Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Why I Disappeared Last Year, And How I Still Get Everything Done with FSC Founder Doone Roisin

Transcript

Why I Disappeared Last Year, And How I Still Get Everything Done with FSC Founder Doone Roisin · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Let's take this show on the road. Imagine a world where gender equality is the norm and women have equal access to the same financial opportunities regardless of our personal circumstances. Hi, I'm Dune, founder of Female Startup Club and your personal hype girl. This is the pod for you. If you're starting a side hustle,
• 0:20
  scaling your biz or looking for inspo. We cover venture capital, personal finance, selling your biz and keeping your mental health in check from entrepreneurs like Refinery29's co-founder Piera Gelati and Ju Ru, who sold Hero Cosmetics for $650 million. Slide into my DMs if there's a question you want answered and let's get into today's episode.
• 1:00
  All right. Welcome, everyone. Ladies and the few gentlemen in the audience. New year, new format. New year, new you. So what we decided to do is have more fun. We love fun. We're going to try new formats, way more chaotic, kind of mixes some serious questions, some stupid questions, some silly questions, some spicy questions, and see where it takes us.
• 1:27
  I've got the sweats. Really? Yeah, I'm a bit nervous. This is new. All right, so should we get started or do you want to say anything before we get cracking? No, let's do it. Drumroll. All right, so let's jump straight into it with a very serious question. What is your dream?
• 1:49
  Like in life? Or this year? It is. Oh, gosh, what is my dream? I mean, one of them was to meet Oprah. I want to have a show on Netflix, buy more clothes, want to change the world.
• 2:07
  I don't know. That's a tough one. I need like a little starting point, like a seedling. I agree. It's really hard. Like when I was writing those questions, I was asking myself and I was like, I don't know, you know, the classic, you know, help children in Africa become a tennis player or, you know, all of these, but I'm not too sure. I think you. Yeah. I'm like, I'm becoming a K-pop star. I'm a singer in another life. You get to choose. I need to phone a friend. Yeah.
• 2:36
  I think, you know, like now you can kind of reduce it to a more micro level and be like, what is that you're trying to achieve now? What does your dream life kind of look like? And I think that's quite interesting because that's a realistic way of achieving the dream life, if that makes sense, which...
• 2:52
  Yeah. We've discussed a lot about that. Well, I posted this TikTok earlier and it's of Beck and I. Beck's my best friend. And we're like laughing, recording something silly. And...
• 3:08
  I was like thinking about how we like manifested or like we had this dream to live two minutes away from each other and like be close and see each other like every other day. And now that's happened. We engineered our life to be like that. And so I think like this year is more of those things where.
• 3:30
  Usually I'll start something and be like, in my head, be like, I wish I could, or wouldn't it be cool if, or like, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. And then those thoughts, I then think to myself, okay, well, maybe it is possible, or maybe we could do that or whatever. So to get to the answer, long story short, for my dream life this year, I think I'm
• 3:56
  It's definitely about leaning into those kinds of things. And I'm not giving like an exact answer right now because they're, I'm having a brain blank, but doing those kinds of things that I think to myself, wouldn't it be cool if. That's good. We can always revisit that further into the episode. Circle back. Okay. So you've interviewed over 700 founders and leaders. What does it feel like to not be the one in control of the questions? Yeah.
• 4:26
  I've got the sweats. I don't know what to tell you. I get nervous when it's flipped around. I'm a nervous person. My thoughts, like my internal thoughts are different to my external voice, I think. Can you unpack that a bit? Well, I'm a loop thinker. So I think more inside and don't, I mean, you know this about me.
• 4:49
  This is an ongoing Dune issue. But I think it's hard to communicate sometimes the internal to the external.
• 5:00
  Yeah, I get nervous because I'm overthinking and I'm having a conversation inside that's going really, really fast before I'm saying the things out loud. So I've especially if it's something live or it's something like an interview, I'm trying to manage the two tracks or whatever, multiple tracks. And so it's difficult to be like trying to communicate the right thing and say the right words because it's going faster in my brain. That's so interesting.
• 5:28
  And so then I get really nervous. Do you kind of like ever think about that might be happening to the person you're interviewing and therefore maybe alter the way you ask questions or take it slower or give more time?
• 5:45
  No, I don't think so because I got given this piece of advice that first time I went live on TV with Startup Daily. I got given this piece of advice that whatever kind of like starts coming out, even if you forget the question or like you don't really like answer it the way that you think you want to,
• 6:07
  instead of trying to backtrack and get to the right point, just keep going and like speak with confidence and like let it flow. And so like you're letting it flow. So maybe other people don't realize that you're struggling on the inside. And I kind of like tucked that in my back pocket and was like, what?
• 6:23
  I'm going to use that forever because that's just like the best advice that I needed in that moment. And so I think it's just like kind of talking and kind of going with the flow. And even if you forget the question and ramble and blah, blah, blah, blah, and take like many pathways to get to the answer, the person listening, like the viewer or the audience, they don't remember anything.
• 6:44
  the question anyway. So I just think like that's what it's like for me. And I don't even notice like if someone else is nervous on the other side because I'm chattering away and I'm not the focus. So...
• 6:57
  I love being the focus. One of the comments or feedback I hear all the time is that you made people feel so comfortable and it was such a nice talk and all of this stuff. So I guess maybe just before we go to the next question, if you have any piece of advice for anyone interviewing someone in the future, what other thing to pay attention to? I guess I don't really think about it like an interview. I think about it like I've met some chick at a party and I'm just really interested
• 7:28
  at a party. Like, it's just like my natural self. I'm not trying to be like some fancy interviewer that's like...
• 7:36
  got the toolkit. I think it's just about like being yourself and like following your own curiosity with questions and like what you actually just personally want to know and what you're interested in. I guess the thing is as someone doing this for the first time, the difficulty and this is where you've absolutely nailed it. I mean, of course, you've interviewed over 700 people. That's over 42,000 minutes of recording that you've done, which is so crazy when you think about it. Me with my girl mouth, I was like,
• 8:05
  Wow, that doesn't seem to add up. Yeah, because it's about an hour. For sure. But isn't that crazy? Yeah, I guess so.
• 8:14
  As someone doing it for the first time, the difficulty is I feel like I've got the list and I'm going to pay attention to what the next questions are, which is the wrong way to do that. I can already tell. I've really got to ask the question and focus 100% on what you say and then wait until that finishes to then think about the next one. Because otherwise, I could already be pre-thinking how I want to say it. Oh, I mean, don't worry. I've been there. I think it's difficult or it's just a skill that you have to learn that you have to...
• 8:44
  actively listen and then also at the same time internally actively prepare for the next thing so it's like just kind of keeping ahead of what's happening and being like very switched on so to go back with the theme that obviously you've been interviewing tons of people but you haven't been interviewed as much what do you think people get wrong about you
• 9:05
  I mean, one that I know for sure, people think I'm more of an extrovert, whereas I'm definitely more of an introvert with extrovert qualities. And I present as an extrovert as a deflection or as a like coping mechanism. So it serves me really well in life. But I think that people usually think that because...
• 9:26
  I do show up loud and vibrant. That means that I'm more extroverted than I am, whereas I know for sure that I'm someone that really needs quiet, alone time, kind of rest and recharging time after I've socialized in like most capacities. And so I think most people get that wrong. They think that I'm naturally like really confident, really extrovert, whereas actually...
• 9:54
  I'm not confident. I am just more like, well, I want to be more confident. So therefore with brute force, I will get there by just like doing the thing on repeat and building my confidence that way. Like being scared to interview someone. I remember the first few times and then you go on to do it for over 750 times. I mean, allogically like allergic to it.
• 10:20
  Like so nervous I could vomit. Speaking on stage a few minutes before you go on stage. Oh, God. If people could see that because, you know what's funny, I guess? The sweats. It must be the exact same thing for most artists and stuff like that, even when they're like, you know, on show 2000. But we don't see that. We just think that they're so confident and all that. But yet before, it's kind of interesting because you really have that little freak out moment just before you're about to go. Yeah. And then you absolutely smash it. But what goes through your mind there every time?
• 10:50
  I think it's actually for me not the few minutes before. I think I'm more nervous in the lead up because then I'm, like, thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it. Whereas when I'm, like, dressed and I'm in, like, an outfit where I'm, like, feeling myself and I'm, like, fuck yeah, I look hot. I'm, like, and I've got the shoes on and I've got, like, everything, like, organized because I'm a perfectionist.
• 11:11
  I feel much more confident in those quick moments before because I also tell myself, OK, well, even if I was to fall over and like flash my dress or something or like worst case scenario, that's the worst case I could think of. I mean, that's the best case scenario for us.
• 11:30
  I, I'm just like, that's not so bad. That's just like, well, you'd pick yourself up and be like, sorry. Um, so I don't think I'm that nervous. Like in the lead up, it's like in the minutes before it's in the lead up that I feel a bit more like, um,
• 11:45
  wanting like everything to be perfect and like the vision that I have and the things that I want to say, but I'm such a prepared speaker. I don't like riffing like this. I like having my talking points and like knowing what we're going to be discussing and like being quite prepared with my, you know, the messages that I want to get across. How does it feel before you go on stage in the stress moment for it?
• 12:10
  Yeah, I find like I'm more nervous, like, you know, I'm speaking next week and I'm more nervous now than I will be when I'm there and when I'm dressed and like ready and I've done my prep and I've done my breathing exercises and I'm like...
• 12:26
  The adrenaline kicks in and then you're less nervous, I think. But certainly in the beginning, I was way more nervous with public speaking like in the moment because if you don't have practice yet, you don't have practice. And I've never been a public speaker. I've always been like, oh, if two people in front of me, I have to talk to them, I could vomit. Any piece of advice for anyone that is stressed and needs to go and speak in front of a light audience?
• 12:54
  just like death by a thousand cuts you just got to do it you just got to get up there and be like what's the worst that can happen I say something dumb I say something stupid I fall over but like nerves are just like a sign that you're human so I'm like
• 13:15
  I think something you've done in the past, which has gotten incredible responses from the kind of audience, is to even start with opening and saying how nervous you are. Be like, hey, I'm so happy to be here. But just so you guys know, I'm incredibly nervous. And you've done that a few times. And every time, like, it's just nailed it.
• 13:37
  Yeah, I think like for me, just most people will say like, I think the advice out there is like, don't do that. Like, always just like, say you're confident, but that's so not me. Like, I'm more just who I am on stage. And so by saying that, I almost like relax a bit more because I'm like, I am nervous. Like, this isn't like the norm feeling for me yet. Like, I haven't been doing this all my life. And I am a nervous person. So I don't know, I feel like it just takes a little bit of that pressure off and like,
• 14:07
  then other people also can relate more to me because that's just truly how I feel. I mean, I remember. Oh, that's right. This is what I was going to say before. I remember one day last year when we were in Techstars, I'd bought this like cute little pink shirt.
• 14:26
  jumpsuit, bodysuit thing. And it was one of the days where we did like investor roulette. So you meet and you pitch like 12 investors back to back. And we were doing that for a series of days. And I think it was like the first day of meeting investors. And like, we hadn't nailed my pitch. We had all these things that like hadn't been sorted. So like, I knew I was going to look dumb. And I wasn't raising. So I knew I wasn't the profile either of what investors are expecting to sit down and see. Yeah.
• 14:54
  And when I got home, I'd been so nervous that the dye from the bodysuit had stained under my arms like hot pink. And I took it off and I was like, oh, my God, like I've literally poisoned myself because I was so stressed.
• 15:14
  I mean, I guess that's normal. Like, again, like props to you to do all this stuff that's so random and so new and different and, like, incredible. And I guess you can count yourself as part of those incredible women that you've interviewed. You probably are one of the people in the world that's spoken to the most amount of successful women around. Like, you'd be in the top, you know, five people that have done that. Because 700 people, all women that have created businesses that do incredible, you know, some...
• 15:42
  upwards of hundreds of million in revenue a year, all of this. Also, other people doing an incredible thing in their own rights. What do you think is kind of a common trait that you've seen across all of those women? Or it can also be across whatever else you see. But can you see something clear? Yeah, it's funny because I get asked that question all the time. I feel like it's the first question that people ask me. And there's traits and patterns that feel more like
• 16:10
  obvious. And then I would say there are like less traits and patterns between everyone because everyone has such different backgrounds and such different stories. But the traits and patterns that seem to like stick with me are women who don't want the norm, women who want a bigger life for themselves, who see something for themselves or for the world. They want to change the world. They want to...
• 16:36
  invent something or create something or do something that fulfills them and gives them purpose and allows them to like build their dream life. Whereas if you wanted the kind of like easy, safe route, you would just stick with the norm. You would do the nine to five because that is the easy, easier route. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. Not saying there's anything wrong with that. But I think that a lot of women, you know,
• 17:05
  Or maybe instead, when I think about that question, I think about myself and I think about how I just didn't suit the nine to five. And for me, that was like...
• 17:14
  painful. Like I could not deal with like school, the rules. That's just like soul sucking for me. There's just no other option. And so I see a lot of that kind of energy in a lot of the women that I interview where they're like, it's just not even an option. I just, that's not what I want for myself. I want more. I want a different life. I want to design my lifestyle. I want to work towards whatever it might be, a financial goal, wealth, um, something for their family, um,
• 17:42
  you know, something to change the world, whatever it might be. And I think that it's that kind of thing that is most common. People who are just like, I'd rather take the harder path to get to where I'm trying to go than the safe and easy path that is the norm. And it's easier. And I think that that's probably the common thing, which also might be like a neurodivergent thing. I heard some stat that a lot of founders are on the spectrum.
• 18:11
  Well, one of the topics we're going to cover a bit later is your ADHD diagnosis. Was it last year or the year before? It was the year before. Because that surely, that's... Maybe we're going to talk about it now. Game changer. What happened there? What did you discover? How do you feel? I mean, I learned more about why I am the way that I am and that I'm not stupid.
• 18:38
  I just don't fit in normal scenarios like school and like the nine to five. I know that like last year going into Techstars was one of those things that I found so challenging because it didn't even cross my mind that this would be like hard in any way. To me, I was just like, cool, like, cool.
• 19:01
  Groovy, let's go. And to get into this environment where I was so out of my comfort zone, and kind of really reminded that I struggle in those types of environments, and that it was such a professionally hard in terms of having to manage stuff.
• 19:19
  the business that you're running, but also the programming, you know, doing 12 pitches with investors back to back for two weeks in a row, then doing it with mentors, then doing it with investors again, but managing like your entire schedule at the same time, your team, your like life, I guess, was just like a lot. And yeah.
• 19:43
  I found it really personally difficult. And it was weird because I guess I haven't been in that like environment for such a long time, that corporate kind of environment, but like bright lights, so much noise, so many people, so much like distraction, so much like interruption. It was just like,
• 20:04
  so more like personally and professionally hard than I just couldn't have even imagined because it didn't even cross my mind that it would be hard. Like I was just like, it literally never crossed my mind. And so I think like having being diagnosed before that and then going into that experience and being like, oh, okay. Like that makes more sense now that that's because my brain works differently versus like, yeah,
• 20:31
  being like, what the fuck, why do I struggle with this thing that is so normal and, like, I don't understand why it's more hard for me. Mm-hmm.
• 20:44
  Are there any more like practical and tangible thing? Because, you know, like you've obviously done 10,000 hours of chat GPTing around that topic and subject and trying to understand this. And like, what are the causes? What are the, you know, like, oh, I approach it like this. It means this and all of this stuff. Are there like practical, specific things that comes to mind right now about how the things that you thought were normal or abnormal and now it's being kind of like explained by the fact that you've got...
• 21:13
  some sort of, you know, neurodivergence? Yeah. I mean, just everything my whole life. Like, I'm like, oh, okay. I would have to like really think deeper about it, but I know that now having like known the way that my brain pathways work or whatever, I can understand like how I should be working or how to like get the best out of something versus like,
• 21:43
  being hard on myself and being like, what the hell? Like, you're so stupid. Like, why can't you do this? Like, why is this really easy thing not easy for you? And like, I guess an example of just one tiny thing that I learned actually during Techstars was...
• 22:00
  the concept or the principle of like body doubling. Like if I'm sitting there trying to do a task myself, especially if it's any kind of really simple, nothing task, like building a deck presentation or whatever, a spreadsheet, I will do 50 tasks at once all at the same time and be like,
• 22:19
  trying to do a multi-million things and kind of get nothing done and it'll take me so long and I won't know how to do it and I'll go back and forth and I'll research till the end of time and then I'll have everyone give me examples and then all the things when actually I just need someone to sit next to and like help step me through it and keep me on track and like body doubling
• 22:39
  is like one of those tiny things that like I'd never even heard of that as a as a concept or something that really works for ADHD people, but it like actually does because it kind of keeps you like single focus and like lets you kind of finish whatever it is that you're trying to finish and cannot finish.
• 22:57
  I mean, for us, the example is endless, like sound sensitivity and like noises and textures. Oh, yeah, I'm very sensory. But I'm also a contradiction because like I'm so sensitive to sound. But then like you turn on a beat and I'm like, let's go clubbing. Well, that's good. Oh, that's cool. Oh, that's cool. You're going to change your pace right now. What are you obsessed with?
• 23:26
  I feel like I'm obsessed with watching Friends. I just love watching Friends. That never changes. It's a hard one. Like, what category? Like, I don't even know where to start. Food, travel, makeup, music, businesses.
• 23:44
  I mean, I've always been pretty obsessed with Justin Bieber. I think that, you know, our first date was the Justin Bieber concert and I'm still really obsessed with the idea of going to Coachella in April because it'll be our 10-year anniversary and he's cancelled his last tour. Which we've tried to go twice. He made. Back to the US and then we arrived there and the show we cancelled. So.
• 24:12
  Yeah. So I reckon we should go to Coachella. I agree. I love Justin Bieber. Obsessed. Well, this is actually an interesting question. You have the ability to dream of things...
• 24:27
  Say it out loud and somehow they come to fruition. You know, like a lot of people would call that manifesting or, you know, planning, whatever it is. But it's just really incredible to see that. So you have an idea, which sometimes you really think like me being on the sideline, be like, man, that's completely crazy or whatever. That's never going to happen. What's an example? Yeah.
• 24:51
  I mean, there's so many. Like now this thing in Davos, you're talking to Bill and Melody Gates Foundation, you know, roundtable with female coaching. Like you've just said that not long ago, literally about three weeks ago or something. I said, you know what? I'd be really sick for me to try and do this. I want to talk. And then you receive an email inviting you to do that.
• 25:12
  Oprah thing, you want to meet Oprah, then you did that. Just so many things like getting into tech stars, people you wanted to interview on a podcast, amount of money you wanted to make. Just so many of these. And it feels like you just speak them into existence and then something happens. So I guess what a lot of people may wonder or want to know is...
• 25:39
  what is the process and what happens from how do you even think about what you want to do to then saying it out loud because you actually go above and beyond to say it. You go on your social and you say it publicly, you tell it to a friend, you tell it to like, it's not just you have a little journal that, you know, remains a private thought. It very much becomes like a public mission. And then, and then it comes to fruition. Okay. So I would say,
• 26:08
  Two things. I'm like torn about the word manifesting, even though I say it, because I don't think of manifesting like in some woo woo, like I just, you know, dreamt about it. Thus it should happen. For me, it's like.
• 26:27
  I have a thought, which is like, wouldn't it be cool if... And an example is like last year at Techstars, when we were wrapping up the program, I was like to Jenny, one of my girlfriends from Techstars, I was like, wouldn't it be cool? Actually, I think I said it to the whole class.
• 26:46
  I was like, wouldn't it be cool if we had a confetti cannon and we like, when we were on stage and we finished, we like shot gold confetti, like sparkly confetti out of the cannon. And then we ended up doing it because we were like, why not? So I have these...
• 27:01
  thoughts that'll be like, wouldn't it be cool if, or imagine if we did that or whatever it is. And that's a trigger for me to be like, I wonder if we could actually do that. Like, it's not that far-fetched because it's not that far-fetched. And so the other side of it is that...
• 27:17
  It is crazy if I had to come up with a corporate event. Government and investors. The video of it was crazy. Also, it was a small room and this thing just exploded like crazy. But I was, my desk buddy was Jenny and Jenny's just like equally like, you say an idea and she's just like, let's fucking go. And so it's like, she immediately picked up the phone and was like, I know who to call.
• 27:42
  You know, like I was like, great, get that sorted. So it's like having that thought about like the wouldn't it be cool and like why not? Because life is short. And then the other thing is that I'm not someone that's very like conceptual. I'm not conceptual because I'm extremely practical. So I'm like, what are the steps? So I can't. It's like when I struggle to understand like concepts and things like this, when I need to know the practical steps of how to do something.
• 28:12
  And I can get laser hyper-focused on whatever it is that I've decided is about to happen. It's like I put it out there and then it's as if it signals a pathway in my brain that's basically like, right, well, if you were going to do that to reverse engineer it, this is what we need to do. These are the pieces of the puzzle that you need to start clicking together. And then it's almost like it starts kind of like...
• 28:37
  I'm more like aware of something that could be a piece of the puzzle or thinking about what could be the next thing that gets me to the next thing that gets me to the outcome that I want. And so I think like it's manifesting. Yes, but it's also just being like.
• 28:54
  what are the actual steps that I can connect or what are the dots that I can connect to get to this thing that is achievable because everything is achievable. And so it's, yeah, I'm not good with like concepts. I need like step one, do exactly this. Step two, do exactly this.
• 29:16
  And I guess then you've got a little bit of accountability as well. Does that play into it or you don't really care? Because often you just say it out loud, you say it to people. No, I don't care about accountability. I care about you put it out there and then someone might also have a piece of the puzzle that can push you further. Someone might have an idea or it might spark you to have a conversation with someone that gives you an idea or whatever it might be. But it's not really about accountability.
• 29:41
  I don't really care about that. Interesting. No, that's fair. That's fair. So last year, you barely posted on your podcast. What happened behind the scene? The podcast. Well, I love the podcast, but I feel like...
• 30:02
  I just lost my systems. I feel like I lost too much structure, too much systems. It probably started in the lead up to Techstars. I was already really overwhelmed. And then Techstars was just like a lot. And then coming out of Techstars, having this new thing that I needed to focus on and trying to build tech and trying to figure it out. And whether it's like self-imposed pressure or not, it's just I had the pressure and I
• 30:31
  Then I guess like I've always been struggling with this like health related like energy issues where I'm like in a constant burnout cycle. And so it's like the intersection of all these things at the same time were like I lost a
• 30:50
  Like I was, well, I was burning out, which was then causing me to like lose the systems that we had because I just couldn't manage everything in every direction. And being kind of like something that I've built mostly as a one woman show with Josephine, who was working with us full time at the time.
• 31:11
  Like that gave me the ability to do a lot. Whereas when Josephine was kind of transitioning into, you know, her big picture dream of what she wants to do, I couldn't replace her because I just wouldn't be able to replace her, basically. She's irreplaceable. Please come back to us, Josephine. And that took away a lot of my systems. And then I feel like it was a domino effect of just being like,
• 31:41
  too much chaos, too much chaos in my brain, not knowing which way to like, focus, like kind of half doing things, but then just not being able to like close the loop. And so that combined with like, the fucking best year ever of traveling all the time and like, just really, you know,
• 32:04
  I don't know, just making our dreams come true in 2025. Like there was so many big projects. We did so much travel. We did, we started in Europe. Then we went to the US. Then we went to Mexico. Then we went back to Europe. Then we went to Asia, probably. Then we went to Dubai. Then we went to wherever we went. Then we bought a house. Then I like hurt my neck and have spine issues. Then, you know, collapsed jaw, nervous systems, fucked, whatever.
• 32:30
  So many things. It was just such a big year that was like awesome. But then if you don't have the right systems and structures in place, it's just not possible to kind of do everything as one person. So I think for me, it was just like,
• 32:43
  I don't know. I guess I'm also someone who I have like a priority list and I've gotten really good at just being like, well, I've got to let it go. I can't do it all. I've got to let it go. And I just can't beat myself up about it anymore because yes, I want to do all these things, but I physically can't. So therefore I just do what I can and have to do the thing that's the priority for that day or the next day. And especially if we're working towards, you know, um,
• 33:13
  speaking at a speaking event, flying to LA, like speaking in front of, you know, 2000 women with Cody Sanchez, what a dream opportunity that was. And so that's the priority. So like, what are the things that need to get me there? So I'm always working on that, like time kind of sprint of like, okay, well, everything else has to go on the back burner. So I think that the podcast is,
• 33:36
  I had like this vision of what I wanted it to be and where I wanted to get the content to. And I just couldn't get it there. Lost the systems, struggled with my health, but still wanted to like. That makes it sound like it was a bad year when it was actually the best year of my life. Like we just had so much cool stuff going on that.
• 33:57
  I was like, well, I'm going to prioritize the cool stuff. But now... Just a break in between seasons. Yeah, a break in between seasons. Whereas now I'm like, oh my God, look, we're sitting in the 1.0 version of... Well, I guess it's the 2.0 version of the studio. It's very much the 1.0 because we had this set up in the previous house.
• 34:17
  But you've basically never recorded even one full solo episode in there. Maybe one. Yeah, I think one. But anyway, now I'm interning for you. I'm in charge of the scheduling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that is what's happening now. So, you know, we're, what, 13th of Jan, second day back at work, and we're already within the house that you bought for us. Yeah.
• 34:46
  which was the craziest deal we've ever done in our life by far. So regardless, this eclipsed every business transaction we could have ever done last year, both from a monetary standpoint to a potential ROI in the future to the quality of our life, all of it. And so now we're going to take full advantage of this new setup and, you know...
• 35:08
  I have to do the new podcast and the new recording studio. Yeah, I mean... A bit of gratefulness here for a second. How absolutely ridiculous is it to have a room that's just... It's the pink room. Fully covered in bright pink. I mean, my maximalist brain is just like, this is the coolest room. And I think we made the best decision because we've always had like desks and like prioritized like an office that's like an office with desks.
• 35:38
  Whereas like, I think it must've been like a week ago, we were like, why do we even have desks? We should get rid of desks. We shouldn't even be sitting at desks for more time. We should be sitting at desks never. Better systems. Better systems, better like team. Well, not better team, just getting a team. And just like, how cool would it be to have a pink room? So here we are. And it is really cool. It is really cool. I like it.
• 36:04
  All right, another quick change of pace. I'm happy in here. Pace, smash or pass? Okay. Okay. Smash or pass? Timothy Chalamet. Like his looks or his dance moves or? Smash or pass, you choose. Smash. There we go. He's a vibe. Brad Pitt. Pass. Absolutely not. Steve Terrell. Wait, I'm still on Brad Pitt. Are we kidding? I mean, he's hot.
• 36:35
  Steve Carell. You can't put Steve Carell on the list. I mean, actually... We have a friend who really loves him. I really think he looks... He looks great as an older man. I mean, I love him as an actor. I quite liked him in that morning show show. That's not the question. Smash or pass? Oh, sorry, sorry. I have to phone a friend. Come back later. Michael B. Jordan?
• 37:06
  Never heard of him. Harry Styles. I feel like I haven't seen anything for a while from him, so pass. Justin Bieber. Smash. Petro Pascal. I feel like I haven't seen a photo of him in a while, can't remember. And Jacob Elordi. Definitely Smash. Hot. When did you stop pretending you didn't care about money, and what changed once you owned that?
• 37:37
  I've never not cared about money. I always care about money. That's why I'm building my business. That's why I'm cheerleading other women building their businesses. A lot of people kind of think that you shouldn't care about money. You should care about, you know, changing the world. You should care about all of this stuff. What nonsense. I think that people are very... I think that's like some weird stereotype that's put onto women. Yeah.
• 38:06
  Women care about money. I care about money. For sure. So we can... What do you want to do with our money? What's on the wish list currently? So with a bit of context here, we've got a group chat called Wishlist. And she sends all the things that is on her wish list. None of which I can actually purchase. But...
• 38:31
  Well, it's my wish list. So like I'm working towards it. We're going to get it. We're going to get it this year. I mean, love that Rolly that Shelby Sapp has. Pink glitter. Love her G-Wagon. I don't know what else is in there. What else is in there?
• 38:52
  So many random stuff, like some Facebook market place, like all vintage something. Every two seconds, I can't even look at it. It's too many things. I know that something that was on there was a karaoke mic that was hot pink, but I ended up buying it for myself and I can't find it. Like it's here somewhere and I'm like. It's just behind there. What? I have looked for that so many times. What? Oh, my God. Oh, it's dusty.
• 39:22
  Oh yeah, we had a lot of renovation for those who don't know. I mean, let's turn it on. Power add. Bluetooth pairing mode. Okay, maybe for those who don't know, she gets...
• 39:44
  frazzled or scared like in one second like anything like the dog could walk past and she gets scared like i can call her name from the other side of the house and just calm down all right i get startled easy look at this look at this it's like your kids that when they walk with the shoes because every time you speak every time you speak it goes the crazy the color goes on speak
• 40:10
  This was on my wishlist. I could buy it for myself. It speaks whenever you... Yeah, I see it and I'm like, how cool is this? This should be our microphone. Still make sure you record the actual... Oh, yeah. Reporting to you live. This is amazing. I feel like we should buy this as gifts for other people. This should be Secret Santa. No one copied that. Okay, we'll just do two more questions. What is grinding your gear right now? What's grinding my gears...
• 40:41
  I'm pretty over my phone. My phone grinds my gears. I feel like my phone addiction has reached. Well, actually, it's it reached its peak. And so now I'm just like, I need to disconnect from my phone. We need to like my phone and I we need to break up. So my phone really grinds my gears. I just really don't like it because I'm obsessed with it.
• 41:06
  So I need to have it in another room. I need to have it out of sight, out of mind, and then I can forget about it. And I don't even have any, like it doesn't even come to my mind. But if it's in my line of sight,
• 41:16
  I want to pick it up. It really grinds my gears. I don't like it. Yeah, I feel like that's got to be number one for sure. And we just experienced like two full days without a phone at all where we left it in the car and went to slept in a hotel. And that was magical. Yeah. So. Yeah, my phone really grinds my gears. It's got to happen again. Yeah. All right. And so then what is your word for this year?
• 41:43
  2026. You know what? I knew you were going to ask this and I forgot to think about it until now. So my word for last year, which we absolutely nailed, was variety. Okay. Because I was so, like, sick of just...
• 42:00
  like the regular routine. And I guess because we'd come from like traveling so much and doing all these things all over the world and then moving back to Australia where we really needed to just like reset and like settle and kind of be more in one place. I then got really like antsy about that. And so my word for last year was variety. It was like, I want to travel more. I want to say yes to more things. I started doing K-pop lessons. I started doing singing lessons. I wanted to go to the beach every day. Like I...
• 42:28
  put more variety into my life in many different kind of small ways. Um, whether it was like hobbies or what I was reading or where I was traveling or the office, whatever. Um, and this year, like I was talking to Josephine the other day about, please come back to us, Josephine, about, um,
• 42:50
  her word for the year. And I literally put a reminder to myself to be like, you need to think about your word. And I forgot to think about it. But her word is expansion and like expanding now that she's kind of like settled in Amsterdam. And so...
• 43:08
  I liked that word, like expanding kind of like, I want to kind of like find a word that I can piggyback off hers because I like the idea of expanding what we've built. You know, it's been six-ish years probably of building Female Startup Club and I feel like last year was just amazing.
• 43:30
  in so many ways, the best year of my life and the best year of the business, even though all these things kind of also fell apart and whatever, but maybe it all needed to fall apart to come back to now. And now I can expand on the foundations that we've built over the last six years. And, but I, but I don't want the word expand. I want like a different word. I don't know why. I just don't like the look of the word expand.
• 43:57
  We'll do some chatty-pitting. Like variety reminds me of like Vanity Fair. Sounds really cool. Whereas expand is like... Chatty will know. Elon Musk. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great one. We'll... We'll tinker. We'll tinker. We'll tinker. But that as a concept is incredible. And I like the idea of like expanding your thoughts and expanding your brain. Flourishing.
• 44:23
  Is that your word? No. What's your word? I'm not sure. I think my word, and I've tried to come up with it, but I haven't nailed it yet. It combines kind of like...
• 44:37
  feeling lighter i can't remember like lightness by precision or something like that because i used to have so many different things that added just so much stress and all of this then i just want to be more precise so maybe more content so i think maybe content by precision contentment by precision which is crazy just so swiss
• 44:56
  but something of that nature. I can't be just free content or relaxed content. I have to be content with precision. Yeah, because I'm precise on what I do and therefore then just freaking works and then maybe the best. Yeah. But also contentment is not the right word because I really want
• 45:16
  more laughter and fun so it's content is part of it you know like we want this just a funner year which is exactly what we're doing now like again we're just trying to do things that's like different like things away we're more involved oh i think i know what my word might be okay because it's a word that i just like in general i think it's going to be maximum okay maximum let's do that let's finish on that let's max maximize
• 45:43
  Maxi Taxi. Yeah. Maxi Taxi. Let's max it. Let's max it. To the max. To the max. Right? Maxed. Max HBO. Hello, everyone. Thank you very much. Dear Miss Dune. What? Dear Miss Dune. Oh, dear Miss Dune. Oh. Okay, thanks. I love you. I love you. Oh, that's cool. Oh, that's cool.
• 46:25
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 46:49
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 47:12
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.