‘Didn't believe in me': 27-year-old reveals secret she kept from her boss

News.com.au

28-05-2025

When Bella Moro reached her dream salary of $100,000 year, it pushed her to leave her secure job and pursue what turned out to be a million dollar business.
Ms Moro was working in marketing at a manufacturing business that sold hand sanitiser and toilet paper during the pandemic when an idea came to her.
Like everyone else during the pandemic, the Sydney local got a dog, a Cavoodle, and noticed it was impossible to find a shampoo that worked for her pooch.
She found that most of the dog shampoos she used made her and her pet itchy and didn't smell great.
That was when she noticed a market gap and came up with the idea of creating a shampoo made specifically for Cavoodles.
'I love this breed and wanted to create a product targeting sensitive skin. I wanted something that created fluffiness and a good shine,' she told news.com.au.
The 27-year-old explained that she wanted to 'create something' that would set her up for the rest of her life.
At the time, the pandemic was also wreaking havoc on people's job security and she didn't want to rely on an employer to make ends meet.
'I enjoyed my job, my team, and the work I was doing, but I always knew it might not last forever,' she said.
'I wanted to create something to be able to set myself up.'
Ms Moro took about six to eight months to perfect the formula, test it, and put it into production, kicking off her business, MyCavoodle.
When she finally had the product ready in 2021, Australia went into a massive pandemic induced lockdown that lasted four rigorous months for Sydneysiders, and she couldn't get her products to sell.
'I'd just spent all my savings on this, and then everything was just sitting on a factory floor, and I couldn't sell anything,' she said.
The business owner was panicked at the time, but she still had her full-time job, so she waited out the lockdown.
She launched the business in mid-2021, and at the time, it didn't even occur to her to quit her job.
Ms Moro worked full-time and then ran her dog shampoo business on the side. Every morning, before work, she'd stop at the post office and post out her products, and at night, she'd pack and deal with orders.
'It was crazy hours, like 15-hour days,' she said.
'My first month, I was so shocked because it was so quickly successful. Without even doing a paid advertisement, I was making between $8000 and $10,000 in revenue.'
The business owner found the instant success 'crazy' but credits it to the Cavoodle community.
Immediately, she knew the best way to market her product was directly to Cavoodle owners. And where do they hang out? Online in private Faceboook community groups, of course.
Ms Moro had to be sneaky because most community groups ban self-promotion. So, she marketed her product by getting family and friends to post in Cavoodle Facebook groups and recommend the products.
The 27-year-old also spoke about her dog shampoo to anyone who would listen. She said that engaging with other dog owners was easy to a certain extent because 'everyone loves to talk about their dog', and she'd even plug her product at local dog parks.
'When I was working for the first year, I made $10,000 to $15,000 in monthly revenue. My biggest month was close to $20,000,' she said.
Outside of close friends and family Ms Moro didn't tell anyone that she'd started a business because she didn't want to jinx things.
'I kept it a secret,' she said.
'I didn't want my bosses to find out I was working on something on the side and then think my productivity was going down.'
She was also reluctant to tell people because, in general, she found people weren't very supportive.
'So many people didn't believe in it and it drove me to prove them wrong. I wanted to prove everyone wrong and there was no option of failure for me,' she said.
Someone close to her once said that, when her business doesn't work out, she can just 'come work' for them.
People would also often ask Ms Moro, 'Are you making money from this?'.
The answer was yes, and probably more than you.
'I've probably made more in revenue then you have in your job. People don't understand if you put in the work, the sky is the limit,' she argued.
The negativity just kept pushing Ms Moro, and the business kept growing to the point that when she got her dream salary of $100,000 at her 9-5 job, that wasn't even enough to stop her from quitting.
She knew she needed to leave and focus on her brand.
'What Covid taught me is you can just get made redundant, so I bet on myself instead,' she said.
It was the right bet. In the last year, the business has generated $1.1 million in revenue and is continuing to grow.