Latest / Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast / S1E8 - Bex Smith - Bowness-on-Windermere - Business Planning and Growth

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S1E8 - Bex Smith - Bowness-on-Windermere - Business Planning and Growth · Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of the podcast.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm joined by the brilliant Rebecca Smith, founder of Boxbox Solution, as we take a walk through a sun-soaked bonus at the height of tourist season.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's July, it's buzzing, and we're diving deep into a range of fascinating topics.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: As a working mum balancing business and childcare, Rebecca shares what it's like navigating life with her four-year-old whilst helping businesses define their long-term strategies.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about her transition from pharmaceutical sales into entrepreneurship and the challenges and empowerment that comes from leaving behind the safety net of a large corporation.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Rebecca talks about making soul traders feel less alone and how inclusivity can transform a business by valuing everyone's input.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So grab your trainers and join us for this walk through beautiful boness as we unpack life, business, and everything in between.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: You won't want to miss it.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Rebecca! Hi, how are you doing?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Good thanks.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really well, thank you.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Did you enjoy the sun yesterday?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did enjoy the sun.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: What did you do?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So well I've been away for the weekend.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Been up in the upper sizing in the camp bar and two.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Came back a little bit early yesterday because Lewis had a little uh four and five-year-old birthday party to go.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh cute.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Very cute for girls.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it was all sort of the opposite of him, so it was all like pink and like silly stuff and little unicorns and rainbows.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Although he does really like rainbows actually.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very nice.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: They did quite a bit of running running around outside in the sun and all that kind of stuff.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So oh that's nice.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's good.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and how's your week looking?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's half uh I was gonna say it's half-time, it's not half time, it's summer holidays.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, but he's at summer camp this week.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, cute.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know, so but it's like a sports summer camp.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Did you say he's four?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's four, yeah.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So Bill Lewis is four years old.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it's just full of energy, so I thought that would be a good thing for him because a sports camp, like it's wearing some out.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just on the field, yeah.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Wear him out, it's on the field, so it's in where I live, so he knows he knows the area, yeah.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the P teacher runs it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh cool! Oh, that's really nice.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm magic.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all gonna be like playing football and balls, sports, and outside stuff, and just yeah, tire him out, I think.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's really nice.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: These teachers doing it, yeah.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's some kids from school there, so perfect.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I've got obviously work done.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just wait for this card to go past.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh, so you've actually got time to do some stuff.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'm gonna do some uh trying to get some website stuff done.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So getting some content a bit from my website, yeah, and then actually making the changes, so it's nice to be able to like update, yeah, focus on that, update that, and then get out and seeing a couple of clients later in the week.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are these new clients?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that'd be good.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I hope so, yeah.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a couple of people that I've been trying to get to see for a while.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, obviously, diaries don't always align, do they?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So this is kind of the first time I've been able to go and talk to them.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is your business?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I help I have help other businesses work out what their long-term strategy for growth is.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we kind of look at look at their business, look at where they are at the moment, we look at where they want to get to, and then we start plotting.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: How do they how they get there?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of work back from the goal.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:16
  unknown: Cool.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of been built up over kind of lots of years of experience of my own.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, look at all the different sort of standard models that people might use.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of built it all into a program that's like really easily, it's it's easy, easily accessible.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just a nice process that they go through.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to really worry about anything too much.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So just follow my follow my process.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the things I'm asking them to think about.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Answer the questions that I ask them as they work through it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then from that, we can kind of build up their perfect step-by-step strategy on what they need to do over the next sort of three years, really.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you get to this point of setting up this business?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I suppose it's quite a long, it's quite a long story, I guess.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess um, yeah, I started off um I started off working in pharmaceuticals.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: As a sales rep for uh MSD, a big pharmac pharmaceutical company.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So really corporate, um, yeah, but you know, I learned I learned so much about kind of working with people and what makes people tick and yeah, that kind of stuff, and but sales really, yeah.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Different ways to sell.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then I got into working for an SME, okay, worked my way up there, again, really focusing on like people management.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I guess uh got kind of got to senior management level, yeah.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's all about working with people, yeah.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it became a lot more about the strategy then, became more about you know, how are we gonna like you know, well yeah, the strategic elements of it, how are we gonna um overcome competitors, how do we keep people motivated, all that kind of stuff.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, because it's quite that was quite a big business, I'd always worked in like bigger organisations.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of felt like I wanted to do something for smaller businesses, okay, and like I wanted to take everything that I'd learnt over like all the years of being in business, yeah, and put it into some sort of uh format that could help sole traders, right?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or you know, micro business owners, but the smaller businesses, you know.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's what I've done really, yeah.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, that's amazing.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: How did it feel to make that decision that you were gonna take the step and do your own thing?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: There is a lot.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of emotion attached to that, yeah.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Scary, very scary, yeah.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's so scary to step out on your own.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've always you know, I've always worked within teams of people, I've always worked in big organizations where there's like tons of people around you, yeah, you can lean on for support.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when you sort of step out on your own, and it is just you, it's like, oh my god, it's your name on the tin.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the fact that I think one of the things I struggled with in the early days was that I felt like I was on, like I'm on all the time.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, every time I'm talking to somebody, yeah, I'm almost feeling like I've got to sell my thing, right?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just exhausting.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you just you don't always want to be selling to everybody, yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just want to find people that are gonna like support you, and you can it's not like a sales interaction, it can just be can we just kind of help each other out a bit?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, because when I first started, I was kind of um it wasn't just sole traders, I was kind of focusing on bigger organisations because that's kind of been what I used to was used to, yeah.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I kind of very quickly was like, actually, no, I'm I'm a sole trader, yeah, and I'd I can take this stuff that I've learned that I've been doing with bigger organisations and I can do it with I can help the smaller smaller businesses, yeah.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it felt more like nourish not nourishing, but you know, it felt more like fulfilling, fulfilling, yeah, because these are the businesses that really need it, you know.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I guess you could also practice what you're selling in your own business, yeah, and things I know I've needed, yeah.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, as things have progressed, as I've developed the programme a bit further, yeah.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've added in things that like, well, I need that, I need to do that.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So my clients are gonna need to do that, yeah.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess I really understand what where they're coming from because a lot of the journey they're going through, I'm going through it as well.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of the feelings and the emotions that they're going through, like I know what that's like, yeah, definitely resonate with you.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I suppose that's my that's my big why, really.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's that yeah, um, I want to help soul traders feel less alone.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like my thing, you know, like everything I do is to try and make another soul trader feel a bit less alone.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Something I do today at work, yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I might not make a sale, somebody might not spend any money with me, but yeah, I'll do something today to help another soul trader feel a bit less alone.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's like a win for me.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's like and it is a lonely space, isn't it?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can feel quite isolating, and yeah, what am I doing?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why am I doing this?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's the easiest option.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's always the easiest option just to go and get a job, yeah.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the easiest, but it's also a good fallback plan, isn't it?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because you do have the skills and the experience to be able to do that.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I think I'm pretty unemployable now.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a few I know a few entrepreneurs who would say that it'll be quite hard to take instruction again.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just I think I've grown myself in so I've grown so much in confidence as well.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that I think when I think back to some of the things that I tolerated, yeah, and some of the things that I just didn't do anything about.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think if those things, if I was in an employed position and those things happened now, yeah, there's no way I would just sit and just not say anything.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think a lot of that is um fear factor, isn't it?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're paying us a salary, and should we stand up to them, but actually, oh my god, where do I get fired?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: But there's something to be said about if we don't say something, it'll happen to the next person.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and also changes.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: If someone's gonna try and fire me, yeah, for speaking my mind, yeah, or for standing up for something I don't think is right, yeah, or just for pushing back and giving a different opinion of the floor.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Although the right fit, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do I would you is that somewhere you want to work anyway?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, yeah, I agree.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So this is interesting though, isn't it?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think to take on the entrepreneurial flag, if you like, um, you do need to have certain intrinsic characteristics, it's not something everyone can do, is it?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not successfully, yeah.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not with everyone can give it a go, yeah.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean it wasn't, I guess for me, it wasn't without going too much into the detail, yeah, it wasn't necessarily a uh purposeful decision, right?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like one day I thought, right, I'm gonna go and set my own business up now, and this is what I'm gonna do.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, put in a position and I had to make the best of it.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's kind of the choice that I made is that I can either dwell on things that have happened and get really upset about it and go into the whole blame and do you know what I mean?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: That negative cycle where I can say, right, let's do something positive with this, let's see it as an opportunity, see it as an opportunity, and so then as soon as I could kind of reframe things a little bit in my head, so I was like, that's what I'm gonna do.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then I started doing like okay, so what do I know?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, am I good at?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I did that whole bit of work where you marry up the things that you're good at, the things you enjoy, the things that you want to do, and then you try and find a place where that stuff is valued and somebody wants to pay for that, yeah.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Which is kind of and then that's how you know Box Box came about, was that's what I did.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And at the beginning it wasn't exactly what it is now.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was as I said, it was kind of focusing on support going into businesses and um working with the entire like I'm really big on inclusivity.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I feel like when we do things like business planning and strategy and growth and that kind of stuff, yeah, it can be with everyone in the business.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it doesn't have to just be the managing director or the CEO, whatever the top person is and the senior team.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like why not ask all of the people that work there?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you think?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: What are you what are you struggling with?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: What opportunities do you see?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that kind of stuff.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get them involved in it.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I did a lot of that in the early days, I did a lot of that sort of stuff, and that was really good because people would always report that they got good, they got good buy-in, they got good results because the people were part of the process and the decision making.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Taking everyone on the journey, yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I still do a bit of that now, but as I said, as as things developed, yeah, like then my why became much more that you know, I want to help sole traders feel a bit less alone, yeah, because that's what I was, and that's a lot of the business connections I was meeting.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was meeting loads of sole traders and micro business owners, and they're all saying the same stuff, they're all struggling with the same stuff, yeah.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Even though they were doing different you know, different things in their business.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so then I was like, right, well, this is what I need to do.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I need to do something for these people, yeah.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I need to help help them take the big business strategy, the big business models, all that kind of stuff, the big business thinking that's really accessible for bigger organisations, yeah, and they need to make it in a some sort of a format that they can that they can find that they can follow, that they can make use of, that they can yeah, but it's accessible, isn't it?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's simple and easy for them to follow.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then that's what I've done.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So and then it's built from there, really.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And how many years have you been going now?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm in my third year now.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, that's awesome! Yeah, and do you feel um as you as each year passes you're sort of learning from the previous year and evolving things and yeah, yeah, definitely it's been being built built on literally day by day.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think the biggest thing for me now, from that's different from right in the beginning, yeah, was I don't always know what the challenges are gonna be that are coming around the corner, but every day that goes by I trust myself a bit more that I will take the action I need to take.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean I trust myself.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's very much a personal journey, personal growth journey as well, isn't it?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, just learning that resilience that just trust yourself and back yourself.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've got to back yourself, and as I said, I don't always know what the answer is straight away, but I know that or I feel like I can trust, yeah, I'll figure it out.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it must look your business must look quite different now to what it did three years ago.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm working with the main thing that I do, it's a group programme, uh-huh.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And for sole traders, yeah.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and right in the beginning it was working with still small organisations, um, but working with all of the people in the business and going in working one-on-one with that business.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of it is really different, but actually the main principles are exactly the same.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the process that we go through, yeah, although how I deliver it is a bit different.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm still doing the same process with the group of sole traders that I'm working with that I did with you know, a business with 30 people in it that I'm working over the space of a few months to help them develop their strategy.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same like steps.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of empowering those people, isn't it?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, especially when you're working with an within an organization where you're getting everybody involved, yeah.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like making, you know, so you go into an organization and they've always had every decision made for them, they've always been told exactly what to do.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go and you go, okay, well, what do you think?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's what's what do you find challenging about your job?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: What opportunities can you see?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like people that are actually doing the work, like what's what's going on for you?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you ask them, and so what would you do then?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how would you what strategy would you employ?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like what that all those sorts of questions, yeah.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh my god, you're asking me, like, yeah, we want to know what you think.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they always come up with stuff that like the MD would never have thought about because they're just not close enough.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: They're just not close enough, and they always come up with ideas or that no one else has thought of, or they come up with like or they'll tell you about a challenge they're facing that you didn't know about, yeah.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can work with them and say, Okay, well let's we can do something about this now.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now we know we can try and improve that or make it better, or yeah, you know.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's really good because that's it, yeah, it's empowering at all levels, isn't it?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's one thing that I'm that I feel really strongly about.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's like when I said about inclusivity, yeah, I mean inclusivity on every every single level, yeah.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So inclusivity in terms of every type of diversity, but also like you know, people that have just joined the business, yeah, people that have been there for a long time, and they're they've got equally as important stuff to say.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, people that are really young in the business, yeah.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: They've got some really cool stuff to say.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: People have been there for years and years, have got, you know, it doesn't matter who you are in the business, yeah.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's uh yeah, there's just so much that you can that you can get when you open the door for people to contribute and to get involved and and I can see why you get the buy-in then because everyone's invested.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because they're they're valued, their contribution is valued.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it is, it's about that value, isn't it?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know, if it's if it's just there's a senior team and you make all the decisions and you never talk to anybody else, yeah.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you that arrogant that you think that you have every answer?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, actually.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: But you're gonna ask the people, go and talk to them, like why not get them involved?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why not open it out?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and then so you know, sometimes people will say things like, Oh yeah, but you know, I don't really want them to make all the decisions, but I don't really want to open it out.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like what if they say to do something I don't want to do?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you don't have to have to do everything that they say, at least you've had the awareness, but just ask them, and there'll be a couple I bet there'll be all there's always been a couple of things, yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to take everything on board just because you're bringing everyone on the journey, but at least people feel heard, yeah, contributions are received, and then you can sort of say yes and no by intention.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think nobody, you know, when you're doing that sort of work, when you're opening opening the doors out for people to contribute, yeah.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think any of them would be expecting to take everything that everybody says and build that into a strategy because you can't they know that, yeah, but you can promise that you'll listen, yeah, like with an open heart, you know, properly listen to what they're saying and consider it, yeah.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, some things are gonna be like, well, that's not feasible, we can't we can't accommodate that, we can't do that for whatever reason, yeah.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you can at least consider it and see see what options come up, basically.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so, how do you um like to leave a business like when it comes to the end of what you're doing?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: So when I leave a business, the at the very least they will have a really thorough, thoroughly considered step-by-step plan of what they need to do, what actions they need to take, what tasks need to be done for them to grow their business towards the vision that we set right at the beginning.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and that's like from a practical side of it, that's the big thing that they need to walk away with.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's that's what they always get left with, is is that you know, it's a detailed plan, yeah, but um it's also one that I always say it's a plan that you can feel confident in because we've done all this pre-work of like you know, considering all these different things and brainstorming all the ideas and thinking about as many different things as they can, and then whittling whittling it down through a process to get to the like these are the core things, these are the critical things.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel confident these are the right things because I've done this big consideration piece.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: See what I mean?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so what does that um what does that look like in real terms?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is it like a pile of documents and spreadsheets and um diagrams?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what they have is the um the three-year plan is like a one-page document.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's lit, it's not there's no like 20-page business plans or anything like that.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing overwhelming, nothing overwhelming.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: They have a one-page plan that sort of summarises the next three years that they can use as like their guiding like principles, the guiding plan of like what's going to happen over the next three years.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next 12 months is in an Excel spreadsheet.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, lots of companies I went with have got like different software they might want to use, there's all sorts of different software.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: They can pull spreadsheets into that though.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they can, yeah.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we just we just use it, you know, so that they can, and some of them will just keep it as a spreadsheet, some of them will put it into like a you know, a project management bit of whatever that, you know, whichever sort of tools that they they whatever tools they want to use, yeah.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um so they'll have a spreadsheet with the next 12 months on it, and they'll have a like a scorecard that they can use to like track their progress.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And do you then um sort of have a support plan on the back of that?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that, or do you loop back around just to check in to see how they're doing, or do you kind of step away and leave them to it?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's totally up to them, yeah, what they want, really.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So um some businesses just want to some support creating that plan.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that might be all they need, and that's fine, they can do that, and then they can just get on with implementing it themselves.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or if they want more support and they do want like some accountability, yeah.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: They can once they've done that part of the programme.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I do like weekly group sessions.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: They can stay part of the weekly group sessions if they want to, if they want that.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's quite a lot about mindset, you know, overcoming um blocks, I suppose, in terms of we talk about things like stress management, time management, yeah, resilience, that kind of stuff.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you um is is one of your goals to kind of build a community?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, because that's what they get from the weekly.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when they're part of the programme, they come to the weekly sessions, they're the group sessions, and they're all business owners that have either done the strategy programme, yeah, that have gone through that process of building their strategy with me, yeah, or that are currently doing it.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's only open to people that have kind of done that, so they all understand like the concept of it all, otherwise I'll just be repeating myself all the time.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it just means that we can focus on different stuff, we can focus on that mindset stuff, yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so there's all those sorts of people, and because it's only a small group, it's not massive, yeah, it just means that they get to know each other really well.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's always quite a lot of like cross-sales going on.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not intentional or promoted, it's just if you spend naturally happens.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you spend eight weeks like on a weekly session with somebody, yeah, and you know, there's a bookkeeper in there and you need a bookkeeper, that's you've got to be bound to happen, isn't it?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's that's great, and I try to make sure that I'm not again, I don't know, it might change in the future, but I'm trying not to make it so that I'm just targeting bookkeepers, for example.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because then do you know what I mean?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to make sure that when I take new clients on, they come to as part of the group programme, yeah, that their the thing that their business does is like complementary to other other people there.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we try and do that.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, it might change as things go on, but um yeah, that's kind of how it how it goes.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: But they can also, if they want one-to-one support, they can also continue working with me on a one-to-one basis.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I try and make it so that it's like a really nice, cost-effective thing that stands on its own.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you wanna, if you want to do more stuff, then we can there's loads of things that we can do, but yeah, I didn't want it to be like you have to like spend mega bucks to yeah.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's part of the accessibility thing, isn't it?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Especially for soul traders, it's really important.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I can see from when you're talking, your energy really lifts when you talk about your clients and you're like really glowing, which is really nice.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you're obviously enjoying what you're doing.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it is genuine, it's so genuine.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like the fact that I get and I get to know these people really well, and they talk to me about all their like deepest, darkest stuff that's going on, and like I just built the tea, and you know, when they come back and say, Oh, that session really helps, yeah, because of like whatever, whatever reason, it's just that literally is that that's the best thing that ever happens in my business if someone says that, and I'm just like that's so nice to know that I like helped you improve someone's day or help their business, or that's that's that's the that's the good stuff, isn't it?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think part of that sort of um satisfaction is actually you are genuinely impacting someone's life, yeah, because I'm literally giving them, I'm showing them a way to literally put their make their plan of how they're going to achieve their dreams basically.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's amazing.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes it's like actually you should you your dreams in that time frame are really unachievable, but we can get here, yeah.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's just making it so that they can, you know, they can actually do that, they can make progress, they can get somewhere.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: What um yeah, I think that's really great.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: What challenges have you faced?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's your biggest challenge you've faced so far?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I suppose me.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm my biggest challenge.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I do feel like personal growth and personal critiquing is so important in this, but it we're in a kind, kind, careful way, because obviously, transitioning from employed to sole trading, yeah, you have to shift the way you behave and think quite a lot.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: You do, you do, and I think that's part of being a sole trader as well, is that you haven't got anyone else there, yeah, usually to be like, come on, snap out of it, or just sort of like balance your own opinion, I guess.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all it's always you're just always in your head so much, aren't you?
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's part of that is to be expected, you're not gonna be able to get away from that, yeah.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's you know, I've over the you know, over these few years of running my own business, yeah, I have sought out help.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've paid for quite a lot of help when I've needed it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And what could what does that look like in terms of so when I first started when I had no money, I'd not made a sale yet, I've not done anything.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I paid out for a one-to-one business coach to support me, which was invaluable.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because just on that, sorry to interrupt, on that coaching point, that's so important, isn't it?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: To have a mentor, have a coach, have some guidance, have that person to bounce back off who is objective, yeah, who you're not related to, yeah, who's not your friend.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: All of that, all of that, yeah.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that was invaluable, and that's some of the best money I've ever spent because she literally kept me on the straight and narrow.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, have a session with her every week for six months.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just sometimes it was like talking about how you know what the business decisions that I was having to make, yeah, and being able to talk them through with somebody, and other times it was just her helping me stop beating myself up and getting in my head and telling you all the negative talk, telling myself that I couldn't do it and all of that kind of stuff.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, you know, if I didn't have her asking me, is that true though, Rebecca?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and me going, well, yeah, all right, no, it's not it's not true, is it?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it's not.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: But if you didn't have someone asking you that stuff, yeah, like I would just go down that rabbit hole of thinking that I couldn't do it, and yeah, I don't know if I I wouldn't know if I would still be hit.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's powerful.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I've done I have you know, there's stuff I paid for, yeah.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: I still pay for stuff now, yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I think also I really when I first um oh hang on one second.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can tell it's a school holiday, so yeah, the skills out, yeah.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I I mean I've I do and I always have done lots and lots of face-to-face networking, and obviously the goal of that is I want to meet potential clients, but I think really early on I realised that every time I go to a networking event, yeah, I'm not always gonna meet a potential client, and it shouldn't that shouldn't necessarily be the goal either.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a few women in particular that I met quite early on that I don't know, maybe they will one day be clients, I don't know, but that was never their relationship.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was always like we're just in business, struggling with the same stuff, let's just support each other, and they've become really good, like so almost like colleagues, yeah, you know, where you can just you know, I've got that little group of women that I can just ring up and say, I'm having a really bad day today, yeah, and I can just get some support, and I you know, I'll there for them, I'll be their biggest cheerleader, you know, I'll you know big them up and just try and support them through that journey because that's what they've done for me.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what they're doing.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's yeah, really, really important.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is, yeah.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's important too because we we are not islands, no, and we do need people, and as much as we are capable, we still need that support in coaching.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: What was the next thing you were gonna say when I before I interrupted you?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then I suppose the other thing in terms of challenges is like I'm a single mum, yeah, a little four-year-old, but like when I started my business, he was like two, right?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really tough.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're looking at you know, from a financial point of view, yeah, when you just start your business, you know, you've you don't really know what you're doing.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean most businesses overwhelm.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of overwhelm, a lot of financial worry, because most businesses don't start with tons of sales coming in.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, you usually oh no, not everybody, some people start off with a nice little bump of sales, but usually it takes a bit of time for you to like figure out like what you're doing and get some sales in.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, as a single parent when you're having to pay quite a lot of childcare to be able to go and in those early days not earning any money, yeah.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to you know, that's frightening.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's and I suppose that's probably the biggest factor that's that has affected my ability to keep going.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, is like oh should I just go and get a job where I get paid every month?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not gonna be as fulfilling and yeah, it's not gonna make the hit.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I think you know equally is it also the reason that keeps you going?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: It it is the it is absolutely that because you know I can it absolutely fits around my lifestyle, and that's the big factor for me is that like I can just be like, Well, the sports day, well, I'm gonna go to sports day.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't, I'm not gonna plan anything around that time.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, like this week for example, it's the school holidays, yeah, and so I've only got cover like nine till three instead of normally when he's up at preschool, it's like eight till six o'clock, really.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, but that's fine.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I just have to, you know, I I won't earn as much over the summer because I'm not gonna be able to work as much, but yeah, I can put him first and I can make sure he gets what he needs, and you know, it's and also that quality time with your child, isn't it?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so this last week that's just gone by, I've not been working, yeah, and we've um we've done loads of cool stuff together, yeah, and it's been lovely to like have that proper time with him.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and again I've been able to enjoy it because I've got three weeks over the summer where I've got him in a you know, he was up at obviously up at the sports camp this week and next week, and in a nursery.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I just the thought of a bunch of four-year-olds at sports camp.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's just they are very cute, they are very, very cute.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I've seen this little face this morning when a couple of the little other little kids from his from his class are there as well, and he's like, Oh, it's you know, it's a little Aggie and Jake and yeah, it's super cute.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Very cute.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he'll have a blast.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that's you know, if I was employed, I mean I know employees are improving now, yeah.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's there is a lot, or there seems to be a lot of change in terms of getting better at flexible working and things like that, but I mean still, you know, it's tough, it's really hard because like what you what's the business gonna do?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: It'd give you six weeks off in the summer.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean it'd be great if they could, but yeah, if you could work it some way that they could allow that to happen, yeah, exactly.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's at the moment there's not a lot of businesses offering that, so again, as a single parent, you haven't got a lot of other options, and you've got to, you know, you've got to you'd have to put your child first, you have to you know they have to come first.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you manage self-care in amongst all of that?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's very difficult, yeah.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: You look really sheepish and guilty.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's because I know how important it is, yeah, and I don't always do the best job of it, yeah.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: But again, um it's one of the things that um my coach said to me because maybe a couple of months ago, I've really gone through a difficult bit.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't doing any self, literally I wasn't doing anything for myself, it was just all Lewis and my job, Lewis and my job, and yeah.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Again, when I was talking about sort of the negative, negative self-talk, yeah, it's just totally totally took over.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I was I just didn't want to post on social media anymore, I didn't want to talk to anybody.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, oh, and the first thing she said to me, we got on a call, she's like, When was the last time you went for a run, Becky?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, I just knew you know straight away, I was like, Oh, that's what it is.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've just and it was just like for me, if I'm running, yeah, then it's like it starts off a what's the opposite of a vicious circle?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the opposite of a vicious cycle, a positive feedback loop, yeah, that if I'm running regularly, yeah, it breaks the it breaks the cycle, doesn't it?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're endorphins and you're getting endorphins, you feel a little bit better, then I eat a bit better because I start thinking about myself, I'm an athlete now because I'm running again.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I feel like good athlete after my walk yesterday.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or you should do though.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Does it make you after you've done something like that though, how does it how does it affect you afterwards?
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so twenty yesterday was 20 miles, I'll walk away.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it was scorching hot.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely stunning.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I basically my strategy is to eat my way round because you need the fuel for that sort of distance.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's part of my excitement for the day before is how I pack my sandwiches and what I'm taking and what I've got.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's just all the little treats to sort of look forward to, and then afterwards, like last night, obviously I was knackered, so I got back at about half past nine.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but because I'd been organised, I had all my dinner ready.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I just got that microwaved in my belly, straight to bed, and woke up really fresh this morning.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was concerned about you had a really good night's sleep.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it was a passing out unconscious thing.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, can't do another step.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's how you suppose that's how you're meant to go to sleep, aren't you?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: You meant to, you know, you've obviously you've worked really hard that day, like physically, but it's been in a positive way there, wasn't it?
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: You've just the mind's not racing.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: You've just been in the moment, you've enjoyed yourself, yeah.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: You've got your blood pump in and your body moving, yeah, and then you've gone you sleep well.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I manage the self-care bit with a lot of exercise.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love walking, I go to the gym four times a week.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't have a child, yeah.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you know it's it's all well and good that I say all this, but I'm very mindful that um I am in a position where I can, yeah, and I don't need to juggle things.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I do get that it is very difficult when you when you are thinking about someone else.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not so easy to weave it into your day.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: Born that is true, it isn't as easy to weave it into the day, but I also think there is things that I can do, right?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same, like the same feeling that stops you going to the gym because you just don't want to go for whatever reason.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just blame it on my kid.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it you know, I can alright, yeah, it is hard for me to do something when I go to the gym, yeah, because I'd have to get someone to look after him while I went to the gym.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I love doing the insanity DVD workouts.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: I do still have a DD DVD player and I can do them.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm probably betraying my ages saying that I do the insanity workouts.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: I used to do the insanity workouts.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: I do just think they're so good though.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I can, you know, there's no excuses why I can't do that.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're half an hour long.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right, so there's a 30 minutes, so I can find time for 30 minutes in the day if I want to.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not thinking about doing it.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: I can probably waste I probably could waste 30 minutes thinking, yeah, thinking about it and talking myself out of it and then into it, then out of it again.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: I do that with the gym and then I think, oh my god, I could have been there and yeah, exactly.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the same, like you might you blame it on different things, yeah, but it's the same self-sabotage stuff, isn't it?
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's that's exactly what it is.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I can I can do them, I can do them in my living room.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to even go anywhere.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's you know, if he wakes up, I try and do them in the morning when I'm when I'm on it and I'm doing it, I do them in the morning.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if he wakes up, he just comes downstairs.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he'll just sit there and either watch me or he'll do it, you know, join in a little bit.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's cute.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is cute.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but even just but just that's positive reinforcement of good habits, isn't it?
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we do talk quite a lot about trying to be healthy and yeah, trying to get him to eat his vegetables at the moment.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yes.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: How's that going?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my strategy for this is just give him a plate full of little bits of all different vegetables all the time.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then I don't really worry too much about you have to eat it all, yeah, or like you know, anything like that.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just just let's just always have him in front of lots of different vegetables, and they're just always there.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: He'll get used to seeing it and it'll just become the norm.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he tries it, and he's quite good at trying it, and I would just say, you know, just try a little bit, yeah.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and he'll there's some that he prefers, but I suppose I want to find out like genuinely what vegetables he actually likes, you know.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: But if I just unless I expose him to as many as I can, yeah, you know, I won't know, yeah.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um are you applying your business strategy process on your child?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not I don't know if I've taken it that far.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely do my own business strategy on my own business.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I did try a lot of stuff out at the beginning on myself, yeah.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and for over the summer I've set another um, I've got one of the days when it's in the summer camp.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna run through the process again with my business because again, it's a young business still, yeah, and it's changing like all the time.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean things are quite different now to what they were six months ago.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to redo things, but again, once you've once you've got that process, you can and so one of my clients was telling me last uh couple of weeks ago in one of the group sessions that she'd applied the process that we go through to do your business strategy to some of our smaller projects.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm like, well, that's kind of the point, isn't it?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're obviously not going to spend eight weeks doing it.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a framework.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it quicker, yeah.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: You might spend an hour, but you still follow the little loop that we that we do.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it helps you come up with a little plan.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's fantastic.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, yeah, maybe I need to did that make your your heart glow a little bit.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it did.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the thing, you know, when you think about shall I go and get a proper job?
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Proper job, I shouldn't say that.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: Should I go and get a job being employed?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is I wouldn't get that.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: I talk too much.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're okay.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, my phone rang.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was panicked when my phone rings.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh my god, I was doing another recording.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, my phone's ringing.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Does it ring on the recording?
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the guy that I was talking to was like, uh, answer it.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not really the point of recording.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh dramas, dramas of being live.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I get that sometimes when I'm doing my uh the Greek sessions.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like because I mean sometimes the dog barks, but I mean that's I can't do a lot about that.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um I suppose also though, oh yeah, it makes people feel a bit comfortable that if their dog barks, like it's okay.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff like that's gonna happen, isn't it?
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that's what I was thinking about.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, when you go, that's one of the big things that stops me going back to an employed job, yeah, is to know that the thing that I've created, that I've put together myself, yeah, and gone and pitched out there to the world, yeah, is like having a positive impact on someone, and that just feels amazing to know that like my little thing that I, little me, yeah, put together, yeah, you know, on the back of a difficult time, like has really helped somebody.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's it.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: Especially to get that feedback to say actually we've we've applied it.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it tells you that it's been understood and valued, yeah, and it's working, and it's working, yeah, adding value.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's good.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's good.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is good.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully, as Lewis grows up, he'll see.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want him to see, I don't want him to see me working so hard that we don't have the time together.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of need to keep that, yeah, keep our time.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I want him to see his mum working really hard, yeah, to give us a good life, yeah, and to know that that's that's like a good ethic to teach, or that's a good thing to teach him that you know, if you go out there into the world and you give it your role, like work when I say work hard, I don't mean like hustle, you know, the whole hustle, hustle, hustle.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've got to work every hour like you know 24-7.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't mean that, but just if you've got goals, like go after them, like work hard for them, yeah.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you can achieve something.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's like a good, yeah, good mentality to teach them, I think.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree, and it's um yeah, leading by example, yeah.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's good to try and also it's a it's a good vision to have because it's a good reminder to you to pull back when when you feel like you're snowballing, yeah.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: And actually you've got your son there to say, Hey, I'm here.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's quite hard.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's hard to snowball because yeah, he will put a stop.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he will put a stop to I don't mean that in a horrible way, but like he will he's gonna need something, and I'm gonna need to stop what I'm doing and I I do find that I do, I must admit, I do find that difficult.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I do try and segregate.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't ever really try and do work when he's there.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because for you as well, isn't it?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because if he interrupts me, then I get really stressed.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's not, you know, that's then I'm gonna be short-tempered with him and more irritable and all the rest of it.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I just yeah, I've tried I did try in the early days sometimes.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be like, somebody didn't want to do a Zoom with me on a day when I didn't have any childcare, and I'd be like, oh maybe I can, you know, put him in front of Pepper Pig.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and it just sometimes it works.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'm not saying I don't ever do that because sometimes I still still have to do bits of bobs like that, but I try not to because it just doesn't work.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just get stressed, he gets stressed.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not not a good way to do things.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I suppose that's part of it as well, isn't it?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Learning what to say no to and to say, yeah, no, that's my boundary, like I can't do that.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a hard thing to do.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because you feel like you're missing out on stuff, don't you?
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: You feel like if I say no to this, um I don't know, are they ever gonna will they come back?
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: Will I ever get another opportunity like that?
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: But then I have to then evaluate the fact that like legacy's the most important thing in all of it.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, keep that perspective, yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's good, and it's good that you're sort of always checking in on yourself and um testing, yeah, testing where you're at and is it working?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: I sound like I'm getting it right all the time.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really not though.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: No, like no, and it's not coming across like that to be honest.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's coming across as you're you're just being really honest, like this is hard.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one thing with me, yeah, is that I am just very honest and open, and I mean my clients are saying like they don't get they don't get like like this polished, yeah, like on like corporate version.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I am just there with me, yeah, and armed with all the knowledge and experience, yeah.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that I hope that puts them at ease.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, one thing people always say about working with me, yeah, is that they'll say some some like variation on you made it really easy for me.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or like because I and I think that is just because I'm just coming at it from the I'm just coming as me.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you can just be you as well.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, you can come and tell me you've had a bad day, I'll tell you I've had a bad day.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, we can just work through these things.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're a bit like J-Lo.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just trying to be me.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know why?
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm wearing J-Lo's perfume today.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: I do, yeah.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's why she came to me.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: My channel in a bit of J Lo.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just hate that all day long.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Brilliant.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: We all want to channel a bit of J Lo.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's got the formula and now whatever that is.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: I keep running, I might end up I might look like her one day.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's quite unlikely.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go with that.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll just that's that can be the goal.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: The never achieved goal.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's like putting a negative thing out into the atmosphere.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: We need to not do that.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is true, yeah.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna channel J Lo now all day long.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: You've you've changed the way you're walking.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're suddenly a bit straight up.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Shaking my butt.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's worse there's worse, um there's worse people to channel, isn't there?
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's still quite a bit, it's a bit cloudy, but it's still quite warm.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: I quite like it like this.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I struggle with it being, yeah, I don't want to tempt anything.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really sorry.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really like the blasting sun.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like 25 is my limit.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's my happy place.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm like around I mean I'm like, yeah, 18, 19, 20.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's my oh okay, so yeah, you're lower.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: So were were you um born and brought up in Cumbria?
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much, yeah.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: So my family we well, my family's all from from down south.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was from Reading and my mum's from Bedford, and I've got three older brothers, and they were all born down here.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Three older brothers, yeah.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Stephen is 13 years older than me.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Michael and Robert are 14 and 16 years older.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: They were all born down south.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: They moved up here for a bit, like my dad worked at Sellafield.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um we lived in West Cumbria and St B's for I think I was about maybe 14.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that, 13, 14, maybe.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when we lived there until about that age.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: My sister was born up here, she's three years younger than me.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: So me and her are the only proper northerners in our family, but not so southerners.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: Which we do have a north-south divine in our family.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do you?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: We do, yeah.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I lived there, lived in West Cumbercy until I was about 14.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then we moved to South Lakes.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean I've moved around quite a bit.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've lived lived up in Glasgow for a bit.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've lived down in near Wigan for a good good lot of years, and then I was in Northampton for a couple of years.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I have I've left and moved around a little bit and done different things with work and that kind of stuff.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a lovely place.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I've come back to.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is, it's beautiful.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can't um imagine being anywhere else to be honest.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love it when I drive back and everything opens up and I just think, oh, how come home?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is so lovely.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: How about you?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Me, I've been all over the place as well.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was um grew up in London, yeah, and then moved to the southwest for my first job.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I lived there for about five years.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then I moved back to London, but I was north of the river.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very important divide as well.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: North or south of the river.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then um I've always consulted, so I've always travelled around the country with work.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, and then I ended up in Cumbria, did a master's in Lancaster.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh brilliant! Yeah, that was kind of uh I was about 28, I think.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: Did a masters.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um the truth of it is I wanted a year out, but I needed to be productive.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you did a masters, so I did a masters and had some time out.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: But your time out, you should do the masters, yeah, yeah.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, yeah, and then I just stayed, just really enjoyed it.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was um also there was a connection with an ex-husband, yeah, and then that didn't work out, and I thought, well, I just can't imagine not living here.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a hard place to leave, isn't it?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is, and I think that was a good test really to confirm that I really love it.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, otherwise you would have just gone somewhere else, wouldn't you?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they just packed up and left, but yeah, I just feel quite anchored and grounded here.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really nice.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really nice feeling to to wake up and feel so joyful and at peace.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't think you you do need to be somewhere a bit rural for that, don't you?
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I just really I mean it does get crazy hectic with holidays, as you can see.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's so many people.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: But when you live somewhere like this and you know what it's like, you wouldn't in the downtime, yeah.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm one of those that I don't ever begrudge like tourism.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, I think it's such a massive part of Cumbria, like if we hadn't if we didn't have tourism, if we didn't, if our villages weren't like inundated in the summer, like they wouldn't, we wouldn't have half the stuff that we've got, yeah.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you need it, and I I know it gets a bit frustrating sometimes with traffic and yeah, parking, yeah, something like that.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I and I also I agree with everything you said, and I also kind of like that smugness that I can feel when I think I live here.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you hear it all the time, yeah.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that is good.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that is quite nice.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same in Arnside, you know, it's a really you know, it's a small village, and you know, there's so much, there's so many of the shops that we've got there that just wouldn't be there if it wasn't for it.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um that I I use and I have get the benefit of those places being there all year round.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: So and you get fabulous sunsets, don't you, over there?
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's so yeah, you really do.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_00: Really beautiful.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'd get addicted to that.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's not me when you go and see it.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_02: That I have seen.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny because I'm not I'm not really a traveller myself, yeah.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: A bit anxious about going too far, but okay.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's been all over the world, like she loves she's she's a you know massive traveller, yeah.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and she's been literally all over the world.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because her favourite place is Bolivia, oh, the soul parts things out of Bolivia, right?
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the most beautiful, but then she'll all always say she's been to all these cool places and seen all these like beautiful countries, yeah, but still there's nothing really that beats some of the views you get in the lake district, especially outside sunsets, one of them where she's like, Yeah, you get a really good one, yeah.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: You struggle to there's nothing like it.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: You struggle to beat that, yeah.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: I agree when you've got that on your doorstep, yeah, exactly.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree with that.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: And haven't you got a fish and chip shop there as well?
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's quite popular.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have, I live really close to chip shop.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, do you smell it?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's very hard to resist it.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: And they deliver now as well, so yeah, you know, I can just get them to bring chips to my house, like which is great, but also really bad at the same time.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, that smell walked through your windows.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm salivating, just thinking about it.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm trying to like no lewics, eat your vegetables.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I can smell chips, mummy.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's never actually said that, but I'm sure one day it's gonna happen, yeah.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's just try and negotiate around the style.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is such a busy spot, yeah.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: I love all these little alley roads, skilly, skinny roads though.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, little oh god, oh we timed that badly.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or really well, because or really well.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: So what's next for you, Rebecca?
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: How do you see the next well that's a big question?
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: How do you see the rest of the year going?
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, it's funny you say that because when you're talking about self-care, yeah, the big thing for me this for the rest of this year, yeah, is from a business point of view, I'm kind of setting out what I'm doing.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know what it is, I know my product's really well formed, yeah.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know what I need to do to keep that going, so that'll sort of just happen.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think the big thing for me now is I need to really all of the things that I know I need to do from a self-care point of view, yeah.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've been working up like a little daily routine that I'm like, if I could just do that, do that routine, yeah most days, yeah, like the whole 80-20 thing, isn't it?
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: If I could sort of follow that routine 80% of the time, I think that would be really positive for my mental health, yeah, really positive for my well-being, my physical health, and it's just kind of bringing it together and actually making it happen now.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that is my your consistency and routine.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know what it is now.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've done loads of research.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been listening to stuff and watching things and like finding out about you know like what good practices look like.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so I'm I kind of I'm at that place where I'm like, right, this just needs to happen now.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I really want to make sure that over this next sort of five, six weeks of summer, yeah, that I kind of embed that routine and then hoping it'll carry on then from September.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's business going well, hopefully.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: Lifestyle going well, my big uh big things at the minute.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that sounds great, then sets you up really well for next year.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly, isn't it?
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's getting Lewis into those habits as well.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want him to see me doing this stuff.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: I want him to, you know, we're having loads of conversations about what's healthy.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, teaching him about when he needs to calm down, like breathing and do you know what I mean?
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: Things like that.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, about heating the eating his vegetables, and when we take the dog for a walk, yeah.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't say let's set the dog for a walk.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I do say let's set the dog for a walk, but that's us being healthy, that's us doing our exercise, so that we're healthy, like that's how I'm saying it to him.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: So he he builds good habits going forward.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all about like what we're eating.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've just um I'm trying to get him to wear a sleep mask at the moment.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, just like a like just like an eye mask.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, eye mask.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's so light in the mornings, yeah.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to get him doing that so that we sleep better, and yeah.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've got him some little amber sunglasses to wear in the evening if I'm watching TV.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: So he's not getting the blue light.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's really good, yeah.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's impressive.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: The whole um the whole screen time debate is the big one, isn't it?
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it doesn't have a huge amount, it doesn't have a huge amount of screen time, but if he does watch TV, yeah, it is normally in the evening before he gets to bed, yeah, which is not the ideal no.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: But this is what I was saying about like I'm trying to like build these things in, like the like the amber glasses and the all these sorts of things, but then there's so many of them, yeah.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just hard to like suddenly be like, right, this is we're gonna do all these things, it's a little bit frantic, whereas if I can just slowly start introducing little things into our life, yeah, that then become a nice habit and it's just part of our routine, and then it's not like we have to just put so much effort in, it's just part of what we do.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's it's um habit forming, norming.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then he'll just grow up hopefully with these good skills of being able to feed himself good nutritious food, yeah, you know, importance of exercise and just being healthy and like your movement and stuff, yeah.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, some of the other little things like making sure you're sleeping enough and that kind of thing.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the sleep one's a big one, isn't it?
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because I always um excuse me, I find I find I don't give myself enough time.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I'm overstimulated all the time.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then too is like switch off.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_00: So my average going to bed time is about half past eleven.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: Which isn't enough really if I need to wake up at 6 or 6.30.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yes, I do find that sometimes I'm running on half a tank.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the quality, it's not just the hours, either quality of your sleep.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm quite good at getting a decent amount of hours, yeah.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: But it's always broken because I'm stressing about things.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean some of it is he'll he'll some he was a very good sleeper usually, but sometimes he will wake me up for the night.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's broken sleep then, so that's a natural quality, but I can't do a lot about that.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_00: But again, that's why if I can help him sleep better, yeah.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're not, you know, we're limiting the blue light.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we do I've started doing little gratitude things with him at bedtime.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: Just asking him, you know, what happened today that you know made you really happy, that you're really grateful for, and you just still say something and oh that's just again, little tiny things like that.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_00: But again, you do that for yourself as well.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: I do, yeah, it's all right.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: Again, not it's not all the time.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: So last night I didn't have a great night's sleep.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: Even though we did like put the glasses on, try to limit you know, all the right things you're supposed to do.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there's just things going on in my mind.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that affects yeah, definitely.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're just on all the time and you're busy, busy, busy and you yeah, yeah, your mind is racing a lot of the time, isn't it?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then you try and go to sleep, yeah.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you do get you know a decent chunk of hours, like was it good sleep though?
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think that's what I struggle with is the quality of my sleep.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, because I'm quite good at knowing, I'm getting really tired, need to try and get an early night.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but if I'm worrying about stuff, I'm still waking up, yeah.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: Which is not, and I think that's something a lot of us need to work on is yeah, that discipline.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's all discipline, it is all discipline, yeah.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's and goes back to that conversation we were having about knowing when to say no, we have to say no to ourselves.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just turn the TV off.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, come on, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to binge the series today, no.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you what I have done though, I have this has been really good.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've turned off my notifications on social media and my emails.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: So emails is a really distracting one, yeah.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I have to go in and I mean I do still check quite a lot, yeah, but it just means I'll check when I'm ready, yeah, and I've got some time to like if there's stuff there, I can read it and respond to it, yeah.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't and I won't in the evening, like when I'm like getting ready to go to go to bed, yeah, like I won't check but then that's just we can wait till tomorrow.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm getting the notification that pops up, yeah, like you're gonna want to read it, yeah, whatever it is, it might be good, but yeah, it might be bad, um or it might just be nothing, but it might just set you off thinking, mightn't it?
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: And actually it's better to just check, be in control of when you're checking, yeah, because it's not it doesn't have to be an instant reply.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, yeah.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the thing, and that's where the pressure comes from, doesn't it?
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you've checked, or you've got sorry, you've got a notification, you haven't really got time to even if it's something really good, yeah, but it involves you doing something and you haven't really got time, then it's stress then, isn't it?
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because oh god, I've got to get back to this person, and yeah, I really want to get back to them, and but I can't because I don't have time.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, totally, yeah.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a it's a vicious cycle, yeah.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm gonna commit to that as well with you to be more disciplined, yeah.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_00: Just turn your notifications off.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, again, you can check it as many times as you want, it just means it's not like intruding on your day, yeah.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and kind of just do the whole um go upstairs at 9:30, yeah, give yourself a chance, get yourself in like a but this is where I like I'm trying to build in routines, yeah.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it's there's so many, like even this little conversation we've touched on so many little things that you need to do.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like god, like how yeah controlled does your life need to be?
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, where's the joy?
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's like oh this time you must do this, and then this time you must and you must turn that off here and you must live to a timetable.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I think if you can build it in as like a little routine that just one thing follows another, and then yeah, it doesn't feel like such a big it's normalized, yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: I agree, I agree, and I I do rebel against myself because I'm just like you know, I'm a grown-up.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_01: I can do what I want, but then I'm harming myself for the next day, but not really that's the thing, yeah.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's trying to keep so I was really good this weekend because I knew I didn't want to fail at the walk yesterday, so I was so careful and disciplined and went to bed on time and fear of failure, yeah.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big driver, isn't it?
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it is.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_00: I just um wanted to get to the end.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_00: You've made a decision you're gonna do it, haven't you?
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you can't I get like that.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing something that's what I'm doing.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and I'd be really annoyed at myself for not completing it because I know I can, yeah, and if I couldn't, it would be because of all the things that led up to it.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can you blame yourself then, won't you?
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, always.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everything starts and stops with ourselves, doesn't it?
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god, it does.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think my worst thing is is sugar.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what I really struggle with.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but then that all just feeds into things like if I've not slept well, then tired, yeah, or I want to eat all the cookies.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, I'm a grown-up, so I can buy all the peas.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I just feel crap then all day because yeah, it's just that's what sugar does, isn't it?
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's it it's and it's trying not to be too judgmental about it.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't be judging yourself for it.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's happened, it's done, and I think that moment it was joyful and yeah, just exactly what you needed.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know what cookies now.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's just things that I just never let myself buy in the house.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but if I go out, I will deliberately have them.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can't have things that are in the house because well, they wouldn't they wouldn't be in the house, they'd be in me.
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_00: My friend bought me a packet of biscuits the other day, gluten free, dairy-free.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice, yeah, and I hoovered them in one sitting.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's exactly what I mean like once they're opened.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't even touch the sides, yeah.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_00: They just get all getting disappeared, and then I went in for another one.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_00: There was nothing left.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_00: Although, just to give yourself a little bit of a break, yeah, that is like inbuilt in your biology, is it?
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to want sugar.
• 1:05:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, yeah.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's energy, isn't it?
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is, yeah.
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: Try and do it through fruit.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's obviously the better way to do it.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I buy.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_00: But have you seen those um those memes on Instagram where they kind of say it's about you know the good you went did the shopping and the bad you now wants that snacks?
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's exactly what I'm like.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_00: I do good, I've just done an online shop, yeah.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's beautiful, beautiful.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you were like a nutritionist and you're looking at you'd be like, smash that mate, well done.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_00: 10 out of 10, but you can't find anything to eat now.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: But and if that was what actually went in, yeah, just because that's the shopping list, just because that's the stuff that's been delivered, yes.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the whole story because that'll be supplemented, depending on again, depending on how I'm feeling, yeah, and how kind I've been to myself, but how much I'm beating myself up about stuff and I'm a sleeper fan of all the other stuff.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_00: If I've done well at all the other things, like if I'm running, yeah, that's why that's the trigger for me.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I'm running, yeah, in my head, I'm an athlete, yeah.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know I know I'm not, I know I'm not, but in my head, I've got but you've been for a run now, Becky.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that means you need to hydrate well.
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_00: You need to hydrate well, yeah, because you know you're an athlete and that's what we do.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's what we do.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to eat your vegetables and eat well because you're an athlete now, and that's that's what we do.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_00: And all those decisions, yeah, all those little decisions, they're like more likely to be good decisions, yeah.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm not running, I'm not an athlete, so we can eat cookies, and we can just like you know, all and it's just a massive vicious.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, that's all it always starts with running because yeah, it's the biggest trigger for all the good stuff.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, isn't that funny?
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's all associated and linked in your brain.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to do I need to go run this afternoon.
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it is a good day for it, to be fair.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a lovely day, isn't it?
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so if there's um anything you want to impart before we end our walk, what would it be?
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I suppose from a personal point of view, yeah.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like we've talked quite a lot about well-being in that bracket.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think um Ron and Chatterjee's book before.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I love that.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I suppose I'm trying that's part of what I'm trying to work into a routine for myself is pick and choose bits from that.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not just based on his book, but yeah, everything else that I've learned.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_00: And like that's it's a good start though, isn't it?
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_00: To get that guidance and yeah, yeah, shake up your thinking.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose from a business point of view, yeah, the biggest thing for me to say to anybody would be to it is absolutely just to back yourself.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like whatever that looks like for you, find a way to back yourself.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's loads of you know, I could say, you know, go and get you know, go and do what I do, get a business coach, you know, build a nice community around yourself, get support, like all these different things that you can do, yeah.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it'll look a bit different for everybody, I think.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like what how do you back yourself?
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that that's a really important point, isn't it?
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because it there is no one size fits all, no, and it has to work around how you are, who you are.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have some.
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you have to, I do think that's the biggest.
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what I've seen in myself and lots of other business owners I work with.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think if you can figure out a way to back yourself 80% of the again, 80-20, that yeah, like you're not it's not always gonna be that way.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, you're gonna doubt yourself sometimes still the rest of it, but you can get to a place where you can be like, no, no, most of the time I'm gonna trust myself, I'm gonna make the right call, I'm gonna do the right thing that I need to do to progress my business, yeah.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And just trusting yourself, yeah.
• 1:10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's such a big factor in all of it because um because I mean for a lot of a lot of business owners, it is very lonely, even when you're in a bigger organisation, it is very lonely, yeah.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you do need to be the one that backs yourself, yeah.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think yeah, definitely that, definitely that.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the thing that'll make a difference because if you don't or you or you can't, you you'll be the you'll be probably part of the group that don't keep going with it.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I think if you can find a way to back yourself, I think that's what will make the difference between like a long-lasting successful business and one that isn't.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's obviously not the only thing, but yeah, but it's a big factor.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's the biggest factor from for my for me anyway, for your journey.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_00: For my journey and the people that I have worked with, yeah, and the people that are around me as well, so not just clients, but yeah, you know, all the like I said, all the women that I and men, but a lot of my sort of community I suppose is women, but yeah, men as well.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like the ones that do get behind themselves, yeah, and back themselves do tend to do better, yeah.
• 1:11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the ones that struggle with it, they just they just struggle more, yeah.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's um all those things and that self-belief is the starting point, which is a really hard thing, isn't it?
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a it's a daily battle sometimes.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not it's not like a true or false question, it's not like a you know I can't say no, and I can't say I always bat myself 100% because I don't always, yeah.
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, some days some days it's really easy to bat myself when I can do it with ease, yeah, and other days it's like a massive struggle, it's like it'll be the biggest challenge, yeah.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_00: But again, if I can be behind myself 80% of the time, yeah, you know, that's you're pretty much there, aren't you?
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it does get it does go up and down, it is that roller coaster, yeah.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_00: But again, that's like everything in business, isn't it?
• 1:12:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing is just a straight.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've seen so many like little graphics and things on all different social media about the wiggly line.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it's never just an yeah, backwards and forwards circles loops, yeah, yeah.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's not linear, it's never like that, is it?
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I've never seen or met a business that that's how things are.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sure there's one magical business out there that's just done that, but yeah, yeah, there will be, I'm sure.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who they are.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like those things you see about um old stories you hear about ladies who go into labour and they've had their baby in two minutes versus the 94 hours.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I did have mine in about two or two.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did you do this like sneeze and true Becky style?
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I went into Labour that morning, yeah, in the middle of COVID, and I went into Labour that morning and I've met my mum to do a dog walk, yeah, and it was in that time where we could do an outside walk together, yeah, but she couldn't come in my house.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was sort of saying to her, it's like eight o'clock in the morning off the house, I've got like weird period pains.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, What do you think the baby might be coming?
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, No, no, he's like nearly four weeks earlier, it's not the baby.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was adamant it wasn't the baby, yeah, and essentially I'd just been in labour all day.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't go to the hospital until about five o'clock, so yeah, all right, my in-hospital time.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think we got there about five or something, and I'd had him by 20 past like half seven or something.
• 1:13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, but I'd been in Labour all day, but just pretending that I wasn't, and I remember being in the bath, yeah, and I was like, and I was just literally having contractions and going, Oh, oh like and then my sister's like, Do you think we should go to the other one?
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's no, because it's not due.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was just adamant that because it wasn't due, it wasn't Labour.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's not on the plan, even though exactly but it quite clearly was.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was in agony, I was screaming all this last point because I'm just an idiot, but that was ah, because there hadn't hung the curtains in the spy roof.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, tall hanging curtains.
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, but yeah, so yeah, so although my technically might have been a couple of hours, but I yeah, yeah, it'd been a lot longer than that.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that funny?
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_00: It says a lot about how your mind works as well.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it's not on the plan, just on the plan.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_00: It can't be now because it's due.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've been at I don't think I've it was on a Saturday, yeah.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I should have been at work on the Monday, yeah.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um I wasn't at work on the Friday because I had an annual leave day, okay, but I would have been at work on the Friday.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember being in the hospital thinking, oh god, I've got work on Monday, what am I gonna do?
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god.
• 1:14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was stressing about texting the book to be like, by the way, yeah, and then I couldn't put this message together.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I really don't feel like we have to come in on Monday, like I know he's early and all the rest of it, but I've had my baby.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, ridiculous message, and it just wrote back like, yo, it's okay, you can start your maternity leave now, like it's fine, like what are you?
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_00: We don't expect you in.
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's okay.
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I suppose because in my head, yeah, he wasn't due.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I was in work on Monday.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And this is this has happened, and now I can't come in, and it was all a bit.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't tied up my loose ends, I haven't put my out of office.
• 1:15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't had an arsenal, I don't think I've even done a I'd done some of the handover for the person that was gonna be doing my job while I was away.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I hadn't I don't think I'd even done the full handover yet.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_00: The things we worry about.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_00: I know, and that literally I was thinking I just was so worried about uh yeah, perspective.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: From their point of view, they're like it's fine.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've had your baby, you can just go on maternity leave now.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy him.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh funny.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know, bless him.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well, thanks for your time, Rebecca.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've really enjoyed talking to you.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I've enjoyed talking to you as well.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, lovely.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Despite the chaos of the cars and the holidays, and I don't think I've passed that many noisy vehicles for a long time.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_00: This all happened today, and the guy with the the delivery truck that was banging his doors.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_00: But still stunning day.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a lovely day, yeah.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, really stunning.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, have a lovely day.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_00: You two, and um we'll talk soon.
• 1:16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll see you soon.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that brings us to the end of another episode of the podcast.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed my walk with Rebecca, founder of Foxbox Solution.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_01: From discussing the joys and challenges of being a working mom with a four-year-old to helping businesses define their long-term strategies, we covered so much ground today.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Rebecca shared what it felt like to step out on her own without the safety blanket of a large corporation and how she's making sole traders feel less alone in their journey.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_01: We explored the value of inclusivity, ensuring that every voice within a business is heard, along with the incredible benefits of having a coach by your side.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Rebecca also offered some honest reflections on the importance of self-care, the excuses we make to avoid exercise, and how we can all channel a little J-Lo energy into our daily lives.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Parenting, business building, self-discipline, and finding balance were the key themes today, with a reminder to always back yourself.
• 1:17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Rebecca, for joining me today and for sharing all the information about your wonderful business and everything else in between.
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you all for listening with Rebecca and myself.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, please share your thoughts on social media.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Tell your friends about the podcast and make sure you come back for the next one.
• 1:18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, keep exploring and keep backing yourself.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_01: See you soon.