#awinewith Zee Scott
MEET Zee, founder of Bento & Bubbles.
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Zee, welcome to Spark tv. Hello. It's so
Zee Scott (00:10):
Good to have you. Hello. Thank
Danielle Lewis (00:11):
You. And cheers. We've got Cheersies wine happening. I love it. I'm so excited. I'm always very excited when people bring a little vino to the party. So thank you. I'm so excited to interview you on today's podcast because your brand, I've obviously been stalking you. Your brand is just so full of joy and love and vibrancy and happiness and excitement, and I was just going through everything and I'm like, this is amazing. I just feel like the brand just comes to life when you explore it. So I'm so super excited to pick your brain and go through everything, but let's not get too carried away. I'll let you introduce yourself. Let's tell everyone who you are and what you do.
Zee Scott (01:01):
Well, first of all, that is so fabulous to hear because I've spent so much time with my branding just trying to be me, but I'm ZZ Scott, as I'm known as. That is actually not my full name, but we'll just keep that as a little secret. I'm a marriage celebrant, an event mc, a speaker, a mentor, and last year I gave up making custom cakes for weddings and stuff and started a little workshop called Bento and Bubbles. I kind of did it as a bit of a joke and then it took off and has been amazing and it's a wonderful journey to be on. So at the moment, yes, I like to say Celebrant side is the Z side, the people side, the Bento and bubbles is where I get to be creative and still have a finger in a pie or a cake you could say.
Danielle Lewis (01:54):
So obviously Celebrant makes sense. What does Bento and Bubbles? So talk to me about that.
Zee Scott (02:01):
My mum used to be a cake maker, and then I then got into cakes many, many moons ago. And then, so I've made cakes for years, and then last year I just decided I absolutely love being a celebrant more than anything in the world, and I didn't want to split my time evenly anymore. I wanted Celebrancy to take over that part of my world, but I didn't want to give up cakes completely. So one day I just said to a friend, wouldn't it be fun if you went along? We'd been to a paint and sip session, and I was like, wouldn't it be fun to go along and just drink bubbles and decorate a little mini cake, but not be going to learn a craft or anything, just have fun and just be able to book a little session. And the groups are maximum eight people. And it happens here in my studio in Coburg North, and it really is just about coming along, having a drink, have the alcohol or non-alcoholic and decorating this little cake, but not having any pressure or thinking, oh, this is for work, or this is to learn a skill. It's just fun. So I like to say there's lashings of butter queen and lots of bubbles, and it's the happiest two hour, happy hour on earth.
Danielle Lewis (03:19):
Oh my God, I love this. I'm on the next flight to Melbourne because this sounds like something I need to experience. Oh, that is so much fun. And I just love the idea of doing something for the joy of it. You don't have to be good. You don't have to learn something. You're just there to be playful.
Zee Scott (03:40):
And as soon as attendees turn up, I say straight away, just remember, this is just for fun. There's no right or wrong. No. Oh, I've messed up. You just hype away. And sometimes somebody said it feels like therapy because dealing with the piping bags and the buttercream and squishing and oozing and it's so beautiful. And I'm like, yes, that's exactly what it is. It's just for fun.
Danielle Lewis (04:02):
And that's very pasty therapy too, which I all about
Zee Scott (04:07):
Home, so you do get a cake to go home with. So it's a bit of a treat, but it's also good for me because it means I'm able to be creative and have fun in a way that isn't about creating a wonderful wedding cake masterpiece that is then has to be perfect. It has to be spot on. I sometimes just have a bit of fun and pipe away and it's good for me as well.
Danielle Lewis (04:31):
I love that. I love that. So let's go back to the celebrant ness. How did you get into that? I don't know. I've never seen a career path to being a celebrant. I always feel like the people that become celebrants are just so passionate about it and they kind of find the way. So I'm super curious as to whether there was a career beforehand and how you got into it.
Zee Scott (04:55):
There have been a million careers before this one, but I guess the one that is most owing to me becoming a celebrant was I was on the stage, I was an actor, but it wasn't just about being an actor was I love writing. I'm a creative writer. And for me, I went along to a wedding of a friend a few years ago. Well, I say a few years, 10, 11 years ago now it was, we went along to a friend's wedding and the celebrant, he did his job amazingly, but I just felt there was something missing. There was no joy, there was no fun. It was just almost like a transaction. He was like, I'm here to get you married and that's it. And I was quite new to Australia at that point. I moved to, I'd been in Australia for about a year from the uk, and I was like, said to my partner, I was like, what is that job?
(05:47):
And he was like, well, celibate. And I was like, but are they legally married? And he was like, yeah, you have to do a course and then you have to apply to the government. And I was like, I do that job. And he was like, okay, yeah, okay, sure. And then by that night, by the time we got home, I had signed on to this course to become the same night, and then you could do it online. So I did it online and I was very quick last a year, but six months down the line, I was like, I'm done. I handed all in and they were like, yeah, you've passed. And I was like, well, I want to be a celebrant. What do I do now? But for me being a celebrant, it really is about writing people's stories. I love meeting couples. I love learning about them.
(06:34):
I love putting their story together, but in a way that isn't just a chronological, you met, you did this, you do this. I love to put back in behind it. So much so that couples will say to me, wow, that was our story. But we have never heard it like that. I like to take people on a bit of a rollercoaster. There's moments of emotion moments, they post to tears, and then it's straight into laughter and bringing them up and down and speaking about love and speaking about marriage in a way that isn't transactional, that isn't, we're just here to get you married. For me, I want everyone to feel part of the journey of the day that begins with the ceremony and then just makes its way through to the last person standing on the dance floor. So yeah, that's my journey of being a celebrant and how I got hit.
Danielle Lewis (07:28):
I love it so much. I remember, so I eloped, but you still have a celebrant at the elopement. And I remember going through the process of writing the ceremony and all of the things, and yes, there they were like, okay, you've got to have a couple of things, a couple of things we have to say so that you are legally married, cool, but the rest of it's pretty fluid. And I really wanted it to be so personal and so amazing, but I did really struggle to get that across the line with said, celebrate. So it just brings me so much joy as somebody who's gone through the process who really wanted not to experience anything I'd experienced before at other people's wedding. I wanted something that was so personal to me. So I just love that you actually take the time to do that. And it's actually super interesting that it is, the storytelling and the writing, that is what brings that to life.
Zee Scott (08:34):
And it's interesting because it's great because at the moment there's been so many changes over the last few years and so many new celebrants are coming in this fresh look and this wanting to create something more than just people just getting legally married. And there have been wonderful celebrants before that. But yes, it's, it's evolved. The role has evolved a bit more and people are more into getting that ceremony as the storytelling, but not learning more about the couple and them in the story. So not just go in, here's a template that I wrote 10 years ago. Let me just change the names and churn that out. It's not about that for me. It's about learning about you. I want to hear all the bits and then I will go away. And rather than it being, oh, we met on a Monday afternoon, tell me the date because I want to go back and was it a sunny day?
(09:34):
What time was it? I want to get all those creative juices. I want to be able to put people in that position and go, oh my goodness, we're there. We're there. It's like a movie. I want them in that moment and I want to look out at your guests and tell your story. And then they catch my eye and I can see them in that moment. That's the most beautiful thing I think being able to do is capture people with your words and hang onto them and make them go, oh, the little surprise. Even though they know what the ending's going to be because they're there at a wedding. But take on that journey.
Danielle Lewis (10:11):
I think it's so cool as well, because you do often hear from brides, especially that the lead up to and the day can be so stressful and having to think about everyone else who likes to have a hand in now weddings, it can be so stressful that by the time they're almost happy the day's over by the time it gets there. So I love that, catching them by surprise, by reminding them why they're there and how magical it all is. I just think that is beautiful.
Zee Scott (10:46):
And even if it's just during that ceremony time that they're able to sit back and go, oh, I'm just listening. I'm just here. I'm hearing this is where they go. Oh, I always say, don't forget, even if it's 20, 25 minutes, that's your 20, 25 minutes you are together. You are holding hands. No one's coming up to you, no one's saying anything. You are experiencing this whole day in that time. And then after that you may not see each other for the loss of the night. There's so many.
Danielle Lewis (11:16):
Yeah, this is your moment.
Zee Scott (11:19):
So just being able to get that half an hour or whatever it is where you can go, it's just me and you. And I always say that to couples from the start, just remember that moment. Hold hands. I won't stand in the middle of you because that's for you to have that moment together. I don't want to be in amongst that. I'm allowing you to have this time. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (11:40):
Oh, it is just gorgeous. So then tell me what has it been like creating a business around something that is so creative, so personalized, so yeah, individualized. How have you gone wrapping a business model around that?
Zee Scott (12:02):
It works for me because of the, I'm not a nine to five corporate kind of person, and I've tried that over the years and that never worked for me. And so having that flexibility and how I'm a bit of a two sides of a coin kind of person. So people often when they meet me, they go, you do so much, how do you fit it all in? And then I show them my Google calendar and they see all the different colors and they say, oh, you've got all this time set out for productive time and what happens here and what happens there. So I'm very much a organized person, but I'm also quite a creative bit of a flip coin as my mum would say. And so I think it really comes down to having that creativity and the passion, but then going, well, I want to make a business.
(12:59):
I want this to work. I want to, this is the life I want to live, so how do I do all these things? And then you start to put your compartments in place and go, well, I can do this and I'll do this and then I'll grow. Look at your business, look at as a celebrant, we get to do so much more than just turning up on the day and just doing this wedding. There are so many other steps to it. There are so many other journeys that you go on for each couple that for me, that's how the business sort of grew is I've sort of looked at it and went, oh wow, I get to meet people. I get to create their story. I get to also do what I call my nerdy time, which is all my admin time where I get to sit and input all their details and having to have that legal side of things as well. And that's what works for me in terms of celebrant and having that as a business is just knowing that there are so many parts to it that I need to make work. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (14:05):
Well, I mean that's almost a creative challenge in and of itself, isn't it? Having the time to be in your creative zone of genius. And then before we hit record, we were both chatting about the boring side of business, but I love how you just framed it with, I get to do that kind of data admin, I get to do this, and it's all part of me being able to have this business that I love working in.
Zee Scott (14:33):
But that's the thing, but you need to back it up
(14:36):
Because if I want to run a business where I want to make this business successful, and at the end of the day we've got to be honest, we've owned a business, we've got to make the money, we've got to do all the things to get the bank. So for me, if I tell myself, oh, Monday morning is admin morning, so Monday morning I get up and I'm like, right, I've got two hours of admin. We've got to get that done because we have to get that done in order to then go along for the rest of the week and flourish and do all the fun things, go into a book launch or accepting invites to places, and then time to write the stories, time to again find new couples, build the business as well. So for me, I used to, many years ago, I used to work in HR and one of my main roles was to teach people how to be productive and learn about their productive zones.
(15:34):
And the times that they sit down and write a diary and they look at their week. And I'm so used to working in that manner and saying, right, I've got these two hours. That day is my most productive day, so I'll do all my things, all the admin stuff that I should not like, but I know I'm going to enjoy them that day because I need to get them done. And then I have my other days where I'm like, no, I'm not doing admin. I'm not doing anything boring. I'm going straight into my creative zone. So I'll get up and I'll treat myself to a nice cup of tea, a nice big cup of tea, and I'll get back into bed and I will have the electric blanket on, for example. And I'll put on movies that I've watched a million times because I need that background noise. And then I'll sit there and then I'll be creative. And that's how I set myself up for those moments. But I see them as if I see all the parts of my business as way look at them in ways that I can enjoy them and it makes it easier. And I know they're coming, so I know I've got to get myself ready for those two hours on that day and that day will I just go, no, got to do it.
Danielle Lewis (16:46):
I love it because I feel like it's interesting that you said that you would teach people how to find their productivity zones of genius. I do think it is slightly different for everybody. What works for one person doesn't work for another person. I have to trick myself and I have to distract myself into doing things, whether it's walking on a treadmill, whilst doing sales outreach or watching a movie while doing this admin by doing my bookkeeping or whatever it is. I kind of go, if I give you this little treat, you have to do boring task. But it works. It's
Zee Scott (17:26):
True. And whatever works for you as well. Some people that I work with, they will say their treat is to go to the gym. And so if they get their stuff done in the morning, they'll go to the gym in the afternoon. I'm an early bird. I am up at 3:00 AM each morning. And for me. Yeah, I know, I know. So between three 7:00 AM they are my most productive times of the day. I dunno why, but I will get up and I will knock out a whole eight hours, work in two hours. I can just focus the stillness, the quiet that beautiful. If you've not woken up at that time in the morning and done me thing, I advise that you do because you never know. You might surprise yourself, but for me, it's the stillness. Everyone else is asleep and you get up and I can just sit there and I just put my headphones on and I just knock out however much work I need to do. And then my treat is like I've got well the rest of the day that I can do whatever I want almost.
Danielle Lewis (18:28):
I love that. And I love you saying just try it. You might surprise yourself. And I always say to people, if what you're currently doing is not working, it can't hurt to just try something else and experiment.
Zee Scott (18:42):
Yeah, yeah. Big fan of that. And I still try new things. I've been in business for a long time, but I am not scared of change. I'm not scared of going, this does not work or I'm enjoying this, but could I enjoy it more if I do it like this? So for me, it's like sometimes I just wake up and go, oh, I'm going to shake things up.
Danielle Lewis (19:08):
I love it, I love it.
Zee Scott (19:10):
I'll get up and cook dinner at three in the morning and get that prepared and then go, okay, that's not okay. But I prefer doing the admin at that time.
Danielle Lewis (19:20):
Yeah, it's so good. And I just love it because I feel like people have energy levels at different times of the day. So it's kind of learning to figure out where you sit on that 12 ish hour spectrum and what point you need to do. It's great, because I remember, so I came from the corporate world and it was very much nine to five. So when I started my businesses, I thought I had to operate in nine to five. And especially when I got a team, they were all operating nine to five and employment contracts say nine to five, but I can't do nine to five. Seriously. It's something weird. It's almost like because it's a rule, I don't want to do it. I am rebelling against it. And I have found I will, again, I'm similar first thing in the morning, I can smash out really good work, and then I'd kind of like to potter a little bit in the middle of the day and I'll do my exercise in the middle of the day, or I'll even go and do the grocery shop or whatever it is, and then something happens and I get a second wind in the afternoon, and then I'll go all night.
(20:25):
And I love working in front of the TV and all of that kind of stuff. So I just feel like you've kind of got to go where the energy is and what works for you.
Zee Scott (20:34):
Absolutely. And you're right. Many people that I work with, they will say, oh, but I've got to be available nine till five. I've got to do this and I've got to do that. And I'm like, no. At the end of the day, why did you become self-employed though? Why would I do this just to then be within those constraints when actually I'm making my own rules and I'm setting my own boundaries, and I'm saying, actually, I might be available between nine till 12 and then I won't be available again until five till seven. What are you going to do about it?
Danielle Lewis (21:07):
Exactly. Exactly. And you know what the best part is? The world never ends. Exactly. I know. We all think we're saving lives.
Zee Scott (21:21):
I'm such a firm believer in setting those boundaries and thinking about what works for you from the start. Because like I said, when you become self-employed or you sole trader or you have a team, you are in charge. It is your business. It's your business. So why are we then looking back and going, oh, but we need to be available for this and this. And I'm like, you don't at all. You need to spend time discovering for yourself what works best. And then going, for me, I don't work on a Monday. Monday is my day off because most of the time I have weddings on a Saturday and Sunday. And so Saturday, five o'clock, no more emails for me, nothing till Tuesday. That isn't my weekend, that's my time with my family. That's when I've decided that I will not be working. And then Tuesday morning I'm back into it. And so far, touch wood, in 10 years of being the Sullivan, there's not been any emergencies during that time that I really need to attend to. So yeah,
Danielle Lewis (22:28):
No, I love it. I love it. So true. I just love that you are the boss. You are in charge, you get to set the rules. But I think it is different, difficult, a lot of business owners do come from that old corporate structure, and we're stepping into this new world, and it's really the only, I guess, guide rails that we know, right? No, this is how you start a business. There's plenty of courses and coaching and people's ideas, but they tend to be conceptual and in parts. It's not quite a blueprint for how you have to start operating your own day. So I love that idea of being curious and trying things and just seeing what works and just being okay if it doesn't work to mix it up, try something else, change it.
Zee Scott (23:16):
And I think as well, a lot of people in business, I don't know if it's fear of wanting to please people or be available for people. And in this day and age that we're in now, of course, where we have the social media and that sort of, people want to be able to contact you at all times. And I think you need to be strong enough to go, actually, no, I am good. I don't need to talk to you at 10 o'clock at night about whatever you need to talk about. We can save that to another time when it works for me because it's my business. You've got to be a little bit selfish and be able to say no, actually. And I am not saying that over the years, I haven't had moments where I've sat there in an emails come in and I go, but if I just answer it now, then it's done. It's out the way and I don't have to think about it. But for me, one of the biggest things was to make sure I've got two mobiles. I've got my work mobile, and that goes off at five o'clock, and that's the only place where all the work things are. Any apps sort of work related, any emails, all those things go on my work mobile, then my personal mobile will have Instagram and the fun things. And it's just put that Instagram on, no contact that no do not disturb things so that you
Danielle Lewis (24:36):
Oh yeah, totally. Then no notification.
Zee Scott (24:39):
Do online. Just jump on. I'm like, I'm online to do squad.
Danielle Lewis (24:45):
Yeah, that's right. That's right. I am just hanging out here. I am not working. This is my time to look at people traveling the world and things that I'll never do. Memes. I want more memes, please.
Zee Scott (25:02):
People make me laugh.
Danielle Lewis (25:05):
Exactly. Exactly. Oh, I think it's so good. So one thing that you mentioned as well while you were talking through your story was a part of the time that you have to spend for yourself in your business is finding new couples. So how have you gone over the last, has it been a decade, did you say? 10 years. Wow, that's amazing. So over the last 10 years, how have you gone about growing the business and finding potential couples slash customers?
Zee Scott (25:35):
It's changed over time, if I'm honest. It was very much word of mouth. It's still word of mouth a lot. But now I checked my stats the other day, and over the last year, the last season, about 80% of my couples found me on Instagram,
Danielle Lewis (25:55):
Which
Zee Scott (25:55):
For me is perfect. It's what I want because on Instagram I show I'm very much the person who shows their true self. I will jump on those stories and say, I've just fallen over in the shops or something, or my natural self. And also people will hear me speak, they will see me in motion. If I am at a wedding and someone's captured me or something like that, they'll see pictures. And for me, that's where I want them to find me. That's my primary place. But yeah, back in the day, it definitely would've been more word of mouth and Google search and stuff because then with the old areas and stuff, but for me, prefer, I want them to find me on Instagram.
Danielle Lewis (26:42):
And you sound the type of person that loves showing up on Instagram though. Do you have any secrets for that? Because a lot of people
Zee Scott (26:48):
I don't though.
Danielle Lewis (26:49):
Oh, really? That's good. That's right. That's fine.
Zee Scott (26:52):
Do you know what?
Danielle Lewis (26:53):
Do it. Just do it. The secret
Zee Scott (26:55):
Is just to be you and just do it. Because what I found is I've tried different tactics over the years. I've fallen into watching videos of this is how you should be on Instagram, you should be business, you should do this. And I've done that and I've lost followers and I've lost this. And people have gone, oh, we don't like that. And so then especially over the last couple of years, I just went, oh, I'm just going to be me. I'm just going to show up. And I'm very much won't. Some people sort of do a story and then they'll go, oh, let me just check it and whatever. I just do it and then upload. I don't want to look it back. I just press caption and then I'm done. Just upload it. Because the more you think about it is the more you are trying to be someone you are not, you're trying to then fit into this bracket when actually if you just talk and you be yourself, you can just upload it. If I'm talking to my friend, I'm not going to go, oh, hold on a minute, just run that by me again. What did I just say? Did I?
Danielle Lewis (27:55):
Yeah, you just roll that back. Yes.
Zee Scott (27:59):
So why do we feel the need then to do that on social media with people who will probably never meet, probably never get face-to-face action with when actually just see me in my natural being and hear me as I speak. This is how I am again, this is what people want to know when they're booking a celebrant is how does she sound? Is she fun? Does she sound natural? How does she talk about other people or other businesses? How does she show that she's inclusive representing everyone? And for me, the only way to do that is to be myself.
Danielle Lewis (28:47):
That's really interesting as well, especially in your profession. You're so spot on. You couldn't be one person on Instagram and then show up at a wedding and be someone completely different. It wouldn't work.
Zee Scott (28:57):
They'd be like, that is not what I booked.
Danielle Lewis (29:00):
What happened here? I just love that you say it too. So this month, depending on when people listening, we're recording this in May, is that one of our Spark Women in Business grants open month. So I have to do a lot of showing up on the grant and telling people about all of the things. And I was trying to record something yesterday for the opening, and I recorded it about 17,000 times, did it whatever. And I was like, fine. And then I was like, I sound like I'm in a commercial. I'm just, so I was like, why can't I just relax and be? But then I went, maybe it's not me though. Maybe I'm just a super passionate, loud, crazy person. And maybe that's okay.
Zee Scott (29:42):
And it's okay. People will, like you said, you'll hear that in yourself, but people will also hear that. And the biggest change for me was because I did this story, I think it was about three years ago, and I'll always remember I've got it saved on my phone because my sister back in the UK messaged me almost immediately after I uploaded it. And she said, what are you doing with your voice? What does that sound coming out of your mouth? And I was like, what do you mean? And she was like, you just sound like you're trying to be someone you're not. And I remember sitting there that day and just going, and then I listened back and I was like, oh my gosh. Yeah, you are right. And sometimes you need that little, you just need someone to go, come on,
Danielle Lewis (30:30):
Just relax, girl, just chill out. It's fine. You are okay.
Zee Scott (30:36):
Just you.
Danielle Lewis (30:37):
It's true though, but it's like we get in our own heads, right? You are sitting at your desk working from home probably half the time in an empty house, half the time with kids running around. Sometimes you're just like, I can't even hear myself anymore. I don't even know who I am showing up on stories.
Zee Scott (30:58):
But that's at the end when I work with, because I also work with, I'm a mentor for some upcoming celebrants and everything as well. And I always say to them, at the end of the day, when you go out there in front of the crowd, especially if you've got guests, I've done weddings where they've got 250, 300 guests. And to me it's the same as if there was three guests in the crowd. I am just telling the story. I'm still being me. I can't stand there stiff. I am an expressive talker. My hands will go and everything, and I'm not going to change that according to how many people are there. And I think everyone needs to get used to that. And it's been so beautiful to see on social media, especially in the last probably year or so where so many people are just showing up.
(31:49):
They're just saying, this is it. This is me. This is what you get. And I love it. I'm enjoying it so much out there going, yes, this is what I want to see. I want you to talk to me about the silly things. I want you to say, this is what happened. And every time I do a story or something like where I do say, oh, I've just done this and I fell out the car. So me, I think one of my most watched stories of last year, we were looking, me and my assistant were looking, and I bought a new wheelie chair in the studio here, and I spun around on it and I fell off, and I just went on stories and I was like, at this big old age, I just spun on my chair and fell off the chair, and it was just, people were like, so they just go, oh, she's, it's a real person. We're seeing her. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (32:42):
I love it too because it gives us permission as well to just be, and so many people say, I just don't know what to talk about when I do show up. And it's like, you know what? Yeah, it actually doesn't matter. Is any of those little things it
Zee Scott (32:58):
Does as well. The more you do it, the more you just come on with those random things. It just makes it normal. I hate to use the word normal, but it makes it, people are used to it. But if you sort of do business talk, business talk, business talk, and then one day just come out and go, oh, by the way, I went to the shop today and I just got this. It just sounds, people just go, what is this? Who are you? But every day I say to some people, challenge yourself and just talk in the morning. Say, I'm making a cup of coffee, this is what's in it. I love a cup of coffee in the morning. I'm done at lunchtime, I'm doing this, blah, blah, blah. All the little, just give us these little juicy bits and then you'll start getting used to it and you'll start to go, actually, it feels okay. I'm just sharing general things. And then you can tweak in the little business bits in between so it feels more natural rather than just sell, sell, sell. Oh, by the way, hi, I am still here. Sell, sell, sell. Hey, I'm still here.
Danielle Lewis (33:57):
Yeah. Well, and it's so interesting. I was having a conversation with someone earlier today around brands now need the personal brand attached to the business brand. Yes. Customers are just so wanting to know the behind the scenes, wanting to lift the curtain, what's
Zee Scott (34:17):
Happening behind there?
Danielle Lewis (34:19):
Exactly, exactly. Who am I actually buying from? Yeah.
Zee Scott (34:24):
I like to think of it as the old sort of an actor's term, like the fourth wall when you're watching a show and instead of there being this gritty canned laughter, it's real people, you get to see the audience are there, they get to see, oh, okay, it's not just a 20 minute sitcom that I'm watching. This is an hour's worth of acting, of pausing, of cut of do this, of let's move that. Fix your hair, do this. This is what we've become accustomed to, seeing those behind the scenes. And that has now moved into business and branding because now people want to go, okay, you talk a bit, talk in your business, branding about wanting to be sustainable and all this, but you know what? Show me, show me, show. Say, show
Danielle Lewis (35:13):
Me things. Yes. Oh my God, I love that. I'd not even thought about it as a values alignment, right? So it is. Yeah. If I own a sustainable brand, oh my God, I'm going to call myself out here. I'm not showing up with a plastic water bottle on camera. I've got my reusable water bottle. But that's so interesting as the face of the brand, even if it's in the sideline, living those values that you are processing in your business is such a good way to create trust
Zee Scott (35:46):
And keep showing those things. And not in a way that is, oh, look at me, I've got this. But again, in a natural way that you just go, people go, oh, so she does. Oh, she is carrying a reusable dish. Oh, she is doing that. Oh, she wasn't lying. She does wear lid.
(36:07):
All these things. It's being able to naturally have that. And the thing is, back in the day, especially in the world of the corporate world, there were people to tell people to do this. There were the people in the fixes for the prime ministers and stuff who would sort of go, oh, no, swap out. You're not using this brand phone today. You using a different brand phone. And it's another hack that as we as small business owners or the solo traders need to think about for ourselves, now we're going, oh, actually, I'm not going to wear that because I said that my business believes in that. So now I've got to swap out that and live and show the receipts, live the truth, and back it up. Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (36:53):
Oh, I love it so much. It is incredible. Okay, we could talk all night, especially considering we have a wine in our hand, but let's leave our beautiful spark community with one last piece of goodness. So reflecting on your time in business, what would be a piece of advice that you would pass along to another woman in business to help her on her journey?
Zee Scott (37:20):
Got a couple. First of all, first and foremost, be you from the start. We've spoken about that already throughout the podcast. Be you really just sit down, work out who you are, spend that time your true self, and that's what people want to see. That's what fronts your business. Have a think about, map things out. I'm I'm a mapper. Look at your year. Map out finances, map out days off, map out treats, map out holidays, map out family time. Not everyday family time, but the extra family time. Sit down and spend time. And then once a month or beginning of the month, for me, it's the first of the month. Go back and look at that, revisit it, adjust. Do not be scared of change. Things should change, especially throughout the year. Your goals should change your vision of where you want to be. Everything should change. So don't be scared of change. Be yourself. Map at things out, and don't be scared of change.
Danielle Lewis (38:27):
Oh, I love it so much. Z you are incredible. Thank you so much for cheers. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your journey and your honesty and your wisdom with us. You are incredible. I'm so grateful for you. Thank you. And thank you so much for having me on. I love chatting. I could talk forever, but yeah, I would too. I would be up for that.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
