Latest news with #Bouris
Herald Sun
17-06-2025
- 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
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Millionaire's major superannuation warning for young Aussies: 'Should be worried'
Mark Bouris has sounded another alarm for young Australians about their superannuation. The financial expert previously cautioned that people in their early 20s today will likely have to work well into their 70s or even 80s because they won't be able to squirrel enough away to retire. But now the Yellow Brick Road executive chairman has warned this issue will only be made worse by Labor's plan to tax super balances over $3 million. Bouris said those entering the workforce now will get a rude shock when they get into their 60s. "Every young person in the country should be worried about this," he said on his podcast. Mark Bouris issues blunt retirement message for young Australians Centrelink cash boost coming from July 1 for millions of Aussies Aussie teen's job paying $300 per hour without a uni degree The government wants to double the existing tax rate from 15 to 30 per cent on earnings on super balances above $3 million, including unrealised capital gains. Balances up to $3 million would be taxed at 15 per cent, and anything over that would get hit with the new 30 per cent rate. Labor believes this will only affect around 80,000 people today and is designed to target the ultra-wealthy. According to the ATO, the average person with more than $3 million in superannuation right now is earning roughly $381,000 per year. Deloitte figures from June last year showed the average super balances for Aussies aged 60 to 64 was $401,600 for men and $300,300 for of the biggest criticisms of the proposal is that, at the moment, the $3 million benchmark won't be indexed. Treasurer Jim Chalmers indicated it could be indexed in the future, but many are worried about what will happen if it doesn't. "Every old person in the country has experienced building their superannuation up with only 15 per cent tax rate from day one for the last 30 to 40 years," Bouris said. "All of us had this fantastic low-tax situation with the money we earn for super fund. "Young people who accumulate more than $3 million worth of assets, they will not have the same benefits that everyone else has had since [Paul] Keating introduced this legislation." Former Prime Minister Keating reportedly fears Labor's proposal could "damage confidence" in the near $4 trillion nest egg system he created. Having $3 million in your super account might seem like a pipe dream for many young Australians right now. But that could soon be the norm in the next few decades. AMP Capital deputy chief economist Diana Mousina discovered that at least half of Gen Z workers would hit that mark by the time they neared retirement in about 40 years due to wage inflation and compound interest. 'An average 22-year-old today earning average wages for the rest of their life will breach the $3 million limit unless the government indexes the threshold," she said. 'This is also not taking into account any additional contributions into super and forward estimates for returns are also conservative.' Bouris fears the plan could put more pressure on government services because people aren't able to retire due to their balances being taxed at a much higher level. While some of Australia's billionaires have hit out at the proposal, policy thinktanks have backed it. Australian Institute economist Greg Jericho disputed Mousina's figures and came up with a different result. He suggested an 18-year-old who got a job today at the average full-time wage of $106,277 per year, who received a 3.7 per cent wage rise every single year for their life, without a single break in their working life until they hit 67, would end up with roughly $2.1 million in their super account. "The fear about not indexing the $3 million threshold is just a scare campaign designed to make people think they will be hit, even though they are only 30 years old now, because maybe they might one day have that much super," he said. The Grattan Institute, meanwhile, said the plan "should be just the first step to reining in excessively generous tax breaks" in the superannuation system. It echoed Jericho in saying fears that millions of young Aussies could be affected "are simply nonsense". "Rather than being the biggest losers from the lack of indexation, younger Australians are the biggest beneficiaries," it said. "It means more older, wealthier Australians will in time shoulder some of the burden of budget repair and an ageing population that younger generations will otherwise bear alone." Mintwell financial adviser Josef Jindra told Yahoo Finance the "vast majority" of people won't be affected by the plan and there's "no cause for alarm" at the moment. But he admitted that would change over the years, and it's worth getting ready for that eventuality. 'It's about being proactive and exploring ways to manage their retirement savings effectively,' he said. 'This may include planning withdrawal strategies to stay below the threshold, diversifying investment holdings outside of superannuation to enhance flexibility, and reducing exposure to the higher tax rate. 'Estate planning has also become increasingly important to ensure assets are structured in a tax-effective way for future beneficiaries. "For some clients—particularly those seeking greater control—we're also considering Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) and the strategic opportunities they present.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Sky News AU
11-06-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Mark Bouris rails against Labor's controversial super, unrealised gains tax; issues alarming message to young Australians
Millionaire and businessman Mark Bouris has cautioned younger Australians to be aware of the dangerous risks posed by Labor's contentious super, unrealised gains tax, stating 'every young person' in the country 'should be worried'. Labor's plan to double the tax rate from 15 to 30 per cent on super accounts over $3 million looks set to pass both houses when parliament resumes in July, with the Greens expected to join with Labor in the Senate to ram the legislation through. However, the plan, which also targets unrealised capital gains has attracted a myriad of critics including top fund managers, leading economists and former Treasury officials who have argued the policy is reckless and unprecedented in nature. Despite Treasurer Jim Chalmers repeatedly claiming the policy will only affect 80,000 Australians or 0.5 per cent of the population, industry magnates have outlined that due to the threshold not being indexed with inflation, millions of young Australians could fall victim to the tax in the coming decades. In the latest episode of his Mentored+ podcast, Mr Bouris outlined that young Australians should be extremely concerned by the tax proposal, and that the super accounts of Australians starting work today would eventually be ransacked as a result. 'The people that are going to be affected by that the most is anyone starting work today, any new young person,' Mr Bouris said. 'So, if you're a young person saying this is great, because the rich people are going to transfer the wealth across to the younger people, you will be transferring it to your kids and it's going to keep going like that forever'. The businessman who is best known for founding Wizard Home Loans, Australia's second largest non-bank mortgage lender also said that older Australians had struggled to amass superannuation savings with a low tax rate, and that the tax hike would only make things harder for younger Australians. 'Every young person in the country should be worried about this, and I'll tell you why: because every old person in the country has experienced building their superannuation up with only 15 per cent tax rate from day 1, for the last 30, 40 years'. 'We've had this, all of us had this fantastic low-tax situation with the money we earn in our super fund,' Mr Bouris said, adding that young people who accumulate more than $3 million worth of assets "will not have the same benefits that everyone else had had'. Former Labor Prime Minister and chief architect of compulsory superannuation Paul Keating is reportedly incensed by the policy, telling industry super executives and union leaders last August the plan was 'unconscionable', and that it would turn superannuation into a low-and middle-income pension scheme. Mr Bouris said the former ALP Prime Minister, who introduced compulsory superannuation in 1992 'must be feeling completely demoralised and probably to some extent betrayed' by the reforms, stating that Mr Keating had long argued for government to refrain from imposing excessive levies on super. 'All (Labor's changes) is going to do is put more strain on government when people retire, because people are not going to retire with enough money because they are going to be paying too much tax," he said. 'So if you're a young person and you're saying, 'Oh, this is great', because you're gonna get rich people to transfer the wealth across to the younger people – uh-uh." From July 12 the majority of Australian workers will have 12 per cent of their wages paid to a superannuation fund, representing a 0.5 per cent increase from the current threshold.
Sky News AU
15-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
'It was a wake up call': Mark Bouris, 68, opens up about his secret health scare and the costly mistake he made by ignoring the warning signs
Australian entrepreneur and media personality Mark Bouris has opened up for the first time about a serious health scare he faced in 2009. The 68-year-old shared the personal revelation in a candid new blog post, reflecting on the experience and what it taught him about valuing his health. "I didn't slow down. I thought I didn't have a choice," Bouris wrote. "I worked myself into the ground, and it landed me in hospital with a serious illness." The experience, he said, "was a wake-up call". "I'm sure you've also heard stories of people suffering serious physical and mental consequences from burnout. I became one of them." Born and raised in Punchbowl, Sydney, to a Greek father and Irish-Australian mother, Bouris credits his father- a factory worker- for instilling in him a strong work ethic. In 1996, he founded Wizard Home Loans, which became one of the country's largest non-bank lenders. Three years later, he launched Yellow Brick Road, a financial services company aimed at supporting suburban Australians. Just two years into building his second company, Bouris found himself seriously ill in hospital, worn out from overwork. "I often tell business owners that prioritising your health is non-negotiable," he reflected, now nearly two decades later. "We're so worried about charging our phones but forget to recharge ourselves. "Rest doesn't mean heading to the pub or replying to emails after hours. It means giving your body and mind real time to unwind." In September, the father-of-two launched Project 100, a podcast dedicated to exploring the science and secrets behind living a longer, healthier life. He also hosts Straight Talk and The Mentor, interviewing leading entrepreneurs, business figures, and politicians. Despite advocating for balance, Bouris remains a prolific figure in the business and media worlds. He's authored two books, fronted The Apprentice Australia and The Celebrity Apprentice Australia, and regularly weighs in on key financial issues. Recently, he urged Australians to rethink their retirement expectations amid the rising cost of living and increasing life expectancy. "If you're 20 now, you won't be retiring until you're 80, maybe 90," he said on his Mentored podcast. "If you think you're going to retire at 65 or if you think you're going to have enough money to retire at 65, you've got another thing coming." As of 2025, Bouris' net worth is estimated to exceed $200 million.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-04-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Borderline racism': Embattled Bennelong Liberal candidate cries foul
For the Liberals to have a hope on Saturday, they need to reclaim Bennelong, John Howard's old stomping ground now held by Labor on a wafer-thin margin. So it is far from ideal for the blue team that the party's candidate, Scott Yung, has spent much of the election campaign trying to outrun the dreaded 'embattled' tag. Several reports in this masthead have outlined Yung's questionable campaign finance issues during his 2019 state election run, and his ties to a Chinese Communist Party-linked casino high roller. He also copped heat for handing out Easter eggs to primary school students while campaigning, an election sweetener gone awry. Yung has been relatively evasive when confronted with questions from this masthead, even fleeing his own campaign launch at Ryde-Eastwood RSL. But he found a softer landing across the mic from his former boss Mark Bouris, founder of mortgage lender Yellow Brick Road, who is carving out a niche as Australia's Aldi-brand Joe Rogan thanks to his lengthy podcast interviews with various politicians. The hour-long discussion on the business bro's Straight Talk podcast delves into the far reaches of the rich Yung lore, including the story of how a teenage Scott approached Bouris and asked for a job, eventually getting his foot in the door after former Yellow Brick Road director turned Liberal frontbencher David Coleman pulled a few strings to help his ace doorknocker. They're not the party of opportunity for nothing! Loading An hour in, Bouris finally, sorta, got into some of the reports that have rocked Yung's campaign. 'I just want to clarify for the sake of this conversation: you're not a communist are you?' he asked. 'Mark, seriously, I find it an absolute joke, and you know I used to get offended by it … I think it's borderline racism,' Yung said. 'Just because I've got an Asian face, my parents have come from China and Hong Kong, they call me a communist.'
