Episode 14: Things We Thought Were True About Business (That Weren’t)

We’re busting the myths we once believed about running a business – from “you have to work 24/7” to “bigger launches mean bigger profits.” Expect honest confessions, a few laughs at our own expense, and the lessons we learned the hard way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Welcome to Awesomely Off Topic, the podcast that refuses to stay in its lane. We're Asha and Taz, ex-journalists, now coaches, creators and chaos-embracing business owners. Each episode, we'll dive into the worlds of books, branding, visibility, content, business and wherever else our ADHD brains take us. This is unfiltered, unscripted, occasionally unhinged and totally us.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

Episode 14. My goodness, this one's all about things we thought were true about business, but it turned out not to be. And there were so many things we could talk about for this one that we actually ended up going to chat GPT and said, give us a few pointers because we could talk about so many on this. What are the common business misconceptions and myths that you've heard of that we should be talking about? And it's given us a really cracking list. So we're going to work through those in a minute. But first, as always, because we're trying to encourage as many of you guys to start doing a podcast as possible Asha what have been your learning since the last episode

SPEAKER_00: 1:05

it's the same thing it's about relaxing and just going with the flow and just letting the conversation build nicely you know we've got good rapport I hope we have after so many years together but not being afraid to kind of just sit and just let it develop rather than kind of over scripting and we've never done that that's the whole point of doing it in this way it's raw it's real and it's it's us but the kind of perfectionist in me wants to go I need to make some lists of things and just keep it off camera because we're actually filming at the moment as well as doing the podcast hi hello hello and yeah so that's been a good teaching for me you know this stuff and you'll you know we'll bounce off ideas once we get chatting it'll be fine so naturally let it evolve because I think that's when I'm at my best but I need to remind myself that I have the confidence and the knowledge to be able to do that

SPEAKER_01: 2:01

I think most of the time we've got a flip chart at the other side of the room and most of the time we at least write ourselves down some bullet points to go on but the last couple we haven't it still says episode 11 on the flip chart but the other thing I would say is if you have a really bad start be brave enough to restart do not edit as you go along but for the first time ever we've just committed the cardinal

SPEAKER_00: 2:23

sin the thing we said we wouldn't do I didn't think is this a confessional it is I'm just like you know

SPEAKER_01: 2:29

I don't know We've just stopped this and restarted because we both gabbled so much at the start that we thought we'd stop people. And we're in

SPEAKER_00: 2:35

danger of doing it again if we're not careful. Well, I was just thinking that as you said it in that way. So let's slow down. Take a breath. All together now, everybody. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 2:48

Beautifully timed. So, things we thought were true about business that turned out not to be. The number one point that good old chat GPT brought up for this is...

SPEAKER_00: 2:59

Was this Riley? This

SPEAKER_01: 3:00

was Riley, not Skye. You have to work 24-7 to succeed.

SPEAKER_00: 3:06

No. Work smarter and enjoy life as well. One of the benefits of working, particularly if you work for yourself, and even when you work for others now, you need that downtime and it's very easy to get into that space where you think you've got to work 24 7 especially when you're in those first few years of your business or even throughout your business if you run your own business but actually we all know how many benefits there are to just stopping for once you know I bet all of us can you know remember that moment when we said right okay it's four o'clock on a Friday three o'clock on a Friday we're just going to stop and we're going to go and sit in the sun in the back garden or go for a wander around the local park how much better you feel for it how much more energized refreshed you feel and yet we still all sit in our offices on a sunny day i know i do still and you have to remind me of that so i think there are yeah 24 7 yes because now we have that direct contact with our customers in a way that we didn't have all the technology but also we have a lot of technology to help us with that yeah you know dira mentioned the ai again but that can help with that to keep people warm to keep people talking to you so long as we're using it in the right way and as an assistant instead of a replacement yeah never a replacement so i think no we don't have to work 24 7 but we also have to regularly remind ourselves that we don't because we can get stuck into that and as i said i've done that where we had one i think on an earlier podcast where we talked about feeling really naughty because we kind of went out and had a late afternoon early evening didn't we he had our tea didn't we outside in work time when it was actually like a plus five or something but you know putting those extra things in to keep us nice and relaxed will give us to our businesses and

SPEAKER_01: 4:51

to our personal brand

SPEAKER_00: 4:59

as

SPEAKER_01: 5:05

well. then we burn out and we can't serve anyone. And also, I think we're setting a really good example to our clients to take time out. But maybe that's the neurodiverse, neurodivergent, neurotypical brain going on. So I think, yeah, take the time out when you need to. Just make sure you're communicating that well with your clients and nothing's going to burn a hole in your desk and turn into a disaster if you step away.

SPEAKER_00: 5:43

Isn't that also about that wonderful opportunity to outsource and to have people... on your side in your team yeah i can do that even when we're a small one man one i think it depends

SPEAKER_01: 5:53

what you do so i'll sort outsource in terms of people being on call to answer any queries while i'm away but i wouldn't draft in another coach to be a coach to people while i'm away

SPEAKER_00: 6:02

yeah

SPEAKER_01: 6:03

so it depends on the business okay let's rattle through these more followers equals more money

SPEAKER_00: 6:09

well it depends who the followers are doesn't it and and if they're the wrong audience then that's not going to work is it no if you know if you're turning them off instead of turning them on

SPEAKER_01: 6:20

yeah you can really bugger up your demographic particularly on social channels if you've got loads of people who are the wrong audience however and this is where I'm going to go against loads of industry advice and me being a bit of a maverick as if I would ever there are lots of people who will say things like oh no never indulge in things like like ladders where you will promise to go and like each other's page and swaps and stuff like that because it will do exactly that. It will ruin your audience. You want your audience to be a niche audience so that you can market it to people who are only interested in your product. I would say that actually, for most people with pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, whichever social platforms you're using, your page is already a little bit bogged up before you get to that point because when we first start out, we're getting our family and friends and everybody we know to go and like that page. And also, I remember early in the day when we were still running our PR business a client asking us about buying in followers and at the time we were dead set against it but to experiment I think we ended up I can't remember which page it was it might have been one of mine we did buy a small an amount of followers in to to test it for the client and lo and behold although most of those followers were pants and in time I ended up going in and systematically removing them that sudden leap in followers did bring more interest and it did result in more inquiries so to go against the grain I don't believe that buying followers is a good thing I would much rather see you growing organically but I bet you most of the kind of celebrities and big names that you follow at some point their management will have bought in a shed load of followers

SPEAKER_00: 8:05

there's going to be basically what you're saying is there's gold dust in there somewhere you've got to shake the pan a bit to find the bits of gold the nuggets of gold but it's in there

SPEAKER_01: 8:13

as much as it's shallow we know that people will respond with when they see a big chunk of followers particularly if you've got more followers than you're following that's the balance I think to look at there is something about that and people will still say oh they're popular so they must be good in the same way that when I first started attaching UK's number one inspirational breakthrough speaker which was a totally made up title I could fill the boots if somebody needed me to and I could explain why I'd come to that and why it was being used but the second I put that tagline on as a speaker back in the early days my speaking gig inquiries went up so people are that shallow and sometimes numbers do matter as with my marketing head on they shouldn't but they do so even if you don't want to buy people and don't if you can avoid it then do what you need to do to be showing up regularly and creating the kind of content which will help your audience to grow a fancy website is essential before you start you can sell without

SPEAKER_00: 9:21

one and

SPEAKER_01: 9:23

controversial opinion I genuinely believe will get to the point where we won't need to have websites at all and it will all be done through social media and I think in the meantime we will move to a place where our website rather than needing to be a conversion tool will be an information source and mine's already acting as that now I don't set out to have my website acting as a conversion tool again I know that's that's wrong apparently and I want my website to be sitting there so that when people want to find out more they can go and look there that's my online brochure if you like and a lot of people will tell me that's the wrong attitude but hey it works for me it will sell too there are definitely things people can buy through it but I think my social presence and my PR presence is more important when it comes to selling and I know you're laughing at that because at because your website isn't even live at the

SPEAKER_00: 10:19

minute there isn't a website hands up here total confession those that have known I've been talking about a website coming for quite a while it is in production but I need to actually get my finger out of my and get on with it because it's kind of there but it's changed but the

SPEAKER_01: 10:36

reason your website isn't online is because we moved from Turquoise Tiger the social media and PR agency to Turquoise Tiger your brand for content coaching book editing and publishing book

SPEAKER_00: 10:51

yeah

SPEAKER_01: 10:52

programs and so the entire site is having to be rewritten and that should that will teach me to put things on airplane mode before i start so that's why but then what's happened because classic adhd you've had several conversations with your website designer and it's now been sitting there for ages because you've got to go back with some fairly minor content corrections

SPEAKER_00: 11:15

yeah and i've got around to it but the good news on that is for me shows that the social presence okay is not as consistent as it could be but I'm getting there is that I'm having good customer relationships growing I'm getting business coming in that's without even having a website so I would say it's a great example of where you don't need it because as people have got to know me and what I do and the services I provide and how I work they're starting to come to me and say I want to work with you which is fantastic

SPEAKER_01: 11:42

now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that you don't need a website for now you still do need a website for an L. You do, absolutely. But not having a website or your website being live should not be a barrier or an excuse for you to not get out there and do your business.

SPEAKER_00: 12:00

Market your business. Market your

SPEAKER_01: 12:04

business. Your website isn't live and you're filling programs. I know, it's good. I have some of my programs I deliberately don't put on my website because I want them to be more exclusive like Project Artemis. Up to now, at some point I might because people have asked me about it. But up to now, that's not been on my website because I've wanted people to wait to be approached or invited. I've wanted that really exclusive element to it. That might change, we'll see. Okay, so what else have we got? If you're good, clients will just find you.

SPEAKER_00: 12:36

Is that really something on there, for real? Is that kind of saying that marketing doesn't matter? How ridiculous is that statement?

SPEAKER_01: 12:46

Wow. I've got to say, the biggest chunk of people I've heard this from is people who see themselves as being uber-spiritual. Really? Yes. And they don't need to market because they trust that the universe will guide the right people to them. So then we pull ourselves out of your root chakra and you recognize that there's going to be somebody else out there doing exactly the same as you. And you might be way better, but if they are easy to find on Google, they're going to get the customers that you're calling to you. Because if you're putting all of that wonderful intention and you're calling people in through a candle and you're doing all your rituals and you're asking the universe... You're manifesting. You're manifesting all these beautiful clients when they get that call to come and work with you and they try to find you online... and you're not there they're going to go to the

SPEAKER_00: 13:38

nearest other person isn't that about needs though so it might be that for you being busy is having like three clients in a month and that's okay if that suits your lifestyle and what you want to get from I

SPEAKER_01: 13:49

also think it's a bloody

SPEAKER_00: 13:50

good

SPEAKER_01: 13:50

excuse for people who are stuck at their own root chakras

SPEAKER_00: 13:53

well yes I agree but also what you know what for you is busy what is you know you being having a thriving business yeah for one person that might be I don't know 50 clients in a month for others that might be three or four so you've got to get real about that but actually marketing of course it is because that's showing people who you are the best marketing shows not only what you do but how you help people with their issues their challenges how

SPEAKER_01: 14:17

aligned your meridians are you still need to show

SPEAKER_00: 14:21

up

SPEAKER_01: 14:22

I love it okay I'm spiritual AF you are but we still show up yeah we do you still need to show up so I think it's that can often be a really good mask for people who are actually nervous about being online and they're scared of the energy of being online you gotta find somebody that you trust to show you the ropes and show you how to do it safely if you're scared but you still you do need to show up they're not going to land on your lap and I would argue actually that even if you feel you only need at some point you will have exhausted your local word of mouth audience and you're going to need more what happens when they all move out of the area or die off you still need people to know who you are and what's wrong with having a waiting list that's a beautiful

SPEAKER_00: 15:11

piece of marketing yeah don't say

SPEAKER_01: 15:13

you've got one if you don't that's just scarcity marketing and it's just icky as fuck right what else we got bigger launches oh always mean bigger profits oh no

SPEAKER_00: 15:26

they don't go on you start that one

SPEAKER_01: 15:30

we've known people run events i'm talking years back now and but i know it's still happening and they spend so much on ego purchases to make sure the event looks good and ticks all the boxes But behind the scenes, they are bleeding money and sending themselves into bankruptcy. So, if you are spending out on so much advertising and a full sales team and mail shots, direct mail and everything else, and you're spending, I don't know, 100 grand on marketing your event, and it's only bringing you in 80, you're still 20k shy. Right? I think there's nothing wrong with starting small. I think I would much rather see something growing organically with the person, with the organizer, than doing the ego purchases. It's like ego PR as well. I want to be in this magazine. Well, do any of your clients read it? No. Well, why do you want to be in that magazine? Because I've always read it since I was 12 years old. Ego PR, not going to serve you in any way, apart from massaging your ego. Beware ego purchases. Until you've got so much coming in in your business that you know if you're not spending it on your business, you've got to give it to the taxman. Don't be spending out on shiz you don't need. And there's another quite strict business suggestion someone once gave to me, which was, if you can't claim that against your business, do you need to buy it? Not necessarily all you need to live by, but please think about it. And that ties into the six and seven figure business thing as well, doesn't it? Which is being pushed particularly when it comes to coaching. But you could have someone who is earning, I don't know, 60, 70, 80 grand a year, who is more profitable than somebody on six or seven figures. Because the amount you are bringing into your business has no bearing on on your profit margins so again just be aware it's not always it's not always savvy to be spending more or earning more you've got to get that balance right

SPEAKER_00: 18:00

it is that it's about the running before you can walk isn't it but sometimes I've been to some what I would call intimate more intimate events but I've got so much more from those and actually you've got to look at the impact that has on the people that are attending your attendees as well does that mean they get more upfront in person you know meetings and experiences with the people that are in those events you know there's more one to one smaller groups that kind of thing that can be really really valuable particularly when you're setting out you're setting out your story starting to work and also further down the line it's good to I think if you can do it have a mix of both of those some of the bigger events and the smaller ones but again do you really need to have this element to you what's that going to bring is that just to make it look good but actually what's that bringing for you and how is that impacting on your bottom line at the end of it as you said sometimes you know those smaller groups those smaller amounts of people having 50 people in the room instead of having i don't know 500 or 1000 people in the room if you're not there and you're as you said bleeding money out there is it worth all that headache at the end of it even if it looks fantastic but actually you're running around like a headless chicken trying to keep you above you know yeah yeah what do i mean above the head above water that's the one um is it worth that what's it do for you and i don't know perhaps i play i know i'm one to play it safe a bit i know that definitely yeah yeah yeah and there is a balance and i think

SPEAKER_01: 19:21

i play it safer than you do but if you think about something like the big one again the 30 months spiritual empowerment program for those who are watching the watching these listening to these back to back um if you're sick of us hearing about it i'm sorry i was talking about it um but remember that not everybody will have listened to every episode so we still do need to explain what it is if we mention it okay thank you

SPEAKER_00: 19:42

that's a little learning point for me i'll just I've chalked that one because, yeah, it's a good point. I hadn't thought about

SPEAKER_01: 19:46

that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When we first started running the big one, I think it was barely covering its cost. I think we had something like six people on the first one.

SPEAKER_00: 19:58

That was including us, wasn't it? Yeah, and

SPEAKER_01: 19:59

on one of the weekends, a couple of people didn't come and it ended up with just us and two others. But

SPEAKER_00: 20:04

now... It was a very small circle. Lovely, but very

SPEAKER_01: 20:06

small. Yeah, but it fills up every time. We cap it at 21 and that's as much as we can realistically... take to give the one-to-one that we give and also with the centre that we're currently using but if we'd given up at the first hurdle there's a difference between throwing loads of cash at something before it needs loads of cash thrown at it and running something at a bit of either a break even or even a gentle loss leader when you know that you're going to get testimonials and proof of concept from that and the marketing ability to grow it from there so it's not one size fits all but just be careful

SPEAKER_00: 20:44

yeah good advice

SPEAKER_01: 20:45

okay you need a huge email list before selling every anything is that true

SPEAKER_00: 20:54

again from experience own personal experience I've got a growing email list but it's quite small and it's not stopped me from growing my business yes of course I'd like to make that growth quicker and you know get it going a little bit faster but I don't know I mean from my own experience I've got I'm at a very different stage in my business to you so maybe you can answer that that from a slightly different angle but for me at the moment that is growing organically and for me it's helping me to move forward at a steady pace could be quicker but it's working for me i'm still getting new clients from it and it continues so i don't see anything other than what i'm doing at the moment is right for me because of where i am and the stage i'm at with my business but what is it like for you and would you answer

SPEAKER_01: 21:38

that i don't have a massive mailing list in fact i couldn't even tell you off the top of my head how many are on my mailing list Dee will probably tell me later if I ask her. anyone we're borrowing somebody else's platform and at any time they could take that away

SPEAKER_00: 22:20

good point

SPEAKER_01: 22:21

and then where would we be so we do need to be able to drive our own communication as well so yeah still definitely be growing your mailing lists um but you don't need to have a massive mailing list before you can sell anything even a handful of really engaged people can buy from you which takes us back to the the fake followers thing on social and whether you should you should ever have like loud as stuff

SPEAKER_00: 22:45

I suppose does that impact if you're going for the business model more rather than one to one or one to many obviously that's when you're going to need the bigger mailing list will help right obvious isn't it well

SPEAKER_01: 22:56

yes it will help but a lot of people will be able to do that through social but the mailing list for me is a really important backstop because what happens if social media suddenly disappears and who knows it's like we go back 10-15 years and float the idea that at some point government might lock us all down that the world would be ridiculous they couldn't do that so yeah just be prepared business is all about strategy is it? I don't that was one of the first things I remember when we both first went self-employed you went self-employed before I did but when we were first launching Turquoise Tiger together yeah we were going to loads of these kind of different events that were being run by chamber of commerce and various different subsidized enterprise training events i remember one of the first things we were told and it's such a cliche but um fail to plan plan to fail

SPEAKER_00: 24:01

yeah

SPEAKER_01: 24:04

you don't need a business plan very often depends on the type of business but if you're a one-man band you very often do not need a business plan you need to know where you're going you need to know what your direction is you need to have at least set yourself some goals and intentions but the only time you actually need a written business plan is if you're going for funding or a loan or something like that the other thing I would say that

SPEAKER_00: 24:27

can be I don't know if it's just me but for a lot of people particularly when you first start out is even the words business plan it's like I don't think I'm a serious business person because I actually I'm not sure I can put it into that context that is for me that would actually make me shrink away I didn't have when I went self-employed for the first few years I didn't have any kind of business plan at all but

SPEAKER_01: 24:45

you were told you should have one

SPEAKER_00: 24:47

yes early on it was usually from the usual sources respectable sources respectable sources but it actually for me that was a complete like shrinking away and I and it sounds awful but to kind of caution my freedom and my creativity to be able to try something and try and then if that doesn't work try something else it was too what's the word I'm looking for too rigid too structured yeah

SPEAKER_01: 25:11

I think this might be our ADHD thing in the same way that I've There might

SPEAKER_00: 25:14

be a lot of people listening to this watching that will go, how ridiculous. You

SPEAKER_01: 25:19

want to plan,

SPEAKER_00: 25:19

you probably don't need one.

SPEAKER_01: 25:21

The reason I ask that is that something I've written about a few times and spoken about more than once is that I love planning, but I hate plans. Planning is awesome, plans not so much. Because when we're having a planning meeting, all these ideas come out. Look at your eyes lighting up. It's amazing. Yeah. inspiration and just ideas. Well, that's dopamine. Dopamine. But then if you're trying to get me to stick rigidly to a plan. in the same way that every year at the start of the year I sit and work out a content plan for the year which I usually stick to the longest I've ever stuck to that it's been about three weeks I think and then gradually it just goes out of the window but that does not mean that the planning stage isn't important yes but then what I tend to do is go right these are the things that I want to run through the year this is roughly when I want to do them these are the things I know I need to be talking about and some years even now even when I'm coaching many other businesses and other coaches and I've I have what I consider to be a successful and stable coaching business I will still have times where I go oh bloody hell I've got that thing next week and I've forgotten to promote it if it happens it happens and then we go with it as best we can so I think having having things in the calendar and reminders is massively important for me but if I try to stick to something that feels rigid and feels all strategic

SPEAKER_00: 26:54

it's thought that was your leg and it was the other chair my legs were that solid

SPEAKER_01: 26:58

my goodness

SPEAKER_00: 26:59

another shout out to Gemma the PT but that is that's where the ADHD thing comes in in a good way is the adaptability so you can think on your feet and come up so something comes up it's not we've planned something but it's not going as we expected something else comes in throws a bit of a curve ball that's where you can come into your own if I

SPEAKER_01: 27:18

have an idea for a program or a new service or something like that I am far more likely to quickly find a space in my calendar in my diary map it all out straight away start talking about it and launch it immediately than I am to say well let's do that six months from now and we'll plan it in because by the time that comes around I'll have forgotten about it but if something is fresh and exciting and new and the dopamine is buzzing and the new adrenaline is buzzing and that for a lot

SPEAKER_00: 27:50

of new articles would be really hard to get that would

SPEAKER_01: 27:53

imagine because you're at the opposite end of that spectrum to me. You know, sometimes if I was going into a talk, you'd go, what are you going to be talking about today then? I don't know. I know it's vaguely around this topic. I know that I will tune in and see what the audience needs and I will do it powerfully. But I'm not going to script it in the same way that sometimes when we're running one of our training events, you'll go, what are we covering? What this, this and this? Or what are the timings?

SPEAKER_00: 28:23

And that's where usually... I'll sit down and I'll go and map out the timings and then I'll create a document that I can have on my little clipboard, not literally, but I can sit and go, right, okay, we're okay. And keep an eye on the time, I think. And then in the break, I can just very quietly and discreetly come over and say, Taz, we're running a little bit late or a little bit behind. You've missed out on this. Do you think you ought to add that in? And that's where that helps me. So that's my kind of process and planning.

SPEAKER_01: 28:47

Or we're ahead of schedule. That's happened in double quick time. This is brilliant. What else do we need to add in?

SPEAKER_00: 28:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we'll have some extras up our sleeves that we can add in. just throw in again that adaptability comes in and it's an absolute godsend

SPEAKER_01: 28:58

yeah yeah whereas for me I am phobic of plans and rigidity in any way so is business all about strategy strategy is important and I love running a good strategy day with my clients because again that's an ideas day

SPEAKER_00: 29:12

yeah it's a fabulous day

SPEAKER_01: 29:13

I love them and every now and then I'll run mastermind days for some of my clients and all these different clients from different walks of life will come in and we'll just have this brilliant business building and growth session together and all bounce off each other i love doing those but aside from strategy what else is important in business it's not all strategy it's also um mindset relationships adaptability you've already said that they're all just as important as strategizing and notice that i'm far more comfortable with a strategy than a plan because the strategy feels like it has more breathing room

SPEAKER_00: 29:50

look at that you're flowing with the tay in the way Like our moves, guys. No, I know. Just scroll on if it's too bad for you.

SPEAKER_01: 30:01

Yeah. You must keep your personal and business lives separate.

SPEAKER_00: 30:07

Oh, no. When has that ever been? Who actually came up with that? Who came up with that concept, that whole kind of... Because it can't be aimed at people that are self-employed. It just can't, I don't think. I don't know. I

SPEAKER_01: 30:21

think it's just quite an old-fashioned and dated concept. I think it's still important in things like various counselling or therapy settings where you need to have a firm boundary between you and your client but you know we're taught to do that in coaching as well and frequently I will relate to one of my clients by sharing a time I've been through something similar not to overtake the conversation or go into that ADHD habit of just taking over everything

SPEAKER_00: 30:48

yeah it's not about you it's about

SPEAKER_01: 30:50

the client

SPEAKER_00: 30:50

but in order

SPEAKER_01: 30:51

to relate and show that there is a way through also sometimes a client will say have you ever been through anything like that and I don't have any issue with with sharing that so long as it's in a productive way and it helps them so yeah I'm I think your personal brand we've talked about this before your personal brand for me is way more important than your business brand because that's where you build the relatability and all that stuff I teach about vulnerability being a superpower couldn't do that if we were keeping our business lives very very separate and you know this is When I was in the corporate world it was that. It was very much this is who I am at work and this is who I am at home. Can you think of any other situation where if somebody was displaying different personalities, very different personalities, we wouldn't be concerned? It's all very schizophrenic, isn't it? So no, I don't think that's necessarily true. I think being human can make your brand far, far stronger and actually bring more people into your business who want to work with you. you and create bigger and better opportunities

SPEAKER_00: 31:57

definitely i think that's the only way to be for me i can't imagine going back on that now you know i've been working for myself for quite a long time now i can't imagine not having that and i'm still learning to let people in a bit more because that's my my way of working sometimes i don't open up as much as others but i'm working on that and when i do it's great not just for for me but also for the clients and building that relationship with a client that hopefully will mean that they'll keep staying and wanting to carry on the the work with me

SPEAKER_01: 32:25

what about sleep and rest sleep is for losers I'll sleep when I'm

SPEAKER_00: 32:30

dead oh god it's really pertinent isn't it because the last few weeks I think we've talked about it a little bit before but my sleep patterns have been all over the place all over the place and we all know the importance of good sleep and having a consistency with that and again ADHD brains play into that we can get an idea we've done it recently we've talked about it in an earlier podcast We've got an idea, and rather than waiting, doing the adulting and thinking, oh, look at that, maybe tomorrow or later in the week. No, let's do it now. Let's do it while we're in the space, which is wonderful, but the downside of that is it can completely bugger up your sleep patterns because if you go with it and don't, plus broken sleep. I've had moments where I've thought, I'm going to have to take a nana nap in the afternoon. I'm supposed to be working, but I'm going to take a nana nap for 20 minutes. It does make a difference, but it's so important to have your sleep, isn't it? Good sleep health. is hygiene when

SPEAKER_01: 33:26

you look at the amount poor sleep hygiene impacts the rest of our body how much it shortens our lifespan

SPEAKER_00: 33:34

I know and you keep saying that to me don't you you say you know if we want more time together we need to go to bed at 10.30 tonight

SPEAKER_01: 33:40

you

SPEAKER_00: 33:41

know not 12.30 because we've got a big day tomorrow not just that just because even what's a big day even if we're at home and we're still working really hard we need to be on it with our clients we need to go to sleep at this time you

SPEAKER_01: 33:52

do yeah poor sleep Sleep hygiene is connected to everything from lowering your levels of telomerase, which link into everything from youthful appearance through to longevity, through to heart disease, lung disease.

SPEAKER_00: 34:06

I'm 73 really, Taz. I know, I know. You're

SPEAKER_01: 34:09

looking really good. Thanks. So yeah, get your sleep in. Stop work. We've got to stop. I think we're getting better actually, but I think we've got to completely break this thing where we wear burnout as some badge of honour.

SPEAKER_00: 34:23

I know.

SPEAKER_01: 34:23

It's not big and it's not clever it just shows that you can't manage your time properly and you're not taking responsibility for your health and well-being which means you're not taking care of your clients because if you fall off the perch what are they going to do the last one it's got here that well that I'm going to bother with a lot of the others are a bit repetitive to be fair business is a perfectly logical game mine is more like organised chaos

SPEAKER_00: 34:48

with invoices give us that to end on we're both you know looking at it from an ADHD perspective it's there anything I mean there is logic in there I know there is somewhere I'm sure just as there is in some of these podcasts everybody but actually I kind of like to think of it as organised chaos a little bit mine's kind of organised chaos with invoices yeah I'm sorry see inattentive I didn't even hear that did you just say that I did sorry I think I need a break I need a coffee yeah but it

SPEAKER_01: 35:18

yeah intuition spirituality energy gut feel they're just as important as logic sometimes more so so no it's not necessarily sometimes i'll know i need to do something in my business offer a client that makes no sense whatsoever and i've no idea why it needs to happen i just know it needs to happen and it's always the right move

SPEAKER_00: 35:40

i've had that recently actually with a couple clients and something came up and i was like i've just quashing it down thinking no you can't ask that how is that relevant to what you're talking about now but it was like no i've got to go with it and guess what you just drop that in in the most subtle or beautiful way that you can um so it doesn't make you sound like you completely lost the plot and then what comes back is like well actually that's really funny because i was gonna i was gonna talk about that but i wasn't sure whether it was the right time so we have this amazing i think all of us within all of us to have that ability to be able to just go with our intuition whatever you want to call it and just zone in and go actually do you know what i am just going to branch out a little bit reach out a little bit with that and just slot that in and see what comes back and nine times out of ten don't bet you but it comes back with a Absolutely. Everything that's needed for that client in that moment. Trust your gut. Trust your gut. Yeah. Okay. So, shall we wrap it there? I think we should. Is this a shorter one, Taz?

SPEAKER_01: 36:34

I hope so. I forgot to time it.

SPEAKER_00: 36:36

Actually, it's now Monday afternoon. We've been here in the big brother house for like... We missed Christmas. Yeah, it's like, yeah, Christmas. Easter's gone. We're now on the way to... Missed our flights to Greece. Oh, no, we can't do that. We can't miss that. That's very important. That's our recharge place. It really is. It's our recharge place. recharge and our planning our planning

SPEAKER_01: 36:57

and our thing that we've got coming up we have anyway stop stop stop

SPEAKER_00: 37:00

sorry anyway

SPEAKER_01: 37:01

okay if you're listening to this post 2026 it might not be coming up next year look at the date of the podcast

SPEAKER_00: 37:07

oh of course sorry that was a bit of a slip up there do apologize everybody so yes and in that same

SPEAKER_01: 37:12

vein we'll see

SPEAKER_00: 37:14

you next tuesday

SPEAKER_01: 37:15

you've been listening to awesomely off topic with taz thornton If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to connect, you'll find us online. Just search for our names. Stay awesome, stay off topic, and we'll see you next time.