#awinewith Kacey Gerovich
MEET Kacey
Kacey is the Co-Founder of TUFF Rings Australia and Founder of Kacey Gerovich Naturopathy.
Find Kacey here:
TUFF Rings website or Instagram @tuffringsaustralia @kaceynaturopath.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Casey, welcome to Spark tv. I'm so excited to have you.
Kacey Gerovich (00:11):
Hi, Danielle. It's great to be here. I think this is my first interview for the year.
Danielle Lewis (00:17):
Oh, well I'm honored that you're spending it with us. That's so good. I came across your story through the social club community, so I went along to the, was it the Christmas event? The
Kacey Gerovich (00:30):
Christmas one, yes.
Danielle Lewis (00:32):
Yeah, so I was blown away by your story and your honesty, and I thought we've got to get you on the Spark TV podcast to share with the Spark community. So thank you.
Kacey Gerovich (00:46):
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. It was such a great event. I love the social club events. So yeah, I love Spotlight events. They're good. I've always found inspiration in them, so it was really nice to be able to be out there and share my stuff
Danielle Lewis (00:59):
And such a good vibe, such a good crew of people. I went by myself. I am very new to Perth and so knew no one and everyone was so welcoming. So cool. You guys. The speakers were amazing, but yeah, just the whole event was awesome.
Kacey Gerovich (01:17):
Yeah, I love it. I love that empowered feeling of heading to things by yourself.
Danielle Lewis (01:23):
Yes. Well, it's a bit scary at first.
Kacey Gerovich (01:26):
The aftermath is good.
Danielle Lewis (01:27):
Yes, so true. Well look, before we, I feel like you and I, those types of people, we'll just talk all. So before we get off on a tangent about how good social club is, let's tell everyone what you do because you have two businesses that you are a part of. Talk to me about what it is, what do you do?
Kacey Gerovich (01:47):
Absolutely. Yes, I do. I have two businesses. One of them has been around for a very long time. I've been a naturopath and naturopathic consultant in clinic. My own business for, look, I graduated in 2003, but I would say there were times there where I've gone worked for other people. But as a general rule, I've consulted for pretty much the majority of that time period. So being in business from the point of having the older poster up on the wall with the pin that you pull off the number that was, oh
Danielle Lewis (02:21):
My God, I love that Marketing. So good
Kacey Gerovich (02:24):
Marketing 1 0 1. So yeah, I still work as a naturopath. I'm still in clinic. I work now from home, which was a decision I made just prior to Covid as our lease was coming up and my daughter was at full-time school and it was time to sort of make a bit of a shift. I was personally ready for a shift and it was just perfect timing. Until then, I was loving being in the clinic and having that space outside of home, but my husband and I weren't getting a huge amount of time together and it was a battle, but it was still the right thing at that time. And then you get that feeling right, it's time to pivot. And so that's what I did. I moved the clinic home and it's been wonderful. It's been really wonderful. Not a lot has changed consulting wise, however, for me personally, it made a bit of a shift. So yeah, that's number one. And I do that. I work three days a week in clinic and then we have tough rings. And Tough rings is a business that it's still pretty new in the sense that the last 18 months we've worked really solidly and hard on tough rings, and yet we sort of founded it four years ago. So my husband's sister and I founded it four years ago. We really didn't do much about it other than let it take up cupboard space with the worst website known to mankind.
Danielle Lewis (03:50):
Love it
Kacey Gerovich (03:51):
So bad. Now I look back what I know and I'm just like, oh, Casey, that was bad and we were selling
Danielle Lewis (03:58):
Well, and that's the thing though. You've got to start. I actually think that's the best way to do it because so many people spend so much time trying to get things perfect and polished that they just never launch anything. So I actually like that there's a good saying around if you're not embarrassed by your first product or website or whatever, you've done it too late. You're shipped too late.
Kacey Gerovich (04:20):
Absolutely. And ours was just horrendous. And so for those listenings, the silicon rings are, they're a wedding band and they break under pressure. So the Silicon Band is designed for people to work with their hands. It's not put on your penis.
Danielle Lewis (04:37):
Does that happen? Do people mistake it for that?
Kacey Gerovich (04:40):
I hope they don't. We haven't had that asked a lot of time, where does this really go? We're like, oh my God, you fingers and hilarious. It's a safer option and a safer way to go to work and go to site or go to, if you're a nurse or a police person, not going to hear the right words. You can wear it safely and still honor your marriage because I know it's social club, you saw me speak about this. Aaron and I aren't hugely, we're not really big wedding people. I wasn't bothered if he wore a ring or he didn't wear a ring. I hardly wore a ring to eczema and just a few other things. I'm just not huge lover. I mean, I love my rings, but I'm just not a big ring wearer and it doesn't bother me because I feel a hundred percent confident in my relationship and I know he's coming home. I trust him and I've never felt any different. As I've said, if I cook the right foods, he'll keep coming home.
Danielle Lewis (05:43):
Exactly, exactly. We know how this works. There's beer in the fridge and spaghetti on the stove.
Kacey Gerovich (05:50):
Absolutely. But Aaron loves his wedding ring. He designed it and he really loves wearing it for us. We're not really hugely wedding in, but it does hold that symbol of togetherness. Yeah. So we're sitting on the couch one night looking up Bengals actually for the clinic, the big women's event, empowering women and so on, and talking about libido and all the fun stuff. Get some bangal made to the people coming. So I'm on Alibaba and we are looking up these Bangal and Aaron. Then we start looking up all the funny things on Alibaba because having a good time is big, big part of our life. So we've got these bangal and my sister's like, what about this one and blah, blah? And Aaron's like, wow, there's my ring. Because he'd bought a silicon ring from the States and very tentatively bought it because he was like, oh, I don't know how much it is. I don't know how to convert it. He never online shops. Right. Very typical bloke. And he, he's like, oh, I don't know. Is it going to get here in time? What if it doesn't fit? And he had all these worries and hesitations over buying this ring. And then when he saw them on Alibaba, it was like a little switcher up and he said, we should sell these in Australia because people would want them
(07:07):
Just like me. And I'd rather keep, have an Australian business and keep the money and stuff here and make it easier for people. And that's literally where it started from an alarm, the couch. And here we are today, four years later, I've been busting it for a year and a half on tough rings, and I'm very afraid with silicon rings now.
Danielle Lewis (07:30):
Oh my gosh. I love that. And so cool as well that it just started as a solution to your own problem. You went and out solved it, then found where you could source it by accident and that light bulb moment of we could do this for ourselves.
Kacey Gerovich (07:48):
Absolutely. I'm very entrepreneurial, always have been as a young child. So I love doing stuff like that and anything to do with the entrepreneurship and always that thought of how can we improve ourselves? How can we live our ideal life? How can we do, we always think of that A high value for us is finance and money because it creates security and joy. And I don't say that money is a high value of mine with any holdback because some people feel like, oh, I don't want to say that they feel nervous or ashamed or embarrassed, important to them, but I'm not. Money is super important to me because I can provide really well, I can feel safe and I can take a family on holidays and fulfill my ideal life. This
Danielle Lewis (08:41):
Is amazing. So talk to me, I I was going to ask you the question of, so how do you find working with your partner and did you say sister or sister-in-law?
Kacey Gerovich (08:50):
My sister. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (08:51):
Your sister. So family and husband. Oh my God. But then as you started to speak about your values, it actually sounds like you guys have got this on luck, that you communicate, that you design your life. Talk to me about this situation.
Kacey Gerovich (09:07):
Yeah, look, I'm definitely the more full on with designing a life and planning and prepping. It's definitely my thing. But Aaron, he's there with me and he's very obliged, but he also to sit down and have a conversation, bigger picture and where are we going, what are we going to do? We are there and we do share similar values and definitely my sister as well. And the three of us get along really well. We get along well. We again have similar values and that does make a big difference. Absolutely. I think we're on the same wavelength. We share some pretty strong intimate values that are the same in all aspects of life. So it could be challenging and there are times where it is, but it definitely helps
Danielle Lewis (09:58):
That you have that foundation.
Kacey Gerovich (10:00):
Yeah, absolutely. And we have to be respectful of each other for sure. And we also know how to take a little step back if we need a breather,
Danielle Lewis (10:11):
Which never hurts. Never hurts. So do you have different roles in the business? Do you kind of split things up or is it all hands on deck? How does that work?
Kacey Gerovich (10:20):
Yeah, we have very defined roles because we have very defined abilities, nice irony, super part and meticulous and concentrates. And he does all the picking and packing and anything to do with dispatch really and inventory, that type of stuff. He's very good at that. Whereas that's not my strength at all. I'd rather be chatting to you, creating the latest picture. I'm more that marketing, pr, customer service, e-commerce, big picture. And then my sister is like accounts, accounts, dollars charts, Excel spreadsheets, apply for this, supply for that. That's her thing. And it's actually really cut and dry. We don't tend to cross over too much.
Danielle Lewis (11:12):
And that's so good because that's three super critical parts of the business that is, I don't know how you found two perfect people who you are relating to business. This is magical.
Kacey Gerovich (11:25):
Yeah, it's really good. It is really good. And so we sort of back each other up and where we're at and we cross over, look, I'll help him do orders and things as well. Sometimes we need that little bit of extra hand and we always do chip in wherever we can help each other. But having very defined roles was an absolute must from the very get go. And it was talked about on the couch that very, very, very first time we even spoke about it. We said, well, if we're going to do this, we need to have specific roles because the last thing we want to do is be getting a little bit frustrated with each other. So yeah, it's good.
Danielle Lewis (12:04):
And did you document all of that? Is it written down or is it over a glass of wine? How formal is the structure?
Kacey Gerovich (12:13):
Fiona's job, she's very good. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (12:15):
Nice. That's somebody else's podcast. Thanks.
Kacey Gerovich (12:20):
Because Fiona has a background and she's auntie B by the way. She has a background in management, business management, and works in local government or government. She is very good at those things, processes and procedures. And in the clinic I have very specific processes and procedures. We have what we call the bible and documents from opening up, turning the lights on, how to use everything. So we're already on that wavelength, so it's just a matter of Fiona typing it up. So yeah, we do, we have a group Facebook page and a group text message that goes stream or feed, and that's where everything happens. And we have a Friday night staff meeting.
Danielle Lewis (13:02):
I love it. I love it. We
Kacey Gerovich (13:04):
All work full time. Karen and Fiona are employed full time, whereas I work for myself between tough rings and in the clinic. So we need to have that time, but it's really the only time we can do it. So Friday nights and whenever we see each other and there is that understanding of it's enough is enough, like okay, no tough rings. It's not tough rings taught now hard to do when you're very excited about your business.
Danielle Lewis (13:34):
Well, and it is interesting. That is an interesting dynamic to navigate when you are. And there's plenty of couples who are in business together and do find it difficult to kind of switch off because if you are the entrepreneurial type, you're right, sometimes things are so exciting. And also depending if you do have the different job roles defined, sometimes one person's really excited about what's happening and the other person's also excited. So actually being able to communicate effectively and saying, okay, time out, this is waiting till tomorrow. And having somebody, a partner in crime that is okay with that is so important.
Kacey Gerovich (14:15):
Communication is key and it's something I'm super grateful for that we as a couple, excluding my sister on this one, but as a couple, we've done a lot of work around communication and sure we don't communicate perfectly. Lots of times we balls it up actually probably daily we have balls ups, but we also know how to navigate out of those very well. And we know how to conflict resolve between us. We know what our triggers are, we know what our wounds are and we can get around that. Now, that's not something I've ever been taught. It's not something I was taught to do. But what I know is anything in life, if you want it to work or you want it to be successful, you've got to put in the hard work. You've got to do the training and don't wait to have to fix it. Make the best before you get to that point. So we've done personal development, we've done relationship development courses and that I'm super proud of. I don't feel ashamed or embarrassed to say that we've done.
Danielle Lewis (15:19):
Oh, I'm fucking impressed.
Kacey Gerovich (15:22):
Yeah, I mean I think we're a minority for sure, and all marriages have their seasons, all relationships. And so over those times we've had plenty of challenging times. But one thing we can do is really communicate and rely on each other and trust each other and know we know. Yeah, we understand that little bit of difference how we communicate.
Danielle Lewis (15:45):
I'm impressed that you got a man to relationship courses.
Kacey Gerovich (15:48):
Yeah, it wasn't easy. He loved it In the end, he said, one of the ones we went to was a whole weekend and he was sweating and carrying on before we've left. And by the end of it he said, this is in the top three things I've ever done.
Danielle Lewis (16:05):
Wow, that's so
Kacey Gerovich (16:07):
Cool. What are we taught? We're only taught what we see when it comes to our relationship. So we only see our parents' relationships and they only saw their parents' relationships. And in no disrespect to either of our parents that they do their best with the resources and what they know of themselves, of their own communication styles might've been taught. And so we bring that and that knowledge with us and our own wounding as children from whatever it may have been into our relationship. And that means whatever we are doing in life, whether that be working in a business together, parenting those patterns and learnt behaviors that are there driving us and being that cornerstone for decision making and boundaries and all that stuff. So yeah, it was really apparent to me that we needed to work on things to have the best marriage and that's what we signed up for. Right.
Danielle Lewis (17:08):
So good. I remember actually, so a previous partner going to relationship or couples therapy or whatever we call it, and it was the first time that actually resonated with me. So I am an under communicator in my family. We don't talk about anything. We sweep it right under the rug,
Kacey Gerovich (17:28):
Much easier under there.
Danielle Lewis (17:29):
Absolutely. It just builds up and builds up. And it wasn't until someone facilitated a conversation and asked questions that we would never ask of ourselves that I actually got to understand the person sitting across me or from me. It was, I actually never knew half of the stuff that came out of sessions, even though we'd been together for a decade because I just never knew the questions to ask. I never spoke about those things growing up. So didn't know that I should ask those questions in a relationship. So actually actively going out there and seeking out whether it's therapy or a course or just education in general, I think that's so powerful. And you're right, yes, we're talking about being in business with someone and yes, this is a business podcast, but it is just so interesting. Any relationship in our life takes work. And I love that you said that's what we signed up for. The actual doing it intentionally. I think that's so cool.
Kacey Gerovich (18:33):
And it doesn't matter what type of relationship it is, if we can actually go, wow, when this happened, it actually triggered this for me. And I know my response was from a place of hurt or wound or sadness, and I know it actually in my right mind. I know what happened. Wasn't your intent to hurt me and I take responsibility for my actions and how I did this? Can we do this moving forward to be able to have a conversation like that, how to be taught that you either got to see it, you have to see it, or you've got to talk it through and you've got to learn it and you've got to practice, practice. And as I said, we bicker and carry on and all the rest, lots of people, but behind closed doors or not always, we can actually do that. We can come back to go, Hey, you know what, that was a bit of a dick move and this is why, and we can own our own stuff. And so it's key because to be able to do that with a staff member down the track or whoever it might be is going to be important.
Danielle Lewis (19:42):
Well, and that's exactly right. So yeah, we kind of focus on these growing in our own relationships, but as leaders, if we have team members, we also have to recognize that they're coming to the table with their own stuff as well. And so sometimes when we look at people's actions on our team and we go, what is happening here? You do have to dig a little deeper sometimes and really seek to understand where people have come from, what they think right and wrong is, and the why behind why they're doing or acting the way they're doing or acting.
Kacey Gerovich (20:20):
For sure. You got to know the why comes down to that for everything. So I guess the way we are and what we do is so intertwined in the message and the mission of a ring and having silicon rings because yes, it was about him wearing a ring to work and it being safer and all the rest, but there's really a deep sense of honoring our marriage and honor marriage. So
Danielle Lewis (20:49):
I love
Kacey Gerovich (20:49):
It actually. It feels really nice to be working on something that has a meaning so deep. And in clinic it's very similar. I love helping people. I know that I have the ability to help people and I've loved that for a long time. So again, it feels like it comes from a really good place for me and that provides content contentment
Danielle Lewis (21:13):
And how important as well considering. So also I'm seeing a few little kids toys behind you. There's a family here. This isn't just husband and wife. This is, we have one, two, how many kids have we got here?
Kacey Gerovich (21:28):
We have one. We have Tilly. She just turned eight. And I kept this here. I was, oh, I just need to clean it up. I don't like working in mess. It's funny, a typical Virgo, my car, you think it's the tip, but my workspace, I have to have spot on. Anyway, this is the eighth birthday present hall.
Danielle Lewis (21:49):
Love it. And she
Kacey Gerovich (21:50):
Had it on her bed, but she couldn't get in. So I said to her, put it on my work bed and we've got a couple of days before clinic and then we will ti it up and put it away. But that's the reality. And I thought, no, I'm going to leave it there. The reality of working from home, being a mompreneur working with children is that sometimes we got to adjust and
Danielle Lewis (22:16):
Well, and that wasn't going to be my question. So it really struck me when you said there are really these deep seated values behind both businesses, which I'm kind of thinking if you are managing a child and a family and two businesses, A, you've got to have that to keep showing up. But how do you balance it all? How do you do it all?
Kacey Gerovich (22:40):
And I think we need to be really clear that the clinic, I don't work it in the same capacity that I have in the past. It was an active choice. I was an active choice. I've been a clinician for 20 years and naturopath, and it was time for me to take a little step back and not do it full time because I wanted something different. My ideal life looked different. There'd been a shift. So yeah,
Danielle Lewis (23:11):
How did that decision feel though? So that's pretty big, going from 20 years doing the same thing, leveling up, growing that business and then having to say time out, I want to change. How was that process? That's huge.
Kacey Gerovich (23:28):
It took a year and a half.
Danielle Lewis (23:32):
I
Kacey Gerovich (23:32):
Gave myself the space and that was part of moving home was that I knew there was a disconnect. I knew that was going on, I could feel it and I wasn't getting the fulfillment all the time I normally would've. So I was like, okay, I need to make a shift. But you can't make a change unless you create space. So I had to create physical, mental, emotional, financial time. I had to create space across the board but not allow an expectation or I'm a rush for that decision to happen. Yes, I still needed to earn an income. That's a hundred percent. But I had this, I've been doing this work for a long time. So there were things that I could say, all right, I don't need to invest my time into that as much or this anymore. I'm going to do it at a different pace, slightly change things up and then see what happens.
(24:29):
So once I've given myself that space, then I sat down and actually asked a question that I ask all my clients, what do you actually love doing when it's wet, raining? You can't don't want to get off the couch. You're cold. What you get off that couch for what will you pick up a phone and have a conversation and not stop talking about, and I asked myself and I'm like, because those things are what sparked joy. And then what spark, what keep you going, right? Yeah. That's what your ideal life is, so why not? If that's what you love and you're passionate about, put my time into that. So when I ask myself that question, other than it being chocolate,
Danielle Lewis (25:13):
Mine's wine. That's all I was thinking about. Wine.
Kacey Gerovich (25:17):
I can't really start a chocolate shop if that would be dangerous. What is it that I love? And I love the marketing. I love the marketing side of the clinic and predominantly it's education for a clinic and service like that. It's education. So I like that. I like doing the creative side of things. And so when I actually nutted out, okay, that's what I like, and I already nutted out, this is what my ideal life is, these are my non-negotiable things that I will not work full-time in the school holidays. It's not negotiable. Yeah, love it. I want to be around as much as I can to parent. I want to parent my own child. I want that experience because I know it's a short period of time in my life. So it was not if any form of work or any change would encroach on that, it was a no because it wouldn't be long lasting.
(26:18):
I would not feel happy. I would struggle with anxiety. My mental health would deteriorate. So it was a no. So I was like, okay, it has to be something. So it was like a bit of a process. What's your ideal life? What are you and what do you actually get off the couch for? Okay, now we have to work with that. And I was like, well, we've got all these rings in the cupboard and call it the secret, call it whatever we want to call it, but we get this massive order of rings from the police dog squad. And I was like, wait. A bit of laughing that we thought we were getting done for tax fraud. We hadn't done anything fraud. We were like, why the police after us? Anyway, they ordered all these rings and it was just this light bulb moment of you know what? I'm working so hard on my new book for people and I'm learning all these e-commerce and I'm wanting to make these changes. I've got these rings that are in high demand and it's the craps website and we're doing nothing and they're just sitting there. And I love all the stuff I love doing is required.
Danielle Lewis (27:30):
Wow.
Kacey Gerovich (27:32):
Once you create space, guess what comes in? The universe serves right. It
Danielle Lewis (27:36):
Gives you the answer. Yes.
Kacey Gerovich (27:38):
There I was literally right there in my cupboard. So boom, I started applying what I was learning for the clinic and the book that I'd been writing for people to use into the rings. I just add a bit more each week or do a few more hours, a few more hours busier, a few more hours. And here we are 18 months later and doing very well.
Danielle Lewis (28:06):
That is phenomenal. But I could not agree with you more. The giving yourself space is where it's at. I feel like, and I'm still guilty 10 years later of being in a business that I just go, oh my God, I've got to do everything on my to-do list. That's the most important thing. If I'm not doing then I'm not working hard enough. But it is in the moments of stopping and reflecting. And sometimes for me that looks like reading a book or staring into space. Absolutely. Or talking to my partner. He's really good at, because he's not a business owner, but he's high enough up in his workplace that he understands business. He can ask the right questions. And so he probably knows very little about what I do, but just asks really poignant questions that make me think. And I'm like, oh, which sometimes you don't get when you're working from home by yourself,
Kacey Gerovich (29:03):
Not at all. The walls could talk. They would tell some funny stories, but they don't ask me any good questions. They
Danielle Lewis (29:10):
Don't ask any good questions. Do they
Kacey Gerovich (29:12):
Do, Danielle, you said, how do I balance it? And I think it's funny. I used to want to try and balance people's worlds as a clinician and women still come in and I'm like, I'm so tired. I'm working all the time. I'm yelling at the kids. I'm not having sex with my husband. I'm this and I'm that. I'm holding weight and I'm al the skin's out breaking out. I just need to get some balance. How do I get some balance? And that is honestly, I could record it over and over and I just don't think it's correct. Balance is probably some mystical place that nobody actually knows where it is
Danielle Lewis (29:56):
And
Kacey Gerovich (29:58):
Wherever there is, wherever we do one thing, there's always sacrifice.
(30:07):
So when I started doing, I wanted space to be able to move forward. I had to sacrifice something. I which I sacrificed the time that I would work hard on my clinics. And that does in turn reduce my income, the sacrifice. If I don't want to work on the holidays, I have to sacrifice my time and do things differently another way. There's always, there's always. So is it actually balance? I don't think so. I think we have to work out what we are going to prioritize, why we want to do it, how we want to do, what does it look like, and then we work out a way to make it fit. Because the amount of times I have moms in here and I think, you know what? You actually hate your job. You're not enjoying being a parent. This isn't working for you. And I know that we can't all just quit our jobs the next day, as I just said, to gave me 18 months to really settle with where I was heading. But we don't know our ideal life and we don't know our non-negotiables. We can't even create what it is we do want. And what we want is contentment and happiness and joy. That to me is the so-called balance. So I don't think it's about creating balance. I think it's about creating the life that we want and then it falls into place.
Danielle Lewis (31:32):
And I love how you said the word sacrifice because you are right. Whenever we are choosing to do something, we are choosing not to do something else,
Kacey Gerovich (31:43):
Something else.
Danielle Lewis (31:45):
But I feel like sometimes that's a good thing. So case in point where you said I had to create space to be able to understand and decide what was next and what would that would look like, but as a result, I had to sacrifice X, Y, Z. It's very easy for us to not want to make the sacrifice and stay stuck and stay in a job we hate or a business we hate or a relationship we hate or whatever it is because it's harder to make the sacrifice
Kacey Gerovich (32:18):
And it's easier to actually navigate pain because we already have patterns in place to do that. We don't buy extra size clothing or we tell ourselves that, oh, we're not good enough or we are this or that, or we have an extra few bottles of wine in the week, or we go for a massage. And I added up someone's cost to survive their life once and it was over $400 in one week. This client was spending my God, and she stressed, she didn't have enough money and she was spending over $400 just to survive the stress of working parenting in parenting all the rest, balance the balance. And that from a clinical perspective as a naturopath, it breaks my heart because sure, I can give people NeuroCom and magnesium and all the nutrients you're require to support the nervous system. But as you say, it's actually easier sometimes to do that than to step up and go, okay, I need to make a change. It's a hard little space or vortex to be in. But
Danielle Lewis (33:30):
Look, it is so true and you are just triggering me right now because it is true. I've been thinking so literally today having a bit too much client work on my plate and I'm going, oh, this isn't right. This is not actually the business you've been trying to create. What are we doing here? And then feeling guilty for sacrificing time spent there to not build up the other, the membership and the course and the stuff that's going to be a little bit more so I can have a little bit more balance. So yeah, it is really kind of hitting home just for me personally right now going, you're so right. It's just so easy to sit in pain. And I know I can do that every day of the week. That's fine. I can build that, build that, build that. But red flag, red flag, red flag going, that's not actually what the dream life looks like. What are you doing?
Kacey Gerovich (34:29):
And it's funny because people go, oh, you are working again. You are working again. I don't feel like I work. I feel like I live.
Danielle Lewis (34:42):
Oh God, stop it. I love that it's different. I
Kacey Gerovich (34:47):
Don't feel like I go to work. I just live, this is just my life. I just live it. And so if that means at one 30 today I have to pick my daughter up or at three o'clock today I have to go and pick up my daughter tools down and off we go. And the times that I've designated to work so to speak, or clinic or tough rings or home, they need to be, they are so batched and segmented like right, this is clinic time, this is homework time and family time and breakfast time. And so I'm pretty rigid if someone says, oh, come you don't want to do this. Oh no, that's breakfast time. That's dinner time. No, that's tough. Rings time. So yeah, I do work a lot of hours, but
Danielle Lewis (35:37):
You actually probably live more than a lot of people.
Kacey Gerovich (35:42):
I feel like I just do it because I enjoy what I do and if I'm not enjoying it, it's not going to work for me. I'm not going to do a good job at it, not going to reflect in my work or my life. Now that doesn't mean don't do the hard things. Just look at the big picture. If it's not working for me, then it's not working for anything.
Danielle Lewis (36:03):
And I love as well the time blocking and the systems and the processes and the non-negotiables because I sometimes think that we mistake freedom for I can just shove and do whatever I want right now. But I think that the freedom comes in the systems because
Kacey Gerovich (36:22):
A hundred percent,
Danielle Lewis (36:24):
Yeah, when you show up, there's actually nothing worse than looking at the a hundred things on your to-do list going. I don't actually know which one to choose. But when you go, oh, it's nine, I have my coffee and I do my sales admin, I don't have to think about anything. I know exactly what I'm doing. I go to that list, I answer all of those things. I make sure everyone's happy and done. There is no overwhelm. There is no decision-making. And I think that creates this level of freedom inside your mind, which is just phenomenal.
Kacey Gerovich (36:55):
A hundred percent it does. It's going to, if I just booked clients in anywhere willy nilly over my week and then worked things around it, I'm not going to have blocks of time to work. I also know how I personally work at my best. Now. Some people work really well late at night. I don't. I work really well. When I wake up first thing in the morning and I get started and I'm uninterrupted in the quiet, that doesn't work. Having a child going to school, what I work down is that now if I do drop off and I get straight home to my desk and I work uninterrupted until 1231, I can do in that four hours, I could actually do more work than if I dick around in the afternoon for eight hours. That four hours is my prime time. It's my most productive. I do all the things that are mentally challenging or hard. I do all my creative stuff generally before school pick up when I'm laying on the beds or when I get home from the gym. So I do blocks of creativity in those two spaces. Awesome. Now over a whole week, that gives me, what's that, about eight hours in a week. So that's a day's work.
(38:20):
But I do it because I know that I function in that manner. So I come home, I'll drink my water, I get home, read my two pages, lay down, set up, make any content or set it up or press go, whatever. And it's done through my breakfast run, school run, and I'm back to my desk. But if anyone wants an appointment with me between nine and 12 on a business day, on a tough friends's day or a friend wants a coffee, it's a hard no.
Danielle Lewis (38:49):
I love that. There is so much power in understanding your own energy. I feel like if you can decode that for yourself, your productivity goes through the roof and the resistance as well. When you are trying to push through. If you're not a morning person or you're not an I person or whatever, and you're trying to push through like, well, even for me, so I'm not kind of the opposite. So I took a little minute to get out of bed in the morning and for so long I just felt like, well, if I'm not getting up at 5:00 AM and in the 5:00 AM club and I'm not doing my yoga and my journaling and my whatever, then clearly I'm a failed business owner. But I know exactly when I'm good. I know exactly when I'm most productive. So I know when to do the right kind of work. And I know when I've got low energy. And so I've got a list of things that I do and I'm low energy. I don't have to think about them. There's stuff that needs to get done, but I don't have to think too hard. So that happens when I'm done for the day. So there's such power in understanding yourself and how you show up in your business.
Kacey Gerovich (39:53):
A hundred percent. And being organized. My sisters are uber organized, way above organized on me, but I'm pretty organized. There's no way in the world I'm doing washing while I'm working. I might work from home, but I'm not doing washing, I'm not prepping dinner. I'm not doing that until it's the washing and prepping dinner time.
Danielle Lewis (40:15):
Because
Kacey Gerovich (40:16):
As soon as my brain goes from one thing to another, you are going to waste time in that transition. And time is money, and time is life. If I waste time, I get less time with my daughter, I get less time with my husband. I get less time having joy in my life. And if someone says, you want to come for a coffee? And I'm like, no, sorry. If I adjust that, I'm now wasted half a day and I'm going to have resentment over that social time. I'd rather say, yes, let's do that at one o'clock on a Monday. I could do one o'clock on a Monday Works for me. Oh, it doesn't work for me. Well, I can do one o'clock Friday. And it's not saying no. It is saying yes, but I'm organized. Or it's that extra effort on a Sunday to get some stuff sorted or get my groceries done. And you do have to be organized, but you need to know what you want. And if they don't align, then you don't do it.
Danielle Lewis (41:10):
Totally, totally. And the power of, again, designing the life and really being intentional about that, but also setting boundaries. So really understanding when you do what you need to do when you have the most energy and saying no, if it doesn't serve that.
Kacey Gerovich (41:26):
Yeah, totally. The boundaries are huge. Last night I was falling asleep doing a bit of work. I could just kind of, I said, call it, stop. This is not productive. Stop. Go to bed and off I went and get done today. And
Danielle Lewis (41:42):
You wake up better today and get it done. And you probably get it done half the time because you had a coffee. You're alert. You're all good to go. I love it so much. You are absolutely incredible. I feel like we could sit here for hours. So let's just wrap up with one last maybe nugget of wisdom. So a lot of the smart community, new business owners, and if there's one lesson that you've learned perhaps over the last, well, 20 plus years now of running multiple businesses, what would you say to a female founder who's listening in right now who might be struggling a little bit,
Kacey Gerovich (42:26):
Block blocking, blocking your life, block your life like mad? That is a hundred percent my thing, because it's so easy as a small business person
(42:39):
To be doing, oh, I'll just quickly do this while the kids are there at the playground. Oh, I'll just quickly do this now. I'll do a bit of this now. I'll do a bit of this. And that becomes mental clutter and overwhelm. Well, it really does. Know what it is you want. Know your non-negotiables and block. Book your life. Absolute block it. This is my sewing time or whatever it might be. This is my work time, because then if you want to choose to do a little bit at the park, that's fine. But if you don't want to do it, it's also fine. And you won't have stress or worry that you're not doing it.
Danielle Lewis (43:19):
You are amazing. Casey, thank you so much for spending your time with us today and the Spark community. I have my own list of things I've got to go do and sort out my life now that we've had a conversation. So I know that that will have resonated with so many people. Couldn't be more grateful for you.
Kacey Gerovich (43:38):
Danielle, it's been so nice to chat to you. Thank you. Thank you. And look, I just hope you inspire so many women because we don't have to live nine to five hating on our families or our children, even though we love them. We can live. We
Danielle Lewis (43:52):
Can live. I love it. This is the best message to theme for a podcast. Living, not working. Yeah,
Kacey Gerovich (43:58):
Living. Not working. Yeah.
