Tune in for fun, inspiration and unfiltered discussions as host Sian Murphy interviews down-to-earth businesswomen sharing ideas, tactics and stories.
Regular features include recommended books, tools, lessons learned and top tips for business.
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Hello and welcome into the September edition of The Women In
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Business Radio Show.
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I'm going to come to what we're going to call it in a moment.
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But first of all, I'm going to get my guests today to introduce themselves because I'm terrible.
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So who have we got?
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Kemka Emeril.
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Gemma Fethle-Paynes.
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So...
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We don't really talk about our businesses in this show,
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but I am just going to get them to tell you what it is very briefly that they do.
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So you have an idea of, I don't know where we're all coming from.
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Okay, I do low cost, high quality staff for businesses.
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Gemma?
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Support businesses with employment and HR matters.
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And what do I do?
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Well, I do this.
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I also run the Women In Business Big Show.
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I publish a magazine called Stepping Out.
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I help people get connected.
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And, you know, one day I'm actually going to work out what it is I do.
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But I help people grow their businesses so that they can create their own freedom.
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But mostly what I like doing is chatting.
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So...
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In this show, we were calling this Wins
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Wobbles and What's Next.
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And that sort of explains what it is about.
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It is about Wins and Wobbles and what we're doing next.
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But one of the problems is I was looking at some of the stats,
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which is something I don't actually do that often.
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I should clearly do a lot more than I do, looking at some of the stats for the shows.
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There is a show in October 2025, which is called Business Roundup, October 2025.
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And people are going and listening to that
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now before they go and listen to
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the latest Winds, Wobbles and What's Next.
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So clearly there's a lesson in there, isn't there?
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I don't know if it's that I would have thought,
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you know,
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looking at it on the surface,
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I would have thought that it's 2025.
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Who wants to listen to a Business Roundup from 2025?
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October 2025.
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Something special about that one.
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But you wouldn't know.
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You actually have to go and listen to it to know if there's anything special about it at all.
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So if the title isn't enticing, all of these are distributed in the same way.
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Perhaps this is a win and a wobble.
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And what's next?
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All in one go.
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All in one go.
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I've noticed something.
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It's not performing as I was expecting.
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It's all a bit weird.
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And so now I think I need to start calling things Business Roundup September 2026.
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I wonder if September 2026 will have the same pizzazz as October 2025.
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It's difficult to tell, isn't it?
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We are discerning women.
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I don't know.
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I mean, it was just, it wasn't for jazz.
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I don't know.
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I don't know.
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That was literally all it said.
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Business Roundup, October 2025.
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And now, of course, people are going to go and find it and it's going to get even more.
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People are going to be listening to it.
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What is all this about?
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I have no idea.
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But I suppose in a way it sort of says what it does on the tin.
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And the other thing is,
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is they're listening,
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because you can tell these things if you have like post statistics,
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or if you ever bother to look at them, I guess it would help.
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But you can tell how far people have gone through.
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And they're going to the end.
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Yeah, so you can see,
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you know,
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if they listen to the first 10 minutes, it's probably what they're going to do now.
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It's that woman ever going to shut up talking about October 2025.
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But you can see if they've listened to the first bit and then they've gone away,
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you can tell or,
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you know, when do they leave or how long do they, and they're listening.
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Yeah.
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What did they do with September 2025 and November 2025?
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They were called something else then.
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See, that's when I changed it to
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weird names.
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Maybe it's the simplicity.
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I think it may well be.
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People want a business roundup.
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Do you know,
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and I think I'm going to change the names back,
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and I think Business Roundup,
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my mistake was assuming that because the Roundup was a month that's now nearly
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a year ago, people aren't interested.
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Perhaps they are.
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There we go.
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Keep it simple.
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That's a win.
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There we go.
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Win.
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Okay, so what should we start off with?
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So we normally do what we're reading or listening to.
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We talk about tools that we've found.
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We talk about what's worked, what hasn't worked.
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And I don't know, then we see where it goes.
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Now, I'm going to say now, Gemma, I know you need to leave in about 20 minutes.
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So we sort of better get a move on, haven't we?
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Yeah.
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Right.
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Okay.
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What about what we're reading and listening to?
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I'm not reading anything businessy.
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No, no, no, you don't want to be reading anything businessy at all.
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So I went on holiday and I'm reading a book called The Quiet Girls and it's fiction
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and it's about this school that's got like secret society going.
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That's just a bit of downtime.
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Is it like Mallory Towers or is it like subversive, wicked?
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Is it Tom Brown's school days or Enid Blyton?
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I don't know.
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I have not read either of those, so I don't know.
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Okay.
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So you know who Enid Blyton is?
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Yeah.
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Right, okay.
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So Mallory Towers is one of hers.
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So it's all a bit,
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you know,
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it's sort of like round-bellied girls bouncing around in... Getting into adventures.
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Yes, getting into...
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Yes, Adventures in the Gym.
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And Tom Brown's School Days is all sort of whippings and horrible from what I remember.
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No, it's neither.
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So without giving away the plot too much,
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it's suggesting that there are powers that be and there are secret societies and
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in these schools there are people who are part of societies that are running things.
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So it's quite interesting.
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So it's like it has a hidden... Hidden, yeah.
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Hidden meaning is far too complicated for me.
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Well, I'm not doing anything that exciting.
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I am still on my quest to learn about World War II generals, as I was doing last month.
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So yeah, still reading about... Why World War II generals?
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Because I just suddenly realised,
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I stumbled upon it,
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no particular reason,
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but I got intrigued by one in particular called General Patton.
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And his leadership style and some of the things they got up to during the war.
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These are stories that you don't really hear about.
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Different types of heroism and statements being made and all this.
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So, quite interesting.
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Intellectual.
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What are we learning around the table?
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Espionage.
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Intellectual.
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I'm learning that you two are much better read than me.
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I feel like I should get out more.
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That's what I'm feeling.
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So,
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I'm still working my way through a...
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I'm going round and round in it, really.
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It's a book by Phil Stutz called The Talks.
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He's a psychiatrist who works with people and helps them with that sort of thing.
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So I'm just going to sort of mention and leave that there.
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But I very often will have an underlying theme of police procedurals and a murder mystery.
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A book that I will have going and sometimes it can take me,
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God knows, a week to listen to this because I listen to them at night.
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I listen to them all night.
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So I have AirPods and that's basically what I do.
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Because if I don't put something on that hooks my brain, my brain is just rebuilding cities.
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It's like SimCity.
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It's just doing whatever it is it's doing.
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Like mad.
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So...
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That's what I do.
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I put those on and they can last me for, goodness knows how long.
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If you have trouble sleeping,
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that can actually be,
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certainly if you have trouble sleeping because you have a busy mind,
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that can be a really, really good way of stopping that from happening.
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That's actually how I got into the whole World War II thing,
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because I stumbled up,
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before I started reading the actual books,
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On social media,
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I just came up on this,
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you know, like a,
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not a podcast,
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but like a, I don't know, you said, reel or something about this gentleman.
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Oh, okay.
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Because I have to switch my brain off.
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And so you decided to delve a little bit deeper into one thing.
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For me, it's,
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you know,
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I was listening to Radio 4 the other day and there was a lady on there talking
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about insomnia and sleep issues.
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And I just, I just never know why they don't recommend this.
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Mm-hmm.
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Because I sleep all night.
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I fall asleep really quickly and I sleep, the odd occasion, but I tend to sleep all night.
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And I wake up and I'm sort of okay.
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And if you have a busy brain, I don't know.
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But it sounds like, I mean, I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.
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That's not even joking.
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But what you're describing sounds like it would have the opposite effect.
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I think if for me,
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if I went to sleep listening to something,
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I'd be so busy listening that I wouldn't sleep.
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Yeah, but you see, but that's how it works.
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For me, and it has to be generally a story because our brains will click onto a story.
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So...
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Clicking on and having my brain absorbed in a story stops it doing everything else.
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Yeah.
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And that's what works because I can't,
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it's impossible to sleep when your brain is building another 25 businesses.
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Yeah.
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And that, so that is for me, I don't, clearly it wouldn't work for everybody.
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But if you have a really, really, really busy mind,
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I find that works.
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For me, actually, it's the same.
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Having...
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In a way,
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something to focus on as opposed to everything flooding in when I lay down to sleep
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and that's when it fires.
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And for me,
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when it's a story,
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it's because our brains do funny things when we listen to stories.
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Our brains sort of click on and they want to hear the end.
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But I will actually fall asleep within minutes.
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How are you remembering what the last thing you remember?
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No,
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I don't.
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It's terrible.
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So the next night,
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assuming I haven't woken up during the night,
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which we all do every now and then, don't we?
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So the next night,
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what happens is I will go,
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well, okay, I've probably got to Chapter 2 before I fell asleep.
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So I'll just go back to Chapter 2.
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And if I recognise it, I'll
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go to Chapter 3.
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Right, okay.
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Yeah.
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So, yeah.
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Yeah.
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That's pretty interesting.
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I can relate to that.
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I don't think I actually said I was reading anything at all, did I?
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No.
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Okay, never mind.
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It doesn't matter.
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So let's go with, shall we do what's gone wrong over this last month or so?
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Let me tell you why I do this.
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I ask people to share this because so often in business, all we see is what's gone well.
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We see the packed events.
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We see the book launch that went marvellously.
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We see the highlights of what people talk about.
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And if you're not careful,
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you end up thinking that everybody's doing gloriously well
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and whatever you're doing is crapper, it's not working.
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And I think it's really nice to see that actually there is failure that sits alongside success.
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I think it's important,
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actually,
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because I dread this question, but it's actually, you know, I get the point of it.
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And you're actually right.
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What we talk about, what we see and consume out there is the success.
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And if you are not at that level, it can be quite demotivating, can't it?
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Especially when you run your own business.
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It's very isolating to be a business person.
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So it's good that we can talk about things that didn't, you know, You're quite right.
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Yeah.
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Saying that, should I go first?
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Go on.
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I'll throw myself in there.
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Go on.
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And I'm going to say something that I'm going to be very vague because I don't want
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to name any names or say any spotlights,
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but I was recently asked to do something or to join something,
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which I was quite humbled by the invitation.
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And I did.
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And I very, very recently withdrew from it.
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And I'm going to be vague, but I hope there's a lesson there.
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Sometimes we are asked to take part in things with all best intentions on both sides.
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But the lesson I learned is,
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for me, is to value myself enough to not be very quick to accept things.
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If that makes sense.
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Sometimes,
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you know,
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maybe out of good,
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you know,
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our nature or whatever,
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we see a good cause and we're asked to play a role and we say, yes, oh, fantastic.
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I can't believe you see me that way.
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But actually,
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I think that we,
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I've learned to be more circumspect and also to look at what I'm bringing to
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the table,
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the reason why I was asked in the first place and actually ring back and say,
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thanks, but no.
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That went wrong.
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I'm going to comment on that because I found myself in that situation where I didn't ask.
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And it was a very, very costly, very costly.
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Where I didn't ask.
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Why have you asked me?
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Absolutely.
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Why have you asked me?
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I was really flattered to be asked to go into business with people.
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Oh, wow, they're so far
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ahead of me.
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Wow, okay, yes, a proper, you know, we're going to do this properly.
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And I never asked why.
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Why me?
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Mm-hmm.
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What do you think I'm bringing to your party?
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Mm-hmm.
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Very costly.
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Very costly.
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Yeah.
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And it was a lack of confidence.
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Yeah.
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It was literally a, oh, wow, oh my God.
(00:14:30.798):
Yeah.
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I haven't even started and I'm being invited to do this, that and the other.
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But why?
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Why?
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Exactly.
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Exactly.
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And, you know, for me,
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I feel like,
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because this is all still very fresh, I will say that I dodged a bullet.
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Mm-hmm.
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So I will say that thankfully things came to light very quickly.
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It could have been more costly.
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But you're absolutely right.
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It is a confidence thing.
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And I learned that about myself because sometimes we think that we are, don't we?
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Until things like this happen and you realize, well, you know,
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Sometimes we're confident in our own lane.
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Exactly.
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I learned that when I was in local government and,
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you know,
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I thought I was earning lots of money and I had a really posh car and all
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of this sort of thing I was doing with MPs and this and all that.
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And I thought, yeah, I'm really confident I can do this.
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I can deal with these people.
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And then I left...
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I left, say retired and sort of started doing things that were involved catalogues
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and this sort of thing and knocking on people's doors.
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Suddenly I was sat in this huge great big Merc driving from place to place
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because I'm too scared to get out the car and do this.
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I suddenly think...
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This is interesting, isn't it?
(00:15:53.671):
Okay, what's the problem here?
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Am I embarrassed?
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Am I scared?
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What's going on?
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Given what I've done, this really is not a problem.
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And it's only when you start doing that sort of thing that you learn.
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Yeah.
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But everyone's got their own red lines, haven't they?
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Like for me,
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the thought of,
(00:16:16.284):
you know,
(00:16:16.524):
like I will stand up and speak in front of hundreds or thousands of people,
(00:16:20.586):
I don't care, but knocking on doors would terrify me.
(00:16:24.888):
Knocking on doors or cold calling, anything that seems remotely unwanted.
(00:16:29.770):
I think that's what it is.
(00:16:31.170):
I don't want to be a burden and a pain.
(00:16:33.591):
That's right.
(00:16:34.711):
But sometimes you actually have to be a burden and a pain.
(00:16:38.552):
So I think I'm really good at sales because I'm really honest.
(00:16:43.654):
That may sound really creepy and I don't mean it to be, but I am.
(00:16:46.835):
If I don't think something's right for somebody, I will tell them.
(00:16:49.595):
And what that means is that by the time we've gone down that road,
(00:16:52.876):
all I have to do is say, do you want this or not?
(00:16:54.977):
Mm-hmm.
(00:16:58.345):
Because if it's not right for them, I've already said, I don't think this is right for you.
(00:17:01.346):
You might want to try this, that, and the other.
(00:17:02.646):
So then that next step of asking, do you want this or not, is really, to me, not that bad.
(00:17:08.207):
But the thought of ringing somebody up and going, hello, right,
(00:17:11.248):
what I'm doing is it,
(00:17:12.568):
and actually getting people to perhaps look at something
(00:17:19.070):
where I've interrupted their day or their whatever.
(00:17:22.150):
You're absolutely right.
(00:17:22.970):
That, for me, is the difference between marketing and sales.
(00:17:25.711):
Yeah.
(00:17:26.320):
I am really good at sales.
(00:17:28.040):
I'm not good at marketing.
(00:17:29.321):
In fact, I'm crap.
(00:17:30.941):
And I think for me, it's because it's about how I like to be treated.
(00:17:34.602):
I hate nuisance calls.
(00:17:36.782):
But do you know,
(00:17:37.402):
one of the best
(00:17:38.463):
things I ever,
(00:17:39.683):
I think,
(00:17:39.923):
because I do work with businesses sometimes,
(00:17:41.943):
and one of the best things that I think I ever helped somebody with was a business
(00:17:47.244):
who her staff would not do any cold calling.
(00:17:51.161):
They just wouldn't.
(00:17:51.842):
And that's what they were there to do.
(00:17:53.463):
And they were all in an office.
(00:17:54.504):
This was a little while ago before everybody was working from home.
(00:17:57.687):
And one day I was in that office and I heard her answer a phone call that was a cold call.
(00:18:03.773):
How dare you?
(00:18:04.794):
I'm in the middle of something.
(00:18:06.095):
And
(00:18:09.758):
Which is how I am.
(00:18:12.139):
I always try not to be rude.
(00:18:13.780):
You never know who's at the end of that phone and what they need
(00:18:16.121):
and what their circumstances are.
(00:18:18.022):
But I don't welcome it.
(00:18:19.442):
I'm certainly not looking forward to it.
(00:18:21.492):
And so how am I going to do that?
(00:18:23.372):
And how are her team going to do this?
(00:18:25.913):
When every time somebody brings up doing exactly the same thing, she's ranting at them.
(00:18:31.534):
That's not going to encourage them.
(00:18:32.774):
No.
(00:18:33.314):
So I think there are people who, I don't know who these people are.
(00:18:38.395):
Clearly, I don't know, not such a sensitive flower as me.
(00:18:44.577):
But if somebody comes to me, no problem at all.
(00:18:48.017):
I know I'm definitely not the best marketing person for my business.
(00:18:52.073):
Yeah, no.
(00:18:53.494):
No, I get that.
(00:18:55.594):
No, I'm not the best person.
(00:18:56.995):
And I'm actually putting a team together to go out and do that because it's not my fault.
(00:19:02.337):
As a business owner,
(00:19:03.137):
you have to,
(00:19:03.597):
don't you,
(00:19:04.577):
be the face,
(00:19:05.297):
be the spokesperson, but that doesn't mean you're the best person for that.
(00:19:09.499):
But I can do that if I'm asked to.
(00:19:11.019):
I don't have a problem.
(00:19:13.180):
But as for actually sort of, because we're not being videoed because my thing is broke.
(00:19:18.222):
I can't work it.
(00:19:19.422):
Well, it's not broken.
(00:19:21.083):
I just haven't sat down.
(00:19:23.265):
It's RTFM.
(00:19:25.427):
Okay?
(00:19:26.127):
I'm not sure I can say it online.
(00:19:31.972):
RTFM.
(00:19:33.633):
Actually, I can.
(00:19:34.514):
It's my show.
(00:19:36.155):
It's Read the Fucking Manual.
(00:19:39.658):
I don't read manuals.
(00:19:40.659):
I go by things prodding.
(00:19:41.940):
It should be self-explanatory, though.
(00:19:43.561):
It's not.
(00:19:44.462):
It's not self-explanatory.
(00:19:45.282):
It's a really complex.
(00:19:46.023):
So, yeah.
(00:20:12.358):
I think it's just knowing what you're good at.
(00:20:13.959):
And I've decided that I don't want to get any better at it.
(00:20:19.499):
I've agreed as well, actually.
(00:20:20.720):
That's just not right.
(00:20:21.940):
It's fine.
(00:20:22.260):
There'll be other ways of doing things or someone else who can do
(00:20:24.780):
it.
(00:20:27.321):
I'm not going to try and get any better at this because it's a waste of my time.
(00:20:32.722):
I don't know.
(00:20:33.082):
Does it matter?
(00:20:35.002):
No.
(00:20:35.522):
No.
(00:20:36.722):
It doesn't.
(00:20:37.462):
So why have they asked me?
(00:20:41.456):
Is the question that I think you needed to ask yourself.
(00:20:44.897):
You did ask yourself.
(00:20:46.378):
I should have asked myself.
(00:20:47.498):
I wasted years.
(00:20:48.338):
I'm not joking.
(00:20:49.079):
Years.
(00:20:49.499):
And I think it's, yeah.
(00:20:54.201):
Why have they asked me?
(00:20:56.041):
Did we get to something?
(00:20:57.562):
No, I'm trying to think.
(00:20:58.882):
You see, that's almost a right and a wrong, isn't it?
(00:21:01.203):
That's a wrong and a right.
(00:21:02.643):
So things go wrong all the time.
(00:21:06.125):
I'm trying to think what.
(00:21:07.939):
Something I'm not very good at all the time is diary management.
(00:21:10.621):
That's something I'm just not good at.
(00:21:13.222):
And what I do well to write that is I have an assistant.
(00:21:18.985):
And then what I do wrong is despite having an assistant, I still put stuff in the diary.
(00:21:24.568):
That is a big problem because I have something in place.
(00:21:27.189):
I have someone in place.
(00:21:28.830):
And it works well for months.
(00:21:30.391):
And then every now and then I think, it's just
(00:21:33.313):
one appointment.
(00:21:34.793):
How bad can it be?
(00:21:35.874):
And it turns out it's catastrophic.
(00:21:38.035):
Yeah, because it's not your system.
(00:21:39.756):
It's not my system.
(00:21:41.297):
Yeah, but every now and then that lesson comes back up.
(00:21:44.859):
And I have to remember that's not...
(00:21:52.524):
Talking about diary management,
(00:21:54.945):
I've decided that most of the time I don't actually need one.
(00:21:58.187):
And I do need a diary because obviously I have to be in certain places.
(00:22:01.670):
But one of the things that I changed, and I'm going to take this as a win.
(00:22:04.431):
So this is going to be my win and then we'll go with your wins.
(00:22:08.018):
Was to actually stop making appointments with people.
(00:22:11.481):
How would that work out?
(00:22:13.623):
Well.
(00:22:16.926):
I have people who want to speak to me because they want to book into the Women
(00:22:20.807):
In Business Big Show.
(00:22:22.107):
They want to come on the radio show or they might want a website or something along those lines.
(00:22:27.069):
So the choice is we book you in for a time, a specific time.
(00:22:33.390):
If it's remote, then one of us has to call each other.
(00:22:36.071):
So if I'm sat there, we're having a call at two o'clock and you don't call, now what?
(00:22:44.485):
Are you going to call, has something happened?
(00:22:46.826):
I'm not being horrible here, but has something happened?
(00:22:49.387):
Is the call going to happen if you've just been held up?
(00:22:51.767):
Are you in hospital?
(00:22:53.148):
And obviously I don't want people to be in hospital,
(00:22:54.989):
but also I don't want to be sat there whilst you've got waylaid to taking the dog
(00:22:59.050):
for a walk or something.
(00:23:02.557):
And of course I can make a choice not to work with a person who doesn't turn up,
(00:23:06.232):
but in the meantime that has not solved my problem.
(00:23:09.276):
I'm here and I don't know, shall I do something else or shall we give them another 10 minutes?
(00:23:15.100):
And so I decided to stop making appointments altogether and to work on WhatsApp
(00:23:21.823):
and just say to people, I need to have a chat with you before you book in.
(00:23:25.846):
I talk to everybody.
(00:23:28.407):
Can you chat now or message me later on?
(00:23:32.409):
If we can talk, we do.
(00:23:34.020):
If we can't, we can't.
(00:23:35.441):
And then I may say, actually, you know, are you free in an hour?
(00:23:38.663):
And then we do it then.
(00:23:39.743):
Rather than having it being Monday and I have appointments in the diary on Thursday and Friday.
(00:23:46.227):
And I find that actually works really well.
(00:23:48.848):
So it's like almost of the moment.
(00:23:51.090):
Like an on-demand kind of.
(00:23:52.650):
Yeah, almost of the moment.
(00:23:54.912):
Yeah, we're here, we can do it in half an hour.
(00:23:58.151):
It's a bit more efficient, to be fair.
(00:24:00.173):
I find it works.
(00:24:01.654):
I have the sort of brain where if I have an appointment in the diary at two o'clock,
(00:24:05.917):
from seven o'clock or six o'clock in the morning,
(00:24:07.819):
my brain's going, remember you got an appointment at two o'clock.
(00:24:11.502):
Don't get too involved.
(00:24:12.623):
Remember you got an appointment at two o'clock.
(00:24:17.987):
And it's like I'm almost like sort of twiddling my thumbs and looking at them all
(00:24:22.331):
because I've got this appointment at two o'clock.
(00:24:24.459):
Which is way out of proportion to what it needs to be.
(00:24:27.341):
I found that for me it works.
(00:24:28.542):
I also don't meet people for coffee.
(00:24:30.764):
I don't meet people for coffee and I don't have online calls.
(00:24:33.425):
I invite people along if they think they want to have a chat about something specific.
(00:24:40.010):
I may say, okay, I'm running this event.
(00:24:41.771):
I'm going to be there.
(00:24:42.792):
Pop along and we can have a quick chat.
(00:24:44.652):
I've stopped having coffee meetings.
(00:24:45.872):
I've stopped for a few years now, actually.
(00:24:48.033):
I haven't done them for a long time.
(00:24:49.253):
You've still done them for years.
(00:24:50.334):
And in the beginning, it was fine because, you know, I had a lot of time.
(00:24:53.475):
So in the beginning, it was fun.
(00:24:54.975):
And after a while,
(00:24:55.435):
it's like, this is just like, I just don't have, it's just a waste of my time.
(00:24:59.136):
Yeah.
(00:24:59.676):
If you're a friend or we're meeting up, I do that.
(00:25:02.637):
But I mean, yeah.
(00:25:04.498):
Is it because during coffee meetings, the point of a meeting isn't achieved?
(00:25:09.599):
Yeah.
(00:25:09.999):
Sometimes you don't even know what the point of a meeting is.
(00:25:12.520):
Yeah.
(00:25:14.016):
I don't know, it's just like, well, that's it.
(00:25:17.738):
Can we have a chat?
(00:25:20.340):
I got a request the other day for an online coffee, you know, like a virtual coffee.
(00:25:27.744):
No, no, it was a virtual coffee one-to-one.
(00:25:31.346):
No.
(00:25:34.768):
One chat, let's chat.
(00:25:36.569):
I just...
(00:25:38.851):
I don't know.
(00:25:39.772):
People are listening in probably think he's snotty cow.
(00:25:42.414):
But I can only do so many of those.
(00:25:46.538):
Where I have to... Time's just precious, I think.
(00:25:49.540):
And even if it's precious for you to do nothing,
(00:25:51.542):
you know, sit with cucumbers on your eyes, that's still valuable time.
(00:25:55.205):
It's also energy, actually, for me.
(00:25:57.447):
You know, I don't like looking at stuff online.
(00:25:59.589):
I find sometimes being in coffee shops...
(00:26:02.969):
In meetings or in hotel lobbies or wherever I've got to go there.
(00:26:06.373):
An hour's chat.
(00:26:10.382):
It's two to three hours potentially out the day by
(00:26:12.924):
the time you put down what you're going to do.
(00:26:16.107):
And it's not that nobody's worth that time.
(00:26:18.529):
It's just that I also think that if people value their time, they don't have meetings like that.
(00:26:24.154):
Yeah,
(00:26:25.094):
that's what I'm saying.
(00:26:25.615):
I'll do it for friends.
(00:26:27.236):
We have a catch-up.
(00:26:27.897):
Let's see what's going on in your life.
(00:26:28.937):
Yeah, we can do that.
(00:26:29.738):
We can go for dinner.
(00:26:30.399):
We can go for lunch.
(00:26:31.700):
You can do that.
(00:26:32.220):
But in terms of
(00:26:34.042):
lots of LinkedIn messages, can we meet for a coffee?
(00:26:36.223):
No.
(00:26:36.684):
What do you want to talk about?
(00:26:37.705):
Yeah.
(00:26:40.639):
I tell you what, I actually learnt a really good lesson from my son.
(00:26:46.243):
Somebody had done some work for me,
(00:26:48.144):
he's done something to help me and I thought he could benefit from it.
(00:26:53.027):
And he's a businessman and he sent back a message.
(00:26:56.450):
We were just chatting on WhatsApp and he sent back a message and he said,
(00:26:59.172):
how much is she an hour?
(00:27:00.773):
And I said, £75.
(00:27:01.974):
And I thought that he was coming at it from the angle of, How much is this going to cost me?
(00:27:11.379):
And I said, well, she's 75 pounds, but, you know, you may be able to whatever.
(00:27:15.721):
He went, no.
(00:27:16.642):
He said, I'm not meeting you.
(00:27:17.722):
She was 500 pounds.
(00:27:19.043):
We'll go on.
(00:27:19.864):
We'll have the call and we'll leave.
(00:27:21.965):
He said at 75 pounds, he said she's going to be asking questions and waffling on for hours.
(00:27:26.668):
And do you know, I thought, oh, yes, it was like that, actually.
(00:27:35.473):
So I'd only paid for an hour.
(00:27:38.097):
I'd only paid for an hour, but it was on and on.
(00:27:41.078):
There was more questions and more this, and we were sitting and chatting.
(00:27:44.680):
And so she hadn't valued her time.
(00:27:47.661):
She hadn't valued, and he was absolutely right.
(00:27:50.262):
He said, it's going to cost me a morning.
(00:27:52.792):
Yeah.
(00:27:53.293):
Or I'm going to have to be rude.
(00:27:54.935):
Yeah.
(00:27:55.856):
And it did.
(00:27:56.336):
Yeah.
(00:27:56.677):
It did cost you a morning.
(00:27:57.618):
Yeah, it did.
(00:27:58.519):
Some of it's cultural as well.
(00:28:00.161):
So I had a client based in China.
(00:28:04.727):
They're Chinese, but they came over for a meeting.
(00:28:07.110):
And that meeting was one hour from the moment I walked through the door to the moment I...
(00:28:12.982):
Left, like, to the second.
(00:28:16.544):
And we went in,
(00:28:17.265):
I went in,
(00:28:18.345):
sat down,
(00:28:18.765):
I started talking,
(00:28:19.626):
and then it got to 59 minutes, and I hadn't realised, and they just stood up.
(00:28:23.828):
They just stood up, and that was the end of the meeting.
(00:28:27.891):
And... What did you do?
(00:28:31.893):
And I was like, oh, all right.
(00:28:34.234):
Had it concluded?
(00:28:35.315):
It had concluded, but, you know, like, if you're in British, you're kind of like, okay, so...
(00:28:40.999):
Yeah, great.
(00:28:41.899):
Nope, there was none of that.
(00:28:43.119):
Are you going back tonight?
(00:28:45.540):
Or what time are you going to the airport?
(00:28:47.900):
We're too nice, aren't we?
(00:28:49.700):
They just stood up, gave me a nod, and that was it.
(00:28:52.941):
And it's the same thing.
(00:28:54.801):
My son was prepared to spend £500 because he valued his time.
(00:28:59.502):
Yeah.
(00:29:00.602):
But not when she,
(00:29:02.643):
he knew that to get that hour's worth out of her,
(00:29:06.303):
it was going to take him three hours of his time.
(00:29:08.664):
Wow, what a lesson.
(00:29:09.604):
Yeah, absolutely.
(00:29:12.057):
Interesting.
(00:29:12.717):
That's interesting.
(00:29:14.098):
That's a good one, actually.
(00:29:15.279):
Yeah.
(00:29:16.719):
And also the perception that I got,
(00:29:19.200):
and I know he's odd anyway,
(00:29:21.101):
so I should have known that it wasn't going to be like I was thinking
(00:29:25.103):
or possibly other people were thinking.
(00:29:27.084):
Totally flipped around.
(00:29:28.605):
Yeah.
(00:29:30.026):
But no, I...
(00:29:31.446):
So how did you learn to charge £500 an hour for your time?
(00:29:36.429):
Personally, I think I should charge more now.
(00:29:38.230):
LAUGHTER I think I don't charge £500 an hour.
(00:29:44.010):
I will tell you my hourly rate to sit down is £175.
(00:29:47.333):
I will do three hours for £500, but I will split that time as well.
(00:29:53.980):
So it's like two hours and one hour.
(00:29:56.222):
And...
(00:29:58.808):
The reason I do that, and that's nowhere near as high as a lot of people charge.
(00:30:02.709):
I mean, I know people that would charge thousands, but that's where I'm comfortable.
(00:30:05.950):
I'm comfortable with that rate.
(00:30:07.411):
And I think that's so much of it, isn't it?
(00:30:09.712):
It's all very well.
(00:30:10.792):
And sometimes you hear these gurus going, yes, well, charge 5,000 pounds an hour for your stuff.
(00:30:15.373):
And that's lovely.
(00:30:16.634):
But if you can't do it in your heart,
(00:30:19.095):
if you don't see that value, then it's never going to work.
(00:30:23.156):
You know what?
(00:30:23.616):
Actually, what we're seeing now is really tied into...
(00:30:27.230):
Yeah.
(00:30:27.712):
It was actually me not valuing my time enough and accepting this
(00:30:36.168):
Whatever it was and putting in way too much because then that sends the wrong message.
(00:30:41.690):
It does, yeah.
(00:30:43.571):
I think it sends the wrong message to yourself.
(00:30:45.852):
And the reason I, so somebody once said to me, how do you justify that?
(00:30:49.713):
I said, I don't have to, just don't have it.
(00:30:51.834):
If you don't want it, don't have it.
(00:30:53.815):
It's your choice.
(00:30:54.595):
It's not compulsory.
(00:30:56.096):
It's not part of, you know, living in Kent or something that you must go and pay charm this.
(00:31:01.773):
But the other thing for me is I put a lot into that.
(00:31:05.454):
I can't do this all day.
(00:31:06.634):
I can't do that from eight o'clock in the morning until six o'clock at night.
(00:31:12.596):
I probably have two, three of those sessions in me.
(00:31:16.577):
But when you look at it like that, actually, that's not much money a month.
(00:31:21.378):
If I'm so drained, but I put a lot into it, that's three of those sessions a month.
(00:31:27.440):
That's £1,500.
(00:31:29.557):
I could go and work in Tesco's and earn more than that.
(00:31:35.019):
So it's all sorts of things.
(00:31:38.781):
I don't know.
(00:31:39.161):
It's quite interesting because for me,
(00:31:41.242):
I talk to business owners about valuing their time in actual figures.
(00:31:46.664):
So having been on the other side of it now and actually seeing how I didn't even think about it.
(00:31:56.489):
Yeah.
(00:31:57.668):
It's very important that we really do understand the monetary value
(00:32:01.689):
of every single hour that we devote to whatever it is that we're devoting it to.
(00:32:06.691):
Not just say it,
(00:32:07.291):
but in my case,
(00:32:07.891):
you know,
(00:32:08.112):
not just say it,
(00:32:09.192):
but actually recognize for the first time I am not practicing what I should,
(00:32:13.893):
what I'm preaching or I should have known better.
(00:32:16.374):
I started looking at networking events in that way as well.
(00:32:18.935):
So if instead of doing that,
(00:32:20.956):
looking at that hourly rate,
(00:32:22.076):
let's just say I came up with an hourly rate of £50 an hour.
(00:32:25.517):
Okay.
(00:32:27.716):
And then I go along to a networking event that is two hours.
(00:32:31.579):
But I have to travel to get there.
(00:32:33.720):
So it's an hour there and then it's an hour back.
(00:32:36.642):
And then you have time either side where you're not doing anything.
(00:32:40.905):
That networking meeting could actually be costing you five, six hundred pounds.
(00:32:48.330):
Yeah.
(00:32:49.905):
And what value is that?
(00:32:51.725):
What value?
(00:32:52.465):
So if you're going there because you want to see your mates,
(00:32:54.866):
which is very often what I do, but that's sort of okay.
(00:32:58.286):
We go out and we see our mates, don't we?
(00:33:00.247):
But if I'm going there because it's not much fun and I don't particularly want
(00:33:04.568):
to go,
(00:33:05.508):
not really looking forward to it,
(00:33:06.348):
I'm not going to see anybody that I particularly want to see,
(00:33:08.568):
I'm going there for my business for no other reason.
(00:33:13.629):
I tell you what, you better get some value out of that.
(00:33:15.789):
Well, yeah, that's an investment that you look at in terms of ROI, right?
(00:33:18.930):
So we should really be thinking that way as business people,
(00:33:23.711):
actually applying that, not just thinking about it
(00:33:25.872):
theoretically, but
(00:33:26.732):
applying it.
(00:33:27.412):
But yes, applying it and doing it.
(00:33:29.693):
So I'm also mindful of the time.
(00:33:32.614):
Oh, look, have you got to go?
(00:33:34.554):
Yeah, I've got to value my time, sorry.
(00:33:38.908):
So Gemma, Gemma is going to go.
(00:33:42.030):
She did say that she had to go.
(00:33:43.371):
So I'm assuming you do have to go.
(00:33:45.352):
I do have to go, yeah.
(00:33:46.733):
It's now six minutes past two.
(00:33:48.694):
So is there one thing,
(00:33:49.934):
one thought that you would,
(00:33:51.975):
as a raging,
(00:33:54.517):
not raging as in angry,
(00:33:56.178):
but a raging sort of wonderful Kent businesswoman, what can you leave us with today?
(00:34:02.181):
What's your top tip for being in business?
(00:34:04.602):
Oh, goodness.
(00:34:05.723):
Um...
(00:34:11.229):
Gosh, no.
(00:34:12.710):
Sorry.
(00:34:13.210):
Top tip.
(00:34:13.651):
I mean, there are so many tips.
(00:34:15.072):
My top tip for being in business is to keep your eyes open.
(00:34:21.698):
I tell you what.
(00:34:22.259):
So what I worked.
(00:34:23.520):
So I got asked to do something.
(00:34:25.222):
I'll make it quick.
(00:34:26.162):
I got asked to do something a few months ago and I would have done it for free,
(00:34:29.425):
even though it's broken before you and someone offered me to pay me.
(00:34:31.447):
So I took the money because I said, oh, that's interesting.
(00:34:33.677):
And then someone else said to me, could you also do that thing for another organisation?
(00:34:38.121):
And then recently someone else said,
(00:34:40.202):
oh, I saw what you did for those two, could you do it for me?
(00:34:42.564):
And now I'm like, oh, maybe there's another track here.
(00:34:47.388):
I think it's quite interesting sometimes that you have other skills you don't realise you have.
(00:34:52.032):
So just to keep yourself...
(00:34:54.305):
Aware, not to follow every shiny thing,
(00:34:56.706):
but just to keep yourself aware of what other people value in you
(00:34:59.827):
that you haven't necessarily realised yourself.
(00:35:02.307):
I think the other thing that I've noticed is that the universe will send you things
(00:35:08.649):
that you ignore and then it will send you something else that you also ignore.
(00:35:15.111):
And sometimes you just have to look at what is coming towards you.
(00:35:21.104):
And sometimes they're really silly things
(00:35:23.145):
or they don't look like they're particularly significant.
(00:35:25.747):
You know,
(00:35:26.367):
they're not,
(00:35:26.928):
you know, somebody picking the phone up and offering you this stupendous deal.
(00:35:31.171):
Sometimes they're just really, really silly.
(00:35:35.573):
And you have to sometimes look at it and realise that actually there's
(00:35:39.656):
a stunningly good idea in there for your business.
(00:35:43.193):
Yeah, so I'm going to follow that track.
(00:35:45.594):
I'll let you guys know in a few months.
(00:35:49.216):
Keep your eyes open.
(00:35:50.737):
I like that.
(00:35:52.758):
I am going to ask you one more.
(00:35:54.479):
You can say this on the way out the door.
(00:35:55.719):
What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started out?
(00:35:58.681):
Oh my gosh.
(00:36:01.642):
I know that I'm better than I thought I was.
(00:36:05.164):
I like that.
(00:36:06.285):
We're going to give Gemma a round of applause.
(00:36:08.446):
Gemma, thank you so much.
(00:36:09.546):
She's heading off now.
(00:36:10.267):
Thank you.
(00:36:13.523):
I'm sure it won't be as fun where you're going.
(00:36:15.525):
So this is all doors opening and closing.
(00:36:17.686):
Thank you very much, Gemma.
(00:36:18.747):
We'll see you soon.
(00:36:21.889):
Right then, it's just you and I.
(00:36:24.110):
So where did we get to?
(00:36:25.251):
I think we were on wins, I think.
(00:36:27.172):
We were on wins,
(00:36:28.173):
weren't we?
(00:36:28.853):
Yes.
(00:36:29.333):
I'm not sure what I've had.
(00:36:31.835):
What wins have you had?
(00:36:33.256):
I don't know.
(00:36:34.837):
I'm not very good at that, actually.
(00:36:36.738):
I can't think of one.
(00:36:37.559):
It's no good.
(00:36:39.640):
The Women In Business Big Show went well.
(00:36:42.492):
And I made a decision beforehand to
(00:36:50.178):
see how it went and look at the feedback that I got.
(00:36:52.901):
And also realising,
(00:36:57.785):
I think,
(00:36:58.245):
that I'm not about putting hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people in a room.
(00:37:03.950):
I'm about making sure that the people that are in that room are the right people.
(00:37:08.363):
It just looks good.
(00:37:08.983):
Yeah.
(00:37:32.927):
And that's a bit like having thousands and thousands of followers on Instagram, isn't it?
(00:37:38.175):
It looks good.
(00:37:38.776):
It's wonderful.
(00:37:40.278):
But if nobody's actually doing anything or taking any benefit out of it,
(00:37:43.543):
including you, what is the point?
(00:37:48.370):
It's just vanities.
(00:37:49.430):
Yes, exactly.
(00:37:50.571):
It's the old thing, vanity metrics.
(00:37:54.072):
And so that was it really.
(00:37:56.033):
I learned a lot.
(00:37:56.773):
I had a lot of really good feedback and it helped me to consolidate what I'm doing
(00:38:02.675):
and stop putting certain aspects of what I do on the sideline
(00:38:08.818):
and actually bring them in.
(00:38:10.390):
So we're looking forward to next year's one.
(00:38:12.172):
Yeah, and bringing them in to the whole of what it is that I do rather
(00:38:16.034):
than having this bit out here waggling about doing that and this bit out here.
(00:38:21.718):
And that,
(00:38:22.118):
I think,
(00:38:22.479):
really realising that actually,
(00:38:24.640):
you know,
(00:38:25.361):
other people may get fixated on numbers,
(00:38:27.402):
I may get fixated on numbers,
(00:38:29.203):
but actually numbers are irrelevant that you can make a difference,
(00:38:32.726):
you can change stuff for people with two people in a room.
(00:38:35.888):
Yes, quality over quantity.
(00:38:37.369):
Yeah, yeah, so...
(00:38:39.442):
So that, I think, is my win.
(00:38:41.703):
It's sort of realization.
(00:38:44.384):
What's your win?
(00:38:44.904):
There have been a few wins.
(00:38:47.405):
I mean, I'm trying to pinpoint one that I can say.
(00:38:50.907):
I think being recognized.
(00:38:53.968):
So I'm going to flip this scenario.
(00:38:55.749):
I'll still stick on the same scenario on the other side because it's not all doom and gloom.
(00:39:00.351):
I think the sort of implied thought process behind it,
(00:39:06.733):
being recognized,
(00:39:08.803):
And, you know, ask the question I was asked in the first place in itself is a win.
(00:39:15.449):
Yes, it's not turned out as intended,
(00:39:19.092):
but the fact that when you're busy running and doing things and doing things
(00:39:26.097):
and you don't see yourself,
(00:39:27.979):
so having someone or a group of people,
(00:39:30.941):
whoever, see you and highlight certain things is a win.
(00:39:35.545):
So I'm going to take that win.
(00:39:37.667):
Yeah.
(00:39:38.531):
You know, and put that towards my self-confidence as well.
(00:39:41.753):
Yeah.
(00:39:42.033):
Because I think even that in itself helps me to make the decision eventually to say,
(00:39:48.817):
right, you know what, let's not do this.
(00:39:51.899):
But yeah, that is a win.
(00:39:53.640):
And when you look at what people ask you to do,
(00:39:56.341):
I think sort of what Gemma said before she left is you see yourself in
(00:39:59.343):
a different light, don't you?
(00:40:01.024):
You think, oh, actually, okay, I never really thought that I could be that good at that.
(00:40:04.726):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
(00:40:06.167):
Yeah.
(00:40:07.884):
I don't pause to see myself figuratively and literally because there's always a million things.
(00:40:15.266):
Like we said earlier, my brain doesn't switch off.
(00:40:17.806):
I actually do struggle to sleep as well.
(00:40:21.347):
So it's like feedback, you know, getting feedback.
(00:40:25.848):
And that is positive feedback as well, which we all need.
(00:40:31.109):
So tools.
(00:40:33.230):
Oh, tools.
(00:40:37.464):
Have you discovered anything new?
(00:40:39.345):
Or have you...
(00:40:40.946):
Is there something that you've been using for a while that you really,
(00:40:43.948):
you know, that you think, actually, do you know other people could use this?
(00:40:48.232):
You can probably answer that.
(00:40:49.513):
I am still...
(00:40:50.273):
I'm sorry to the listeners of this show who listened to me last month going on
(00:40:56.518):
about my AI tools, okay?
(00:40:58.740):
I'm very sorry, but I am still on there because I'm still building stuff and I'm just...
(00:41:05.417):
Yes.
(00:41:06.978):
Can you give us an example of something that you've got one of your AI tools to do
(00:41:10.822):
that you were doing before?
(00:41:13.744):
I'll tell you something that we were paying for that we don't pay for anymore.
(00:41:17.027):
We built our own CRM.
(00:41:19.148):
Oh, okay.
(00:41:20.029):
Really?
(00:41:20.550):
Yeah.
(00:41:21.330):
We built our own CRM.
(00:41:23.172):
We're not paying for that anymore.
(00:41:26.394):
What were you using?
(00:41:28.957):
Monday and... Monday.
(00:41:30.878):
Monday, primarily.
(00:41:32.319):
Monday CRM.
(00:41:33.561):
Had Zoho as well.
(00:41:36.122):
I never liked CRMs.
(00:41:38.923):
I actually really, really disliked CRMs until we built our own.
(00:41:44.765):
Because I just, you get in there and it's too much.
(00:41:47.726):
Yeah, I know.
(00:41:48.707):
I think one of the problems with some of the CRMs is some of them are free and some
(00:41:53.889):
of them are, let's just say, £100 a month.
(00:41:56.510):
Some of them go from free to £100 a month in the same thing.
(00:42:01.172):
But the thing is...
(00:42:03.747):
What I found,
(00:42:04.567):
having been through nearly all of them,
(00:42:07.708):
is that right the way through that process,
(00:42:12.149):
up to sort of £100, probably even £200 to £300,
(00:42:16.010):
there are massive compromises.
(00:42:17.871):
Yes.
(00:42:18.751):
Massive compromises.
(00:42:20.291):
I think for a lot of the time those compromises are okay.
(00:42:23.192):
Yes.
(00:42:23.845):
That that's all right.
(00:42:24.805):
Because there's a decision to be made, isn't there?
(00:42:26.766):
Do I go and build my own?
(00:42:28.586):
Do we have our own in-house one?
(00:42:30.767):
Or do we manage with one of these, let's say, free to 300 pounds?
(00:42:36.268):
But you have to accept there are massive compromises.
(00:42:38.809):
And for some people,
(00:42:40.069):
and I'm one of them,
(00:42:42.030):
because I'm so fussy with what I can and can't see, those compromises are too much.
(00:42:48.251):
And you have to, I think, be aware of that and then make a decision.
(00:42:52.246):
That actually you may need to get one built for yourself
(00:42:56.213):
or you may need to spend
(00:42:57.214):
a lot
(00:42:57.415):
more money.
(00:42:57.675):
A lot more money.
(00:42:59.077):
But also I think make a decision as to what you want that CRM to do.
(00:43:02.683):
What is a customer relationship manager?
(00:43:06.109):
What is that?
(00:43:07.154):
It could be anything.
(00:43:08.535):
It could do a whole myriad of things.
(00:43:11.618):
Or do not very much at all.
(00:43:13.679):
It could be that you have 10 clients.
(00:43:17.803):
Because it's just words, isn't it?
(00:43:19.704):
A CRM, a Customer Relationship Manager.
(00:43:22.627):
We've turned it into a CRM, which is this all singing, all dancing.
(00:43:26.870):
It does this, you put that in, this comes out.
(00:43:29.192):
It takes them through this pipeline and all that sort of thing.
(00:43:33.223):
Does it have to, what do you want to get out of it?
(00:43:37.325):
What's it for?
(00:43:38.765):
You might have a legal obligation to maintain records.
(00:43:43.237):
There are so many different things that you can get this CRM to do.
(00:43:47.028):
And yet I think we've said, hello, I need a CRM.
(00:43:50.009):
Just because everyone knows these three letters.
(00:43:52.610):
But what do you want it to do?
(00:43:54.152):
What do you need it to do?
(00:43:56.594):
I think that's so important.
(00:43:58.636):
What job is it replacing?
(00:44:00.118):
You need to be able to do this on paper.
(00:44:04.824):
What would you be shuffling on paper?
(00:44:06.625):
What books would you be opening and closing?
(00:44:08.786):
If you like cards,
(00:44:11.148):
like punch cards,
(00:44:12.549):
those things,
(00:44:13.409):
or post-it notes,
(00:44:14.910):
would you be replacing when you have
(00:44:17.452):
this thing built or start using it?
(00:44:19.973):
Exactly.
(00:44:20.534):
I mean, for me specifically,
(00:44:23.195):
just like you said,
(00:44:23.756):
you're paying hundreds of pounds and there's big cousins between one level and
(00:44:28.359):
the next.
(00:44:29.199):
And I really wanted something that would give me Very good information
(00:44:33.079):
about our financial position,
(00:44:35.360):
not from an accounting software point of view,
(00:44:39.702):
but just snapshot leads data,
(00:44:41.543):
quotes data, that kind of thing, and also client information.
(00:44:45.445):
And very often with a lot of CRMs,
(00:44:48.087):
to get those modules,
(00:44:50.768):
you're paying quite a lot for information that,
(00:44:53.469):
in my mind, really synchronizes together.
(00:44:56.471):
So you do have to know What do you want from this software?
(00:45:00.929):
And I just got to the point where I thought,
(00:45:02.950):
no, I don't want to be paying this amount of money for these licenses.
(00:45:08.014):
I really feel, you know, in this day and age, we can get something that works exactly for us.
(00:45:12.578):
So did you use AI to build it?
(00:45:14.839):
Yes.
(00:45:15.520):
Okay.
(00:45:16.681):
Absolutely.
(00:45:17.622):
And this is why I'm in love with AI.
(00:45:20.684):
And I have these debates with my son about AI.
(00:45:23.907):
He's going to do data science research.
(00:45:26.373):
It's going away this Saturday.
(00:45:28.335):
But he's, you know, very Gen Z and they're very opposed to AI, which is surprising.
(00:45:33.860):
But we have these debates and I understand the ethical arguments
(00:45:36.262):
and I think there should be ethics and governance absolutely as with everything.
(00:45:40.265):
But what I love is the freedom,
(00:45:42.167):
the freedom to be able to create and create functional working systems.
(00:45:50.875):
You can have them very well secured as well.
(00:45:53.810):
And get them done to your specification speed.
(00:45:57.732):
Yeah.
(00:45:58.513):
I think this is,
(00:45:59.773):
I think there are two levels of people working here and I think I'm one level
(00:46:03.535):
of them and you're another one.
(00:46:06.357):
In what direction?
(00:46:07.377):
True, it's true.
(00:46:08.658):
So I'm at the, hello, hello.
(00:46:11.440):
Right, I'm running an event on this date and this is the colour of it.
(00:46:18.760):
The event's this colour and it's starting here.
(00:46:22.422):
Can you create an image?
(00:46:23.823):
Thank you.
(00:46:27.544):
That's me.
(00:46:28.345):
I'm down there, okay, and you're not.
(00:46:35.668):
You're at the building, you're on CRMs.
(00:46:38.109):
And I'm sure there's somebody... That sounds crazy, actually.
(00:46:41.991):
And I think there's somebody in between.
(00:46:44.112):
Yeah.
(00:46:46.673):
And I suppose...
(00:46:48.366):
The thing to bring out about this is that if you're sort of sitting on the outside
(00:46:56.030):
and you're going,
(00:46:56.650):
AI, no, no idea, don't know, too much, too little, too whatever, too...
(00:47:03.373):
To controlling, to take your brain away.
(00:47:06.227):
My brain has never worked as hard as it works now working with AI
(00:47:12.094):
because I've stopped doing the rubbish.
(00:47:14.837):
I'm having proper brainstorming sessions.
(00:47:18.361):
I'm being questioned.
(00:47:19.662):
I'm thinking through what I'm doing.
(00:47:21.444):
And I think there are people out there thinking it takes your brain away.
(00:47:24.465):
It stops.
(00:47:25.325):
You'll get brain rock because you're not thinking.
(00:47:27.626):
And you need to come in and maybe have a look because there are other things
(00:47:32.587):
that it's doing at the level that you're clearly at.
(00:47:36.248):
I mean, I didn't just get to this level, which I know, yes, I'm not a coder in that sense.
(00:47:45.731):
I've always been fascinated by creating things.
(00:47:48.706):
And I've always been fascinated by technology.
(00:47:50.650):
And I wish,
(00:47:51.452):
I always wished I had,
(00:47:52.714):
you know, this brain that could sit down and bash out Python all day.
(00:47:56.242):
But... Do you?
(00:47:58.386):
Do you really?
(00:48:01.863):
I'm not seriously, really.
(00:48:05.485):
I wish.
(00:48:06.686):
Why?
(00:48:07.546):
For what purpose?
(00:48:10.627):
Aren't you more about implementing what you can create with Python
(00:48:14.669):
than actually sitting there for hours and days and days and days on end
(00:48:18.691):
with your head in a bucket?
(00:48:20.131):
This is the thing because now the technology frees you from that.
(00:48:25.073):
That's why I love this age that we're in.
(00:48:27.218):
Because now you don't have to be head in the bucket, under the blanket.
(00:48:30.921):
I think the thing is,
(00:48:31.761):
you have to be able to think,
(00:48:33.362):
but you don't have
(00:48:33.963):
to be able to know
(00:48:35.124):
how to write code.
(00:48:36.985):
Learning how to write code is like going and doing a degree.
(00:48:41.388):
Yes, yeah.
(00:48:42.529):
Before you do...
(00:48:44.651):
Anything.
(00:48:45.231):
Yeah, before you do anything.
(00:48:47.813):
You have to do that before you can do this.
(00:48:49.934):
Whereas...
(00:48:50.907):
When you start to use some of the AI tools, you have to use your brain.
(00:48:56.190):
I think people who criticise it sometimes think that they talk about Using,
(00:49:02.403):
you know, this was written by AI.
(00:49:04.945):
So what?
(00:49:06.706):
I sort of say, so what?
(00:49:08.748):
I do.
(00:49:09.148):
I saw this fascinating thing where they asked some people to read a story and
(00:49:15.653):
the story, they came up, what do you think of this story?
(00:49:17.234):
And they gave it like stupendous ratings.
(00:49:20.216):
It was a brilliant story.
(00:49:21.758):
And then what they did was they told people that it had been written by AI.
(00:49:25.160):
And everyone said, oh.
(00:49:26.501):
And then they asked them to rate it again.
(00:49:28.022):
And suddenly instead of 10 out of 10, it's not out of 10.
(00:49:30.563):
It's crap.
(00:49:31.084):
It's terrible.
(00:49:31.724):
How can it be?
(00:49:32.605):
I don't understand that.
(00:49:33.685):
How can it be okay when you didn't know who wrote it and it's crap?
(00:49:38.742):
When something else wrote it.
(00:49:39.743):
You know what it is?
(00:49:40.483):
A lot of people don't understand that.
(00:49:42.585):
To produce something of quality,
(00:49:45.047):
whether it's using technology or whether it's sitting down with a log of wood
(00:49:48.550):
and carving it yourself and it becomes a wonderful sculpture,
(00:49:52.293):
there is a lot of work that goes into it.
(00:49:54.730):
It's just the medium that's different.
(00:49:56.871):
It's the production method, isn't it?
(00:49:58.332):
Yes, absolutely.
(00:49:59.473):
And if a story is good, a story is good.
(00:50:01.594):
It doesn't matter how it was produced, surely.
(00:50:04.496):
And I get a bit, I don't know, I get a bit frustrated, actually frustrated is kind.
(00:50:10.840):
I just think, how can you be that dim?
(00:50:15.283):
Yeah, absolutely.
(00:50:16.494):
That you change your opinion of how good something is.
(00:50:19.736):
Just because it was created using a different...
(00:50:23.178):
If somebody presents me with a meal and I eat it, oh, that was beautiful, that was lovely.
(00:50:29.421):
And then I think it's even lovelier if Gordon Ramsay cooked it.
(00:50:34.384):
But I think it's complete crap if I'm shown,
(00:50:37.786):
you know, if,
(00:50:38.906):
say, a 16-year-old, A student from the local catering college might have cooked it.
(00:50:45.473):
Suddenly it's rubbish.
(00:50:47.094):
How does that work?
(00:50:48.554):
How dim is that?
(00:50:50.615):
The meal is either good or the meal is bad.
(00:50:53.096):
You either liked it or you didn't.
(00:50:57.417):
I'm not going to have my opinion dictated to by a production method.
(00:51:02.899):
Thank you very much.
(00:51:04.439):
And that's exactly what the AI tools that we
(00:51:06.920):
have, We've just
(00:51:08.999):
lost another 10 subscribers.
(00:51:13.865):
Bye!
(00:51:15.447):
We're not worried.
(00:51:17.811):
What matters to me is the end result, not the production.
(00:51:20.995):
If it's good, it's good.
(00:51:21.796):
If it's crap, it's crap.
(00:51:22.977):
And if I hear AI slop once
(00:51:24.940):
more, slop is slop.
(00:51:26.642):
Slop, and this is the thing,
(00:51:27.762):
this is the debate I had with my son over the weekend, slop is slop.
(00:51:31.603):
It's rubbish, it doesn't matter how it was produced.
(00:51:33.204):
It doesn't matter how it was produced, slop is slop.
(00:51:35.665):
My brain has been so engaged ever since I discovered these fantastic tools
(00:51:41.286):
that have been created by very brilliant,
(00:51:43.327):
intelligent people and I wish I had their minds to create things like this.
(00:51:47.858):
That we can, that people like me can then tap into.
(00:51:50.759):
And I can sit down and have a business meeting with my computer.
(00:51:55.840):
And it is high quality, back and forth,
(00:51:58.821):
tete-a-tete, brainstorming.
(00:52:00.842):
I'm able to, what I love about it is I can have a discussion with myself.
(00:52:07.704):
But I can also, by shifting the conversation...
(00:52:11.230):
Have a discussion with somebody else.
(00:52:13.571):
I can get somebody else's viewpoint.
(00:52:15.953):
As well as argue with myself.
(00:52:21.035):
How powerful is that?
(00:52:23.116):
How much would you pay for that?
(00:52:24.937):
But the other thing is, it comes without other people's crap and baggage.
(00:52:30):
Whoever you sit down and have a conversation with,
(00:52:32.522):
you're actually having a conversation with their mother.
(00:52:35.303):
With where they grew up,
(00:52:37.044):
with the teacher that was nasty to them,
(00:52:39.365):
which the teacher that told them that they were wonderful,
(00:52:41.866):
the teacher that did this or did that,
(00:52:43.887):
or Uncle George who said everybody was crap at maths in their family.
(00:52:47.369):
You're not having, you're not getting their opinion.
(00:52:49.410):
You're not having a subjective conversation.
(00:52:51.311):
You're talking with people's
(00:52:52.832):
biases.
(00:52:53.932):
You're talking,
(00:52:54.693):
you're having a conversation and getting advice from somebody
(00:52:58.174):
who may have limiting beliefs that they're not aware of, they have no idea.
(00:53:03.617):
And it's their baggage that is informing your conversation.
(00:53:07.483):
Absolutely.
(00:53:09.465):
Whereas there is no opinion.
(00:53:11.989):
Exactly.
(00:53:12.530):
There is no opinion when you're talking with an AI tool.
(00:53:16.335):
It has to understand you and where you're coming from, but you have to tell it that.
(00:53:19.619):
Yes.
(00:53:20.458):
And it comes back and it doesn't have an opinion.
(00:53:23.340):
It doesn't care in a way.
(00:53:25.861):
It has no baggage.
(00:53:27.762):
It wasn't told by Uncle George that it was no good and therefore passing it on to you.
(00:53:33.785):
It didn't have that.
(00:53:35.807):
I love that.
(00:53:36.867):
It's so liberating.
(00:53:39.048):
I wish I was a lot younger in this time because I feel like there is so much now that...
(00:53:47.870):
The generation,
(00:53:48.750):
whose generation this is,
(00:53:50.271):
and the world they're stepping into,
(00:53:51.791):
there is so much that they could harness from the technologies
(00:53:54.732):
that are now widely available.
(00:53:56.732):
AI is not new, but it is now widely easily available.
(00:54:01.834):
We can access it now.
(00:54:04.034):
And I just really,
(00:54:06.095):
you know,
(00:54:07.115):
and that's why I go into these debates with my son,
(00:54:09.015):
you know, it's like, you're doing data science, fantastic.
(00:54:12.696):
You know, keep an open mind because this is your time.
(00:54:15.912):
And there is so much.
(00:54:17.513):
And I know that, you know, with everything, there's the good and the bad.
(00:54:20.556):
But, you know, there is ethics, there's governance.
(00:54:24.339):
And, you know,
(00:54:24.819):
you guys go into that and set the parameters,
(00:54:29.283):
put the regulations in place that need to be in place,
(00:54:32.525):
but absolutely seize the day and go for it.
(00:54:34.587):
It's an exciting time.
(00:54:35.848):
It is, isn't it?
(00:54:37.449):
It is.
(00:54:37.909):
But for other people, it's a very scary time.
(00:54:39.851):
Right, we've had our monthly AI rant.
(00:54:41.993):
Yes.
(00:54:44.863):
Right, okay.
(00:54:46.705):
Yeah.
(00:54:49.007):
I thought I'd stopped.
(00:54:49.707):
I hadn't.
(00:54:51.949):
I think the other thing that really annoys me about people who are so dead
(00:54:56.413):
against AI,
(00:54:57.193):
especially in terms of writing and publishing,
(00:54:59.836):
you see a lot of this on Substack where they introduced an AI detector,
(00:55:03.819):
is that the people who get the most benefit from AI...
(00:55:06.468):
People who are neurodivergent,
(00:55:08.569):
people who have mental health issues,
(00:55:09.990):
people who have physical disabilities, sight, hearing, hand, dexterity.
(00:55:17.254):
So the people that benefit most in producing content and writing,
(00:55:20.456):
if you like, are people who have problems.
(00:55:25.608):
All of these people who were shouting and going,
(00:55:28.210):
oh, this is terrible, it's awful, it's unfair, none of them have those problems.
(00:55:33.192):
All this has done is level the playing field.
(00:55:35.434):
Absolutely.
(00:55:37.134):
That's what it's done.
(00:55:38.255):
It has enabled people who have had,
(00:55:40.936):
we'll call it disabilities,
(00:55:42.337):
but who have been hampered by physical,
(00:55:44.578):
mental, neurological issues to actually get their voice.
(00:55:48.501):
Yes.
(00:55:49.121):
Yeah.
(00:55:49.716):
And other people who've been very big fish are now finding
(00:55:58.101):
that actually there are some really valuable voices that are now getting heard
(00:56:02.483):
because of this tool.
(00:56:03.584):
And guess what?
(00:56:04.604):
They don't like it.
(00:56:05.785):
Absolutely.
(00:56:06.385):
I think that's what a lot of this resistance is.
(00:56:09.267):
There is the ability to give people voice.
(00:56:13.009):
Like you said,
(00:56:13.589):
level the playing field,
(00:56:14.890):
open up the gates, remove the barriers or reduce them as much as possible.
(00:56:19.542):
And really let people,
(00:56:20.623):
there's so much talent out there that for whatever reason,
(00:56:23.245):
maybe because they don't have access to the right money or the right funding or
(00:56:26.948):
the right whatever it is,
(00:56:28.669):
these tools have allowed people to come to step forward and shine.
(00:56:33.573):
And anything that levels playing fields for me, I am
(00:56:37.176):
up for.
(00:56:38.797):
If we bring forward artists, if we bring forward writers, just authors and writers...
(00:56:44.092):
Essay writers, article writers, book writers, whatever.
(00:56:49.400):
If we bring those people forward who,
(00:56:51.483):
through physical,
(00:56:52.825):
neurological difficulties,
(00:56:54.508):
have not been able to write and get it out of their head and down on a It changes
(00:56:59.094):
the game.
(00:56:59.714):
It does.
(00:56:59.994):
It absolutely changes the game.
(00:57:01.395):
And they don't like it.
(00:57:02.535):
Yeah.
(00:57:02.715):
Yeah.
(00:57:28.402):
Absolutely.
(00:57:28.843):
Because I haven't heard, I mean,
(00:57:31.045):
perhaps you wouldn't be able to hear them because of that very reason,
(00:57:35.549):
but everybody,
(00:57:36.630):
the people that I've heard that are saying, hey,
(00:57:38.212):
this has created opportunities for me,
(00:57:40.314):
this is my writing,
(00:57:41.375):
it's still my writing,
(00:57:42.416):
it's coming out my head,
(00:57:44.879):
are all people who have been Released and have got their freedom
(00:57:48.781):
to express themselves and to write through using AI.
(00:57:53.144):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(00:57:54.584):
Absolutely.
(00:57:55.265):
So, right.
(00:57:56.385):
Do you think the AI rant's over now?
(00:57:59.007):
I don't.
(00:58:01.088):
I think we should end it for this one.
(00:58:02.909):
For this one.
(00:58:03.569):
For this one, yeah.
(00:58:04.670):
So what have we done?
(00:58:05.450):
We've done wind wobbles.
(00:58:06.871):
We've done what's gone well.
(00:58:08.852):
Yep.
(00:58:09.615):
We've done what's gone wrong as well.
(00:58:10.935):
We've done what's gone wrong.
(00:58:11.955):
What's next?
(00:58:12.756):
So what's coming up next month for you?
(00:58:14.776):
What's coming up next month?
(00:58:15.936):
You know what?
(00:58:16.476):
For the first time, I can say that I know, but I don't know.
(00:58:20.097):
There's a lot of things planned in the pipeline that are already going.
(00:58:26.538):
I think I mentioned last week that we're now trying to get our sales team going in
(00:58:32.959):
the UK and that kind of thing.
(00:58:34.220):
So that's really what is dominant.
(00:58:36.769):
Right now.
(00:58:37.850):
And just trying to take myself away from the marketing of the business and,
(00:58:42.173):
you know, put it with those who can do it better than I can.
(00:58:47.917):
So what's next?
(00:58:48.818):
Oh, can I say this?
(00:58:50.840):
The business show, the London business show?
(00:58:52.361):
Oh, yes.
(00:58:52.741):
Yes, that's what's next.
(00:58:56.184):
Be speaking there at the Excel Center.
(00:58:58.723):
Oh, lovely.
(00:58:59.384):
I didn't know you were speaking.
(00:59:00.525):
Oh, brilliant.
(00:59:00.885):
Yeah, yeah, I'm doing a seminar there at the Excel Centre.
(00:59:03.867):
So that is, you know, great.
(00:59:06.129):
I'm looking forward to that.
(00:59:08.611):
But yeah, you know, just living, getting through Q4.
(00:59:11.614):
I'm trying to make it by the seat of my pants to the end.
(00:59:17.459):
Can I say pants?
(00:59:18.900):
You can say pants, yes.
(00:59:20.161):
Yeah, yeah.
(00:59:21.342):
So, and what am I doing?
(00:59:23.223):
Well, I've...
(00:59:25.688):
I was running a networking event on behalf of some other people.
(00:59:29.349):
Okay.
(00:59:30.869):
And it was networking.
(00:59:32.789):
And I realised, you know, come together, have a chat, that sort of thing.
(00:59:36.910):
And I realised that actually, you know, I don't want to do this anymore.
(00:59:41.291):
There's loads and loads of networking in Kent.
(00:59:43.531):
And really, do we need another one?
(00:59:46.332):
Actually, probably not.
(00:59:47.632):
And I realised that over a period of time,
(00:59:49.892):
what had evolved was, I suppose, what we'd call a masterminding session.
(00:59:53.791):
And I was starting to get feedback and people were coming to it
(00:59:56.972):
because it wasn't networking,
(00:59:58.712):
because they wanted to solve problems and listen to what was going on
(01:00:01.753):
for other people.
(01:00:03.133):
And so I've just sort of, I suppose, made that break.
(01:00:08.255):
Just said, actually, thank you.
(01:00:09.475):
I'm not doing that.
(01:00:11.416):
This is what I'm doing.
(01:00:13.316):
Are you going to
(01:00:14.096):
do an actual mastermind in session then instead?
(01:00:17.129):
Yeah, yes.
(01:00:18.410):
So it'll be people, I'm going to charge, not a lot.
(01:00:22.054):
I'm going to do it under The Women In Business Radio Show brand.
(01:00:25.677):
And it's just an opportunity for people to share what might be happening,
(01:00:30.061):
to bring challenges to the table.
(01:00:33.553):
But also to,
(01:00:34.594):
I don't want to say make it invitation only,
(01:00:36.937):
but sort of to have it where somebody has to be recommended into the group
(01:00:41.902):
so we already know who we're dealing with.
(01:00:44.345):
We had somebody recently who was just really very unpleasant and...
(01:00:53.468):
It's so difficult.
(01:00:54.709):
They were very unpleasant and unpleasant afterwards and all of this sort of thing.
(01:00:59.351):
And, you know, before it's always been, oh, everybody's included.
(01:01:02.373):
Sometimes people exclude themselves.
(01:01:04.854):
And when you're running an event for somebody else, you feel like they're under their banner.
(01:01:08.916):
It's difficult because they, oh, well, everybody's welcome.
(01:01:11.337):
Actually, do you know, this one wasn't.
(01:01:12.818):
What do I do?
(01:01:14.619):
Perhaps we should know.
(01:01:16.540):
Actually, she merely wasn't very nice at all.
(01:01:20.382):
And so, you know, I think by making it a little bit more, nobody's excluded.
(01:01:25.345):
Yes, some people exclude themselves.
(01:01:27.926):
And so I've just decided,
(01:01:29.347):
you know, I'm not about bringing loads and loads of people into a room.
(01:01:32.469):
That's not what I do.
(01:01:33.329):
I don't do it very well either.
(01:01:34.630):
So I might as well just stop doing it.
(01:01:37.031):
Again, quality and not quality.
(01:01:38.592):
Yeah, I don't particularly enjoy it.
(01:01:41.714):
I don't particularly enjoy it.
(01:01:44.217):
You know, there's emails and stuff that has to go out and marketing.
(01:01:48.461):
Oh, actually, do you know, don't do that.
(01:01:50.582):
Let's stop doing that.
(01:01:51.523):
You know, here's some people who are going, can I come?
(01:01:54.125):
And you go, yes, here we go.
(01:01:58.308):
Yes.
(01:01:59.930):
You know, who are accepting the value of actually connecting with a
(01:02:03.973):
smaller group of people.
(01:02:05.454):
So, yes, that's what I'm doing.
(01:02:06.775):
And that for me, that is moving forward.
(01:02:08.757):
That's a win.
(01:02:09.938):
And that's what's coming next month is actually...
(01:02:16.083):
I don't know that it's going to be a mastermind.
(01:02:17.764):
I was just about to say, it's sort of breaking away from the herd a bit.
(01:02:21.466):
I don't know what it's going to be.
(01:02:22.907):
It will evolve into what it's going to be.
(01:02:24.868):
Yeah, yeah.
(01:02:26.309):
That's good.
(01:02:26.929):
That sounds really interesting.
(01:02:28.090):
Yeah, it's just decisions and stuff.
(01:02:30.791):
So that's my focus, sort of getting that going for the
(01:02:34.073):
next month.
(01:02:34.493):
So we're going to be quite busy, aren't we?
(01:02:36.814):
Yes.
(01:02:37.334):
Yes.
(01:02:37.715):
Yes, we are.
(01:02:39.115):
You're speaking.
(01:02:40.256):
I'm collating.
(01:02:41.757):
Yeah.
(01:02:43.232):
I actually don't mind speaking to a lot of people,
(01:02:45.796):
like what Gemma was saying earlier, but I tell you, one-on-one is very tough for me.
(01:02:53.346):
One-on-one networking, I find that very...
(01:02:57.442):
Very, very tough, but I could give a speech.
(01:02:59.344):
Do you mean one-in-one as in networking, going along and meeting people and having a job?
(01:03:04.387):
Oh, God, yes, no.
(01:03:05.949):
You see,
(01:03:07.310):
I'm okay with one-on-one,
(01:03:09.351):
but not in a big group environment because I can't hear properly,
(01:03:13.114):
there's lots going on, and I just find that quite difficult to focus in.
(01:03:19.179):
I'm much better in a bigger group where only one person's talking, normally me.
(01:03:24.082):
Yeah, totally.
(01:03:27.258):
No, but I don't speak.
(01:03:31.682):
I'm not a speaker, but I can pull ideas together.
(01:03:35.746):
So for me, it's a bit like interviewing just with lots more people.
(01:03:38.448):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(01:03:40.750):
Getting different ideas.
(01:03:42.191):
So that's my next month.
(01:03:45.855):
Lots to look forward to.
(01:03:47.496):
And getting the publication of the magazine sorted out.
(01:03:50.038):
Oh, yeah?
(01:03:50.959):
How's that coming along?
(01:03:52.787):
I'm rebuilding,
(01:03:54.008):
so it's a case of making sure that I've got a usable template that I can switch
(01:03:59.692):
and change every month and that it's quite easy to do that.
(01:04:03.255):
And that's a challenge for me because I can't tell anybody else to do it.
(01:04:08.139):
I sort of plan as I build, so I've just got to sit down and do that.
(01:04:11.617):
So I think we've covered quite a lot today, haven't we?
(01:04:14.719):
We'll have our usual crew back next month.
(01:04:17.040):
It's all a bit of a funny month, September, isn't it?
(01:04:19.282):
So it's just me and Kempka today.
(01:04:22.644):
And I think we've had... Oh, and Gemma, of course.
(01:04:25.306):
Sorry, Gemma.
(01:04:25.886):
Gemma, who had to leave.
(01:04:27.047):
So thank you very much, folks.
(01:04:28.448):
That's it for the September...
(01:04:31.429):
I don't know what we're going to call it.
(01:04:32.530):
Roundup, winds, wobbles, what's next?
(01:04:34.832):
I don't know.
(01:04:35.432):
Perhaps I can come up with some awful...
(01:04:39.520):
I'm sure I can.
(01:04:41.252):
And that will get all the questions.
(01:04:43.475):
Yes, so we'll see you with something even more complicated back in October.
(01:04:48.920):
Have a good month, folks.