Ep. 30 Rachael Ferguson, CEO of Synxbody – The Honest CEO Show

The Honest CEO Show, Episode 31: Rachael Ferguson, CEO of Synxbody

Caroline Kennedy: (00:01.249)
So today we've got the lovely Rachael Ferguson, the dynamic CEO of Synxbody, whose innovative approach to foot care has revolutionised the industry. So transitioning from a successful career in podiatry, Rachael co-founded Synxbody in 2011, aiming to take foot care solutions to another level and to be accessible to everybody.

Her entrepreneur journey gained significant momentum after securing investment on the TV show Shark Tank, and she partnered with the esteemed businessman Andrew Banks. Under her leadership, Synxbody has expanded its product line significantly, offering a full range of high quality foot care products in Australia and globally as well.

And Rachael's dedication to innovation and excellence has earned her numerous accolades and awards, including 2020 First Among Equals Award at the 40 Under 40 Awards, International Stevie Awards, Telstra Business Award she's been recognised by, and she's won Ozmamprano awards, just to name a few. And she is an inspiring woman who is passionate about building a thriving global company. I'm really excited to have you here today, Rachael.

Rachael Ferguson (01:29.74)
I'm so excited to be here, Caroline, and thank you for the beautiful introduction. It's very, very kind.

Caroline Kennedy (01:36.124)
You're welcome. You did all that work. So it's not me being kind. Now transitioning from podiatry to entrepreneurship is a significant leap, right? So what are the challenges that you've encountered during that period? And also how did your background in podiatry influence your approach to leading Synxbody?

Rachael Ferguson (01:40.6)
Yeah.

Rachael Ferguson (02:02.434)
Such a great question, Caroline. So I think as a clinician, you're so focused on your patients. And I had to learn really quickly that podiatrists are not made entrepreneurs. We're not business people. We do not come out of that degree, you know, with a business degree. So part of me starting my own practice is I learned a lot of skills about business. And then I utilised a lot of those skills in starting Synxbody as well. But it's a really good question that you raised about, you know, just the differences between and what I've learned because, you know, I think, you know, people, when you first go into business, think, you know, you're to be successful right away. And I think my biggest takeaway was it took seven years, you know, to really break even. And I think, you know, that misconception that, you know, if you work hard and you drive, you know, you just focus on it every day, you're going to be successful right away. I think you really need a good contingency plan when you start out like companies like this.

And what we had a rule in our business is that we did not pay ourselves a wage. For a long time, everything was reinvested back into the business. And for the first seven years, I didn't draw a wage at all. I worked as a podiatrist and that is how I earned my money. And I think that really set the business up to be successful. I think if you start straight away and then you're drawing out a wage straight away, it can be very detrimental to the cashflow of the business. So that was probably one of my biggest learnings.

Caroline Kennedy (03:22.123)
Yeah. Yeah. And that's that theory of cashflow is king, right? Everything you just need to continually look at cashflow and make sure it's rolling over as well because otherwise it's not going to be sustainable. As you said. Yeah. Yeah. And in 2015, you were on Shark Tank and you were able to get investment from Andrew Banks, which is really, significant right for your business and for you and clearly you stood out to him as a an entrepreneur and a successful business model as well and some where he saw opportunity. So tell me a little bit about that journey and the key takeaways from partnering with Andrew.

Rachael Ferguson (04:13.974)
Yes, really good question. So it's now this just this month, we've celebrated decade of him being in our business. So 10 years, which is just unbelievable. And when I think back to when he first invested in us, a lot of people think that when you get a shark on board, you know, all your problems are going to disappear. And it just doesn't work like that.

So what I felt Andrew did when he came in 10 years ago, his investment helped us to wipe down our debt, which had been attributed to growing patents and trademarks and tooling and equipment. So it really helped from a cashflow perspective when he first came in. But then what he's taught me over the last 10 years has been invaluable. You know, things like how to operate as a CEO, how to influence people, how to, what actually matters. Because I think as you're growing as an entrepreneur, you know, you have to wear different hats. You have to think a bit differently.

And having a mentor that has walked the journey before you is invaluable. So I've definitely learned so much from him. He has such a calming nature about him and he gives really, really good advice.

Caroline Kennedy (05:20.575)
Yeah. And I like what you said about the influencing element because I was in a meeting recently with Rachael and I saw her influencing people in a genuine way and it was very significant. And it's a skill that not many people can master, but it's a very, very powerful skill. And you'll see any successful CEOs can master influencing and you certainly have done that. Yeah. With that skill.

Rachael Ferguson (05:45.848)
Yes. I think it's taken a journey, which is something that I reflect on upon having mentors. And I'll talk about that because I think any entrepreneur, if you do not have mentors and a range of different mentors in your life, you will not be the successful entrepreneur that you want to be.

Caroline Kennedy (06:03.893)
Yeah, yeah. And I like what you said range as well, because it's so important to look at what skills do I want to have, who's done it before me, and how do I learn from them first and foremost to get me there quicker and take what you're looking for based on where you want to go from each of those mentors to Yeah, yeah, that's good.

Rachael Ferguson (06:30.562)
Definitely.

Caroline Kennedy (06:31.771)
Now shifting production overseas involves complex logistics, as I know, you know, can you delve into the specific hurdles you faced, with the logistics and having, yeah, product range from overseas and Australia? I know you have Australia too. Yeah.

Rachael Ferguson (06:54.24)
Yes, so challenging. And I think the hardest part is obviously wherever you're manufacturing is understanding their culture. You know, when I first went in to manufacture in different countries, you really have to step in and understand what their needs are, because the way they communicate is and what they need might be different to say, for example, Australia, you might have Vietnam, you've got China, depending on where you're working, you really need to understand how those you know, how business operates, like what know, what are the key messages? So I think it took me a long time to figure that out.

Once we did, we found it quite easy. But then because we are expanding, we've got factories all over the world. When you move to a new market, again, it's that same learning process again. So I think obviously being so far away was a challenge. Prior to COVID, everyone used to jump on a plane. That doesn't seem to happen as much anymore, which is sometimes a good thing. I think a lot of manufacturing has been able to take place online by putting in some good practices, having some really good quality control agents, really good communication, a good team that can help that process. But I think probably the most challenging part I would say is freight and logistics. And that is continually to be a challenging landscape at the moment. I mean, you can book freight, you know, and you know, you're on track for 30 days, it's going to arrive and then all of a sudden it's pushed out to 60 or even 75 days. And that can make a big impact into your forecasting.

And I see a lot of businesses struggle with that as well as cashflow. And we spoke about that before too, because often when you're manufacturing offshore, you have to pay for those goods before they arrive. And if they're not arriving for 60 days or more, you need to plan for that cashflow to be able to pay for that and then to be able to wait till you get the goods to sell them. So it's another key thing, yeah.

Caroline Kennedy (08:44.937)
Yeah, how do you think you overcome that particularly factoring in delays and the potential impact of not having stock on shelves, etc. What do you do to be able to minimise within reason, of course, because it's not always in your control, but minimise the impact?

Rachael Ferguson (09:03.074)
Yes. We moved a couple of years ago to Unleashed, which is an inventory management system. And it's definitely helped us like with our forecasting because it takes into effect all your sales and it helps come up with numbers. But like you said, it's not cut and dry. We still have to manipulate those numbers depending on what's happening at the moment. And to give you an example, our factory, one of our couple of our really big factories usually operate on a 30 day turnaround time.

That's now been doubled in the last couple of weeks to 60 days. So whilst freight is challenging, that's challenging. So what we've decided to do is we're investing more of our money in buying stock and backing ourselves for a longer period of time, because if you do not have stock, you cannot sell.

Caroline Kennedy (09:46.069)
Yeah, yeah, that's so true. If you can't make the sales, then the rest of it's irrelevant. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now you originally started the business with a co-founder and that co-founder exited and then you transformed the business and achieved substantial growth. What strategies did you implement during that period? And how did you build resilience after the exit?

Rachael Ferguson (10:20.664)
Very, very good questions because I actually had that time of year as a very pivotal point in my success and my journey because what I find, and this is what I think many entrepreneurs get bogged down, is doing all the things. You're doing all the things, you're exhausted, you're hiring all the people. And I think one of the things that I forgot to do was actually find some space and time to be creative. So how I overcame that, so my business partner exited.

And I had an opportunity then to turn the business around. But before I decided what I needed to do, I had to work on number one. So that became very much a morning routine of meditation. I read an amazing book called Miracle Morning. And I learned those strategies of just silence, you know, sitting there. What are you grateful for? Do a bit of exercise, eat good food. And because I'd been so busy prior to that, wearing all the hats, I wasn't focusing on myself.

So what I learned in 30 days was all of a sudden, all this creativity was flowing to me. And I realised what I needed to do. And in our situation, we, we had this great product. Everyone loved it when they tried it, but the packaging wasn't selling it on shelf. So I really think branding and packaging is the most powerful thing when it comes to products, because you could have the best product, but if you cannot capture that customer, when they come in the store, you've lost them.

So we transformed the packaging and the branding. And then I realised that we needed more than just one product. So we expanded from Synxsole, which was our in-sole, we expanded to a whole range of foot care products. And then we rebranded to Synxbody, which encompasses the whole body. And then we had all these brands under it. And just making that small, sounds, it sounds huge, but it was a small shift initially.

It was just let's just create a few different products and change the packaging. And then when I would pitch that to buyers, I got such a different response than what I had prior. And so making that change and now over the last, you know, seven years since then, we have just expanded and expanded and grown. and it's been probably the most powerful lesson in my life is that you need to go in to go up. So you need to focus on yourself, really drive in that awareness of yourself, believe in yourself, trust yourself and trust your instincts because it's got you this far. So there's so much inside, but if we're too busy on our phones and distracted by noise, we're never gonna really truly tap into what we need to do to shift the needle.

Caroline Kennedy (12:59.339)
Yeah. That is so true. And I love that you said about the creativity element, because I think for you, that is really a core strength of yours, that the creativity and the innovation and looking at product ranges and thinking, how do we innovate in this space, which is quite traditional, right? Full care is quite traditional. And thinking about how do we want to lead the way? And you're always evolving your product range, right? We were always thinking, how do we add value and how do we innovate in this space? The other thing I wanted to say is when you talked about the book, another book I have read recently is called The Artist's Way which is around creativity and finding your creativity and interestingly it teaches a lot of what I teach when I work with CEOs and executives.

And sometimes you just need to hear it a different way. And even for me, reading the book was quite significant in really tapping back into that creativity. yeah, and it's so important because we can lose it quite quickly, can't we? Like when we're just faced with running businesses, doing so much.

Rachael Ferguson (14:18.71)
Absolutely. And I think even now, like, even though I know it, I will still read books on it. So I will go get that book and read that now, because you need to keep tapping into that creativity and keep reminding yourself of the importance, because without it, you're not leading a business if you're not innovating continuously.

Caroline Kennedy (14:33.205)
Yeah. And innovating is about remaining relevant too. And I think that is critical. It's something that I've always said when I was leading organisations. How are we remaining relevant for the consumer? How are the consumer buying patterns change? Do we have the insights into that so that we can continue to innovate to remain relevant? And innovation can be something so small. It can even be just changing a process or a system, it doesn't actually have to be technology. It's just making sure that there is that relevance out there in market.

And, you know, there's lots of stories of businesses that have not done that well and then have become irrelevant and Blockbuster always comes to mind for me because they really thought they have the market captured and that they were a billion dollar organisation that nothing was going to touch them and it's a significant story to the status quo. If you rely on the status quo, then you will not remain relevant. You got to keep ahead of the curve all the time. And I think you do that so well. Yeah.

Rachael Ferguson (15:48.311)
Thank you. And I think, you know, I definitely don't do it alone. I think having people to remind me of that makes a massive difference. Like even yourself, like having you as a mentor, having you as someone to work with, reminding me of that little bit better, little bit better. How can you just improve this process slightly? As you said, it doesn't need to be massive shifts. It's small little things that will set you apart from your competitors.

Caroline Kennedy (16:12.255)
Yeah, yeah. And you said before you don't do it alone, of course you've got a team around you, which is I've always said you're only as good as the team around you. And they have had a significant impact during your journey with Synxbody as well.

Can you give me an example of perhaps a leadership challenge that you faced within the organisation? And how did you address it to foster a more motivated and innovative team environment?

Rachael Ferguson (16:46.624)
Absolutely. think, you know, many businesses get stuck in the doing. And because we're all busy, we don't think ahead and think, how can we stop this chaos right now? How can we look a few months ahead and go, this is the opportunities. This is what we need to shift. And I think one thing that really springs to mind, and I know we've done this together, but I think it's really powerful to talk about is strategy days in business.

You know, I wasn't really aware of the importance of a strategy day until I was working with you, until I brought you into our company. And I think looking at the business as a whole and letting everybody have a say at what's working for them, what's not working for them, what are some blocks? Because as a CEO, your blocks are gonna be quite different to your procurement offices, to your digital marketers, to your, everybody's gonna have their own story. And if you just continually work and work and work and not come together as a team and put everything aside and work on the business, not in the business for a period of time. And even if it's once a quarter, I think extremely powerful. And that definitely made a big shift in our company recently.

Caroline Kennedy (17:54.602)
Yeah. And it is so significant and a lot of business owners neglect it, not necessarily on purpose, it's just as you said, that they're in the doing. And I think it creates alignment and it creates a vision for the future. And it's like having a compass for where we want to go and then breaking that down into bite-sized pieces. Everybody has clarity and they have clarity on their contribution as well to that vision and to the direction of the business.

And it is quite critical. What are the three key lessons that you have learned as an entrepreneur and what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

Rachael Ferguson (18:44.95)
Absolutely. Three key lessons. So I'm going to start with number one that I've already said, but I do think it is number, it is the key thing for any entrepreneur is self-development and always working on yourself. So not assuming that you are, you you're beyond powerful that you don't need to continually work on yourself. I think you need to read, you need to learn, you need mentors, you need to stimulate your, and your only, your mind will only function as well as you look after your health. So exercise, eating well, practicing mindfulness, all of that absolutely number one, because if you take care of that, everything else will fall into place. And it's not saying that you're perfect all the time. I'll definitely put my hand up and say, I slip out of it during busy phases or I'm traveling a lot for work and I can't get a lot of the things done that I want to, but you just slip back into the good habits, know, pick up from where you left off and carry on. That's what I tend to do. And I think it's very, very important.

Number two, figure out what your skill set is, what your strengths are, and align those to what you do every single day. And then figure out who you need in the other places to fill those spots. Because, you know, I wouldn't be here without my team and they're very specialised in what they're good at and they love things I don't and they're better at things than I am. And, you know, you know, getting rid of that, like, I need to do everything approach is, you know, is really just such a key lesson of letting things go and letting people bring advice and ideas to you as well because they will often have way better ideas than you, which was a really big lesson for me too. And number three, I would say absolutely hold the vision and keep reminding your team of where you're going and what you stand for because you can find yourself very digressed and not in where you started out as a business. So for us, it's all about making foot care more accessible to everyone. We wanna make sure that we

You know, anyone has access to it. And not only that, we want to deliver them the best customer service and the best knowledge. So every time we take a step in the business, does it align to our vision? Is it all about empowering these bodies? Is it, is it about, you know, helping them to be strong and supported? And if it's not, then let's not do that. Let's focus on something else. So just remind that constant reminder.

Caroline Kennedy (21:04.789)
Yeah, yeah. That's good. And I like the personal development one, which kind of leads into my next question, which was how do you, how do you continue to develop professionally and personally? And what has been really significant for your growth?

Rachael Ferguson (21:26.604)
Yeah, so powerful. I think I always read. That's one of my things. I love reading. I'll always read different books and I challenge myself in different ways. So, you know, sometimes it's about mindset, sometimes it's about business, it's about the stock exchange, it's about branding, entrepreneurs, different journeys, food that we're eating. I'll just really, really diversify my knowledge and make sure that I'm listening. you know, I also find like, I don't, you know, I like to maximise my time.

So if I'm exercising or walking, I'll listen to something that's, you know, empowering my mind and lifting me up. I have had some really big shifts in the last 12 months. And I'd say a lot of that we, you know, I've done a lot of the Tony Robbins training, which I think has very much opened me up to different aspects of my life. And I've found that to be really powerful with business mastery, but then also working with yourself has actually really, really helped open my mind into some of the possibilities and even just how to move the needle faster because we get so stuck in, you know, the day to day running and that, you know, just that key reminder that you need outside influence and you need to be also able to look at your own strengths and weaknesses by not, you know, by having someone that you trust, someone that can actually help you see them, I think is really, really important because if we're always continually improving, we will always get better.

If you assume that you're the best at everything, you're never going to learn. You have to assume that you can always be better. Even until I'm 99 years old, I will be looking for ways to be better because we can all improve.

Caroline Kennedy (24:01.813)
Yeah, yeah. And I think one thing also too, I've found with Rachael is that her business has grown significantly and it will continue to grow significantly. And she's on a path to exponential growth. And one of the things you're always looking at is what got me here won't necessarily get me there. And where are the gaps and how do I bridge those gaps and you're very curious and always wanting to be the best version of yourself as a leader to lead Synxbody into the future and then looking at okay who am I as a leader and then what do I need to do differently within my business as a leader to get me where we need to go and you're always evaluating yourself in terms of that yeah and I think that's extremely powerful because you're always trying to look to shift that needle personally and professionally as well. And that's why the business is such a great success because of who you are as a leader, first and foremost, and how you're always developing. Yeah. Okay.

Rachael Ferguson (25:13.57)
Thank you. That's a really great reflection.

Caroline Kennedy (25:16.949)
Hmm, yeah. And final question is, even though we've covered off on it a little bit, we've been working together for a little while. What has been your experience?

Rachael Ferguson (25:30.168)
Wow, this is a big one. I think we don't know what we don't know. And one of my biggest lessons in life is that, as you mentioned before, what got you this far won't necessarily get you to that next step. So I think it's always looking for, what have I done good? That's great. Where do I wanna go? And what do I need to get me to that next point? Now, know,

When you're thinking about yourself as a leader, you need to be able to continuously work with someone who you can trust, who can see your blind spots and help you realise them. I think is very key. And I really believe that you've been able to undoubtedly do that with me in such a way that's made me realise what areas I needed to focus on to get me to that next level. But then also who did I need around me? So what key players did I need around me to raise me up.

I don't think I was very aware of that before we started working together and having that clarity around, okay, well, this is where your strengths lie. This is where you wanna go. Who is that key person around you we need? And then not only that, how do you then manage your team and how do you hold them accountable? And I think having someone to be able to teach you that is absolutely key because, I'm a podiatrist. I trained as a podiatrist, I'm a clinician. I focus on the patient. then develop products, but some of those areas whilst I'm a CEO, they take learning and I have to learn from people like yourself who have led these huge companies.

If I want to go lead a huge company, you need to be able to learn from people who have walked in the steps before you and actually done the work. I think that's the difference between there's lots of coaches out there, there's lots of mentors, but unless you're speaking with someone who has actually walked in those steps before you, you've got to be really careful of the advice around there that you're listening to. So I found that, you know, that for me was just extremely powerful. But what I also found is your ability to step in and look at data, to be able to see things that other people can't see. It's a skill. Not everyone has that skill. I certainly don't have that skill. I need guidance from people like yourself to direct me to different areas. Once I see it, I know, I know exactly you can't unsee it, but you need that help and assistance to break data down. And most people are not skilled in that area. They're not CFOs. They're not analysts, you know? So having the skills of someone who has the ability to be able to search and find what you need. And one of the things you always tell me is, you know, the data tells a story, right? And it's so true. Like that data, once you have the data and you know, it really helps tell the story of where you're gonna go, how you're gonna get there. And it makes everything so much more achievable.

So I think, for me, it's absolutely those key parts and opening my mind up to what's possible because again, you can be an entrepreneur that's like, am gonna grow my business to this and I'm gonna travel the world and I'm gonna expand my products into all these countries. But unless you have a plan that's measurable and achievable, then how do you know you're gonna get there? So I think that's definitely what you've given to me. And I think together that is a really powerful combination. something that I've found really, really helpful.

Caroline Kennedy (28:43.339)
Yeah, thank you for that. And I always say what gets measured improves and I've seen it be extremely powerful and have significant contribution in helping business to grow exponentially as well. Yeah. And okay, last question. I know I said that was the last question, but what's the future of Synxbody and what are you most looking forward to?

Rachael Ferguson (29:07.298)
Yes. Amazing. So we want to be the number one foot care brand in the world and we want to be able to come into everybody's houses and help them on a health and wellness journey, not just from providing them products, but we want to give them knowledge and empower them with the things and the tools that they need. So if they have a problem, they'll be able to come either onto our podcast or they'll be able to go onto our AI chat. They'll be able to figure things out for themselves and then actually go and see another health professional.

I see it as two parts, not just providing solutions at home, but also advice to better educate. And I really want to be able to, yeah, bring Synxbody to everybody from all corners of the world. And we're on a mission to do that and watch this space.

Caroline Kennedy (29:51.861)
yeah, I have no doubt you will achieve that mission. And you know, you are, you're very focused, very determined, but you do so in a genuine way that puts the customer at the heart of everything that you do. And you're always thinking about how do we get better? And it's, it's a powerful combination. And I can't wait to see you go from strength to strength and continue to do so.

Rachael Ferguson (30:23.308)
Yeah, thank you. can't wait either. And with you as an advisor too, I think, you know, we'll get there a whole lot faster.

Caroline Kennedy (30:29.705)
Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Rachael. I really appreciate it. And I know that our listeners are going to get so much out of listening to your journey. So thank you. really appreciate it.

Rachael Ferguson (30:35.559)
Thank you for having me.