1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,160 If something interests me or if it challenges my brain, like if I find 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,720 something really hard to understand or like really challenging to execute on, I can 3 00:00:08,839 --> 00:00:12,119 hyper focus on it for hours. But on the flip side, if something 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,679 bores me or it feels like it's not very challenging, I can procrastinate it 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:20,239 for days, weeks, even months. Sometimes. Welcome to imperfect Action. 6 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,320 I'm Steph Taylor. For years, I read all the books, downloaded all 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,440 the freebies, and did all the courses. But it wasn't until I started 8 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:34,159 taking imperfect action that my business had its first million dollars. Here, imperfect 9 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:40,200 action is about doing things before you're ready, prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,079 and moving forward even when you're not sure you're doing it right. On 11 00:00:45,119 --> 00:00:49,560 this show, you can expect mindset advice, actionable marketing tips, and strategies 12 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,560 to build a business that brings you more profit, more freedom, and even 13 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:59,119 more joy. Are you on the list to get my daily Businesses? Every 14 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,320 day, I'll send you a bite size prompt designed to help you grow your 15 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,280 business in a more intentional way. Sign up at Steph Taylor dot com, 16 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,799 forward slash DBB, or at the link in your show notes. Hey, 17 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:17,760 welcome back to Imperfect Action this episode seven hundred and seventy seven. Today, 18 00:01:17,879 --> 00:01:22,799 I'm sharing a couple of things that you might not know about me and how 19 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,560 these things have affected my business. Now, this episode is so different to 20 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:32,719 the usual strategies and the tips that I share in my all my other episodes, 21 00:01:33,519 --> 00:01:36,719 but I really wanted to share this episode as a bit more of a 22 00:01:36,719 --> 00:01:40,560 personal touch because we're not our businesses. We are humans who run a business, 23 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,200 but we are not our businesses. And I know this can be really 24 00:01:44,239 --> 00:01:49,079 challenging if you are somebody who has a personal brand like I do, where 25 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,760 it can be really hard to delineate where your life and your personal life ends 26 00:01:53,799 --> 00:01:57,560 and your business begins. So I'm going to share a little bit more of 27 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,519 a personal episode to And you know, sometimes I think it's a bit fun 28 00:02:01,599 --> 00:02:06,959 to learn a little more about the podcasters and the people that you follow and 29 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,639 listen to all day long. And I know definitely with the people that I 30 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,960 follow, I love to hear a little bit more of their lives outside their 31 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,960 business. I also am a big believer that all of the experiences that we 32 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:24,360 have make us who we are and impact how we are able to show up 33 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:30,599 and impact our clients and our audiences, you know, share our value with 34 00:02:30,759 --> 00:02:36,759 them. When you're comparing yourself to a competitor who has similar expertise, maybe 35 00:02:36,759 --> 00:02:39,960 similar offers, they're in the same industry as it can help sometimes to remember 36 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:45,400 that you've both had completely different life experiences and some people are going to resonate 37 00:02:45,439 --> 00:02:47,360 with yours, others are going to resonate with theirs. You know, your 38 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,479 personalities are going to be different. There's all of those other things outside of 39 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:57,719 just your knowledge and your expertise that form what somebody is looking at when they 40 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,840 are choosing who to work with. Okay, so little spiel aside. What 41 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:05,800 are a couple of things that you might not know about me? Okay? 42 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,400 So first of all, I have lived in five cities in four different countries. 43 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,919 So I was born in South Africa. I was there until I was 44 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,400 about eight years old, grew up in New Zealand, left there about twelve 45 00:03:19,439 --> 00:03:23,560 years ago and moved to Australia, and then I spent most or some of 46 00:03:23,719 --> 00:03:30,479 twenty eighteen living in London. Now I think personally, I think moving has 47 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:35,879 been moving countries and moving cities has been a really useful thing. I didn't 48 00:03:35,919 --> 00:03:38,520 maybe realize it at the time, but it made me very flexible, made 49 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,879 me adaptable. I had to learn how to make new friends. All of 50 00:03:40,919 --> 00:03:46,199 that, and then growing up in New Zealand and also here in Australia, 51 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:52,439 it's really interesting because tall poppy syndrome is such a thing where everyone likes to 52 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,439 cut down the successful person. You know, if somebody's successful, it's like, 53 00:03:54,520 --> 00:04:00,199 oh, but they must not have a social life, or oh, 54 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,560 you know, like they're only successful because of this or that. And it 55 00:04:03,639 --> 00:04:08,159 was really interesting to then spend a bit of time living in London where suddenly 56 00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:10,960 it was like, oh, I'm a little fish in a big pond and 57 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,800 nobody cares what I do. That was really kind of freeing, and I 58 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:17,639 think anyone who's lived in different places will be able to tell you, like, 59 00:04:17,879 --> 00:04:23,560 it's such an experience too, I guess, to have that fresh start, 60 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:27,639 to be somewhere new where nobody really knows who you are, you don't 61 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,120 know who they are, and nobody cares and it's great. And then on 62 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:35,000 top of that, I'm also an Italian citizen and I speak Italian and I 63 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:40,319 know that one day I really would love to spend a whole year living in 64 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,040 Italy. I've got a business that supports it, so you know, why 65 00:04:44,079 --> 00:04:47,160 not? Really? Okay. The second thing you might not know is I 66 00:04:47,199 --> 00:04:50,800 started my career as an accountant. It's very different to what I do now. 67 00:04:51,439 --> 00:04:57,160 I studied accounting and finance at university. I worked in tax for a 68 00:04:57,199 --> 00:05:00,360 while, then I worked in insolvency for a while. I got halfway through 69 00:05:00,399 --> 00:05:05,279 completing my chartered Accounting qualification, like the postgraduate thing, it's kind of similar 70 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:11,600 to like a CPA, and then I quit in twenty sixteen. So there 71 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,199 were a couple of different factors. So I'd been side hustling as a social 72 00:05:15,199 --> 00:05:19,560 media manager for a while. I had started my first business, which I'll 73 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,040 tell you a little bit more about in a minute. But i'd started that 74 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,519 business, I was also side hustling, and I was working, and I 75 00:05:27,639 --> 00:05:31,879 was studying, and I was pretty burnt out. And one day I woke 76 00:05:31,959 --> 00:05:36,279 up and I had really bad back pain, which actually was kidney pain, 77 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,959 and then I went to hospital that night. Seven days later, I got 78 00:05:40,959 --> 00:05:44,360 out of hospital. I was on sick leave for another week, and basically 79 00:05:44,439 --> 00:05:46,519 I returned back to the office and it was like, well, here's a 80 00:05:46,519 --> 00:05:49,920 pile of work that you weren't able to do while you're on leave, so 81 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,160 do it. And you're expected to stay back late to get it done. 82 00:05:54,199 --> 00:05:56,879 And why aren't you staying back late to get it done? That was kind 83 00:05:56,879 --> 00:06:00,639 of the That was kind of the environment and the culture that I worked in. 84 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:06,360 So I ended up leaving well before my first business was profitable enough to 85 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:12,759 actually sustain my life. And I mean I did end up running out of 86 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,920 money and getting another part time job. And there's a whole story there, 87 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,439 like that's a whole episode on its own, But the real impetus to quit 88 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:24,439 was, you know, I just had to get out of that job. 89 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,120 And at the time it was horrible. Now in hindsight, I'm really glad 90 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,720 that it happened, because I think it's what gave me that push to leave. 91 00:06:31,759 --> 00:06:35,480 And if I had not had that push, then I potentially would never 92 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:41,360 have had the confidence to go to make that leap from you know, the 93 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:48,000 fortnightly pay getting that paycheck and my bank account to the instability and the income 94 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:55,399 fluctuations of running my own business. And I think having that background in accounting, 95 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,120 in tax in insolvency, I mean, certainly in the first few years 96 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:00,439 of my business. It was great because I didn't have to pay an accountant. 97 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,319 I did all my own taxes. I saved so much money. But 98 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:11,439 it's also helped in the ways that I can serve my students and my clients, 99 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,560 especially in Freedom fast Track, which is a bit more of a holistic 100 00:07:15,959 --> 00:07:18,480 program. It's not so much focused on sales and marketing. It's more focused 101 00:07:18,519 --> 00:07:24,079 around your business model, looks at things like your operations, your expenses, 102 00:07:24,519 --> 00:07:29,639 all of that. I have the ability to pass on the things that I 103 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:35,079 learned working with clients in my accounting career and help my students with that in 104 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:40,279 Freedom fast Track. Also fun fact, I have most of a master's degree 105 00:07:40,439 --> 00:07:46,839 in strategic advertising. That was my career pivot post accounting was, Oh, 106 00:07:46,879 --> 00:07:50,519 I want to go and do advertising. But I didn't finish the degree because 107 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:57,360 the very last subject in the last semester was a group assignment subject, So 108 00:07:57,399 --> 00:08:01,399 like the entire semester was a group assignment project, and I was living in 109 00:08:01,439 --> 00:08:05,399 London at the time, and the sort of trying to do a group project 110 00:08:05,439 --> 00:08:11,000 remotely was absolutely no There was no way that was gonna happen. So I 111 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,160 never actually finished that degree. Unfortunately, I like to think that I basically 112 00:08:15,199 --> 00:08:18,120 have that degree because I did all of the coursework. I just didn't do 113 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:22,519 that one final group assignment. All right. Fun fact number three about me 114 00:08:22,879 --> 00:08:28,120 is I have ADHD. Like many other entrepreneurs do. I know. To 115 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,480 anyone who knows me personally, that is probably going to come to you as 116 00:08:31,759 --> 00:08:35,200 zero surprise. To those of you who watched my business from the outside, 117 00:08:35,279 --> 00:08:39,759 it might seem a little bit surprising because I am pretty consistent with this podcast. 118 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,320 Actually, no, I'm very consistent with this podcast, and my business 119 00:08:43,519 --> 00:08:48,360 is pretty structured. To be honest, this podcast is the thing that I 120 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:50,759 have been most consistent with in my entire life. I can't think of anything 121 00:08:50,759 --> 00:08:54,440 else that I have done three times a week for the last six years, 122 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,360 like even fitness, I mean pilates. It's only been the last couple of 123 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,279 years that I've out of getting into a routine where it's like I go multiple 124 00:09:01,279 --> 00:09:05,279 times a week. But everything else I've been so inconsistent. When I feel 125 00:09:05,279 --> 00:09:07,559 like doing things, I do it. When I don't feel inspired to do 126 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,000 them, I don't do them. But I've had to put so much structure 127 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,440 in place to stay consistent and to not you know, miss episodes when I 128 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:20,720 don't want to record them, and not burn my business to the ground when 129 00:09:20,759 --> 00:09:24,080 I get bored and want to try something different. It's been a real work 130 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:28,440 in progress putting that structure in place. I now I have the accountability to 131 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,679 my team, I have the accountability to my listeners of this show. I 132 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:35,879 have the accountability to the students in my programs. So I can't just be 133 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,200 like, oh no, I don't feel like doing this anymore, which is 134 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,360 great. It's great to have that accountability. It's been such a challenge throughout 135 00:09:43,399 --> 00:09:46,519 the like I don't know, seven eight years. I don't even know how 136 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:50,240 many years I've been in business now, like eight years. It's been such 137 00:09:50,279 --> 00:09:56,639 a challenge resisting that ADHD urge to pivot every time that I feel bored, 138 00:09:56,039 --> 00:10:00,399 and I get bored a lot, and I do think that it's part of 139 00:10:00,399 --> 00:10:03,759 the reason why I like to always start new things, do new things, 140 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,679 try things out, experiment. I need that novelty in my business. I 141 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,200 think that's part of the reason why there are so many people with ADHD who 142 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:18,759 run businesses, because we need that novelty and we can't necessarily get that novelty 143 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,360 working for somebody else Whereas in a business, we have the creative freedom. 144 00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:26,360 We can do what we want, but the challenge can be sticking with something 145 00:10:26,399 --> 00:10:30,279 for long enough, persisting with something long enough, not burning it to the 146 00:10:30,279 --> 00:10:33,440 ground the minute that we get bored. If something interests me or if it 147 00:10:33,519 --> 00:10:37,279 challenges my brain, like if I find something really hard to understand or like 148 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,519 really challenging to execute on, I can hyper focus on it for hours. 149 00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:45,440 But on the flip side, if something bores me or it feels like it's 150 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,320 not very challenging, I can procrastinate it for days, weeks, even months. 151 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,679 Sometimes same with little routine things like this podcast. Even though I really 152 00:10:52,759 --> 00:10:58,720 enjoy podcasting, I've been doing it for nearly six years, so the novelty 153 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,440 and the excitement isn't there anymore, and now it's more reliant on like the 154 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:07,159 routine, the habit, the accountability that I have to my listeners for me 155 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,200 to keep showing up and doing it. Okay, Number three, I am 156 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,159 a massive Actually no, this is number four. Fun fact number four. 157 00:11:15,279 --> 00:11:18,120 Number three was adhd. Fun Fact number four is I'm a massive nerd and 158 00:11:18,159 --> 00:11:24,679 I'm always trying to learn new things. So maybe this goes along with the 159 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,320 ADHD brain. But I'm constantly going down rabbit holes trying to learn new things, 160 00:11:28,399 --> 00:11:33,480 and it has I think it's really benefited my business because if there's something, 161 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:37,679 if if I find that there's a knowledge gap somewhere, then I'm like 162 00:11:37,799 --> 00:11:41,200 cool, I need to learn everything that I can about this thing, and 163 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:45,039 then that means that I can help my students better as well. I do 164 00:11:45,159 --> 00:11:46,799 a lot of online courses. I do a lot of trainings. Some of 165 00:11:46,799 --> 00:11:50,919 them are related to business, some of them have nothing to do with business. 166 00:11:50,879 --> 00:11:54,799 Last year I did my NLP Master Practitioner training, so I can you 167 00:11:54,799 --> 00:11:58,840 know, I use that to coach my clients a little bit better. I'm 168 00:11:58,919 --> 00:12:03,840 learning to code in Python because maybe one day I might want to create an 169 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:05,399 app, or I might want to create some kind of tool or software that 170 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,919 I can share with my students to help them get better results. And fun 171 00:12:11,039 --> 00:12:13,519 fact, I started this year, like literally a few weeks ago, like 172 00:12:13,519 --> 00:12:18,759 a week ago, started doing a master's in neuroscience because I want to understand 173 00:12:18,759 --> 00:12:22,159 my brain better. I want to understand the brains of my students. I 174 00:12:22,159 --> 00:12:26,480 want to understand how I can help my students and my audience to take imperfect 175 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:30,399 action, to learn better in my programs, to be more productive in their 176 00:12:30,399 --> 00:12:35,279 businesses, to overcome the mindset stuff like procrastination and perfectionism, all of those 177 00:12:35,279 --> 00:12:37,559 things. And it has been I mean, I'm a week in and it's 178 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:43,720 so challenging, but it's also been so interesting and so relevant, and I'm 179 00:12:43,799 --> 00:12:48,960 quite excited as to how I'm going to apply the things that I'm learning into 180 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,279 the programs that I have, into the content that I share. And you 181 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,759 know, whether I start adding more of that into these kinds of episodes, 182 00:12:56,799 --> 00:12:58,679 I don't know, Like it's still early days, but we'll see. I 183 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:03,080 love life un used to Okay, fun fact number five, this isn't my 184 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:09,159 first business. So, like I said, I was an accountant originally, 185 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:13,240 and while I was an accountant, I side hustled as a social media manager 186 00:13:13,279 --> 00:13:16,960 for some local cafes. Like I was. I started a blog back in 187 00:13:16,639 --> 00:13:20,960 twenty thirteen maybe, and I got really good at social media, and then 188 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,240 I started reaching out to cafes and I was like, hey, like I 189 00:13:24,759 --> 00:13:28,799 this is an example of the work that I've done. Your social media presence 190 00:13:28,879 --> 00:13:31,039 kind of sucks. This was like also in the heyday of Instagram, so 191 00:13:31,039 --> 00:13:33,960 if you were a cafe and you weren't on Instagram, it was like what 192 00:13:35,039 --> 00:13:39,000 are you doing? So it was really easy to pick up a bunch of 193 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,279 clients and I started doing that and then I realized, like, I'm really 194 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:46,279 good at social media. I could probably start my own business and market it 195 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:52,039 for free on Instagram. So I started my first business, which was called 196 00:13:52,039 --> 00:13:54,799 the Sugar Free Box. It was a subscription box with sugar free snacks and 197 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,720 I ran it for about a year before I closed it down. The reasons 198 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,720 I closed it down were well, firstly, the business model wasn't viable so 199 00:14:03,639 --> 00:14:09,240 shipping in Australia. Shipping parcels in Australia is very expensive, and especially if 200 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:16,000 you have customers in regional areas where you can't just send like a courier. 201 00:14:16,039 --> 00:14:18,039 You have to send it by Australia Post and they charge you more for certain 202 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:24,399 areas. So I was making like two dollars of profit per order, and 203 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:28,679 I was still having to pack and ship all of the orders myself because I 204 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,720 didn't have enough volume to outsource that part of it. So I had to 205 00:14:33,919 --> 00:14:37,679 be in Australia all the time to pack and ship orders. Even though I 206 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:39,840 quit my job to have the freedom to travel a little bit more So, 207 00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:43,519 I kind of I realized like, oh, this is not viable, this 208 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,240 isn't working. It's not serving the vision that I want. I want the 209 00:14:46,279 --> 00:14:48,759 freedom to travel. I don't want to be tied to one location, and 210 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:54,200 I can't you know, I can't get somebody else to pack and ship the 211 00:14:54,279 --> 00:14:56,480 orders because well I can't afford it because I'm making two dollars profit per order. 212 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,399 And also none of them will none of the third part, the pack 213 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,720 and shipping companies would even talk to me because my volume wasn't enough. I 214 00:15:03,759 --> 00:15:09,320 wasn't selling enough orders. Whilst I didn't know what problem I was really solving, 215 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:13,720 I didn't really know what my selling point was. And ultimately, the 216 00:15:13,879 --> 00:15:18,000 total addressable market wasn't big enough to scale. So the total market of people 217 00:15:18,039 --> 00:15:22,799 in Australia who were interested in sugar free snacks on a subscription basis wasn't really 218 00:15:22,799 --> 00:15:28,080 big enough to scale. So I realized after a year, like, oh, 219 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,759 this business model is not the right business model. And I mean, 220 00:15:31,799 --> 00:15:35,320 I'm glad I realized it. I'm glad I closed it down because I could 221 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,320 have kept persisting with what was a broken business model, and eventually it probably 222 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,279 would have burned out and given up and maybe gone back to a job altogether, 223 00:15:43,399 --> 00:15:48,039 never gone into business again. But then I was working part time as 224 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:54,200 the head of marketing and content for a startup and I started then my second 225 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:58,399 business, where I was essentially a market being consultant, and I started to 226 00:15:58,399 --> 00:16:02,399 think about, well, how can I scale this? And obviously the most 227 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,120 logical way to scale when you're a one on one marketing consultant is to start 228 00:16:06,159 --> 00:16:08,639 to build it into a marketing agency. I was doing clients strategy. I 229 00:16:08,679 --> 00:16:11,679 was doing a lot of like marketing management, so Facebook ads management, social 230 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,000 media management, all of that, and I started hiring people to help me 231 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,759 manage that for my clients. At the same time, though, I also 232 00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:22,879 launched my first course, which was about Facebook ads, because I had a 233 00:16:22,879 --> 00:16:26,360 lot of people inquiring with me about, you know, can you run my 234 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:30,200 Facebook ads for me? My budgets one hundred dollars a month, and it 235 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,759 was like, well, if you've got one hundred dollars to spend on Facebook 236 00:16:32,799 --> 00:16:34,039 ads, there's no point paying me. I think I was charging like, 237 00:16:34,159 --> 00:16:37,039 I don't know, seven hundred, like I was very cheap. I was 238 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:38,600 charging like seven hundred dollars a month or something. It was like, there's 239 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,960 no point paying me seven hundred dollars to spend your one hundred dollars of Facebook 240 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,159 ads. You'd be much better off learning how to run them yourself. So 241 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,720 that was where the idea for my very first course came from. I also 242 00:16:48,799 --> 00:16:55,600 then launched a membership and I realized that I way preferred the course and the 243 00:16:55,639 --> 00:17:00,000 membership side than running an agency. I didn't really want to scale it up 244 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,399 to be a huge, big agency, so I slowly started letting go of 245 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,720 clients as I was replacing the income that from that client income with courses and 246 00:17:07,759 --> 00:17:14,599 membership income. All right, fun fact number five. I don't have kids 247 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,000 or a partner, and I get asked this a lot. So that's why 248 00:17:17,039 --> 00:17:19,160 I'm telling you this. I get asked this a lot because I don't share 249 00:17:19,279 --> 00:17:25,359 much of my personal life online or on Instagram. Unlike many other people in 250 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:30,680 similar businesses who show everything, I don't really show much other than when I'm 251 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,920 traveling you might see a little bit behind the scenes. And honestly, like 252 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,279 I've spent most of the time since I started out in business single, and 253 00:17:37,319 --> 00:17:41,680 I do worry that one day, I might regret prioritizing work over relationships and 254 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:45,880 family and all of that. But the plus side is that I have been 255 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,880 able to make my business my priority over the last seven years, I've been 256 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,640 able to focus on it. I've had the freedom to be able to travel 257 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,960 to conferences and events. I've had the freedom to be able to travel for 258 00:17:55,079 --> 00:18:00,279 fun as well. But yeah, there is always that like, oh, 259 00:18:00,599 --> 00:18:03,079 might I regret this one day? And I also look, you know, 260 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,880 even though I've had a lot more time in my day than my friends who 261 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,359 have kids, I do look at some of my friends with kids and they're 262 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,720 so productive because they've only got a few hours in the day while their kids 263 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,839 are at school. And I look at them, I'm like wow, Like, 264 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,200 maybe if I had that kind of limitation all my time, I would 265 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,400 actually be able to get a lot more done rather than my days at the 266 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:29,119 moment feel kind of almost endless, and that can lead to me being a 267 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,599 lot less efficient than perhaps if I had a limited time frame. Right, 268 00:18:33,279 --> 00:18:37,599 Like, I have friends who can get so much done in three hours in 269 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,039 a day, and I look at them and I'm like, wow, I'm 270 00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:44,960 impressed. All Right. The next fun fact I've lost count. I think 271 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,119 we're up to number seven. This is actually eight instead of seven. Like 272 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,279 I said in the episode number seven. I'm a massive travel and adventure junkie, 273 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,720 and that has been a huge part of my business. Why the reason 274 00:18:56,759 --> 00:19:00,279 why I started in business. So when I was in my corporate job, 275 00:19:00,559 --> 00:19:03,759 I realized pretty quickly like, oh, I'm not going to be able to 276 00:19:03,759 --> 00:19:07,240 do all the travel that I want to do with the limited amount of leave 277 00:19:07,319 --> 00:19:12,160 that I get. So for me, having that freedom to travel is a 278 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:18,079 huge part of why I started my business. I love long hikes. I 279 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:23,599 last no year before last, twenty twenty two, I hiked a trail here 280 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,960 called the Larapinta Trail, which is two hundred and thirty kilometers, so like, 281 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,559 I don't know, one hundred and something miles. It took me just 282 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,759 under two weeks, and it was so much fun. It was two weeks 283 00:19:33,759 --> 00:19:40,039 offline. I was by myself, sleeping in a tent, cooking my meals 284 00:19:40,039 --> 00:19:44,960 on a little gas stove of every night dehydrated meals. It was pretty miserable 285 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:48,440 by the time you've eaten dehydrated meals for twelve days straight. And yeah, 286 00:19:48,519 --> 00:19:53,079 like it was just for me that is to me, that's like my kind 287 00:19:53,079 --> 00:19:56,599 of happiness. Right the left foot, right foot, left foot, right 288 00:19:56,599 --> 00:20:00,759 foot. For twelve days straight. That was the most quiet my brain has 289 00:20:00,839 --> 00:20:04,640 ever been. The first few days, yes, I was overthinking in my 290 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:08,160 head, thinking for all my thoughts. By about day four there was nothing 291 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,240 left to think about and my brain was silent, and it was magical. 292 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:17,559 I do one day dream of hiking the t Araro Trail in New Zealand. 293 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,960 So that is a very long trail. It's about six months long from the 294 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:23,759 top of the North Island of New Zealand to the bottom of the South Island. 295 00:20:23,799 --> 00:20:27,559 It's about the same length as the Pacific Crest Trail in the US, 296 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,839 which I think I'd also like to do that one one day, but let's 297 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:37,119 just do the first six month one at a time. I also love skiing. 298 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,680 That's one of my huge, big, you know, one of my 299 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:45,640 big travel things. I spend a month skiing in January this year in France, 300 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,200 and I think it's I'm going to do every January going forward. So 301 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,599 now I know in December it becomes how can I set my business up to 302 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:57,039 have that month off in January every year? And when I talk about intentionally 303 00:20:57,079 --> 00:21:00,400 designing your business around the kind of life that you want. This is what 304 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,279 I mean. It's identifying like, oh, great, I want to spend 305 00:21:03,279 --> 00:21:07,400 every January skiing. What do I need to do to make that happen. 306 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,720 It's not necessarily like, oh, somebody online said that they built a business 307 00:21:11,759 --> 00:21:15,039 where they only work ten hours a week, Maybe I should do that. 308 00:21:15,079 --> 00:21:18,839 It's instead, it's working backwards. It's reverse engineering the kind of business that 309 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:23,200 you want and then putting in place the systems, the structure, the frameworks, 310 00:21:23,519 --> 00:21:29,519 the business model that enables you to have that. And you know, 311 00:21:29,599 --> 00:21:34,200 for me, sometimes when I travel, it's offline completely. So in early 312 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,440 twenty twenty one, I took an entire month offline to travel down the coast 313 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,680 of Australia in a van. When I did that long hike, I was 314 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,839 completely offline the entire time. There was no way I'm carrying my laptop for 315 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,720 a fourteen day hike. Sometimes, though, when I travel, I do 316 00:21:48,839 --> 00:21:52,359 work a little bit, but it really depends on the kind of trip and 317 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,039 what my intention is for the trip. But usually when I'm in a different 318 00:21:55,079 --> 00:21:57,920 location, I find that really useful for getting out of the day to day 319 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:03,960 routine and to work on the business a little more than the usual kind of 320 00:22:03,079 --> 00:22:07,880 working in it, and a little hack like if you can't go away anywhere, 321 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,160 it might be really helpful, even just booking a little staycation for a 322 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,200 couple of days, like a weekend or something in a little hotel nearby or 323 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:21,000 an airbnb, just to be in a new location. Because when you're working 324 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:23,200 from home, I know most of you work from home in your little home 325 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,440 office, and you get up in the morning, you sit down at your 326 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,880 desk, it's very easy to just run on autopilot. But when you're in 327 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,200 a different location, it's much easier to switch from the being in the business 328 00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:37,400 to looking at the business as a whole, seeing the forest for the trees. 329 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,359 All right, final fun fact, I think this is number eight. 330 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,240 I am an introvert, and I know this is a bit of a surprise. 331 00:22:45,319 --> 00:22:48,880 I get this a lot like I get my audience saying like Steff, 332 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,039 I can't speak on stage, I can't start a podcast, or I can't 333 00:22:52,039 --> 00:22:56,200 show up online because I'm an introvert, And yeah, so am I. 334 00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,559 I've just learned to switch on my energy or dial up my energy when I'm 335 00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:03,839 doing these things. But they do drain me. Even just recording podcast episodes 336 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,119 drains my energy, and I can't record more than three in one day without 337 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,599 needing a very long nap. Last year, I went to a conference in 338 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:17,160 America, and American conferences are huge, Like were thousands of people in the 339 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:21,440 room, and my energy was so drained by being around so many people. 340 00:23:21,519 --> 00:23:25,480 So I would just pop up to my hotel room for a little nap and 341 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,119 then go back to the conference and then go for a little nap and back. 342 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:32,680 Because there's only so long that I can sustain that extroverted, that kind 343 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,960 of outgoing energy before I need to recharge. I've had to figure out in 344 00:23:37,039 --> 00:23:38,519 my business. I've had to figure out the balance in my days and my 345 00:23:38,599 --> 00:23:41,960 weeks. So if I'm teaching a workshop in the morning, or I'm doing 346 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,960 a Q and a session, or if i have a one on one call 347 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,960 on Zoom, I know that I'm going to struggle then to get some deep 348 00:23:48,039 --> 00:23:52,599 strategy or deep thinking work done. Afterwards, I need a little rest first, 349 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,480 or I need to go for a walk like something to kind of recharge 350 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:02,279 my brain after the extroverted part of showing up online. Same with things like 351 00:24:02,319 --> 00:24:07,279 webinars and anywhere where I'm having to shop for an audience online is really draining. 352 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,160 Also, like I can't, I can't tell you how great having naps 353 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,000 in the middle of the day are. So if that's if that's something you 354 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,839 need to do to be able to show up more than do it, you 355 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,400 have my permission, all right. So there you have it, a couple 356 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:25,319 of random, random things. This is a fun episode to record, very 357 00:24:25,319 --> 00:24:30,200 different to our usual ones, but I hope that it's been interesting for you. 358 00:24:30,559 --> 00:24:33,839 And yeah, if there's anything that I haven't covered in here that you 359 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,640 would love to know, feel free to reach out on Instagram. I'm there 360 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,279 at steph Taylor dot com. Send me a DM. I always love to 361 00:24:40,319 --> 00:24:44,960 hear from podcast listeners, and if you have learned anything from this show so 362 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,799 far, please take thirty seconds to leave a quick rating and a review in 363 00:24:48,839 --> 00:24:52,119 Apple Podcasts. I read every single one of them and it does mean a 364 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,720 lot to me when you do, so thank you so much for listening. 365 00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:56,559 Catch you next time.