Episode Transcript

This transcript was AI generated.

‍

00:00:04:06 - 00:00:31:14

Mandi

My name is Mandi Gunsberger, and I'm a non-executive director. I'm a mentor, I'm a founder, and I'm creator of spaces that support women to grow, lead and replenish. Through my advisory and my mentoring work, I help entrepreneurs cut through the noise, build businesses with purpose. Through knowledge travel. I then create retreats that remind women to rest, reconnect, and return to themselves.

Empowerment with obviously integrity and care as well matters more to me than anything else in this space, and I would love to see a world where women thrive in both life and business without burning out to get there.

00:00:46:00 - 00:00:58:02

Carrie

Welcome to today's episode. I'm so excited to introduce Mandi Gunsberger, a visionary CEO, connector, and dealmaker who has made a remarkable impact in the business world.

Mandi is the founder of Babyology Australia's leading media company for parents, where she grew to a thriving multi-million dollar business before successfully selling in 2018. With a proven track record in strategic partnerships and relationship management, Mandi has spent over two decades building powerful collaborations with some of the world's most influential brands. The global experience, having lived in the USA, Europe and Australia, has helped to build on an unmatched network that instils confidence in her clients and partners. Today, Mandi is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and empowering others to succeed through private coaching, exclusive resources and consulting to help businesses, events and launches thrive. We're in for a fantastic conversation.

Mandi. We're so excited to have this chat today with you. Tell us about how your various businesses and initiatives help people. Who do they benefit and how.

00:01:59:08 - 00:02:10:15

Mandi

Yeah, absolutely. Look, across everything I do, no matter if it's advisory, mentoring, retreats, anything, my mission is the same. It's really just to empower people, especially women, and to build sustainable businesses and fulfilling lives. And, you know, I've been doing it for a very long time, and there's a lot of mistakes I've made along the way that I'll share with you today, because I think definitely from the mistakes a lot of us have made previously, we can help others. So I work with entrepreneurs who are time poor, often overwhelmed, and deeply passionate about what they do. But really struggle to know how to triage that list and what comes next. And so whether it's really through the practical tools, mindset, mentoring, I love a walk and talks. I do a lot of mentoring while I'm walking out there and we record the whole thing. So you get a transcript or I run immersive retreats all over the world. I really help people step back, find clarity, and take action.

00:02:56:22 - 00:03:24:07

Carrie

I love how you, use the word empowering and paying it forward. Absolutely. I've seen that. And maybe it's because you have had such, you know, you've been in the trenches with us, you've known what it's like to build a business. Multiple times. And then now pain, that experience and that guidance forward. Is so important.

00:03:24:09 - 00:03:33:21

Mandi

Yeah, I think it's really, it's key because a lot of what I did and mistakes I made and other people who I've worked with, if we can tell other people about that and warn people before they get to that point of their business, it can just spearhead their businesses. So I think it's so important to use what we've all learned. And yeah, I've known you for years, Carrie in your previous businesses as well. And yet we've all had a long run of doing all this stuff and we kind of know how to do it better. Now, if we had our time over.

00:03:51:11 - 00:03:52:18

Carrie

It's so true and you know, this is such a selfish question sometimes, but what is your number one piece of advice for anyone who's starting out in the small business space?

00:04:04:09 - 00:04:15:04

Mandi

Yeah. Look, I think, the small business space still really, really excites me, even after, you know, all the businesses I've run. And I think the big thing with it is to not wait until it's perfect. It's often you see an idea, you come up with something, you think, oh God, I do. I have enough detail. Have I got a marketing plan? Do I have enough money often? You're ready to start before you think you're ready. So it's all about that confidence, so you learn more. I've always thought you learn more by doing than by overthinking it. So there are a million reasons why you shouldn't do something. But often starting it is the bravest thing you can do. And it might not work. But you know, that's the worst thing that can happen. You're no worse off than not starting it in the first place. So I'd say also surround yourself with people who've done it before. So you have a network to ask. So whether it's mentors, advisors or even, a great business podcaster, anything really can save you from making those costly mistakes. But I've always been of the model of just do it and the risk will come later. So just to tell you a bit about Babyology, when we did that, we I spent the first six years just saying, all I want to do every morning is wake up and have more eyeballs to the website and bring in more revenue. We had no marketing plan. We had no business plan. We had nothing until an advisor approached me and said, you're sitting on a community of half a million people. This is actually a really big deal. And I was like, I'm just we had nothing. We I just launched it because I had a one year old and another baby on the way and thought it might be better than sitting at home making baby food. So we really had no plan moving forward, and it was the best decision I ever made.

00:05:32:21 - 00:05:50:10

Carrie

Wow. And I remember the Babyology days. I had a young one as well. And it was just such a great resource, helping me navigate this journey of motherhood for the first time. Yeah, it was it was a real trusted source, and written in such a personal way.

00:05:54:05 - 00:06:12:07

Mandi

And it just started as a passion project, so there wasn't a lot of thought behind it. It was just I was at home with the two kids and thought, I'm really interested in products, so let's tell other mums about products. And it was that simple. So I think if you've got that idea out there, don't spend too many years trying to perfect it because you might never get it done.

00:06:12:08 - 00:06:23:11

Carrie

Just get started. Just, so, I know that, you know, we met with the benefit of, of the different types of businesses that you run. And we will get into some of the, the latest one around your retreat. So I'm really excited to hear more about that. I do want to actually, talk about a phase of running business that I think many people don't talk about, and maybe it's because of, when you start to wind things down in the most graceful way possible if you need to or you celebrate that you've actually, you know, achieved what you wanted to achieve with the business. And you, leave it in capable hands and moving onwards, it's the exit stage. So. Yeah. Could you tell us a little bit about reflecting on your exits? What you wish you knew then that you now know?

00:07:07:08 - 00:07:16:21

Mandi

Yeah. No, definitely. And that's a really good question because you're right. A lot of people just gloss over that. So whether, as you say, you've done exactly what you wanted to do and you're moving into different phase of your life, perhaps, and you don't have the time or the passion that you had for. And I think nothing is wrong with winding it down and moving on to something else. If that's, you know, if that's what you want to do, or even if because of market forces or anything else, that's what needs to happen. But I think what people don't talk about is, you know, scaling, selling, exiting. It's very romanticised as this amazing, beautiful thing that happens at the end of a business, even if it's a successful acquisition. Like with Babyology we were successful, but it's still very messy and very emotional, and I don't think anyone talks about that often. It doesn't happen the way you envisaged it. Often it comes with a lot of stress. Often it comes with even if you're selling for a good acquisition, you're working for two years. On having the business look good and working with lawyers and advisers on selling a business. So that's often very messy. And they're not just a financial, you know, transaction. They're very personal milestones. So I know when we sold, my Babyology was really like my fourth child. So I actually had quite a lot of grieving about letting it go and what letting it go looks like and what that future still holds. So I think while you can celebrate the win, you can still mourn what you're leaving behind, if that makes sense. And for me, then after the exit, it instantly became out there. Well what's next? What are you doing next? And after coming out of a 12 year journey with three small kids at the time, I was just burnt out. I was adrenal fatigue, I was exhausted, I didn't know what was next. I didn't even want to think about what was next. I just wanted to like, unpack that Thermomix I bought probably four years earlier and never had a chance to use. And yeah, we just, really went into consulting and all sorts of things, but yeah, it's a really messy time for a lot of people, even if it's the successful acquisition. And then there are the times that it isn't, and it's about coming to terms of what that means and what you've achieved. Even if you've had to close the business or not got  , you know, the acquisition that you'd hope for.

00:09:16:14 - 00:09:34:15

Carrie

So much to think about. And thank you for sharing your experience in a, in a nutshell, with a very complicated and very demanding, time in a business owners life. And you said the most, you know, that the emotional side of things, but also the business, I remember receiving a bit of advice around, you know, start with start with the end in mind. And it's a bit like, you know, if I could use the analogy, you don't go into a marriage thinking it's going to divorce, but you're actually you're actually thinking about, okay, well, what will your idea of success be? And it doesn't have to be. You know, I think there's a lot of pressure, and certainly the Start-Up space to be this multi-million dollar founder, exit story. And even when you are there is, you know, lots of stories coming out now around dilution of your, your equity, during a sell process. But I think coming back to our community, who are typically small business owners, some of micro business owners, your idea of success is it could be to earn some money, to supplement your income for the family. It could be just to work on something meaningful. It could be to employ one person. So. Yeah. Just understanding. Yeah. Do you have any, any thoughts in terms of.

00:10:39:02 - 00:10:53:04

Mandi

Yeah, that, you know, I definitely I think, as you said, it's different for everybody. And I think one of the key things is probably to try and decide that when you're going into something, because even the way you set up a business, if it's going to be, you know, a small micro business, that you've still got a full time job and you've got kids and you're doing this on the side, you might be selling stuff to make some money. It's good to know that going into it, rather than expecting it to be the huge windfall that you want a decade from now. So I think and I had a very good mentor that taught me very, very early on. And I'll talk about her a bit later. That really work out what your exit or what your plan is for anything you're doing before you even launch it, because it impacts whether you spend the money and set it up on its own platform, or whether you decide you know what, I'm just going to try and do an Etsy store for now and see how that goes. I'm going to do it with other mums from mothers group or friends or parents from the school. Like a lot of how you set up a business and where you want it to go will depend in those very early days on where you see it going. And I mean, it's great if you see it as small and it ends up getting really, really big. But I think it's always good to kind of know the direction you're going and if there's an exit or how you want to close it down, maybe it's something you're doing just while your kids are home and they're toddlers. And as soon as I go to school in two years, you know that it's not something you want to do. So yeah, it's really about, because that will determine how much money you spend on it and how much time you spend on it, because nothing's worse. And, you know, giving your whole self of it and then realising it is only a couple of hundred dollars a week, you know, you want to be able to pigeonhole that into what it actually is.

00:12:13:11 - 00:12:21:18

Carrie

Let's talk about, the different communities. And you, you know, obviously with half, I think, was it half a million or was it?

Mandi

It was smaller back then than it was when I sold it, It was 1.3 million, which was only 40% of mums in Australia. So my thing, everyone was always like, it's so big. And I'm like, well, it means I'm not reaching 60%. So I still had more people out there and I get.

Carrie

What is one of the lessons that you could share or win, about the power of networking and community?

00:12:45:11 - 00:12:52:10

Mandi

To be honest, probably two very big things come to mind. So much of it quickly. But the first one is, one of my amazing, amazing mentors who's been there for me since the very beginning is, a lady called Jane Huxley. And Jane is amazing. She's now at, maybe a bit back in the day when I met her, was very early in the Babyology journey, and she was CEO of Fairfax Digital. And so little did I know, this, but I'm a very chatty, bubbly out there person, and we both went to a cake class once on a Sunday, and I didn't know her from a bar, so I didn't know anyone there. But you know, during the lunch break, I just started to tell people that a few weeks ago I launched this blog and it's called Babyology and we've got like 20 people visiting it. And I was so excited, I was talking all about it. And anyway, the next day she, gave me one of her business cards. So actually, I think it was when we were leaving, she gave me a card and said, this is me. I'm going to connect you in with Fairfax the next day. So it was just about having I think, the confidence to be able to talk about a micro business, which really at that point was a micro business, but I would talk to anyone who would listen, like my mum would promote it at the bridge club, like, you know, whatever. I had people calling me going, can you sell me a pram? I'm like, it's not really what we do. But anyway. So yeah. So Jane just became the most incredible mentor in my life. Connected me with Fairfax. We ended up doing a big partnership with them back in the early days where we shared content, and that helped build babyology. When I had my third child, you know, I'd go in there and she'd give me mentoring sessions and, you know, the whole you take the newborn. But I remember taking the newborn baby in the capsule. Baby had fed and eats and I was ready. And then, of course, the meeting starts. Baby wakes up and you're like, oh my God, what do I do now? So anyway, Jane said, pass me the notes. She had the notebook meeting with Jane Huxley underlined. There I was like, you know, baby on the breast. And she was writing notes of things that I was asking her. And, you know, she's always just been a supporter. And had I not been blurting out about my very micro, tiny business at that point, you know, I probably would have never met her or never formed the relationship we've got now, which is probably 15 years now. So, yeah. And she's just, one of those people in my life that I don't we don't see each other regularly, and I don't mean to with her all the time, but if I have an issue, I can pick up the phone and she's like, tell me what's going on. So it's good to have a few of those people in your life. And then the other big one that comes to mind was, meeting Naomi Simpson as well, very early on in the journey. And she became also a phenomenal mentor to me, to the point I remember sitting in her office with tears rolling down my face, saying, I don't think I can do this anymore. And they weren't the pretty tears. It was the snotty real like, you know, hysterical tears because I said, I can't do this. I've got a one year old, a six year old, a seven year old. The business has 15 staff. I'm travelling all the time. I just, I can't, I just can't. And she said to me, do you have any help? And I said, no, I don't want to outsource my kids. I absolutely do not want a nanny or anything. So she put me on to the idea of having a housekeeper, which I'd never even. I think when you're in it, you often can't see your way out of that world when it's all on top of you. And she just said, get a housekeeper a few hours a morning, every morning, a week to help you with that. Get out of the house, make breakfast, tidy up, have dinner ready when you're waiting at home, to help with the laundry, all of that. So that's what we did for the next 5 or 6 years, and it was absolutely game changing. I wanted to let anyone know who's listening. It cost, I don't know, $120 a week. And it made the hugest difference to our lives because it just took that pressure off. And we might have not had the best food for dinner, but we had food for dinner, which, when you're dealing with work and kids in school and after school activities, often it's just about having things done. You know, no matter whichever way they're done, not having them done perfectly. So she really tweaked that in my mind for me was not you don't have to outsource your kids. You can take them to music class, swimming class, baby music, whatever you want. But having help at home means that you're not unpacking the dishwasher. You know, cleaning up from breakfast when you get back at 7 p.m. So it was, those two things were game changing and they were both just women. I met through chatting in a community.

00:16:58:10 - 00:17:00:20

Carrie

Always be pitching. You know, you just never know who you might meet. That can unlock a new phase for your business. So I love that story. Thank you for sharing it. And then on the on the topic of, asking for help, I think that that is. Yeah, that that is a really big one. You know, we're really ready to help. I think mums and working mums and working parents are really ready to give help, but sometimes they forget to ask for it.

00:17:28:00 - 00:17:39:04

Mandi

Yeah. And I think we have a lot of guilt that goes with that. Like, you know, I'm not putting I'm not making the food that goes on the table or I'm not doing well. I'm not buying the birthday present for the party. But that's not anything your child's going to remember. And that's not anything enjoyable either. So, you know, it's completely fun in the ladies is something else that I discovered very early on in that it's amazing food. It might not be cooked by me, but it's still home cooked. So I was totally fine with that, you know? So I think it's about yeah, asking for that help.

00:17:56:22 - 00:17:58:13

Carrie

Okay. Now let's, dive into a topic that we're both very passionate about and that's women's financial empowerment. What are some of the things that you're seeing in the space? And what do you think is what's needed to, to change or to challenge?

00:18:15:10 - 00:18:26:03

Mandi

Yeah. I a lesson that I probably only learnt, to be honest, in the last year or two is to, well, to know your numbers. I've always known that through the whole business journey, because the minute you don't know what's going on, things going to get out of hand. You're always supposed to have, you know, X amount of cash flow in hand because one client doesn't pay or, one client goes away and that that could cost the business. But for me it's about, also knowing your worth. And that's become a huge thing. A lot of women, we tend to undersell ourselves. We tend to offer to help for free. Very often. We tend to say, oh, don't worry about paying me. And I think that comes at a cost. And I've noticed that over the last few years I was doing a lot of free work. And I mean, I still I'm on two boards at the moment that I volunteer, but there are things I've chosen that I'm passionate about and that means I've realised my voluntary bucket is full, so I can't really then go meet a lot of people, give them a lot of help, give them free advice because I think we always want to help. But, you know, every hour that we do, it takes away from something else. It takes away from your own business, your own family, your own mental health. So I think it's about feeling okay, about saying no to free help and no to, yeah, but being requested for things a lot and saying this is actually how much it costs. And a prime example is in the speaking space a lot of women will do speaking on stage for free and say, don't worry about paying me. Whereas, you know, a lot of men aren't doing that. So I think it's about knowing, you know what? No, it keynote will cost you this amount because I have to prepare for it. I have to get there. I have to get back. I probably need to get a nanny for school pick up, you know, all that stuff. So I think it's about knowing our worth, and being unapologetic about our value can actually feel quite empowering. So I've only started doing that in the last few years. I used to do go and help and have a lot of coffees for free with a lot of people, and then when I realised, again through a mentor, he said, don't you know, it's all very well, you want to give it all away, but wait till you've got something to give away and wait till we have the time to give it away. Which is great. So I think financial literacy doesn't just come down to spreadsheets. It's about confidence in knowing what you're worth, what you charge, and not just, being blindsided by looking at the end of the week and being like, wow, I just did things for ten hours for free because I didn't ask for money. So yeah. So hopefully that can help some people out there.

00:20:37:17 - 00:21:01:16

Carrie

Absolutely. I'd say a lot of, women who actually progress into those speaking opportunities exactly the same thing your, your time is and your insights and your hard earned, experience, is definitely worth that. I think we justify it by giving odds exposure for the business. Right. It's visibility. But you should be able to get both. And I also love how you framed it with the you might have a pro bono bucket. So when that pro bono bucket is full, you can always say, but I do have capacity for, any of my paid speaking engagements still. So because it is time.

Mandi

Yeah, I think that's, really important to do and to know how many hours you are able to give that pro bono bucket, because it's also fun to say to someone, you know what? This month doesn't work for me, but next month I've got a bit more capacity to help you. So that you're not. Because I think all of us, we just say yes too often and then we don't realise until we actually go. Go! Where's my time gone? You realise half of it is free. So yeah.

Carrie

Great point. What is one thing that you would like to see change for women in the Start-Up space?

00:21:52:08 - 00:22:03:07

Mandi

Yeah. And look, this is, we're starting to see more change, but not enough yet, but more funding and support for women building sustainable, purpose driven businesses, not just the big, flashy, high growth Start-Ups, I suppose is what I'm passionate about is, you know, we're creating, these incredible companies and incredible businesses, but they often get overlooked because they don't fit the traditional investment mould. So even though more women are starting to get funding, it's still a certain type of female business that is getting funding rather than being able to look outside that box, and realise, wow, this is an amazing idea that's going to change lives and change the future of the way things work. But because it might not have that high revenue model, they're not being looked at for funding. So I think it's about yeah, changing the way funding is given, because women do tend to build different style of businesses out there. And so, it's about looking at all the styles and trying to get funding for those businesses.

00:22:52:20 - 00:23:02:00

Carrie

Yeah. And that is, a real put in point. We see a lot of, purpose driven businesses in our community. in spaces that, you know, it could technically be in wellbeing or, care. That's a really interesting space too. And speaking of that, your latest, venture. You're creating a series of retreats for women. Tell us a bit more about that. And what inspired you to start them?

00:23:21:09 - 00:23:30:09

Mandi

Yeah, absolutely. Look, I think I talked about the exit of ideology not being a smooth ride earlier, and it was very it was very depleting for me. You know, ending up with adrenal fatigue and complete exhaustion. You know, we went out there to raise money for the business. We raised money then that. So that takes 6 to 8 months. If anyone's raised, then that turned into a sales. So that took another year. So it was a very, very complicated system, to selling the business. And, you know, it all worked out fine. But at the end of it, we were just completely fried. So on my bucket list had always been, to take my family to Tuscany. So we actually went and moved over there for a year, which was incredible. So we took my kids who were, five and ten and 11 at the time. And if anyone wants details, I'm always happy to help people move overseas. It was brilliant. We lived in Siena, in rural Tuscany, for 15 months, basically in 2019. And I think just the slow pace of life and the way they live over there, and I wanted something completely different. It just really stuck with me. And then moving back to Australia, realising the stark difference with the way we do things and I just pined to be back in that much more restful phase of life. I suppose that we were able to do. And I still worked over there and my husband worked over there. We did consulting and all that stuff, but that's not saying we didn't drive to a different Tuscan town every afternoon and then pick up the kids from school. But yeah, so when I got back, it was obviously Covid. And then I thought, how can I share this with other women? So as soon as the borders opened, probably a bit too soon after the border opened, two weeks after, I went back to Italy, and started to plan out for dolls. So I ended up launching Nourish travel, three years ago now and did retreats in Tuscany. Last year and the year before, I did a yoga rejuvenation reset retreat with and women came from Australia over there. Then I did a writing retreat. And then we went to Botswana last year and did a yoga replenish retreat. So it's not rest, but also part inspiration. And then this year, for the first time, I'm doing local retreats, which is really fun with, some big Australian names. So I'm doing a Gold Coast retreat with Leigh Sales, in August. So she's our host, our speaker, our phenomenal person, and she's amazing. She's going to be doing sessions on, journaling about 30 years in, in writing and in interviewing people. So it's going to be brilliant. But we're also going to have a lot of fun with movie nights and trivia nights, and then also just naps and rest and whatever, whatever you want. And then I'm doing another one with her in the Adelaide Hills in November, plus a lot more launching next year. So they're my passion projects that I absolutely love women coming along and it just changes your life. If you can escape from your day to day grind. And these ones in Australia were like three nights, so it's not huge. It's not a huge commitment, but it really changes the rest of the trajectory of your year by being able to just pause, be inspired, meet amazing women and yeah, have a rest. So I love them. I've got 60 people over those two booked in to come at the end of this year, and I'm really excited about them.

00:26:37:12 - 00:26:38:04

Carrie

Wow. I literally want to say sign me up. And I can imagine I know a few people that are going to be approaching me to go tell me more. And, absolute, huge fan of Lee, and yourself.

Mandi

Yes people are really, they're really huge fans. Within the first three days, I had 450 inquiries. So, Yeah, she's got a huge following out there through her podcast and books and she's just a divine human and an amazing mum who is also raising two boys. So she just gets it.

Carrie

Yeah.  Spectacular. And I love how you know, you mentioned pause. That is a beautiful word. It's a word that actually has a lot of meaning for me too, because, one of my very, close confidants and, friends at the time, it was my chief of staff, Sarah Nelson. She actually gave me permission to pause. And so I love that you are giving permission to all these women to say you can you can take a moment. You're not going to quit. You're not going to give up everything. But right now you need to take care of yourself. Take stock, go and reset. In this beautiful scene with some intelligent, clever, inspiring women.

00:28:02:22 - 00:28:14:20

Mandi

Exactly. And I think as well, it's being looked after for 3 or 4 days. Like what? You don't need to do anything. And people, knowing what you need when you need it. So you just feel like I think we spend so many hours of our lives looking after other people. And then when you can get to a place where other people are looking after you, it just makes you feel happy and rested and excited to go back to your regular day to day life with a different kind of mindset about it.

00:28:32:05 - 00:28:38:20

Carrie

So powerful. I look forward to hearing more. And we will certainly be dropping the information in our show notes. Okay. Let's you mentioned that your mum of three?

Mandi

Three, yeah, a little one and then two teenagers. So yeah, almost three teenagers.

00:28:49:02 - 00:29:02:09

Carrie

And I know you write about looking after your parents as well, your elderly parents. So you are a member of the sandwich generation. How do you integrate this and what systems are working well for you?

00:29:02:11 - 00:29:10:15

Mandi

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, it's not easy. I'll start by saying it's not easy for any of us, that I think a lot of us are in this world of parents need us, but, children still need us, and we don't want to wish away the child part of it. But then you wish you had more time. So, to be honest, I've always been very, very, very pro, therapy and going to speak to people. We go to the dentist and get our teeth checked. We go get our eyes checked. I very often go to a psychologist and just talk through where I'm at and how to cope with everything in my life because, I think, you know, when you are raising kids and you've got businesses and you've got, you know, parents that you're looking after, and then there's a partner in there as well that you need to remember. It's a lot. And I have my fluff baby as well. Who that's my favourite thing in the world. But yeah. So I, I'd be lying if I'd say it's always balanced. And I've had my issues over the years about, being able to say no more often has really, really helped over the last few years. So I get very excited. So when I'm approached to do something, anything new project, old project board, I just instantly gravitate to, oh my God, I'd love to help. But I think it's really thinking about is that going to be the best thing for me? Is that going to impact me? Going to the gym, going for a swim, having my coffee. So, you know, we recently moved near the beach. So I'm very lucky in that my morning, routine after school lunches and drop offs and all that stuff can be going to the gym, having a swim, quick dip at the beach, having a coffee, and still being at my desk by like nine to be ten. And that that works for me. But I'm pretty religious about that at the moment, because I've just come out of a period of not doing great with all the stuff that was going on. So I think it's about, learning when you can see that it's all getting to be too much and understanding yourself enough to know what to do with that. I don't technically have that, so I take waiting much than I should, and then I tend to fall off a cliff. But I'm warning people out there, if you do have that vision that you go, you know, taking this on is really going to put me over the edge, maybe don't take it on and just think it can be for next year or when I have more capacity because we do tend to then not do the gym, not go for the walk, not see a friend, not sit and read a book because we've I've overwhelmed ourselves with other things and yeah. So I don't know if that's helpful at all, but, I struggle with it still. But, you know, I have ways of of working with it and dealing with it.

00:31:35:02 - 00:31:56:23

Carrie

That's a great. Thank you for sharing. The, you know, that you actually are looking at different ways to get support in your own wellbeing because it is, you know, when you said we have conversations with so many people that different aspects of our health, this is actually one that, you know, we should be having more conversations about as well. The big one and good to talk. And we have a question from one of our amazing members in the community of Mums and co, Jade Warne, who is a brand strategist, photographer, from Small Business Growth. So Jade's question is, When will I get back my time? I have been living with the 3 p.m. pick up alarm blaring in my head for the last 11 years. I've now stopped imagining any other way.

00:32:26:05 - 00:32:35:18

Mandi

That is a great question. And I think for anyone that's had school aged kids, or even day-care depending day-care tends to be longer hours. But yeah, it is something that, you know, that at 3:00 you kind of have to stop working and get back online later. Look, I, I'm probably almost there. I could say I've got a 17 and an 18 year old who are both finished with school, and then I've just got one, 12 year old at the moment. She’s just started his seven, so I'm trying to make the bus be her friend when I can, but, but yeah, lucky. Definitely. It definitely moves from that. And once your kids that I'd say when they're all, you know, 12, 13, 14 is when they really start to be a lot more independent and do all of that. But that comes with you also missing that after school time. So I have to say, I loved, even though it cut your day, it pretty much done in half. Put it in a third shorter. It's quite nice to have that break in the afternoon where you either draw them somewhere or do something. I always had a laptop with me, so if we were at ballet or music or whatever, I could still do some work. But, it was nice to have that break from three, 330 through till, let's say, 8:00 at night. And then I'd probably get online and do more work pretty much every night, you know, until the late hours while we all watch TV. But yeah, I think while it does cut your day, maybe, you know, think of it as a nice break. If you've been working from 10:00 or 930 since you dropped them off at school, 3:00 comes around. I'd normally work through lunch, so my first break is at three, and then I get to go and have a break for a little bit, see one of my kids, make a bit of a snack, and then get back to work. So yes, it will happen and then you might miss it. But yeah, while it's on your clock every single day, it does seem like it comes around very quickly.

00:34:14:19 - 00:34:37:13

Carrie

Bit of reframing and, yes, trying to appreciate that flexibility and what you may be able to do with it. So looking ahead, Mandi, what are your goals? What are some of your aspirations from your work or in advocacy? Tell us what you have planned.

00:34:37:15 - 00:34:48:12

Mandi

Yeah. Look, I love I really, really love the mentoring. I didn't think I would love it as much as I do, and I just love because it gives me, all these other businesses to play with and look at and help and introduce my network to. So I'm loving that. And if I can make a difference in those women's businesses, you know, that's something I really, really want to do. Because often just coming in every now and again and giving them an ally, it can make a huge change. It can introduce them to someone. It can really change the trajectory of the business. So that's something I want to do. I'm doing more speaking. I'm doing more writing articles and potentially a book at some point. And then really expanding, the retreats is really important to me. Like, I'd love to do more of them in Australia next year. And then do some more further afield. But I think most importantly, I just want to keep showing up in ways that are practical, personal and powerful and can make a difference in, other people's lives.

00:35:36:01 - 00:35:43:06

Carrie

Thank you so much for joining us today, Mandi. It's been a terrific conversation, and I will be looking into those retreats.

00:35:43:08 - 00:36:00:10

Mandi

Yes. And I have to say, with the retreats, if these ones are full, which they are almost full, they'll be I'll be launching more soon, so don't get disappointed if you can't get into these, Adelaide Hills or Gulf Coast ones. I'm launching more very soon so I will keep you posted. Thanks for having me on today.

00:36:03:21 - 00:36:19:07

Carrie

Thanks for listening to today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe via Spotify or Apple Podcast. Mums and Co is a network helping business learning women to start, connect and grow. Join us today at mumsandco.com.au

‍