Business Between Bells

Today I share a little update with you on what I've been up to (spoiler not a lot haha!) and life in Lockdown 2.0 in Melbourne.

Hello and welcome to today’s episode with the delightful Annie Love.I hope this finds you all well and managing the juggle. We are now a few weeks into home schooling here in Vic which has been quite the roller coaster ride. Some days are good and some are bad. In some ways I think us business owners have been training for this a long time,let’s face it, we are used to the juggle, working in the spare pockets of time that we have and having to pivot and be agile when things don’t’ go to plan. That is not to say things are easy but it’s something I’ve been reflecting on when I look around at my business owner friends who I’m so proud of at the moment.As business owners we don’t have the luxury of tucking into any carers or annual leave, many of us don’t have colleagues who can support us on tough days and the future of our business rests on our shoulders yet the courage we showed when we started our businesses is shining through now and I just want to let you all know that it may not feel like it but you are doing an amazing job.I have to warn you that you will need to listen to today’s episode with tissues handy, however you will also leave the episode with a smile on your face looking at your life with a new perspective which couldn’t be more timely. I also wanted to thank Annie for sharing her story, as you will hear it is not an easy story to tell but Annie is determined to share so she can help others find the light during difficult times.I first came across Annie Love’s story a year ago and it is safe to say it stopped me in my tracks. How Annie and her family had experienced everything they had in a few short years felt unjust and unfair but there was something about Annie, that this remarkable women could not only still find the positives in life but radiate love and light the way that she does was incredible to me. I feel incredibly honoured that Annie came into my life a few months ago. I have been coaching Annie but I have to say in the short time we’ve worked together the roles have been reversed and she has changed the way I look at my life.Based in Brisbane, Annie wears many hats – wife, mother to three beautiful boys, co-owner of Grassroots IT with husband Ben, writer on the Mummalove blog, life coach and I’m thrilled to say new podcaster. After a rollercoaster of a parenting journey, she is well placed to help women find joy and create their best life even through difficult circumstances.In the episode Annie discusses:- How Annie and Ben created a business that was flexible around family- How Annie has navigated indescribable grief through her life- Down syndrome awareness – how Annie and her husband worked through the diagnosis of down syndrome of their youngest son Nicholas- How Annie and Ben dealt with the diagnosis of leukaemia and the chemo treatment of their eldest son Sam- How Annie is helping other mothers through life coachingI’m so proud of Annie who has just launched a new podcast called ‘The Mummalove Podcast’. The podcast is about finding light even in the midst of darkness. I’ve been lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the episodes and they are amazing. I would be so happy if you could jump on over to the podcast and give it a listen and share with any friends who you think it may help. Here is a link, https://mumma-love.com/podcast/So now let’s get on with the show.Here is the video I mentioned in the podcast of the gorgeous Nicholas, https://mumma-love.com/2016/10/05/a-little-snippet/You can find out more about down syndrome awareness here, https://www.downsyndrome.org.au/, here is a past blog post that Annie wrote about down syndrome awareness month, https://mumma-love.com/2017/11/01/better-with-you-down-syndrome-awareness-month/

Today’s episode is with the beautiful and wise Michelle Broadbent. We recorded this well before iso life began and I have to apologise for being so behind with my episodes this year. I’m going to be changing things up a little which I’ll share with you soon just to make this more manageable while juggling business and now home schooling!Michelle supports female entrepreneurs as they navigate their way through to the next stage of business growth. Michelle is a trusted confidant and sounding board. She is tuned-in to what her clients need and prides herself on providing balanced advice with a big dose of TLC.During this chat Michelle and I must have been able to see into the future as there was so much we discussed that will be able to help you navigate this period that we are currently in.In the episode Michelle discusses:- How to get really organised in your business and become a master of your own time- How a Career Coach helped her change careers- How she has created a business that supports her lifestyle as a Mum of two daughters- Some amazing productivity and time hacks- The importance of creating systems within your business- A great tip on how to manage your wardrobe which is something we can all do at the moment and will help with our budgets!And finally Michelle discusses the importance of nurturing and maintaining female friendships. This is something we haven’t covered on the show before an d it is so timely as I’ve found for myself I’ve been leaning on my female friendships more than ever before the last few weeks.I thoroughly enjoyed myself recording this but also learnt a great deal which I know you are going to as well. So now let’s get on with the show.You can find Michelle at https://www.michellebroadbent.com.au and on Instagram @michbroadbent

Welcome to today’s episode of Business Between Bells with Tracy Harris from Mums with Hustle.I hope today’s episode will provide you with a bit of relief in light of covid-19, we recorded this two weeks ago when it felt as if circumstances were very different and it was a really enjoyable chat.I’ve been following Tracy’s journey since the very beginning, her eldest son and my daughter are a few months apart and I started my business not long after hers. It has been an absolute joy to see her and her husband Karl grow it into the empire it is today helping Mums from all over the globe design their life first and business second by harnessing the superpower of Instagram as part of a complete digital strategy. I’m a founding member of the Social Method Society and I have to say it is a community like no other.In today’s episode we discuss:- How Tracy and Karl have walked the talk and created their business around their values and life vision- How their son Ethan and the family are transitioning into his first year of school- How matrescence transformed Tracy into a new person and was the catalyst for her starting her successful business- How we all need to keep our ‘future selves’ in mind when designing our businesses- How Tracy developed a membership model for her business ‘The Social Method Society’ and her decisions behind going all in on this and how it has paid off- The importance of seeking out mentors in businessTracy’s energy is infectious, and I think this will be such a great pick me up for you at the moment. I hope you get as much out of it as I did.You can find Tracy at https://mumswithhustle.com/ and on Instagram @mumswithhustle

Today’s episode is with the awesome Nat Stewart from Business Jump who can I just say is a total Mum boss, recording this episode while her 8 month old twins had their nap!Nat is a mother of four and the strategic powerhouse behind Business Jump; an online business that provides a platform for other mothers to jump start their dreams of running a profitable business from home.Nat regularly bares all with her tribe of a collective forty thousand mothers and business owners, sharing stories of not just her learnings in business but the real and raw events that shaped who she is today.In today’s episode Nat discussed:- How she manages the family/business juggle with two children at primary school and twin baby girls- How Nat’s remarkable business growth has been mostly an organic process- How she keeps her business and its systems simple- The importance to Nat of sharing all elements of her story – warts and all- A really important discussion around mental health and how Nat manages it as a business owner and Mum- And how Nat has used PR in her businessThis was a refreshingly honest chat and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.I also just wanted to say we talk about Post Natal Anxiety and Depression and just general mental health in this episode. Please do know that you are not alone and if this conversations brings up anything for you, there are amazing organisations out there like PANDA, Cope, the Gidget Foundation and Beyond Blue.

Welcome to this week’s episode of Business Between Bells! Today’s episode is with Tina Tower.Tina Tower wears many hats she is Mother of 2, entrepreneur, author, and high performance business consultant.After investing in her first property at aged 18 and founding early childhood tutoring franchise Begin Bright by aged 20, Tower credits her achievements to an unbreakable desire to succeed and believes all women can create a plan for their ideal life and absolutely commit to working towards it - no matter who they are, or where they currently stand on their path to success.In her new book One Life - How To Have The Life of Your Dreams,Tower reveals she is no stranger to adversity, hardship and the agonising guilt associated building a business while raising a family, and believes inevitable difficulty must be embraced and handled effectively in order to enable growth.In today’s episode Tina discusses:- How as parents and busy business owners we need to be super diligent at planning out our time- How Tina tackles big projects and how she wrote her book in one week!- The importance of preserving energy- Tina’s thoughts on Mum guilt- And Tina’s experience of taking her family on a 9 month worldwide adventure last yearI hope you enjoy the chat as much as I did! So now let’s get on with the show.

Welcome to this week’s episode of Business Between Bells! Today’s episode is with Caroline Guillemain-Brunne Founder of Organise Curate Design. The school holidays are over or nearly over for some of us and this episode is all about getting you super organised for the school year.I think there is no better person than today’s guest to help us get organised for the school year.Caroline from Organise, Curate, Design has spent more than a decade mastering the art of life management. Growing up in a large family, Caroline was no stranger to diaries, planners and checklists. As a result, organisation became an innate part of Caroline’s personality. It wasn’t until many years later when she began her career in the events industry that Caroline realised her talent was more than a skill set.Organise.Curate.Design. a life management agency with a focus on assisting people to streamline their life in order to refocus their time on what matters to them the most. Sounds amazing right?Caroline is Mum to two sons and shares so much in the episode on how she manages her household and gets the boys organised for the school year. We also talk about:- The importance of empowering your children to take on daily responsibilities- How to manage your household like a boss- How women in business need to remove the ‘shoulds’- How we can manage the mental load as parents in business- Some really practical tips on meal planning and gift givingCaroline provided me with so many valuable tips which I’ll definitely put in place this year. I hope you get as much out of this episode as I did and wishing you all the very best with ‘Back to School’ or like in my case ‘Starting School’ to all the preppies!

Happy New Year and welcome! It’s a new year and a new season for Business Between Bells!I can’t believe we are already into season 2 and our fabulous guest Kate Toon is the perfect person to kick off the season!I’m recording this intro at 6am in the morning because school holidays and I’m trying to squeeze work in when I can at the moment. I was chatting to a friend in business yesterday and we were saying how school holidays really bring that ‘family/business’ blend to the forefront, Mum guilt and business guilt can often kick in and we can feel as if we are just not managing to be the master of all tasks.So enough about me let me introduce you to today’s fabulous guest, Kate Toon.Kate Toon is a writing entrepreneur, as well as a popular coach, speaker, author and podcaster. For anyone who is interest she’s also a mad good hula hooper.Her digital education businesses The Recipe for SEO Success and The Clever Copywriting School have helped more than 8000 small business owners grapple the Google beast and write better content.Kate runs Australia’s only dedicated annual copywriting conference COPYCON.Author of the popular business self-help book Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur: How to succeed in business despite yourself, Kate lives on the Central Coast of Sydney, where she loves wandering on the beach with her son and her CFO (Chief Furry Office-dog) Pomplemousse who was a keen to make a guest appearance on the show!I just loved this chat with Kate, she is as refreshing an entrepreneur as you will get. Real, relatable with a very healthy dose of humour thrown in. In the episode Kate discusses:- How she has created a very successful business that very much runs between bells- How things really changed for her when her son started school- How she works to strong boundaries where she tries not to work nights or on the weekends (if she isn’t speaking)- How she hasn’t always been able to be so strict with her bourndaries and that in the early years she really had to put in the hard yards to make this happen- As leaders she feels we really need to lead by example when it comes to this parenting/business space and she is doing this by offering a creche at her next CopyCon Conference and allows guests to bring their babies- How she has used speaking to really elevate her brand- Some really brilliant productivity tips she uses to get as much done as she canAnd finally Kate discusses and definitely practises what she preaches the importance of showing up as you quirks and all.As you can tell I thoroughly enjoyed myself recording this but also learnt a great deal which I know you are going to as well. So now let’s get on with the show.

An episode that explores how you and your family as a business owner can help with Bushfire relief in Australia.I don’t know about you but I’ve found it hard to work over the last few days and have just been wondering what on earth I can do to help with the bushfire crisis that has hit our nation.Bushfire Business BundleLittle did I know that another Mum in business Bianca McKenzie who lives just down the road had been feeling the exact way I have been the last few days. Her family and her were planning to spend their New Years in one of the bushfire affected areas but pulled out last minute because her husband was unwell.In the last few days she has amazingly put together a ‘Bushfire Business Bundle’ calling on her friends in business to donate tools and resources to the tune of $1024, she is selling these bundles until next Friday 10 January with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal and WIRES.In addition to this she is also selling a number of one off coaching and course experiences with all proceeds going to the charities listed above.You can check out the offerings here. https://biancavanmeeuwen.lpages.co/bbb/?fbclid=IwAR2-2SG1NuhM17TCTLQloh3wQuzLwE35e60QmHDgcJbZnsZAVRrfagI2o_wPlease share this initiative on social media as the more awareness we can bring to it the better!You can follow Bianca on Instagram @bianca_mckenzie and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bianca.vanmeeuwen My family fundraiserAfter waking up on New Year’s Eve to vivid red images of devastation along Australia’s eastern coastline. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could help. Nature and natural disasters like this have a way of making you feel so small and I wondered how on earth anything I could do would help the situation.I especially couldn’t stop thinking about the brave volunteer firefighters saving people, animals and homes in the most frightening of circumstances.I had a chat to my five year old daughter Hannah about it and she kind of made everything sound so simple, ‘I know Mum how about I sell some bracelets and give everyone a free drink who buys one!”. She received a jewellery kit for Christmas and has been busy making bracelets ever since so to her this was a no brainer!This got me thinking even more. So many of us are at home or on holidays with our little ones feeling completely helpless and they want to help too and they have some really great ideas! Let’s be honest we are also looking for activities (that don’t involve screens!) that will keep them entertained at the moment. Through my work with charities like the ASRC, World Vision and the Cat Protection Society over the last three years I’ve seen firsthand some of the amazing fundraisers children have come up with to raise much needed funds.So my daughter and I have decided to set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the CFA and everyone who donates over $20 will receive a handmade bracelet, unfortunately the free drink is just logistically too hard! You can donate to Hannah’s project here.I wondered if you would like to join us by setting up your own fundraiser? It doesn’t have to be jewellery making it could be anything – a lemonade stand, car washing, cake making, a garage sale, a swimming challenge, you name it!Sending all my love and thoughts to those affected by the fires and again to those huge hearted volunteer firefighters who are bravely saving people, animals and homes in the most terrifying of circumstances.If you could share this amongst your contacts it would be greatly appreciated, the more people we can reach the better!Suggestions on how you can get involved with your family:1. Decide on a fundraising activity your family can do to support Bushfire Relief (it could be a lemonade stand, a cake drive, a car washing service, a sporting challenge)2. Choose a charity to donate to it could be the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal, the country fire association in your state (you can find details here), animal rescue charities3. Create a fundraising page on GoFundMe4. Get fundraising!5. Let me know of your fundraiser and if I have enough interest I’ll create a pop up Facebook pagePlease email me info@katiemaynes.com if you and your family would like to take part.

You are listening to Episode 21 with Samantha Dhu.Hello listeners and a very warm welcome to today’s episode! I can’t believe how fast the end of the year is approaching, I don’t know about you but it feels like everything has gone up a notch and parents in the school car park are driving just that little more erratically. However, does the festive season really need to be like this are there ways we can in fact relax and enjoy this period with our over excited kids?I’m happy to say that there is and that is why I’ve invited Samantha Dhu on the show today.So now let me introduce you to Sam. Sam is a Mindset Transformation Coach, Clinical Social Worker and highly qualified Psychotherapist. She works with modern-day business women juggling many roles to go from overwhelmed and stuck to energised and aligned.Sam lives in Perth, Australia with her husband Nick and three and a half year old daughter Amelie.Sam is all about doing Christmas on your terms and that we need to remind ourselves the stories we tell ourselves around Christmas, swapping them over from this season being hard a hard one, that we have to say yes to everything and buy everything over to choosing this Christmas to be a relaxed and enjoyable experience with family.Sam also talks about:- The difference between Mum guilt and shame which is a take on what we perceive as ‘Mum guilt’ that I’ve never heard before and is something that will help me and I’m sure will help many of you too.- How Sam performs small acts of mindfulness throughout the day and deep belly breathing to assist with stress- How Sam has noticed that with many of the Mums she works with they feel torn between being a mother and their businessI hope you love this episode as much as I did and it helps you have a relaxed and enjoyable Christmas.Sam's website is https://www.samanthadhu.com.au/ where you can download her free audio guide and you can also join her on Instagram @samanthadhuYou can sign up to the waitlist for Katie's course https://katiemaynes.com.au/the-pr-classroom

You are listening to episode 20 with Holly Brunnbauer from Motherhood Melbourne and Facing Motherhood.I’m super excited to bring you this week’s episode with the beautiful Holly. I feel like I say this every episode but I honestly took so much away from this episode and I know you are going to as well.So Holly is one of those people who is just wildly productive. She is chief mama at Motherhood Melbourne a warm and supportive community of Mamas living in my home town of Melbourne, She is the Co-Founder of Facing Motherhood a skincare range for Mums and she is also a wife and Mum of two little boys. To top it all off Holly manages to squeeze all her work into two days a week!So how does she do it all?We also discuss:- How Holly doesn’t believe in balance but in the business/family blend- Community building, the importance of building trust and providing content that adds value and is consistent- How she has had to push through her fears around showing up and how being visible has helped her businesses- Pre-lauching – how Holly has conducted successful pre-launches for both her businesses- How Holly feels about her eldest son starting school next yearSo let’s get on with the show!You can find Holly at www.motherhoodmelbourne.com.au and www.facingmotherhood.com.au and on socials @motherhoodmelbourne and @facingmotherhood.

You are listening to episode 19 with Cherie Clonan from The Digital Picnic (TDP).It was around this time four years ago that I did my first workshop with ‘The Digital Picnic’, a digital marketing agency based in Melbourne. I had purchased their eBook on becoming a social media manager a few months earlier and it was full of so many ‘aha's’ for me and really planted the seed of what could be possible. When I read the book I was on maternity leave and just about to return back to my day job. It showed me that perhaps I could take another path that would not only fit in with my family values but also be more aligned with my passions.At this stage TDP was still pretty new but fast forward to now and they’ve just celebrated their fifth birthday with Cherie Clonan at the helm as Sole Director. I know I’m not the only one who has been inspired by TDP and I’m sure it has been the catalyst for many women going out on their own and starting their own businesses.Not only the Director of TDP, Cherie is also Mama to Max and Frankie, wife to Dave as well as an award winning digital marketer, who is passionate about the difference best practise social media marketing can do for businesses and organisations. Just quietly she is also a community builder and copy writer extraordinaire!I absolutely loved this chat with Cherie. We discussed so much that it was very difficult for me to sum the chat up in one heading! I went with leadership as I think this is something that is weaved throughout this entire chat and something that is so important for us as business owners to get comfortable with and own.So in today’s episode we cover a lot including:- The importance of owning your personal brand and showing up as your authentic self- Building a loyal and loving community- How Cherie turned TDP around in the last year from a ship that she thought was in danger of sinking at their 4th Birthday to one that is now thriving- How Cherie had to hustle hard the last year to turn TDP around and how that was necessary but did take a toll on her physical health- Showing up to your team during challenging periods- Business culture and TDP’s forward thinking HR policies- Authentic leadership, the importance of being yourself as a leader and practising what you preach- And how Cherie’s childhood and upbringing has made her the leader she is todayYou can find Cherie on Instagram and Facebook @thedigitalpicnic and their online home is www.thedigitalpicnic.com.au

I was very keen to get today’s guest Chrissie on the podcast as I’ve been following her for a while now and always gain valuable tips and advice from her Instagram stories. Chrissie is an educator, consultant, writer, guest speaker, loving mama of two and a passionate advocate for understanding children with challenging behave ours.If you like me have a child starting school or kinder in the next few years you must listen to this episode!Chrissie shares how her and her husband adopted both her children here in Australia which a lot of people don’t realise you can do. We just touch on this today but if you want to hear more about this and Chrissie and her husband’s journey to grow their family I recommend you listen to episode 2 of season 2 of the ‘Mamas on a Mission’ podcast it’s an incredible story and I advise that you listen to it with a box of tissues!In today’s episode we cover a lot including:- Positive communication – choosing the right words for children that makes them to do what you want them to do rather than making the situation worse- How children are creatures of connection- How we need to reward children for their good behaviour and not just focus on their bad behaviour- How we can best start preparing our children for kinder and school and the importance of empowering our children rather than always problem solving for them- The importance of setting boundaries in our businesses and if we started for the flexibility around family life always coming back to thisI hope you learn a lot from this episode and I definitely suggest you listen to this with a paper and pen handy!You can find Chrissie at https://chaostocalmconsultancy.com/ on Instagram @chrissiechaostocalm and on Facebook @chaostocalmconsultancy.

You are listening to episode 17 with Emma- Jane Hughes and Ashleigh Hill from Lilly & Lime swimwear. Today I’m excited to bring you this great chat with one of my very first clients. I helped Lilly & Lime with their PR soon after they launched and it has been an absolute joy to watch them grow into a popular and international brand over the last three years.Seven years ago friends Em and Ash were sitting around a pool at a hen’s weekend bonding over not being able to wear the same fashionable swimwear that their smaller busted friends were able to wear. In that moment Lilly & Lime, a speciality swimwear label for a D-cup and up was born.Fast forward to now both Em and Ash have gone on to have two children each, Em has moved from Brisbane, Australia to Bermuda and they continue to grow their successful brand from opposite sides of the globe. In this episode we cover so much from Mum guilt and the myth that we can do it all, the challenges of creating a product from scratch, social media and how the ladies have used it to build their loyal community, the struggles of daily content creation, building a supportive community who have each other’s back, the way in which they effectively work in different countries and in different time zones, how they manage the business and family blend and what it is like to build a business with your bestie.You can find Lilly & Lime at www.lillyandlime.com on Instagram @lillyandlimeswimwear and on Facebook @lillyandlime

Today I’m excited to bring you my chat with fellow business Mum and friend Yael Keon. Yael is a email marketing guru and I have a feeling this episode is going to leave you very inspired to either get your email marketing into shape or if it is already in shape to grow and engage your list.In this episode Yael gives away so many great email marketing tips and we also discuss the incredible ROI email marketing brings.We also talk about niching, how it has happened for Yael quite organically and how it has helped her business, we discuss travelling internationally while working, how Yael manages being the Mum of two little ones and having a FIFO husband and Yael’s motivation for starting an online business in the first place.You can find Yael at yaelkeon.com or on Facebook and Instagram @yaelkeon.

You are listening to episode 15 with Melissa Jeffcott.Hello! Today I’m excited to talk to a business owner and Mum of teenagers. Many of my guests have younger children so it is great to get the perspective of a mother of teenagers.Mel is a Life and Parent Coach, a sacred space holder and a workshop facilitator.In today’s show we talk about how Mel has embraced her 40’s and it has been her favourite decade and how women’s second and third acts often take place after 40.She talks about how organising logistics and the mental load can get harder as the children get older but having the confidence to ask for help becomes easier. We also discussed how Mel navigates social media with her teenagers and how basically we are all learning at the moment both parents and teenager how best to handle and navigate it. We also talk about how there needs to be more support out there for parents of teenagers.You can find Mel at melissajeffcott.com or on instagram at @meljeffcott and on Facebook @theothersideofforty and @celebratinggirls.

Today I bring you an interview with my friend Aimee Wilson from Hello Yes Coaching. I’ve known Aimee for about four years now, we both trained as Life Coaches together. Since then I’ve gone on to do some coaching with Aimee and her horses. Yes horses, you’ve heard me correctly Aimee blends her Life Coaching certification with her Equine Assisted Learning Certification EAL.For those who haven’t heard of EAL Aimee explains it better than me but it is the experience of interacting with horses to facilitate personal growth or learning.In today’s show we cover many topics including how Aimee’s coaching sessions help with boundaries, leadership and self doubt. We also talk about the inner critic, something we all experience as business owners.As well as her coaching and EAL business Aimee is Mum or four year old Ayla and married to Kurt.You can find Aimee at helloyescoaching.com.au or on social media @helloyescoaching.

Today I had the pleasure of speaking to Suz Chadwick. As we discuss in the podcast Suz wears a lot of hats. She is the CEO of the Connection Exchange, creater of the Brand Builders Academy, host of the Brand Builders Lab podcast and also has a part time job in Branding. Suz is also a Mum of two.In today’s show we cover many topics but something we keep coming back to is the importance of taking action. I think if anyone can demonstrate this it is Suz. In the episode she talks about her amazing business ventures leading up to her current business and how they’ve all brought her to where she is today.Suz gives some fantastic tips on overcoming nervous energy when speaking as well as tips on how to get over the fear of asking, how much she enjoys her podcast and the positive affect it has had on her business as well as provides three brilliant tips on building your confidence one which includes being around people who are playing bigger than yourself. Something that struck me about my conversation with Suz was her positive and infectious energy. You can see she has built a life that she loves and this definitely shines through.You can find Suz at theconnectionexchange.com and on Instagram @suzchadwick

I’m excited to bring you my chat - with today’s guest Fideliz Cruz.Fideliz and I are both Beautiful You Coaching Academy certified coaches and it was around this time last year we shared a stage together at the Melbourne Inspiration Day where we talked all things Media and PR.Since then Fideliz has gone on to win this year’s Beautiful You International Coach of the Year an incredible and thoroughly deserved achievement.Fideliz has been in business now for five years and is a Life and Success Coach she is the go-to Life Coach for the faith-filled entrepreneur. It is her passion to see women rise up in leadership in all aspects of their lives building a life that they love.Fideliz is also the founder of the Kingdom Women entrepreneur community which sees her bring Christian business owners from all around the world together.Mum to 9 year old Mia in this episode Fideliz shares tips on how she balances her business with parenting and family life, what business looks like for her today five years in and what winning a major award did for both herself and her business.You can find Fideliz at https://www.fidelizcruz.com/

We all know how hard it can be to build a business. This is often a popular topic in entrepreneurial circles of the hardships we’ve tried to overcome to get our businesses to where they are today. But imagine if you were starting a new business in a country you had only lived in for four years? When Prosper Taruvinga arrived in Australia in 2011 he only had $75 to his name, he knew no one here and the qualifications he had earned in his home country of Zimbabwe meant nothing here including his drivers licence. In eight short years he has gone on to build a successful digital media business and even more importantly met his wife and had two beautiful daughters. It’s been a pretty eventful time for Prosper who in his first year of business married his wife, became a Dad and launched the business! There are many layers to Prosper and in this interview we really just scratch the surface. In our chat today we talk about how he tries to spend four hours a day reading, yes you’ve heard me correctly, four hours, how he has built a successful international business from his home office and what motivates and drives him to succeed. As I work in PR I was also super interested to talk about how Prosper has successfully used PR to put himself out there and how SEO works and why it’s important we understand it to make our online presence more visible. This chat gave me so much to think about and I think it will do the same for you. You can find Prosper at https://www.livelongdigital.com.au/.

So this week I had the pleasure of speaking with Sarah Piper who is the Founder of Invisible Partners.Sarah is Mum of two children, Leah 6 and Nicholas 4 and married to David. As you will pick up by her accent she was born in Scotland and made Australia home 15 years okay. It was on a trip back to Scotland that she had two a-ha moments that saw her launch Invisible Partners 18 months ago.Before this Sarah had over 18 years’ experience in the recruitment industry, having led and managed diverse teams across Australia, the UK and South East Asia.I absolutely love what Sarah has created in Invisible Partners and the way she champions and values flexible work. This is something we discuss in today’s episode, along with how she leads a team when she is not in the office 40 hours a week and how her and the family have found the transition of her daughter starting school this year.I really hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.You can find Sarah at invisiblepartners.com.au

How many of you are a fan of the TV show Shark Tank? Well today’s guests were on Shark Tank last year and did extremely well.In today’s episode we hear all about that experience, how it was the most nerve wracking day of their lives but what it has done in exposure for their business.Glen and Julie-Anne Mayer are the proud creators of Subo – The Food Bottle.They have three beautiful children, who at one point were all under the age of four.Feeding on the go had always been especially challenging for the Mayer's; how do you quickly feed three kids less than four years old, nutritious meals, that won’t cause a wasteful mess?The inventive pair tried every reusable container available and soon learned that the squeeze pouches were definitely not the way to go. Their kids were able to create a ‘squeezey’ mess - guaranteed havoc!Enter the, ‘in the shower’ eureka moment that would change the lives of the Mayer family forever. They invented a suction-based, non-squeezable food bottle with a moveable platform that children could use easily, without squeezing their food all over themselves.Back in 2012, the Mayer’s created some prototypes of their own and gave them out to friends and family who were completely blown away by the concept. Now they’ve found a local manufacturer and are producing Subos at an amazing rate and the rest is history…You can connect with the Mayer’s at suboproducts.com.au or on social media @suboproducts.

I’m so excited to bring you today’s episode as it focuses on a really fascinating topic – being unlikeable! Tell me have you ever been told that you are unlikeable or do you sit in the other camp like me and are a notorious people pleaser? Wherever you sit you need to listen to this conversation I know it’s going to blow your mind.I’ve admired Shevonne for a few years now. I was introduced to her through her podcast The Business Experiment and I just love what she is about and look up to her as a leader.Shevonne is a Brand Strategist: helping high calibre leaders to become an iconic brand in their industry. She has built a trusted brand, with her innovative thought leadershipShevonne is married to Paul and mother to Stevvi and Leni. She is just about to release her first book ‘The Unlikeables’.In this episode we discuss how Shevonne’s husband is a stay at home Dad and how they share the mental load, the importance of building your own unique identity and uncovering who you really are and how embracing being unlikable is the key to your success in business and life.You can connect with Shevonne at shevonnejoyce.com or @shevonnejoyce

I’m very excited to have our first Dad on the show today. Anthony led a legal masterclass I was recently in and I knew I just had to get him on the show. Legals is often something small business owners get stuck on when they are starting their business and I found Anthony wasn’t full of legal jargon but was able to communicate start up legals in a really simple and digestible way.Anthony is the co-founder of a growing commercial firm Merton Lawyers as well as principal and founder of Nitruc Investments.At Merton Lawyers he leads the corporate team advising numerous start ups and established businesses both locally and internationally.Most important to him is his growing family. He is the proud husband of Marney and dad to Annabelle (5 pre prep) and Patrick (3). When he’s not working he’s spending time with family playing doll house, chasing dinosaurs and ‘assisting’ Annabelle and Patrick in making Sunday morning scrambled eggs.You can find Anthony at mertonlawyers.com.au and feel free to give them a call on (03) 9645 9500.Please note any references mentioned in this episode are for general commentary purposes only. Please don't take this as advice.

You are listening to our school holiday bonus episode with Brigette Smith from Small Ideas.So if you live in Australia you will currently be in the middle of winter school holidays. School holidays is something that comes up a lot in my conversations because it can be a blessing and a curse for many small business owners. Many of us start our businesses so that we can be around for school holidays and I’ve loved hearing from many of my guests who deliberately take every holiday off or set strong boundaries during this time.I have to admit I’m not very good at this. A problem I’ve always had with my job in PR is that time management can be difficult as a lot of what I do it dependant on the media and their timeline which often doesn’t fit in with my own.I think Winter holidays can be tricky too as the weather isn’t the greatest and it is more important to be deliberate about scheduling specific activities in. This is why I’ve asked Brigette onto today’s show.Brigette Smith is passionate about families having fun and spending more quality time together.She is a part of Small Ideas which gives families fun on the go and big discounts to hundreds of activities across Melbourne and Sydney so families can do more together for less.Discounted activities include play centres, cinemas, attractions, animal farms, leisure centres, indoor activity centres and School Holiday camps plus heaps more.Visit smallideas.com.au for more information.

In 2011 Erika McInerney left Melbourne and a 16 year career in advertising to move to Warragul in Gippsland so she and her husband could try to find a better lifestyle for their growing family. Erika is mum to 9 year old Meg and 7 year old Joe.In early 2016 Erika launched Mac&Ernie, an agency dedicated to upskilling and empowering regional businesses, individuals and community organisations to take control of their marketing and promotion and do #bettersocial.She has barely drawn breath since the launch and, while she admits it’s a great problem to have, is very honest about the toll that ‘busyness’ has taken on her physical and emotional health.I have to be honest that I found today’s episode hard to name as Erika covered so many topics. I settled on ‘Building a community centred business’ as at the heart of it that is exactly what Erika has done.Erika’s talks about how making a tree change to the country was one of the best decisions her family ever made, what life was like in ad land pre business, how she takes the fear out of social media for her clients and how she used to be afraid of public speaking but know speaks regularly and rarely gets nervous which is an amazing hurdle to have overcome.You can find Erika at macandernie.com.au or @mac_ernie on Instagram or facebook.com/macandernie.

At 24 Sarah Cross successfully built and then went onto sell her own nationally recognised million dollar gift hamper business which started from her kitchen table.Today Sarah shares her knowledge and expertise with entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to launch or take their business to the next level.This year Sarah added author to her list of accomplishments with her first book ‘Fearless Fempreneur’.Sarah lives in Melbourne with her husband Adam and two boys Riley and Lachlan.In this episode Sarah talks about how she swears by automation in both business and life to limit overwhelm. She discusses how having systems in place can buy you more time and create a lot less stress. With her first son starting high school this year she discusses how school life changes over the years and how you just adapt.Sarah shares some amazing tips and advice which I’ll be implementing in my business and home life and I hope you get a lot out of it too.

In this episode we discuss blending your business with baby. Jade’s daughter Cerise is now a six year old but Jade started the business when she was just a baby and shares her experiences around this and how Cerise has always been a big part of her business even going on world event tours with her. We also talk about the transition from childcare to school.I really appreciate Jade’s honesty and vulnerability in this chat where she shares her experience with business burnout, a challenging year where she became a single mother, and how after a whirlwind six years she is slowing things down (which knowing Jade is probably me in fast forward mode!) but in all seriousness the realities of business burnout and how she overcame it.Jade McKenzie is the founder of event agency Event Head which she launched six years ago. Since then she has gone on to create SHE/CADEMY, the Reawakened Women Podcast, Beautiful Business Builders and is also an internationally award winning business coach and a trainer with the BYCA.Jade has worked on both international and Australian event tours with clients including Melissa Ambrosini, Denise Duffield-Thomas, Gala Darling, Rebecca Campbell and the UN Women National Committee Australia.I loved the following insight from Jade:Something I’ve noticed is that your daughter Cerise is such a big part of your business and the blend just seems almost effortless. I can remember seeing Cerise as a tiny bub on your hip at your business launch party, on world event tours and doing the Goddess Roadtrip with you last year up the east coast of Australia. Is that something that is easily done, how do you do it?“You just make a choice and do it and it’s hard but it’s hard either way as a Mum. Cerise doesn’t always travel with me and it is hard when she does and hard when she doesn’t. I think the business that I’m in allows for that. The business that I’ve created for myself allows that. It is a luxury that I’m able to have a job that I do get to share with my child in this way. It is very different to what I experienced growing up and I know that it is not the norm.""With the Goddess Roadtrip tour I did with Cerise last year I did that with five women that I adore. We sold 11 events in 7 different cities and there was no question that Cerise wasn’t going to be a part of that but that was only possible because I was working with women who love and know Cerise and have no issue with it so there is a time and a place for having your kids at things sometimes it is distracting especially with events. It is just around the choice of does this feel good for the both of us, it this going to work, could I make this work and is this something that would be valuable for her learning a beautiful shared experience for us. When it does work it has been amazing.”You can find more information on Jade at jademckenzie.me

When I started this podcast Leah Ladson was the exact person I had in mind to interview. As you will hear both her and her husband have designed a life to fit the lifestyle they want for their family. In this episode we really explore the importance of having a why in your business and the importance of always coming back to this and even using it for your decision making. I got so much out of this chat with Leah and I’m sure you will too.I loved the following insight from Leah:What are the main challenges that you experience now in building the business and maintaining it?I would say my biggest challenge at the moment is that I could really grow and scale my business now at a rapid rate but it would mean spending less time with my kids. So at the moment I work three days a week, I have two days that I spend with my daughter Audrey and I do a lot of school pick-ups and drop-offs. Sometimes it is really tempting to just scale and go all out while the opportunity is there but then I always have to remember to check in with myself and my why of my business and my why is that I started my business to hang out with my kids and be present and so if the opportunity doesn’t align with that I just won’t do it. For me it is just the temptation of really sky-rocketing the business but just having that restraint to hold on for a few more years and go slow and steady. It is hard to say no especially when really cool opportunities arise. I’ve been getting much better probably in the last 12 months of just being really restrained with what I say yes to. It is kind of liberating as well to say no to things but it is super tempting some days I just want to do it all but then I remember it will mean I won’t be able to do school drop offs and pick ups. Leah is one of Australia’s emerging go-to photographers for commercial and branding photography, as well as a recognised wedding and family photographer. Leah has just expanded her offerings running flat lay photography courses for business owners and is also a mentor for start up businesses.In her spare time Leah founded ‘Girls From The Go’ a group that supports regional women who run their own businesses.Leah lives in Bendigo with her husband Des and daughters Missy and Audrey.You can find Leah at leahladson.com.au or on Instagram @leahladsonphotography.

Rhiannon Colarossi is the perfect first guest to be interviewed on this podcast as I really couldn’t get a more fitting person to speak on this topic. You will hear her throughout the interview wear her business owner hat, parent hat, school teacher hat and coaching hat which gives us a wonderful perspective on all areas of business, parenting and school life.Rhi has an amazing gift of simplying things and providing tips to slow down that are realistic and easy for busy people to incorporate into their hectic schedules. She also provides some thoughts on the consequence our busy lives are having on our children, which we only just touch the surface of and hopefully will be a larger discussion for another time.I love the following insight from Rhi:I want to ask you about rushing women’s syndrome. You work with a lot of mothers do you think this is a big problem that mothers have today?Yes I think we need to slow down. When I was teaching almost 20 years ago I noticed it then and I’ve been back in the classroom recently and I think that it is worse now, I think times have changed in those 18 years that society is going at such a faster pace that it even more important for us to slow down. Even though I noticed it then I can see in so many ways that the impact and change in the children’s behaviour now is huge and I do believe that part of that is us rushing and not taking a breath and slowing down. Anxiety is on the rise for Mums and kids and we don’t have to go with the status quo we can break the rush cycle we really can. We need to start with permission that it is okay to slow down and then take little actions each day to go slow which is key.Rhiannon is an award winning Wellbeing Coach and Mum of 10 year old Jonathan and 7 year old Madeleine. Rhiannon is also a Primary School Teacher and Ronald McDonald House Tutor.Five years ago Rhiannon created The Wellbeing Web. A platform that has the mission to empower, engage and inspire Mums to take care of their wellbeing in small practical ways every day, which benefits both them and their children.You can find Rhiannon at wellbeingweb.com.au or on Instagram @rhiannon_colarossi

In this very first episode, host Katie Maynes, introduces herself and the reasons why she has started the Business Between Bells podcast.She has started this podcast as a place that business owners with kinder and school age children can come together to support each other through business, parenting and school life. Here she’ll share the stories of Mums, Dads, business owners from different industries and even school teachers hoping to get lots of different perspectives, advice, tips and tricks that will hopefully help those navigating the juggle.