TRANSCRIPT
And We’re Rolling with Steph Hunt — Lisa Messenger
Steph:
Lisa Messenger, thank you so much. I have all your books. I’ve got so many copies of your magazine all through the house.
Lisa Messenger:
Oh, thank you, Steph. That’s so beautiful. And you’ve got this beautiful smile beaming down the screen here, so I feel very at home already.
Steph:
You are so at home.
I want to say: you’re the original gangster in the world of being an entrepreneur. You were doing it back before anyone else was kind of doing it.
Lisa:
Yeah, this is my 21st year in business. I started when I was four.
laughs
I started my first business on the 22nd of October, 2001. So yeah, I’ve been going a while.
Steph:
And I was doing a bit of research — so you grew up in Coolah?
Lisa:
Yeah, I did.
Steph:
I grew up in Gunnedah, not too far away.
Lisa:
No! Okay, so you know what I’m talking about.
So Coolah — a little bit smaller than Gunnedah. I think the population was about 800 when I grew up there.
We grew up on a 4,500-acre property out of town. So I rode a horse every day after school, made mud pies in the creek.
Life was pretty simple and pretty wonderful.
Steph:
I love it.
And then boarding school — what was that like? For someone who liked to buck the trend and make your own rules, boarding school can be a bit tough if you want to be a bit different.
Lisa:
Yeah.
And interesting in terms of almost loss of identity back then.
I spent the first couple of years of my life in Sydney, then my parents got divorced, so we moved to Coolah with just my mum, my sister and I.
So I totally identified as this country girl — liberty shirts, riding boots, loved it all.
Then when I was going to boarding school, Mum actually chose to move back to Sydney. I’d always wanted to be a boarder from the country, and I ended up boarding anyway, even though we lived in Sydney.
Looking back, yeah, I was definitely bucking trends.
I remember saying to my best friend — and it’s funny because she’s lived in Texas for the last 20 years, so finally I’m over here and can catch up with her — we used to say:
“Oh my gosh, when we leave school this will all make sense.”
And all these years later, we still scratch our heads and go:
“Nah… it didn’t really make a lot of sense.”
On Moving to Texas
Steph:
How is Texas? You’ve left Bondi for Austin.
Lisa:
I’m in Austin, and Steph, it is the last place I thought I’d be this year.
We’ve got a house at Bangalow that we’re renovating near Byron Bay.
We moved up there in August 2021 because of COVID, and I’d wanted to renovate for years.
The plan was to live there this year, but then my partner Stephen had an opportunity to expand his business into the US.
And Collective Hub had all these positive signs coming out of the US too.
So when Stephen said, “I have to go to Austin for some work,” I was like, Okay, see you later, have fun.
Then I really sat with it and thought:
Hang on — 21 years into business is probably time to give the US a red-hot crack.
And I’m always about putting myself into crazy situations, learning, then writing or sharing the lessons.
So I’m documenting everything, hoping it helps other Australian businesses expand into the US.
So far it’s been fun. Wild. Fantastic.
On Finding Purpose
Steph:
You talk a lot about purpose. Did it take you a while to find yours?
Lisa:
Forever.
A solid 30 years, at least.
For anyone scratching their head wondering what their purpose is — it took me a lot of failure and trying a lot of things.
For Collective Hub, my purpose is three words:
Ignite human potential.
And for me personally, it’s being an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs — living my life out loud and showing anything’s possible.
Once you’re really clear on what you want to do, everything has a way of working itself out.
People think that sounds woo-woo, but I’ve found it to be true.
It also keeps me focused, because I get excited and distracted easily.
I’ll have a conversation like this and think:
“Oh my God, Steph, we should do this together!”
But purpose pulls me back.
For anyone wanting to find theirs, ask:
1. What excites you?
What makes you jump out of bed?
2. What are other people telling you you’re great at?
3. Is there commercial reality?
Can this actually make money?
That’s where purpose starts to reveal itself.
On Collective Hub’s Explosion
Steph:
So you launched Collective Hub as a print mag in 2013.
No experience. Everyone said print was dead.
Within 18 months it was in 37 countries.
What was that like?
Lisa:
The most magical, insanely incredible time of my life.
It happened because I’d truly stepped into purpose.
And our best ideas often come from pain points.
I was frustrated with media at the time.
I kept reading:
“Steph is amazing.”
But I wanted to know:
How did Steph do it? Why did she do it? What’s her purpose?
So I created the thing I wished existed.
Then overnight it exploded.
I went from nobody knowing who I was to suddenly 600 emails after launch.
I had to hire my fourth staff member almost immediately.
Then Anna Wintour’s office invited me to New York.
Richard Branson invited me to Necker Island.
I’ve now shared a stage with him five times.
It was beyond my wildest dreams.
And then it all came crashing down.
On Giving Up Alcohol
Steph:
Why did you give up drinking?
Lisa:
Because I was using it to keep myself small.
Some nights one drink was fine.
Other nights I’d binge drink.
Loose lips sink ships.
Thank God it was before social media.
I was using alcohol as a crutch and self-sabotage.
Inside, I knew I was meant to do something bigger.
Giving up drinking was terrifying because everyone I knew partied.
But once I did therapy and unpacked why I needed it, my whole life changed.
Business took off.
Relationships healed.
Everything shifted.
I always say:
You don’t have to give up drinking.
But be courageous enough to look at what you’re using to hold yourself back.
On Breaking Collective Hub
Steph:
You had to break the thing you built.
What was that like?
Lisa:
Excruciating.
The business had grown so fast across so many countries and verticals that it became unsustainable.
I’m a visionary.
A connector.
A creative.
I’m not naturally great at finance, HR, legal, systems.
And I didn’t have my polar opposite beside me — the detail-driven operator.
So underneath this beautiful global love brand, we were hemorrhaging cash.
In April 2018, I made the decision to break it.
That meant making staff redundant for the first time in my life.
I’d go home and lie on the bathroom floor in the fetal position.
But a brilliant guy named Damien came in and stripped the business back to basics.
For six weeks I just followed his instructions.
And it saved everything.
It was one of the most courageous things I’ve ever done.
And now?
The rebuilt version is much bigger, healthier, more profitable and more sustainable.
On Startup Success
Steph:
What makes or breaks an entrepreneurial venture?
Lisa:
Five things:
1. Know your purpose.
Why are you doing this?
2. Build the right team.
And collaborate creatively if you don’t have cash.
3. Have massive self-belief.
People won’t always see your vision.
4. Fail fast. Fail often. Learn quickly.
5. Know your numbers.
Financial literacy matters.
If your business succeeds fast and you don’t understand cash flow or profit and loss?
You can sink very quickly.
On Public Speaking Fear
Steph:
Do you get nervous speaking?
Lisa:
I used to hate it.
It was my greatest fear.
If someone pointed at me at dinner and asked me to speak, I’d break into a hot sweat.
I’d script everything word for word and it was awful.
Then after launching Collective Hub, people kept asking me to speak.
So I started with baby steps:
Only Q&As.
Then short keynotes.
Then more audience interaction.
Eventually I built confidence.
Now?
I meditate to deep house music before I go on stage.
I empty everything out.
Then I walk out and channel.
No PowerPoint.
No script.
No notes.
Just trust.
I’ve done 7,000-person events. Shared stages with Richard Branson. Spoken worldwide.
And now I love it.
Steph:
How do you know what to say?
Lisa:
I focus on what I know: my story.
I keep a loose arc in my head:
Then I tell the stories naturally.
You can’t mess up your own story.
And if I blank?
I throw to the audience.
“Who’s got a question?”
Buys time instantly.
What’s Next
Steph:
What are you excited about next?
Lisa:
So much.
The business is on the cusp of amazing growth in Australia and the US.
And… hopefully babies.
I’ve been trying for a very long time.
Sixteen rounds of IVF.
So 2022 is business growth.
2023… watch this space.
I’m in a really good place.
Steph:
Lisa Messenger, this has been an absolute blast.
