Latest news with #WhoIsElijah
Herald Sun
6 hours ago
- Business
- Herald Sun
‘You've got to learn': Young Aussie reveals how a simple idea turned into a multi-million dollar business
Raquel Bouris has built up a multimillion-dollar perfume empire, but even she still makes mistakes that can cost her six figures. Ms Bouris, 31, is the founder of Who Is Elijah, a genderless fragrance brand that describes itself as 'bold, timeless and unapologetic' and has been widely successful since its launch in 2018. Well, almost since launch. When Ms Bouris originally launched the brand on Shopify, she made 'zero sales,' which ended up being both the making of her and the business. 'It was one of those garage to global stories,' she told MORE: Australia's fastest growing salaries Who Is Elijah came to be after Ms Bouris attended the Coachella music festival back in 2017 and met a woman who she said smelled amazing. It was so good that even after she returned to Australia, she couldn't stop thinking about the other woman's perfume. It prompted her to track down the smell, which the fellow Coachella-goer said was from India, and once she started wearing it back in Sydney, she began getting constant compliments. 'I had over 100 people asking me what the fragrance was,' she said. MORE: A guide to the average salary in Australia The compliments she received on the fragrance made her realise how much Aussies craved a good scent. The 31-year-old found an Aussie perfume partner to work with and then launched her fragrance on Shopify – to zero sales. If anything, the failure motivated her because she knew the product was good, so she started hitting the pavement. 'I just started walking into stores and introducing myself and nine out of ten times they'd start stocking the fragrances and I very quickly built up stockists,' she said. Two years later, she quit her full-time job, and at that point the Who is Elijah brand was being stocked in over 50 stores. 'I was making $20,000 a month in revenue,' she said. Ms Bouris said when quit her job she is 'embarrassed to say' she didn't fully understand the business yet. She didn't even know the difference between profit and revenue, but she did see that her perfume business was bringing in money. 'No one was teaching me what profit and loss was. I quit right after I got into David Jones, and then around that time, I got a bookkeeper and accountant,' she said. From there, the business just boomed, from making $1 million a year to $10 million a year, and last year, it made $20 million in revenue. It's the kind of crazy success people only dream about but Ms Bouris said it comes with making so many mistakes. For instance, this year, they've focused on scaling back rather than growth. They went from being stocked with over 600 stores to only 100. The business founder said she wants to focus on getting the 'structure right' and that being stocked in fewer stores hasn't impacted revenue. Perhaps what separates Ms Bouris from her peers is that she's prepared to acknowledge a mistake and rectify it rather than keep going down the same path to avoid admitting she was wrong. She's also recently regretted 'paying ridiculous, like six-figure amounts of money' to people to do something that she should have just done herself. She wants to be open about that though, because in her opinion growing a business doesn't involve getting everything right. 'When I first started and I'd listen to other founders and I'd look up to them so much and I thought they were amazing, and then I got to know these people, and they'd come to me for advice,' she said. 'I'm very honest with our journey, and it has stuck with me that people in business don't like to admit that it is hard and they've made mistakes.' Ms Bouris said she feels like the last six years of business have ultimately been about learning 'lesson after lesson' but that is part of it. 'I started this when I was 23, I knew nothing about owning my own company. You've got to learn and there's a lot to learn.' Originally published as 'You've got to learn': Young Aussie reveals how a simple idea turned into a multi-million dollar business
News.com.au
10 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘You've got to learn': Young Aussie reveals how a simple idea turned into a multi-million dollar business
Raquel Bouris has built up a multimillion-dollar perfume empire, but even she still makes mistakes that can cost her six figures. Ms Bouris, 31, is the founder of Who Is Elijah, a genderless fragrance brand that describes itself as 'bold, timeless and unapologetic' and has been widely successful since its launch in 2018. Well, almost since launch. When Ms Bouris originally launched the brand on Shopify, she made 'zero sales,' which ended up being both the making of her and the business. 'It was one of those garage to global stories,' she told Who Is Elijah came to be after Ms Bouris attended the Coachella music festival back in 2017 and met a woman who she said smelled amazing. It was so good that even after she returned to Australia, she couldn't stop thinking about the other woman's perfume. It prompted her to track down the smell, which the fellow Coachella-goer said was from India, and once she started wearing it back in Sydney, she began getting constant compliments. 'I had over 100 people asking me what the fragrance was,' she said. The compliments she received on the fragrance made her realise how much Aussies craved a good scent. The 31-year-old found an Aussie perfume partner to work with and then launched her fragrance on Shopify – to zero sales. If anything, the failure motivated her because she knew the product was good, so she started hitting the pavement. 'I just started walking into stores and introducing myself and nine out of ten times they'd start stocking the fragrances and I very quickly built up stockists,' she said. Two years later, she quit her full-time job, and at that point the Who is Elijah brand was being stocked in over 50 stores. 'I was making $20,000 a month in revenue,' she said. Ms Bouris said when quit her job she is 'embarrassed to say' she didn't fully understand the business yet. She didn't even know the difference between profit and revenue, but she did see that her perfume business was bringing in money. 'No one was teaching me what profit and loss was. I quit right after I got into David Jones, and then around that time, I got a bookkeeper and accountant,' she said. From there, the business just boomed, from making $1 million a year to $10 million a year, and last year, it made $20 million in revenue. It's the kind of crazy success people only dream about but Ms Bouris said it comes with making so many mistakes. For instance, this year, they've focused on scaling back rather than growth. They went from being stocked with over 600 stores to only 100. The business founder said she wants to focus on getting the 'structure right' and that being stocked in fewer stores hasn't impacted revenue. Perhaps what separates Ms Bouris from her peers is that she's prepared to acknowledge a mistake and rectify it rather than keep going down the same path to avoid admitting she was wrong. She's also recently regretted 'paying ridiculous, like six-figure amounts of money' to people to do something that she should have just done herself. She wants to be open about that though, because in her opinion growing a business doesn't involve getting everything right. 'When I first started and I'd listen to other founders and I'd look up to them so much and I thought they were amazing, and then I got to know these people, and they'd come to me for advice,' she said. 'I'm very honest with our journey, and it has stuck with me that people in business don't like to admit that it is hard and they've made mistakes.' Ms Bouris said she feels like the last six years of business have ultimately been about learning 'lesson after lesson' but that is part of it. 'I started this when I was 23, I knew nothing about owning my own company. You've got to learn and there's a lot to learn.'
Daily Mirror
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
‘I wore this cherry-scented perfume over the weekend and everyone keeps asking where it's from'
Shopping Writer Meghan has branched out, wearing another cherry-scented perfume that she says had 'everyone asking what it was called and where it was from - I got so many compliments' The last fragrance I took for a spin was Sabrina Carpenter's Cherry Baby perfume, which I wrote about here. That fragrance got me many compliments when I wore it out, and it featured notes I could smell. So when I found this cherry-scented perfume, I figured it would be worth trying - and I'm so glad I did. As I've said before, I don't have a brilliant sense of smell, so finding and liking a perfume can be difficult. There are some scents I can recognise and know I like, so I've found a handful of fragrances over the years that I've turned back to repeatedly because I know they smell great. But over the last few months, I've been branching out and trying various new scents. The fragrance is the Cherry Fiesta from Who Is Elijah, currently available from Boots. A predominantly cherry-focused scent, this perfume had so many people, from bar staff to strangers to my friends, asking me what scent I was wearing and where they could buy their own. Touted as a vibrant and unique, playful yet sophisticated scent, this Cherry Fiesta is described as transporting the wearer to dancing on tables in Mykonos with a cocktail in your hand—and it definitely invokes that imagery; I can't wait to take it with me on my Greek vacation this summer. A fragrance set to deliver a playful indulgence and seductive freedom, with bright, bold, and decadently irresistible notes that make a statement that won't be ignored, and from my experience wearing it out, it definitely draws attention. My new favourite fragrance opens with a sharp burst of mandarin and pear, teasing the senses with a touch of anise for a flirtatious and opulent layer that delves deeper into a heart of white florals and ripe cherry, creating an addictive, sultry blend that is sweet yet daring, innocent yet tempting. The scent that pulls people in closes with accords of creamy vanilla and benzoin, which create a magic finish that wraps around you like liquid velvet. The fragrance also boasts green patchouli, which cuts through the sweet and fruity core with an earthy, rebellious edge.
