Two years ago, Jasmine Lindsay was working as an investment banker in Dubai when she decided to relaunch Jasmine & Will, the pyjama brand she started in 2009 with her aunt Kaye Williams.
With $70,000 in savings and her mum in Australia dispatching orders, Lindsay juggled her corporate career and side hustle for more than a year. “Then I got a call from my mum saying, ‘You need to come home, this is getting out of hand,’” recalls Lindsay, who didn’t argue with her dispatching officer.
Back in Sydney, Lindsay struggled to keep up with both a day job and a start-up. Luckily the business was then at a point where she could financially step away from the security blanket of her job.
Last year Jasmine & Will doubled in size and the team of four is only going to get bigger. Lindsay says the secret to starting a million-dollar business is solving a problem. “When young girls come up to me with a business idea, I ask, ‘Is it going to solve a problem?’ If they can differentiate their idea from other brands, then it’s got legs,” she says of standing out from the crowd. Oh, and it helps if Lara Worthington wears your brand on Instagram.
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