Evolutionary Business Design

Pauline:
Welcome to the first Bright Business Women podcast. I’m so glad you’re here. My name’s Pauline Bright. I have decided to turn the tables a little today because rather than tell you a bit about myself, I’ve asked my podcast coach Brett Jarman to interview me.

Brett Jarman is from Experts on Air and he’s been teaching me about how to put podcasts together and how to do it in a professional way that actually accounts for all the moving parts. And it was a little harder than I thought it was going to be, but with a great coach, it worked out very well.

So welcome to this first episode. Enjoy. And this is the flavour of as we go forward, about the kind of things that you’ll experience about people’s backstories. Rather than hints and tips, it’s much more about the human element and the human stories behind the stories. So, enjoy.

Brett:
So welcome Pauline Bright and thank you for having me on your podcast. And for joining me on my podcast.

Pauline:
It’s a pleasure to be here Brett, thanks.

Brett:
All right. So, I’m really excited because this is your first episode of your podcast and obviously we’ve had a hand in helping you get to the stage where you can launch it. Maybe we’ll talk about that a little bit later on. But before we get to that point, let’s talk about you and who you are. Obviously, you’re a business coach, among other things. But you’ve got a few other sort of interesting feathers to your bow. Tell us about your journey. How did you become a business coach?

Pauline:
Well, it’s an interesting journey because I had no idea I was ever going to be a business coach. So, I have had a lot of businesses. I’ve had 11 businesses in my life and I realized a while ago that the reason I had eleven businesses was because when something wasn’t working, I would change it, and I’d change it up to something that I liked a whole lot better. So that was kind of the journey of businesses. And then my husband, in his business, was approached by a business coaching company and he said, “Yep, yep, let’s do that.” And I sort of thought, well, you know, I know a lot about business, what about me? Anyway, we went to the first session and the coach said, “Who here thinks they would like to do what I do?” I thought, “Oh, that’s me.” And that’s kind of like a bit of a pattern as well through my life. I come across opportunities where I think, “Oh, that’s me.” And so it took a bit of crowbarring by the coach to get me out of my current business and into coaching, but best move I ever made. I love it. Absolutely love it.

Brett: Fantastic. And I don’t blame you for not ever suspecting that you would become a business coach. Because back when you and I started businesses, there was no such thing as a business coach. It hadn’t even been invented yet.

Pauline:
Funny thing was, I always knew that I wanted somebody in a role who could help me and assist me. And I always used to think it was a manager, someone who could actually manage me, because I’m fairly unmanageable. And so I just thought it’d be nice to have someone to just sort of help steer me in a direction and, you know, just help me a bit. And I was searching for it, but I could never find it. I could never find that person.

Brett:
Yeah. So tell us, obviously you don’t have to tell us about all the eleven businesses, but what type of businesses did you own?

Pauline:
Well, my first one was graphic design business. So I worked in advertising for 25 years. I absolutely loved it. The reason I ended up in advertising was because of a TV show. So I used to watch Bewitched when I was a kid. So 13/14 I used to watch Bewitched but I used to think, so, it was the witch who married a mortal, and the mortal told her she couldn’t use her witchcraft for anything. He was working in advertising. So there was this kind of this little pattern that was going on there. And I just, one of my first thoughts was, “He can’t tell her what to do. She’s got magic. Wait a minute, she should use that magic.” And then the other thought was, “Hey, this advertising thing looks like a lot of fun.” So, you know, that was when I decided that I wanted to be an artist and I wanted to be in advertising.

So I did that for a long time and decided that, no one was going to tell me what to do, so I was a serial business owner. So I’ve had retail businesses, I’ve had consulting businesses, I’ve had a wholesale business, manufacturing, all kinds of interesting things and small businesses. So a lot of them were startups and I learnt really by just throwing myself in the deep end.

Brett:
Right. So it’s funny that you came away from watching Bewitched with an interest in advertising because Darren never seemed to enjoy his work, he always seemed to be very stressed.

Pauline:
I know, he was such a jerk.

Brett:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And also, it was interesting, on the one hand, you’re saying no one’s going to tell me what to do, but also just earlier you said I kept thinking I needed a manager. It’s an interesting contrast there.

Pauline:
Isn’t that weird? Yeah. And I think it’s not so much what people are looking for, and particularly when they find a coach, it’s not someone who tells them what to do, but it’s more like finding a guide, someone who can just sort of put them back on the rails when they fall off or, you know, someone they can bounce ideas off. And so that’s the kind of person I was looking for.

Brett:
Right. Exactly. And for me, the value of a coach is they see things that you don’t see. Like, you know, if they’re walking up and down the sideline, you know, they can see the whole field, whereas you are just focused on the ball and your immediate surrounds and maybe the goalpost. And you don’t see what is going on.

Pauline:
Yeah, so busy playing the game, you have no idea what’s going on and you don’t ever really see yourself from that perspective as well. So it’s very hard to haul off and have a look at yourself and your performance from a long distance. And it’s a bit like I think, you know, when people see photos of themselves or videos of themselves and go, “Oh” they don’t realize that that’s actually what they really are like.

Brett:
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So there’s more to you Pauline than just business though. Like, I know you are a Creator under Roger Hamilton’s Wealth Dynamics profile, which doesn’t necessarily mean you’re creative. But I know you are a creator, but you’re also very artistic, and there’s a bit of art in what you’re doing now. Tell us about that.

Pauline:
Yeah, I love the creative side of business. And I love to build programs, and I play with, and I know PowerPoint has it really has a bad name, but I love it. It’s great fun. But there’s a whole lot of design elements. And I’m always interested in color and patterns and design and things like that. So just lately, I’ve joined a local plein air arts group. So what that means is that we paint outside and that is just the most fun because it just gets me out of business mode and into creator mode. And if I didn’t go there, I probably wouldn’t do a lot of art myself at home because I just get busy and things like that. But just going and creating stuff. And so, I’m in my second exhibition. I’ve been painting for three months and I’ve got a painting in an exhibition. I had a painting in an exhibition a couple of months ago as well. So, yeah, it’s just fun. It’s just a nice way to let your brain relax.

Brett:
Absolutely. And do you appreciate the end result or is it the process itself that you enjoy?

Pauline:
No, I love all of it. I love the whole thing. I like to produce something that I’m, you know, that I’m happy with. And that doesn’t always happen. And the nicest part about painting with the group is that some days are good days. Some days are not so good days. You’re not really, you know, you just haven’t captured it. But it’s really nice to be with a group of people who work like that who just go, “Oh, well, you know, if I didn’t do well today, I’ll probably do well next week and it’s fine.” So just really friendly and very accepting, such a totally different community to the business community. I mean, I love my business community, but I just get things from different people.

Brett:
Just in there, you mentioned if I didn’t do well today, maybe I’ll do better next week. How do you evaluate that with art? Like with business, it’s easy, you either reach your goals or you made a profit or you didn’t. So who decides whether you did well or not?

Pauline:
I think we’re our own worst critics. We all decide ourselves whether it’s good or not. And you can tell when people come up behind you and go, “hmmm, I like that bit there.” Like, OK, the whole thing’s not really working. But it doesn’t matter because it’s just an exploration anyway. And I’m not setting out to, you know, to be a professional artist and sell my work or anything like that, I’m just there to enjoy myself.

Brett:
Fantastic. Fantastic. And so in your work now Pauline as far as your coaching goes, what type of people are you working with? Who’s your ideal customer and what sort of work are you doing with them?

Pauline:
You know, when I first started, I would coach anybody with a heartbeat in a wallet because I was so enthusiastic, I was like, oh, just let me out there, just give me some people to work with. And then over the years, I’ve learned that actually it’s not so much necessarily the industry they’re in, but the kind of people they are. So I’ve worked with everything from tradies to lawyers and accountants, retailers, consultants, all kinds of people. And I tend to gravitate now towards, well actually, I’ve got a variety of people. I’ve got an engineer, I’ve got people in the arts, I’ve got people in the health industry. You know, there’s a big broad spread, but like I said, it’s the personality, it’s the willingness to do something. And if I see that spark and if I see someone who’s got a good idea, some intelligence around that, and the business has enough legs that it’s got a good future, then we’ll work together. And they have to have a sense of humour as well, because if we can’t laugh together, we’re not working together because business is tough enough.

Brett:
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Is there a particular stage of business that they’re at, like are they start ups? Well established, somewhere in between?

Pauline:
Well, it’s funny because I do offer things for startups because I know what that’s like. I’ve been there and done that so many times. So I do offer services for startups and I work in groups in startups. But I gravitate now mainly towards bigger businesses or businesses that are at a level of maturity where they’ve been going for a few years and they’ve kind of reached their goals and they don’t realize it, and they’re kind of getting a bit itchy, scratchy. They don’t really know what to do next. And that’s like, okay, we go in and have a look at the business and think, where can we go from here? And that’s the creative side of it. Just seeing things that they probably don’t see and being able to help them develop that business in a way that they previously had no idea that it had that much potential. So that’s the excitement for me.

Brett:  
Very good. Very good. So Pauline as well as being business woman, coach, artist, you’re also a bit of an adventurer. Tell us about your adventurous spirit and what kind of adventures you’ve been on.

Pauline:
Oh, do you know, I would never have thought of myself as an adventurer, but I have jumped out of a plane.

Brett:
As you do.

Pauline:
And fortunately, I did have a parachute and I had a lovely man strapped to my back at the same time. So that was nice.

Brett:
Even better.

Pauline:
And it was funny because I ran this movie in my head. Whenever I’m doing something like that, I run a movie in my head first to how I want the outcome to be. So I knew that I wanted to land on my feet. I didn’t want to be skidding along the ground on my backside. So it played out beautifully. It was great. And we did it, we actually did that with my husband and my two sons and some of their friends. It was such a brilliant experience.

And that’s the kind of stuff when I think, you know, when I get to the stage where I think “Oh, this is hard, I’m really struggling with this or I can’t do this. Whoa, wait a minute, Pauline, you’re the person who jumped out of a plane. Oh, yeah. I’ve got this. I’ve done that.”

I had an opportunity to go abseiling a few years ago. Took that. Couldn’t wait. That was fantastic. I’ve done a few high ropes courses, you know, dangling from ropes, one in the Nevada desert and one in Queensland and caving and I don’t know, but they’re usually sort of one-off experiences and they’re just really to see, testing my mettle, I guess. Testing to see can I do this? Am I capable of doing this? And it’s such a good feeling because, like I said, every time I feel “less than” I just go back to that experience and go, “well, I can do this, I’ve done that so I can do this”

Brett:
So how would you compare jumping out of a plane to running a business?  The thing is with jumping out of a plane, it’s a fairly known result and there’s a lot of it, and especially when there’s someone strapped your back, they’re kind of in charge of the situation, whereas in business, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Less risk, obviously, but…

Pauline:
I suppose it’s not so dissimilar in the sense that in business you do tend to take a leap of faith and you back yourself. So, you know, you’re willing to take that step, jump out of the plane, you know, start a business and do something that you might not have done before. And something that is relatively risky, but you’ve seen other people do it, and so you can see that there are rewards at the end of it. And so you know that there’s a formula. You know, if you follow some of the formulas out there, there’s a reasonable guarantee that you’ll get some success. But you do need some training. Whatever you’re doing, you know, if you’re jumping out of a plane, you can’t do that just solo with no training. So, you know, there’s quite a lot of similarities, actually.

Brett:
Fantastic. So we’ve covered artist, businesswoman, coach, adventurer, but you also a speaker. How did speaking come to be part of your repertoire?

Pauline:
My dad was a wonderful speaker and I used to just watch him and watch the effect that he’d have. He was an insurance salesman. He taught me a lot about business and life and selling, and he was wonderful. He was my first mentor. So my dad was a beautiful speaker and I used to watch him. He would have that much influence over a crowd of people that he would have all the women crying and all the blokes patting him on the back. And so I just thought, ahhh, it would be so nice to be able to speak like that. So I always had that desire.

And then I used to watch Geoffrey Robertson on TV doing Hypotheticals. And I just loved it, this whole sort of, you know, you tell a story and you start here and you wander over there and then you start to tie all the ends together. And then I used to watch really good comedians as well. And so I just kind of had this desire to do it. And my first few speaking gigs, you know, I just said yes before I said no. And you know, I’ve frightened myself I think but I did it anyway. And I was really, really, really nervous. And so I’d do things like, you know, full on painting demonstrations for people, for a hardware store and just crazy stuff.

But it was more a case of, you know, I’ve got something to say and it’s important. And I just want to connect with people and have them get some sort of message where they think “I can do that. I can actually do that.” So that’s the sort of motivation.

Brett:
Very good. Now, you and I, we’ve known each other for quite a number of years. I think it’s probably about five years ago when we first met at one of Roger Hamilton’s events in Bali. And often when we’ve talked, we’ve got a mutual interest in law of attraction. Tell us about how that plays out in your life and how some of the tools that you use from that.

Pauline:
D’you know, the more I use it, or observe it, because you can’t really use it, it’s happening already.

Brett:              
It’s like using gravity. It’s just there.

Pauline:        
That’s right, it’s there.  So the more I observe it, the more I think, “Oh, there it is again”. And so, I have to tell you about the peacock. I had always wanted to see a peacock in full feathers. You know, the full tail thing. And so I’d never, ever seen one. I’d seen them in my travelling and all sort of places. But I’d never seen one with the full feathers anyway, so that thought just stayed in my mind. And then one morning a few years ago, I got up in the morning, heard this rustling and threw back the curtains in the family room and there was a peacock in full display right there at my back window. I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting!” And then that peacock stayed with us, and I thought, it must be someone’s pet or something. But he wasn’t. He was an escapee from a local wildlife park. But he stayed with us for a season, so a breeding season, I imagine. And he brought two girlfriends back the next year. And they had chicks and all sorts of things. I just thought this is a perfect example of the abundance of life. And that thought that you don’t have to keep nagging the universe for what you want. It’s already happening. And then in the reverse… Have you ever lost your luggage, Brett?

Brett:
Yes. Once or twice.

Pauline:
Ok. So the thought that goes through your mind first is the thing that

determines that. So, I was in Los Angeles and doing some training and, on our way over there, we’d met a lady who’d lost her luggage. And I had the thought went through my head, “It’d be horrible to lose your luggage. If you had to lose it, it’d be better to lose it on the way home than on the way out.” End of thought. End of thought!

Brett:
Stating your preference.

Pauline:
Exactly, so anyway, my husband went home first. I was left to travel home alone a few days later, and I got to Sydney Airport. No luggage, no luggage! And I’m standing there the last person at the carousel, and I’m just laughing going, “You did this. You actually did this!” And I went and had a chat with the lady at the counter. She thought it was a bit nuts, I think, because I was actually like, “oh well, you know, it’s happened.” But then, oh and the other thought I had, when I thought about losing your luggage, I thought, “Well, at least if you lost your luggage on the way back, wouldn’t it be nice to – No, I remember, when I was leaving Los Angeles, I thought, I’m going to have to lug this luggage all the way through the airports of the world without my husband helping me. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone just took it home for me.

Brett:
And delivered it to your door.

Pauline:
And so, three days later, someone from the airport brought my luggage home, which was lovely.

Brett:
Very good!

Pauline:
It does work. It works no matter what you think or what you do, it works. And I was having this conversation yesterday with somebody because he gets up and does his affirmations every day and writes everything out and things like that, I said it’s actually like you’re nagging at the universe. The universe doesn’t need that. Just needs one little thought, and you live it and you’re just kind of it’s like, the way you are.

Brett:
Yeah, yeah. Get on with your business. Yeah. Very good.

Pauline:
So it works.

Brett:
Okay. So one thing that I know you’ve been almost nagging at the universe a little bit and I’m not quite sure how for how long is starting your own podcast, which now you could check that box. How long has that been on your list of things?

Pauline:
People have been asking me to do it for probably a couple of years and I kept thinking, “Yeah that’d be nice, but I’m too busy. Oh yeah, that’d be nice, but but but but…” And then up pops Brett Jarman with an offer I couldn’t refuse. So I thought, “This is it. This is the time.” And my Pilate’s instructor kept saying to me every week, you know,” When are you going to do your podcast, when are you going to do your podcast?”  And so I thought, “Well, now’s the time

Brett:
Wow. So even your Pilates instructor was asking. Is that so you’d shut up in class?

Pauline:
(Hahaha) We have one to one sessions and it’s as much about her helping me as me helping her.

Brett:
Right, ok. Oh good, good. So she’s getting good value, out of it too. All right. So what do you hope to achieve with the podcast, Pauline?

Pauline:
Well, I saw a need for a podcast to tell people’s stories. There’s a lot of podcasts that are nuts and bolts, you know, hints and tips and, you know, a lot about just business and strategy and things like that. But I’m really interested in the stories behind the stories. So I really like to find out what makes people tick. And there’s always a really lovely journey that most people don’t ever find out about when they meet somebody in business. And so I want to give people an opportunity to tell those stories, you know, to actually get an insight into what drives people, what motivates them, what’s exciting about what they do? So I’ve got my first few interviews done and I’m really excited about it. I’ve been editing them. I just…ahh the stories and the character of these people, it’s two women actually, just, just beautiful stories you wouldn’t normally hear.

Brett:
Oh, that’s fantastic. And as I mentioned, we already know each other, we’ve known each other for about five years, and even just in the fifteen or twenty minutes we’ve been talking so far, I’ve learned things about you that I never even knew. So that’s something that I love about podcasts as well. You take conversations where you just don’t know where they’re going to go

Pauline:
Yeah. And I really like that. I like those sort of very organic conversations where you respond to what’s happening. And I always come away from something thinking I should have dug deeper into that. I should have done this and that. I don’t have to “should” anything. It’s more a, it’s a conversation that happens in that time. But it also leaves the door open for more conversations, which I really like.

Brett:
Exactly.

Pauline:
And that’s what a relationship is about, isn’t it? It’s not just one conversation. I’m very excited about the way it’s going forward, and it’s giving me opportunities to talk to people I probably wouldn’t necessarily have spoken to or reached out to. And it’s giving them an opportunity to tell a story that they probably have never had the opportunity to tell either.

Brett:
And how’s the learning curve for you? You’ve been, and just for the sake of the listeners, you’ve been through a course that we put on called “Help Me Podcast” where we’ve basically taught you how to do your podcast. How’s that learning curve been for you?

Pauline:
I didn’t realize there were so many moving parts to it, and so I’m really glad I did the course, I couldn’t have done it on my own. I would have still been at stage 1 a year down the track. So, you know, I’m a big believer in learn what you need to learn and get on with it. The process has been really interesting. I’m very glad that I had a little bit of technical knowledge as well, so that has helped. But the videos and the classes and all the resources have been fantastic.  And the only reason, I’m asking inane questions on the Facebook group, it’s because I haven’t actually done the learning. I’m not very good at reading instruction manuals!  But if I do, if I actually follow the steps – and I have, I’m getting a result. And there’s a little bit to go but, it’s been brilliant. I really enjoyed it, and I’m still enjoying it.

Brett:
Yeah, that’s good. And this is a mistake a lot of people make. At the end of the day, even though there are a lot of moving parts, Podcasts are relatively easy to launch, but it’s all the stuff that people don’t think about that causes them to fade out. And we would have mentioned during the course, most people don’t even get past seven episodes and there’s only about one in seven podcasts that actually do sort of go in for the long haul. So that’s why it looks like a lot of moving parts because we’ve put all this stuff in that make sure you don’t become one of those victims of either running out of creative energy or just running out of steam and getting frustrated with the whole process.

Pauline:
Mm hmm. Yeah, I think it’s really helped to have a focus on who I want to speak to her, who the podcast is for. I’m making a list and the list keeps growing of all the interviews I’d like to do, all the people I’d like to talk to. And it’s like, every time I think about that and the more involved I get with it, the more excited I get about it and the more, you know, the more the creative side really kicks in. So. Yeah, great!

Brett:
Yeah. And again, that’s one of the advantages of the podcast medium unlike a blog, like that can become a bit of a chore, whereas with podcasts when you get to have a chat with someone who is like minded but with a different story to you, that just gives you the momentum to keep going. It’s a good medium. So Pauline if someone’s listening to your podcast and they think they would want to work with you, what would be an ideal next step for them?

Pauline:
I do offer a 15 minute phone chat, so a free phone chat which is on my website paulinebright.com and you can book in on my Calendly for a 15 minute chat and then we find out, you know, just find out where you’re at, what you’re doing, what’s happening, and if we can take it to the next stage. So the next stage after that is a longer chat, so an hour or so and then working out what is it, what the person really wants, what they need and whether I’m the best fit for them. And then we just take it from there. And so sometimes that will be a short program of something. And sometimes that ends up being a longer coaching program.

Brett:
Very good. And just for the benefit of those who are listening, I stalked Pauline’s LinkedIn profile before we started and I pulled this recommendation or this snippet of recommendation. “I’ve been working with Pauline since November 2002 and my bank account has loved her ever since.” So if you want to fall in love with your bank account, a good way to make that happen might be to set up one of those 15 minute chats with Pauline to see if she can help you out in your business. So Pauline, before we wrap it up is there any angle that I haven’t taken with you that you were wanting me to take or any parting words for the audience?

Pauline:
No, I don’t think so. I think that you’ve done a very good interview. Thank you Brett. I really appreciate that.

Brett:
My pleasure. Thank you. I’m looking forward to your interviews on your podcast. And yeah, and I’m just so rapt to have helped you get this far and really looking forward to listen to it. Maybe I’ll interview you on episode one hundred if you can book me in for that.

Pauline:
Okay. I’ve got it, I’ve put it straight in here.

Brett:
Yes, we can record that chat.

Pauline:
And then I’m going to interview you. So in the not-too-distant future, I’m going to come back and interview you to find out all those things I don’t know about you already.

Brett:
Yeah. All three of them. There’s probably three things.

Pauline:

Ah no, you’re deeper than that.

Brett:
Maybe more than that. Yeah, for sure. Now I look forward to that. I love it. Alright Pauline so, once again, congratulations on your podcast and for those who are listening, make sure you subscribe on whatever app you’re listening on and jump across and pop in and review for Pauline’s podcast. That’ll be really helpful for her to get things moving in that department.

Pauline:
Brilliant. Thanks so much, Brett. It’s a real joy and it’s so nice to work with somebody who really gets what they’re doing as well.

Brett:
Indeed. Thank you so much. We’ll see you next time Pauline

Pauline:
Thank you. Cheers.