#awinewith Leanne Webber
MEET Leanne
Leanne is the Founder of Leanne Webber Mentoring and Co-founder of Webbernet.
Find Leanne here:
Leanne Webber website and Instagram @leanne_webber.
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:09):
We made it, we
Leanne Webber (00:12):
It. We did have to reschedule a few times. We
Danielle Lewis (00:14):
Stop TV to have a little vno together and do biz chats.
Leanne Webber (00:20):
I'm excited.
Danielle Lewis (00:21):
Welcome. Thank you for being here. You're right. Long time coming, but going to be amazing. So why don't we just kick things off. Set the scene. So Spark listeners are business owners, aspiring business owners, all of the things. How do you get to running a business? Did you have a job before a career or something and then a moment of, oh my God, I'm doing this, or what's your backstory?
Leanne Webber (00:50):
When I left school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I just got a job. Then I decided I was a legal secretary.
Danielle Lewis (01:00):
Yeah, cool.
Leanne Webber (01:02):
It was pretty fun actually. Not too bad. It was a very small team, so we were all real friendly. That's cool.
Danielle Lewis (01:09):
And that gives you that good background in corporate vibe, like knowing what's all happening Friday work, drinks, all the
Leanne Webber (01:17):
Things. Yes. Loved the Friday work drinks when I was 18. That was fun.
Danielle Lewis (01:22):
That was probably the highlight. Yes.
Leanne Webber (01:26):
Then I decided I wanted to be a makeup artist, so I did a diploma of makeup.
Danielle Lewis (01:32):
Oh, I did not know that. That's cool.
Leanne Webber (01:34):
When I was 19, I hated it.
(01:40):
And then basically from the ages of age of about 20 ish, yeah, 20. After I finished that course, I had glandular fever, so I couldn't actually, I did get a job in makeup, but it was really hard for me to stand for nine hours a day doing makeups when I had glandular fever. So I ended up just doing a little bit of casual work for my now husband. He was my boyfriend at the time for his parents' business, and I ended up staying there for quite a few years. Actually loved working there. So I kind of did a bit of admin compliance. They own an RTO, so they get government funding. So compliance is a big aspect of that business. Then I moved into leadership roles leading the admin and customer service team. I did leave and then come back again.
Danielle Lewis (02:35):
Cool.
Leanne Webber (02:38):
And Jake, my husband worked there as well. Then we moved to Melbourne for a year. Jake got a really good opportunity working for Qantas down there. Three months into that job we started wnet, which is our software development agency.
Danielle Lewis (02:56):
How cool. Why did this happen? What was the spark? What actually happened?
Leanne Webber (03:03):
So I guess the whole idea of us working for his parents was that we would take over their business. So we always had the idea that we would be business owners. We loved being in leadership positions. He was leading the tech team at that business, loved having a team under us. Loved the responsibility. Just always wanted to build our empire. We were working together there. So we knew that we wanted to work together and build an empire together. And I guess because
Danielle Lewis (03:36):
His
Leanne Webber (03:36):
Parents are successful as well, we've seen it and we wanted that life too. So yeah, when we were living in Melbourne, we were out at a cafe. I remember it so clearly and we were like, okay, do we have babies or do we start a business?
Danielle Lewis (03:54):
Wow. Oh my
Leanne Webber (03:55):
God, we decided business
Danielle Lewis (03:57):
So good.
Leanne Webber (03:57):
Still low babies,
Danielle Lewis (03:59):
How life would be different if it had swung the other way. Oh my god. It's so funny though because having a business is like, well, okay, it's not the same, but it's like it too, someone's going to hate on me for the sake shit. But I always say that I'm like, I chose a business as well and it's all consuming, never ending, dedicate long periods of your life to it, the old 10 years to an overnight success. Very interesting. That's cool. I love that. So he's got a tech background. So is that what kind of inspired the, I guess industry? So going into software development
Leanne Webber (04:44):
And my role ended up being the conduit I guess between the customers and the employees and the tech team. So I'd be the one that would liaise with Jake and his team, figure out what features were needed for the platform that they built, and then I would release the features, I guess to clients and employees and kind of train them in it and explain why we did it and what it was going to be used for and that kind of thing.
Danielle Lewis (05:09):
Cool.
Leanne Webber (05:10):
So yeah, we'd worked together in the tech space I guess, and he reached out to a client that he had met saying, we are thinking about starting a business. Do you need any help with your tech stuff? And they just happened to need us. Right then they had been looking for someone
Danielle Lewis (05:32):
To build
Leanne Webber (05:33):
A custom platform for months and months and months, probably years actually. They were looking overseas. They just couldn't find anyone that was the right fit. So it was just
Danielle Lewis (05:42):
Super
Leanne Webber (05:43):
Lucky. Really good timing.
Danielle Lewis (05:47):
That's amazing. Universe vibes.
Leanne Webber (05:49):
Yeah. So that kicked us off with, yeah, I still worked at my job. Jake lasted three months at Qantas. Not that he didn't like working there. Just the business happened and yeah, hired an employee straight away, just kind of kicked off.
Danielle Lewis (06:11):
Wow, that's awesome. And then what happened? So you had moved to Melbourne, so then decided to come back to Brizi to keep going
Leanne Webber (06:21):
Because we moved there with the understanding that we would be on Jake's Qantas senior developer salary.
Danielle Lewis (06:31):
Damn it.
Leanne Webber (06:32):
And Melbourne is very expensive.
Danielle Lewis (06:37):
Oh, wow. Yeah.
Leanne Webber (06:39):
So we actually moved back to the Sunshine Coast and we, we figured out we were saving like $1,900 a month. So it was the smart decision while we were growing a business and living off one salary.
Danielle Lewis (06:50):
Also Sunshine Coast, not so bad. Gorgeous.
Leanne Webber (06:53):
So I had a job then I was working as an EA and an office manager for a tech company as well, a global tech company. So I had some really cool opportunities to fly business class to New York and stuff like that, and so I could work remotely. So they were happy for me to move to the sunny coast as well.
Danielle Lewis (07:13):
Yeah, amazing. How did you find juggling starting a new business and having a job?
Leanne Webber (07:20):
So challenging. I would work till midnight and be up at five. I didn't really sleep during that time. I remember being in New York and having to do the payroll, but we'd been out for drinks. So I was doing the payroll in New York at 3:00 AM in the morning. It was pretty wild. But then they were super flexible as well. So if I was doing that, then I could just start late the next day and that kind of thing.
Danielle Lewis (07:50):
Yeah. Okay, cool. Oh my god, that's crazy.
Leanne Webber (07:54):
Wow. I haven't thought about that for a long time. I kind of blocked that part of my life out
Danielle Lewis (08:00):
Tends to happen. A little bit of trauma there. Oh wow. So how long did you last working full-time job and starting the business? What was the point where you went?
Leanne Webber (08:16):
I did that for a year and a half. So we lived on my salary for a year and a half, and then Jake was looking at hiring a project manager and we figured out that the job requirements of that I could probably do myself. So I quit.
Danielle Lewis (08:33):
Yes.
Leanne Webber (08:34):
God, I remember that feeling so well. It was so exciting.
Danielle Lewis (08:38):
Yeah.
Leanne Webber (08:40):
And then
Danielle Lewis (08:41):
All in on your baby
Leanne Webber (08:44):
And about seven months later is when I started the founder's team.
Danielle Lewis (08:52):
So what inspired that? So tell me about that. I know you as the founder's team, so tell me more. Tell me more.
Leanne Webber (09:03):
So Jake and his mom would always talk about business and I would be like, I want to talk about business. I have no one to talk about business with except Jake, but sometimes you just need a little bit of separation.
Danielle Lewis (09:19):
I'll ask that question next.
Leanne Webber (09:25):
And we were having cashflow challenges. Our revenue was great, but the profits weren't so good. We were having hiring challenges. I mean, we still are, gosh, it's so hard to find developers. We were having trouble finding the right fit with the team, and I just had no one to really talk to about business and get some outside perspectives. So I reached out to some people on Instagram, people that I knew and people that I didn't know. And this was me building a personal brand. And I only had about five or 600 followers back then and was just stalking other business owners.
Danielle Lewis (10:06):
Amazing. I love, that's whatever. Every good story starts.
Leanne Webber (10:11):
And I cold messaged most of them and organized a, I didn't know it was a mastermind at the time. What did I call it? Get shit done or accountability, get shit done, something catch up. And we organized. I organized the first meeting and posted a picture on my Instagram that didn't have very many followers and had so many people reach out and ask to join. I didn't really think about it at the time. I was like, oh yeah, I mean, we've already got 10 people in the group, so probably we already went for three hours, so I probably don't want to add anyone else to it. And then maybe a couple of weeks later, we lost a client for webinar
Danielle Lewis (10:58):
And
Leanne Webber (10:58):
I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this thing. I don't know what it looks like yet, but I'm going to organize some more. And I just posted in a couple of Facebook groups back when they weren't so ick, I can't really think of a better word to describe them than that. And yeah, it got 30 people straight away.
Danielle Lewis (11:20):
So
Leanne Webber (11:21):
That was six teams of six mastermind teams on the sunny coast and in Brisbane. We were doing them in person back then before covid.
Danielle Lewis (11:29):
Excellent. I remember seeing people in real life.
Leanne Webber (11:37):
So it kind of just grew from there through word of mouth.
Danielle Lewis (11:42):
Amazing. And then obviously it's evolved considerably since then. So I love the organic start. So you had a challenge and you went out and you said, I'll just see if anyone's interested in having a chat. And then that's developed into a very thriving business.
Leanne Webber (12:04):
Yeah, I did look for others first.
Danielle Lewis (12:10):
I did
Leanne Webber (12:10):
Find another offering that is kind of what I wanted. Not really, but, and it was like seven grand for the year and I tried to convince Jake to let me do it, and he's like, what's the ROI on that I was like, I don't know my sanity, I guess how you put a price on that to
Danielle Lewis (12:29):
You.
Leanne Webber (12:32):
And then I was like, fuck it, I'm just going to organize my, well, can I swear on this
Danielle Lewis (12:35):
Podcast? Absolutely. The more than that actually, I'm
Leanne Webber (12:37):
Just going to organize my own. And so it definitely has evolved because obviously we did go through covid. I did start doing online ones prior to Covid. Gotcha. But I only had a few people that were interested. And then it's been really interesting watching it change because obviously we had to go online, everyone had to go online. And then maybe, I think it was about three or four months into Covid, we did our next launch for our next six months intake. And the preference had shifted to online because people realized they can come in their comfy clothes, they don't have to park. Parking was a nightmare.
Danielle Lewis (13:18):
Of course,
Leanne Webber (13:19):
It's less amount of time commitment because you don't have to include travel time, you just rock up to the Zoom. So yeah, it was really interesting watching that change.
Danielle Lewis (13:28):
Wow. I know. It is interesting because I think that, yeah, we've all just realized how much time, whilst it's amazing seeing people in person and sometimes the old Zoom does get a little bit difficult to connect with people over, but I think we all realize how much time and money we were wasting on traveling. Even thinking interstate customer meetings. I reflect on that. I used to be on a plane twice a week and now, yeah, it was horrendous. Well, yeah. And then when Covid hit, I was like, oh, I get a little break.
Leanne Webber (14:03):
Yes.
Danielle Lewis (14:05):
But I was actually kind of going, I wonder what will happen when this all blows over. And it has been really interesting. Everyone's just like, no, we can just get shit done now and happy for Zoom, happy to do things on email. I don't know, I feel like we've stripped away a lot of the bullshit. And then when we do connect in person with people, it is more just genuinely building relationships.
Leanne Webber (14:30):
Yeah, I think so too.
Danielle Lewis (14:32):
It's really nice.
Leanne Webber (14:33):
It is really nice. And people are just so much happier to be there as well when you connect in person.
Danielle Lewis (14:40):
Yes. Yeah, because not that, oh my God, I've had to be at an event, a networking event three nights this week and I've had to do this and I've had to do that and I had to be on a plane. Yeah, it's really interesting. So you're still involved in webinar?
Leanne Webber (14:56):
Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (14:57):
How do you go juggling two businesses then?
Leanne Webber (15:01):
It's more like backend stuff. So it can be done anytime. Not super urgent, but now that I am making some changes to the founder's team, going to be working less and doing more in webinar because webinar is having insane growth. And we have a remote team now of 11 people, so we want to bring them together for a retreat. And organizing retreats and events is my G and I'm so excited to do it. Yes.
Danielle Lewis (15:33):
Oh, that's awesome. So how did you go about, I'm just really interested in the change factor. So obviously the business has evolved and obviously I stop you on Instagram. So I've seen, I saw the announcement of the changes to the founders' team, but I'm always super interested because a lot of founders, I feel like they have an idea for their business and they're doing it and it's happening and then maybe it's not working, or maybe they have just stopped being in love with the idea that they had. And I feel like sometimes people have a really hard time changing what an offering is or changing their industry or changing anything. Also, I feel like sometimes when you announce changes, people are like, oh, is everything okay? And I'm like, yeah, everything's fine. In fact, this is the right thing to do for my business. I feel like there's a judgment around change. How have you navigated doing what's right for you and your business?
Leanne Webber (16:34):
It took me a while to make these changes and be okay with these changes. I'm not going to lie, it took me about a year because it wasn't necessarily around the judgment or what I thought it should be. It was that I knew by making this change that it wouldn't be the right fit for some of our members and I would have to say goodbye to them. And I felt bad. I felt like kind of guilty that they wouldn't have this support network around them anymore.
Danielle Lewis (17:06):
Wow. Yep.
Leanne Webber (17:09):
That's what I struggled with the most. Wow. But the thing is, we and our profits terrible. Building a membership fucking hard, it's so hard. And you have to have a lot of members from my point of view, from my opinion and my experience, a lot of members to make it worthwhile. I also have endometriosis and trying to navigate that plus a membership, a mastermind, events, retreats, going into state to seeing our other members. A membership is a lot of organization as well. And relying on other people to get things back to you on time, it was just way too much. And firstly, profits, shit. Secondly, I was just so unorganized and I'm a very organized person, but everything was just, I just always felt behind and trying to catch up and trying to catch up. And that's not the experience I want to give our members that are painting us. I want it to be all organized. I want everything to run smoothly. And they could see that I was flailing and it just doesn't make me feel right, taking someone's money and not giving them the best experience that I know I can give. So something had to change. That was just it. We got to the point that something had to change and I had to make this decision.
Danielle Lewis (18:37):
Wow. And I'm interested to know as well, so you just touched on endometriosis and I saw your podcast come out with I think maybe Alicia, where it was how to run a business with a chronic illness. So now we've gone, okay, not only do you have two businesses, but you also have a chronic illness that affects your ability to do that. How does that play a role in this decision making process as well?
Leanne Webber (19:03):
Huge, huge role because I had a really bad run with it. I had surgery, which is the way you're meant to help it. I had surgery in April last year, and they cut it all out and still I was just constantly fatigued, constantly in pain. And I had a really bad run in March,
(19:27):
April, I can't remember if it was Feb, March or March, April, across a six week period. I was pretty much bedridden. I was bedridden more often than I wasn't. And I was like, somethings got a give. I can't do this. So I decided to go down the route that everyone says is the best way to manage Endo, which is a multidisciplinary approach, which is basically a very expensive way to manage it. But oh my God, it's helped me so much and now that I've got all of this energy and I feel well, I just want to keep it going. And a big part of that is stress. A big part of the Endo symptoms is stress.
Danielle Lewis (20:14):
And so
Leanne Webber (20:15):
By making these changes to the founder's team, I'm only going to need to work about 20 hours a month
Danielle Lewis (20:22):
On. Wow, that's awesome.
Leanne Webber (20:24):
While not taking a huge cut in revenue and our profits will be better as well.
Danielle Lewis (20:29):
Nice.
Leanne Webber (20:30):
So yeah, that's definitely played a huge part. I can't keep pushing myself so much because it just makes my symptoms worse. And then it's like a vicious circle.
Danielle Lewis (20:40):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And to your point, if you are bedridden do and having days where you can't perform at your peak, how do you service a membership community that's very demanding to the level that you want to?
Leanne Webber (20:59):
It's almost impossible. I have had a team member I who's been amazing. Of course, I picked someone who has a chronic illness as well.
Danielle Lewis (21:09):
Oh, fabulous.
Leanne Webber (21:10):
So between us, we're essentially one person between us.
Danielle Lewis (21:14):
Oh my God, that's incredible.
Leanne Webber (21:17):
So she was amazing. Honestly, she has been such an integral part of the founder's team and of our growth, but it really needed someone in it every day. So I was looking at hiring a coordinator of sorts, like an event coordinator, the membership coordinator that would just do all of the organizing, a lot of organizing. But then I decided to go down this path instead.
Danielle Lewis (21:43):
So what does it look like now? Because called Scale Blazers is the product, is that correct?
Leanne Webber (21:49):
Yeah, so that's our mastermind program and that's all we're going to have. So we used to have a membership, two mastermind programs and events in person events. Now it's just one mastermind program capped at 30 members max as well. So we're keeping the numbers really low so that I can manage it. But I also think I've really been loving the smaller, more intimate things like the events, the catch-ups with people, our retreat that we just held had 10 people at it. And it was incredible
Danielle Lewis (22:23):
Because you
Leanne Webber (22:23):
Really get to have those deep connections. And that's what I really love. And back to your point that you said when you start your business, you have this idea in your mind of what it's going to be. I thought we were going to have thousands of members. That was my goal. That's what I was going towards. I wanted thousands and thousands of members across the world. And now I'm just like, oh, to me that's more problems. That's a lot of personalities
Danielle Lewis (22:49):
To make. That's a lot of problems. Oh my God. And also not a lot of intimacy, not a lot of real conversations. Not a lot of, holy fuck, I'm struggling. Can someone please help me? And someone being there.
Leanne Webber (23:04):
Yeah. And that's what I've been loving being there for those people that need that and being able to support them through that love.
Danielle Lewis (23:14):
It's incredible.
Leanne Webber (23:15):
Not loving that they're having challenges, but everyone does. It's a roller
Danielle Lewis (23:18):
Rollercoaster. I'm yet to meet someone that hasn't got a business problem. Oh, that's incredible. So then well, let's talk business problems. So our audience founders as aspiring founders, so people who are out there in the trenches, what challenges have you had over the last however many years of running two businesses that you kind of reflect on and go, oh, that was a good learning opportunity.
Leanne Webber (23:52):
There's so many.
Danielle Lewis (23:57):
I'm sorry, we don't have enough time on your podcast.
Leanne Webber (24:00):
How long have you got? No, I think, I guess it's, it's pretty specific to my business, but I mean people might take something from it. So the masterminds, basically the way it works is people apply. We pull together small teams of five people and they meet once a month with the facilitator. So Emily was doing one tier and I was doing the higher level tier of masterminds. If people weren't committed and didn't show up, it made the experience for the other people terrible. And so these people were paying money every month. They were putting time aside. As we know, as a busy founder, that's very precious time to come and support each other. It's meant to be a team thing. And some people just wouldn't turn up or they'd bail half an hour before the meeting. And so we were putting a lot of our success into our customer's hands. So sure there's things that we could have done better, definitely. But a lot of the success relied on how committed the members were. And we have a very in-depth onboarding process, a very in-depth questionnaire to apply. We ask the question, are you committed? Everyone answers yes, obviously, of course.
(25:30):
So I feel like we did everything we can in that aspect, but still the success was based on how committed those people were,
Danielle Lewis (25:37):
Which we cannot
Leanne Webber (25:38):
Control. We can't control it. And I think a big lesson that I've learned in business pretty much over the last year is to focus on what you can control. And that's something that we just couldn't. So in saying that we're still doing the small teams, but we haven't had that issue with the higher paying been in business longer people, I think because they have a different mindset and they understand that yes, that's two hours out of their day, but they're going to learn from everyone else's challenges as well as their own. And so it's time that they're willing to invest.
Danielle Lewis (26:16):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it is really interesting. I've found that with live programs. So I've run somewhere, it's like there's 10, 15 people and others where there's like 50, 60 people and I'm like, you've got to do lots more people because of the rate of drop off. I was like the ones where it was 10 to 15 people, if half the people don't show up, then you're presenting to a handful of people and there's zero interaction as opposed to when there's stacks of people, half don't show up and you've still got plenty of people to bounce off. And then you feel, I'm like, okay, cool. So I've really struggled with that as well. And I mean because also not wanted to be the one that's giving all the advice all the time. I don't know everything. I haven't experienced everything there is to experience and the value is in the group. So I totally appreciate that. Relying on other people where stuff comes up and they bail and yeah, it's hard.
Leanne Webber (27:20):
And we were understanding if things did come up, obviously life,
Danielle Lewis (27:26):
Of course, of course.
Leanne Webber (27:27):
But we have had people that just consistently don't show up, they don't communicate. We have a group chat, they don't communicate, they don't engage. They're just not interested at all, which is really interesting because why'd you sign up anyway? Why
Danielle Lewis (27:41):
You paying for it?
Leanne Webber (27:45):
But then it made the experience so shit for those that are committed and that makes me feel sick. I hate that.
Danielle Lewis (27:52):
Yeah, interesting. So I would love to ask you the question, how is it working with a partner?
Leanne Webber (28:01):
Yeah, no,
Danielle Lewis (28:05):
You're like obviously fantastic.
Leanne Webber (28:08):
He's stuck in Adelaide right now, so he is not here. He could not hear me. He went down to see some clients and employees and picked up and is now quarantining.
Danielle Lewis (28:22):
Poor thing. That sucks.
Leanne Webber (28:25):
No. Okay. So to give you a bit of a backstory, Jake and I have been together since we were 18, so coming up to 14 years now. And so we know each other quite well. But when we first started the business, we had worked together at that workplace. So we thought we were good, but it's so different. We were in different departments to then come together and work together. And we were working from home in the same room. And it was not a vibe.
Danielle Lewis (29:02):
I can't imagine it.
Leanne Webber (29:05):
I ended up moving my desk out to the living room because firstly we have very different personalities and very different working styles. He is a developer, which requires a lot of concentration and problem solving. And I'm very energetic. Are
Danielle Lewis (29:24):
You a little bit chatty?
Leanne Webber (29:26):
No, I dunno. I'm not chatty. Oh, maybe he would probably say I was, but when he's trying to concentrate, no talking silence, but he would also get really frustrated when he couldn't. He's essentially a software developer. He is a problem solver. And if he couldn't figure things out, he'd slam his keyboard and swear and take it out on the computer and that kind of thing. And I'd be like, you are killing my vibe right here. I'm happy. Wow. I just couldn't be around him.
Danielle Lewis (30:01):
Fair.
Leanne Webber (30:01):
And we also didn't have clearly defined roles in the beginning as well. So that's
Danielle Lewis (30:07):
Big
Leanne Webber (30:08):
If he would. And it's in his specialty, not mine. So he kind of took on the role of he was the boss and I was the employee rather than a partnership, which I did not like. I don't being told what to do, which is probably why I'm a business owner. So now that we have separation in the house, we've still work from home in the house and we have particular roles, we've really come to realize our strengths as well in running businesses over the years. So he's like, oh, you can take care of that, thank you. And I'm like, yeah, I'll take care of that. I'll organize the retreat that makes me so happy. And he deals with problems.
Danielle Lewis (31:00):
It sounds like you got the right end of that deal.
Leanne Webber (31:03):
Well, you know what, he would hate organizing a retreat. I book all his flights, I choose the accommodation. I love doing that stuff. I love researching the hotels. So yeah, now that we know what we're good at and what we're not good at, we just trust each other to do the other bits, I guess.
Danielle Lewis (31:23):
And was that, did you sit down and have a conversation and kind of map it out or has it just happened organically?
Leanne Webber (31:30):
Yeah, it's happened organically. And to be honest, I went through a stage of not really working in wnet, so he kind of has taken the reins in that business while the founder's team was ridiculously growing so fast. So yeah, it kind of happened organically as we've really settled into what we good at, what we enjoy doing. Yes, he had his website, we didn't have a website for a long time, got that done, and he was like, I don't want to answer these questionnaires that are like, what are your brand values? And I was like, oh, I'll answer them. I love these questions.
Danielle Lewis (32:09):
So we
Leanne Webber (32:09):
Just have really learn what we're good at and what we enjoy.
Danielle Lewis (32:13):
Amazing. And I take it that's all for the better. And especially now if you are moving back into webinar a little bit, that's just going to mean that working together is going to be a little bit more harmonious.
Leanne Webber (32:26):
Yes, definitely. And we really have understood how each other works as well, so I just don't even bother him while he is working anymore. And you know what, I was updating our website the other day, the founder's team website in WordPress. I was creating the new pages and updating all the changes and things, and I understand now I understand coding. And I was like, yeah, don't interrupt. I got so pissed off at him because he came in and started talking to me and I was like, fuck off, I'm just want to finish this. And then I was like, oh,
Danielle Lewis (32:58):
Oh, I get it now. I get
Leanne Webber (33:00):
It.
Danielle Lewis (33:01):
Oh my God, that is hilarious.
Leanne Webber (33:03):
I'll never bother you again.
Danielle Lewis (33:08):
Oh my God, that's incredible. So okay, you have seen many, many founders, obviously being in the founders team, you work with so many and particularly female founders who listen into the smart community. Do you see any common threads of areas that people struggle with or get wrong that maybe can be avoided?
Leanne Webber (33:36):
Yeah, let me have a think
Danielle Lewis (33:41):
Again. That's another hour podcast.
Leanne Webber (33:43):
I mean, yeah. But I think the main one is it all relates back to mindset. I'm just thinking about the common challenges that come up and it is all mindset, like hiring a team, being too nervous to hire someone, mindset. I mean, obviously there's logical steps you can take to be ready, but also you've just got to take that leap. What else do people struggle with?
Danielle Lewis (34:13):
It's interesting actually. I mean, even on mindset, I mindset, we've run scrunch for 10 years now and we've just made some really big changes and still 10 years in I'm going, oh my God, I don't dunno if it's the right decision. I'm not the creative one, I'm not this, I'm not that. I was like, so I felt myself having a meltdown. So I booked a therapy session and booked a kinesiology session. So I went woo woo and psychological and both of them were the same thing. They're just like both them just fucking back yourself. And I was like, I can't believe 10 plus years in and I'm still doubting myself. It's
Leanne Webber (34:53):
Crazy, but everyone does it. It's so challenging to overcome that. And I mean, I'm going through it right now. We're in the middle of launch and I haven't hit the numbers that I want to hit. We've still got time. Everyone leaves it to the last minute. Last launch, we had 11 people sign up in the final hour, which gave me a bloody heart attack.
Danielle Lewis (35:19):
Oh my gosh, I'm
Leanne Webber (35:19):
Trying not to worry yet, but of course I'm like, oh my God, have I made the right decision? This isn't working. How am I going to make money? And I'm just trying so hard to just let it be. And whatever happens for this change, for this launch is what's meant to happen. I'm really, really trying to lean into that because I do have a lot of ideas for what I want to do in the future, and I'm like, everything is just as it's meant to be. I am where I'm meant to be. Calm the fuck down, Leanne.
Danielle Lewis (36:01):
This sounds like the same conversation I have with myself in my head.
Leanne Webber (36:07):
And that's what I wrote. I was freaking out a little bit this morning, so I did a little journaling session and that's exactly what I wrote back yourself, trust that this is what's meant to happen. Because no matter what, we're going to learn lessons and we're going to take that moving forward.
Danielle Lewis (36:24):
And when you are pushing, pushing, pushing and doubting, doubting, doubting and stressing out shit just sucks. It sucks being in business feeling like that. So if you can kind of shift that mindset to the, you know what, I'm trying the hardest I can and I'm pretty sure this is the right call, let's just go with it and see what happens. Operating from that place feels so much better. It usually works out better as well. So why do we keep
Leanne Webber (37:00):
Doing the opposite?
Danielle Lewis (37:02):
Oh my God. Oh my God, there's not enough wine in the world or long podcast to answer my question.
Leanne Webber (37:10):
Yeah, I think actually as well, I've been thinking as we've been talking, a common challenge that comes up is that business owners start their business because they're really great at what they do a lot of the time, not all the time, but a lot of the time, let's use a graphic designer as an example. Amazing graphic designer starts their own business with the freedom, flexibility, whatever, and then they have to lead a team and they have to step off the tools to focus on leading. And that is such a common challenge that we see happening just so often. So I guess the advice for that is to think about the big picture because yes, sure, you might have to step off the tools right now and focus on leading a team instead of doing what you're good at and doing what you love doing. But eventually it can come back to once the team's humming, you can focus back in on what you enjoy.
Danielle Lewis (38:02):
Yeah, and I love that you said that. So I had a chat to a founder the other day, and that's exactly what she said. So I was like, okay, how's it been going from founder to now you have a team, you're more of a CEO. And she's like, I don't get to do the fun stuff anymore. And I was like, that's so interesting. Totally. As I reflect on it, the types of jobs you have to do, the bigger you grow tend not to be the interesting stuff that gave you a thrill at the, but I love what you just said then, which is the grow it, create the processes, get the right people and get the systems, and then you can kind of swing back around. And that gives you then the freedom and flexibility to do the creative stuff to do go, oh, now I can create a new product, or I can create a course, or I can do something a little bit creative with whatever we do.
Leanne Webber (38:56):
Yeah, because the team's just humming in the background. That's right. Making you money.
Danielle Lewis (39:01):
I love that. I love that. Oh, that's incredible. So if we're thinking about female founders and the journey and it's not always straightforward, how do we look after ourselves? I mean, it's I think, interesting, this whole conversation we've had has, it's hard. It's fucking stressful. It's a growth journey. Now I don't get to do the stuff I love. I'm probably working too much. A lot of conversations I'm having right now, like founders feeling tired, feeling a little bit burnt out. And I know your story is different in the sense that you do have the chronic illness, but similar in the sense that what it's like to be a two times business owner, you know how hard it is, the journey. Have you seen or do you have any advice for founders who are feeling that way on how they might be able to look after themselves and maybe reconnect with why they're doing what they're doing?
Leanne Webber (40:04):
Yeah, what I've realized is that it takes practice to rest. So basically my symptoms started pretty much just before we started the business and I didn't really understand what was happening. So I kept trying to push through, which was the wrong decision, but I didn't know any better and then my body stopped me. So essentially I had to rest because my body wouldn't allow me to keep going. And I really struggled mentally with that because usually we tie our productivity to our self-worth. And if we've always been a hard worker, which most business owners have been, that's our personality that we love working and we want to achieve big things. When you're forced to stop, it feels really uncomfortable and unnatural and it's going to take time. It's taken me about two years. I'm pretty good with it now. Got it down pat, almost
(41:08):
Resting pretty good. But it took me a really long time to be okay with resting, even though that's what my body needed, and that was the best thing I could do for it, was to rest and let it do its thing. Fight its fight. So my advice would be to just start small, start with taking half an hour off once a week and then two times a week take half an hour off and people think like, oh God, I can't have a nap. Oh my God, I can't go out and have an appointment during the day, but you can. And that's actually what happened. I had to nap and I'd have an hour nap and I'd wake up and I wouldn't have any emails and I'd be like, oh,
Danielle Lewis (41:49):
The world
Leanne Webber (41:49):
Had a nap. And so it was just more of that reconditioning, you can rest. It's okay.
Danielle Lewis (41:59):
It's not brain nine to five. Yeah, yeah. Make your own hours. Yeah. Oh my God, that's so true.
(42:07):
I remember. I remember. So I was, when I started scrunch, I was working full-time at Telstra at the time. And so I did that for a few years before we raised capital. And I remember, so I had a co-founder in Scrunch, and I was diagnosed with diabetes at the how long, maybe we were a few years in, but it's like the symptoms are extreme fucking tiredness. Your body literally has stopped processing carbohydrate, sugar, whatever, extreme tiredness, extreme thirst, all this stuff. And I remember once my co-founder was like, if you tired, just have a fucking coffee and that whole hustle mentality around work harder, work harder, work yourself into the ground, and obviously it's an actual condition, but I'm like, I half think that the way I treated my body as half the reason why I was then diagnosed with diabetes, but I'm like, now I've learned that I just need to rest.
(43:15):
Sometimes it is really important for me to look after my health and wellness because if I don't, then I do nothing in my business. But that rest period and giving yourself grace that the world will not end and your business will not implode. If you have a break or you get out and go for a walk or you do something in actual fact only good things happen, get more productive, you get more clear. It's just incredible. But it took me a really, really long time to learn to do that. And it's also, you've got to, I think, surround yourself with people that think that way as well. I remember kind of going, oh my God, I'm just shit because I can't work till 3:00 AM every day.
Leanne Webber (44:02):
I had to meet people on Instagram that would be posting how late they were working and that kind of thing because it triggered me because I wanted to work. And so it was really hard for me not to be able to work, but like you said, good things happen from it. You can't. I read this quote in a book the other day and it was like nothing good can come from a hectic life. And it was because if you're hectic, you can't think outside of what you're doing now.
Danielle Lewis (44:32):
Yeah, totally.
Leanne Webber (44:33):
You can't have the big picture ideas, the epiphanies, the things that will change your business for the better because you're so focused on just doing the work and not thinking. Yeah, I
Danielle Lewis (44:46):
Remember,
Leanne Webber (44:48):
Sorry, you, I remember being on when we didn't understand endo and what it meant. I remember sleeping on the way to see a client and Jake was like, what are you doing? Why are you coming? Why are you sleeping on the way to a client? This is ridiculous. And I was like, I don't know. I don't understand. And now I'm like, yeah, I'll have a nap on the way to a client.
Danielle Lewis (45:13):
Totally.
Leanne Webber (45:14):
This is what I need to do.
Danielle Lewis (45:15):
Yeah. It's also productive. I'm squeezing in my naps in my travel time. I'm actually a superhero.
Leanne Webber (45:24):
But it took such a long time to understand what was happening, and as you said, female founders listening, track your cycle because it is insane how much our hormones can affect us mentally and physically. I get such bad anxiety right before I get my period. I do not make any decisions during that time now.
Danielle Lewis (45:45):
Oh my God, that's
Leanne Webber (45:46):
Genius. I'll postpone if I can. Obviously postpone decisions until I'm in the better part, until I'm through that anxious, tired, sick, painful stage.
Danielle Lewis (45:58):
Yeah. Far out. That's so important. I remember even in this covid world, right? Covid probably a bit over a month ago, and it was a solid, so the first week of just being sick and then tested negative, but it was this two week period afterwards that I was just so incredibly exhausted and just trying to push through, trying to push through and had a mental breakdown. And then I was like, okay. Right. Actually, I talked to Alicia, we had our podcast recorded. She was like, you know what you got to do? You got to get off coffee for a week or get off coffee. And I was like, I don't want to do that.
(46:35):
But I did it. I went off coffee and wine for a week, and I had these three nights of incredible sleep. I don't sleep much or don't sleep well. And it was like this insane clarity, if you don't let yourself rest and recuperate, you just can't think clearly. And if you are in this hustle culture of I've just got to go, go push through the pain, push through the exhaustion, you're not actually going to make good decisions or decisions that in the long term, you'll love and feel connected to and aligned with, and be proud of the business that you created.
Leanne Webber (47:20):
Yes. Mic drop. I completely agree. I have only been able to make these decisions because I stopped and processed and thought and thought some more and overthought probably, and then came back to my values and what felt good for me. And I think that that's the only way you can get clarity moving forward, is to really just block out the noise, block out the clients, the deadlines, the emails, the messages, the what everyone else is doing on social media and get everything. And that needs time and space to do that.
Danielle Lewis (48:01):
Yeah. You know what? I can't think of a better ending to this show. Boom. Done. No, that is incredible. Thank you so much for being so honest and spending your time with the Spark community. I know. I hope that everyone listening takes a little bit of that advice on board because I just think it's going to be unreal and transformational for their businesses.
Leanne Webber (48:31):
Yeah, do know that it's hard though, don't get me wrong. It's hard to rest.
Danielle Lewis (48:36):
So totally
Leanne Webber (48:37):
Start practicing.
Danielle Lewis (48:39):
That's awesome. Cheers. Thank you. I'm empty. Cheers. I'm empty now.
Leanne Webber (48:45):
Thanks for having me.
Danielle Lewis (48:47):
Anytime.
