#awinewith Jody-Lee Euler
MEET Jody-Lee
Jody-Lee is the Founder of redhotblue.
Find Jody-Lee here:
redhotblue website or Instagram @redhotblue.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:10):
All right, let's do it. Jody Lee, how are you? Welcome to Spark tv.
Jody-Lee Euler (00:16):
Thank you. It's so exciting to be here.
Danielle Lewis (00:19):
I know. So when I saw your bio popup and I looked at your business, I was just so excited to chat and share your story 25 years in business. I bet you've seen a bit.
Jody-Lee Euler (00:32):
I most certainly have, and I don't know, it's been an interesting year saying that out loud to people, 25 years in business and we've done some different activities around it. But yeah, it feels like yesterday in some respects. But on the other hand, I don't recall life without it, and it makes me feel really old saying 25 years in business.
Danielle Lewis (00:56):
Oh my gosh.
Jody-Lee Euler (00:57):
When did that happen?
Danielle Lewis (00:58):
I know. It just goes so quickly, doesn't it? It's incredible.
Jody-Lee Euler (01:01):
It does. Yeah, it sure does. And like you said, what we've seen in that 25 years, even from technology and obviously staffing and trends and the economy and our environment certainly been a rollercoaster ride.
Danielle Lewis (01:20):
Oh my gosh. I know. It's a rollercoaster on the best of days, I think.
Jody-Lee Euler (01:24):
Yeah, that's
Danielle Lewis (01:25):
Right. Amazing. Well, look, let's start by sharing your story. So obviously your creative agency Red Hot Blue is incredible. So talk to me about that. So talk to me about what your business does, but then maybe how you got here. So was there a career beforehand, other businesses? How did you land on this business?
Jody-Lee Euler (01:46):
Yeah, so Red Hot Blue is a creative agency and we look after everything from design, marketing, advertising, web, digital communications, and also event management. So there is an event management arm to the business because we're not busy enough.
Danielle Lewis (02:04):
Yeah, exactly. You don't need to sleep.
Jody-Lee Euler (02:06):
Yeah, look, I mean, our client base is very diverse. So we've worked with startup entrepreneurs and we love that space because we love being able to be there from the get go and work with them and watch them grow and see them go on to achieve success and their goals. But we've also got clients who have national and some even global presence and across probably every sector you can think of from government, obviously a lot of mining and engineering around the space and where we live in region, but retail, education, hospitality, there, there's a whole broad scope to what we do, which keeps the job and the work we do. Very interesting. Of course, I've got an incredible team of, and that really, I mean, I love what I do. I always have, and I also am a big believer. I think when you stop loving what you're doing, maybe it's time to move on. But I feel very blessed that I get to get up each day and work with an incredible team of people. And obviously over 25 years I've seen people come and go, but some of them that I still keep in touch with all these years later who have gone on and traveled and come back and been married and had children.
Danielle Lewis (03:29):
Wow.
Jody-Lee Euler (03:30):
Yeah, it's really special. And I guess for us, and for me, it's always been about our big why, which is on the wall behind me, which is create without limitations.
Danielle Lewis (03:45):
Oh, I love that. Awesome. Yeah,
Jody-Lee Euler (03:47):
That's very much been the driving force of nothing is impossible. You've got to keep challenging yourself and it's what we love to do and it's I guess why we attract the clientele that we do as well. So yeah,
Danielle Lewis (04:01):
That's a fantastic life philosophy as well. Anything is possible. I mean, I love that for business. I love that for life. I love that for clients. That's awesome.
Jody-Lee Euler (04:12):
And I very much often when I'm interviewed or speaking attribute that to my dad and my mom and dad. I don't come from a creative family, so to speak, but they always made me feel like anything was possible. So I think when you've got that sort of backing and at the age of 23 when I kicked off Red hot blue, the world was my oyster. You're invincible.
Danielle Lewis (04:39):
Yes. Oh, I remember the days.
Jody-Lee Euler (04:42):
I know, right? And I still guess I still hold really true to that value when we're working with clients is that they come in and they may have been misguided in their marketing journey by other agencies or they've just never embarked on working with an agency. And to see them start understanding that there is achievable goals that can actually happen is really exciting. That's where the real joy is. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (05:14):
Oh, that is incredible. Okay, so 23. What made you start the business?
Jody-Lee Euler (05:21):
Yeah, look, in high school, so I was always the left of center person in school, not afraid to walk to the beat of my own drum or dance to the beat of my own drum in my own dorky kind of way. And had a real passion for photography.
Danielle Lewis (05:43):
Oh, cool.
Jody-Lee Euler (05:44):
Yeah, so back in the day, pre-Digital where you'd go to the dark room. So I'd actually wag my maths one lessons and go and spend time in the dark room.
Danielle Lewis (05:53):
Awesome.
Jody-Lee Euler (05:56):
But I guess this was pre-digital days, and so going to the careers officer and saying, what can I do with art? It was be an artist. And I thought there's got to be more to it than this. So without the ability of technology and the old QAC books that you flipped through to find out what you could do, I stumbled across a college in Brisbane called Design College Australia, and I went and did a one week school holiday workshop and this whole new world opened up to me and I went, oh my gosh, I know what I want to be. I want to be a graphic designer. I understand what I can do. So right back into those school days, I just always knew I wanted to have my own business. So the desire and the dream and the vision was always there. After studying at college, I started up a business with two mates I went to college with and absolute dismal failure.
Danielle Lewis (06:57):
Perfect. You've got to have those runs on board, I think.
Jody-Lee Euler (07:00):
Exactly. And it was two guys I went to college with. One of them is still one of my very dear friends, and I was groom's girl at his wedding. So very special bond, but yet learnt so much, learned the hard way, but it didn't deter me. I thought that's just been a lesson. I'm young enough to bounce back from this.
Danielle Lewis (07:22):
Absolutely.
Jody-Lee Euler (07:22):
Yeah. Moved back home to Mackay and worked at the local newspaper in the art department there. So I'd actually worked there straight out of high school as a press photographer.
Danielle Lewis (07:34):
Okay, cool. The
Jody-Lee Euler (07:35):
Year straight out of high school before I went away and studied. And that was throw you in the deep end, here's your assignments, here's the keys to the car, go get the photos, have them back on my desk by five o'clock. But I've always been someone who loves setting high standards and then working towards achieving that. And sometimes that does mean jumping in the deep end. Yes.
Danielle Lewis (07:59):
Sometimes I think that's the best way to learn though. It's like I feel like if we're protected a little bit, we don't force ourselves to get out of our comfort zone and explore and sometimes just going think or swim, you swim.
Jody-Lee Euler (08:14):
And I think if there's that drive you're going to look, you may not get to the end as fast as what you could with experience and knowledge, but you, you've learned so many lessons along the way. And I think for me, that's been part of the incredible joy of all of this journey is what I've learned and through some amazing people. So yeah, came back to Mackay with the view that I would work a couple of years in a job and I would set up my own business, and that's exactly what I did. So two and a half years into writing all the advertising and producing all the ads for the newspaper, I launched Red Hot Blue in mom and Dad's Rumpus Room.
Danielle Lewis (08:59):
Yes. So good.
Jody-Lee Euler (09:01):
And I often laugh that I realized it was time to go and get my own office when dad would come down to the rumpus room and want to be able to get to his computer and he'd be like, he was at a bootcamp, all my projects and Mom's iron board became where I filed things. So she'd be like, I need to iron. So time to get my own office. But that's where it all started in the rumpus room at Mum and Dad's and and then grew from there. And mom actually worked for me for 10 years.
Danielle Lewis (09:37):
Oh wow. Amazing.
Jody-Lee Euler (09:38):
Yeah. So she looked after all the accounts because obviously being a creative, I was like, whatever,
Danielle Lewis (09:45):
Surely the money takes care of itself.
Jody-Lee Euler (09:48):
And Coin to be saying to me, Jody, are you going to send an invoice for this? I'm like, yeah, I'll get to that. But I was too focused moving on to the next job. So yeah, mum came on board and did 10 years with me and it was amazing. It was very special. That
Danielle Lewis (10:03):
Is so incredible. It's just so fabulous having that opportunity to have a place to get started in the rumpus room, have mom and dad on your team supporting you. It is so special when you have that kind of support system around you.
Jody-Lee Euler (10:19):
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that it's interesting being a mom to two teenage girls and what I see across that age group is there's such a lack of self-belief. I think people, and even not just their age, but even adults. And it often fascinates me because I think if you back yourself and you know where you're going, then I've found with excitement and enthusiasm, people follow and people want to be a part of that, and you attract that, but you've got to, I guess, believe enough that this is where we're going for people to feel confident that they're on the right road. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (11:03):
Exactly.
Jody-Lee Euler (11:03):
And as I said, learning along the way is part of the excitement. I've often said to the team, mistakes aren't bad. They're only bad if we don't learn from 'em. But making a mistake is often sometimes the greatest lesson in life because you do learn the hard way and you think, I'm never doing that again.
Danielle Lewis (11:25):
Totally. And it's really interesting. I feel like some people are scared to make mistakes because I guess they dunno what will happen, but you're spot on if you treat it as a learning experience. I mean, I found my best customers are after mistakes. So we've stuffed something up, but because we've owned up to it and then gone above and beyond to fix, they're like, oh, okay, now we know what you are in a crisis situation or after a mistake. And so they're with you for life. I think you can, if you reframe the word mistake, there's beautiful opportunities in it.
Jody-Lee Euler (12:03):
And it's so true. We often, our creative director here, he often says that the testament of a good company is not how they are when they're doing well. It's when something goes wrong, how do they deal with that situation? We're exactly the same. We want to be transparent and honest. We're about building relationships with our clients. It's not transactional for us, it's about we're excited on this journey. And I think because of what we do and we believe we do it well, it's about diving in and understanding that organization. So what makes them tick and what's their culture and what's their appetite to change, not just here's another person in that same industry, let's slap on some color and find a picture and good to go. Exactly. It's not how we function at all. So yeah, when you build that relationship and you feel a part of that organization, then honesty comes hand in hand with that.
Danielle Lewis (13:03):
And it's really interesting as well. I mean, people often talk to me about sales and the sales process and acquiring customers, but I just love what you've just said about building relationships. It's just all about building relationships. And I feel like it sounds like that's been the key ingredient to a 25 year success story.
Jody-Lee Euler (13:23):
Yeah, look, I mean, it's so funny when people ask the questions and you've got to really dig deep and break it down when it's something that you just do either instinctively or because it's part of your core value system. And yeah, you're right. We genuinely have an interest in people, and I personally do. People for me are my oxygen. So I get so excited when it's every single client for me is a blank canvas, a fresh landscape to sort of go, right, well, what's their journey look like and how do we help them and support them? So it's very much about the people and obviously the fact we get to create and produce inspiring, creative and all sorts of work is the icing on the cake. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (14:22):
Oh, I love that. That's so cool. And I assume too, that would proliferate through your company and to your team and the culture as well. If you from the top are talking about building relationships and really caring and being invested in people, that would translate, I assume, into your team as well. Yeah.
Jody-Lee Euler (14:42):
Yeah. Look, I mean, it's really touching. When you see a team member on their own accord, go the extra mile or do something that's just really just a beautiful gesture for a client. You think, oh, that's what we're about here. And that's been an important ingredient for me with Red, hot Blue is the right team. So yes, we have high expectations with skillset, and we want to attract the best of the best. But I have happily said goodbye to people who have sat in front of me with amazing portfolios or incredible experience because I've just felt they're not the right fit for the team because I want people to love their work environment. And you are always going to have those tough challenging days. It I'm done. But for the most part, you want it to be a place that people have got each other's back. I see that all the time, and it's really lovely. And just even some of the beautiful gestures that clients send us flowers and thank yous for things we've done just as we do for them. So we have Grace who became our accounts person. She worked for me for 15 years, and then she retired a year and a half ago, but she still keeps coming in.
Danielle Lewis (16:08):
That's awesome.
Jody-Lee Euler (16:10):
And brings us goodies and all sorts of things. But she was our resident cupcake baker.
Danielle Lewis (16:15):
Oh, cool.
Jody-Lee Euler (16:16):
Part of what we used to do for clients, if they had finished a project or we knew that they'd done well in an award or someone had had a baby, is we'd packaged up freshly cooked cupcakes and of course with all the red hot blue orange branding and the sticker and a little note and shit, and they were actually baked by somebody from here. So we went down to that level of not bought from the shop. So I think all those things really go a long way in building, like you said, relationships and longevity. We've had some clients that have been with us for 22 years.
Danielle Lewis (16:56):
Wow.
Jody-Lee Euler (16:57):
Yeah. So that's pretty special.
Danielle Lewis (17:00):
That's amazing. So I mean, I assume there's going to be an element of it that's your personality and your leadership, but have you picked up any tips along the way for attracting and hiring people that are aligned with your values?
Jody-Lee Euler (17:16):
Oh yeah. Look, to be honest, it's one of the hardest things. I think everyone says recruitment, right? It's
Danielle Lewis (17:23):
Not my favorite topic.
Jody-Lee Euler (17:25):
We're in Mackay. So we've got that added challenge up against us, to be honest in that being regional. And it's been interesting though because through Covid, I think we've seen quite a shift of people wanting to leave the city scenarios and be in original location because we did still have quite a bit of freedom during that period of time. But yeah, it's definitely one of the most challenging parts I think, of being in business. But I guess the things that we do, and what probably appeals to people is making sure that we don't just talk the talk, but walk the walk. So everything we are telling our clients to do, we aim to do ourselves with our brand so that when we're marketing for ourselves that people are seeing those sorts of things and not just on a superficial level on that really deep seated level and the things I aim to do for my team, whereby I may not be able to match the same wages that cities can do, but really give them that work-life balance. So that real flexibility, making sure that what's important to them is listened to. And then we look, how do we make this work?
(18:48):
And look, I've worked with some amazing mentors in my time who have really helped me to learn that the business acumen side of things, because as a creative, when you're starting out,
Danielle Lewis (19:03):
I know, well, that's a really interesting
Jody-Lee Euler (19:05):
Process and procedure and all those things. It was like boring. That's not important. I'm moving on to this project. But when you start I guess employing people and you have more and more people, that's incredibly important that it can't just live up here. Oh,
Danielle Lewis (19:21):
A hundred percent. And so talk to me about mentors, because I think that's really important. I think especially in the early days when you're a small business owner, you're wearing all of the hats and you're waking up in the morning, coming down to your home office and going, oh my God, I don't even know where to start. I feel like mentors are really powerful. They can be that sounding board, they help you fill skill gaps, all of those good things. What have you, I guess, sought out in a mentor, and how did you find them and what was that like for you?
Jody-Lee Euler (19:54):
So my first mentor, and he stayed, I worked with him for three years. So we were named top five in the state in 2003 for the Telstra Small Business Awards, which was very exciting. And I flew the team to Brisbane and we got a limo and
Danielle Lewis (20:15):
Oh my God, that's so cool.
Jody-Lee Euler (20:17):
It felt very special. So he actually was one of the judges, and I always say he took me under his wing and he said, no, Jody, you just latched on and didn't let it go. But what I loved about Darren was that he said to me, I'm more than happy to help you, Jody, but there's two conditions. He said, one, if you don't know something, you tell me. You're honest. I don't want you to deliver a creative version of what you think it is. I want you to be honest with me, and secondly, if I give you homework, you must do it. And so I just soaked that up because I thought, here's a man with an incredible mind and he is going to be able to teach me so much. So it was just, and I still keep in touch with him. He's retired now and he's in a different state, but I still keep in touch with him, and I hold him very dear because I think to give me, when we all know how time poor the world is and people are to have gifted me, not only his time, but his knowledge, and I do believe it was because of him that Red Hot Blue was able to thrive and grow.
(21:30):
Because one of the things I learned that stays with me today is this whole juggling and multitasking, and it doesn't exist ling because it just means we don't really do anything particularly well. We doing lots of it, but lots of it at various levels. And delegation was the biggest thing. And it sounds so funny now because I don't have an issue, but my team used to come and say to me, Jody, we haven't got much work. And I'd say, okay, and I'd have all my jobs and I'd go, oh, no, not that one. Not that one, not that one, okay. And they'd walk away with one each, and I'd still have 20 in front of me working, isn't it funny until midnight and we can do more? Oh no. And it was so funny. And that letting go and part of that, it was a massive learning for me because it had been my baby, it had been my brain, it had been what I grew. And I was like, I know I can do it quicker and faster, and I understand the client, but what he taught me is he said, that's as big as it's ever going to grow, Jody. And they're going to make mistakes and they're going to take longer, and things aren't going to be how you would've done it, but this is the opportunity to learn and grow. So yeah, because of that skill, it did allow red, hot blue to flourish and grow and bring on more people.
(22:57):
So I really hold him very true and dear for so many things that he taught me. I've then moved on over the years, as I said, that was 2003, so a long time ago, but then we've worked as a team with neuroscience. So a lot of the Oh, cool. Yeah, so understanding I guess, how different people naturally function versus how you may need them to function in a group, I think is a really powerful thing to be able to understand that and navigate that space. So yeah, worked in that area. And I have a real fascination for it because our eldest daughter has Aspers, so on the autism, autism spectrum. So she was diagnosed at three and she's 16 now. So we have done lot of extensive work in that area. And part of that is just the mindset of a person and how they see and perceive the world and process things. And that's very much a team of people, to be honest.
Danielle Lewis (24:03):
And it's so important. I was actually chatting to my partner about this on the weekend. He'd just done one of those personality tests for a team building thing. And it's interesting because I feel like a lot of people don't get that opportunity in their life. And when you work for a company that values everyone understanding their personalities, everyone understanding how other people work and their personalities, it really helps you become more self-aware as to how you operate, but then really helps you connect with other people in such a more meaningful way when you understand that their value systems and the way they approach things might be different to you. And that's not a bad thing.
Jody-Lee Euler (24:47):
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's incredible. And I think because of that learning I've had with our daughter and how that impacted on the family and friends and just the approaches and strategies we had to take it made it, I guess a lot easier for me then to sort of go, well, actually that's very adaptable to the work environment too. So that fascination of neuroscience came into play, and I witnessed it firsthand with my production manager back in the day, and we're still really good friends now she's in travel, but she was very much the yellow, red, and on the, so very much detail finishing all of that things in boxes. Yes, all about communication, creativity, vision, people. And so you had two very different people trying to approach, say, the one project coming at it from very different angles. And we would lock heads at times and she, I'd go in and say, I've got this great idea, and she'd just shot the book because she'd think you've lost me.
(26:00):
So what I learned and seeing it firsthand when you start applying it, when I could understand how she operated, I would go to her with a plan and say, I've got this idea, but this is how I think we could go about doing it, and these are the things I've thought of and this is the end thing. And all of a sudden our relationship changed and she was more, I guess, supportive and welcoming of ideas that previously she'd just shut down. Because for her, that was just, it didn't make any sense. There was no lineal path. Mine was like, Mr. Squiggle.
Danielle Lewis (26:35):
That's right. You're like, I can see it all in my head
Jody-Lee Euler (26:38):
The beginning. I know the end. We'll get there.
Danielle Lewis (26:40):
Yeah, exactly.
Jody-Lee Euler (26:43):
She's a by numbers.by numbers. So to experience that firsthand was actually quite amazing. And realizing that then how harmonious you can have a work environment if you can understand those things. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (26:59):
Oh, I think it's so important because even as just making that transition from business owner to team leader to boss is super hard going from that, I did everything, all of the processes are in my head. I don't have to deal with anyone and their personalities. And then moving to the first person thinking they'll work as hard as you will. It's really steep learning curve. I think for early stage founders to go on.
Jody-Lee Euler (27:28):
It's huge, isn't it? And one of the other things Darren taught me, my mentor back then, he said he was teaching me all these things and I was excited about, let's make it happen, let's implement this. And he said, Jody, your team are not going to embrace this as quickly and as enthusiastically as you. And I'm like, why?
(27:51):
You're telling us that this is a better way to do it, do it. And he explained to me, do you know what I mean, that everybody, like you said, have got different ways in which they're going to approach things. And so therefore, some of those personal experiences they may have had are going to mean that they're going to adapt things at different timeframes and needing to process and understand where they fit in the puzzle if it's changing a little. Yeah. So it was exactly what you are saying, all of those things that you go, oh, whoa, okay,
Danielle Lewis (28:24):
We're going to have to approach this in a different way. What
Jody-Lee Euler (28:26):
Do you mean? I just want to make it happen. So yeah, it is an interesting journey, isn't it? Because all of a sudden, like you said, it's not just about you and your vision, but it's about how can I bring everybody on this journey with me, but allow 'em to feel confident and safe and that they are valued and that their opinions and views might be very different to mine, that they
Danielle Lewis (28:53):
Matter. Yeah,
Jody-Lee Euler (28:54):
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, it's 25 years. I've certainly worked with a diverse group of different people. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (29:04):
No, I love that so much. So what's been, what do you think reflecting on that 25 years has been one of the, I guess, game changers? You've had lots of advice, you've tried different strategies, you've obviously grown the product suite over time. Has there been any moment along the way where you've gone that thing that we did or that learning has really changed the game for us in business? Yeah,
Jody-Lee Euler (29:33):
There's probably a few, I guess marker
Danielle Lewis (29:38):
Milestones
Jody-Lee Euler (29:40):
Where you sort of go, oh, wow, that was a very different era to what this is. Because obviously, again, sort of that pre-digital space, I mean, I was using computers, but we weren't using email. Communication wasn't obviously to the level that it is now and phones and social media and all those sorts of things, but I'd probably say one of them would definitely be in that award space where in 2003 we got recognized there was the Telstra Awards. I won young manager of the year with Australian Institute of Management. And so what it did was the media coverage we got from that. It really elevated, excuse me, the awareness and credibility of what we do, because I think the hardest thing in our space in the creative industry is people just think we're drawing pretty pictures. Yeah, totally. Oh, cool. You can have fun and what a creative environment.
(30:43):
And you're like, yeah, but the fine line you walk is making sure that you maintain an environment where people can truly thrive and grow and be creative and have inspiration, but also the professional side of things. And we're not just creating pretty pictures. Everything we do has purpose and intent. So it's that peeling back the layers and really diving in and finding what that marketing message is, and that takes time, and it takes the ability to look at things through fresh eyes and take the blinkers off that clients often have. So by being recognized through those awards, it really catapulted red, hot blue into this space of people. They obviously know what they're doing, what they're doing. So that was a really big moment for me. And then obviously off the back of that, having this mentor teach me so much, I would probably say then obviously when we went into the event management side of things too.
(31:50):
So again, that brought in a very different scope of work and exposed us to some really big clients. So we've grown some events from absolutely nothing to huge events that have been recognized across the nation. And even through Covid, a charity event that I was a director of for ovarian cancer because of a past employee and friend who passed away from it. But prior to that, she came to me and said, will you help me do something? And so we grew that from nothing. It got recognized by the national organizations. They would come to mackay, end up being over 800 seat event in a park, and they're a massive ee Wow. Cool. And then with Covid hitting, when other events were just shutting down, I said to the team and the committee, no, we can't lose momentum. We can do this. We've just got to reframe our thinking where there's, and so we basically wrote a three hour TV show created sets like TV sets in a vacant shop that the landlord I knew, and we had Sunrise reporter, Bianca Stone, she flew up and was our mc. We did live crosses across the nation to sporting heroes and celebrities and all that sort of stuff.
(33:20):
So just the ability, I think, to say, we can do this, and that whole digital space allowed us to do it. But by being able to be nimble and not be blinkered by some of the challenges that were around us, and that's that whole create without limitations. I come back to that every time. It's like, yes, COVID is upon us. Yes, we can't hold an event with 800 people. We can't even hold an event with 50 people, but how do we do this? So we donated over $400,000 in the five years,
(34:01):
And in that year alone, when we had no live auctions, no merchandise that we could do no raffles, which is where ticketing, we still raised a hundred grand during a pandemic purely by taking the message out across the nation. So yeah, that's probably another big part to the business where showing people just what was possible through thinking differently. And we have the little tagline, intelligent creativity, because the creativity for us is a given, but it's the intelligent approach we take to things and strategy. But yeah, look, the digital space obviously is a big game changer and good and bad. I sometimes reflect on the way in which things were done in the past, and we've conducted what's called Creative Minds, which were workshops for teenage students, and we bring them in for a week into the studio, and we don't let them have one digital device that whole time. We say, the ideas come from here, and as soon as you start going down that rabbit hole of Googling lose where that vision was headed. So start with the idea and build from there. I think that's
Danielle Lewis (35:26):
Just a great business tip. People should be doing that in their business. Just go, I've got a problem to solve. Or I'm thinking about strategy for next year or whatever it is. Taking that time to actually switch off and yeah, see what comes out of here. Yeah,
Jody-Lee Euler (35:42):
I was one of the keynote speakers at an event in Brisbane recently. It was called The Big Ideas Summit for Queensland Independent Schools. And I spoke, so I'm like, it's called The Big Ideas and what am I going to do? But I actually got them to think about inside the box, and I said, we all talk about thinking outside the box. Let's talk about Inside the box. What I challenged them to do was to start with the core of that idea, and I gave them little cardboard boxes and I said, I want them to, and it was branded red hot blue, and I said, I want you to take these away and put them on your desk or in your offices or your classrooms or wherever it may be. And every time you're starting to lose, I guess, connectivity to what that original idea was, go back to the idea you put in the box and see if you're on track with it. Because if you've got the core of an idea, you can grow from there. But if you're just grabbing things because it's the latest trend or it's the next shiny thing that came up, or that looks pretty, there's no substance to it. So yeah, so it was quite ironic that it was big Ideas Summit, and I went, I'm going to talk that inside the box
Danielle Lewis (37:01):
Rather than, it's incredible though. It's when we can challenge ourselves to tackle a problem differently, I think that's where the magic happens.
Jody-Lee Euler (37:11):
Yeah, absolutely. And we see too often, I guess, businesses that we work with where they haven't actually got down to their brand promise and their why, and therefore they're wondering why customers aren't able to connect with them. Because we're like, well, if you can't simply deliver what your brand promise is, how do you expect your customers to do it? So build on those messages. Yeah, that's red hot blue for 25 years. I've always come back to our why, which is Create without limitations. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (37:54):
Jody Lee, you are absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for spending your time with the Spark Community, those insights and that wisdom is phenomenal. Thank you for being so open with us. You
Jody-Lee Euler (38:06):
Are welcome. Thank you for having me. I know we could talk all after. I
Danielle Lewis (38:09):
Know. I wish. I wish we could talk all. I love
Jody-Lee Euler (38:14):
It. Thank you for having me. It's been lovely. Yes.
