Brisbane woman Kalinda Salla quit her job as a pharmacist to go all in on her colourful towel business, Cheeky Winx. ·Source: Instagram/Supplied
An Aussie has shared why she quit her job as a pharmacist and “wasted” $50,000 in HECS debt. The pandemic led to a big increase in burnout and workforce shortages in the pharmacy sector, leading some to decide the job was no longer worth it.
Kalinda Salla worked full-time as a pharmacist in community pharmacy for five years and she “hated” the job. The Brisbane mum told Yahoo Finance she was earning between $28 and $38 an hour working in the inner city, which worked out to between $60,000 and $70,000 a year.
“The wage just isn’t what it should be for the knowledge you need to know and the responsibilities you have,” Salla said.
“It’s hardly a liveable wage.”
RELATED
During the pandemic, the 30-year-old said it became “normal” across the sector to be “overworked and understaffed” and many pharmacists exited the industry.
Salla said she was also doing shift work at the time, with hours between 7am to 3pm or 3pm to 11pm.
As a single mum, she said this made it difficult to juggle pick-ups and drop-offs for her now 8-year-old son, Louis.
“I was constantly thinking, ok, I need to start a business idea. I can’t rely on pharmacy because I had to keep cancelling my shifts. I wouldn’t be able to do them because I had to focus on my son,” she said.
Salla and her now partner, Joel Miranda, got the idea for their business Cheeky Winx during the pandemic.
“The gyms opened back up briefly for a small period before they closed again and this was when you had to use gym towels and wipe everything down,” Salla told Yahoo Finance.
“We were looking around the gym and were like, ‘Everyone’s gym towel is really ugly’. We were like why don’t we do funky gym towels because everyone wore funky socks.
“So that’s how we got the idea because I was using a bath mat and he was using a tea towel [at the gym], just random and the ugliest towels.”
Salla and Miranda have now put $120,000 of their savings into the business and say they have no regrets. ·Source: Supplied
Salla said the couple began researching and testing different samples from manufacturers.
They invested $40,000 of their savings to start the business, before launching it to the public in February 2021.
“I did it on the side for a little while, where I’d come home from work and then I’d pack the orders or before work I’d pack the orders and be on my laptop working,” Salla said.
The mum-of-one said she taught herself about Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads through YouTube and called it a “massive learning curve”.
“Once Cheeky Winx was growing then I’d cut down a shift of pharmacy work. Then as it grew more, I’d cut down another shift to three days a week, then two days a week, and then I’d locum at random pharmacies maybe once every few weeks,” she said.
“After a year of Cheeky Winx, I just cut off all my pharmacy shifts.”
Salla shared that the business turned over $100,000 in sales in the first year in 2021, $800,000 in 2022, $2 million in 2023 and $3.7 million in 2024.
This week, Salla shared she decided not to continue renewing her registration as a pharmacist.
She said that changing careers to open her own business meant she had “wasted” $50,000 in HECS debt, along with the four years it took her to get her pharmacy degree.
While she is making around the same amount as her $60,000 to $70,000 pharmacy job running her own business, she has no regrets and believes everything worked out as was meant to.
“I’m so much happier. Being in that situation of being a pharmacist and being stressed, hating the job, really pushed me to do something else,” she said.
“I’ve always wanted to start my own business but I feel like you need that push sometimes and that pushed me to do it.
“I’m so grateful to where I am now.”
The couple hopes to take Cheeky Winx international this year. ·Source: Supplied
Salla said she is working much longer hours than she was as a pharmacist but is hoping to achieve a better work-life balance this year.
“I would work every single day. I would come into the office during the year five or six days a week, sometimes seven,” she said.
“During the Christmas period where it’s really busy, from October to December, in the office 10 hours every single day, seven days a week.”
Salla said she and Miranda had now put about $120,000 of their savings into Cheeky Winx as it continued to grow.
“Both of us have saved up for a house deposit but we decided to invest all of that into Cheeky Winx instead,” she said.
“We have found that it definitely has paid off. So I’m glad we made that decision because otherwise, it would have been such a slow growth for Cheeky Winx instead of the fast growth that we’d managed to achieve.”
As for her HECS debt, Salla said she is slowly paying it off but isn’t worried about it for the moment.
“To me, it’s just a little investment I had to do to get to where I am now,” she said.
The couple are planning to focus on wholesale this year and create a passive income by getting their towels into gyms and studios.
They also hope to launch the brand internationally.
