#awinewith Jessica Evans
MEET Jessica Evans, Founder of Pilbara Cosmetic
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:05):
Amazing. Jessica, welcome to Spark tv.
Jessica Evans (00:08):
Thank you.
Danielle Lewis (00:10):
Very excited to have you on and share your story.
Jessica Evans (00:13):
Yes.
Danielle Lewis (00:14):
Let's start out by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Jessica Evans (00:18):
Oh, goodness me, you won't be able to shut me up soon. I've been a nurse for, oh, I don't know, 12 years or so. Worked in lots of different areas and now originally from Melbourne, moved to Perth now live in remote Pilborough, so up in Kartha or Dampier and have a private clinic. So yeah, it's good fun. Really focused more on health now. Kind of gone from that cosmetic side back to health, while I still do a lot of that. Really focused on health education, dealing with conditions and kind of deep diving and a lot of prevention as well.
Danielle Lewis (01:01):
Yeah, awesome. What brought you to the Pilbara?
Jessica Evans (01:05):
My husband's work, so I've actually been running his business for eight years. Oh wow. We have another business that we started in Melbourne, then had Melbourne, Perth, Melbourne, Perth, pil, Brum, but he's been fi o off and on since he was 21. So yeah, the goal with his business was always to kind of get into the mining and get out of the city. So we kind of did that and everything was very last minute. We changed real quick, so it was like, oh, we'll buy a house up here and we'll just use it and visit and just, we've got somewhere to stay when the guys are working and whatnot. And then last minute we were like, Nope, we are moving. So we sold the houses in Melbourne, we sold the houses in Perth and we had just pilborough based now, and I love it. It's a lot slower, a lot quieter. So we are just out in Dampier, which is about 15 minutes from Kartha along the coast. And it's beautiful. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (02:04):
Oh wow.
Jessica Evans (02:07):
Live on the beach, go out on the boat. So just kind of slowed it down a lot. Well, I say that we travel a lot, so it's still busy, but yeah, it's just a really nice chilled place to live.
Danielle Lewis (02:22):
Wow, how cool. I had the reverse experience, so I moved to Kalgoorlie three years ago and I was like, it's too quiet, the noise.
Jessica Evans (02:32):
Trust me, there's still a lot of small town drama, that's for sure. But it is good. And we've got two boys, so they are very outdoorsy, so forever on the boat or fishing, swimming and motorbike riding or camping and things like that. So it really kind of suits our lifestyle now and when we want to be busy, we travel and we head to cities and whatnot and then it's nice to come home and just chill out.
Danielle Lewis (03:00):
Oh, that is so good. I love that. So what did you do? So you were supporting your husband in his business? Yeah. What part of that business were you running?
Jessica Evans (03:10):
Everything. Anything. That wasn't him. It wasn't him doing the job. You do everything. Yeah, so I was still nursing, worked in a hospital for a really long time. I was a theater nurse for a long, long time. Palliative care, you'd name it, community and all sorts of stuff, which I loved. And then I was still doing that. Had two young kids. I was kind of just nursing in the hospital casually. And then we decided to start his business. So I took over running a lot of it. His main role is he understands the job, but I was doing all the paperwork or the admin and everything else in between. And then we kind of built that a lot. So I didn't do too much nursing and to be honest, I really didn't like the hospital vibe anymore. It was very much, that's not my job or no one wanted to work together. It was just not the environment that I wanted to be in. I loved what I did and I didn't want to go to work for anything else. And it just became, it was
Danielle Lewis (04:21):
Politics.
Jessica Evans (04:23):
It was like I had anxiety about going to work because the drama was never really had anything to do with me, but you just didn't want to be in that environment, like doctors and nurses arguing or nurses arguing. And it was just, I didn't like it and it was just taking away from the patients I found as well, it was so heavy on the paperwork, you didn't have enough time to provide the care properly and whatnot, so it was a bit disheartening. So I kind of pulled away and just kind of did the hours I had to do really and kind of then focused and did a lot more on his business. And then when we moved up here, I don't know, two or three years ago now, can remember I was like, you know what? I'm going to do something for me and what can I still do with my nursing degree, but I didn't have to go back into a hospital.
(05:17):
And then cosmetics is definitely just kind of a progression for a lot of nurses that kind of want out of hospital. It's something that we can do by ourselves with the support of doctors. And there's all different programs now that support nurses to be able to do this by themselves. So I started with that and then brought in that beauty aspect of skin and whatnot. And then the more I kind of just started talking to people again, it was nice. My patients weren't unconscious anymore and I could get back to that community nursing that I really loved and that support and just more and more people's like, oh, I feel like this and feel like this. And I'm like, none of that's normal. So really trying to now support women and men as well, just really understanding them, their body, their health journey, what it is that they need. And everything that I do is so customized and I work with a lot of people in the community. So a good friend of mine, she's a nutritionist. You've spoken to her?
Danielle Lewis (06:26):
Oh yes, Anna, the good chat. Yes.
Jessica Evans (06:29):
So we actually work together. I do a lot of testing and we do customized meal plans and things like that. And then I also refer to others in the community like physio and Cairo and just the benefits of using things before you get hurt or before some damage is done and the importance of listening to your body. So we kind of deep dive into a lot of people's concerns and issues and understanding what it means for them and how to manage it that way. So while I still do the cosmetic side, it's very much a holistic focus now. So while they may want their muscle or relax and or whatnot, we kind of deep dive into what issues may be going on or underlining, we really get to the bottom of how we can actually support the body through aging properly instead of just trying to find a quick fix as well.
(07:25):
So yeah, looking at it more from the inside out and the outside in, which I really like and just get to work with people again. So while a lot of it is in the clinic, because people I find really like that I have clients in the uk, I have clients all around Australia. People will visit and go, oh my god, can you do this for me? And then we do a lot of telehealth appointments and check-ins and whatnot and support that way. And if I do head to Perth, I'll go do a home visit and stuff like that. So it's nice to get back to people again really and be on that level and work in the community. So yeah, it's nice to just do things again. I love it in that nursing space.
Danielle Lewis (08:18):
And it's so cool that you got to take all of the bits that you love about nursing and do it for
Jessica Evans (08:25):
Yourself
Danielle Lewis (08:26):
And do it in your own way. Do it for your own business, grow it the way you want to grow it. Take the good things, ditch the bad things.
Jessica Evans (08:34):
I love business. You have to do a lot of paperwork and whatnot, and your business is always more time consuming. I just really, really like talking to people again and getting people to also understand themselves and just lots of light bulb moments. You see people go, oh my gosh, I didn't think of it that way. I didn't understand it that way. Or a Dr. May have explained something to you but you didn't really understand. So then I break it down or give you a bit more information. And then it's just a lot easier. And I have been reaching out and I do have doctors in the community that support me and that actually refer to me now, which is really nice. So I'll do iron infusions and work care and home visits for people that maybe can't get out or I have a service where you can just book in to give me a call and ask me a question. It's like, oh, do I need to go to the doctors for this? Or what do I need to do? Or what should I do if they're unsure? Because I am very much too of not wasting doctor's time.
Danielle Lewis (09:45):
Yeah, totally.
Jessica Evans (09:46):
There's a lot of times where people go to the doctors unnecessarily, but because they don't have the information or they dunno who to ask. So trying to reduce those wait times for people that really need the doctors or even just reducing the time or the amount of people that sit in an emergency waiting room and it's not really an emergency. They maybe could have gone to a doctor's clinic for certain things and stuff like that or called a nurse. I get calls all the time and be like, oh, my kid did this. What do I do? Or I've got this, what should I do? Or can you help me? Or can you remove my stitches for me? I can't get into the doctor. And up here it's pretty difficult to get in regularly to a doctor. There's always a bit of a wait. So a lot of people are like, oh, can you just do this? I'll be like, yep, no worries. Come on in. How good. It's nice, that's for
Danielle Lewis (10:38):
Sure. That is so good. I love it. And so you mentioned the business side as well, and obviously there's always more time consuming than we think it is and a little bit more boring than the fun stuff that we like to do in business. But how did you make that leap? So you were working in nursing, so someone else has taken care of that you are an employee, then you start taking over your husband's business and all of that side of things and then you're doing it for yourself now. How did you learn those things? How was that transition? I
Jessica Evans (11:10):
Am very much a believer in obviously we can't know everything and find someone else that does. So we have a really, really good accountant that we set up from the beginning for my husband's business. And then in turn my business, we learned a lot in that. But I would do payroll and everything for his business. But yeah, finding someone that can actually support you. So we used to have office staff and everything. We don't anymore, but people come with different experiences and whatnot. And especially with the accountant, we've set it up in a way that it works for us. And the accountants are always doing their job. I'm not sitting there trying to pay bass, I just get an invoice and they're like, pay this. I'm like, okay, done.
Danielle Lewis (11:58):
Okay, done.
Jessica Evans (11:58):
Yeah, because that's not my thing. Whereas I understand my husband doesn't have access to the bank accounts for lots of reasons. It would be nothing left, but I am very much keeping up to date with bills and stuff. So you learn. But definitely getting that support. And even when starting my business, I paid to have access to a few mentors that had already been doing it, had been doing it for a while. I'm forever online learning, doing courses. I don't even know how many diplomas I am currently enrolled in online. So forever just trying to build my knowledge, but also if it's not my thing, I'm just going to outsource it. So websites are not my thing. Had someone do my website, social media really isn't my thing. I have someone that helps do all of that. So really looking at what it is that you want to do and what you want to focus your attention on as well, because we can't do everything.
(13:05):
And that means then we can't always do everything if we are spreading ourselves too thin. So having those people that are in your corner that can support you, whether it be paying for some mentorship program, you might do it once a month or maybe once every six months just to kind of get some bounce off information and get some feedback and whatnot. Especially if you are working by yourself, it's really hard when you don't have anyone else to talk to. And where I am with Anna and a few others in the community, we very much support each other. Even some of us that are doing the exact same thing, we will still support each other. We'll recommend to each other because we don't all do the exact same thing the exact same way and we like doing certain things and not other things and whatnot.
(13:58):
But it's nice to just be like, Hey, I'm really not sure about something. What do you think? Or I had this client come in, I don't know what to do here or where to go. And then even with a lot of the doctors are really good at supporting and whatnot, children side, it's really, I think it's important to see where you need those support systems and if you can get them, it doesn't have to be a forever thing, but even just doing a little course here and there in business, and actually when I was working at a hospital a long time ago, they put me through a business management course. Oh, cool. So I kind of drew on a lot of what I learned with managing people and dealing with employees and things like that. And the company that my husband has, we are ISO accredited, so we have gone through that whole process for environmental and health management and whatnot. So I actually learned a lot during that process and I have taken a lot of that and been able to implement what I need. So I don't have staff, but I'm not looking at having any staff. But definitely a lot of those things when you do have employees that you don't know about that I had no idea. If you don't hand out that fair work statement, it's a thousand dollars fine. If something happens and they're asked if they received it, it's a thousand dollars. I had no idea when we started the business that
Danielle Lewis (15:36):
I saw this social media, I saw a social media posts yesterday that they're now doing, if you've underpaid people's super, you could end up in jail for 10 years.
Jessica Evans (15:45):
You have to pay it back. Even if the employee was from years ago, you don't rectify that. You can be fine.
Danielle Lewis (15:57):
Wild. And so I love your point, it's like you don't need to be an expert, find an expert.
Jessica Evans (16:03):
And there are so many now, and I think with social media, there are so many people that have courses online and whatnot, you still have to be wary of some of them and what kind of qualifications, because anyone can get some online qualifications, find someone local to your community, someone in the area that you can reach out to if you do have a question. And a lot of the time they'd be more than happy to help and be able to provide the information. But yeah, definitely if you are employing staff, go and get all the information. Fair work has a lot of stuff online you have to send out if they're a casual employee or a full-time employee, make sure you have contract, make sure everything is written down, make sure everything is via email. It's really, really important. And we also have an external HR company that we use as well.
(17:01):
So there are lots of them. We use employee Shore, but there are so many out there and it's just handy because we've had to fire people before and whatnot. And if you don't follow the correct process, you don't have a leg to stand on. And some people can be nasty even though they're in the wrong, they will try to hurt you and hurt your business. So look at the way that your business is structured as well is really important. Everything is actually in my husband's name. So he has the business, but it's actually completely separate. So he actually doesn't own anything. So if something happened and anyone tried to go him, everything's in my name. So nothing would happen and no one could try to take our house or anything like that. So I think it's really important to understand the structure of your business and is it the right structure for your business? And a good accountant should really support you in that, especially if you do start to grow, your structure may not suit you anymore. So you need to change that structure to benefit you because obviously we can't get away from paying taxes and whatnot, but there's definitely ways that are better for your business and support your business more in the way that it is structured. Otherwise you could be paying a lot more than you should be, and no one wants to do that.
Danielle Lewis (18:36):
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that you're right. It's like business is a serious game. There's like the government, there's tax office, there's humans involved. If you don't get it right, you do put yourself and your family at risk. And to your point as well, your house, everything that you've built together, you could be risking that if you haven't got good advice and aren't putting those structures in
Jessica Evans (19:01):
Place. Exactly. And definitely insurance. And as a small business, I don't know any small business that could afford to have that happen. And we've been very lucky with my husband's business, but during covid time and prior to, we did see some businesses go under unfortunately because other businesses weren't paying and they didn't pay them, and they're the first ones to go under and they did lose their house and everything like that, which is really, really horrible. But no one wants to be in that situation if it can be avoided. So really looking at how you structured your business, what do you have in place? You've got the right insurances. Is there a governing body that actually governs you? Are you following their legislation and their rules? A lot of, especially cosmetics and whatnot like TGA, but then we've got a R as a nursing registration.
(19:56):
So we have all of these different bodies that we have to follow. And it's really important. And I think if anyone is in the beauty industry as well, making sure you're keeping up with any regular training, document it, because if something does happen, your insurance won't support you if you don't have anything to back it up. So that's really important as well. And I think we forget about our insurances sometimes. It's like, oh, hang on, I've added this new treatment or this product or whatever, and I haven't actually updated my insurance to make sure I'm covered for it. So sometimes you need to just, I think, take a little bit of time too and just evaluate. Sometimes I'm so bad, I'm like, oh my God, I haven't done this, I haven't done that. And I'll get an email, I'll be like, oh, whoops.
Danielle Lewis (20:43):
Yeah,
Jessica Evans (20:44):
And you're right, it can be rewarding,
Danielle Lewis (20:47):
But it's a good practice to be in. I find I'll do the same thing. I'll just have this moment of like, oh my God, I've forgotten to do that. So all my life admin slash business admin, oh my God, it's going to a list.
Jessica Evans (21:00):
And
Danielle Lewis (21:00):
Then for one or two hours a month, I just put a calendar appointment in and I'm like, that's the time that I just need to go through that list and just start ticking off items because otherwise you do. You just go, well, I've got to prioritize sales, I've got to prioritize clients. Everything else can wait. But it's like if you let it go too long, you can really put yourself into a little bit of a pickle.
Jessica Evans (21:23):
Definitely. Yeah, I can do that sometimes myself. It's not fun and I'm freaking out. But yeah, it is hard to juggle it. And I don't think until you have your own business, you realize how much goes into a business. For a lot of the time you just tend to go to work and you come home and you don't really think about anything else, but you don't realize what's going on behind the scenes. And there's still some people that just have no idea. And it's really hard to explain
Danielle Lewis (21:55):
Employees
Jessica Evans (21:56):
Especially, oh, I could do that.
(21:59):
Employees are reckon are the biggest headache. I always say that only because you're dealing with someone else's life. And at the end of the day, everyone is going to do what's best for them, which is completely fair enough. But it's hard when you rely on somebody and they don't come to work or they leave or something happens. And then you also have to be careful too, I think, to cross that friendship boundary as well, because then it starts to get really messy. It's like, are they your friend or they your employee? Because then when you do have to maybe show a bit of discipline or whatnot, it's very standoffish and they think you're nasty and whatnot. It's like, no, I'm your employee. And yeah, one thing, never employ friends either. Don't employ friends or family or family. Oh my God, never go into partnership with anyone. Yeah, I've seen way too many things happen. It's a hard one. But yeah, I deal with enough employees that I don't want my own.
Danielle Lewis (23:14):
I know at the height of, so pre covid, at the height of my other business, we had 20 employees, and it was at that point that I was like, I never want to manage another person again, ever in my life. Seriously.
Jessica Evans (23:29):
Yeah, we had a lot. And then we kind of made a few redundant, kept on, then some left and whatnot. I was like, yep, never again. Never again. I'm like, now we have a handful of a few and they're easy to manage and everyone can be pretty independent. But I was like, it's so difficult.
Danielle Lewis (23:49):
Oh, totally. And it's cool now you can outsource so much. You mentioned obviously accountants, bookkeepers, social media, anything. Well, you can just find people for the little
Jessica Evans (24:00):
Projects
Danielle Lewis (24:01):
That you don't want to do or you are not good at or is maybe not worth your time if you are at one level. So cool that we live in that day and age where it's like, yeah, social media is a great example. I don't want to do that. I'm going to get someone, they're going to do X hours a month or whatever. And that is sorted.
Jessica Evans (24:19):
Exactly. I had a few just moms that wanted to work but had kids at home and whatnot, so we didn't have an office or anything anymore when we moved from Melbourne to Perth. So it was pretty much, well, you just work at home. I'm going to send you stuff that I don't want to do. And it was like, you just tell me how many hours you've done. And I could see pretty much when they logged in through Google and stuff like that, what was done, a lot of it was just filing. We are a paperless company, so a lot of it was just online filing and sorting and updating spreadsheets and whatnot with data. And I did not have time to sit there and do all of that. So it was great. She was like, oh, good, I'm actually using my brain again. I would fit in hours when baby was sleeping and this and that.
(25:12):
And it was great because I could support someone that wanted to work but couldn't commit to something. So I just said, well, these are the tasks that I want done. You've got do them all and then when you finish those, I'll give you more. So it just worked. But there's so many women at home though that want to work. They just can't. Or childcare is so expensive or they can't get in. So there's so many resources out there, and there's so many women that are very educated that have a lot of experience, and you don't realize they can bring so much to your business as well, just by even having conversations and whatnot, getting them to do a few things for you. It's like, oh, wow, I didn't even think of that. That's a great idea. So I think social media can have its benefits as well. Some of it I'm not great on some of the information that comes out, especially all the health stuff. Everyone's a health group now and I'm like, gone, please stop. Yeah. But there's definitely pros to it. And like I said, if you don't know, find someone that does.
Danielle Lewis (26:25):
And I love your point about moms and people who are looking for that flexible work kind of environment, because a lot of big employers don't offer that anymore. They're still all on the, everyone's got to go back into the office bandwagon. There are so many people that want to work, but just really find it hard. And to your point, if you've got these little projects or little tasks or whatever, they would be so happy doing them. I think sometimes we think, oh, it's just data entry. No one's going to want to do that, or I can't afford a full-time person. It's like, no, you can get little projects done. Someone would be so happy to support you.
Jessica Evans (27:04):
Yeah, definitely. And that's what I found. These women had worked in offices and whatnot, but they couldn't commit to that nine to five. It was just impossible for them. But it didn't bother me whether or not they were working nine to five. One of them, she would get up early, she was up early, but her baby would still be sleeping. So she'd do an hour here, then deal with the kids during the day when they nap, she'd do a couple more hours and then when they'd gone to bed, she'd do a few more hours. And it didn't bother me as long as what I was asking that got done, it got done, and I would just prioritize as well. So I was like, oh, can you do this first and work on the other stuff later? This is urgent or whatever. And they had no issues.
(27:47):
And it wasn't as if I was setting hours and they had to clock in, clock out, blah, blah, blah. I was like, you just submit a time sheet putting the hours that you've done, and you can roughly work out whether it's correct or not by what you've given them. And yeah, they were happy. They absolutely loved it because it gave them something to do and use their minds again instead of just being in this baby brain mode a lot of the time, because it can be hard. You feel like you're going crazy, but they appreciate, and then also we would chat over the phone and how's it going? Blah, blah, blah. Or every now and then we might get together if could They were local and we'd go meet for coffee or I'd take 'em out for lunch or something. And it's really nice that way because you feel like you have a purpose again. And it was great because I had someone that could help me, and I had someone to also bounce off instead of just working at home by myself on the computer all day. So there's definitely, I love it out there.
Danielle Lewis (28:51):
Yeah, it's just nice. We live in a time where you've got flexibility. It's not the days of you've got to hire someone full time, you've got to have an office, you've got to be there. It just doesn't exist anymore. But I think some people still think that's the way. So it's nice to have these conversations, especially if anyone's listening, going, oh my God, I'm drowning in all of the work.
Jessica Evans (29:13):
And all I did was put a post up in Facebook groups to be like, oh, is there anyone out there that wants to do some office admin from home? And there were so many moms, they were like, yes, yes, yes, yes. And I was like, oh my God, I did not expect. And none of them were really looking for it at the time either because they didn't think it was an option or a possibility. But once they were like, oh, wow, yes, can I? And then I much met up with a couple of them or had a chat over the phone. They submitted a resume still, and some of them were pretty good,
(29:50):
But they're like, they didn't want to go back to work yet, or they didn't want to commit to those hours and whatnot. And I was like, well, it's flexible. You do, but I'm just going to send you what I want done and just, yeah, whenever it suits you kind of a thing. It was pretty casual, but stuff got done and they didn't feel so overwhelmed either, which is nice. So yeah, I think I love it. It was nice to be able to then support others as well. And then they're making a little bit of income, feeling like they can contribute and do things as well. A lot of them use it as their pocket money and then go shopping. Damn it. I need some more
Danielle Lewis (30:30):
Of that. Yeah. Oh, so good. So good. We could talk all day, but I love to wrap up these podcasts with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her business journey?
Jessica Evans (30:51):
Do what you love and make it fun.
Danielle Lewis (30:54):
I love that.
Jessica Evans (30:55):
Definitely. I think it's great going into business, but if you are not completely in it, or if it doesn't become fun anymore, then it's going to feel like a chore and you won't want to do it anymore. And then there's no point. What's the point? And it just affects everything else in your life. And I'm very much, I'm a preacher of, we have to reduce stress as much as possible. It really does affect us. So find something that you love and that you're passionate about and make it work for you. Otherwise there's no point really.
Danielle Lewis (31:34):
I love it. I couldn't agree more. Jess, thank you so much.
Jessica Evans (31:37):
No worries.
Danielle Lewis (31:38):
Sharing your story and experiences. That was awesome.
Jessica Evans (31:41):
Thank you so much.
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