Welcome to the ICC meet sick podcast. I'm Jacqui Brauman, principal solicitor at T. B. A. Law and Ceo of legally wise women and I'm here with Ush Dhanak, former corporate lawyer, then head of HR and now an emotional intelligence coach. Good morning Ush morning Chuckie, How are you going? We should say happy 2021 to our listeners. Yes, Yes. Because that's when this will be released. But how we're feeling at the moment. Oh my God, just before christmas, I don't know what's happening. So hopefully by the time we're listening to this, when it's out, everyone's going to be an awesome space. Yeah, hopefully good news. Yes. Yeah. I, you know, it is latent in december just before christmas, but I do feel like that energetic surge of the new year already, you know, I've finished work. So it's, it's all happening. I'm, I'm really feeling the positivity.

But then again, I guess we've got this rolling issue with covid continuing and we all want some certainty. We want to move on. We can't feeling awesome until the whole covid thing happened again. So now I just feel like really dampened. But if anyone is like really astrological or spiritual, you'll No about how important the 21st was yesterday from a, from the alignment point of view. So yesterday I was like, and from sunday night, I've been doing such a conscious effort to keep that vibration high and you know, not let anything anything knock it. So I didn't watch the news yesterday purposely, although I was so tempted to say I have no idea. Even if we're locked down this morning, I don't know, hopefully we're not, but I didn't watch the news and I just like to keep the meditation hits the grounding work. Um but I'm still working this week, so I'm not yet in wind down mode, but what I have done is I planned stuff to do on the business in the holiday, so that's sort of a little bit exciting to go there in between the downtime.

I'm like what is it that I sort of want to accomplish By working on the business between now and the 4th of Jan Yeah, yeah, that's sort of what I'm turning my mind to as well now that I don't have to work, what work do I actually want to do you want to do? Yeah, exciting. And yeah, with the, With the whole 21st conjunction equinox, this wasn't it solstice. I was a little bit the same, like I was really aware that it's a line in the sand in terms of an energy marking. Yeah, I wasn't so much just trying to be positive, but I was very trying to be very conscious and I did a little bit of a witchy ritual and burnt a whole lot of habits and things that are in my life, which I'm not taking forward. I thought you were going to say burn stage. No, I didn't burn sage, I've done that in the house once and my husband's like, it smells like you've been smoking in here. What the hell?

Yeah. I wrote down a whole lot of things that I'm leaving behind and I burnt those and now I've got horrible issue with the stain in the bottom of the sink that I've got a i it's it's going no, you cannot raise me just yet. Maybe, maybe. So I've got it soaking in bleach. And did you like the fire in the sink? Yeah. Very movie esque, isn't it? Very witchy. Love it. All the little things that we do all these superstitions, they don't have anyone so long as they don't hurt anyone and hold you back or you think, yeah, that is cool. That's awesome. So yeah, I'm letting go of the fear of the future. I'm letting go of people pleasing, I'm letting go of overwhelm I'm letting go of always trying to have it figured out.

Yeah, that's amazing. You wouldn't have said this 12 months ago. That's for sure. Yeah, that's right. Right. Yeah. I think um you know our last episode where we reflected 2020, It was a big year of change for a lot of things and I think it was it was all hopefully preparing for now this energetic shift that we've got at the start of 2021. Yeah. And I mean the change was is the same for you. Like so much change. So much change. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm just looking forward to a few days of doing nothing and just sort of like taking stock, chill, watch a bit of tv and then a couple of days of working and just getting back into okay, what do I want to do for, for the year? Yeah, yeah, yeah, very exciting. And today's guest I think is perfect for the start of january which both commented before we started recording that she just oozes wisdom and a really calm centered kind of energy, a certainty I think about her because she knows what she can do and um what she's done and who she is and I know it's taken her a long time to get there but it's that it's that quiet inner confidence isn't it just Yeah, yeah, so our guest is Bianca Dowdell Monroe, she is in primarily in the financial planning and wealth management space and so that is, you know, she's in a partnership, it's a very successful business.

Um she's also partners in a couple of other businesses. She talks about the industry, she's covered off, She seems to turn whatever she touches into success. Um so yeah let's have a listen Bianca welcome to my podcast, how are you? I'm terrific. Thanks Jackie, how are you doing today? Yeah, look really excited to talk to you. We've spoken once before and I know you know you're in business with Karen Finch who we've had on the podcast before and I know how diverse you are. So I just I'm so looking forward to diving in. I think there's so much for our listeners to gain from hearing from you before we jump straight in though. Tell us as little Bianca, what did you want to be when you were growing up? I wanted to be a marine biologist. Far from where I am today. Very well. At least I can still attend the aquarium and enjoy some down there. But yeah, I wanted to be a marine biologist for many years.

So tell me was it the dolphins or the sharks that attracted you to marine biology? I'm still dealing with the yeah. So after school then, what did you study? My first degree was architecture and interior design fascinating. Which was very, very different and much discussed. I four years and then decided that it wasn't quite for me and took a bit of a secondment and then found myself in a financial planning. That's where obviously the wealth management cited my path has come from as well. Mm All right. Before we race on the design thinking that you got from that first degree as you know, with that young mind. That must be fascinating to how that's shaped you. Absolutely. And interesting enough. I think it's just been an evolution thing for me. I've always enjoyed creativity, definitely doing the interior design and the architecture side of things very much fell into that and I still do that in my everyday life, but it's more of a hobby rather than a career path, but what it actually allowed me to have access to at an early age was problem finding a solution.

And so I've still been able to use those fundamentals in my businesses today, which I guess has also allowed me to Be creative in other avenues of industries and not the one that I've spent doing the last 16 years, which is obviously wealth management, so yeah, it's been it was it was a good stepping stone. Yeah, yeah, Okay, so you're in the financial planning firm? Yes, what did you do? You know, how's it going from there? So, I was a receptionist, great start. I mean, you know, I was young, so, yeah, so I went in as a receptionist and my boss at the time saw that there was some potential there and whilst I didn't jump in straightaway, I really, I've just spent so many times of university, so I was very much just about having a bit of a bit of a break, probably about six months in. I went to them and said, yeah, look, I actually really think that this is for me, I love the contact with people, I love the fact that we're building dreams for people.

I love the fact that we're helping people turn their turn things into a reality when they thought that maybe they couldn't was just on the wish list, really making an effective change in people's lives. And one of the fundamental things that I saw out of that was from when people were coming to us in that very first instance, and how they were Looking and feeling in 12 or 18 months or two years time, having the ability to be able to say I was able to achieve that, I was able to save that money, I was able to put this into place and really just to create that financial freedom for themselves, regardless of what type of income that we're earning. So, yeah, so that's 16 years ago, I bought my first financial planning business 10 years ago, that was in a firm that was now 22 years of age and we've gone from six staff members to have now almost 35 in three locations.

So yeah, really exciting and it's very dynamic at all times and obviously it's been extremely challenging In the year 2020, that they can remain unmentioned. Great. So still in that same. Yeah, so in that one that you brought into, you've got partners as well. Yeah, yeah, so we were a team of six partners and we're now down to a team of five and we've got a really good mix. So we've got some older partners and we've got some younger partners, but we're very, very much about making sure that our staff are also very, very impactful in our business and this year, one of our founding members actually retired and that allowed the opportunity for two of our staff members who have just been absolutely incredible for our clients and allowed them to actually buy in to the business as well, which we think is extremely important for the ongoing, for the ongoing for them and also for our clients, but also for the business as a whole, great good opportunities.

Yeah, no, it fascinates me as well, you know, longstanding businesses where there's multiple partners that work really well together because I think as you may know, I'm starting to bring partners into my business and it's it's a little bit terrifying. I think one of the things that I've learned in business, Jackie is that if your values are aligned and you have a similar moral compass and the vision is very much spelled out nine times out of 10, you won't have any problems I think when the problems do arise, there's also needs to be some impactful boundaries put around how that's actually dealt with as well and if you can achieve that, then really you can, you can build a really robust relationship with your business partners. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Um, so that's been your stable business throughout the majority of your adult career, but I know that you've dabbled in so many other things.

So what else have you been up to during that time? So I've owned a sports program business. Yeah, I've been in hospitality, wow, what did you have restaurants and motels? Really? Yes, yes. I've also been in the beauty slash medical industries and most recently the investment that I've made into legally yours as well, which is friends of smile to me every day. I mean we, We officially signed that off and I think it was the 15th of this month, which is just really, really exciting. Yeah. Done deal. That's great. Yeah. Because legally yours very much parallels I think what your passion is moving forward for your next creation as well, isn't it? Correct, correct. So as we've sort of spoken about, I see that there's this huge gap and it's two things for me.

There's the financial well being of women, but there's also a right to legal justice as well in the right in the right rounds of fees and bits and pieces. So yeah, so as you know, we've sort of previously spoken about, I've created a company called women wealth and wellness and that's, and that's about, um array of different things, not just financial, it's also about women being able to access neutral divorce relationships with financial advisors and also legal representatives as well. So which very much ties into the model of what legally yours is because it's all about community and it's all about, you know, the consumer not having to pay the businesses having to, you know, put their hand in the pocket and be a part of that association and be a part of a directory where people can come. Women in particular can come and access any form of service that they may need in their life, whether that's um, you know, acupuncturists or legal professionals or health professionals or, and that's allied health as well as medical health and, you know, tax accountants.

And just from really from this end to this end is effectively what the directory will be when it goes live, hopefully mid mid next year. Fantastic. That's your big 20, project, amongst other things. Yeah, it's the big project. So, yeah, yeah. You do have a lot of things going on, don't you? Yeah, very much. And that does mean the breadth of it sounds quite both immense, but really rewarding, I guess. Oh, absolutely. And I haven't really given it justice, to be perfectly honest with you, Jackie. Because what over my time I've been able to build some really strong relationships with people and it I genuinely can't remember a time when a client hasn't come to me and said, you know, I've got this issue happening in my life. I'm not really sure where I need to go. Is there somebody that you think can help me?

And that's fundamentally where it's where, you know, this brainchild sort of come from is that it wasn't just happening once a year happening so regularly that I found like my spandex, like my spandex, my politics was just about to get worn out because people, we live such big lives and it means that ultimately things are happening on such a radical basis that we once would never, you know, it would have been a friend that had that maybe once. Well now we're seeing that on such a bigger and bigger global and accessing information can sometimes become so overwhelming when you're going to google. So one of the things that will be really, really key with the directory that we put together or the association of service providers that we put together is that they will be vetted and there will be a set of characteristics that they will have to meet in order to sit on our directory and that might be that we have to use their services first just to make sure that there it's just a place that people can have some peace of mind come to and know that if they pick up the phone to speak to that particular person, that what we say that they're going to receive is actually what they're going to receive when you're in the legal profession.

You know, what happens out there. And I just would like to think that we can help some people not have to be, I guess taken advantage of because they're in a really vulnerable situation. I mean, what you're talking about as well is the level of trust that you have built up in the people that come to you and then trying to transpose that into a directory so that you can still trust and people can trust that you're sending them to the right people. It's so important, isn't it? Particularly for women, I think. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It is one of my passion projects is helping people who are helping human that have come out of domestic violence. And the number one thing for them when they do come out of that is trust. So I have to always make sure that directory is doing the right thing. And I guess the thing for me is that if I can help people live a whole and complete life, despite the fact that they've had some big or even enormous challenges.

But they can access information or services that they need to get themselves back on track, keep themselves healthy, keep themselves financially free to be able to support their Children if they have Children. You know, you said before, that must be rewarding. It's so incredibly rewarding. So if I can do that as a group rather than on an individual basis. I mean, I really genuinely couldn't put how that would feel into words until I start. Yeah, that's right. You feel the pride and satisfaction, I guess. Yeah, helping. Because the thing is to Jackie, not everyone can afford to come and see me. And I recognize that. Yeah. So, I mean, I'll always have clients that will come to me who can afford to come and see me and come to me with an array of problems. And basically say, you know, I've got a I have a role within my organization that basically means I'm working 10, 12 hour days and to have to deal with this as well.

There's actually far too much. Can I hand it over to you in order to be able to deal with it and help me make some really unemotional decisions about whatever might be happening in their life. There will be still people who will come and pay me for that. But that's that's a very small component of the world that we live in. Having people be able to go and still access the information or the knowledge or the services that will be providing at a fraction of the cost. You know, you're helping everybody. It's not just for those who can afford to pay it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so with the women who are leaving a domestic violence situation, they're probably in the category of people who can't afford your standard private fees. Do you do that on a like a program basis or do you do it as a pro bono? I've been doing it as pro bono. Yeah. The first protocol is obviously to teach them about finances, the incomings and outgoings and also to help create some confidence so that they can get back into the workforce.

And I know that they can stand on their own two ft and support their families. They need to and hearing it from another woman I think can be half the battle, potentially it's it's such if you've been trodden down so much in terms of your confidence just to know that or to see you in action as well. It's quite, you know, confidence building and inspiring. So yeah, absolutely, and I think the one thing that, you know, there's not much that I haven't been and being able to share that with clients, it's almost instant, instant trust and instant comfort that they can have a really open and vulnerable conversation with me and there was absolutely not an ounce of judgment that's attached to it. And that's where I'm coming from is purely about building them back up to a place where they can function as a healthy individual in society and also potentially a parent or a work colleague or whatever it might be.

And one of the things that's really, really important to me is education because I know that I mean I came from the secondary school, I didn't go to private schooling, so I came from a secondary school and I've had to educate myself, my entire wife to get to where I am, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. And I think the thing is is that if you can constantly educate yourself, not just emotionally, mentally, physically, you know with work and all of those things and just constantly involved and involved involved, you can genuinely do anything that you want to in this world, This comes up to here and what you need here is the confidence to push the fear away to be able to move forward. So I spend quite a bit of time with my clients talking about that and some people think I'm a bit woo wood and that's okay.

I probably am, but I've seen some of my clients come out of some very horrendous situations who are absolutely kicking some enormous goals and they are healthy, happy, their families are doing amazing. I couldn't ask for a better thank you if I try. Yeah, yeah, or like better vengeance against the person who treated them so poorly and you know what, Jackie, it goes both ways. I mean I've got clients of mine who are male as well that have found themselves in situations where they've been financially by their partners. So it definitely goes both ways. But yeah, absolutely, with that being able to stand on your own two ft I think is one of the best feelings in the world being independent from anybody else. And no, you can stand on your own two ft and you've got this, it's incredible. Yeah. Um, it seems to me that the wealth component in your concept is much broader than financial, your wealth component is like you said the whole and complete person.

Look, it absolutely and studies show that if you have your finances under control, your health is actually directly related to that. It's really, really important for me to have an understanding of someone's, not just their physical health, but also their mental and their spiritual health as well. Because in order to be whole and complete, you have to have all of those things around it. Now we know that they're not always going to be rounded at the same time, that's life. But if we can have a consistency of where the fundamentals of life, whether that's your career, it's family, it's um, personal boats. It's, um, our parents, it's, it's whatever it might be reasonably rounded at any given time. And you throw in the financial aspect and you know, you've got money in the bank, your supers working for, you've got investments there. You've got places where, you know, you're not just earning an income from your job or your the business that you are and you're actually earning income from different sources.

It's liberating and it's called freedom. Yeah. I think that that's almost everyone's goal, isn't it? For complete freedom. The absolute ability to have choice, correct. Absolutely. And that's what it's all about, isn't it? It's just about being able to have and not make decisions based on scarcity or being unstable position or as you say, like uninformed to be able to be resourceful enough to know where to go to get the information you need in a timely way. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. I don't know what you don't know until you know it. Yes. Yes, that's right. And google is not the place and facebook is not the place close to you. They are not the place either. Sometimes. Unfortunately they can actually make the situation worse. Having independent advice from somebody who's not emotionally attached to the situation.

That would be my number one suggestion to anybody out there always always get some advice from somebody who's independence from your friends and your family. Yeah. Yeah. And that goes for almost any decision you're going to make, doesn't it? Really? Yeah. Mm hmm. Yes. You're a very wise woman Bianca a lot of mistakes. Well we hope that everyone can learn from you rather than making mistakes for themselves. Yeah. I would be happy for people to be doing that. Yes. So for all those young women to prevent them making mistakes, do you have any particular advice you'd give to someone, you know, 21 23 something around there. I love that you've asked me this because I actually had a 21 year old girl ring me yesterday who said I know nothing about money. I'm not sure why it wasn't taught anything at school. But I found myself in a situation where I'm earning really good money.

I've got a lump of money sitting in my bank account. What do I do with that? And what I would say to any 21, 22, 23 or even a 30 year old is that set yourself up as early as you possibly can because the money that you start to compound Over a period of time will only ensure that when you are 30 or you're 35 and you want to buy your Louis Vuitton and you want to do this and you want to do that, you'll already have your house and you already have your car and will be fully paid for. And then you can go and do all of that stuff if you want to or you can actually go out and find places where you're actually going to earn more income outside of your careers. That will only set you up for, you know, maybe an early retirement. You might be able to buy your Children their first homes or their first cars or pay for their schooling, send them to a school that you would have liked to have perhaps gone too. So I think and the other thing I would say is be very mindful of who you are giving your energy to on a daily basis.

Oh, that one's a bit deep. Can you tell me a bit more about that? I can and it's probably not as deep as you think. I just think that maybe it is. Yes. Artists think that we, we have a set of values and we have a set of morals and we also have a set of integrity values that sit behind that and I genuinely believe that if it's a good feeling, it's okay. If it's a bad feeling, don't do it. If you feel like you've hit a brick wall, just stand still. You've come to a crossroads eventually you'll work it out and if it's flowing then go with it. But ultimately at the end of the day, if it's not flowing or if it doesn't feel good, don't give your energy to it. Mm hmm. Yeah, that's got some great advice to and I mean, even thinking back over 2020 and yes, I'm going to go there. A lot of people fed or focus their energy on the fear and the news media and all that sort of stuff which probably didn't serve them.

And that's what I mean by energy. It's just be really mindful if it doesn't feel true to you, don't do it. If it feels true to you and it feels good and it feels like you're in the flow, then absolutely do it. But I think that I also think that we've lost our voices. I think that we are no longer. I think a lot of us are not actually even conscious in our everyday lives. I think we are on this treadmill that we just, you know, and I would encourage everybody at times to really go and lock themselves in a room that's quiet, sit with themselves and just all the issues that they might be feeling at that particular point in time, work out if it's actually fact or if it's just a story that you're telling yourselves Because nine times out of 10 I think I could almost tell you. It's a story. It's not actually actually happening. Yes. Yes. Hard to get your head around that one, but yes. Well, yeah. And it makes you really accountable because you're really, you really are creating your own experience because it's coming from yourself and you can change that which is empowering absolutely anything that you want, provided that your energy is in the right place to keep yourself so grounded and centered while you know, you've got a million things going on.

What do you do to check in with yourself and do you have rituals or things that you do regularly to make sure you're well, I've got a 2.5 year old that keeps me extremely grounded. I can assure you if I'm not out of this office by five oclock down at the bottom of the stairs yelling mom, mom, I miss you. What do you do with that? But but in all honesty, I mean she does keep me extremely grounded and She keeps me from, for the most part working crazy ridiculous hours as I once would have 2020 was a little bit different. I was doing some horrendous hours during 2020, but that was because I've got a lot of people that rely on me, I've got clients that obviously we look after their money, they were fearful of what was happening. So we had to stay very, very engaged with them to make sure that they had peace of mind above all else.

But I do meditate a lot like every day, every single day I meditate. I also, I get out and get fresh air and I get the sun and I exercise and um I take some time out for myself just to check in. I read a lot of red, a lot of books, I listened to a lot of audio books. It's been It's been interesting. Obviously 2020, kind of, there was a point where I thought that if I did actually have any problems outside of work, but you know, we like to we like to take lots of road trips and get out of Melbourne, you know, we take many holidays when it's our birthdays and so we really celebrate the big things in life and also the small things, but that's, I mean, and even just doing things like this, Jackie, where you get the opportunity to share some insights of where you've been and people have the opportunity to do something good.

There it is, Yes. Then their brain off of the nighttime. Well, I think, you know, you are, you're so generous with your wisdom and with your, your time and your energy. I mean, I'm so grateful that you made the time today as well and um you shared and I love being reflective and and I think a lot of your ritual seems to be around perspective as well, which is just, yeah, it's lovely what's really important and what do you actually want? So for all of those who are interested in what you're up to, who want to keep informed about, you know, when you're launching, where can people find you and and you know, sign up to a list or just watch and wait. Yes, I look best places linked in definitely come and join my community and you'll start to see probably over the next couple of months and things really starting to evolve and deliverables and launches and all that sort of stuff possible, the business, it's that time of the year, I think that's amazing and there'll be plenty of wisdom and education and all the things as well that you're putting out, no doubt to.

So linkedin is the place to be. Let's everyone go and follow and like and and is it follow its join? I think it's connect, connect connected me everyone. You've got any questions, brilliant, thank you so much for your time. Thanks Alright, reflections. Sh Yeah, I was, I mean there was so much to reflect on, but the one thing that I took away from it was that I sort of actually went to bed listening to it are sort of about thinking about it and I went to bed is the whole experience in other things. And I was wondering how much of an impact that makes on your experience in your main business. And it sort of came in a timely manner. Because I've sort of been reflecting on going, I want to dabble in a partnership with something in 2021 that is totally different what I'm doing in terms of something new, but in a way where I can partner but offer my skills and services within that business to grow it from an EQ perspective as well, which is potentially something that they may not have.

So that's sort of I was like, oh, that was a nice little coincidental timing where she's talking about all this other stuff that she's done and how that sort of I think that's probably what's made her so wise and worldly too is you know, she's not being stuck in one niche or one area. And the whole thing of you know, owning a restaurant and you know, just totally different different things and different experiences. And I thought I'm that's what I want for 2021. So it was just it was really time we're listening to that. So my reflection has been on on that part for a while. Mm hmm. That was on the top of my little notes. Like the diversity of her and we hear about, you know, the diversity of, across people Um and having a diverse range of people and how the benefits of that help our business. And I suppose then the diversity of your own experience can also be very helpful. Yeah. And I think sometimes it's got a bit of a dirty connotation to be honest. I remember as a friend of mine and she had done a couple of different things and she said, are people always say to me that, you know, I don't finish things and she goes, but it's not about not finishing it because I just wanted to move on to the next thing and it's sort of that chapter of my life close and she was similar, she was, you know, in the restaurant business and then she'd done some MLM stuff and um and now she's coaching and you know, she goes for me it wasn't something to be proud of.

She was almost sort of shying away from telling people that she had done different things to fear of people going on well, you just haven't found yourself yet, you know, and then you look at the other people that are constantly telling you to niche and specialized in one thing. And so I think, you know, it's it's, yeah, there's merit to both sides. Right? For sure. Mm hmm. Yeah, it's so interesting. I agree there is so much in, you know general what people think that you should just do one thing and stick to one thing and as you say, get really good and deep in one thing, but there are many of us and I think I spoke about this was into a couple of episodes ago that are really good at quite a long range wide range of things and we don't want ourselves down and we're very curious and I agree, I think that there are people that then look at that negatively and go, you should just be doing this and doing this really well. Like stop scattering yourself, scattering.

Yeah, Yeah. I think, you know, that does worry me only not for what other people say, but just because I can get into different things because it's just how I am. And to be honest, it's taken a lot of discipline not to and focus on The business and EQ Academy. So I think my comfort zone personally, when I want to explore this in 2021 is still link it to the EQ side because it would be doing something with a business that is totally nothing to do with the Q. Has nothing to do with the Q. Doesn't even know what it is, but partnering in that way. So, so maybe that would sort of, for me personally, give me that bit of comfort that it's not something totally random, but I think that that's okay. And I think reflecting on Bianca's diversity has given us the permission perhaps that um it's not something to hold ourselves back on. I mean we can't spread ourselves so thin that we don't give enough focus to what we're growing, but at the same time, you know, if we're curious and have broad interests, we also shouldn't limit ourselves.

Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing I really, the other big thing I took away was how she has combined the wellness and the finance and it's not something you, you know, a couple of years ago you would ever have put together. Right. Well, I think that for a long time and a few of our financial planning guests have talked about, you know, deeply understanding your own personal values to then make sure that Um you know what you're doing with your finances aligned with your values. But I don't I do think she takes at that next level to be really conscious and to focus your energy because she spoke about that sort of stuff for almost 10 minutes at the end, which is some yeah, that approach she said, you know, some people might think of her as a bit woo woo. But see I didn't find her, we were at all. But then I'm on the other end of the spectrum for woo woo. So yeah, I just think it's a really nice way to put it out there because you know, if you look at, you know, the desk profiles as you may know, you know, you associate finance and finance people with being a certain way and I think, you know, what she does is she sort of bust that myth to go to get finance people, but finance doesn't have to be in that box that you perceive it to be in.

Um and it can be linked with something a bit softer and it's linked really well. Yeah. Well, even when she was talking about early on in her career, that attracted her to stay and learn the finance game, it was because she could see the change in people over the Um the 12-month period or so, which is quite fast to see change as well. Yeah, I suppose it wasn't the change in their financial circumstances so much as their um their happiness, their confidence and their outlook, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. And I think it's just the whole perception, isn't it? Of, well, I think the value is number one, but then also how that links to to the to the role that plays into into their finances. Yeah, yeah, because they are connected. We can't just say you can have wellness without being financially secure because there is an element of needing a level of financial security to be well, because otherwise you've got the anxiety and the constant worrying and working yourself to the bone, don't you?

Yeah, absolutely. 100%. And the real, the things that I really got out of it as well as the diversity was her success in being able to partner and you know success through partnerships, even her primary financial business has multiple partners. And it works. And she talked about being really clear again about your values between your partners so that, so that it does work long term and you know, I've brought in one partner so far and I'm going to bring in two or three before june this year that I'm really conscious of that. And you know, over the last two years, I have been working a lot on my values as we've spoken about and make it really clear and talking about it more and talking about what's important to me and all of that because it's not just practicing law for the sake of practicing law. There are actually things at stake here. Yeah, it's interesting with that partners thing. I think, you know, in my opinion, I think we find partners or people to work with that are the same as us.

And I think, okay, there's a fine line there because you don't want another one of you, right. The whole point of having someone in as a partner is to bring something different. But I think she nails it when she says it's the values that can be aligned as opposed to the personality. The style of working. I think there still needs to be some differences in that. Yeah. Otherwise you're just bringing on another another clone of you and that's not a good thing either. No, no, that's it. And I've been reflecting on that as well as I'm, as I'm doing this because we were all my staff, we do the top five strength test, um, so that we all know, you know what what are best strengths are, how we communicate with those strengths and all those sorts of things. And so doing the same again, obviously with bringing partners in, making sure that they cover off some of the areas of skill that I don't have, um making sure that they're stronger in areas that I am and knowing them for those strengths because I think that um we can value our own strengths highly and look at other people and not value their strengths, but I'm really conscious of valuing people for their strengths, you know, because I'm really strong on execution and others not so much.

And so in the past I've quite often been quite resentful that people come up with ideas and then look to me to execute, which I haven't thought was fair, but I'm just having to embrace that. I'm going, okay, well, other strengths lie elsewhere, let's build those and yes, I'm really good at execution, so that's fine. Yeah, maybe maybe their strength is bringing the idea to you in the first place and putting all of that effort behind that. So how are you feeling about bringing on those new partners? I'm excited, like it's it's the next level, you know, I don't want this just to be my business forever, we've spoken before about, you know, if I don't change and do anything, I'll still be doing exactly the same thing in 10 years. That's not what I want. This is a business. I want others to own it and want to grow it as well. I want there to be a team of leaders, I want it to be sustainable. I want there to be longevity and I have hustled for long enough, I want there to be an evening out of that load.

So yeah I'm really ready and I've got to turn my mind to legally wise women as well. So I need to make space to be able to do that because legally wise women is really where my passion is lying and ultimately it's going to feed back into law anyway. So. Yeah. Absolutely. That's exciting. Yeah so I I feel ready like it's um there's there's no reason you know there's nothing holding me back. I've burnt all those and what I'm not taking forward. So since we're listening to this in january, what's the your one big big business thing to do and probably in the first quarter of the year? Well it is to take the whole of legally wise women live. Yeah that's going to happen by the end of March. Yes it's exciting. It is. How about yourself, remember I said to you that I've brought on a couple of B. D. M. S. And a couple of bits of help. Um So my my goal really is to go global, um, next year.

So I want to, I'm already doing online training for, um, you know, a couple of the clients like King Living, for example, we're training Malaysia Canada. Um, um, that's, that's exciting. So we've already got that. So that's given me a flavor and I'm like, I want to do more of that though to preempt that I've changed the domain because at the moment it's academy dot com dot au. So I'm in the process of, and I found this awesome domain. It's just eq dot academy. Oh, cool. Good. Yeah, So there's no dot com that I use. So the whole thing of that will be that it will have a more global flavor and with that domain name change, it's going to give me that psychological headspace to go, okay, well it's not just an Australian business. Have have both. Yes. Yeah, that's great. You are international. Already embraced. No. So it'd just be nice to have that Ecuador Academy. Right? Is that page that could be, and it will be the same content will be the same. It will just be a different link to that page. So, um, yeah, so that's happening at the moment and being built.

Um, so that's sort of my, my big thing really and then worked really closely with the, with the new BDM that we brought on board and he's based in Queensland. So great. Yeah. So that will sort of be there and then um, did I mention spark last time you did? Yeah, kicks off, spark kicks off in january, Fantastic. That'll be that awesome 12-month program. So that's sort of a big focus for next year too. Yeah. With a great bunch of women and hopefully you'll interview a whole lot of them to Exactly, that will be on the podcast. Absolutely, yeah, good stuff. Yeah, big things for 2021, it'll be great to like, I know how bad 2020 was in many ways, but That reflection episode We did was just so settling, I guess in some ways, just to see how transformation or the whole year was. And I just think 2021 is going to just accelerate that as well. Absolutely. All the positivity, all the positive.

We here guys. Yeah. Yes, that's the way it needs to be. Yeah, that's right. Um okay, so, I mean, we would love to hear people's comments like you meets eq dot com dot au is where we have our episodes. So please go there to reach out and again to give us recommendations or requests to come on and have a chat with us and us. Where can people find you, yep. Eq Academy dot com dot au Excellent. We're both on linkedin. So of course that we're really active there, so please reach out, connect, but otherwise, um yeah, I should really direct people to legally wise women dot com dot Au, That's probably the best place for this year. So let's go there. Alright, well, Happy New Year. Happy New Year to everyone. Yes. Alright. Looking forward to bringing you lots of learnings for this year. Yeah. Fighting.