Latest / Sarah Knows Support Workers / The Real Cost of Building an NDIS Startup in Australia: Resilience, Pivots & the Grind Nobody Shows You | MyAssista

Transcript

The Real Cost of Building an NDIS Startup in Australia: Resilience, Pivots & the Grind Nobody Shows You | MyAssista · Sarah Knows Support Workers

• 0:00
  Hi everyone. It's Sarah from the Support
• 0:01
  Worker Store. Today I've got Cedar and I'm
• 0:04
  really excited to have you because we have danced around,
• 0:07
  we've never actually met each other virtually.
• 0:09
  And you've got one hell of a story and I'm really excited to
• 0:12
  share with everybody tonight. So can we get cracking right
• 0:16
  into it? Can you tell us a little bit
• 0:17
  about yourself? Yeah, well, that's a really,
• 0:20
  really broad question. So I would describe myself in
• 0:23
  very different ways. I would say that I'm a mother
• 0:26
  first and foremost, I'm a sister, I am a traveller, I'm a
• 0:30
  learner, I'm a community contributor and I'm a business
• 0:34
  owner. So, yeah, so knowing all that
• 0:36
  stuff, what got you all like really inspire you to open my
• 0:41
  sister back in 2017. Yeah, great question.
• 0:45
  In 2017, I had a personal situation that I through some
• 0:50
  major surgery myself and I was very fortunate at the time that
• 0:52
  I had a mother-in-law who supported me to actually get
• 0:56
  back on the road. I was working as a CEO of a
• 1:01
  company and I needed to go out for a 2 hour drive to set up a
• 1:05
  campus out in Toowoomba and I wasn't allowed to drive and I
• 1:09
  needed someone to Take Me Out there.
• 1:11
  And I was fortunate enough to have her there, my mother-in-law
• 1:14
  and she, she helped me out. And it just started the ball in
• 1:19
  my brain thinking what happens when people don't have someone
• 1:22
  that they can call on in order to get help?
• 1:25
  What do they do when they're in these situations?
• 1:27
  So, and they don't have family. So that was the catalyst to
• 1:31
  start it. And originally I wanted to start
• 1:34
  in aged care, but in 2017 and 2017 with the first royal
• 1:38
  commissioner into aged care. And so I actually approached a
• 1:41
  business consultant to give, get them advice around what pathway
• 1:45
  should I take. And I said no, no, don't do aged
• 1:48
  care because royal Commission. But there's this thing called
• 1:51
  the NDIS. Why don't you have a look at
• 1:53
  that, get some runs on the board and then hit the ground with
• 1:56
  aged care. And so that's, that's exactly
• 1:58
  what I did. So I started with myself and my
• 2:01
  sister. She was my first employee.
• 2:04
  And so I've got the business now.
• 2:06
  It's behind it, how to set everything up, how to get things
• 2:09
  operational. And she actually held the
• 2:11
  qualification to be able to do the work.
• 2:13
  So I sourced the clients, I got everything started and she did
• 2:16
  the work. So yeah, that's how we started.
• 2:19
  How did you source your very first participant to doing your
• 2:22
  organization? Because to get up and running, a
• 2:25
  lot of people like how do I get to the first person?
• 2:28
  That's one of the hardest things to do.
• 2:30
  Well, back then, eight years ago, the NDIS was very new,
• 2:33
  right? So on the Facebook, I actually
• 2:36
  got a lot of business organically through Facebook,
• 2:38
  through lots of posts through that way and having people reach
• 2:43
  out and go. I want someone who's reliable.
• 2:45
  I want someone who can come and do this job.
• 2:48
  I had some brochures developed, which I dropped into some doctor
• 2:51
  surgeries and I did some mailbox drops, that sort of stuff.
• 2:55
  That's how it got started. So the first couple of clients
• 2:58
  were Facebook and and pamphlets. So there was no one around
• 3:03
  really, in order for a competitor to actually, you
• 3:06
  know, go out and say I'm better than this.
• 3:09
  It was a new business, let's get started.
• 3:11
  And yeah, very fortunate. It was all through Facebook and
• 3:14
  how I messaged people. I spoke very differently to some
• 3:17
  of the other people on Facebook who were saying, yes, yes, we
• 3:19
  can do that. The way that I use my words was
• 3:23
  very different. So that's obviously I take it
• 3:25
  because you have a bit more of a background before you started in
• 3:28
  some management and how that shaped your business.
• 3:32
  Can you give us a little bit of a dive in what you did prior
• 3:36
  that helped you to build up these skills because it's a
• 3:39
  really hard skills to have. Yeah, they are.
• 3:41
  And I suppose I was very fortunate that I did have a
• 3:43
  corporate background. So I started in hospitality, I
• 3:46
  did 17 years in hospitality. I studied tertiary education, I
• 3:51
  studied full time, I worked full time and so I was living in NSW
• 3:57
  at that time and I finished my qualification.
• 3:59
  I moved up here to Queensland and I met my husband of the time
• 4:04
  and we traveled around Australia and we worked hotels, motels and
• 4:09
  you name it. So we ran some motels where he
• 4:11
  and I were the on site managers. We lived there.
• 4:13
  I worked in four to five star hotels, front of house, back of
• 4:17
  house, all over from there. My last job here on the Gold
• 4:20
  Coast was at the surface Paradise Marriott.
• 4:22
  I worked for Marriott for seven years and my last role was that
• 4:25
  of the front office manager where I was responsible for 120
• 4:29
  staff, meeting grand standards, understanding compliant laws and
• 4:33
  legislations, hiring, firing, all that sort of stuff, dealing
• 4:36
  with client problems and complaints.
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  And I, you know, yeah, I left there to go to my dream job.
• 4:44
  I didn't go back after I had my baby.
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  I wanted to focus on my baby. And so about 8 months after I
• 4:49
  had my baby, I needed to do something.
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  I was going insane. I, I then worked for Serena
• 4:58
  Russo as a vocational education and trainer.
• 5:00
  So I worked in the vocational education space for 13 years.
• 5:04
  I worked my way up from being a trainer and assessor to then
• 5:09
  being a state manager. I'm a geek when it comes to
• 5:11
  understanding laws and legislations.
• 5:13
  I really like to understand how things work.
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  And so that was really great foundation skill for me to learn
• 5:19
  how to interpret legislation, how to go through audits.
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  Because in the vocational education sector, that's what
• 5:26
  you do. It's very similar.
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  It's all government funded money and so you have to have evidence
• 5:30
  of everything that you're doing. You have to follow policies and
• 5:32
  procedures and you have to be able to follow or read a law and
• 5:36
  go, how do I make that apply for what it is that we want to do.
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  And so they are the skills that I learned that allowed me to
• 5:43
  start this business. I was managing people, I was
• 5:46
  meeting budgets, trying to work to financials.
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  So given goals and KPI's and targets that I needed to
• 5:52
  achieve. And so I worked in that sector
• 5:55
  for 13 years until I, I started my sister in 2017 concurrently
• 6:03
  as I was working as ACEO in, in the state CEO here in Queensland
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  for an RTO And I got too much for me, I wasn't able to
• 6:14
  continue to juggle staffing and clients and all that sort of
• 6:19
  stuff with text messages and things.
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  So I wasn't able to continue to do that.
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  And so I had an owner of a business who knew I had
• 6:26
  something on the side who said, look, you're really not going to
• 6:29
  do very much unless you sit back and focus on one thing.
• 6:32
  And so this is business is what you want to do, then go ahead
• 6:36
  and do it and focus on it. And so I did, I resigned the
• 6:38
  very next day and that was 2021. And then that allowed me to then
• 6:44
  progress my sister to where we are today.
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  So in 2021, we had 12 star and I think the turnover of the
• 6:52
  business was maybe 150 grand. And so today it's a very
• 6:56
  different place. I've got just under 50 staff,
• 6:59
  but we're actively recruiting now.
• 7:01
  So that'll be higher in the next couple of weeks and we're at $4
• 7:05
  million in revenue. So it's a very big jump.
• 7:09
  But the business skills that I've learnt about not having a
• 7:14
  reliance on one particular thing that we do, but by diversifying
• 7:17
  and having different things that bring in money is something that
• 7:21
  I was very passionate about right from the very beginning.
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  And that's been in the business plan all the way forward.
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  So those are the skills that I learned from a corporate
• 7:27
  background that I've brought in to run a business for myself.
• 7:32
  It's so funny that you mentioned hotel skills.
• 7:34
  I know people like what do you what do you mean, Sarah?
• 7:37
  To be honest, I believe and I've, I've met multiple people
• 7:40
  that have worked in the hotel sector before going into the
• 7:43
  NDIS sector. And it's one of the best sectors
• 7:46
  to learn how to communicate with people, how to roster and move
• 7:52
  things around when things hit the fan.
• 7:54
  It's very underrated. I believe it's no I.
• 7:57
  I totally agree. Like my OPS manager and I, we if
• 8:01
  someone's got a hospital on their resume, let's bring them
• 8:04
  in for an interview because they can think on their feet, they
• 8:06
  can problem solve. They actually understand
• 8:08
  customer service and that, you know, you go into hospitality
• 8:12
  because you want to be of service to people.
• 8:15
  So it's a really big factor that is brought into into 100% into
• 8:20
  the community services sector. So do you reckon that's the
• 8:22
  reason you you step back for, right.
• 8:25
  I really want to do this. It's that element of wanting to
• 8:27
  serve because hospitality. Yeah, 100%.
• 8:31
  I believe that there's no greater, greater honor than
• 8:33
  being of service to others. And so that's also a foundation
• 8:37
  of why I've joined Rotary, because that's what they do.
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  They're of service to other people.
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  And so that is everything that we do.
• 8:43
  The ethos of our business is, you know, it takes a village to
• 8:47
  raise a child, but once you, once you're no longer a child,
• 8:49
  you still need a community around you.
• 8:51
  So we we want to be able to have that because you still need to
• 8:54
  ask for help. And there are people who really
• 8:57
  love to be on the giving end, right, To be able to be, to give
• 9:00
  their service to others. And so that's the network and
• 9:03
  the community we've built. 100% And what I like also is that
• 9:07
  you've got a background in education as well from RTO's.
• 9:11
  So have you been able to put any of the RTO stuff into your
• 9:14
  business when it comes to UP skilling your team?
• 9:16
  So it was a quite a very strong line in the sand, Sarah, when I
• 9:20
  started that we only employed qualified people because I
• 9:23
  believe strongly in education and the skills that come with
• 9:26
  that. And I'm not, I'm not saying that
• 9:28
  those individual who've got life experience shouldn't be given an
• 9:32
  opportunity to learn or, or for a job.
• 9:34
  But I do know personally that the benefit of having skills and
• 9:38
  knowledge and actually having to, to think about it rather
• 9:43
  than just go with the flow. I think there's, there's
• 9:47
  different standards that come from education that you learn
• 9:50
  and ongoing professional development is a very strong
• 9:53
  undercurrent that we have with us.
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  We have that as you should have in any NDIS business.
• 9:59
  We have ongoing training and if the staff member comes to me and
• 10:03
  says, you know, I'd really like to do that, that course there or
• 10:06
  yeah, sure, I'll pay for it. I've got three staff at the
• 10:09
  moment that I'm paying through the business for them to do
• 10:12
  their qualification. They have the right attitude,
• 10:14
  they have the right background with regards to hospitality and
• 10:17
  wanting to help others and OK, that's I'll pay for you to do
• 10:21
  the qualification, no problem whatsoever.
• 10:23
  You get a kick out of it and then pass.
• 10:25
  Yeah, 100. Percent like we recognize and we
• 10:27
  celebrate it, you know, like it's, it's, it's a huge
• 10:30
  achievement. And one lady that so there's
• 10:33
  three that are current at the moment.
• 10:34
  We've got another young lady who who came across to us who's a
• 10:38
  friend of a friend, his daughter of a friend.
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  And she is a natural in this sector, right.
• 10:42
  But her background is that she never finished school because
• 10:46
  she has learning disabilities. She's dyslexic like you.
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  And so she, she had trouble in reading.
• 10:52
  And so we actually supported her to get that qualified.
• 10:55
  She is a natural and she's one of the best employees that we
• 10:58
  have. But we really wanted to make
• 11:00
  sure that she was recognized and got the piece of paper.
• 11:03
  And so that took her a little while to do it.
• 11:05
  But, you know, if we can help her to learn more and give her,
• 11:10
  what's the word, some gravitas behind what it is that she's
• 11:13
  doing every day that will help her into the future.
• 11:17
  Let's do it. Yeah.
• 11:18
  Very lean. Yeah.
• 11:19
  So, so I speak about this all the time.
• 11:22
  We are very lean. So there's me.
• 11:25
  I have an operations manager, and I have a couple of people
• 11:28
  now who help me from offshore ones.
• 11:31
  Offshore. She does compliance and she
• 11:32
  helps me as a VA. And then I've got a coordinator
• 11:36
  who operates our department of veteran affair clients and our
• 11:40
  home care clients and that's it. Then we've got frontline staff,
• 11:45
  that is it. So we don't have this huge, big
• 11:50
  plethora of staff. Everybody is multi talented and
• 11:53
  multi skilled. I needed help.
• 11:56
  So when I went from growing in 2021, I got to a point that I
• 12:00
  was making mistakes and I was very fortunate that one of the
• 12:03
  very first support workers that I employed came to me and said,
• 12:07
  look, I've just enrolled in a qualification to do HR.
• 12:11
  Do you think there might be a job for me when we go through
• 12:13
  the aged care? She's now my operations manager
• 12:16
  and she runs the business. So I'm very rare in the office.
• 12:20
  We, we obviously we catch up every day, we talk every day.
• 12:23
  She runs it so. Was that a, was it a fluke or
• 12:29
  was it like this person just had the right skill sets?
• 12:33
  But it's also the right attitude as well to to grow a business
• 12:36
  because it isn't like you can have all the skill sets, but if
• 12:39
  you're not the right one and the right passion to want to love
• 12:42
  your business, it's very hard. Yeah, correct.
• 12:45
  It is 100%. You're correct.
• 12:47
  You've got to want to. And for me, it's not wanting to
• 12:51
  have riches and all these sort of things because again, in the
• 12:54
  NDIS sector, there's not a lot of that around, but it's about
• 12:57
  how can we help more people. And so we do it slowly, we do it
• 13:02
  gradually. We haven't and, and I'll be very
• 13:04
  honest, we don't have hundreds and hundreds of clients.
• 13:07
  We have maybe 40 support coordination clients and the
• 13:11
  rest I've got maybe maybe just under 20 other EIS clients, but
• 13:17
  they're all 24 hour care, like six of those are 24 hour care.
• 13:21
  And so that's where there's a focus, right?
• 13:24
  So we specialize in providing the 1 to 1.
• 13:27
  And so we found our niche and we've just stuck with it.
• 13:30
  So we do have a history where we've tried different things,
• 13:34
  where we've had clients say to us in particular transport as an
• 13:37
  example, you know, we can't get a taxi and they cancel all the
• 13:42
  time. And so we've tried to do
• 13:43
  different things to help people, but it hasn't worked.
• 13:46
  Like it hasn't been viable financially, it hasn't got off
• 13:49
  the ground, it hasn't, you know, we've had people push back from
• 13:53
  plan managers and that sort of stuff.
• 13:55
  So I would say even though we've been in business 8 years, it's
• 13:59
  only now maybe two years in, two years later that sorry, like
• 14:04
  from two years ago that we've gone, right.
• 14:06
  Let's just focus on, on the 1:00 to 1 stuff.
• 14:09
  Let's just make it what we do and we'll only do that.
• 14:12
  And so that's that's where we're at now.
• 14:14
  So you have to be flexible. You have to be able to adjust.
• 14:19
  The business plan is not set in stone.
• 14:21
  You have to be able to go right. This isn't working.
• 14:23
  How can we do something different to make it better?
• 14:25
  There's also that nice feeling because I come from a background
• 14:28
  of 1 to ones and doing 1 to ones and supporting people 1 to 1 and
• 14:32
  24 hour care. So we're speaking the same
• 14:34
  language. And there is this really nice
• 14:37
  feeling because, because it's having like a whole life
• 14:39
  approach for somebody, especially in 24 hour care, you
• 14:42
  get to see a lot of stuff and you learn very clear about how I
• 14:47
  was actually talking about this the other day, how quick life
• 14:50
  can change. And I, I feel like anybody
• 14:52
  that's provided 24 hour care to somebody that's had a stroke,
• 14:55
  for instance, how life changes so very quickly and how it's
• 15:00
  adjusting from exiting hospital to going into home because it,
• 15:04
  it isn't the same what it was beforehand.
• 15:07
  And as providers, we're entering into something that's completely
• 15:10
  new for them as well. Yeah, it's, I've got a soft spot
• 15:13
  there 100%. In the earlier days when you
• 15:16
  started, was there any really big, big challenges for
• 15:20
  yourself? There's always been big
• 15:22
  challenges for me personally. Do you mean or as a company?
• 15:26
  You you pick. I'm easy either.
• 15:31
  I look, the biggest challenge I have, I think most business
• 15:34
  owners have, if they've never had their own business before
• 15:37
  is, you know, the imposter syndrome, the, the thought
• 15:41
  around how am I going to pay my bills, I'm losing money, What am
• 15:44
  I doing wrong? You know, all of those factors
• 15:47
  combined. It's not just one period in
• 15:49
  time. Those are constant.
• 15:51
  They go up and down, up and down.
• 15:52
  And so you have to learn to be resilient and you have to learn
• 15:56
  to find people that you can trust and rely on and seek
• 16:00
  advice from. And because I don't have all the
• 16:02
  answers got, you know, the operations manager, she's been
• 16:06
  in the sector a very long time, much longer than I have.
• 16:09
  So I need to have people who are experts of what they're doing.
• 16:12
  And I'm just facilitating what we're doing, you know, so I'm
• 16:16
  just guiding this. They're they're doing all of the
• 16:19
  work. So the biggest challenge is
• 16:21
  understanding that it's not all I don't have all the answers and
• 16:24
  being open enough to recognize that and say, OK, how can I
• 16:28
  learn to improve? What do I need to do?
• 16:30
  Who do I need to get an understanding that moving
• 16:33
  forward, the imposter syndrome in this sector is significant?
• 16:36
  Yeah. You've got a lot of people that
• 16:37
  come into the sector who've who've never worked or had a
• 16:41
  business themselves. And so very quickly they get a
• 16:44
  business that's turning over quite a lot of money and then
• 16:46
  they go, what am I doing? You know, it's very common.
• 16:50
  So how did you work on your imposter syndrome?
• 16:53
  Because I've been up probably the first two.
• 16:55
  Still there, dude. It's still, it's still there.
• 17:02
  Wow. What are they doing?
• 17:04
  How can I be like that? And then I go, actually, do I
• 17:06
  want to be like that? Not really.
• 17:08
  Do I admire them for they're doing 100%, but that's not me.
• 17:12
  We just need and that's where you got to go.
• 17:13
  OK, I need to just bring it back.
• 17:15
  What is it that we want to do? What are, you know, that sort of
• 17:17
  stuff? And that's that's the hard part
• 17:20
  because you see all these people who are doing such wonderful
• 17:23
  things ago. I want to be like that and you
• 17:25
  just go, yeah, I'm not just make a difference in my little part.
• 17:29
  Did you have to network your way to get what I call business
• 17:33
  festies, people that you can call up in this sector and go
• 17:36
  right? I'm having a bit of a tough
• 17:38
  time. What would you do and how would
• 17:40
  you do it? Do you have a collective of
• 17:42
  people? I do and that's, that's a really
• 17:45
  great question, Sarah, because in 2018 I tried to get a
• 17:49
  networking collab collab going right And I'm Facebook put all
• 17:53
  these posts up. Yeah, yeah, we'll be there.
• 17:55
  We'll be there, we'll be there and no one came.
• 17:57
  That happened a couple of times and said I just gave up.
• 18:00
  It's very different now because where I come from in the
• 18:03
  hospitality, you, you had networks and you had regular
• 18:06
  meetings about, you know, flick back to that.
• 18:09
  What was your average room night last night?
• 18:10
  What did you achieve? What was your occupancy?
• 18:12
  And you shared all of that and everyone was so parochial and
• 18:15
  they didn't want to give out any information because they thought
• 18:19
  that you were going to take their client.
• 18:20
  I've always had a network that for people that I don't suffer
• 18:24
  fooled lightly. I have a big BS register radar.
• 18:29
  And so when I meet people, if I don't gel with them, if I can't
• 18:33
  see that there's a genuine connection there and what
• 18:37
  they're doing is congruent with what it is they say they're
• 18:40
  doing, it's very hard for me to actually be friends with the
• 18:45
  host people. So the people that I have met in
• 18:47
  the sector that I do connect with, and there are some really
• 18:50
  great ones, particularly likely, you've been very fortunate that.
• 18:53
  Yeah, we can ring up each other and go, hey, you know, as an
• 18:57
  example, last week, last month, hey, we're doing some manual
• 19:01
  handling training. Can I borrow your hoist?
• 19:03
  Right. Can we come and pick up your
• 19:04
  hoist? Yeah, Yeah, no problems.
• 19:06
  And so it's about developing trust.
• 19:10
  So you've got to do what you say you're going to do, follow
• 19:13
  through with that. That's how that has come about.
• 19:16
  The networking hasn't been intentional.
• 19:18
  It's about because I'm not a very good networker.
• 19:21
  I don't like to stand up in front of a like to walk into a
• 19:25
  room that I don't know anybody around.
• 19:27
  If I've got to do if I've got to stand up and talk in front of
• 19:30
  somebody, I can do that if I'm prepared.
• 19:32
  But I can't walk into a room of people I don't know and approach
• 19:37
  someone and go, hi, I'm Cedar, who are you?
• 19:39
  That sort of stuff. It's really uncomfortable for
• 19:42
  me. So I tend to stand on the
• 19:43
  outskirts and then I'll just code the a couple of people.
• 19:47
  And I've been very fortunate that those people have been
• 19:50
  really good people. I've been very lucky to come
• 19:54
  across some really good ones. But again, then you get
• 19:57
  introduced to others and you go, Oh yeah, I really like you.
• 20:00
  So the introductions from others has been really good as well.
• 20:05
  And so, yeah, I think you need to be open all the time to being
• 20:09
  introduced to people and asking the right questions and just
• 20:12
  being genuine. I'm actually surprised by that
• 20:15
  because I haven't seen your presence online before.
• 20:18
  This is not the first rodeo that I've seen you.
• 20:20
  So to hear that, I'm actually surprised to hear that because I
• 20:23
  thought it might just be something that comes naturally
• 20:25
  because told you, you have a background of teaching and
• 20:27
  hospitality and getting up and talking to people when it is
• 20:31
  uncomfortable. It Yeah.
• 20:33
  Wow, Sorry, you've taken me by surprise.
• 20:36
  And do it. Can't do it.
• 20:37
  But if you remember when you asked, when you reached out to
• 20:40
  me about coming on, I said what what's the same?
• 20:43
  What you, what are the questions, right.
• 20:45
  Yeah, I need to know. I need to be prepared.
• 20:49
  So I can't, I'm not good of just going off the cuff.
• 20:52
  So I need to be prepared. So that's the difference, right.
• 20:55
  And so when you walk into a networking environment, it's
• 20:58
  very difficult because you don't know what's going to happen.
• 21:01
  And yeah, so even last week at the SEAL function, the the
• 21:06
  welcome drinks, don't know if anyone who watches this will
• 21:08
  see, but I actually sat in the corner on a chair by myself for
• 21:12
  quite some time just to watch what was going on.
• 21:15
  And I had people come over to me to chat.
• 21:17
  But that's who I am. Unless I have to turn on for it
• 21:22
  to be on stage or to talk or to write, This is who I am today.
• 21:26
  This is what I'm going to be, yeah.
• 21:27
  And I'd rather sit back and just watch.
• 21:29
  Are you people watching? Yeah, I'm a big people watcher.
• 21:32
  Oh, 100%. I love it, love it.
• 21:35
  It does. I reckon it says a lot because
• 21:37
  yeah, I'm, I believe one of my strong points would be body
• 21:41
  language and interpreting what I see.
• 21:43
  And I think I generally do have a very good radar or send like,
• 21:48
  you know, what I can say and what people actually want.
• 21:50
  And one of the things is sometimes when it comes, I think
• 21:53
  this is just in life in general, whether it's business or life,
• 21:55
  to sit back and watch another person to see what their
• 21:58
  reactions are and how they communicate and whether we would
• 22:01
  be a good vibe or not. Like, because I'm not for
• 22:04
  everybody and and that's OK. Correct.
• 22:06
  Well, there you go. You've summed it up.
• 22:07
  That's that's what it's about. I'm a significant people watch.
• 22:10
  And that's every day. I have to get out of the house.
• 22:12
  I have to go to a cafe and sit down and have a coffee.
• 22:15
  Otherwise I go insane, right? But I do it because I'm out.
• 22:18
  I'm with other people. I can see and I can watch.
• 22:22
  That's that's what I enjoy. Have you ever in this journey
• 22:25
  felt like just giving up? Like geez, this is so hard
• 22:28
  because it is hard. What we do is hard.
• 22:31
  The people that we serve, at times, they've got such their
• 22:33
  life froze them. Some really complex things that
• 22:36
  happen in their life. Have you ever felt like giving
• 22:38
  up? Yeah, a couple of times, yeah,
• 22:40
  100% when when, you know, you mentioned before about someone's
• 22:43
  had a stroke and their world has changed.
• 22:45
  And so, you know, that's quite difficult to go through and I
• 22:48
  haven't had that. So I'm very fortunate.
• 22:50
  But we had a client that had an, an acquired injury and yeah.
• 22:55
  And and so I bent over backwards to help that gentleman and we,
• 23:00
  we supported him for maybe eight or nine months.
• 23:03
  And it just came to A to a head. And I was, I had to draw the
• 23:06
  line in the sand and say, I'm sorry, I can't continue,
• 23:10
  continue to work with you. We can't continue to support
• 23:13
  you. You're not, you're not working
• 23:15
  towards, you know, there's a whole big history around.
• 23:17
  You're not working towards the goals that we agreed on.
• 23:19
  And so the way that he spoke to me and my team, it really was
• 23:24
  like, I don't know if I can swear.
• 23:26
  Go to it. We're adults.
• 23:28
  I said I don't know what the fuck I'm doing here.
• 23:30
  Like this is just ridiculous. Like I've been over backwards.
• 23:34
  This person, you know, and threats of going to the NDIS
• 23:37
  Commission, which he did. He went to the Commission and I
• 23:40
  had a call 6 months later. And.
• 23:42
  Yeah. And when, when you have a client
• 23:45
  who rings you and you are shaking and you're so and you
• 23:48
  don't want to answer the phone because your gut is so I do not
• 23:51
  want to talk to this person, but you have to because there's no
• 23:54
  one else to. That's when I go.
• 23:56
  Why am I doing this? Like, why?
• 23:58
  And so for the sake of myself and for my business, I yeah, I
• 24:02
  had to go, right? I have to make an uncomfortable
• 24:04
  decision here and again. Yeah, when when you make
• 24:06
  financial decisions that don't work out and you just go, wow,
• 24:11
  that was the biggest mistake that I've made, where am I going
• 24:14
  to find the money for that? OK, what am I doing?
• 24:17
  So and that's when it comes back to resilience and having those
• 24:21
  people around you to go, this is what's going on.
• 24:24
  What should I be doing? Yeah, it's very important.
• 24:27
  You've picked up on 2 very important things.
• 24:29
  And sometimes I find as providers, we, there's this
• 24:34
  uneasy feeling that we get, like I know I'm not the provider that
• 24:39
  can serve this person the best. Now we're going to make a really
• 24:42
  hard decision and break it to a person that, look, I, this is as
• 24:45
  far as we can go. Like it's not, it's an
• 24:48
  uncomfortable decision to make. Every time I've made it, I've
• 24:50
  never had a regret about it, to be honest with you, because I
• 24:53
  know it was always in the best for the person that I served.
• 24:56
  Yeah. 100% And you want to help so many people, those you know,
• 24:59
  and this comes through life as well.
• 25:01
  You can only help those people who want to be helped.
• 25:04
  And so when you come across people who that you bend over
• 25:07
  backwards and you break your heart to to do whatever it is
• 25:10
  that you can, and then they treat you, you know, and your
• 25:14
  people like shit. Yeah.
• 25:16
  It's like, I'm sorry, we can't do this.
• 25:19
  I've always put the rule in place.
• 25:21
  And the rule was if I would never work with that person,
• 25:24
  neither will you. And the reason why I've always
• 25:27
  put that in place is because I, I know the boundaries.
• 25:29
  I know what's safe, but I know what's not safe.
• 25:31
  And I've worked within plenty of plans, whether it becomes help
• 25:35
  or behavior support, where are the boundaries and what is
• 25:38
  acceptable? Because if I can't as, as
• 25:40
  leaders, we really do need to, to have safety on ships as a
• 25:44
  priority. So I've yeah, never.
• 25:48
  Exactly what you're saying. It's not just physical though
• 25:51
  too right? It's also mental.
• 25:55
  Yeah. I don't wake up in the morning
• 25:56
  to do a bad job. So if I'm going to wake up and I
• 25:59
  want to do a very good job, I might as well serve people that
• 26:01
  I know that I can do my very best for.
• 26:03
  Yeah, Yeah. Yeah, we're very fortunate.
• 26:07
  A lot of our clients we've had for years and years and years.
• 26:09
  And so we're very grateful for that.
• 26:11
  But you just know you get to a point where you learn.
• 26:13
  Yeah, this is. All and you never make that same
• 26:16
  mistake twice. And when you were talking about
• 26:18
  financial as well, if you didn't make some of these financial
• 26:21
  risks, you would never have learnt and figured out that that
• 26:24
  was not a area of expertise that you wanted to go down to.
• 26:28
  Yeah. A. 100% And so I'm very vocal
• 26:31
  for that now when I talk to new providers.
• 26:32
  So, and I've shared this story with multiple people as well.
• 26:36
  You know, we lost $28,000 while we had a still house.
• 26:40
  That's that empty, right? And it sort of got me thinking
• 26:44
  that, you know, the balance sheet, you know, backwards and
• 26:47
  backwards and backwards is like, holy fuck, what's going on?
• 26:49
  What am I? And you really have to analyze
• 26:52
  it and look at it. I know there are a lot of people
• 26:54
  in this sector who are not looking at their PNL, they're
• 26:56
  not looking at their, their money coming in and out.
• 26:59
  I can tell you intimately off the top of my head what's coming
• 27:02
  in, what we're waiting on, what you know, that sort of stuff.
• 27:05
  But also they need to be disciplined.
• 27:07
  So today was a payday for us. And so how we operate is we pay
• 27:12
  the staff. So this week that all the money
• 27:15
  that comes in this week, half of that will be set aside for
• 27:18
  superannuation and the tax that's associated with the
• 27:21
  payroll that comes in today. And the remainder of that will
• 27:23
  pay for all of the bills. And then all of the money that
• 27:26
  comes in in the following week that accumulates for us to then
• 27:29
  to be able to pay the wages the following week.
• 27:31
  So you really gotta understand your cash flow, you control it
• 27:35
  and make sure that it works for you.
• 27:36
  You 2 have a cash flow that works for you.
• 27:40
  Do you bill weekly, daily to make that flow?
• 27:43
  Weekly, Weekly. So again today, Monday, Monday
• 27:46
  there accounts day. So our weeks run from Monday to
• 27:49
  Sunday. And so Monday morning our
• 27:51
  accounts person, she comes in and she generates turned the
• 27:55
  week over essentially in our system and then generates all
• 27:59
  the invoices, sends them out and then does the payroll every
• 28:02
  fortnight as well. Yeah.
• 28:04
  So it's it's every Monday like clockwork.
• 28:07
  We don't talk about this in our sector, but I really do believe
• 28:11
  it's very important to talk about that cash flow part that
• 28:14
  we're making sure that we're building consistently and
• 28:17
  ongoingly, especially with quarterly funding and how it's
• 28:20
  working because there is a real, it can be quite easy to stuff it
• 28:24
  up. Yeah.
• 28:25
  And you know, and I'm hearing stories that people are folding
• 28:28
  because they're not making their commitments with super and tax
• 28:31
  and that sort of stuff. And that's simply a lack of
• 28:33
  knowledge and a lack of discipline.
• 28:35
  We've all got the same cash flow happening.
• 28:37
  So, so we've got a couple of other financial grants that we
• 28:41
  get that are paid 30 days in arrears.
• 28:44
  So we have to manage our cash flow because I'm paying staff
• 28:48
  for work that's being done today, but we're not going to
• 28:50
  get paid for that for 30 days. So if you are not on that,
• 28:54
  you're not going to, you're not going to survive that.
• 28:57
  Yeah, you won't survive, especially not in this sector at
• 28:59
  the moment because it's so hard and a lot of like especially
• 29:04
  with unpaid as well and debt collecting gifts.
• 29:08
  Is this something that you learned from your years of
• 29:10
  experience or is this something that you had to learn from from
• 29:14
  now? Because this sector, yeah, the
• 29:16
  way it rolls. It's a good question, Sarah,
• 29:18
  because I was actually looking at.
• 29:19
  So I was drafting a service agreement.
• 29:20
  We've got a new client coming in and starting on with us on
• 29:23
  Friday and I was going through the service agreement filling
• 29:26
  that out in preparation for that.
• 29:28
  And we actually don't have a statement in our service
• 29:31
  agreement about debt collection. We have a statement in our
• 29:35
  service agreement that says we're going to invoice, we're
• 29:38
  going to ask you to pay this money.
• 29:39
  If you don't pay it, you know, we're going to contact you.
• 29:43
  We don't have anything about debt collection.
• 29:44
  I've never had to do any debt collection.
• 29:46
  So I've been very fortunate that way.
• 29:49
  But again, that's because I'm on top of it.
• 29:51
  I'm I'm looking at what's outstanding.
• 29:53
  It's not to say that I haven't written stuff off, which I have.
• 29:56
  Yeah, not, not significant amount because.
• 29:59
  Yeah, so the debt collection I think comes from when you are
• 30:03
  not aware of what's going on within your business.
• 30:05
  Yeah. And so you have to apply point
• 30:07
  again having those hard conversations with with
• 30:10
  stakeholders and stuff about saying, look, and again, I've
• 30:13
  shared this story as well. We've got a client that we
• 30:16
  support for us and we, his plan was running out the second year
• 30:21
  in a row. His plan was running out.
• 30:23
  Two months before the plan was due to run out, I sat down with
• 30:28
  his daughter, who is his nominee and said, look, we need to make
• 30:30
  some adjustments to the roster because we can't continue to
• 30:33
  support him the full hours that we're requiring because you're
• 30:36
  not going to be able to afford it, right?
• 30:37
  And so I can't afford to continue to pay my staff and not
• 30:41
  be paid for it. So we need to come up and be
• 30:44
  flexible with how we organize this.
• 30:46
  And so she was very gracious with that.
• 30:48
  But you need to be on the front foot with some of this stuff.
• 30:50
  You can't wait until you've got 50 grand owing to you to then
• 30:54
  go, oh, maybe we need to speak to someone.
• 30:56
  You can't do it. 100% it's all about communication isn't
• 31:00
  because you know what's coming yes and because you know what
• 31:02
  coming if you can start planting those seeds that you know this
• 31:05
  is coming. These are the actions that we
• 31:07
  have so we don't get ourselves in a bit of strife.
• 31:09
  Like it's so like that enough. Just like that was easy.
• 31:13
  But in here. Yeah.
• 31:17
  I just, I look, I'm pretty upfront as a person.
• 31:20
  So I'd really like to know what's going on, what's
• 31:22
  happening next. And this is, you know, the
• 31:24
  expectations moving forward for us to provide really good care.
• 31:27
  Sorry. But I think it also comes down,
• 31:30
  Sarah, you said that you've been in the sector a long time,
• 31:32
  right? So you understand that.
• 31:34
  But as I mentioned before, we've got a lot of people that have
• 31:37
  come into this sector who've never run a business before.
• 31:40
  They've never had to think about these things.
• 31:42
  So these things are the things that are killing those
• 31:44
  businesses because they're not courageous enough.
• 31:47
  And it does take courage to say, hey, we need to change what's
• 31:50
  happening, otherwise we're not going to be able to continue to
• 31:52
  operate because that's admitting they're fault, That's admitting
• 31:55
  they're making a loss. That takes courage.
• 31:58
  Well. So I would rather be upfront
• 32:00
  than have somebody that we serve sitting on a couch somewhere
• 32:03
  because they couldn't get support because it was take what
• 32:06
  was blown, it's gone, it's out. If we can have these
• 32:08
  conversations beforehand because we don't want anyone without
• 32:11
  support, that's priority number one.
• 32:13
  We would make sure that the people that we serve as say and
• 32:15
  they've got supports around them, but we can't get to that
• 32:18
  point unless somebody steps in and has these.
• 32:21
  At times they had difficult conversations, but their
• 32:23
  conversations need to be had because it's in someone's best
• 32:25
  interest to be supported. My assist believes in being a
• 32:30
  family support. What does that actually mean in
• 32:33
  practice? Yeah, it's a great question
• 32:35
  because we get this all the time.
• 32:36
  So you know we specialize in one to one care, right.
• 32:39
  And so we're not just dealing with the one client.
• 32:42
  Most of our clients are non verbal in a one to one situation
• 32:45
  or they're complex care. And so we are dealing directly
• 32:48
  with the family. We're not dealing directly with
• 32:51
  the client. We're providing the services to
• 32:53
  the client. We're every on a daily basis,
• 32:55
  but the major decisions are around what's happening about
• 32:58
  doctor's appointments, about going to the hospital, about
• 33:01
  financial arrangements. All those sort of things are
• 33:04
  being made with the families. So everything we do on a daily
• 33:09
  basis is communicated to the families.
• 33:12
  So we have a couple of ways that we do that.
• 33:14
  We use of the free app telegram. So we create groups and we add
• 33:18
  the family members to them and we share information with them
• 33:21
  every single day. We have tailored a specific
• 33:25
  documents that we around what is it that each stakeholder wants
• 33:28
  to understand? So as an example, we've got one
• 33:30
  young lady that we support in her own home.
• 33:33
  She lives in her own home. She's non verbal.
• 33:36
  She's she's beautiful and mum and mum wants mum and sister
• 33:41
  want to know everyday what is she having first?
• 33:44
  What choices are we giving her? So we have to document that.
• 33:47
  How much is she drinking? So she's peg fed.
• 33:49
  So how much meal does she actually drinking orally and
• 33:52
  what's going through the peg? You know, what movies did she
• 33:55
  choose today? They want to understand that so
• 33:57
  they can have a conversation with her about that.
• 33:59
  You know, do we go outside? If we did, what activities did
• 34:02
  we do outside? All these things are tailored so
• 34:05
  that the collection of information is unique for that
• 34:07
  particular family. And so we do that with every
• 34:11
  single family and client that we work with.
• 34:14
  So what information is it that's important to you to understand
• 34:17
  about your loved one that we are working with and how do we
• 34:21
  communicate that with you? So it's verbally, it's via
• 34:24
  reports, via photos, all that sort of stuff.
• 34:28
  So we are working with the family.
• 34:30
  Now you've got me curious on this.
• 34:32
  Is this a young lady that's moved out into a unit in the
• 34:36
  family property or is it a actual house and the community
• 34:39
  that she's moved out into? So her sister bought her, she
• 34:43
  used to live in an aged care facility and so she had a very
• 34:46
  terrible time in an aged care facility.
• 34:48
  And so her sister invested in a 2 bedroom unit down the road
• 34:53
  from where mum lives. And so she actually lives in
• 34:56
  that unit. That's her place.
• 34:58
  And so we provide supports, 24 hour supports in her place.
• 35:01
  Were you able to get like support her from the get go or
• 35:04
  did you come halfway through? We actually took over from
• 35:07
  another client that was not doing a very great job.
• 35:10
  Yeah, that's that sounds like a real life approach for this
• 35:14
  individual in particular, because it really is important
• 35:17
  what a person did during the day.
• 35:19
  To have those conversations with mum at night time or sister
• 35:23
  around the dinner table is incredibly important.
• 35:25
  And especially when you can see it and you can hear it and you
• 35:29
  can talk about it because it's about involvement as a family.
• 35:31
  So it really does have that, that nice family, you know,
• 35:35
  whole life approach about it. I like that.
• 35:37
  That's a gorgeous, that's a nice story, Yeah.
• 35:39
  Very important and they take up a lot of the time that we have
• 35:43
  with the operations manager, but that's about the relationship.
• 35:45
  It's the development of the relationship that allows us to
• 35:48
  have that open conversation to allow us to hear their feedback
• 35:53
  as it comes through. So we don't get, we don't wait
• 35:55
  for complaints if something happens, it we are actually
• 35:58
  notified generally everyday if there is a change that needs to
• 36:01
  happen. So you know, our CI register is
• 36:03
  just gigantic. But that's what it's about
• 36:06
  working with the family because life isn't stagnant.
• 36:10
  Life changes and we need to work with them with that, and so
• 36:13
  that's what family support is. Yes, the family might ring and
• 36:17
  we're on the phone with them for an hour each time, but that's
• 36:20
  how we develop the relationship. Personally serving their family
• 36:23
  are our customers and this is a we've got to at times I've got
• 36:26
  to remind people we're going to keep coming back to because they
• 36:29
  we are providing a service, which means that makes them a
• 36:32
  customer of ours. How do we do it to make sure
• 36:34
  that we are, you know, nurturing the people that we've got.
• 36:37
  We're serving them the way that they expect, but also families
• 36:40
  have a high expectation too. Every now and again when I
• 36:42
  things like this, I hope you don't mind me saying, but like I
• 36:45
  get this, you know, this family is so difficult.
• 36:47
  I was like, well, is it difficult or is it actually
• 36:49
  knowing what you want from a service and being particular
• 36:53
  what the benchmark looks like? We took a client over over six
• 36:58
  weeks ago and the very first phone call, she was on the phone
• 37:02
  with me that the sister of the client they're actually working
• 37:04
  with for two hours, but she was quite directly said I don't want
• 37:08
  I don't want your marketing BS. Tell me what difference you've
• 37:10
  made to a person's life. Give me examples.
• 37:13
  Yes. I was like okay, no worries and
• 37:15
  I did and I said look, I can't give you photos or anything like
• 37:18
  that. We don't do that, but I could
• 37:21
  actually see if another clients daughter would like to speak to
• 37:24
  you about their experience with us.
• 37:27
  She said I would love to do that.
• 37:28
  Sorry, that's the phone. And so that's what we did.
• 37:31
  She actually, she contacted another client who's been with
• 37:36
  us for three years and had a conversation with her about what
• 37:39
  was it that we were doing that was the difference between
• 37:42
  another provider. And so, yeah, she had another
• 37:46
  provider that was with them for 9 days.
• 37:48
  Yep. We've now been in there for six
• 37:50
  weeks. And they are hard work, very
• 37:52
  hard work. But the team, the team are
• 37:55
  exceptional. Yeah, I'm blessed with a really
• 37:57
  great team and we've just been able to it's it's not.
• 38:01
  No, it's not meant to be easy. It's it's not like one of those
• 38:04
  you could just walk in. This is not a production
• 38:06
  factory. This is these are people.
• 38:08
  So it's, it's meant to be hard, but you have all the hard stuff
• 38:12
  happens at the beginning and then what I find it kind of
• 38:15
  eases it's way and it slows itself down that you know, and
• 38:18
  towards the middle. So you've just got to be able to
• 38:21
  work with people and collaborate with families and individuals to
• 38:24
  make sure that you they're getting what they want.
• 38:25
  Because we're kind of like the Uber Eats really, aren't we?
• 38:28
  Because they're putting in an organ.
• 38:29
  Yeah, honestly. Well, you put in an order and
• 38:33
  expectations. To put it through and how it
• 38:36
  looks like, how it feels and makes you feel up, you know,
• 38:39
  that's all important stuff. If I.
• 38:42
  Correct 100%. Well, if all ours fails will
• 38:45
  just be you for 8:00. Yeah, that's right.
• 38:47
  Because you work with individuals with such complex
• 38:51
  plans and you're needing quite high support, how do you
• 38:57
  maintain getting a workforce that's able to support them?
• 39:01
  Because not every support worker can work with people with high
• 39:06
  complex needs. So we're very.
• 39:07
  Fortunate. But I think it also comes down
• 39:09
  to our, the culture is very important for us.
• 39:11
  Sarah and I'll talk about that in just a second.
• 39:13
  But as I said, we unemployed, generally those with
• 39:17
  qualifications and experience, we pay above award.
• 39:20
  So that means my margins are smaller, but I do pay above
• 39:23
  award for our team leaders. They get paid a little bit more
• 39:27
  than what the award is. I recognise them.
• 39:29
  Like literally today I dropped off 2 gift vouchers to the staff
• 39:33
  that have done an exceptional job over the last couple of
• 39:36
  weeks with this new client. And you know, you have to see
• 39:39
  them, you have to see the staff, you have to recognize them.
• 39:42
  My operations manager has a fantastic relationship with our
• 39:46
  staff. They can call her at any time
• 39:48
  and have a chat. They will have my number.
• 39:50
  They can call whenever they want to as well.
• 39:52
  I think it's just being open and honest, genuine, transparent and
• 39:59
  again, I wouldn't do anything I wouldn't do.
• 40:02
  Do you think it's because you've set the bench?
• 40:04
  Because when you pay above ward, this is my idea of it.
• 40:06
  When you pay above ward, it means that this is the
• 40:08
  benchmark, this is the expectations of service.
• 40:12
  I'm expecting as a support worker, as a team leader, as a
• 40:15
  manager, I expect above that, and that's the expectation
• 40:20
  across. So I found that when you spend
• 40:23
  more on the wages that the supports rise with it. 100%,
• 40:28
  that's really well summed up. I really love that.
• 40:31
  Yeah. And, and that expectation
• 40:34
  setting that right at the very beginning again, last week at
• 40:37
  the Expo, at the conference, it was conversation around trying
• 40:40
  to automate your onboarding process out of all face to face,
• 40:45
  all face to face. So we sit down and we go through
• 40:47
  the values, we talk through what it is, we talk through our
• 40:50
  expectations. And I'm very clear with the,
• 40:52
  with the ones that I do that you and you, the rosters are not
• 40:56
  changed to suit you. The rosters are changed to suit
• 40:58
  the client. It's what the client wants.
• 41:00
  If, if they come to us and they say, look, I really know Sarah's
• 41:03
  been on the team for a little while, but I don't know that
• 41:05
  that she gels with the team anymore, then we're going to
• 41:08
  make a change to the team. Sarah, unfortunately, we might
• 41:10
  move you to another client, but it's not about you.
• 41:13
  It's about the client and what they want.
• 41:15
  We have very, very clear with all of that and we've had that
• 41:18
  constantly. You know, some people just die
• 41:21
  gel, so we have to deal with that.
• 41:23
  I love that because I'm. Yeah.
• 41:25
  And the reason why is I've also had this debate not actually not
• 41:28
  long ago about automation. Automation's fantastic.
• 41:31
  Yeah. It makes it really quick, but it
• 41:33
  doesn't have that personal touch.
• 41:35
  And we're in the care business, so we need to have personal
• 41:38
  touch, needs to be attached to it.
• 41:40
  So the person that I call, I've actually seen their face before.
• 41:43
  I actually know who I'm talking to.
• 41:45
  I'm not talking talking to a computer, I'm talking to about
• 41:47
  somebody that actually cares about my support.
• 41:49
  I correct love that, but also that gel part.
• 41:53
  And it does take leadership to at times move people and cut
• 41:57
  people and it's not comfortable. But at the end of the day, the
• 41:59
  person that I serve is more important that they get the
• 42:03
  supports that they really, truly deserve and need and they can
• 42:07
  spend their NDIS money according to it and how they like it.
• 42:10
  It's not up for me to determine. That's right, 100%.
• 42:14
  And so, yeah, we're very fortunate with that.
• 42:16
  And, and when we do find the right team, I think because
• 42:19
  there's consistency with the hours that they're provided, the
• 42:23
  support that they get, the communication that happens from
• 42:29
  the Optus manager through to the team, I think that all just
• 42:32
  makes it work very, very well. We're just I'm just very lucky
• 42:37
  to have a really great team. It sounds like you've got some.
• 42:41
  You have to nurture your culture too.
• 42:43
  So you have to be open and you have to, you have to, you know,
• 42:46
  I said to you what, 15 minutes ago that I believe that being of
• 42:50
  service is the highest thing possible, right?
• 42:53
  That's, and so we talk about that and we do discuss that.
• 42:56
  And so we want people in the interview process.
• 43:00
  Some of the questions we ask is why are you doing this?
• 43:02
  Why do you come into this sector like you've been doing it?
• 43:04
  And those people who are genuine and you can get the really good
• 43:07
  answers, right? You are, you are us.
• 43:09
  This is what we this we hear before, so it's getting the
• 43:12
  right people, the right attitudes and that cultural fit
• 43:16
  to your business is essential for you to be successful with
• 43:19
  your team. Yes.
• 43:20
  And then to be honest, I have kissed a couple of frogs in my
• 43:23
  time where I've made mistakes. But I give it very quickly.
• 43:28
  And yeah, it happens very quick. And it's making a very quick
• 43:33
  decision on another person's behalf of making sure that that
• 43:36
  is the right support worker at play.
• 43:38
  Because happy support workers turn out for the people that we
• 43:42
  serve the best way possible. And it's just finding the right
• 43:45
  ones with the right attitude to do more. 100% all right.
• 43:49
  Now you are a provider in the Gold Coast.
• 43:52
  You're not a provider in Adelaide or NSW or Victoria.
• 43:57
  Are you centralized to one spot and one location?
• 44:01
  So yeah, yes and no. So I started the business here
• 44:07
  in Queensland and we've done everything here in Queensland up
• 44:10
  until maybe 6-7 months ago. A licensed model.
• 44:17
  I've developed a license model, right?
• 44:19
  And so I was introduced to these people who were looking to
• 44:22
  partner with an experienced provider who could help them to
• 44:26
  build their business, not just with the NDIS but also with
• 44:30
  other aspects. So, you know, I've mentioned
• 44:32
  aged care, that's a passion of mine and they're interested in
• 44:36
  that as well. So we were introduced, they've
• 44:38
  signed up onto my license model. So they operate under my banner
• 44:42
  at the moment down in Adelaide. It's the only place where we are
• 44:45
  at the moment. But the license model is there
• 44:48
  to use my experience, my policies and procedures and our
• 44:52
  support network behind the scene to help people who want to be in
• 44:56
  this sector, to have a business of their own, to bring their
• 45:00
  staff and to bring their own clients.
• 45:03
  They're not registered, can use my our registration and then
• 45:06
  we'll we'll you know, form a partnership and go from there.
• 45:10
  But that's what we're doing in Adelaide.
• 45:12
  So that's what on the scope. How did you meet these people
• 45:16
  from Adelaide that wanted to join in in a licensing model?
• 45:19
  Because that's really it's not. It's not every day you want to
• 45:23
  choose some people to be under your banner because not every
• 45:26
  provider is a provider of choice that you'd like to collaborate
• 45:29
  with. How did you fight this?
• 45:32
  So it was an introduction, it was a very clear introduction by
• 45:37
  a mutual acquaintance, a mutual friend that we both know who's
• 45:40
  in the sector. And we, we spoke for about 6
• 45:43
  months before anything was ever formalized either.
• 45:45
  So it wasn't something that was just very quick.
• 45:48
  It was about understanding who they are as a person and what
• 45:51
  they want to achieve, how it is that we could add value to each
• 45:54
  other, what are the opportunities into the future,
• 45:57
  that sort of stuff. So yeah, it was about 6 months
• 46:00
  before we actually signed any paperwork work and then went
• 46:04
  right, okay, let's make this happen.
• 46:05
  Was this so it's a little bit by accident, It wasn't like
• 46:08
  something that you were seeking. Yeah, so look, the person who
• 46:12
  introduced us knows what I want to work towards and achieve and
• 46:16
  just has a history of introducing people where they
• 46:19
  think they might fit really well.
• 46:21
  And so I know that they actually spoke to a couple of other
• 46:25
  people as well, other providers. And you know, obviously I ticked
• 46:29
  the box and then they decided to work with me.
• 46:32
  But they're looking for a certain people who wanting to
• 46:35
  work with them to help them achieve their goals as well.
• 46:37
  So it had to be the alignment. It was just and well, it comes
• 46:42
  back to your networking, who you know, who you're supporting.
• 46:47
  Yeah, it's very hard to weed out what doesn't fit and what does
• 46:51
  fit with your values as well because no provider 2 providers
• 46:55
  are the same. So to get one on par with you
• 46:58
  fit us to you. Well done.
• 46:59
  Like that's not. It's not easy.
• 47:01
  Yeah. No, it's not easy.
• 47:03
  It's not easy, but it takes trust.
• 47:05
  And we've, we've been together a couple of times.
• 47:08
  We've been, I'm going back there this month, actually, next
• 47:11
  weekend. I'll be down there.
• 47:12
  Yeah. So we're doing things together.
• 47:14
  Yeah, trying to get stuff off the ground.
• 47:16
  Did you ever predict this, Like when you if you look back to
• 47:19
  2017 to now, did you ever predict that you'd be under this
• 47:22
  licensing model? No, no, but I was.
• 47:25
  I'm trying to think strategically, Sarah.
• 47:27
  Yeah, I'm trying to think about how is it that I can operate a
• 47:31
  business in this sector. And, and I'm going to be quite
• 47:35
  blunt, how can I, you know, make myself financially capable into
• 47:40
  the future? What skills, what, what, what is
• 47:43
  it that I've got that I potentially monetize and that's
• 47:47
  it. OK, we've done this.
• 47:48
  We've, we know how we operate. And I know first hand that there
• 47:52
  are so many people trying to get registered.
• 47:54
  It costs too much money. You know, they don't want to go
• 47:56
  through the process and then they're bewildered.
• 47:59
  They don't know, they don't understand how it all works and
• 48:02
  they just need to find a partner or someone who has done it all
• 48:06
  who can go radio. Here are the things that we know
• 48:09
  that work. Here's the support mechanism.
• 48:11
  Here's the systems that we use. You get, if you get clients and
• 48:15
  your staff, you manage all of that.
• 48:17
  We'll help you manage everything from the back end.
• 48:20
  So was it simple? Completely different to your
• 48:23
  original vision that you've had. My Well, I think your vision
• 48:26
  never change, never is stagnant. I think it needs to change and
• 48:30
  adapt. It's always been aged care and
• 48:32
  I've still got two things that I'm working on that are related
• 48:34
  to aged care, which is my biggest goal.
• 48:37
  And they will take a lot longer. This is kind of big.
• 48:40
  This is a big question. Are you ready for it?
• 48:43
  Are you ready? All right, OK.
• 48:44
  Give me the key to business being sustainable and to be able
• 48:48
  to grow in the NDIS sector. What are your tips?
• 48:52
  Yeah, the keys tips. To growing in the NDIS sector.
• 48:55
  Yeah, yeah. I'm just trying to get in my
• 48:57
  head. So the tips would be be open to
• 48:59
  partnerships and collaboration. I gotta, sorry, I, I've got to
• 49:02
  say this right, because everyone, every time we talk
• 49:05
  about this in our sector, we talk about you got to
• 49:07
  collaborate. You're going to be open to
• 49:08
  partnerships. But then sometimes you're like,
• 49:10
  but who with? It's really hard.
• 49:13
  Who, who do I pick, How it is, why they're not always aligning
• 49:16
  with me? And then sometimes you think
• 49:18
  that you've got it right. And then you're like, oh, that
• 49:20
  doesn't sit within my value. How have you been able to
• 49:23
  successfully do it? Because it's so bloody hard.
• 49:26
  So I've been around a little while now and I have had I've
• 49:30
  had had experience in talking to people and being able to see
• 49:33
  whether or not they're genuine or not and what they're doing.
• 49:36
  There are a lot of people in this sector who talk a lot and
• 49:39
  the output doesn't meet what is that they're saying.
• 49:41
  So if what they're saying and what they're doing match, that's
• 49:44
  your person, that's who you want to connect with.
• 49:47
  They are the people that you want to collaborate with.
• 49:49
  And I've just been very fortunate to 1 be introduced to
• 49:52
  them or two, meet them about the years that I've been at going to
• 49:57
  all of these events. And that's another thing.
• 49:59
  You need to be able to get out there and to meet people.
• 50:01
  You can't sit in your office all the time.
• 50:03
  If you want to build relationships, you actually have
• 50:05
  to be uncomfortable. I said I was uncomfortable in
• 50:08
  networking. I don't like it.
• 50:09
  But I've had some fantastic conversations with those one or
• 50:13
  two people that I have nudged up against in the in the room.
• 50:16
  So yeah, you do have to get a little bit uncomfortable.
• 50:18
  You have to be creative. You have to keep aware of what's
• 50:21
  going on in the sector. So no, do your homework, read,
• 50:25
  see what's going on, subscribe to the NDO websites, get their
• 50:28
  newsletters, all that sort of stuff, and get some mentors, get
• 50:32
  people who can guide you. Did you find?
• 50:34
  Yours Like were you particular with your mentors?
• 50:37
  I've had a few. I was quite blunt with the
• 50:40
  couple. I've got a lady that she ordered
• 50:43
  to dust in the VET sector, in the vocational education sector.
• 50:46
  So her, she's a compliance guru And right after all the times
• 50:50
  that we've been working together, I was actually, I've
• 50:51
  never done it before. I was quite, I was like, I've
• 50:54
  never done this before, but I would really like to ask if you
• 50:58
  would be a mentor for me. I really loved the way that you
• 51:01
  worked, learnt a lot from what you did.
• 51:04
  Do you think I could stay in touch with you and you could
• 51:06
  spend some time with me teaching me?
• 51:09
  And she was like, I was just going to say, maybe we could
• 51:11
  connect afterwards. So it was just a mutual
• 51:14
  connection, right. And so asking, you need to ask
• 51:18
  when you business coaches. I've had several, I'm still with
• 51:22
  Paul, Paul Brian, but I've had a couple leading up to Paul.
• 51:26
  Paul. Paul knows this sector.
• 51:28
  I had some that were business coaches from other sectors,
• 51:32
  right? This is such a niche sector that
• 51:35
  you need someone who actually understands how this sector
• 51:38
  works. The business coaching that I had
• 51:40
  were great. But when you get to a point
• 51:42
  where you go, I don't know that this is of value anymore.
• 51:45
  You need to have the courage to go.
• 51:46
  I need someone more. I need something more.
• 51:49
  So it's yeah, again, being courageous and not when you've
• 51:53
  got to take that next step. So you've had them.
• 51:56
  Has anyone asked you to be their mentor?
• 52:00
  Yes. How did you feel?
• 52:03
  Good, it's. A lovely, yeah, it is a lovely
• 52:05
  feeling and I get a little bit overwhelmed with it again, like
• 52:09
  imposter syndromes, quiet stuff. But but then look, I developed a
• 52:15
  course, an online course as well because I was like, all these
• 52:17
  people are asking me, maybe I need to put something together.
• 52:20
  So I did, I developed a course, but again, you have, it's called
• 52:26
  Indispensable Results. So if you want to have a look at
• 52:28
  it, I'll share it with you. Yeah.
• 52:29
  But I don't want to see that. But I'm not.
• 52:31
  Surprised. Like Jinx, You're.
• 52:33
  A woman. But even this in.
• 52:35
  Thank you. Yeah, that's the thing.
• 52:37
  I see bright, shiny things and go, oh, let's do that.
• 52:40
  And then so now I have to be reined back in.
• 52:42
  But it's more about education and learning.
• 52:45
  So there are a couple of people here on the coast that, yeah, if
• 52:48
  they ring me and I have a question, I'm happy to have a
• 52:49
  chat with them about it. No problem whatsoever.
• 52:51
  And that happens quite often. So it's about people.
• 52:56
  If people want to learn and have the courage to reach out and ask
• 52:59
  for help, I'm happy to help them.
• 53:01
  But I I've had people ask me to be a business coach and that
• 53:05
  sort of stuff. I just don't have the time to do
• 53:07
  that. Like that's not what I
• 53:09
  specialize in. If you want to have a chat and
• 53:11
  have a coffee about experiences, that's my jam.
• 53:14
  But I don't want to guide you on how to run a business like
• 53:18
  sorry. Do you know what?
• 53:20
  There have been people that I've caught up with for coffee and I
• 53:23
  have got the most I have ever got anywhere else.
• 53:27
  And I was like, God, I didn't pay this person.
• 53:29
  Like, you know, I paid for the coffee.
• 53:31
  But like, you know, shit came so educated afterwards and gone.
• 53:35
  I learnt a lot and I'm going to try this a little bit
• 53:37
  differently now. I just think, yeah, well, I just
• 53:39
  think that there are a couple of people that I reached out to
• 53:43
  last week at the conference and said, look, I'd really like to
• 53:46
  see if we can collaborate on something.
• 53:48
  This was an individual that we had the same business coach at
• 53:52
  the time, right? And he was a new provider.
• 53:54
  I've been around for a little while.
• 53:55
  And she said, why don't you meet with this person?
• 53:58
  I said, OK, cool, I'll reach out.
• 53:59
  And we did. And he was going to go through
• 54:01
  his first audit. He was freaking out about it,
• 54:04
  said, come and have a chat, let's catch up and show me what
• 54:06
  you got. And so we did, and I recommended
• 54:09
  a couple of things that he did that got him through the audit.
• 54:11
  So he's really grateful for that.
• 54:13
  But, you know, I've just stayed in touch and I really, I really
• 54:17
  think they're great people. And yeah, I don't know, you just
• 54:21
  meet the right people. And I believe that that's what
• 54:23
  you would have selected. People come across your path for
• 54:25
  a reason. You either go, yes, I want to
• 54:28
  continue this relationship or. Thank you.
• 54:30
  That was lovely to meet you next.
• 54:33
  With that, if you had a crystal ball, how do you see
• 54:36
  independence and small providers state the future of the NDIS?
• 54:40
  I think they're very much needed.
• 54:42
  I think the smaller providers give you flexibility, give you
• 54:48
  you an opportunity to be agile, independent support workers.
• 54:52
  Some people just don't want to work for anyone else.
• 54:54
  They want to work for themselves.
• 54:55
  So that's fine. And that's how they excel.
• 54:57
  Great, let them do that. And I think there are people who
• 55:00
  want that someone, just one person, not a company, just one
• 55:04
  person who I know that I can call and who's going to help me.
• 55:07
  I think we are going to struggle to get everybody registered.
• 55:10
  But personally, I love the belief that it is necessary.
• 55:14
  It is government money. It needs to be accounted for.
• 55:19
  Yeah, you need a way out. It has to happen like, I'm
• 55:23
  sorry, like there should be 1 for one.
• 55:25
  Yeah, I'm very black and white. There should be one rule for
• 55:28
  all, not several different rules.
• 55:29
  Registered, not registered. I feel like ethically the people
• 55:33
  that we provide care for with some of the complexities, it
• 55:37
  just needs to happen like it needs to happen for their safety
• 55:41
  and well-being, to make sure that there is an order.
• 55:43
  There are things in place so things don't go missing.
• 55:46
  People have got really good quality care.
• 55:51
  But I think that I think it needs to be, I actually
• 55:53
  submitted the information back to them.
• 55:56
  You know, when I asked for feedback around the
• 55:58
  registration, all that sort of stuff.
• 55:59
  I did. I put something through about I
• 56:01
  think there needs to be a tiered system with regards to the fees
• 56:04
  and stuff. Like if you're an independent
• 56:06
  support worker, you can't afford 7 or 8 grand to go through an
• 56:09
  order. Yeah.
• 56:09
  So how about we, you know, make it a little bit more cheaper,
• 56:13
  but everybody needs to have that registration with you on that.
• 56:16
  I think there's always a place for the smaller providers.
• 56:18
  There's always going to be a place for that, and that's
• 56:21
  necessary. Now, as you were discussing
• 56:23
  before, because I'm so nosy, I'm very nosy, you talked about
• 56:28
  Telegraph. So when it comes to technology,
• 56:31
  what does it play when it comes to technology playing in support
• 56:36
  with participants and stuff like do you, do you upgrade often?
• 56:39
  Like is it something that you really honed in on?
• 56:41
  Because I know before you were talking about automating
• 56:45
  onboarding and stuff like that. How do you balance the 2 so you
• 56:48
  don't lose that personal touch? Well, we haven't done a lot of
• 56:51
  automation and we haven't done a lot of technology.
• 56:54
  We use a couple of systems and that's it.
• 56:57
  So we use Telegram because it's free and we can make it work for
• 57:01
  us. We use SharePoint and we use a
• 57:04
  system called Care Flow. They're the only systems that we
• 57:07
  use. Everything else is either paper.
• 57:09
  So all of all of the notes that the staff are doing on a daily
• 57:12
  basis that gets sent through to the clients and generally on a
• 57:15
  piece of paper that's been designed for them to fill out,
• 57:18
  we take photos and send that through.
• 57:20
  So there's not a lot of automation.
• 57:21
  I have checked. I've tried to get some stuff
• 57:24
  done with ChatGPT for my support coordinator with, with regards
• 57:27
  to filling out the service agreements and that sort of
• 57:29
  stuff. You know, put this line item in
• 57:31
  it, blah, blah, blah. I've got it to a certain point.
• 57:34
  But then I when I had a chat with her about it, she said I'd
• 57:36
  really just like to still do it myself.
• 57:38
  I don't really need to put that data in and said, OK, cool.
• 57:41
  So that's as far as I got with that sometimes.
• 57:44
  We have a complicated with systems, don't we?
• 57:45
  When it's actually correct. It doesn't have to be this
• 57:49
  elaborate thing. Yeah, 100%.
• 57:51
  And so once you've got a process like, and that's, that's again,
• 57:54
  like once we know exactly, so when you're on board someone, we
• 57:56
  need these documents, we fill all these documents out.
• 57:59
  That's done. Great.
• 58:00
  We, you know, the next step, we need these documents, fill all
• 58:03
  them out done. So it doesn't have to be overtly
• 58:06
  complicated. And unfortunately I, I shouldn't
• 58:09
  say unfortunately, I should say I, I'm very lucky.
• 58:13
  The team of people that I have, a lot of them are very mature.
• 58:16
  And so a lot of them find technology very challenging.
• 58:19
  So I don't want to have too much technology in there because that
• 58:23
  scares them and shit doesn't get dark.
• 58:25
  Do you think also your your participants that your people
• 58:28
  you said certainly give a shit like what technology have it's
• 58:31
  more about the quality that you deliver correct.
• 58:33
  It's such a really blunt then. I'm not understand.
• 58:39
  Our clients are non verbal so they might use technology to
• 58:42
  tell us what what it is that they want, but that's it.
• 58:44
  Yeah, it we don't have to overcomplicate things, no.
• 58:48
  All right, so. This is a bit more of a personal
• 58:49
  drive. I hope you don't mind because
• 58:51
  I'm nosey as hell. Running your own business is
• 58:53
  really tough. What keeps you motivated to keep
• 58:56
  on going? Because you've heard, like I've
• 58:58
  heard like little snippets that you've got certain goals and
• 59:01
  things that you want to achieve. How do you keep motivated?
• 59:04
  Because it is really tough. It is really tough.
• 59:06
  There are days that I have really great levels of
• 59:09
  motivation and some days and I'll just go, what the fuck am I
• 59:11
  doing? I want to sleep.
• 59:14
  I just want to stay in bed. Yeah.
• 59:16
  But in saying that, I want to be in a position and I am pretty
• 59:20
  much there that I am financially stable, that I can choose what I
• 59:24
  want to do. And that's the goal that I'm
• 59:27
  working towards. So I want to be in a position
• 59:29
  where because I'm 51 and so I want maybe in another four or
• 59:34
  five years, I want to be at a point that I can make some
• 59:37
  things happen within the business that I actually don't
• 59:39
  need to be in the business anymore, but I can still have
• 59:43
  what it is that I have. So that's my motivator.
• 59:47
  Travel is my motivator too. I like to travel a lot.
• 59:49
  So I need to be able to pay for that.
• 59:53
  And I have a teenage daughter, she finishes school in three
• 59:55
  weeks. And so it's about giving me the
• 59:58
  time to spend with her to create memories and once she.
• 1:00:02
  Leads into the next question, right?
• 1:00:04
  Well, this actually your teenage daughter, your family leads into
• 1:00:08
  the next question, which I think is really important.
• 1:00:10
  How do you balance being a managing director and having a
• 1:00:14
  life outside of work? Because when you own your own
• 1:00:17
  business, you know, sometimes it's really easy and I'm they
• 1:00:20
  sucker for it that I put my identity in the business and I
• 1:00:24
  sometimes I suck it into one when they need to be separate.
• 1:00:27
  Yeah. And I think that is I've had
• 1:00:29
  people say to me, if you weren't doing this, what would you be
• 1:00:32
  doing? And I just go, I really don't
• 1:00:35
  know because this, this is my baby.
• 1:00:36
  I've built it and I'm, you know, I'm very proud of what I've
• 1:00:39
  achieved. How do I balance the times and
• 1:00:41
  stuff? I have a great team.
• 1:00:43
  I have people who I know they're going to be there to do their
• 1:00:47
  job, but I'm always working. I'm constantly.
• 1:00:49
  I'm on call all the time. The phone's sitting right here.
• 1:00:52
  I worked today. It's a public holiday.
• 1:00:54
  Only those on shift worked. No one else in the office
• 1:00:57
  worked. So and I don't work standard
• 1:00:59
  hours. So I get to drive my daughter to
• 1:01:02
  school. I get to sometimes pick her up
• 1:01:03
  from after school. You know, I don't, she's my
• 1:01:07
  priority at the moment. Business is now at a point that
• 1:01:10
  it can run without me. And that was always the goal.
• 1:01:13
  I don't want to be in the business all the time.
• 1:01:15
  The business has to be able to run without me.
• 1:01:17
  That is so important to me. So that's, that's how I make
• 1:01:21
  that work. But there are nights where I'm
• 1:01:23
  still working at 10:00 or 11:00 at night or 2:00 AM in the
• 1:01:26
  morning, right? You've got to find that balance.
• 1:01:28
  What works for you. I'm now in a position where my
• 1:01:31
  daughter will be finishing school, so I will not have those
• 1:01:33
  commitments again. So now I can focus on really
• 1:01:36
  nailing down what is it that I want to achieve with my next
• 1:01:39
  goals and focusing on that because I don't have to be mum
• 1:01:42
  to do the school stuff anymore. So it frees up time.
• 1:01:46
  I'm lucky that I was able to find that balance and I think
• 1:01:48
  you need to be able to be clear with what it is you want to do.
• 1:01:53
  Do you want to take your kids to school?
• 1:01:55
  So build a business that allows you to do that.
• 1:01:57
  It wasn't. I'm going to make this
• 1:01:59
  assumption. It wasn't always that way to
• 1:02:01
  begin with. In the beginning with you had to
• 1:02:03
  hustle quite hard to get to where you are today.
• 1:02:06
  Correct. Yeah, I built.
• 1:02:07
  I see. So 2017, I started my sister, I
• 1:02:12
  was still working full time, right?
• 1:02:15
  I write policies and procedures. I did everything.
• 1:02:17
  I've developed nearly all of our policies and procedures.
• 1:02:21
  Right. So midnight, 2:00 AM in the
• 1:02:23
  morning, go to bed, get up. 6:00 AM ghoul run.
• 1:02:27
  I have an hour to go to work, all that sort of stuff.
• 1:02:29
  So yeah, for the first four or five years it was hard, Yaka.
• 1:02:34
  And I'm talking, you know, 80 hours, 90 hours a week, right?
• 1:02:37
  Doing two things. But now I'm at a point where no,
• 1:02:41
  that's not what I need to do anymore.
• 1:02:43
  I've set it up so that it runs how I want it to run.
• 1:02:46
  You've got to hustle hard at the beginning, but it pays off in
• 1:02:48
  the long run. 100%, that's what I think a lot of founders or
• 1:02:52
  anyone that's out of business can really relate to that.
• 1:02:55
  It is. It is hard.
• 1:02:56
  The first couple of years it's really hard.
• 1:02:58
  It's not easy. Nothings given.
• 1:02:59
  You have to work for it, everything.
• 1:03:01
  You have to work for every point of it and you're learning skills
• 1:03:04
  and you never thought you'd ever do before.
• 1:03:07
  Like podcasting. I never thought I'd be a
• 1:03:08
  podcaster. It's just kind of get kind of
• 1:03:11
  spiraled. But I, you know, I really.
• 1:03:14
  Yeah, I think, and probably with you, Sarah too, like you can't
• 1:03:17
  sit still either. So you've always got to keep
• 1:03:19
  yourself going, right? And I think that's also
• 1:03:21
  important. You have to recognise what keeps
• 1:03:24
  you challenged and keeps you going mentally.
• 1:03:26
  Yeah, because like you said before about what would you be
• 1:03:29
  doing if you weren't doing this? Like, oh God, well, I don't
• 1:03:31
  know. I would be driving somebody
• 1:03:34
  crazy, that's for sure. And I would be, yeah, I can't
• 1:03:38
  sit still. And especially if you've got a
• 1:03:40
  vision and an idea and where you want to see it grow and develop
• 1:03:43
  and you know, that's exciting. Like it is your baby and you get
• 1:03:46
  to grow it. And the coolest thing about is
• 1:03:48
  when you have your own business is that you get to decide when
• 1:03:51
  and who and how and all those in betweens the decisions come down
• 1:03:56
  to you as as yeah, you're it. And I love it.
• 1:03:58
  That's right, yeah. So 100% if I had to by looking,
• 1:04:04
  looking ahead, what's your vision for your company in the
• 1:04:08
  next five years? So I've got a couple of things
• 1:04:10
  that I'm working on and if you've met me at a couple of
• 1:04:12
  functions, we've talked about these sort of things.
• 1:04:14
  I'm working working on a project which is dementia housing.
• 1:04:19
  It's a passion project of mine. And so that's something I'm
• 1:04:23
  working on slowly, takes a lot of time and there's a lot of
• 1:04:27
  stuff in the background for that.
• 1:04:29
  The license model has been something that I want to try and
• 1:04:31
  get up and running as well. So there's two, those two
• 1:04:33
  projects, yeah. So aged care, focusing right on
• 1:04:37
  aged care. And now that the NDIS sector and
• 1:04:40
  this side of the business ticks over, it's just how can I add
• 1:04:44
  more value to the sector with with that?
• 1:04:46
  And that's where the license model came in.
• 1:04:48
  So those two projects are my key projects in the next 5 years.
• 1:04:52
  I don't want to dominate the world.
• 1:04:54
  I'm happy with where we are. So maybe just maintaining what
• 1:04:57
  we're doing and just being able to help more people gradually.
• 1:05:01
  Yeah, we don't, I don't actively recruit or, or you know, what's
• 1:05:05
  the word advertised for clients anymore.
• 1:05:07
  We just it's all word of mouth now.
• 1:05:09
  You've intrigued me. The dementia housing.
• 1:05:12
  What is the story behind that? Like, that's, you know, Sorry.
• 1:05:16
  Sorry. I'm so Daisy.
• 1:05:17
  Yeah. What is the story behind it?
• 1:05:19
  How did how did you get to this idea to build this model for the
• 1:05:23
  future? Yeah.
• 1:05:24
  So there's a couple of couple of things with that.
• 1:05:27
  So I when I did my qualification to when I did my qualification
• 1:05:31
  in individual support, the facilitator told us about a
• 1:05:34
  philosophy called the Eden philosophy.
• 1:05:37
  So have you heard of that? No, tell me.
• 1:05:38
  Right. So the Eden philosophy is a
• 1:05:41
  model of care that was developed in the 19 eight America by a
• 1:05:44
  Doctor Who came up with this model because he was working one
• 1:05:49
  day went in to see this old lady said, I hear that you're not
• 1:05:53
  having a good day today. How can I help you?
• 1:05:55
  She said do you have anything that can cure my loneliness?
• 1:05:59
  And so he came up with a model of care, which is the ethos is
• 1:06:04
  about overcoming the plague of boredom, loneliness and
• 1:06:08
  helplessness that we see in institution.
• 1:06:11
  And so during that course, he said to me, have a look at this
• 1:06:15
  philosophy. So I did and I was like, Oh my
• 1:06:17
  God, this is So what we want to do.
• 1:06:19
  So there's 10 principles that you follow.
• 1:06:21
  And so I'm now an Eden associate.
• 1:06:23
  I've gone and done qualification with them.
• 1:06:25
  I understand how to practice that.
• 1:06:26
  And that's the model of care that we operate on.
• 1:06:29
  We don't believe in person centred care, we believe in
• 1:06:31
  person directed care. So even though a person might be
• 1:06:35
  non verbal, they can still give us signs and clues about what it
• 1:06:38
  is that they want to do. So that's how we operate.
• 1:06:41
  So 10 principles that you follow and while I was doing this
• 1:06:45
  qualification, the facilitator there said CD, you need to have
• 1:06:49
  a look at this company, it's called Group Homes Australia.
• 1:06:52
  They are doing a larger scale of what we are doing here on the
• 1:06:55
  coast. And so I did, I looked at Group
• 1:06:58
  Homes Australia and it's run by a lady called, it was founded by
• 1:07:02
  a lady called Tamar Krebs. They've just changed their name,
• 1:07:05
  actually their company name. She has 22 of these homes in NSW
• 1:07:10
  and they are homes, luxurious patral homes in suburbs that
• 1:07:17
  people are paying a combination of home care packages and fee
• 1:07:21
  for service because they don't want people to live in
• 1:07:24
  residential aged care facility. You've got people who are living
• 1:07:28
  with dementia, NDIS participants living with dementia, perhaps 6
• 1:07:33
  to 8 people in a house supported 24 hours a day.
• 1:07:37
  And it is, it is home. And so there's no restrictive
• 1:07:41
  practices. There's no locked down areas
• 1:07:44
  that they can't escape from. They go out every day, they have
• 1:07:47
  activities, they cook every day, they eat together.
• 1:07:50
  But again, you get out of bed when you want to get out of bed.
• 1:07:52
  You have a shower when you want to have a shower.
• 1:07:54
  There's no strict routines and no one rushing you for 10
• 1:07:58
  minutes to come and have a shower before you go to the next
• 1:08:00
  person in the aged care facility.
• 1:08:02
  And so I want to bring that here to Queensland and so I've been
• 1:08:06
  working on that. So that's something that I'm
• 1:08:09
  doing in the background. Wow, that sounds really
• 1:08:12
  impressive because I no, no, I do because like, you know, a lot
• 1:08:15
  of us have experienced at one point somebody that they love in
• 1:08:19
  aged care and it is that Yep, you'll shower 1st and you must
• 1:08:23
  eat you must do this. It's really like cemented and it
• 1:08:27
  doesn't always suit the person that is in the in the facility
• 1:08:31
  because you know, some days I want to sleep in.
• 1:08:32
  I don't want to get up. I want to go to bed like that.
• 1:08:35
  I don't want to, you know, go to bed at this time.
• 1:08:38
  Yeah. Wow.
• 1:08:39
  I look forward to seeing it. Yeah.
• 1:08:40
  Actually, people. Sorry, yeah, So it's the Eden
• 1:08:43
  philosophy and the dementia homes, it's going to take
• 1:08:46
  financial backing. And so I'm trying to get my
• 1:08:49
  business in a position where I can partner with Group Homes
• 1:08:52
  Australia. They're they're open for that
• 1:08:54
  discussion. I've started that.
• 1:08:55
  I've started that a little while ago, but there's a lot of
• 1:08:59
  research and stuff that I have to present to them about the
• 1:09:01
  need for that here in Queensland and all that sort of stuff.
• 1:09:04
  So that's, that's, that'll take a little bit of time to get
• 1:09:07
  done. Wow.
• 1:09:09
  But sorry, I'm really impressed. Well, you, yeah, that one, a big
• 1:09:12
  difference that will make a big difference to some people that
• 1:09:15
  we serve and their families because it is a different way of
• 1:09:18
  thinking about how care should be.
• 1:09:20
  Who knows to you, Mark? Correct.
• 1:09:23
  Well done. Well, thank you.
• 1:09:25
  It's difficult. You know, I'm trying to talk to
• 1:09:27
  lawyers about a different option and I'm being told no, you can't
• 1:09:30
  do that because no one's ever done it and.
• 1:09:32
  Yeah, I can watch this. Opportunity.
• 1:09:36
  That's right. That's right.
• 1:09:38
  It can't be done. Oh no.
• 1:09:41
  It's frustrates, you know it. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:09:45
  If anybody after watching this podcast, what is the best way to
• 1:09:48
  contact you and be, you know, get, you know, get into your
• 1:09:53
  inner circle of the as such, like how do we get to you?
• 1:09:58
  I'm having a chat whoever at my e-mail address
• 1:10:00
  cedar@mysister.com dot AU. That's probably the easiest way.
• 1:10:05
  I tend to not answer my phone a lot unless it's a staff member
• 1:10:08
  because it because I have it on file most of the time.
• 1:10:11
  Otherwise it drives me insane with all the notifications that
• 1:10:14
  come through, so email's the best way.
• 1:10:16
  Definitely follow you guys on social media, LinkedIn thank.
• 1:10:19
  You. Yeah, yeah, can actually be
• 1:10:20
  there for sure. Thank you so much for being in
• 1:10:22
  this podcast.