• How finding a community that supports you is so important
• Self care to make you a better business owner
• Tips to avoid burnout
• Setting your own rules for your business

Connect with our fabulous Speaker

Georgina Siddall | Vitalita
About Geogina

Nicole Smith 0:02
Welcome to take control with Nicole. As business owners we experienced firsthand the fine line between our personal and business lives. During our conversations, we will look at simple hints and tips to create time, reduce, overwhelm, and help you to navigate through your journey to where you want to be. If you’re looking for smarter ways to work, and create space and time freedom in your day, then you’re in the right place. All right, let’s go.

Hello, hello and thank you for joining me for this fabulous episode of take control with Nicole. Today I have the amazing Georgina Siddall here with me and we are going to be talking about the practical self care for business owners. But firstly, I would love to introduce you to Georgina. Georgina is the founder of Vitalita and a corporate climate turned wellness warrior through burnout, anxiety and depression in the corporate world. Georgina understands that exhaustion is not a badge of honour, and he is committed to helping women reclaim their innate sense of vitality. Well, hello, Georgina, thank you so much for coming and joining me today and just sharing all about you with the community.

Georgina Siddall 1:21
That’s my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me, Nicole.

Nicole Smith 1:24
So, just a little background for our little, our little our audience out here, our listeners, Georgina and I connected through a fabulous community called the founders team. And were in our mastermind group together, which was just I’ve loved loved the last few months together, it’s been such a fabulous experience. And we’re so lucky to have just a fabulous group of people together to support ourselves, aren’t we? We support each other.

Georgina Siddall 1:49
Absolutely and you know, communities so important for for business owners, particularly if you are a solopreneur. You know, it can get really lonely and I think it’s one thing that people don’t talk about. So there’s your first self care tip right off the bat, get yourself a community.

Nicole Smith 2:04
So true. Absolutely and everyone knows that listens here is I’m all about community, finding those people that just make you smile, and you like to be around. But that can also ask those hard questions of us as well. It’s not all about the cheerleading as much as I love a celebration. So those people that have been like, Hey, have you thought about this or just note that this is what’s happening right now? Just take that moment and just be in it and just you know, take that where you need to go so Oh, so exciting. Well, let’s, let’s talk about you. I want to hear all about it. I want to know all the things.

Georgina Siddall 2:43
Okie dokey. Where do I start look like most women, I wear a lot of hats. My husband and I co founded by talento, which is a health and wellness business dedicated to helping busy women create lives brimming with Vitality. I work in our business as a women’s life and wellness coach. I’m also a yoga Pilates and meditation teacher. And then behind the scenes I am everything from CEO and bookkeeper to social media strategist and IT support. However, our business is expanding. So I live in hope that one day I’ll be able to outsource some of those tasks.

Nicole Smith 3:23
I love it is it’s one of those things when you step out into the entrepreneurial space and launch your own business. You have these visions of just sitting by the pool with your laptop, drinking a cocktail enhance, which can be the case when you get to a certain stage. But we do wear all the hats and it’s kind of important to know all things in business, isn’t it?

Georgina Siddall 3:47
Yeah, and you know, at least from a financial point of view, you do have to do some of that grunt work when you when you start when you start out. It’s just it’s just inevitable. But yeah, it’s funny that you say that about the the cocktails by the pool, because particularly when I was working solely as a yoga teacher, I think that my students assumed that all I did was teach yoga and then go and drink chai and play with my crystals. And I think they forget that there is so much more to running a business than just showing up and doing your thing face to face.

Nicole Smith 4:18
Yeah, absolutely. What led you to start in your business or your business businesses within each other?

Georgina Siddall 4:30
So look, it’s almost 10 years ago today that I found myself being wheeled out of my central London office on a stretcher. I was working as a management consultant for one of the big four firms. And I had mistaken a panic attack for a heart attack and I was wheeled out of the office. They performed an EKG in the ambulance and the paramedics told me that I could Go back into the building, and continue on with my day. However, they highly recommended that I take a little bit of time off and reconsider whether that was the career path for me. And, you know, it struck me that they had probably given that piece of advice many, many times that I really, really took it to heart. And that really was a turning point in my life. And I didn’t leave the corporate world straightaway, I continued to work in in in that sector for another couple of years. But, you know, it eventually got to the point where I realised that my mental health was more important to me, than the money I was earning, and that something drastic in my life had had to change. So I never set out to become an entrepreneur, if you’d asked me 10 years ago that this is what I’d be doing today. I simply wouldn’t have believed you.

Nicole Smith 5:56
Yeah, and I also had a time over in London, I lived there for six years, I think we’ve may have crossed paths. I love that. I’ve got another colleague and friends that we figured out the same thing, we worked both in sort of the bank area of London, and most likely would have been at those same bars for happy hour throughout the time. Yeah, but are such a, I guess, a pivotal moment for you having that awareness in front of you, of you? Yeah, you can, you can continue. But is that actually what I want to be doing?

Georgina Siddall 6:35
Exactly, I, you know, I can look back on that experience with I can see a humour in it. You know, at the time, obviously, it was very, very traumatic, I had a long period of work on stress leave, but I can look back and actually see, the left the lessons there, I learned a lot about my values, and the way that I wanted to live my life and what I was prepared and not prepared to accept. So you know, very, very important in terms of values, and also setting boundaries as far as I moved forward.

Nicole Smith 7:08
Yeah, that, you know, encouraging those behaviours that are going to support you to be where you, you want to be not where you think you should be, you know, I know coming from the corporate background, as well, that it is that kind of hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle hustle all the time, and you’ve almost got to keep up otherwise, you’re out, you know, I come from finance. So it’s very much like that.

Georgina Siddall 7:36
I have an option, and, you know, the organisation that I was working for, and I’m sure the organisation that you working for, they have, like a culture of what they call churn and burn. You know, and, you know, they pay lip service to wellness, but that’s about as far as it goes. You know, and I think it’s really hard to change that, you know, because hustle is essentially a byproduct of the patriarchy, and it’s woven into the organisational fabric. And I don’t think that one person alone can can change it. But I do think that that’s one of the reasons a lot of people have made the move into self employment because it provides the opportunity to do things differently and to live life on their terms in the way that perhaps a corporate structure doesn’t.

Nicole Smith 8:33
Yeah, I totally agree with that. And, you know, I am hopeful that the past few years has brought to light, some of the positivity is of that flexible working and an almost that it, trust your employees trust that they’re going to be doing what they you know, I know, when I moved from going into an office to working from home, initially, I was working a lot more than I was employed to be working, because that’s the type of person I was, I felt like I needed to do all the things. And over time, I found this beautiful rhythm of knowing that what I was doing was exactly what I should be doing, the amount I should be doing. And I didn’t need to necessarily be visible all the time. And so I really do hope that with the experience over the past years that they have picked up those bits that are not only going to support the business because yes, of course, business if you run a business and the big corporates, they need to continue to work like clockwork. And to do that you need to have those systems in place, not only to run the business, but to support your teams to be able to create a life that’s going to suit them. We’ve got this taste of flexibility now. How can we you know, as corporate world start to move that across, you know?

Georgina Siddall 9:58
Yeah, absolutely. It will be so interesting to see how that how that plays out. And, you know, I think that one of the important things that employers or leaders, you know, if you’re in a in a small small business can do is start to talk about, you know, not just work life balance, but you know, the actual, the different facets of well being, whether that’s physical, mental, emotional, social. Because you’re right, you know, the, the more aligned we are, as people, the more well we are as human beings, the more productive we are, the more creative we are, the better we, the better we show up in at work, you know, and so organisations of all shapes and sizes can really benefit from from that.

Nicole Smith 11:02
And especially in the entrepreneurial space, or the smaller, small medium business space, we do have a lot more flexibility to easily introduce these ways of working. I know, for my business, I’m growing a team. And the most important thing for me is that flexibility, it comes down to communication, knowing clearly the expectations that we require for a business, but ultimately, I want to design it so that I can support my team to still be doing and living the life they want to while still reaching the you know, the requirements for the role that’s needed. And that’s something that’s really important. Like, I was voice chatting my assistant this morning, and we’re both like, well, she actually said to me, she’s like, go outside, it’s beautiful. Like, okay, cool. So I went outside, and we were like, virtually chatting across WhatsApp together, both sitting outside in the sun, just like getting those rays to she described it as a little lizard, you know, attracting the sun, which is just such a beautiful routine that I know myself, I really would like to start to do each and every morning is go grab that coffee and go and sit outside for 10, 15, 20 minutes, whatever I need for that morning to just set that up for the day. Do you have something like that that you do on your either morning or midday, whatever, whenever it is in the day, I know morning routines are not always a thing. So

Georgina Siddall 12:30
I just love that visual. It’s almost like the sun charging your batteries before the start of your day that is just absolutely beautiful. Ah, so I am a morning luck, I know that you are a night owl. But I you know so for example, this morning, I’ve been at my computer since just after 6:30. However, after lunch, I’m going to go to the gym and go from home to so for me, I really lean into that flexibility, I do start my day with some form of a morning routine, it is not rigid. But typically, I will start my day with about five to 10 minutes of journaling. And I use a journaling practice that I’ve adapted from Mel Robbins five second journal, it’s just about kind of checking in with my energy levels. There’s some affirmations and goals incorporated in there. So that’s how I start my day, I’ll often incorporate a little bit of self Reiki. And if I’m not teaching in the morning, I’ll have to just sit in bed for you know, whether it’s 15 minutes, half an hour with a cup of chai or hot chocolate. And just kind of slowly ease ease my way into the day. And, you know, I don’t I don’t work well in the evenings. So I’m usually done by kind of three, four o’clock in the afternoon. And that feels so luxurious. to then be able to switch off.

Nicole Smith 14:09
Moving from corporate to running your own race, running your own whatever designing your own world the way you like to be. I know that there’s a lot of like handy a lot of guilt associated with that. You know, you said you’re the morning and the evening. And like, I don’t, I’ve decided I’ve just redesigned the way that my wife’s going to look. And I’ve the first step to that is making it a thing and I’ve gone in and updated my Microsoft bookings. So that’s the way that’s the structure. And I’m not going to take appointments before 10:30 in the morning. Because I know that that’s the best time for me. You know, and with the kids like they’ve just started back. It’s actually a quiet house. I’m going to got Simon here today. So he’s back at school Charlotte’s at daycare, you know, and being able to know But I’m not going to take appointments anytime after, say 230, for instance, so that we have space still to go and collect Sammy from school and all of those things and, but that can at first feel really like I’m being really selfish that I’m only going to focus on what I need, when really I should accommodate all my clients and what they need and data out of editor, you know, is that something that you’ve come across moving into your business as well that working from that, or moving through transitioning from that nine to five mentality into, I can start work at 6:30 and finish at three and go and have a float? Like, that’s totally great. That’s absolutely fine.

Georgina Siddall 15:43
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Look, I’m a recovering perfectionist. And, you know, I was always the person who was there early, I was there, like, I worked through my lunch breaks. I remember a point in my last job, I was working for the council, here in Brisbane, and I was managing a team, and I used to announce to them when I was going the toilet, like I was completely indispensable, you know. And, you know, I can laugh about that. But I know for a fact, it’s something that a lot of a lot of women do. So, you know, working for myself has been really liberating. But yeah, there is there is guilt that comes along with that. And I don’t want people listening to this, to think that I’m advocating for doing nothing for settling, sitting around twiddling your thumbs because, you know, the reality of running a business is that there will be times in your business when you have to work hard, harder than you have ever worked in your world before.

Nicole Smith 16:47
Just the truth bumped mic, job. Done. Yep.

Georgina Siddall 16:53
That non stop hustle mindset isn’t sustainable, long term. And you know, as a, as a yoga teacher, in particular, I can see, because there’s a very seasonal focus in your yoga and in our VEDA, I can see how we’ve become so disconnected from the seasons and the cycles of life. And that we’ve forgotten that we can’t be in one season. Yeah, forever, you know, it can’t be summer, forever. We need to relearn how to balance, hard work and hustle and energy output with rest and ease and that energy input.

Nicole Smith 17:33
Yeah, what has been so in my awareness, the last few weeks in particular, you know, we had the announcements of Victoria, Victoria, obviously are in beautiful, sunny, breezy. We’ve had the announcement here that we’re at now out of lockdown, which we are last Friday, when that announcement came though, I had these, this flood of all the feelings and the thoughts and all the themes. And I needed to take a moment away. And just step away from all of the work and go and sit and recharge like that lives in the sun. You know, and being able to allow myself to do that. And know that that was a time that was yeah, that recharge that reset. And I’m also going through a big structure, big strong word, but pre shuffle of how the business is going to evolve from which which you are aware of from our mastermind chats last week, which is exciting, but that energy of coming back in and just letting yourself Bay and re recharge re energise so that when you are going in that next season, I love that terminology seasons, I think it’s so beautiful to describe that sort of flow, the ebbs and flows of how life is and how businesses. You know, when I’m ready for that sort of next onslaught of the big stuff, I’m recharged and ready to go.

Georgina Siddall 19:03
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, there are seasons of your life, you know, you have experienced periods of lockdown and then coming in and out. That is an ebb and flow. Your business goes through ebbs and flows, you experience rhythms throughout the day in terms of when you work best and when there are kind of slumps and it’s just about being mindful of those changes and responding to them.

Nicole Smith 19:34
And knowing what your your thing is, like I know for me, people have probably heard me or I think and my good friend Kathy always reminds me if I’m going through a thing. She’s like, go and sing this song. And at first I’m like, I can’t sing. And then I thought oh, hang on a second. What is singing all about? Singing is about being present. In the moment, it’s about breathing, knowing that the air is flowing through the diaphragm and out and it’s controlled, and it’s really just allowing yourself to be immersed in that experience and be still in that thing. And it’s just in whatever that thing is, it might be yoga for you, or it might be going for a walk with someone else for someone else. May it’s definitely singing and allowing myself to go through that moment of, oh, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t to. Good as such release such a release.

Georgina Siddall 20:37
Yes, there’s an energy release that’s involved in eating or any kind of movement. And, you know, I often talk about the analogy of, you know, do you have a dog?

Nicole Smith 20:46
We did, yeah.

Georgina Siddall 20:49
So, have you ever seen a dog when they’re stressed, and they shake, so human beings can do that. And so it’s finding something that allows you to discharge that energy. And for you, it’s singing for someone else, it might be dancing around to their favourite song, I know people who love to spin classes, someone might for a run, there’s so many things you can do. But you do have to get that energy out of your body.

Nicole Smith 21:16
That’s exactly right. Because if we hold on to it tightly, it’s like, I guess it’s like a rubber band ball, isn’t it like you just kick kick kick or a balloon, putting a rubber band around a balloon or something, it’s like, compress, compress, it’s gonna, it’s gonna burst. If we don’t let it control, you know, and let it out. Let it just flow.

Just interrupting this episode for one little message. If you have been listening and love what you hear and want to come in Connect, we have a take control with the cold Facebook community, right over there on Facebook, that I would love to invite you to come and join us. We are a supportive community, we are looking to really take action in our businesses, and change the way or evolve the way we’re working right now. So I invite you to hop on over and join our community and connect with us or community is the essence of everything in business, being able to really build those relationships that you can nurture, and grow and support and celebrate each other are how fabulous, I hope to see you over there, pop on over to Facebook, take control with Nicole, see you soon.

Georgina Siddall 22:26
Yeah. And I often say to people, you know, who are resistant to self care or think they you know, think it’s a waste of time? Or that it’s going to take them away from their customers? What are you saying no to like, what is going to be the impact of you not taking time out? Either, because in reality, particularly as a self employed person, you are your number one business asset. And so self care should be part of your business strategy.

Nicole Smith 23:02
Such a fabulous way to view it, isn’t it? You know, I don’t I talk about making space for you creating crew, you know, designing it as part of your week. But that is beautiful. Lee puts as that self care should be part of your business strategy. Because ultimately, if we’re not looking after ourselves, we’re not putting our own oxygen masks on first as I love that. I love that saying we how are we going to continue to serve, to look up to be a person in our families in our personal lives, let alone in our business space, you know, being able to have that capacity, recharging ourselves. And, and I know you know, I’ve recently spoken about, you know, that time when you’re like, you’ve got things to do, but you’re pushing if you just feel not quite feeling it, but you’re gonna go and push through it anyway. Because you just feel like that’s the thing, you’ve got to do that thing, you got to get that thing to that client lalalalala. And then you do it, and you feel terrible about it. Because you know that that wasn’t the best you could be at. You know that feeling of..

Unknown Speaker 24:12
And that’s societal conditioning, that’s right there, isn’t it that that we you have to get it done. And you know, how you might be able to deliver a better result if you’ve given yourself 10 minutes or half an hour or whatever it might be, you know, just to kind of step back to recharge and then to jump back in. But you know, I just actually wanted to speak to your services because, you know, I think sometimes people think that self care is all kind of fluffy, you know, if you see on Instagram, but I actually talk a lot about gritty self care and actually the services that you offer, are about self care for business owners, you know what you essentially do in helping them To streamline their systems and processes is to create more time more ease more flow in their business.

Nicole Smith 25:07
Exactly. I love and I love it. And, you know, some of the best experiences have been when a client’s arrived to me, and they say something like, I’m just a big hot mess. This just all the things, I don’t know where to look, and I don’t know what to do, and lalala, whatever the words are, you know. And I’m like, fabulous. You know what, you’re right here now. And you’re aware of that, and we’re going to transform that into the way you want to be. And then at the end of it, they’re like, oh, my gosh, I’ve done all these things. And like, yeah, you’ve created space. You’ve got you’ve done that big brain dump. And you’ve put some thoughts around those areas of focus. And you’ve got that thing that was missing before because it was so cloudy with all the things. So, yeah, I love it.

Georgina Siddall 25:59
You can now go out and market yourself as a self care expert.

Nicole Smith 26:02
Yes, but put that on the website. Absolutely. But no, it’s it’s the it’s the essence of I think what we both do is supporting people to become aware of the way that they could do things the way that could be, you know? Yeah.

Georgina Siddall 26:18
Yeah, exactly. And for me, it comes down to two things, it comes down to values, you know, the way that you want to live your life, the way that you choose to live your life. And then choice, you know, my, my therapist actually talks a lot about choice points, which is a concept that comes from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. And she says that, every time you make a choice, however large or small it is you can choose to act in alignment with your values and move towards the life that you want to live the life that you want to create your business vision. Or you can move away from it, you know, and that example of rest is a really great one, you know, so you can keep choose it. You can choose to keep working, if you have a deadline that might be necessary. But you also have the option to take a break, don’t pretend that you don’t have an option, everything is your choice. Maybe people don’t like to hear that.

Nicole Smith 27:07
I totally agree. I totally agree. And it’s been sometimes there’s been conversations, you know, voice chats, and be like, Oh, I’ve got to do these things. I’m like, but do you really? Do you really need to do it right now? Or can you close that laptop and walk away, walking the other way, you know, like, getting on out of there like yourself, and then the the flow on effect of that is the next day. Oh, thank you so much for giving me permission to do that. And like you gave yourself permission to do that. I just gave you some words around it. You know, this is your your world, your life, you know, deep down, that was always what you needed to do. You know.

Georgina Siddall 27:47
Yeah and if people do need a permission, slip, well, I’ll stand here right now today, and I’ll give that permission to take the time you need and but you’re right that permission, it ultimately does need to come from inside.

Nicole Smith 28:03
And that’s that’s through becoming aware, isn’t it and knowing, gaining the confidence in your your inner self, to put yourself first, which is something that I know, I have taken the longest time to get to that point. Because I’m very much like you said, you know, people pleaser wanting to make sure that everyone else is okay. If you come to my house, you, you get fed to the nth degree and you’ll always be taken care of. But knowing that, for me to do that, I need to look up to me. You know, it’s so important to to find out what that is for you. What is it that, you know, you need in your life to be able to do that? And is that something that you help your clients sort of navigate through and discover?

Georgina Siddall 28:54
Yeah, absolutely. And it is you’re right, it’s, it’s different for every single person. So at vitality, we talk about seven elements of wellness. So you know, not just physical fitness, but mental well being mindset, you know, competence and self esteem, stress, sleep, all of these different aspects that add up to this whole whole picture. And there are going to be parts of that of that picture or that pie that are more important to you than others, but they all do do play a role. So you know, whether you are working with us in our personal training programmes or whether you’re doing wellness and life coaching with me, we talk about health holistically.

Nicole Smith 29:48
I love that that’s so important because, you know, exercise has always been that kind of funny, funny kind of thing. Like I’ve no no, no need to do it. I know it’s important movements important and when now we’re out of lockdown. I am so excited to get back to my ballroom dancing, you cannot even imagine I’m just like, yes. Let’s get me moving. And it’s finding that thing that’s right for you, as well.

Georgina Siddall 30:16
That is, that is so true. You know, like I was the kid at school who was always picked last for teams. I didn’t have an athletic bone in my body. And I sometimes find it quite amusing that I actually do what I do for a living today. I think you’re right, it’s about finding what is right for you finding the thing that sparks joy, so to speak, you know, and for me, it was initially yoga, and then I found Pilates. Now, one of the most important things in my life is actually strength training, because the stronger I get physically, the stronger I feel, mentally, you know, I trade four to five days a week, and I walk out of the gym feeling like Wonder Woman, like I could take on worlds. And I’m sure that that will change again that you know, down the truck, I will find something else that fills the cup.

Nicole Smith 31:16
And that’s very much going back to the season or conversations, right? We’re going through each stage of our worlds and finding that thing that’s, you know, I think about mine, I’m definitely not a ball sports type person, although I did play netball for a momento when I was younger, down actually in Queensland. So it played out there, I think it was, why did they have those things? Anyway, Cooper roo think they had the big netball. Anyway, I did play netball. But I’m not a ball sports person, I am a dancer. And I did roller skating for a while there and move that into, you know, other forms of dance. That’s always been my sort of thing of movement. However, when I had the kids, I chose to join a gym like similar, you know, sort of very sort of focused small personal training. And I did focusing on that strength training. And it made me feel amazing, really, like strong and supported not just physically but mentally as well. Being aware of not being able to do a setup, and then working at it and working at it and practising it and finding the way that suited me and sort of needed to support my body how, you know, after having two kids all of that, and then all of a sudden, I could do a set up. From a mindset point of view. I’m like, Well, I’ve done that. Now what else can I do, of course, I can go and meet the dumbbell things and the kettlebells. And, like, moving through that it’s Yeah, and I love that you say that’s what your whole business is about looking at those different elements, connecting them all together.

Georgina Siddall 32:53
Because I think for so many years, you know that in the fitness world, and in the health space, we’ve tried to segment the body, like, I’m going to look at your abdominals over here, and we’re going to train your biceps over there and forget about mental health. And we don’t even worry about that. But you know, everything is connected to everything else, you know, you are a whole person and we need to treat you as a whole person.

Nicole Smith 33:19
Yeah, absolutely. Now, if we come back to sort of the discussion around shame, and you know, that stigma of anxiety and depression, you know, how do you I know you’ve what you’re sort of seven points, but is there anything specific that you kind of lean into when you’re supporting your clients or from your own experience that you have identified, so really sort of key point in that journey from here through to wherever they’re, they’re heading.

Georgina Siddall 33:53
You know, mental health is enormously complex. And there are a lot of historical factors that have contributed to the fear and stigma that exists around it. But the reality is that one in two Australians will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So it’s something we need to talk about, you know, and I’m not a counsellor, or a psychologist, so I don’t want to talk about specific strategies. But, you know, as a wellness professional, I believe that it is my responsibility, responsibility to speak openly about my experience of burnout, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, because if I can make it easier for just one person to seek help, it is worth any discomfort that I might feel, feel sorry. And, you know, the thing about shame is that it thrives in the shadows, and there’s there’s real power about speaking out and, you know, you think about the metoo movement as a as an example of this, you know, one woman spoke out and then another and then another and while it hasn’t been solved the problem, it has given women permission to speak about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault, it’s validated experiences, and they are part of the healing process. So, you know, I think one of the most important things that that we can do is actually talk about mental health, you know, particularly if you are in a leadership position, particularly if you manage people, I encourage you to start talking openly about mental health, and you don’t have to go into the nitty gritty of your own mental health, but start talking about the impact of people’s work on their mental well being and vice versa, you know, talking about stress and anxiety and depression in the same way that you might talk about a physical illness. Just normalises that, and it increases the likelihood that someone will seek help.

Nicole Smith 35:53
It’s, you know, before we hit the record button, we’re talking about the, you know, the generational experience on how, you know, our parents, our grandparents, our grandparents, parents, and grandparents, you know, however far away back you want to go, but even just two generations ago, it just wasn’t even you just didn’t talk about it, you didn’t talk about it, you closed it behind closed doors, and you just kind of got in on with life, you pull your socks up and off you went, you know, whereas now being able to, we’re now really more aware of the impact that this can have on an individual or extended out. And I love the fact that we are all becoming more confident and comfortable to share our own experiences. I know for me, you know, I’m still kind of, I know, voice everything. And that’s just one of those things that I’m working on myself being able to share those little moments of, you know, taking a day to go and sit in the sun. That was a mental health day, let’s let’s be honest about it. That’s what it was. Because I knew in myself that, you know, close to tears, Were there ever release, release of tears were happening, which it was a fabulous release, being able to know that what I needed that day was to go and sit out there and recharge and rejuvenate myself. And that was absolutely what was needed and should be celebrated. And that’s going for all of the community out there is knowing that it is okay. If you need that, that is exactly what is right for you in that moment. So just, again, permission slip.

Georgina Siddall 37:42
Yeah, and you know, so I said that I’m not a counsellor, I’m not a psychologist, I like to be very, very clear about kind of the scope, the scope of my of my training, you know, I do work with people who have experience of mental mental health and you know, there are certainly things that we can work around mindfulness, meditation, all of that kind of thing. But I’m also equally happy, you know, if someone was to get in contact with me, and I can help them find someone who is appropriate to help them you know, you know, if you are experiencing poor mental health, like, you know, I encourage you to seek help, there’s so much help available for you these days, and you just do not have to struggle or to suffer alone, you know, particularly in Australia, you can access a mental health care health health care plan through Medicare, so an appointment, your GP is really, really good place to start.

Nicole Smith 38:42
And just to I know talking to like the brain dump ride, you get the brain, the business, you get the brain dump, you get some clarity, right, exactly the same over here. And that professional will be able to talk, you know, confidence space that makes you feel comfortable, and give you strategies to move through and experience all the things you know, in a way that will support you to move through that journey.

Georgina Siddall 39:11
So yeah, and you know, even if you don’t feel like you need that level of care and support to come full circle, we started off this conversation talking about it. Make sure that you do have a community of people who understand the highs and lows of your business because there are definitely loads and you know, have that safe space where you can chat to people and be vulnerable. And ask and ask for the support.

Nicole Smith 39:42
find your business besties. I’ve got mine that we voice chat and chat on whatsapp on the daily which is just so fabulous. And we’ve also got my members lounge community as well. I’ve been so grateful to just create this beautiful space of people and we just yet just connect. It’s great.

Georgina Siddall 40:06
Yeah. Cos you’re part of she mentors, we are one roof, the founders team.

Nicole Smith 40:13
And each of them had their own purpose as well. So yeah. Oh, so fabulous. Now I understand that you might have fabulous discount for your audience. Did you want to share what that was?

Georgina Siddall 40:28
I Do I Do I Do. I know exactly what it’s like to get to the end of a podcast feeling inspired to go off and do all the things.

Nicole Smith 40:38
You know what? Oh, yeah.

Georgina Siddall 40:42
Definitely, that enthusiasm peters out within a couple of days. So I couldn’t leave without letting your listeners know about an epic mini course that I’ve created to help them embed self care in their daily life. So it’s called paws seven days of self care. And it is chock full of simple practical tools to boost your energy focus and productivity. And the best bit is that I’ve designed it with busy women in mind. So it isn’t going to take hours, I’m talking about 10 to 20 minutes every day. So if you’re listening right now, and you’re feeling stressed, exhausted, overwhelmed, please believe me when I say that life can feel different. And to help keep the momentum going, I would love to offer your listeners 20% off, which means you get seven days of self care for less than $30.

Nicole Smith 41:36
Doesn’t sound like a dream. Thank you so much. And you’re so right. You know, we listen to all these beautiful things. But do we actually implement them into our worlds? You know, I’m all about taking action, right? So if there’s something that needs to be done the we find those tools and tips to be able to help you introduce that. And that sounds fabulous. So thank you so much for sharing that with us. And I’m going to pop all the details in the show notes as well. So…

Georgina Siddall 42:07
Yeah, I just want to get it in the hands of as many women as I can. Yeah,

Nicole Smith 42:10
I’m excited. I think I might sign up for it, too. Now, is there anything else you’d like to share with us before we go into the three questions?

Georgina Siddall 42:21
Oh, I think we’ve covered everything. And the kitchen sink.

Nicole Smith 42:24
I love it sounds like when we go camping and we my friend always has a little bit of a laugh with me because we end up having a whole massive trailer full of all the things. Mind you, we have two kids so and we don’t take the kitchen sink. But watch this space. Who knows this year, we might.

Georgina Siddall 42:42
Look Sam and I got into camping a couple of years ago because I have to be honest, I didn’t grow up as a camper. So it is we now can’t go for anything less than four days because it takes so much time to unpack and repack everything that just goes for weekends.

Nicole Smith 42:57
Oh, yeah. Look, I love him. I love going out in nature. But I still need to have my conference. Got the double height inflatable mattress with the things. I know that the tent with all the things and yeah, but you know, it’s you. They’re in nature once you set up, but it’s great. So Oh, I love it. Right. Let’s get into the three questions. You ready? Let’s do it. Okay, what is your go to app that creates ease in your day?

Georgina Siddall 43:27
So it’s actually not an app per se. I’m just a little bit of a rebel. But I do rely heavily on the digital well being save its settings on my phone. So my phone becomes black and white at 8pm. And it’s incredible how quickly it loses its appeal. I also have time limits on certain social media apps and also news sites otherwise I can go down the rabbit hole and I just I lose myself in things that really aren’t important.

Nicole Smith 43:57
That is a fabulous tip. What phone do you have?

Georgina Siddall 44:01
I have an Android. Yeah, I can’t I have toyed around with apps like freedom but I did accidentally lock myself out of Google for an entire month so you do have to be very very careful when you’re setting up permissions.

Nicole Smith 44:16
Oh wow, was it that might have been a very quiet month Oh, no more googling

Georgina Siddall 44:21
My therapist says that it was a blessing in disguise

Nicole Smith 44:25
everything happens for a reason so universe telling us things so yeah. Oh, that’s fabulous. I think I’m gonna go and investigate some of those after this call as well. Okay, number two, are you an online paperless to do lover or a bit of a hybrid?

Georgina Siddall 44:43
So as I mentioned earlier, I like to journal so I always use a paper journal for that. When it comes to business. It has to be digital, like there is nothing that I hate more than a cluttered work play at the workspace. That’s just Want What piles of paper and you know, when it’s digital, you can access it from anywhere. And you don’t need to lug a great big planner around with you either. So I’m definitely digital when it comes when it comes to business.

Nicole Smith 45:15
Yeah, I love that I’m very, very heavily digital in my business stuff, especially when you go start growing your team. And the team is not all in the one location. You know, I just think back to the days in the corporate space, and you had these team meetings and like, how did the How did the people know where all the projects were at? Is everyone just managed it themselves? And just, you know, had that update? It was quite a big risk, really, if we didn’t have that central location of data of information. So yes.

Georgina Siddall 45:46
Spoken like a true systems and strategy expert.

Nicole Smith 45:53
Just the way the old brain ticks around.

Georgina Siddall 45:57
Look, I’ve got a project management background, so absolutely.

Nicole Smith 46:01
Yeah, so good. Okay, what would you do if you created more space in your world?

Georgina Siddall 46:08
I love this question. So one of my highest values is freedom. And since I started working for myself, I have been incredibly intentional about creating space in my daily life. You know, as I said to you, I’m going to the gym, I’m going for a float later, that said, vitality is growing. So I look forward to the day where Sam and I can spend less time working in the business and just enjoy each other’s company more, because at the moment, we like ships passing in the night. So we actually have a dream of building a small eco home on, on a on a piece of land surrounded by trees. And I just know that that is going to bring even more spaciousness in every sense of the word. And I’m so excited about it. And of course, you know, with the evolution of technology, it means that we can work from anywhere, it doesn’t mean that we have to, you know, dismantle our business.

Nicole Smith 47:10
That is fabulous. That sounds beautiful. Well, I hope that comes sooner rather than later. Because that idea of, you know, being out in the wilderness, it’s all just talking about with camping, you know, and I love the small homes. I think they’re beautiful. I just I don’t know if I could do it. But I love the idea.

Georgina Siddall 47:29
So that makes things a little bit easier on the vision board, and it’s going to happen,

Nicole Smith 47:34
It will happen. It’s going to happen soon. I am sure of it. So ah, thank you so much for sharing everything today. Where can we find you? Where are you? Where do you hang out

Georgina Siddall 47:45
I’m, I’m a really visual person. So my preferred hangout is Instagram at my @vitalitahealth. But you’ll find us on Facebook, and Pinterest and LinkedIn, all the places but Instagram is where you’re where I hang out most. And, you know, any friend of the calls is a friend of mine too. Please drop into my DMs say hello. And you can learn more about what we do here at vitalita.

Nicole Smith 48:15
Oh, fantastic. And as always, we’re going to put all those beautiful details in the show notes. So pop on over there, and go on and connect with Georgina because it’s just not She’s fabulous. She does these beautiful, you know, video interviews as well. With the well. It’s a wellness women.

Georgina Siddall 48:33
It’s every second Thursday, I have a conversation series wellness wisdom for Busy Women, which is a little bit of a mouthful. So interviewing experts, but also just regular women like you and me about what wellness looks like in their life because I want to make wellness feel accessible. I think there’s a lot of perfection, perfectionism and performative wellness that we see online. And yeah, I just want to get real with women.

Nicole Smith 49:03
I love it. Awareness. That’s the word of being the word of my month. I think awareness is so powerful. Once we become aware, you can take it wherever you want it to go. Well, thank you again so much for joining me. And I hope you have a good rest of your day. Thank you.

Georgina Siddall 49:21
It’s been such a pleasure.

Nicole Smith 49:24
For everybody else listening. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and enjoy creating space and time freedom, bye now. Well, there we go. Thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been such a pleasure having you on board. Have we connected on social shares? If not, please come on over say hi, I’m on all the platforms at the autism solutions. So I’d really look forward to seeing you over there. And if you enjoy today’s episode, don’t forget to tag me and I’d love it if you could leave a review and of course share As with others so others can come and join us next time all right then everyone have a fabulous rest of the week and until next time see you then.