if you are one of our platinum or golden ticket holders and you're listening to this, thank you.
Thank you for believing in me and Mia that we could actually pull this festival off back at a time when we actually weren't sure ourselves. [00:14:00] So what I hope is happening, getting back to the actual festival day, I hope that people are walking in and they are absolutely wowed by the choices that we have made with our signage, with our set design, and with how we have laid out the venue.
Everything about Ripple Festival has been considered with the audience in mind. I hope that as the welcome to country and did do performance kickoff. People realize that they have made a very good decision by coming to the first ever Ripple Festival. I hope that when the speakers start to take the stage that people are able to connect with somebody who is also a small business owner who might be in a different industry or might be a little bit further along in their business than they are.
I hope that as the panels kick off, they see. Different people on stage with different body types, different ethnicities, different beliefs, [00:15:00] perspectives, industries, skills. We really have tried to think about all of the different ways that small business owners and humans are diverse and try to represent so much of that diversity on stage because.
We want our lineup to look like what the actual world looks like. So I hope that people are seeing themselves in the people on stage. I hope that they are seeing fashion that excites them. I hope they feel that they look and feel amazing too. We want this to be an experience where people can really rock their fashion and really lean into how they wanna present themselves and how they wanna feel.
Around other small business owners. I hope that when they see the live podcasting van, that they are blown away by the fact that we have also got a podcasting van and we'll be recording live podcasts throughout the two days. I hope that when the lunch break starts that people really love the food that we have selected.
I hope that they love their lunch [00:16:00] dessert. I hope that, yeah, they're enjoying the healthy soft drinks. We have been very lucky to be able to source for the event, and I hope that they get to chat with someone really lovely. I hope they enjoy the music that our DJ will be playing through the lunch break, and I hope that when they return to their seats after lunch, that they have another couple of hours of really.
Really inspiring and educational content, but we don't want people to leave just feeling inspired. We want them to leave our festival feeling equipped like they actually learn something that they can apply to their own business really quickly. I hope that when the last sessions of the day wrap up at four o'clock.
Now it's time to grab a drink from the bar. Enjoy the live music that is playing. You might consider moving over to doing an art workshop. You might decide to do founder speed dating, or you might decide to just hang out near the stage and enjoy the music that's coming at you. [00:17:00] I hope that when our DJ set starts for the last hour of the day, that people are feeling relaxed enough to be able to have a bit of a boogie, that we've got a bit of a dance floor going.
Uh, myself and Mia are definitely planning on having a bit of a dance floor party on both days of the festival, and I hope that when our attendees leave the event on day one and on day two. They feel like they were able to connect with other really like-minded values aligned purpose led impact driven business owners like themselves.
I hope that they go home feeling like they can achieve more than they could when they walked in the door that morning, and that their mind has expanded into new ways of thinking about being in business and impacting the world as a small business owner. I also really hope that people who get to see what I'm like on stage are blown away.
My style of [00:18:00] public speaking tends to be a little bit different from other public speakers that I've seen. I am really genuine and sometimes even awkward because humans are awkward and sometimes I'm a little bit awkward on stage. I call out different things about what's happening. I try to have a lot of audience participation.
I don't wanna be a speaker who just sits there talking at people. I wanna be the kind of speaker who engages with the audience directly. So I really hope that people get a lot out of my keynote, and I hope they get a lot out of the facilitation that I'm doing on three of the panels, and I just really hope that they have a damn good time.
I hope that everybody, including myself, Mia, our volunteers, our speakers, our performers, the AV crew, the food vendors, our event manager, and everybody who has been part of putting Ripple together. I hope we all leave feeling really [00:19:00] proud and excited about what we've created, and I really hope that we can continue this journey that we're on with Ripple Festival.
Mia and I still don't know what Ripple Festival looks like after our inaugural event, but I really hope that by the time we walk out of Graceland at the end of the day on Thursday the 13th of November, 2025. We have a little bit more clarity around where Ripple Festival is gonna go, and if you want to be part of Ripple Festival and you're listening to this in real time, you can still buy a ticket.
You can buy a ticket for today, which is Wednesday, the 12th of November. Or you can buy a ticket for Thursday, the 13th of November, or you can get a ticket for both days. We are leaving the ticket sales open right up until the day because we've been told that a lot of people make their decisions about whether to go to something on the day.
So if that's you and you've really enjoyed listening to my musings about what I [00:20:00] think or what I hope is happening for Ripple Festival today and tomorrow. Maybe this is your sign to buy a ticket and join us. Imagine the kind of people that you will meet in the crowd and the kind of ideas that you are going to hear from the stage that a event like this is going to attract.
This is for business owners who take themselves seriously. Who take their businesses seriously and genuinely want to grow and develop. This is not a festival or an event for tire kickers. This is for serious, established, experienced business owners who want more. And if that's you, buy a ticket. You can do that at Ripple Festival au, and maybe I'll see you there today.
Outro
Thank you so much for listening right up to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Money Secrets, where we talk about the money secrets of successful small business owners. If you enjoyed the episode, [00:21:00] I'd love it if you subscribe to the podcast, but leave us a review or share this episode with one of your friends.
I hope you learned something. I hope you got a new perspective and I really hope you enjoyed the listening experience.
