#awinewith Ariella Lew
MEET Ariella, Founder of Kids on Track.
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Ariella, welcome to Spark tv.
Ariella Lew (00:09):
Oh, thank you for having me, Danielle. I've been really looking forward to this
Danielle Lewis (00:13):
Same, we have only recently met. We've been on a few calls together and been so good, so I'm so excited to share your story.
Ariella Lew (00:21):
Thank you. Thank you for having me. And yeah, so far Spark's been amazing.
Danielle Lewis (00:27):
Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Let's kick off by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Ariella Lew (00:34):
My name is Ariella Lu. I am a pediatric nurse consultant and I specialize in child development basically. And my company works with parents, works with schools, works with allied health professionals to, I guess, navigate the journey of any child. I think we discussed this once before, we see an individual child as being an entire world and that every family is unique. So we try and help people on their journey in a way that's right for them.
Danielle Lewis (01:06):
I love that because, so I'm not a mom, but I have many a mom in the Spark community, so always having these conversations and I know how a different everyone's journey is, but B, how much support it does actually take. So is there anything specific, or if I was a mom who was having a challenge, could I come to you for anything and just chat?
Ariella Lew (01:34):
Yeah, absolutely. So we say we are your first port of call and if we don't have the resources within us to help you, we will connect you to people that can and we will educate and empower you to be able to get the answers that you're looking for.
Danielle Lewis (01:56):
I love that. I love that so much. So how did you get into this?
Ariella Lew (01:59):
So when I was, I guess back and when I qualified as a nurse, I qualified in England as my accent me just a little bit. When I qualified, I qualified in London and I worked as part of the National Health Service. I worked in the private sector for a little bit and from the time I did my training and I did my training, my training was, we work in all areas of child development. So we do some time in acro and we do some time in a school and we do some time in special ed and it really allows you to see every side of it. But what I always loved was my community, the community parts of my placement. So either the community nursing, the special needs school I adored. I really enjoyed it and I just saw this massive gap of where even if there's nothing going on with your kid and nothing wrong, just navigating that, you suddenly have this little human that you are responsible for that doesn't come with an instruction manual and you've just kind of got to figure your way.
(03:10):
And even when I had my daughter and I'm in theory, a child development expert, I still had to feel my way. So yes, okay. There were certain bits that might have been easier for me because I knew the science or I knew, but there's no enrollment manual for this. There's a million training courses for the birth, but there's no, and yeah, there might be stuff specifically on sleep, but there's no handbook to teach you this is your child and this is what your child needs. And once you are in a system, be that hospital system or an education system or an NDIS system, you are in a system so you can only get the services that you can get within a system and one size does not fit all. And I was really passionate about being able to plug the right people into the right supports for them, not just like, let's fit the box and put you away.
(04:09):
Not that I'm saying that aren't wonderful nurses and wonderful hospitals and whatever else, but it is different. And that was really the inspiration together with that all kind of coincided around the time that a lot of my friends started to have children. We were going back 15 or so years and a lot of my friends were starting to have children and I was sort of informally giving them advice and seeing what was going on for them. And it was actually, I still credit him to this day. I think he doesn't realize I mention him on every podcast I'm ever on, but it was a friend of ours who they were sort of struggling with transitions parenthood and I went around and spent some time with his lovely wife and he phoned afterwards and said to my husband, know what your wife did? But there's a business there.
Danielle Lewis (04:58):
Wow. Really?
Ariella Lew (05:00):
That was all around the time that I was kind of thinking, what's next for me? I want to get out of the hospitals. And I was sort of working part in hospitals and part for a not-for-profit organization that worked with children with life-threatening illness. And it was kind of all trying to put this all together and work out what do I do? And then no sooner did I get it going in London. Then my husband was headhunted over here to Melbourne and so kind of picked it up and dropped it off and I never could have imagined it would become what it's become.
Danielle Lewis (05:33):
Oh my God, that is so incredible. I love that you're so passionate about it. You are just out there solving this problem already before you're actually monetizing it.
Ariella Lew (05:43):
Yes. But then once you start monetizing it, I've discovered it's not as fun anymore.
Danielle Lewis (05:47):
I know no one tells you that. There's a great Instagram quote probably about that. Don't monetize your hobby. Whatever you do, don't monetize
Ariella Lew (05:58):
Your people live to
Danielle Lewis (05:59):
Hate it.
Ariella Lew (06:01):
Expensive hobby, I'll tell you that.
Danielle Lewis (06:03):
That is hilarious. I love it. So how did you find navigating going from being an employee then to a business owner?
Ariella Lew (06:12):
Well, I think the kind of irony of it all is, whilst for 15 years I've kind of said I have my own business. My husband would tell you that I've really only thought of it as a business maybe for the last two years. Before that I was kind of very much like a one man band. I did my thing, did all my own invoicing, did all my own diary management, did all my own. And I don't think I really thought of myself as a business owner. I just kind of thought, that's my job. That's what I do. And
(06:53):
And that was that actually I loved that. I love the fact that I choose my own ounces. I love the fact that I am not a mornings person at all. I love the fact that my day starts at 10 o'clock because that's when I say it stops. I don't see clients four 10 because I just don't and I don't want to. So I, that wasn't difficult. I think when last year, and we've spoken about this briefly as well before, but I think last year when things sort of grew very quickly for me, I think where I struggled a little bit was I don't have a business background. My zone of my zone of genius is not financial spreadsheets. It's not I've learned on the job, but I'm a medic. I want to help people. I like fighting systems. That's what I'm good at. That's where I shine. I do not shine at the business.
Danielle Lewis (07:55):
I know, but it's so interesting though. You're right. When you're a one man band, it doesn't bloody matter. You've just got to pick it all up and figure out everything, don't you?
Ariella Lew (08:05):
And also when you're a one band, there's actually, I mean there's costs, obviously there are costs, but your costs really are things like petrol and stationary and maybe your phone. And once you are starting to look at, you've got people working with you for you subcontracting, that is a whole different, and probably it's not about looking back with regret, it's about looking forward and learning.
Danielle Lewis (08:36):
Absolutely challenge.
Ariella Lew (08:38):
But I think there's a lesson to be learned. So everybody within when you are ready to take those next steps. And for me, I think when I was first ready at a nine month old baby, we were still mid covid. It was 2021,
Danielle Lewis (09:01):
Especially in Melbourne.
Ariella Lew (09:03):
I was just in Melbourne. It was full on. I was feeling overwhelmed by some of the mundane, like I said, the invoicing, the bookings, the intake calls. I was finding that that was encroaching on my time, but I didn't. So I kind of planned like, okay, I'll get sort of a VA to help me a few hours a week. And it kind of went from that to this within a year to almost like this explosion of multiple hours and lots of people. And if I had my time again, that probably needed to be planned and scaffolded better than it was.
Danielle Lewis (09:47):
But it's interesting though, I think best laid plans never come.
Ariella Lew (09:52):
Totally. Totally. But I think I am one of those people that's like, I see a possibility and I just want to jump in and do it, and I'll worry about
Danielle Lewis (10:04):
How later the
Ariella Lew (10:07):
Consequences later. So I think if we're talking from a business, I think once it really became a business for me, and there were other people involved in other cost liabilities and other I guess professional liabilities as well, that is a big jump. Not so much from being employed to not, but from when you don't have a business background, there's nowhere that gives you a quick MBA in five
Danielle Lewis (10:38):
And it has to be in five minutes.
Ariella Lew (10:39):
In five minutes go. I'd say that that's been challenging for me. But then again, the people that I've met on my journey and the people we've been able to help, who wouldn't necessarily, they don't see the backend. They don't know what goes on at the backend for that. I'm very grateful.
Danielle Lewis (11:01):
And that's kind of the magic, isn't it? Customer just see their problems solved and then we go home at night and have a glass of wine and cry because we've got to do all of the body things.
Ariella Lew (11:11):
Right.
Danielle Lewis (11:13):
How did you find, I'm always interested. So firstly, I love the point you made because so many businesses do start by people becoming a solo consultant or a solo freelancer, and then you're right, and it builds and builds and then, oh shit. Now I don't have enough time to do everything. I need a person. But I'm always interested to talk to people about team, so the people on your team, because that's something I really struggle with. So I am not naturally a leader or a manager. I am a lone wolf. I can work my butt off and the harder I work, the better I results, blah,
Ariella Lew (11:48):
Blah, blah.
Danielle Lewis (11:49):
But then you get to that stage where you're like, I cannot physically do it all. But I've had total ups and downs in terms of hiring people, retaining people. People have been the bane of my existence. So I'm always keen to ask you learnings, what's gone well, what hasn't gone well, any wisdom that you can impart when it comes to people,
Ariella Lew (12:11):
I think if I had one sort of gem that I would say, there are certain things you can teach and there are certain things you can't and know what you can't teach before you go into interview, you can't actually teach culture. They either get it or they don't. You either gel or you don't. In my experience, if you gel, you can teach most other things. If you feel that they get you and they get the business and they get the values of the business, most of the rest will fall into place. In my experience.
Danielle Lewis (12:56):
I love that because you're right, you can't jump on a call and be like, here's the process I've made for how to interact with me and just be a good human. But you can teach someone to follow a process when it comes to basically anything
Ariella Lew (13:09):
Else. Correct? Correct. So provided that, obviously in the shortlisting or HR or however you are recruiting, once you know what you want and you've got your KPIs and you've done that part properly, then once you are in the interview and you are the boss, so it's up to you, it's not up to your HR consultant and it's not up to your recruitment manager, depending on how big you are, it's up to you. If you sit there and your gut is they are not the right fit. And I've had that a couple of times and I'm sure you have to, but for whatever reason you are like, but I've got to hire someone because I've got to thought this. Now, in my experience, that doesn't go well and it's a lot of time and it's a lot of money down the drain.
Danielle Lewis (13:57):
Oh my God, yes.
Ariella Lew (13:59):
Right, totally. When you sit there, I mean, one of the people that, and I never liked saying they work for me, they work with me. I mean, they would say I'm their boss, but I don't use that terminology with them. But one of the people actually that works with me is our NDIS coordinator. She applied for a different job and I interviewed her for that. She was shortlist and I interviewed her and she got off the phone and I said to the person at the time who was doing recruitment with me, I said, this job's not for her, but I really like her and I'm going to design something for her because there was another project that I knew was about to start, and I knew that that particular project was going to need admin of its own. And I said she would be perfect for that. And she is trained her. She now is probably better. You'd want her in an NDIS meeting rather than me. I mean, I taught it to her, but her advocacy, her patience, she's probably nicer than me. But I think when you are a business attorney, you've got to be tough
(15:11):
On a level. At least you've got to be tough. So that's what I mean. I saw something in her, and I'm not saying I've always got it right, but I saw something in her and it's worked.
Danielle Lewis (15:25):
I love that.
Ariella Lew (15:27):
Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (15:27):
That's so cool. And I just could not agree more with your comment about trusting your gut. So Right. Every time I've had somebody that hasn't worked out, I knew I shouldn't have hired them, but, and
Ariella Lew (15:41):
You've always been trying to convince yourself. It's just that they're new. It's just that I didn't train them properly, but actually this was probably never a go from day.
Danielle Lewis (15:54):
Oh, I know. It's so true. I love it. I love it. So tell me as well, so you mentioned, so really when you started taking the business, I guess more seriously was when it had that explosion, what caused that? How did it explode? What happened? Did you do anything specific or was it just time?
Ariella Lew (16:18):
I don't really know. I think the chronology went something like this. In September, 2020. I had my little girl and I didn't take maternity leave, which was my choice. I didn't want to, my husband was taking paternity leave and I at that time was doing my practice, but I had a very big client who were kind of sort of 50% of my weeks. But I just got to the point with that particular client and I'm like, actually, I don't want to be working for them anymore. If you bring this up with my husband, he'll be like, it was,
Danielle Lewis (16:55):
You can confirm. So
Ariella Lew (16:57):
With a three month old baby, I handed in my notice, so security
Danielle Lewis (17:03):
At the window, the window.
Ariella Lew (17:08):
And then I just was like, okay, let's kind of see what happens. And that organization had been so lovely, and I'm still involved with them and I still do stuff for them. I just couldn't take being there to that amount of time. And so when she was about five months old, I left. I worked out my notice and I left, and then I was doing it all on my own. And I guess it's that thing of if you build it, they will come. I think it's part of what's happened. I think then I sort of was building it, and by kind of June sort of time, I was getting to a point where the admin, I was like, I'm only one person. I can't do all of this. And also by then she was a little bit older and I had one afternoon that had her and whatever else before she went to childcare.
(17:51):
And so that happened and I took someone on who's amazing. And although isn't working for me in that capacity anymore, it's still our consultant for our practice management software and is still, she knows the business well. So she guides me on lots of different things, very grateful. And then I think word of mouth is a wonderful thing. As people start to know me or know friends that had used me, they would come in, I think the NDIF, there was just so much. And obviously were in the middle of review now, and I'll keep very quiet on that. But suffice to say, I think there is so much that goes on where people are not treated fairly and are not just by the NDS, but by service providers also, that they've had a bad experience. And so to find someone that actually is decent and it's actually, they're in it for you, they're in it, and it's not just about the goals that are written on your NDIF plan or your sheet of paper, but they actually want to get you what you need rather than, I think those providers are rare.
(19:05):
And I think I'm very much like a, I always said if I was a politician, I'd be a conviction politician. I won't advocate for things that I don't believe to be the right thing. And I think authenticity takes you a long way. So I think the growth in the NDIF has helped me. I think the fact that I've done my strap line is I built the business one coffee at a time, and I literally did. I made it my business. I then in the last, and this is the thing, when you're busy growing, you don't have time to network at the same time. So I feel like that's kind of fallen off the radar. And I'd say this year in 2024, that's really where my focus is going back to making sure the business groups all know me, the Allied health, you just never know who's where. The allied health practitioners all know me, not just in my area, but further afield as well. They'll kind of think, oh, does that, and even if it's not going to be me and the person's going to see one of my team, doesn't matter. Actually, that doesn't matter. But that being a name that people recognized, which I feel like right in the space when I was growing and probably when I needed to do it the most, I wasn't doing it at all because there's only one person.
Danielle Lewis (20:20):
Wow.
Ariella Lew (20:22):
I think that that's one coffee at a time is the answer to your question.
Danielle Lewis (20:27):
I love it. So I have a similar life business philosophy, and that is I will just have more conversations than anyone else. I will tell, I don't care if the person's potentially right or not. I'll just talk about what I do, and the more times I tell people what I do, the more likelihood it's right them or they know someone or whatever. But I'm most interested in your comment about word of mouth and referrals, and you have your customers or clients best interest at heart, and you will go above and beyond to make sure they're okay. And you're talking about authenticity and being a good human and that people haven't had good experiences with other service providers. That is every industry. You'll be surprised how far just doing what you said you were going to do and caring a little bit more than the other guy, you'll be shocked as to how far that will take you in business.
Ariella Lew (21:32):
But what's so funny, when people say to me, that was just so nice of you, I'm not, why isn't everyone like that? But I'm just like, but everyone's like that. Why wouldn't you be? What possible reason could you have to not be like that? I'm not saying I'm the most amazing person in the world, but it literally doesn't make any sense to me when people are like, that's so nice that you, sometimes we have clients, these kids are in hospital for procedures or whatever. So we make it our business to actually follow up and be like, well, and they're like, I can't believe you remembered. Of course we remembered we care.
Danielle Lewis (22:13):
Wow.
Ariella Lew (22:17):
I think that also comes down, and I learned this lesson growing up from my dad actually, who taught me everything I know. But I think that when you love what you do, what you do becomes who you are and who you are becomes what you do. And you can't separate the two. So if kids on Track disappeared tomorrow, I would still be doing this work.
Danielle Lewis (22:43):
I would
Ariella Lew (22:44):
Still be advocating for people, whether in the NDIS space or anywhere else, because once it becomes part of who you are, and there comes a point where the line between the two is totally blurred.
Danielle Lewis (23:00):
Wow.
Ariella Lew (23:01):
And I think for me, that's probably been my greatest strength and my greatest weakness.
Danielle Lewis (23:07):
Yeah. Well, and that was literally, as you were saying that, that's the thing that popped into my mind was is there a work-life balance or does it not even matter because this is what you,
Ariella Lew (23:19):
This is there is. There is. And I really try and I really try. I really try and have times where I'm not, I actually had a conversation with my three-year-olds in the car the other day where the phone rang and I was driving her home and I didn't pick up the phone. And she said to me, she goes, who's phoning you and what do they want? And I said, well, I don't know. I said, but do I pick up the phone now? And she said, no, it's your time with me. I made a rule for myself when she was born that I didn't answer the phone when I'm with her. And 80% of the time I stick to that.
Danielle Lewis (24:02):
Wow. I love
Ariella Lew (24:03):
That. I don't work weekends, I just won't. I try and put certain boundaries in place. I work two nights a week and then left. I'm about to go overseas or holiday or whatever. I don't do that. I actually, it's interesting you ask. I'm actually worklife balance, actually. We were away in October, back home in London, and I was consulting every night. So literally my day would start at 6:00 AM talking to my staff because of time difference. And I would be consulting till one in the morning
(24:35):
And I said to my husband, I'm not doing this again. I would rather not go on holiday. This is not a break for me. And we're actually going away in a few weeks again to see family. And I've said to my team, it's three weeks I will not consult. You guys can consult. And I know there's certain things you can't consult on. So if things you can't consult on, people will either wait or they won't. And you just have to have faith that that's going to be okay. But yeah, it's a balance and it's a daily balance. You make the best decisions you can when you can, and you have to just recognize what are the things that are important. But yeah, work-life balance in terms of having working full-time, juggling a toddler, having time to see your friends and making time for family, the road to see. Yeah, that's impossible. Something's going to give. Something always gives.
Danielle Lewis (25:26):
Well, and I love what you said, that it's a daily balance because you're so right, that changes each day. So some days it's the kids' day, and that is what I'm prioritizing other days. Sorry, it's a work day. And when you say work-life balance, it doesn't need to be every day I have this zen, but we ebb and flow
Ariella Lew (25:49):
For me Wednesdays. I have my daughter in the morning. I wanted a day with her. She's still preschool. I have her in the morning, and then I have someone come and help me out for a few hours during the day. So I literally have four hours on a Wednesday. I'm at my desk and both the morning and then the afternoon evening, I'm with her. And you know what? It's probably the most stressful day of my week, although people would call it work-life balance. So it's work-life balance in the sense that I'm doing it all, whatever that even means. But I wouldn't have it any other way because I know if it was like, well, which one are you giving up? That ultimately, if I want to take the stress out of it, I can't do any less hours on that day. So ultimately what I'm going to give up is say, fine, she can do another diet child, and I really don't want to do that. It's like, okay. Sometimes work life balance doesn't feel very balanced.
Danielle Lewis (26:46):
Yeah. Wow. I love that. And you're so right and it all looks different. It looks different to every person. Oh, incredible. Well, I feel like we could talk all day, but let's wrap this podcast on, I always like to ask our guests, what is one last piece of advice reflecting on your time in business that you would give to another woman in business on this crazy journey we're on?
Ariella Lew (27:18):
Find your people, not necessarily people that you have to pay your people and ask for help before you think you need it.
Danielle Lewis (27:29):
I love that. So true. I can't tell you how many times, and you're so right, it's not always a paid thing that you need to be a part of, but I know as I've been in business about 10 years, 12 years now, and it's those times where I'm like, oh, I know if I call that person, they'll listen to me. And even just talking out loud at them, I know I'll solve this problem. Having your people and asking for help, that's spot on. I absolutely love that.
Ariella Lew (27:57):
Yeah. And I think also, I think there's a lot of pressure in all industries that when people say have your people, the brain often goes to paid accountants, paid lawyers, paid business coaches, paid this, paid that. But actually, if I even think about the last six months, for me, my biggest help in business has been sitting with my husband who does have a real business brain, and my dad, who's a real out the box thinker, don't pay them a cent. I mean, they do get frustrated with me, but I don't pay them a cent. But had I done that, as I said at the beginning earlier, I probably could have avoided a lot of stress.
Danielle Lewis (28:40):
Spot on hindsight. What a great gift.
Ariella Lew (28:43):
Great, isn't it?
Danielle Lewis (28:44):
Oh, it's fantastic. Oh, a, you are absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for being on. Thank you
Ariella Lew (28:52):
For having me.
Danielle Lewis (28:53):
Oh my God. Anytime. I'll have you back again.
Ariella Lew (28:56):
Yes.
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