Client Showcase – Red Belly Active
Welcome to the first of our Client Showcase series where we celebrate the great work that our clients are doing and talk about how they are overcoming the challenges of operating a small business during this current Covid climate.
Our showcase today focuses on Red Belly Active, a high end golf & activewear brand based in Sydney . Red Belly was founded by golfing friends, Shannan Webber and Helen Haynes who were frustrated with uncomfortable and unfashionable golf wear. The ladies wanted to design pieces that were edgy, different and stylish and over the past 3 years they have done exactly that. Available online, nationwide throughout Drummond Golf stores and in many other golf and sport retailers, Red Belly is making waves on the courses. They have also
recently launched internationally with customers loving the fresh Aussie brand. Guy Sebastian was recently spotted wearing one of the new Red Belly designs commissioned by indigenous designer Daren Dunn. If you don’t play golf ( like me) don’t worry. Red Belly has an exciting range of sportswear, accessories and some gorgeous stonewash hoodies that have just dropped . Checkout their website to see their designs at www.redbellyactive.com.
As many of you know, starting a new business from scratch is not easy. With limited space to work in, never enough hours in the day and an ever changing retail environment, the ladies have tackled each challenge with their endless energy and willingness to give things a go. When asked what has led to their success to date, Shannan says ” We have grown dramatically over the last three years. The key to our success and growth has been building a supportive team around us. ”
Balanced Advantage started working with Red Belly just over 1 year ago. We started by moving the financials onto Xero to assist with easier reporting and access to information. We work with Shannan and Helen to produce monthly financial reports and analyse these to see what is working and what is not. Each month, we compare the results to a budget that was set at the beginning of the year to make sure the business is tracking where we want it to go. We added different sales types into the chart of accounts so that we get a clearer picture of where the sales are coming from each month – online vs overseas and retail vs wholesale. “Working with Deanna keeps us on track and ensures all our financial systems are in place.”
The onset of Covid did present a slowing of sales for Red Belly initially, as was experienced by the entire retail sector. Helen and Shannan cleverly used this time to fine tune their online marketing and promote their online business, resulting in a strengthening in sales and opening up new sales avenues. They also increased their focus on cashflow, ensuring they kept a tight reign on customer invoice payments and maintain a forecast of future cash requirements . With the launch of their new designs and the introduction of some new pieces ( including those fabulous hoodies I mentioned earlier) Red Belly is looking stronger than ever. At Balanced Advantage we look forward each month to seeing what the ladies are going to do next.
