I don’t have a house because I spent all my life savings

Alisha Williams doesn’t own a house because she risked $50,000 in 2020.

The 33-year-old, who has a background in marketing and communications, used her house savings to launch her sexual wellness business, Rosewell.

Ms. Williams hopes to sell sex toys to women without making them look vulgar. When she launched in 2020, sales were tough; sexual health wasn’t part of the zeitgeist.

“Growing up, I was uncomfortable with anything to do with sexual health,” she told news.com.au.

Ms Williams wanted to remove the stigma around female pleasure, but when she started planning the business in 2019, she was mostly met with blank looks.

She tried to explain that she wanted to create a sex toy store that felt like “walking into Mecca,” but people couldn’t imagine it.

“They were imagining a bright pink jelly dildo,” she said.

“Five years ago! It was very uncomfortable telling people what I was doing.”

Ms. Williams works three jobs to fund her business, and she has yet to receive any outside capital from investors.

It was important to her that the business was founded entirely by women. She wants to be in control because she feels she knows what women want, but that means she has to bear the full financial burden that comes with it.

“I will take out a loan and pay it back as soon as possible,” she said.

Ms Williams said investing so much money in her business was a terrible decision.

She’s not paying herself a pension and everything “depends” on whether her idea is correct, which is a huge risk.

“It’s not just the money you put in. It’s the opportunity cost of not being able to earn meaningful income elsewhere,” she explains.

“My initial investment was between $50,000 and $70,000.”

Ms. Williams said her business venture was particularly expensive because it involved a physical product that required time and money to create, test and improve.

“I still don’t have a house. Everything goes into the business,” she said.

The 33-year-old remains in a tricky position, with any financial business wins flowing back into the company.

“The business might do well, but personally I’d probably make more money working for someone else,” she said.

Ms Williams said running a business was also much more difficult than being an employee, saying it was “ten times harder than having a job because there are no boundaries and no steady paycheck”.

Doing business also incurs various expenses. When she opened a bricks-and-mortar store in Melbourne, she had to pay a deposit and pay three months’ rent upfront.

“This is a $40,000 bill,” she said.

She’s also open about the tough times that come with success.

She recently spoke online about her frustration after her plan to hire a co-director completely “failed” and left her stranded.

Ms. Williams shared on social media that she was experiencing what she considered a “failure” but wanted to be honest about it,

“I’ve been doing this for four years. If you told me today on our fourth anniversary what I would do,” she said.

“I’m definitely going to cry.”

Ms Williams said being honest online can be difficult because if you’re a CEO you want to appear “successful” and “aspirational” because it helps the brand.

However, she wants to show people the reality because “no one really talks about it,” which she thinks is important.

Although things are hard, it still feels worth it.

She says she’s “proud” of the impact she’s had on other women who use and love these products.

She regularly receives emails from women thanking her for creating products that make them feel more comfortable with their sexuality and their bodies.