I have a £47 MILLION business – and it all started with posting bikini photos

IN 2012, Natasha Oakley had no idea that her hobby would grow into a £47million business.

She was only 22 when she started sharing bikini photos with her boyfriend Devin Brugman on Instagram. They both thought it wouldn’t lead to anything.

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Despite this, Bag explained in the podcast Hard work, hardly any work with Grace Beverly that she wanted to be a ‘boss’ because she had watched her parents build their own businesses from the ground up.

Natasha is just that, with the same Instagram account having over 450,000 followers, and her personal account having a whopping 3.6 million followers.

But the Australian beauty’s business adventures don’t stop there, she’s also launched brand Monday Swimwear, as well as online exercise platform The Pilates Class, plus a growing portfolio of investors – so it’s no surprise she made her debut in the Australian Financial Review Young Rich List for 2021.

“We were just posting pictures of the Cali girl lifestyle, in Malibu, we went on a trip to Mexico and everyone else was just posting a cup of coffee, the most basic things,” she said, explaining how the Instagram account @bikini day started.

Since no one else was sharing bikini photos at the time, Tash and Devin’s account was air shot up.

“For us it happened very quickly in one night,” she says.

The account quickly became ‘the largest marketing platform in the world for swimwear and people wanted their own to take highlighted.”

“We ended up wearing bikinis 365 days a year,” she said.

Tash was also lucky, because her success on Instagram coincided with the birth of the first social media influencers, meaning she was making money from the start.

The entrepreneur initially charged £100 per post, with brands and designers paying to have their swimwear featured on the account.

It went so well that Tash was able to focus full-time on taking bikini photos for the account.

“We were filming the whole time,” she said.

While it was great fun spending the day on the beach taking photos, Tash also worked until the early hours most days to ensure the blog stayed up to date.

“It was so much fun, it was something we were so passionate about and everything that has come out of it has been a huge bonus,” she said.

From there, Tash and Devin started their own swimwear line, which they created after realizing there was a gap in the market for more inclusive sizing.

“When we developed Monday Swimwear, we wanted to change the negative experience every woman has: wearing swimwear and feeling uncomfortable and not feeling good about yourself,” says Tash.

“We finally managed to wear bikinis 365 days a year.

It took a while to complete the first swim collection, as both Tash and Devin wanted to make sure everything was perfect.

Mistakes were made right from the start of The Monday Swimwear and a production problem left the brand without black swimwear for six months.

These setbacks aren’t just mistakes for Tash. “I don’t see them as mistakes, it’s just part of business, it’s not personal,” she said.

For Tash it is an opportunity to learn. He now leads a team of 40 people and is still involved in all aspects of the brand to this day.

From marketing and PR to finance and design, Tash has a clear vision for the brand and only now that it’s been around for ten years does she feel ready to really focus on expansion.

“It feels like the starting line for us because we have everything in order, we have our dream team“Our products are where we want them and now we can really aim for more aggressive growth,” she said.

Speaking with Shethe businesswoman shared some advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs: “Stay consistent, stay focused and start with small goals and work your way up.”

“We live in a time where entrepreneurship is so tangible and can look so different from brand to brand, so stay focused on your brand and your mission,” she added.

And despite the seemingly rapid growth of her brands, she has always been all about consistency.

“For me, consistency is the key,” she said.

“Consistently creating and sharing content has been essential to my growth on the platform.

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