#awinewith Karen Dennet
MEET Karen, founder of Karen Dennett.
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:05):
Karen, welcome to Spark tv. It's so good to have you here.
Karen Dennett (00:09):
Hi. Thanks for having me here. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.
Danielle Lewis (00:13):
I love, we've both got the yellow memo today, like bright and sunny and positive vibes.
Karen Dennett (00:19):
I know the sun's out here in wa.
Danielle Lewis (00:22):
Oh yes it is. I live in Kalgoorlie in wa and it has been raining all week and it's nice and sunny right now.
Karen Dennett (00:30):
Oh yeah. It just seems to have come out for today.
Danielle Lewis (00:33):
That's nice. We need it. We need it. Let's kick things off by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Karen Dennett (00:40):
Hi. Yes. So I'm Karen Dennis. I am a business mentor and strategist and I help women who are either establishing they want to or they're thinking about or they're already established in their own business and I help them with the tools, the resources and the strategies to basically take their ideas to lift off.
Danielle Lewis (01:08):
I love that we could all use a bloody helping hand in business. Definitely. That is so good. What do you find is the number one thing people need help with when they're starting their business?
Karen Dennett (01:22):
I think there's a couple of things. So I think someone's, especially, I think I find this for women as well. I do predominantly work with women and I think the biggest thing is actually giving yourself permission to be able to set up the business. And whether that's permission because you don't have the confidence in your own abilities. I think as women, we always feel that we have to tick every box on the criteria before we're able to do something.
Danielle Lewis (01:51):
Why this? Why are we like this?
Karen Dennett (01:53):
I know. I don't know. We feel like it's almost like when this happens, I give myself permission to be able to do it. So many women hold themselves back and they don't necessarily, they almost feel, they talk to lots of different people and ask people's opinions, but it's almost like they're waiting for someone to say, yes, you should do it. And then they're like, yes, that's given me the motivation to go ahead. So I think having that permission or that sort of sense and perception of permission that yes, I can do this. And I think the other one as well for women is actually, I guess it's that access to funding.
(02:34):
And it comes to a financial mindset where especially if potentially you're a mom as well, it's that idea that you are there, you give to everybody else and put into a business can potentially be seen as selfish almost. Not that it is, but it's almost like you feel you're taking money away from the family put into your business even though it's a business for everybody. So I think that sense of spending money on your business to move forward can sometimes be quite hard. So women hold back because they're not investing in themselves fully. And I'd probably say another massive challenge that women face is really marketing and being able to identify what is the actual value that I'm putting out there? What do I bring?
(03:28):
How do I make a difference? Because a lot of times when we say What are your goals? A lot of women and people in business when they start is around that idea of, I know what I want to do, but I don't necessarily know what is that transformational outcome I'm creating for my customers. So yeah, so I think those three, the money side and being willing to invest in yourself, the giving yourself permission to actually even start the business and feel like you are able and you've got everything you need to start. And then that marketing and knowing your value and the transformation.
Danielle Lewis (04:06):
It's really interesting and it strikes me because a lot of that staff is mindset related and I always thought, so I'm a salesperson by trade. Before business I was a salesperson and I dunno, I guess I was technical, so I learned the steps and I just learned that if you did the steps, you got the result. And I kind of brought that attitude into my business and that has served me very well. And now that I teach people how to sell, I am so shocked by the fact that I can tell them what to do, but they won't do it. It's all minds. Everything we do in business gets hamstrung by our mindsets.
Karen Dennett (04:50):
Yeah, absolutely. And then so one of the things that I have, one of the, I guess strings to the bow is I'm a certified practitioner for the entrepreneurial mindset profile. This is cool. Yeah, it's awesome. And when I took it, I found myself, it was years ago, I was running my education business at the time and it was like my confidence was down on one, but my interpersonal sensitivity and need to achieve we're up on five. So when you look at the tool and you look at it is not necessarily even the scores that make the difference, it's actually the conversation around why did you answer the questions in that way to generate that and what was the reason for that answer and that thought and some of these aha moments that come out of it, you suddenly realize that's holding me back. So yeah, a hundred percent I'm all about the mindset and helping women to really look at how they can level up their mindset to be more present and effective in their business.
Danielle Lewis (06:02):
Do you have any tips for that? Because I think it's, it's easy for us to sit here and say it's mindset, and I love the do the work phrase, what do I need to do? Tell me. I do. Yeah. But do you have any tips? So if somebody is listening in and they're struggling to take the next step and whatever that looks like. I mean, I know even myself I'm having, I'm recording course content today, so I'm procrastinating like you would not believe it's not good. But yeah, so I'd love to know if you have any tips or even just to bring awareness to it for people who might be struggling because they're lacking a little confidence or feeling a bit imposter or holding themselves back in some way.
Karen Dennett (06:50):
Yeah, absolutely. So I think there's a couple of things because 14 scales on the mindset. You've got seven skills and seven personality scales. So I'll probably say just a couple of tips that I would say I would definitely do is one is actually the future focus. So the concept of actually looking really far ahead in terms of what even is my exit strategy for this business? So where do I see myself taking this business and finishing up? And a way that you can do that is almost like write the chapters that would appear in your business story. So you start off with the first few that potentially could have already happened, what happened in those, and write the titles of the chapter and then where that then business goes. And then the final chapters are how you then close up the business and what happens to it.
(07:47):
So because where you take your business, your exit strategy is essentially what you need to be focusing on in your business. So if you're planning on building a big business and selling it, then you need to be thinking about profitability and you need to be thinking about strong product lines and building customer base and things like those things that you can actually sell because they're at goodwill and assets. Whereas if you are thinking about that, you just want to run a business because you want to have a really great lifestyle and put some money aside for when you retire and you want to keep doing this type of work and you're not worried about selling it or passing it on, then cashflow is going to be really important to you. So that initially is your very end goal, but then you need to then think about what is my five-year goal? Where do I see myself at the end of 12 months? I always get the women that run an EMP session with me to write themselves a letter from their future self in 12 months time.
Danielle Lewis (08:48):
Oh my God, I love that.
Karen Dennett (08:50):
Yeah. Yeah, it's so nice. And I love hearing the letters as well because really heartfelt. And then we then break down that into what are the meaningful goals for success and my terms in determining what that success looks like and then breaking it down into shorter action plans. So then what you find is that if you find that you've got really low future focus because you can't even see past the end of the week, let alone what's happening next year, if you do this exercise, then what happens is that all of the actions that you take are intentional because they're working towards your long-term vision. So even if you just set in a few actions, you've already got that mindset of what you want to achieve anyway. And it's there. And I would say for imposter syndrome, if you haven't got the customer base, the skills or even your learning as you go, think about your stories and think about your purpose and vision because people invest in who you are and why you're doing it. So if you've got a strong purpose and vision that's focused on impact and you focus on what am I actually creating and what is the difference I'm creating for the people and who it's for, then it takes a focus off of who you are. It just focuses on the impact you are creating. So there's a couple of little tips or things that you can do.
Danielle Lewis (10:14):
Oh my gosh, I think that's so cool. I love, well, a couple of things. I love a lot of things out of what you just said, but I am really interested in the, so when you talked about thinking about the exit of the business
(10:28):
And thinking all the way into the future and what that looks like, and I just love that you talked about setting that vision on your own terms. I often feel like we have arbitrary goals based on what we see other people doing online, not what is really true to us. And if I've learned one thing after 12 years in business is that if you are not really, really aligned to where you are going, it is bloody hard to get up out of bed every day and work towards a vision that is not yours. And so I just love that going through that exercise of really diving deep into why you're actually running this business or starting this business and reflecting on what that looks like, whether it is the legacy piece or the family holiday piece, whatever end of the spectrum that is, I think that's so important, such an important exercise for people to do.
Karen Dennett (11:29):
Yeah, definitely. And if I see another advert that says, here's how I got to seven figures, and you can do it like me because they're different businesses and it's totally different approach. You can't take one sales model and apply it to every single business, the outcomes are going to be different.
Danielle Lewis (11:49):
Oh my God, it's so true. And it annoys me because revenue is not profit. Oh, don't worry. I love a lot when pets crush the calls normally
Karen Dennett (12:02):
Streaming.
Danielle Lewis (12:03):
Yes, I love it. But no, I'm the same again, after being in business for so long. I think when I started in business, and it's funny because my business has taken on different forms. So scrunch, my first business that's been around for 12 years now, it was that tech startup model. We raised capital, we spent it all massive teams building technology. That was the business jour back then. And it wasn't about making profit, it was all about that cycle. And then economic crises, covid things, all things. And then investors started to change their tune to profit led businesses. And it was kind of, I only learned these things as I went through the business journey. And now it really annoys me because I'm like, there's not enough talk about what does revenue mean? What does profit mean? I remember I was like, you know what?
(13:01):
When we crack a hundred K in a month, I'm going to go out and buy a design a handbag that's going to be like my thing. And then I was like, oh, this business isn't mine. It's shareholders. I make no money. I was really a huge reality check on how you actually design your business so that it supports a life that you want. And it was just such a rude shock. And I think there are so many people out there that say the words, six figures, seven figures, eight, I'm seeing eight figures now. And I'm like, it's just no reality in terms of what it actually takes to build those businesses and if they're even profitable
Karen Dennett (13:40):
And even context as well, what's the context? And success is measured differently for each person. And to say that it's not the monetary value that makes a difference, it's actually achieving the lifestyle that's important for you, that's going to give you that happiness and that fulfillment in life. So seven figures might not be your goal, but everyone assumes that a massive amount of money is going to suddenly change your life and make your life happier. But it's not. It's relationships, it's fulfillment. It's about having that balance and doing work you love and making a difference.
Danielle Lewis (14:20):
Oh my God, I couldn't agree more. I just feel like the sooner people can align their businesses to those real goals, the more fulfilled, and I think as well, the bigger they become anyway, the more growth you see anyway because you love showing up for them and the time that you spend on the business is actually more joyful, more intentional. And people feel that energy. People see it and it want to be around you when you love what you're doing.
Karen Dennett (14:55):
Yeah, definitely. A hundred percent. That's what we find with the Future Female Leaders program. So I'm one of the co-founders and directors on the Future Female Leaders Program here in WA, and people, it's gained so much traction. We ran a pilot with seven girls. We pulled the pilot together in four months, me and Claire. And then obviously we've got Emma now, and there's the three of us that run the program. But there's so many companies that are on board with the program and everybody benefits. So the mentors, the contributors, the girls, their parents love it. And it's like everybody gets something out of it and feels really good from it. And I think when you've got a mission and a vision and something where you actually transforming lives and making a difference, people just want to be a part of that. And it is just, that's what people will follow you. If you focus on the impact, it's 100%. If you're focusing on the numbers and the figures and you're stressed about finances, that's when things I think seem to tend to fall apart.
Danielle Lewis (16:01):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So how did you get into this? How did you actually get into running a business for yourself?
Karen Dennett (16:09):
Well, I've always been a little bit of an enterprise geek. I'm not going to lie. I was terrible at school. I do have a DHD as well. So my school reports were always, if you could just chat less and focus more. And it was like, you're never going to do well. No one ever had any expectations of me at all. But I took business as an accident in a level and messed up my, I took textiles. I saw Pretty in Pink, and I watched Molly Ringwald making her own clothes, and I thought, I want to make my, oh my God. And then I found that I can't draw, so I was like, well, that's not going to work. I messed up my choices and then decided to, I saw business and thought that looks all right. And I had to convince five teachers, and I took it and I was like, wow.
(17:06):
And I just got it, and I got an A, which was my first A ever as a student. And then I went onto uni and did marketing, and my brain just worked for business and marketing and the whole psychology. I love the whole branding, psychology and everything behind it. And then I worked in marketing and comms, but when I had my kids, I thought, oh, I'll be a teacher. And then I had this very naive idea that being a teacher would be easy and it would fit around my kids, and it's actually really hard. And then I taught high school business enterprise finance, and I created laser partnerships and run our own version of The Apprentice and did all these fun stuff.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Oh, wow.
Karen Dennett (17:49):
But yeah, oh, it was so much fun, but it was just too hard being a teacher. There's just so much, and I find it really frustrating. So I created my own education company where I could create that link between the classroom and industry and upskilled teachers, and that went really well. And then from the education company, future Female Leaders came from that, which was an amazing collaboration. And then I realized that my cup was full through the education piece with future female leaders and being quite a, I would probably say a champion for women and always seeing that there's so many challenges that women face that are invisible, that men actually genuinely don't face
(18:36):
Unless they are parents and they're experiencing that or they are men. There are definitely specific challenges to both genders. But I think from having experienced the ones that women face, I really wanted to use all that marketing, all my teaching and education and all of my understanding of business and enterprise, my running and company myself. And I wanted to bring that all together to help women and champion them and really give them that support strategy. But again, on a really down to earth level where I could actually work with them to solve their challenges and help them create strategies for them, not what I think they should do, but actually work through it with them.
Danielle Lewis (19:25):
I love it. And isn't it interesting that it's not a linear story in terms of I always knew I was going to do X, Y said it is that I wasn't doing well here, I was struggling with this, and then I found this, and then I was like, oh, wow, I'm really into that. And then it's the next step and the next step and the next step. I just love that because I feel like if you can embrace that in life, the just trying things out and moving to the next step and not waiting until everything is perfect or waiting until you have that big idea or whatever it is, I think there's such power in the journey.
Karen Dennett (20:03):
A hundred percent. And I actually ran a company, I did a startup in the UK when I was just before I had my first daughter, and it was a STA and hen website, and it was a direct,
Danielle Lewis (20:15):
Oh, cool. Oh,
Karen Dennett (20:16):
It was the people organizing sagging hen parties. And I got three cities live, but I realized you would've loved it. It was sales. I hated it at the time, I just hated it. And then had my daughter and I realized that you can't make phone calls with a crying baby in the background. It's just not going to work. So I ended up selling it. But yeah, I've always loved the excitement of business, and some people don't. But I really love it. I love that whole newness, the ideation, the creativity, the problem solving. I just think it's just great.
Danielle Lewis (20:56):
Well, I just love that you frame it as exciting and not stressful. I feel like there's actually so much power in how you describe business as exciting, problem solving, creative, because that is the magic of business. But I feel like it can be very easy to take all of those words and say the negative things like, oh my God, I'm overwhelmed and I'm stressed, and now I have problems. But if you can frame it in that way and look at it as an adventure, gosh, it's fulfilling.
Karen Dennett (21:30):
Oh, definitely. That's another part of the entrepreneurial mindset profile, a scale on risk acceptance. And there's also one on optimism as well, passion. So it's really interesting to see where people potentially have lost their passion and also why people struggle with taking risks and what is it that's actually holding them back. And then you can also see then connections between those that have got great ideas and high passion, but low risk, but also low execution, funnily enough, because they're not willing to move forward with their ideas. So they've got all these ideas, but they can't necessarily break them down into strategies. But I've bootstrapped everything. I mean, I talk about taking risks, but I don't take massive risks. I've built every business from the ground up, the whole creative problem solving, finding ways I can make the money to make it work without having to invest it myself, because I personally did struggle with feeling selfish of using my money, the family's money to put into my business. So yeah, that was really hard.
Danielle Lewis (22:47):
But it is interesting. I do love what you just touched on there around when people do have that low risk, it's action taking action is the biggest roadblock. And again, it goes back to feeling a bit stressed, feeling a bit overwhelmed, and almost that analysis paralysis of planning and perfection. And I want it to look like this. And I just feel like there is so much power in, and two things, oh my God, you've got me, got my brain going now. But two things like that, breaking things down into really small bite-sized pieces so that we can move forward without feeling. So things are so risky, but I just love as well, that creative problem solving. Like, okay, yes, maybe I'm holding myself back in the sense that I don't want to spend family money on this, but how will I overcome that? So how will I sell it first before I build it or whatever that looks like, or presale,
Karen Dennett (23:47):
Take a deposit, take a deposit from people or get sponsors. There are ways that you can do it. And yeah, that's the fun part, isn't it? But if you've got someone who can banks ideas with you, that is the cool part, because not everyone has got the ideas, or I think sometimes we take for granted what we actually know and what area of knowledge is because something that seems so obvious, you suddenly have to think, oh, actually no, I know that because I've had this experience and this experience, not because I just know it and I'm good at it. So you have to take a step back and think, no, I can help other people with this knowledge. So yeah, I think that's, like I say, your sales was brilliant that you bought that into your business as well. Spark.
Danielle Lewis (24:38):
Yeah. And that's, look, that's it. I mean, it's so funny that you just said that because we're just recording a module for our sales courses in the membership, and I got up just before this podcast, and I went to do something, and I was like, how do I know that? Why did I just record a video on that? And I was like, bloody hell, Danielle, you've got 20 years in sales. You've done all the things. It's like, I wonder why I still go, does anyone give a crap about what I'm saying?
Karen Dennett (25:09):
Yeah, no, it's true. Because it becomes obvious, right? And it's not until you speak to someone who isn't obvious to
Danielle Lewis (25:16):
Yes,
Karen Dennett (25:17):
That you can then give them that support. And it is great to see them suddenly have that aha, oh, so I could do this. And for me, I think also having been a teacher, I'm not somebody that I don't want to do things for people. I don't want people to depend on me. I think learning should be about empowerment, and you scaffold the learning. So yes, you might help a few times, but you actually give others the resources and the tools and the learning so they learn as they apply to their business, and then the next time they can then do that same strategy again. And that is the value. I don't want people to feel they've got to keep coming back to me. That's why when I do a strategy session, it's just like, call me when you need me, not you have to have six months with me and we have to go through this process.
Danielle Lewis (26:10):
I love that so much because I just love the concept of empowering people, not doing it for them, because there's just something magical that happens. If you can unlock that in people, and I guess this whole conversation is rooted in people holding themselves back a little bit, but that is the key. If you can just get those little wins on the board and go, oh, I didn't know that before and now I've done that, or I've never sent an email like that before. I've never reached out to that person, or I've never whatever, whatever. Just taking that action and empowering 'em to do it, rather than, yes, you doing it for them. It just shows them what's possible. And it's like, oh, well, if I could do that, could I do?
Karen Dennett (26:57):
Yeah, maybe I could tweak it this way and maybe next time I'll do it that way. And I mean, this comes from teaching a hundred percent, but the process of then evaluating what you've done is so important. You need to look back and reflect and say, okay, so what worked well and what would I do differently next time? And
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Having
Karen Dennett (27:18):
Those, taking that time out to reflect and to build those strategies and to have that evaluation. I think that is the key to staying in business and continuing because you are a continuous learner.
Danielle Lewis (27:32):
I love it so much. Incredible. I always love to wrap up our podcast with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business and perhaps your career working with people, what would be one piece of advice that you would give another woman on her business journey?
Karen Dennett (27:53):
So I think the most important advice is focus on, and I think I mentioned this earlier, focus on what is the value you are adding and what is the impact that you are creating? Because it's that transformation that people buy. Before I met this person, I couldn't do this, but now I've used this product, or I've engaged in this service. Now I can, because that's essentially what we all buy products and services for. I was hungry, now I'm not. But it's about what have you done for that person and what experience have you left them with? Because if you're experiencing imposter syndrome or if you're stressed or if you don't know what to do with your products and oh, sorry. I'll just add another thing to that. If you don't know what that transformation is, then you need to ask, actually do some research and speak to your potential customers. So firstly, you should know what that transformation is and focus on it. And then if you don't know what it is, ask your customers and find out.
Danielle Lewis (28:59):
You are absolutely incredible. Karen, thank you so much for sharing your time and wisdom with the Spark community. I absolutely appreciate the chat.
Karen Dennett (29:09):
All good. Thank you for having me. I've had a really nice conversation. Nice chat. It's been great.
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