How to Build a Thriving Business as a Coach Without Burning Out (Episode 170)

Transcript

Jeff Bullas

00:00:05 - 00:01:28

Hi everyone and welcome to The Jeff Bullas Show. Today I have with me, Paula Day. Now, Paula comes from Victoria, which is one of the states of Australia because we've been speaking to a lot of people around the world here. I'm in Sydney which is north of Victoria. So Victoria, Melbourne is a beautiful city but I did leave it to go to Sydney because I think Sydney's better frankly. But when he wrote, that's another story. So Paula is a highly-skilled business expert and trust advisor with wealth of experience and she had 20 years in the field. She spent 18 years working in large scale infrastructure projects. An advisor, roles with senior leaders, CEOs and government officials. She has a wealth of knowledge to draw from. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Accounting and CPA certification. She quickly rose on top of the corporate ladder and mastered skills for successful large scale operations. And the last few years has struck out into business coaching and she is a Master NLP Practitioner, Hypnotherapist, Social Media Expert, and Personal Stylist and brings a unique and holistic approach to a coaching consulting business. So, also Paula specializes in the beauty industry and we're gonna have a chat about that because it's really good to niche down. They say the riches are in the niches and we'll have a chat about that. So Paula, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here.

Paula Day

00:01:29 - 00:01:30

Thanks for having me, Jeff.

Jeff Bullas

00:01:31 - 00:01:55

So, Paula, you did a degree in accounting which, I started, I did one year of an accounting degree and so did my brother but he stuck at it and I left and did another degree. So what made you go and do an accounting degree? Do you like numbers, attention to detail? What led you to accounting?

Paula Day

00:01:56 - 00:02:20

What led me to accounting was both my parents are accountants. It was like, it just came to me. It came so easy to me and even as a kid for fun, I would add stuff up. Like I would get the catalogs from the news from the letterbox and I would actually add up all the things in the catalog for fun and then double check it.

Jeff Bullas

00:02:24 - 00:02:33

Oh, right. Yeah, I love the double checking. Like, did you ever think about becoming an auditor?

Paula Day

00:02:34 - 00:02:49

Oh. No, I wasn't that keen on auditing and tax when I went to uni. Those were the two subjects I did them in, I did okay in them, but I just was like, I don't wanna do this long term.

Jeff Bullas

00:02:50 - 00:03:23

I sort of get that because my brother became an accountant and still is one today and quietly he hates it now. And well, he's been adding up numbers for 40 years. Certainly can be a little bit daunting and overwhelming. But, yeah, I remember he was my accountant for a while when I had a business and one of the businesses I had and he would be looking for that last dollar that didn't quite balance on the balance sheet. I remember that. It's like, I'm going, it really doesn't matter.

Paula Day

00:03:24 - 00:03:28

No, it's got to balance completely.

Jeff Bullas

00:03:29 - 00:03:57

Yeah. So I'm not an attention to detail guy that would just make my eyes bleed and my ears, you know, burn. So, hats off to you because we need good accountants. So, I hire a bookkeeper and a tax accountant because I hate doing it and they are worth their weight in gold. So, if you don't have a good bookkeeper who are listening to the show, get one today, right? So, it'll make you a lot happier.

Paula Day

00:03:58 - 00:04:00

Yes, absolutely.

Jeff Bullas

00:04:01 - 00:04:26

Okay. So, rabbit hole number one accounting, right? So let's move on. So you were in the corporate, you did your degree, climbed the corporate ladder, did really well, did a lot of training, helped a lot of people. What made you get into, you know, business coaching? What was the inspiration for that? What was the call to do that?

Paula Day

00:04:27 - 00:06:17

So the call first wasn't actually into coaching. I actually was just at that point where I had always envisaged myself being in that corner office overlooking the city. I didn't care what city it was, but I had a corner office, overlooking a city with a team of people and an amazing job. And I looked at one day and I'm like, I've got it, I'm there. Like, I've got this gorgeous view. I've got this amazing team that I work with and I've got this picture on my desk with three little kids that I just don't see, right. And the, you know, I was looking at, you know, if I step up in this career anymore, I'll never see them. So I'm sort of stuck. I either just stay at this level where I get to see them a little bit, but still I need to do a lot around that or I progress the career even further which, you know, you've got this drive, you don't want to stay stuck in your career forever. So I was looking for something and I was listening to a podcast and getting an idea and I was listening to a podcast similar, probably similar to your podcast, right? And someone came on and they were being interviewed and they were, it was an American podcast, but it was an Aussie being interviewed. So I already related to them and they started a t-shirt business. I don't think I told you this before Jeff. But yeah, and I just followed the podcast. I hired myself a coach and I started a t-shirt business now within the top. Within the first three months, my t-shirts were on the top 10 pages of Amazon just through following steps. I couldn't believe it ‘cause I'm not a designer. I don't like any kind of design. It was just some really silly slogans on a t-shirt.

Jeff Bullas

00:06:18 - 00:06:26

I was gonna ask, I've heard of that business model. It's like, here's all the right slogans to use and you'll sell a lot of t-shirts. Is that correct?

Paula Day

00:06:26 - 00:08:24

It was like that and I was just chasing the trends and I learned how to put the slogans on the t-shirts through, you know, I taught myself Photoshop and I did all the things. And so I thought this business is working and in fact, I was making more money in my sleep than I was in my day job very, very quickly. And I thought, well, I'm gonna jump into the t-shirt business. This is gonna be the thing. And that was my original thought. But what happened was I had a marriage breakdown and I didn't expect it. And as part of that, I lost the business and I wasn't able to get it back. And I did a very silly thing: put the business in his name and if there's anyone out there and you are running a business and you've got it in someone else's name, I highly encourage you to now change it to your name because it will be a sticking point. But that, so that was gone. And, you know, I, for seven months I tried to get it back and I tried to get different avenues into the t-shirt business again and then I just let it go. I was just done. So I was looking for something else. I was like, right, I'm back to square one and everyone around me is like, don't worry, like you've got a good job, just stick here, stay here, it's all good. You can stick this out till retirement type of thing. But I couldn't. So I was looking for what skills do I have? Well, I've got leadership skills and I've got coaching skills and I've got accounting skills and what have I done for the past you know, how many years? I've just done business planning and budgets and costing and helped businesses grow, like, and helped, you know, lead teams and downsized teams and upsized teams and all the different things. So I took that and I went out on my own as a business coach and consultant.

Jeff Bullas

00:08:24 - 00:08:52

Right. So you sort of took your experience and expertise and said this and you obviously sound like you enjoy it. And you're good at it. So let me ask you a question about the t-shirt business, which I'm sure there's a fair bit of pain still left over from that. So, we're already given a business tip. Don't put a business in someone else's name and then don't get divorced. Okay. That's two tips.

Paula Day

00:08:53 - 00:08:54

Two tips.

Jeff Bullas

00:08:55 - 00:09:09

So, or get divorced but have it in your name. So that's the other tip. So, was that a side hustle? In other words, did you start the t-shirt business as a side hustle on Amazon?

Paula Day

00:09:09 - 00:09:39

Yeah, I did. I started as a side business on Amazon. As I said, I just listened to that podcast a number of times and I just followed the steps and I hired a coach who had done it before. Like I found someone who'd done a similar business. She hadn't done that exact same business, but she did a similar business. So that at least I had someone I could bounce ideas off with and grow it. So, yeah, and that grew pretty fast.

Jeff Bullas

00:09:40 - 00:09:51

Cool. Well, that's the other thing too about that is, it sounds to me like it could have been, was quite scalable. In other words, you didn't have to show up to sell a t-shirt. It just sold online.

Paula Day

00:09:51 - 00:10:21

Yeah, exactly. And when I finished up with it I already had, which was a sad thing. I had people working for me. So I had, I think four designers designing at the time and they were submitting like 10 designs a day to me and we were just uploading and uploading, and uploading and at that point it's just like, it's random. You could, you could get one t-shirt that does really well and you could get like 30 that don't. But that one you're looking for that one that does well and you just keep on going.

Jeff Bullas

00:10:21 - 00:10:34

Cool. Can we dive a little bit more into that? Because I think a lot of people are interested about starting side hustles, which is obviously you have the business skills to do it. So, are you happy to have a chat about that? Is that good?

Paula Day

00:10:35 - 00:10:36

Yeah. I’m happy to have a chat about that.

Jeff Bullas

00:10:37 - 00:11:26

So, okay. So what's great about a side hustle is that you, it's basically quite a low risk activity in the sense that you don't have to give up your day job. You know, obviously you had a very well paid day job, a great career. And you're going, okay, I'll do something that you said makes money in my sleep, right? So, takes a little bit through the steps. I get inspired by a podcast. They map out that using, you know, the latest slogans that are catchy and trending. Tell us a little bit about that. So, the slogans were catchy and trending. Tell us a little bit about that sort of, that's sort of like the kernel of it, isn't it? And then you gotta worry about production, but let's go about that. So, what was the, what sort of slogans were they and what were the trends you were writing?

Paula Day

00:11:27 - 00:13:32

So, there were some really daggy sort of slogans, like, I'm not retired, I'm a professional dog mama or something like that. Like some of my best, you know, you know, some of my best t-shirts was just the daggiest slogans. And it was really my first time in Photoshop getting the words across the t-shirt. So some of them didn't even look fantastic and sometimes the better designed ones by the designers didn't do as well as the easy, just text on a t-shirt. So it really depends on, you know, who's looking for what at that point and people buy these t-shirts for their family and friends as funny jokes or they have the whole family in them, you know, had slogans like, you know, I'm the oldest sister or something like that. So I'm the sensible one or something like that and I'm the middle sister, I'm this and I'm the youngest, I don't have any responsibilities. So, things like that. So people would buy the sets as well. And it really was just looking at what's trending on Amazon, what are people looking for and just being one step ahead and to do that, I ended up purchasing some really like getting into a community of people. So I think, you know, getting into a community of people who are doing the same thing as you is really important. I was the only girl in there, so I was the only female in this t-shirt community when I joined. I found that really odd and people from all over the world were in there and they had this trending software where you could actually look at what was trending on Amazon through their software. So, you know, I subscribed to their software and I can see what was trending but also what upcoming trends were happening, you know, what's happening in the economy or what's happening in, you know, society that's going to spark interest that people might want to wear on a t-shirt. And so just being one step ahead as well.

Jeff Bullas

00:13:32 - 00:13:38

Right. So what's the best t-shirt slogan you ever sold? Can you remember?

Paula Day

00:13:38 - 00:14:16

I think I don't, I think it was and they're everywhere now. “Funcle” like fun-uncle and it had like it. If you look it up online, you'll see this, it's everywhere. But that was one of the biggest sellers. And another one that was just, I think it was just the “I'm not retired, I'm a professional grandmother: like that. And it was just text, both of them, just text and I had some really beautiful designs. The beautiful designs didn't do as well. It's just the text ones.

Jeff Bullas

00:14:16 - 00:14:37

I remember a slogan that came across me, it said like it's to do with getting older, like I don't act my age because I've never been this old before or something like that, right? So, but it's so you, okay, so you come up with the trends, societies trends, slogans, then you gotta produce them, right?

Paula Day

00:14:38 - 00:15:21

Well, yeah, see that's the thing. So I ended up getting into this t-shirt community and Amazon has this amazing platform at that time. I don't know if they have the platform now because it got, I think, I don't know if it's closed down but it was very hard to get into at the start. So I just applied for the ability to sell on Amazon. And what that meant is Amazon actually fulfilled all orders, looked after all customer service. And so all I was doing is taking a royalty, which is something that you, all you need to do is upload. So you really just focused on getting your designs uploaded and getting the description SEO friendly.

Jeff Bullas

00:15:22 - 00:15:27

Wow. So the other thing too then obviously, Amazon was also producing the t-shirts for you.

Paula Day

00:15:27 - 00:15:39

Amazon produces, prints, delivers customer service. There’s nothing you just decide on your cut and that's, and you add that to the price. That's it.

Jeff Bullas

00:15:40 - 00:15:41

Right. Okay.

Paula Day

00:15:41 - 00:15:57

So easy. Later on, I extended it into grabbing all those designs and popping it on to all of the other t-shirt platforms. There's lots of different t-shirt platforms and I still have a presence on some of them, but, you know, Teespring and Red Bubble and there's lots of different ways that you can sell Etsy.

Jeff Bullas

00:15:58 - 00:16:38

Right. Yeah, and that's very, very cool because I have another, we've got a newsletter business which is called Side Hustle Strategies, which is about all the different types of things you can run as a side hustle, how you can start very much a digital focus. In other words, something you can do from anywhere in the world which you could have done with the t-shirt business, obviously. So, alright. So enough about t-shirts, let's get on to Paula Day, the business coach. And, so you left that, got into business coaching and you really then decided to just be a business coach to any type of business, didn't you originally?

Paula Day

00:16:38 - 00:18:06

Yeah, so, yeah, originally, you know, I had all different businesses that I was coaching, which I was very used to because I had worked with lots of different businesses and lots of different managers and lots of different directors and over my time and so it kind of didn't matter what was thrown at me. I'd done so many business plans. Like I was just joking with a colleague the other day that we would do business planning for nine months of the year. So I, you know, I know how to do a business plan so quick. I know how to forecast and do all the costings and get you understanding all of your figures and stuff like that. But also I knew how to grow a business and I knew how to lead a team and I knew how to bring that together to go, okay, well, look, let's get these systems and processes in place. I knew how to scale up and I knew how to scale down. And so I could utilize that across all different industries, but at the same time by doing that, it's hard to replicate what you're doing when it's a lot of different industries. So we were speaking about this before when you have a really clear niche, like when you actually are focused on one type of business or one type of person, really one type of person, then you can serve them to a, be a better ability because you've got the time to go, okay, well, look, they all experience this. They all are generally looking for this and you can focus your services around that, which is really good.

Jeff Bullas

00:18:07 - 00:18:43

In other words, you really understand their problems intimately because you're just focused on that niche. Is the old cliche, the riches and the niches. And I've seen it time and time again. The challenge I have because I'm interested in so many things that I just, you know, get easily distracted, but that's Jeff, right. So, anyway, we just have some fun. But anyway, that's another story. So you chose a niche, which is the beauty industry. Why did you choose that? Because it looked like fun?

Paula Day

00:18:43 - 00:20:27

I love this question. So, yeah, it did look like fun. Like I think personally I actually love beauty business owners and I think they are a lot of fun. So that is one of the ticks that I was looking for. But if I go deeper and for, I might say some things that might ruffle a few feathers here, but it is, it was a calculated decision as well. It was well thought out I could have gone into any industry, but not every industry readily accepts, as much as I would love it to, a woman as a coach or as a consultant. Some businesses generally are looking for a man and, you know, sometimes it's a certain type of man as well. So it's, I wish life was fair and equal, but it's not. So I need to, when I built my business, I built it in a way that I was considering all of those aspects of, you know, this is me, this is how I look, this is how I, this is my skill set. Who can I serve and also, you know, who also would accept me as well. And like, I love beauty like if I was just in my own space, just doing my own thing. And I'm usually looking at beauty stuff or I'm looking at fashion and that's just something that I love to do personally. But my experience is not in manufacturing or anything like that. So the fashion industry really isn't something that I would go into, but the service industry would be.

Jeff Bullas

00:20:27 - 00:20:42

Okay. So in other words, the doors are much more open, accepting to a woman in the beauty industry, which makes total sense. So if I went and did business coaching to a beauty salon, I would struggle, I think.

Paula Day

00:20:43 - 00:20:47

Well, I don't know.

Jeff Bullas

00:20:48 - 00:21:18

Okay, so the thing about what you're doing is a lot of coaching, which is how do you scale that? In other words, with the Amazon business that was scalable. So coaching typically, traditionally and you're trading time for money because you're getting paid by the hour or is that part of the challenge you have in your business today or have you got a way of escaping that trading time for money?

Paula Day

00:21:19 - 00:23:03

Yeah. So, I've set my business up in a way. Now this is, yeah, this is the traditional coaching, like when people see coaching and especially when they're starting out, they'll see you're trading your time again to do coaching or business consulting and then, you know, your customers getting your time, your expertise. And sometimes some of the best expertise that they can't like, they could only afford at that sort of top level, which is great. Fantastic. But to be able to scale your business, like I've set up different things in the background. So I have online programs that are just constantly being sold into. So I could wake up in the morning and someone could have bought my products online and I'll see that money in my account. So I've set up systems and processes in the background to sell into programs that I've already written, already got up there are evergreen that people can come into. So those things are all happening in the background. Plus, I have programs that I take people through. So as well as working one on one and you know, that's a higher fee to work with me one on one. But also group programs and that's how you're gonna scale your business. So either having group programs or evergreen or products like think of, you know, what are some of the things that you can productied in your business? Like if you're a coach who's more like doing meditations and things like that, you might productied the meditation. Like you might have a, like, you know, I have, you know, cash flow, I have budgets. I have things that people can purchase and, you know, it's pretty much done for them with some instructions so that, you know, if they don't want to pay for the service to work with me, at least they've got something that they can work with.

Jeff Bullas

00:23:03 - 00:23:25

Right. And in other words, you've got a one to many sort of face to face coaching program. And also you've got digital products that can be scalable and bought by anyone around the world. So, do you have many clients or people that purchase those digital online training products from outside Australia?

Paula Day

00:23:26 - 00:23:55

Yes, I do. Even though I primarily focus on the Aussie market, I do have clients, it's been pretty much all over the world and that's been, yeah, that's been right from the start. So it's amazing what the reach is now and how lucky we are to have this internet that actually, you know, on all the social platforms, you can, it, you can cross to anyone and it's instant. It's fantastic.

Jeff Bullas

00:23:56 - 00:24:02

Yeah, it is. It's amazing. So when people buy these online training programs, do they get a free t-shirt?

Paula Day

00:24:03 - 00:24:16

No, it's so funny because I think it's Russle Brunson says, put like a, put a t-shirt in with everything and I'm like, oh, okay. But, no, I haven't done it.

Jeff Bullas

00:24:17 - 00:25:05

Yeah. Anyway, it was just a wild idea. Don't worry about it. So, okay, the next question I'm intrigued by is what was I gonna say? So you've got the business, what is the biggest challenge for most businesses is how do I get customers, okay. So number one, you gotta get a lead first. In other words, you gotta, so is it through, do you rank high on search engines for beauty salon business coaching? A whole range of terms around that? Do you use email? Do you use digital ads? How do you get leads and sales? What's your process there?

Paula Day

00:25:05 - 00:26:32

So for, I suppose, you know, for anyone starting out like the easiest way to do it from the very beginning is to know exactly who you are serving. Not like the business, not what you provide, not what you do, like who that person is that you are serving to a deep level because then once you know who you're serving, whether you're selling a product or a service like what I am, you know what they need, you know what they're looking for and also, you know, where to find them because it's easier to know who you're serving. So, first of all, knowing who I serve really helps me. All my marketing is all organic. At the moment, I have dabbled in a little bit of ads. And I may again do that from time to time, but mostly it has been organic, which is just through my social media platform. So, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. I don't have, like I used to do Google ads on the t-shirt business, but I haven't done it here. I haven't done a Google search or anything like that here. Email list. So developing your own email list. I think that's really important because, you know, if all the social platforms go down, you've got your email list that you can still contact people and if they're on it, they, and they're staying on it then they obviously want to hear from you. So that's important to build that up as well.

Jeff Bullas

00:26:33 - 00:26:52

And I had a look at your site and so what was cool and you've got a free e-book there, haven't you? So, and that a good free e-book is always a good lead gen, isn't it really?

Paula Day

00:26:52 - 00:28:24

It is. Yeah. So any kind of, yeah. Well, it has to be a good one, right? That's the thing. Like, I put a lot of effort into writing that money playbook and I put some amazing strategies in it and when my coach read it, she said to me, I want you to write a new e-book. And I'm like, I've written plenty of books, you know, and she's like, no, I want it to be your best, you know. I want it to be amazing when she reads it. She's like, I couldn't put it down. And, you know, my coach isn't cheap to come by, for her to stop everything and look at it was a big deal and for her to tell me that. And so when you're putting something like that together, if you are looking for a lead magnet to be able to, this is a great way to grow your email list because, you know, people have to get their email over. People these days are not gonna give their email over for anything though because, you know, their inbox is full, the inbox is full of just so many different things. So they don't want to sign up to any more programs and have another email unless it's actually very valuable to them and they really want it. So think about like when you're putting out a book or a lead magnet in some way, but it has to be something that people really want and we give that email for. So, yeah, that's why I wrote that. So it's a, it's just chock full of like, some really great strategies that people can actually implement straight away to make more money in their business and also to save time in their business too.

Jeff Bullas

00:28:25 - 00:28:30

Right. So, is that one of your best organic lead generators? The e-book?

Paula Day

00:28:30 - 00:28:32

Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah.

Jeff Bullas

00:28:33 - 00:28:53

Okay. So, lead generation done with the e-book. How do you close the sale? Okay. What's your best method of closing? You know, someone who wants to take you on as their, either one-to-one or one-to-many workshops. What once you got the lead, what's the lead nurturing to lead to sale?

Paula Day

00:28:54 - 00:29:58

Yeah. So this is really important because a lot of people just sort of go straight to, okay, they've got my lead magnet or they've gotten an email from me, work with me. And that's not the case, right? Like it's like you've gotta get to know your audience and get to know whether they want to work with you if they are a good prospect for you, if they, if you can actually help them or not and get to know them on that deeper basis. So what I do personally is I move them all into, I will, I try to move them all into my Facebook group and in that group they can get to know me more and from those trainings in the group or from the messages in the group, we start to get to know each other and we start to chat and see if that's, this is the right fit for them. So then they can reach out and say, oh, yep. I wanna work with you or no, I don't wanna work with you and we'll get on a call and have that conversation.

Jeff Bullas

00:29:59 - 00:30:30

Right. So the next thing I'm curious about is with the rise of Zoom and other online video platforms is that coaching can be very done, very much done virtually rather than actually in real life. And as we all know that getting in a car and driving to somewhere in a big city takes a lot of time, how is like the rise of Zoom and even the pandemic, how did that impact your business and how you worked?

Paula Day

00:30:30 - 00:32:30

Yeah. My business actually took off in the pandemic. That was the point where I actually went, oh my gosh, and that was the point where I actually left the corporate space because my business took off. So much so because, yeah, I could do coaching from anywhere I could do it over Zoom and it was easy and people were looking for help as well. And they were looking for support and community to help them do it as well. So at that point, my business was taking off while people were struggling and I have a new partner. So at that point, we had just been together, we had to move in very quickly because of the whole lockdown here. And he had two kids. I've got three. So we had five kids. But I was homeschooling at the time, I was running my busy corporate job and my business was growing and I had one team member at that point helping me and my partner had a, he's an electrician, but he got a contract at a hospital where they had to redo all the hospitals. So he was working out of the house. I was in the house with all these kids, people everywhere, doing their homework and me trying to do these two things. And when it finally took off, I, you know, my accountant brain is I, accountants are renowned for being very conservative. And so I was very conservative in the amount of money that I needed to make before I left the corporate world and how many clients I needed to have and what kind of monthly recurring income I wanted to see. And so it had reached that point and I still didn't hand in the resignation and it like it was going bigger and bigger. And I just thought finally, I let go of the job and leapt into this and it's been amazing.

Jeff Bullas

00:32:31 - 00:33:14

Yeah. And that's what's good about a digital world is that you can do a lot of this remotely and which didn't really exist 15 years, 10-15 years ago like it, just people's acceptance of using Zoom or Skype was around but a bit flaky. So what have been some of the biggest, so obviously you're starting to grow. So, what are some of the challenges you had along the way that you think people need to keep out, you know, on lookout for, especially as a business coach or coach because coaches have a similar sort of challenges. What are some of the big challenges you were struck? Then I'm sure one of them is gonna be time management.

Paula Day

00:33:14 - 00:37:24

Yeah. Well, that's the thing, right? When I went out on my own, I thought, you know, I've got to know all about all about business and all about time management and, you know, I was such a time blocker, like just time block things, time block things. And I've listened to all the advice and I read a whole heap more business books and by the end of it I was ready to throw out some of those business books because not no-one in those business books accounted for the fact that I had five kids at home. Like it was unprecedented times, you know, at home, homeschooling, they couldn't remember their passwords. I had to remember all of this stuff and, you know, and the fact that I had to run this business differently for me or I was gonna burn out because I was trying to run it in such a masculine way, which is the only way I knew how to work, but my whole being was screaming for something else. And so I had to shift and I had to believe in myself and trust myself that I could do it a different way and that would work. And so I had to rearrange things around me and I'm not scared to rearrange things around me all the time now, which is really great. So at the start, I was thinking I have to follow exactly what all of these coaches are telling me and my coach at the time. I've got a new coach to help me and he was such a masculine coach. He was like the coach who said get up early, have a cold shower, you know, do the, do your meditation, do your exercise, work out hard and then get into it and do this and this and this and this and I was gonna burn myself out. I tried it for a bit and it just wasn't working and I saw so many coaches get their businesses to, you know, six and seven figures and then burn out completely. They were there and all of a sudden their business was gone and I saw them coming in and out, come in and out and it was just this constant burnout. So, just to be aware that you can run your business in a different way and you have to look at what your life is and what your, what's going on for you, your season of life, like for me, I don't have young kids anymore, but there was a time where I did put processes around bath time, you know, okay, they're gonna be in the bath. I have to sit here and watch them. So I'm gonna, I put a 10 minute task that I can do on my phone while they're having to play in the bath or when I was going into work and, you know, getting to work, I knew that, okay, I had a 45 minute train ride on the way in and on that 45 minute train ride. Okay, I'm gonna write some content or I'm gonna do this. So I had little tasks that I did that fit into the little time slots that I had. But as the business grew, you know, I enlisted help from all different places. So don't just say that you just, you might need another team member. A lot of people come to me and say, I think I need to grow the team, but sometimes you actually just need to rearrange the things that you're doing or what you're doing or ask for some help in your family life too. A lot of women, like, especially think that they've got to do everything around the home. And definitely that's how I felt when I, you know, I'm not a good mum, if I'm not making all the lunch boxes, I mean, Ila's 10, she's in grade five. She went off today and she's going on an Exkursion and I got her in the car and I said, what's in your lunch box? And she said, well, I've got two madeleines, which are cakes that's my lunch. Then I've got two chocolate biscuits and I'm like, oh my gosh. And I've got two mandarins and I'm like, so you don't have lunch and she's like, no, the cake is the lunch mum. I'm like, you know what? Just let it go. A lot of mums would be on that, still making the lunch boxes or still doing all the things. I don't, we enlist the help from the kids. They know if I grow this business that if Johnny's got a different business that he's doing, if we do these projects, it benefits us all. And so we all are in its team family.

Jeff Bullas

00:37:24 - 00:37:40

Yeah, that's fantastic. Yes. It's like, I haven't had to confront five kids in a house to do business. In fact, I'm essentially an empty nester. So it's fabulous. So, I do have a cold shower. I meditate.

Paula Day

00:37:40 - 00:38:41

But that's, it'll put you into it, like a really masculine state, which is great for your energy, right? Because you're a guy and for a lot of women, we're taught to do it in a very masculine way, do this, do this and put yourself into this mass masculine state. But actually sometimes we need to do things a little bit differently to tap into our feminine and it flows easier. So I know that I need regular breaks. I know I need to get into nature. I know that I can't start too early. I know that I need to journal and meditate before I do anything. I need to control that mind before it takes control of my day. Like, so knowing yourself, I'm just making a decision that you are going to build what you're set out to build. There's no question about it. You've made the decision that you're gonna go there, but you're gonna do it in a way that works for you. You're not gonna burn out, you're not gonna, your family's not gonna hate you all of those things.

Jeff Bullas

00:38:42 - 00:39:42

Yeah, I totally agree. And you know, for me, exercise is very important. I've had a habit since I was 12 and so I was a runner. Now, I'm a cyclist, ramping up my kettlebell swings now. I go for a walk down to the beach and go for a dip in the ocean. Even if it's May June. I need nature as well. So for me, life is much more than just making an extra dollar because I'm manic, right? So I totally get now I do need, I meditate five days a week. I do a lot of reading because I'm in the knowledge industry. So I'm, I just love reading, take a lot of notes. I love writing. So yeah, you've got to design a life that works for you. And that's really important because we're told to live life a certain way. Which one society tells us, your parents tell you, your friends tell you, your gender tells you or your coaches tell you. So it's like, you know, fuck off. I'm actually gonna design a life that works for me.

Paula Day

00:39:42 - 00:39:47

Yes. Exactly.

Jeff Bullas

00:39:47 - 00:39:58

Yeah. So well done. That's really cool that you said, well, I actually need to do it for me and I think that's really important and don't sweat the small stuff by the sounds of it.

Paula Day

00:39:58 - 00:40:19

No, don't sweat the small stuff. Like so many times I hear people getting all worried about, you know, and they about what how their kids are doing something or their kids didn't do this or they weren't there for, like, you know, just don't spread the small stuff, like, oh, you know, involve them in the conversations but let them be there in person as well.

Jeff Bullas

00:40:19 - 00:40:29

Yeah. Exactly. And I think helicopter parents are dangerous because the kids don't learn an initiative of resilience quite often.

Paula Day

00:40:31 - 00:41:05

Yeah. I, you know, I don't remember my parents being very, you know, hands on or anything like that. They just taught me to be very independent, very early on. And I turned out okay, so, you know, I don't know what all of this. Yeah, I have been there and I have been at that point where I've thought that I've had to do everything and had to be the best mom and have all the things on the calendar and all of that. But when it comes down to it, if you're going to run a business, you've got to make a few decisions and some things that you have to let go.

Jeff Bullas

00:41:05 - 00:42:00

Yeah. I agree. So, you just, and especially for women being mums, they're, you know, they're born to nurture and it's just built into the DNA and it's something that a guy won't get, he observes it and sees it but doesn't really get it in the sense that this is what mums do and this is what they're wired to do. And so for mum to let a bit of that go, it doesn't mean you abandon your children, of course. But it just means that you've gotta balance, you gotta look after yourself a bit more. And I know my sister is, was struggling, has been struggling with looking after herself rather than being the victim for, well, not the victim but at the mercy of the entire family. And I sort of said to her, well, look, you know, you're really gonna look after yourself, right? So otherwise you're not gonna look after anyone.

Paula Day

00:42:01 - 00:42:38

That's like it's so true. And so many women get into this point where they feel guilty if they're just taking some time for themselves or spending money on themselves or any of those things. And the guilt is just put on yourself. Like when you think about it, no one else is judging you. No-one else is actually saying those things like you're assuming the guilt. And so just to recognize that I remember working on guilt and letting it go and just recognizing that it was just me, it was me putting that on myself and no-one else was.

Jeff Bullas

00:42:39 - 00:42:56

Yeah. And that's an important learning is that don't beat yourself up, but you gotta love yourself just like you love your children, but you've gotta love yourself too. And that's important. Otherwise you're, it's just, it's gonna be a spiral into the guilt trap really, I suppose.

Paula Day

00:42:56 - 00:44:02

Exactly. Yeah. If you, you know, look after yourself, yeah, love yourself. And then you, there's more of you to give, there's just you feel better about yourself. I can, I'll get up in the morning and I get the kids up. My kids are a bit older now, okay, So the youngest is 10, the oldest is about to turn 18. but then I head off to the gym while they're getting ready. I don't need to be here while they're getting ready. It's actually a hindrance if I am here watching them because I'm gonna be like, can you do this? Can you do that? You know, so I wanna get out of it. I'll go to the gym. I come back and I'm there ready to drive the youngest to school because she still needs to be dropped off. But that's, you know, that's it. Like, so looking at removing the guilt and going, okay, you know, what can I do for myself? And if your kids are still young, what can you do for yourself? Can you get, you know, some time to yourself in your day that you can just do something that you love to do, even if it's just go for a walk on your own with no headphones, you know, just to connect or have a coffee or just something that's just for you.

Jeff Bullas

00:44:03 - 00:44:19

Yeah, it's fantastic. Like you've already given them quite a lot of tips. But what else would you say to working mums or mums that are running their own business? What are some of the other top tips you've learned along the way to manage chaos and look after yourself?

Paula Day

00:44:20 - 00:46:35

Yeah. It really is to focus on, have a good look at yourself and know what your strengths are and, you know, often in the workplace, I don't know if you've ever been in a workplace but definitely early days in the workplace I think a lot of people have been in this where they focus on your weaknesses and they're like, we'll get your weaknesses better. No, in your own business, if you are running your own business, the best way to do it is to look at, okay, well, what are you good at? Who are, you know, who are you serving? Are you good at that? What are the things that you're strong at? And what are you not so strong at? And those things that you're not so strong at, you know, can you delegate those or could you automate it or could you do it in a different way? Like, I, you know, I'm not the best at doing all the housework and stuff like that. I like it clean, but I'm probably not the best at it. I don't like, I've had this whole ongoing thing of asking, like, just about every person I meet on how to clean a shower, like, perfectly. I don't know how to do it. So I outsource that stuff, right? Because I, someone else can do it a whole lot better than I can and a whole lot quicker than I can. And I can focus on my business. Like, there are certain things in my business that I know I'm not good at, like, I know I'm not good at the graphics. Like, even though I ran a t-shirt business, I know that I'm not good at graphics. So I've got a team member who I can call on who is good at that, you know. So just looking at what you can outsource and it doesn't have to be a permanent team member in your business. It might be someone who's just on Fiverr or on Upwork or something like that. Just something that you outsource just for that particular time or if you're coming up to a deadline and you've got all of these things to do, think about, you know, what you wanna focus on and what you're good at and what you can get through and like, what other skills could you outsource could you get someone to help you with or what would you just need to just leave to the side, you don't even need to do it. So, having a look at things in different ways, I suppose, from different angles to make sure that you are focused and just clear and focused on what needs to be done and what you should be doing.

Jeff Bullas

00:46:35 - 00:46:39

In other words, get very clear what you're good at and then work out priorities as well.

Paula Day

00:46:40 - 00:46:41

Absolutely.

Jeff Bullas

00:46:41 - 00:46:45

And then work out who can help outsource it.

Paula Day

00:46:46 - 00:47:46

Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. And don't like, think about business and also think home life because, you know, if you are a mom and you've got kids or you're in, you know, whatever stages, if you decide to do some elaborate dinner every single night, then that's time that you're taking away from your business. If you decide to do an easier dinner or outsource the dinner or buy, get the kids to help with the dinner, like, just little things like that or in the business. You know, if you're terrible at, you know, in Canva, if you're pretty average at that, like, I can do it. I'm just pretty average at it, right? You know, I've had to really train myself to do it but put me in a spreadsheet or, you know, put me on a phone call to a client, having to deal with some kind of limitation. Fine. So, just looking at what your strengths are and outsourcing or automating or doing things differently.

Jeff Bullas

00:47:46 - 00:48:39

I bet, excuse me, I've had a cleaner for about 12 years. I think. Now it might even be longer and same cleaner. She's great. Rely on her every week. It used to be fortnightly but weekly now and she even does the ironing. I can't remember the last time I've actually ironed one of my black or white t-shirts really. So, and the other thing too is like for fashion, I love fashion. So when I go out, I dress up a bit and if you go to Italy or France or, you know, the Marra District in Paris, you'll get a redefinition, get redefined in terms of your fashion, which is great. But at home, I keep the fashion simple because I don't wanna have to think cognitively, I don't wanna waste cognitive resources I'm gonna wear when no one's seeing me. So, I'm a bloke. Right.

Paula Day

00:48:40 - 00:49:22

Yeah. But I mean, it's important to not like not to waste the brain space. People waste brain space over, you know, what they're going to wear. Like, even if you do wanna dress fashionable, organize your wardrobe and know what you're wearing before the day, like, so that you're not getting up and wasting a whole heap of time thinking what will I wear today. Because that's taking up brain space as you said, or what will I have for lunch or what will I have for breakfast? I have the same breakfast and the same lunch just about every single day because I don't want to waste my brain space thinking about something else. I would prefer just to get it done and keep moving through what I need to get done in my day.

Jeff Bullas

00:49:22 - 00:50:29

Yeah. And the other thing that has worked well for me too, which saves energy and thinking is, and time is I, very much, I've, for the last two years done intermittent eating. I, they call it a minute fasting. It's not fasting, it's just 16, 8. In other words, I don't eat until about lunchtime and all I have is black coffee. Two or three of those. I have some lemon mineral water, which I'll make myself, but I don't have to think about breakfast. It's awesome. It just keeps, it's so simple. And so I can focus on things that matter. And, yeah, it's just little things but this is what works for me. It doesn't mean it'll work for someone else. So, what you've got, we're all gonna work out the way to live life. That one gives you joy. I had a conversation with a friend recently and said, I don't know what joy is and that blew me away. So, and it sounds like you're doing what you enjoy doing what you're good at. Which I think is really, really important because life's too short to do what you hate.

Paula Day

00:50:30 - 00:51:46

That's the thing. Yeah. And I think, you know, thinking back to when I first started even, like, the t-shirt side hustle, like I would, I was at that point the same as it sounds like your friends at where I would actually Google search how to be happy. Like, there's so many people out there who are in this space of just not feeling that happiness in the, in what they do. And it's, you know, you feel like you're just a zombie going through all of the motions and you might have an amazing job. I had a beautiful job. I had beautiful people. I, you know, I can't complain about any of the gifts that I had in my life. But it's just if, you know, finding that joy, finding what you love, it brings out a different level and it's when you are working from that joy and you are working from that happiness, like it's easy. It feels, it doesn't feel like work, it feels easy. It feels light. It, you sort of wake up and go oh people, actually people pay me for this. Like I can't believe I just get paid to be the easiest version of me because it comes easily. That's what you want when you're starting to force something. And it doesn't feel right then it's hard.

Jeff Bullas

00:51:47 - 00:53:45

Yeah. And you've brought up a word which, two words which are actually very, very important. Force and flow. I, what I've learned is that anything I've tried to force in my life and in business usually turns to shit. It's when you discover flow. And it's really hard sometimes and flow comes out of a lot of places but essentially out of flow comes joy as well. It generally comes down to it's intersection of both what you're good at plus what you've learned along the way and leaning into that. And that's for me, has been a big learning over the last 10-12 years is I'm not gonna force anything anymore. You actually lean into what you are good at. You listen to messages along the way and you designed a life for you and I think, and a business for yourself. So, yeah, that's a big lesson for me in terms of force versus flow. It's really important to and it, if you listen to yourself and listen to your heart quite often, it'll just show up. So I had experience recently where I, the term came up one morning after meditating, said I surrender and a challenge I was facing, just went away. I've never ever had that before and it just came out of the subconscious. So, yeah, life's interesting trying to work it out because we're dealing with, we're wired very much by parents and society. So, you've got to work out how you make it work for you. And it doesn't mean you need to be selfish, you just need to be, live life that how you're meant to be because we are all meant to live a certain life. We've just got to discover it.

Paula Day

00:53:45 - 00:53:50

Absolutely. Sometimes it's about quieting some of that noise, isn't it?

Jeff Bullas

00:53:50 - 00:54:29

Yeah, it is. And it sounds like you've done that, which is, in, amongst all that noise and chaos that you've had, you know, amongst challenges such as a marriage break up. So, sounds like you're been listening to yourself and have designed a life and a business for you and for the family as well. So that's fantastic. So, just to wrap it up, Paula, is there anything you'd like to say, as tips to any coaches out there, business coaches or just coaches, what are some of the top tips you've learned in starting and managing a coaching business?

Paula Day

00:54:30 - 00:56:40

Yeah. So I suppose if you're starting out and you're, whether you're starting a coaching business or any business that you've got an idea for the biggest thing that you've gotta make is just that decision that's what you're gonna do. And as soon as you make that decision and it's final. It's not just a side hustle anymore. It's not just an idea. It's actually this is what I'm going to move into in your head. You don't need to shout it from the rooftops or tell all your friends or anything like that. But if you make that decision as soon as you make that decision and operate from that point of view, then things will shift. Like if you just decide that I'm gonna have this business. And now my job is the second thing that's the side hustle, but still turn up to your job, like fully turn up and still be grateful for it because otherwise that will block the decision that you've made. But making the decision is such a key point and such a big part of how I got to where I am now, I just made the decision to step forward over and over again. And it, and I never thought I would be here, you know, went in a few different directions before, right? And I didn't think I would be here. So just following that and if you are in business and you've already built the business to a certain level and you are tired and you're thinking I need more team, I need to grow this. But I don't know how to because I've got so much to do and I don't have the time to even think, then look at what you're doing and start to look at what can you do differently to free up some more time. And sometimes that means slowing down to go faster. Sometimes that means setting up some infrastructure, sometimes that means setting up some processes and systems. Sometimes that means getting a little bit of help in the business or in the family. But looking at how can you free up some time to give yourself the space to actually think because that thinking time is gonna be really important for the ideas that you get to grow your business.

Jeff Bullas

00:56:41 - 00:56:49

In other words, you've touched on something which is really important. In other words, the importance in the business of processes and systems.

Paula Day

00:56:50 - 00:56:52

Absolutely.

Jeff Bullas

00:56:53 - 00:57:14

And, a lot of business owners typically are more creative thinkers, entrepreneurs and the detail and the processing systems are something that they just don't want to look at, don't wanna touch. But you've just said that's one of the most important things you can do to free you up to scale.

Paula Day

00:57:14 - 00:58:14

Yeah. Absolutely. And like I hear it all the time, you know, it's easier if I just do it myself or they stuffed it up. So I just had to go and fix it or, you know, so, but having, that's one thing that I think was drilled into me just, you know, from the very beginning of my career that we always had systems and processes and we always followed them. So I just thought that everyone had that when I got into business and when I started working with people, I realized that they don't and the importance and so I had to come up with lots of easy ways for people to set up their systems and processes. And there's lots of different ways that you can do it. But the easiest way you can do it nowadays is just to do a little recorded video and even have that say for your team or have that say for the next time that you do it. So that at least you're building up a library of this is the standard way that we do and this thing or this is the standard way that we handle this problem.

Jeff Bullas

00:58:15 - 00:58:56

Yeah, I think the technology now allows us to actually capture systems and processes and we can do it in a visual way and using a recorded video. I remember one of my team decided to leave after about being six or seven years with me and he actually spent two weeks before he left recording what he did. So the next person could take it over and it's just fantastic. So we got the tech to help us do the scale and now we've got AI leaning into helping us do that as well. So, yeah, the importance of systems and processes in a business, it will save your life and also quite often help you scale your business as well.

Paula Day

00:58:56 - 00:58:59

Absolutely. Yeah.

Jeff Bullas

00:59:00 - 00:59:18

So Paula thank you very much for your insights and sharing your passion for what you do and some of the stories along the way, including the Amazon t-shirt business. I think that was actually a lovely, cool aside because a lot of people like, well, and Amazon's great for people who wanted to start a side hustle.

Paula Day

00:59:19 - 00:59:21

Absolutely. So easy.

Jeff Bullas

00:59:21 - 00:59:34

Yeah, it is. So it's great. So, Paula, thank you very much for sharing your stories and you started a business and you're still smiling. That's great. So, that's what we want to help people do. So, thank you very much.

Paula Day

00:59:34 - 00:59:35

Thank you, Jeff.