#awinewith Ariella Lew
MEET Ariella Lew, Founder of Kids on Track Consultancy
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:00):
You are listening to Spark TV, where we bring you daily interviews with real women in business at all stages. I'm your host, Danielle Lewis, and I am so grateful to have you here. So good Ariella welcome back to Spark tv.
Ariella Lew (00:18):
You know what, I actually looked, I'm going overseas next week, and do you know last year I went overseas at the same time and the Thursday before I left, I sat and did a podcast with you. So here we are, my God, almost 12 months to the day later doing it again.
Danielle Lewis (00:35):
I love it. It's a good way to send you off. Have a business.
Ariella Lew (00:39):
You do it every time I travel.
Danielle Lewis (00:41):
Perfect. I'm in. I'm in. Oh, I love it. So let's kick off firstly by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Ariella Lew (00:51):
My name is Ariella Lu. I am a pediatric nurse consultant and I am basically a child development and parenting expert, and I run a team of support coordinators that work in the NJS and my business is Kids on Track consultancy.
Danielle Lewis (01:09):
I love it. And as you alluded to, we did a podcast 12 months ago and for everyone listening that was the regular programming. So I asked you about how you got into business, what it was like being in business wins, challenges, advice, all of that good stuff, but this is not our regular podcast. So you are obviously a part of the Spark community, which I absolutely love, and you and I just get on a house on fire. So we often have conversations about business and one thing that we've noticed recently in our chats is that other people should hear what we have to say. Other people. Seriously. Come on people. No, but it might actually, one of the conversations we've had might actually help other women in business as well. So why not condense them all into a 30 minute chat so that everyone can hear the craziness that goes on in our business brains? Yeah,
Ariella Lew (02:14):
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. And I think for me, being part of the Spark community has been amazing, but I think for sure, she hasn't paid me to say this, but for sure being able to connect with you on certain things or ideas or whatever and to take that time out with you has been a tremendous asset for me. And that sounding board has been amazing.
Danielle Lewis (02:39):
Oh my God, I love that. I mean, it's interesting. I think obviously there's different facets to spark, but I always find the therapy, the talking to people, whether it's one-on-one or even if it's when I'm doing a podcast interview, the person on the other end's usually got something to say that I needed to hear that day. Or if it's in one of the virtual coffees or wines or whatever. Sometimes just talking out loud as a business owner is so powerful because sometimes we know our own answers, but we just need to say it to someone. But sometimes it's good to get other people's perspective on their experience and how it might apply to us. Interesting. We had that chat about social media and how everyone has their way of doing things and if you don't follow this way then you're obviously not a successful growing business. And some of the one-on-one chats we've had have been how that cookie cutter approach just doesn't work.
Ariella Lew (03:44):
Yeah, I think social media, obviously working in the field I work in, we talk a lot about the perils of social media for kids and the effect it can have on the this and their mental health, their social skills, all of those things that we talk about for kids, for adolescents, for the dopamines hits and all of that. And I think we get into business and we forget that actually those same risks do apply to our mental health and our dopamine hits and are chasing the next and chasing the next trend and chasing the, and I'm not saying it doesn't have a place, don't get me wrong, but I think the idea that your sum total is what you show up as being on LinkedIn if that's the one you are on or stories or how you film your reels because it's not quite on trend with the, and we all fall into that trap as business owners, don't we? Right? It is about that. But actually
(04:49):
We all as individuals, I think it's really important to walk that path. That's also what remains true to the core values of whatever your business is. And obviously there's the metrics side of if that's where your customers are and there's certain things that are doing really well for you, I'm not saying don't do it, but I'm also saying that I personally spent way too many holidays or day trips being like better take photo of that for stories and we all do it as business owners, that idea of we constantly have to be showing up. But I think it's another example of not being able to push the off switch.
Danielle Lewis (05:29):
Totally. And I think the biggest thing for me at the moment is comparing myself to other people as well. So even in the moments where I'm not showing up and doing the business stuff or posting and then in my downtime I'm scrolling through social media and I'm seeing what everyone else is accomplishing and I'm like, oh crap, I'm behind.
Ariella Lew (05:52):
And I think one of the things that we talked about in the first podcast that we did was that idea of balance and how do you, particularly in a business like mine, switch off. I've got clients that if it was up to them, would be phoning my personal mobile at all hours of the night in the weekend, whatever. And how do you put in those boundaries? And I think it's exactly what you are saying, being encroaching on our downtime, our space with our families, our ability to switch off I think is something that we just don't talk about. We talk about show up, show up, show up and showcase and showcase and put this together and showcase first of all, while you are doing that, who's doing the work? Second of all, for example, in my business, luckily I had good advisors, but when the reels on Instagram, I don't know, five years ago or so, change to only be 90 seconds and it was all that kind of singing and dancing and that's how the reels were done. And I was like, this is not what our business is. Now, luckily the social media manager I was working with at the time, she's like, you don't have to do that. And the truth is I wouldn't have done it anyway. I'm not super comfortable with
(07:13):
It. I refused. But you read any of those kind of, and you are in marketing,
(07:23):
Digital
(07:24):
Marketing playbooks and this and that. Everything in there is going to be about, you've got people's short attention span, all of which is true. I'm not knocking the expertise, but somewhere along the way gets lost about being true to who you are and what your business started for in the first place.
Danielle Lewis (07:43):
Oh, totally. And I love the conversation we had the other day around if it's not actually driving clients, do you even have to do it at all?
Ariella Lew (07:54):
Right. And your advice was so good. You said you need enough that people know you are there and that you're current. That was pretty much what you said. And you know what, after you said that, we as a business took the decision, we've gone from posting three to four times a week to once or twice a week.
Danielle Lewis (08:15):
Nice.
Ariella Lew (08:16):
Engagement has actually gone up, not down.
Danielle Lewis (08:19):
Oh my god, I love
Ariella Lew (08:20):
That. We do stories when we can be bothered. We still try and do one a day where we can. And a few weeks ago I had some stuff going on for me and I actually jumped on a story and I was like, just so you know, over the next few weeks I've got stuff going on in the background. I don't have time to be on here. So if we're not showing up, it's not that we're not working, it's just that I don't have time to work and do this and attend to the things in my personal life. And I think there's so much out there now, particularly in business about wellness and self-care, and it might all be about facials and massages and the wine, the weekly wine, all of that. But actually I think that sometimes stepping back from that social media that is so important for mental health and and the ability to take the time that you need and step away from the pressure. And interestingly, when I posted that story saying that the amount of messages I got saying things like, great job well done, wish more people would actually be honest about it
(09:43):
Because let's be honest, it isn't. Just take a quick screenshot and that's it. We all do it. I'm sure we'll take one at the end of this podcast, but we all do it. But yesterday I had a meeting, I literally spent 10 minutes trying to post, trying to pose in the glaring sun next to the sign of the therapy office I was visiting. And there just comes a point that you're like, I could have, what am I doing with my life?
Danielle Lewis (10:09):
Yeah, yeah. It's just so interesting. I think a point you just made around, yes, the baths and the facials and the vine is great, but you can't make good decisions and you can't come up with answers and solve problems if you just have a screen with flashing lights in your face 24 hours, seven days a week, you actually need to rest. You need to let your brain rest.
Ariella Lew (10:37):
Yes, yes. I think one of the things which I do not practice what I preach, but I'm really considering doing it is actually, for example, I don't use Instagram in my personal life at all. I use it for work and that is it. I don't use Facebook in my personal life at all. I use it for work and that is it. They're both. So on my personal phone, so when at night I'm sitting watching TV or doing whatever, watching Netflix, it's right there. So in the morning I'm still on there and scrolling and at night I'm still on there on scrolling, which means, as you said before, it's downtime does not really,
Danielle Lewis (11:13):
No, it's not downtime at all. Our downtime has been replaced. You might be sitting on the couch,
Ariella Lew (11:18):
But
Danielle Lewis (11:18):
Your brain is still in overload mode.
Ariella Lew (11:22):
Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (11:24):
It's such an interesting point too. So I actually had my first real go viral. So I've been in bloody social media for a decade and I was sitting at a bar, funnily enough, and I just posted a pic of my glass of champagne, little motivation thing on it, 760,000 views and counting. And can I tell you something interesting? Do you think I've got any more customers?
Ariella Lew (11:58):
No, no.
Danielle Lewis (12:03):
And I think fun because I just did it. I was sitting there, I was waiting for my husband's plane to land, so it wasn't a lot of time, but you think about how much time you put into this stuff and it's like, you know what, if it's not actually driving results, why are you doing it? And I think that's why you're doing it. Is it actually necessary? Does it work? Should you be reducing or changing what you do? Or to our point going point, that's enough. Now it's time to look after me as a business owner and a human being.
Ariella Lew (12:36):
Yeah. Yeah,
(12:38):
I think so. And I think we've talked about this before as well, but I think women business owners are probably uniquely different in that most of us, when we start our own business or our own company, we are doing it. It's not just about filling the gap in the market, that is a part of it, but it's really because at the core we want to make a difference. It's something that we are passionate about, it's something that maybe didn't work in our own lives or it's something that we've seen is missing through the work that we do, but in a holistic way. And I think that sometimes, and in doing that, it means, I think as female owners, we put way more of ourselves into our businesses. I'm not talking about if you're a CEO for someone else, but if you actually yours and you've built it from the ground up, you, it's literally the essence of who you are. And so when you are trying to, I guess, bottleneck that down and filter that out into these sound bites, I actually think the essence disappears
Danielle Lewis (13:52):
And it becomes, you almost grow to resent it as well because what you loved doing and the impact you loved having is now becoming a chore because it's got to go viral or it's to your point, it's got to be a seven second soundbite and I've got to put makeup on and I've got to get the right pose or the sun's in the whatever it is you are, right? It's like none of that stuff is the impact that you wanted to have in the world.
Ariella Lew (14:23):
A hundred percent.
Danielle Lewis (14:24):
Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. I love it reminds me, we had a conversation about doing what you love not so long ago and how, again, what people telling you how you should run your businesses, but people talking about scaling teams and how you need to, the only way to scale is to bring in people to replace you so you can focus on growing the business. And that conversation we had always sticks with me because I've obviously done that before and gotten to the stage where I'm like, I hate buying that business. And I was just so miserable. And it is because we as women do often start businesses because we want to have an amazing impact. We're really good at what we do. We bring a skillset and then the world tells us, well, the only way to then grow outside of that is to do X, Y, Z.
Ariella Lew (15:20):
And I think first of all, that can be very expensive as in monetarily. And you and I have talked before about bad hires and not great professional advice and all of that, but also I actually think it doesn't give to, again, back to that self-care, mental health, it doesn't give to actually feeling fulfilled as a human being in the type. Yes, I do have people that do certain bits of client facing work for me, but actually if that was taken away from me altogether, I'd sell the business. I'm not interested, what's the point? What's the point? As much as I don't want my clients calling me in the middle of the night and don't, most of them are very, very good. And I have a work phone now, so that's all better. But I do like the fact that the relationship I have with my clients, they trust me. It's my values, it's my ethics. They know they can come to me, not the Oh, Ariel, we'll see you between her 47 networking meetings, three podcasts, interviews, two grant applications. And also for me, particularly in my business, I don't train in business school. We've talked about this before as well. I didn't train to run a business, so I've picked up plenty along the way, but I didn't train in what are all these things
(16:55):
I trained in? What I trained in. I got good at what I got good at, and that's what I want to do.
Danielle Lewis (17:00):
Yeah, totally. And it is the, what's the point question, because nobody woke up one morning and said, you know what I want to do? I just want to put out fires and do my book reconciliation and post on Instagram. Nobody said that is how I want to spend my days. Everyone started a business to solve a problem or
(17:27):
Create something. And you're right, if you take that away, then what does become the point? And I'm all about outsourcing. I love outsource the things that I don't want to do or that I'm not very good at. But imagine even this, right? So Spark, all I love doing is just talking to amazing women, building cool things. And I'm like, if you said to me, well, you should really be going out finding sponsors and doing this and whatever, and so you need to do less of that stuff that you love. I'm still the person who is on every masterclass introducing someone. I'm on every networking event, I'm on every journaling session, whatever it is. Because that's the bit that I love. If I just said, I'll bring in somebody else, A, they may not actually have the business experience, but then it would be like, what am I doing? I'm just trying to grow a monster and actually getting the joy out of it.
Ariella Lew (18:27):
Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (18:29):
And it's too hard. Business is too hard not to find some joy in what you're doing.
Ariella Lew (18:35):
And I also think as women, whatever stage of life we are at, I think there are higher expectations of a juggle than there are for men.
(18:47):
So
(18:48):
Whether that is splitting yourself with your personal life, with your responsibilities to parents or siblings or whatever, or your own children or whatever. But I think the world in terms of what women are expected to deal with and juggle, the juggle is higher. And so if that time you are spending in your office, you are resenting the entire time you are there, go do your juggling.
Danielle Lewis (19:17):
Yeah,
Ariella Lew (19:18):
The feeling's going to be okay, well then why am I giving up my time with my family and why am I not, you enjoy baking. Why am I not doing long and complicated dinners and cakes? I could do that if all I'm going to be doing is what I'm not enjoying on Instagram or whatever. And I, and that's where I think for women, I think yes, the juggle is real, but I actually think sometimes some of the messaging out there is actually a double-edged sword
(19:49):
Because
(19:49):
I think it's just more expectation. Totally. And more juggle and more, how do I have the time for this and more? How do I split the money for that? And more and more and more to the point that it just becomes, I don't want to do this anymore.
Danielle Lewis (20:03):
And you are so right. The messaging is, I just find, I know everyone's trying to sell their product or service, but the messaging that if you don't do this, you will not grow. And it does and you are not good enough and you're not good enough. It does make you feel like you've got to be a TikTok star, cook a gourmet meal every night, have all your systems and processes nailed, raise millions of dollars, have a 20 person team, have a fancy office, do all the things. And if you're not doing that, then it's right. It's not good enough.
Ariella Lew (20:37):
And if I hear the word workflow one more time, workflow,
Danielle Lewis (20:43):
Oh my gosh,
Ariella Lew (20:45):
I know some things it really, right? But when you are doing booking systems, invoicing, all of that, great, have a workflow. But when you're actually trying to deal with people, it's very hard to have a workflow.
Danielle Lewis (21:00):
I have been in business for over 12 years now and I can tell you I have the worst systems and processes you have ever seen. I've gotten really good at documenting things. If I have a VA do it, I'll do a screen record thing and I'll hand it over so I know they know what they're doing. But when it comes to me and managing my own time, I'm telling you there is a stack of post-it notes and a note. But you and me are the queens of the Post-Its, we know that you and me, if it's on a post-it, it is guaranteed to happen in my eyeline. I can see about 50 with scribble, but it's like, I dunno, I just feel like it works. Firstly, you and I run successful businesses, it works. But can you imagine the people who specialize in systems and processes and operations?
Ariella Lew (21:57):
Yeah, they'd be horrified with us. Oh, they'd be horrified.
Danielle Lewis (21:59):
And also they're like, they sell their products as if it's like, well, if you don't do it this way, how on earth are you ever going to grow? How on earth are you ever going to achieve your dreams? We can tell you it's fine. You can be a mess. You can live in chaos. It is okay.
Ariella Lew (22:15):
Yeah. Yeah. I think,
Danielle Lewis (22:20):
Yeah, it is interesting. I just think that you're right. The expectations that get put on us to do it all be it all is just a little bit unreasonable.
Ariella Lew (22:35):
And I also think one of the things that really attracted me to Spark from the very beginning, I came in and when we did that call a year ago, that was probably, I'd literally just joined Spark and I got to do this straight away. It was one of the first things I did. And in that first conversation I had with you, you asked me about balance work-life balance, and I just did the new spark founders question. And again on there was like, how do you find the balance? And I think again, the messages are so conflicted because on the one hand thought leaders, business leaders are saying balance. You've got to get the balance. And I guess where I can at times be like, this can't be so great. There is no balance if you have to be on 24 hours a day.
Danielle Lewis (23:29):
Yeah, a thousand percent. And I think balance also makes me, even the word balance, it makes me feel like things have to be 50 50. That's never the case. It's pockets.
Ariella Lew (23:42):
Pockets. We've talked about pockets.
Danielle Lewis (23:44):
Yeah, pockets good. And
Ariella Lew (23:46):
Being present, being that for whatever time you are doing whatever it is you are doing, even if it is cooking dinner, do you know what? You don't have to be responding to your work emails for that 20 minutes of time and whatever it might be. That actually when you are doing, I think I've talked about this with you before. When my daughter was born, she's now four and a half. When she was born, I made a rule for myself that when I was with her, I don't answer my phone.
Danielle Lewis (24:15):
Yes. I was literally, you said that on the last podcast, and I was literally just going to say that I think this is brilliant.
Ariella Lew (24:22):
I did, this was my thing. It's a rule for myself. Now, I'm not going to tell you that I've kept to it a hundred percent of the time, but certainly 95% of the time, if she is with me, I don't pick up the phone and my work phone is in the other room. I don't think she even knows I have a work phone. It's in the other room. She knows I work. And interestingly, and I might've said this on the last podcast, but I can't remember how long ago it happened. I remember I was driving her back from kinder one day and the phone rang in my Bluetooth in the car and she said, you won't answer that. And I said, no, how do you know? She goes, because you are with me and I'm the most important now.
Danielle Lewis (25:02):
Oh my God, I love it. That's so cute.
Ariella Lew (25:08):
I'm not a full-time mom. I don't claim that I am. But it's important to me that she knows when I'm there, I'm this.
(25:18):
Yes, that is.
(25:20):
And I think that's true of everything in our lives. So when you are at work, give it, you are talking about balance, right? 50 50 doesn't need to be 50 50, but it needs to be as far as possible a hundred percent to the thing you are doing in the moment you are doing it. Yes. And I think as women that's scatter of, particularly in the business I deal with, I can be juggling 40 clients all in the space for half an hour because this one's kicking off for this one, this one needs this. Right. And there's a lot of non-con work with the clients. So there's a lot of things coming in and I think that ability to be like, okay, this is the task I'm doing now, and until that's done, that's what I'm doing.
Danielle Lewis (26:03):
Yeah. I find even as women, if you work from home, that is even more amplified because you get up to get a cup of coffee and you see the washing that's not done, or you see the house is a mess or you see, oh shit, I need to cook dinner tonight. Or like me today, I'm like, we ran out of coffee. And I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe it. But I've just had one of those weeks and I haven't even got to the shops and we're eating leftovers and bits and pieces and I'm like, why is it my job to get the coffee? I put my hand up to be responsible for all of this. But I think there is that unspoken extra workload that does happen for women, especially if you work from home.
Ariella Lew (26:51):
And I also think when you work from home, everyone else, whoever everyone else is assumes you have free time for a big part of the day. So do you have time for lunch? Yeah, at my desk I'll eat a sandwich because my desk is my office. No, I don't have time to go for a walk in the park for two hours to do whatever in the middle of a work day. So I think that also plays into it when you work from home. And I also think for women, if for many women it is more convenient to work from home,
Danielle Lewis (27:23):
Absolutely.
Ariella Lew (27:24):
The struggle becomes easier in one way when you work from home. But I don't think society always gives working women that work from home, that kind of grace.
Danielle Lewis (27:32):
No, absolutely not. I just think it can really amplify.
(27:38):
I love how you call it the scatter. That's how I feel right now is the scatter. I know, it's interesting. Yeah, I was just thinking as well, I mean, I know we're talking about expectations, work-life balance, all the things I was just thinking about at other conversation we had that I wanted to talk about while we're on this call, the pricing conversation that we had. Oh yeah. Just again, it's just another one about expectations, people telling you what you've got to do, all that kind of stuff. So I remember, what were we talking about? The how should you price? Just general
Ariella Lew (28:14):
Question, price, how should you price? And I asked, I've been approached to do something
Danielle Lewis (28:20):
That's
Ariella Lew (28:20):
Right. And I posted on a business chat, not Spark, I a add, not Spark. I passed on a particular business chat saying I've been without named anything. I've been approached to do this. I'm wondering, how do I start considering how to price my IP as in it's mine. It would be me speaking. It was a series of videos or whatever I think it was. But yeah, it was videos. It was a series of videos. And unlike a handout where you get your ip, you've got your logos on it, and you've got your this and you've got your that and that's there. It was like once someone has those videos, it's theirs. They can do what they want with it. So how do you price that? It's not like they'll watch it once, not like a workshop. They pay for you once they see it once. I'm not getting paid for the 10,000 times that they could watch it or once that they could watch it do you? And in this chat, all that kept coming back is like, well, what would you price your IP at? And I felt like saying about if I knew that, I wouldn't have posted if I knew. And then it was all about, oh, you should speak to a lawyer. So now I have to decide how much I'm worth and pay however much for the privilege of hearing from a lawyer. How much
Danielle Lewis (29:40):
Who has no idea who you are or what industry you're in or what your customers want and need.
Ariella Lew (29:46):
Correct. And I think we've talked a lot about professional services. And again, just like there are times you need to outsource, no one can do everything. No one knows everything. So I'm not saying don't have professional advisors in your business, but first of all, there's something about trusting your gut. And as you said to me, pricing sometimes is about what are you willing to get out of bed for? What are you willing to get out? And that was very good advice. And I used that. I actually used that in the pricing that I gave them. Yes, I'm so glad. No, I was just like, okay, if I'm going to do this, what's the absolute minimum that they're going to need to pay for it? They can either pay it or not. It's their prerogative to say no.
(30:29):
Yes,
(30:29):
And that's fine, but I've got to know that, again, coming back to those values and what I set it up to be in the first place.
Danielle Lewis (30:39):
Yes. And you've got to feel good about actually running business. Youve got to, you've
Ariella Lew (30:43):
Feel good about it. And sometimes I think we don't need a professional service to tell us how to do
Danielle Lewis (30:49):
That. No, no, not at all. I think half the time we don't need a professional service to tell us how to do anything. We just need to trust ourselves.
Ariella Lew (31:01):
And again, I think this, we touched on the last podcast as well, and I think you've recently put it back up online very recently, find your people.
(31:11):
Your
(31:11):
People don't have to be professional people. I mean, in the last year, I've lost count of how many times I've sent you an email and be like, something's come up. Can we jump online? Find the people that actually you trust, that you feel are going to be honest with you or not and not necessarily paid.
Danielle Lewis (31:28):
Yeah, totally.
Ariella Lew (31:29):
And the better advice is the people that really know your business. So for me, in my business, I have someone who, she managed my practice for many years and then she took a step back from practice management and she's running a different sort of company now, but she has a service called practice Manager in my pocket, which is literally what it sounds like. So I have a problem. I email her, she knows the business. She's worked in it. She yes, she charges, but she is charging from a place of knowledge.
Danielle Lewis (31:58):
Yes, exactly.
Ariella Lew (31:59):
It's find your people that actually get you and understand what you are doing then they're worth all the money in the world.
Danielle Lewis (32:07):
But
Ariella Lew (32:07):
You've got to find them first.
Danielle Lewis (32:09):
Yeah, you do. And I do like your point around they're not always paid. Definitely not. And they not always the person who, yeah, you're right, is trying to sell you the program and the framework. So of course they're going to tell you, this is the way to solve that problem. Find the people that will, I think it's find the people that will help get you to what will keep you happy in business. And I think this as just underrated, what is going to keep the joy in your business? So you keep getting out of bed every morning and you keep trying and you keep servicing customers and you keep trying to make it work and trying to grow it
Ariella Lew (32:53):
And you keep motivated, which is another thing we've spoken about before. Because I think coming back to where we started with that whole social media situation, the pressure of that if, okay, you've just had a real go viral, but when things that you thought were great content don't go viral or as you say, do go viral, but you don't get anything, then monetarily coming back from it, that then makes you kind of question everything. And that then feeds into the motivation and the self-esteem. And again, that gut instinct in ourselves of like, but do I actually know what I'm talking about? Do I maybe, I don't know. Maybe again, that comparing to everyone else,
Danielle Lewis (33:43):
And it's like I guarantee you every time you go against your gut, it falls flat. A
Ariella Lew (33:51):
Hundred percent.
Danielle Lewis (33:52):
Every time I've gone against my gut in terms of taking on a customer, hiring somebody, hiring, oh my God, I knew it. And it never works out when I don't trust myself. Yeah, exactly.
Ariella Lew (34:07):
A hundred percent
Danielle Lewis (34:09):
Wild. Oh my God, I love talking to you. We should do these regularly. We should do it once a month. Yeah, that's right. Everyone, you and me sense. Yeah. I just find it interesting. It goes back to the finding your people, right? It is the what are real conversations outside of social media, outside of paid experts where people who are just in the trenches running a business, what are they seeing? What conversations are they having? That's what more people should be exposed to.
Ariella Lew (34:45):
I agree. And I also, what you're saying, I know many of us in Spark, because I've been there somewhere in everyone's vision statement, is something along the lines of wellness, whether they're coaches, business coaches, all talk about balance, as you said before and wellness. Most of us somewhere in there, it's in there, but somehow we are not actually giving that to ourselves. Right? We're all into, yes, we want to make, okay. I think a little bit of that also needs to come back.
Danielle Lewis (35:17):
I did a podcast interview earlier today and this woman was saying when she was building the culture of her company, she's got, I think she's at a team of eight now. She was like, some of it I just did. I wanted it for me. She's like, I wanted to take a holiday. So then part of our culture is you don't take work on holidays. And she's like, you've got to remember, if you are going to define a culture for a team, why not define it for yourself first and actually say, no, I as employee of one, I take a week off and I don't take my work with me or I finish it midday on a Friday. Friday or I sleep in on Monday or whatever it is for you. Create that for yourself
Ariella Lew (36:02):
A hundred percent. And it's easier said than done, but no one's going to give it back to
Danielle Lewis (36:06):
You. Yeah. You are the only one that can do it. You're the only
Ariella Lew (36:09):
One that can do
Danielle Lewis (36:10):
It.
Ariella Lew (36:11):
And I theoretically don't work on a Friday. Never have in theory. And then it became okay, so then it became, okay, I don't see clients on a Friday, which I have stuck to. I don't do client meetings on a Friday. And then it became okay after 12 o'clock, I'm not actually working. The only one that's going to enforce that is me.
Danielle Lewis (36:31):
Exactly.
Ariella Lew (36:32):
And the truth, the more you scale and the bigger you are, the harder it is to do that.
Danielle Lewis (36:37):
Yeah. Spot on. But I just love that point. Everything comes back to us.
Ariella Lew (36:44):
When it was just me, I could put an out of office on my phone and just say, this phone is mant till 12:00 PM on a Friday. I'll pick it up again nine o'clock Monday morning, whatever it might have said. I'm not saying I had the discipline to do it, but I could have done it. Now I've got people working for me.
Danielle Lewis (36:58):
That
Ariella Lew (36:58):
Means that's great. I've outsourced the phone so they're answering it, but if they need me, the whole point of having them is that clients don't have to wait.
Danielle Lewis (37:08):
Yes.
Ariella Lew (37:09):
But if they then can't go on a meet till nine o'clock or Monday morning, the clients are still waiting.
Danielle Lewis (37:14):
Exactly.
Ariella Lew (37:14):
So again, it sort of becomes that no one gives us back the time by ourselves.
Danielle Lewis (37:19):
No, absolutely not. No. You've got to enforce those rules for yourself. You've got to look after yourself
Ariella Lew (37:28):
And you've got to decide what those deal breakers are and what you need. Because also business, for most of us who love what we do, it's a long game. We're not in this for
(37:39):
A
(37:39):
Year and then we're out.
(37:40):
Right?
(37:40):
It's not like one of those high pressure cooker. It's not Wall Street. You're not going in and working hard and
(37:49):
Sell go,
(37:49):
Go, go. Right? It's not that. That's not it. Once you set up your own business, this is 24 7 and whatever your business hours are, there has to be the ability to be like, actually the office is shut from X to Y. And to a certain extent, you're going to have to cope.
Danielle Lewis (38:09):
Absolutely. I love it. Let's wrap it there. Ala you are incredible and I always love chatting with you. Me too. Thank you for having that conversation. I just feel like there are so many home truths in there, and I know everyone listening would've got a lot of value out of it.
Ariella Lew (38:30):
We got
Danielle Lewis (38:30):
Value out therapy session for the day. That all matters. It's always a pleasure. That wraps another episode of Spark tv. Shout out to Spark TV sponsor IP Australia for their amazing support of the Spark Podcast and women in business. And if no one tells you today you've got this.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
