Transcript

Nicole Smith
Welcome to Take Control With Nicole. As business owners we experience 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.

Nicole Smith
Hello, I’m Nicole Smith, COO, Operations Specialist and Systems Designer from The Artisans Business Solutions and welcome to Take Control With Nicole. Today I am speaking with the most fabulous Emma, all about what are you leaning into right now? First of all, as always, let’s introduce you. Emma Lovell is a coach, speaker and writing specialist in personal brand. Her mission is to help women to show up and shine so they can attract the work and life they want. Emma gives women the tools and support to grow their business, become an authority and build their own unique, fabulous brand. She is a speaker and an Emcee regularly taking to the physical and virtual stage to speak about business, personal brand, travel and mental health. She is also the host of not one but two podcasts, Lovelly Travels and Live And Love Your Brand Podcast. Wherever possible, she combines her passions of business and travel together as she sees life as one marvellous big adventure. Emma’s personal mission is to live a life that she loves, a lovely life and inspire others to do the same. Emma lives on the sunny Gold Coast with her Aquaman husband Matthew, her toddler Finn, and their fur baby cat Chichalla, Chachalla. How do you say it introduce T’Challa, T’Challa. Hello, welcome, so fabulous to have you here.

Emma Lovell
Yeah, all the nerdy Marvel fans know that my husband’s condition of the cat was that he got to name it. So Black Panther’s real name is T’Challa so, wakana forever.

Nicole Smith
There we go. I actually saw you shared on your stories about Matthew and his work. And I was like, coming from Brisbane in the Gold Coast as a young person. I remember going to, to there all the time. It was just like a travel back in time. So amazing.

Emma Lovell
Yeah, as a six year old going there and thinking, you know, just thinking what would my six year old self say like? Going and meeting the dolphins and now I just have it on tap and can go any day and go behind the scenes. And so my little boy is doesn’t know how lucky he is growing up with this access.

Nicole Smith
So fabulous, isn’t it? Well, let’s dive straight in. I’d love to hear a bit about your journey. And how did you arrive to personal branding, being your sort of love, life and sharing with others? And yeah, talk to me, tell me a little bit about it.

Emma Lovell
I’ll give you the very abridged version. I’ve been running my business for 14 years. I started it in uni, actually back had a little bit of a flashback this week, because I went to the snow to Thredbo. And it was there that I broke my back during university games. And because I had to rest with my broken back for about 10 to 12 weeks, I actually had the time to set up my ABN, set up my business name. I set up my blog and Twitter account and just kind of started, you know, started the business journey there. Turned some employment sort of gigs that I had into clients so I said, Can I invoice you instead of you paying me on the payroll and just started telling people I do this. So started out in PR marketing or studied Business majoring marketing and PR, got on the social media bandwagon really, like early and, you know, thinks it does just that thing of saying yes, and figuring it out later. So somebody said, Can you do our social’s? Or like, you’re you’re really good at that. Could you do it for us? Didn’t even at that time, it wasn’t a job we’re talking about like 2010/11? You know, it’s like, is that something that we pay me to do is fun stuff.

Emma Lovell
And then yeah, sort of Lent more into the writing later on. So copywriting and but yeah, my 10 year mark, I was feeling rather overwhelmed doing all the things. Even I was exhausted introducing myself. I was like, what do you do? PR marketing, social media writing, I work with this person, this person is better, like it was confusing for them. It was confusing for me. And I was just yet done. So I actually worked with a business coach who recognized my skills. And I was really focusing on messaging at that time and helping organizations get clear on their message, having one point of sort of a hub of content, not just pulling things out of the air. And so yeah, we decided, I love working with people. I was just kind of tired of like when you do contracting and freelancing and work with different clients, you sometimes don’t really get to get into their stuff. And you don’t actually sometimes get to see the final product, so, write, write, copy, and you never see where it lands. And so there wasn’t really that sense of satisfaction of the impact of my work. So I started working with people, so I could see them on their journey. And it was that, yeah, people, you know, who am I, I’m a bit lost, what am I gone through, go through change, or I want to, you know, go from corporate to starting my own business, or, I’ve been doing this role for all this time. And now I’m starting again, or women coming back to the workforce after having a child or divorce or I don’t know, or pandemic, like any sort of life transformation, you just kind of lose a sense of self a bit, lose a bit of identity and can’t see yourself clearly and find that really difficult to introduce yourself or put yourself forward and to even show up. And so yeah, that’s when I started focusing on personal brand and Pandemic helped me I guess, because people that, especially the online presence became very important. And I was already there and doing it and helping people through that kind of transition time. And here we are. So now I offer retreats, photoshoots, I have a course, a podcast, and-one-on one coaching as well. So, really love working with people.

Nicole Smith
It’s so amazing, and such an important place to be in because, you know, well, I’ve made that transition from employee through to business owner and all the different stages that come with it, and you do, even though you’re still you. It’s finding that, okay, it’s okay to wear bright colors, or it’s okay to use the language that feels naturally to you. You know, like, thinking about walking into one of the corporate boardrooms and saying fabulous, you know, to a roomful of black suits and ties, you kind of like, Oh, that feels a bit. But now, this is me. This is me and come on, you know, you love me, then let’s work together. It’s fabulous.

Emma Lovell
Nicole’s wearing yellow, beautiful, bright yellow, and you’re saying fabulous. And I’m sitting here in my fluro orange top, because I’m gonna go for a walk after this. Because maybe sometimes we can do what we want.

Nicole Smith
Yeah, it’s a real eye opener, isn’t it? Well, I’ve been talking to a couple of people. Well, yesterday, I went out and I hosted a co-working day. And I was out all day. So I was up early kids ready to Kinder school holidays here. So Simon had Sebi, out and at the center, 9:30, didn’t get home till seven. And like, that is a long day, compared to what I’ve normally been doing. And I was talking to a girlfriend on the way home who is in the employed world. And I caught myself for a minute going, Ah, so exhausting. And then thinking, that’s what employees do every day. So it’s a wonderful thing to have that choice as a business owner, on how you structure and I know that a moment in time, it’s not an everyday thing for me.

Emma Lovell
But that choice is something that’s really important. Like, it’s it’s that freedom, and that choice. And it was something that came up for me sometimes, in I guess, the first era of my business, I feel like it’s like, I mean, this decade, I plan to do this for a long time in the second decade. But it’s a really wild to say, but anyway, it’s a, there were days where I would just go I’d be like, yes, stuck at my desk, or starting this time, because I, maybe I was working with a client who, at that time, as you know, I was contracting in, and I just get my catch myself. And I’m like, where’s the free in freelancer? like, Where’s where’s the freedom be like, I do this for freedom and more recently, again, like my brain has just been screaming freedom in a fairly last few months, and happy to focus on it today, like talk about one of the two, it’s that running my business, the way that I want to run my business. Yeah, and because now that is, we have so many influences all around us, like you can open your phone and you see 18 other business owners straightaway and you’re like, oh, I should be doing that, I shouldn’t be doing this, I should be doing and you can really quickly end up running your business the way that doesn’t suit you. And it’s the way you think you should do it. And yeah, you lose all sense of freedom or sense of choice. You’re trapped again. And it’s like well, why are we why are we here doing that if I if I want to have that and, you know, to anyone who’s listening who’s in corporate like that’s how I feel about being employed. I felt trapped. I felt caged up. I’ve been offered contracts at times offered employment at times and the idea of I start to feel like my whole body like shutting down and yeah really, really this is the way that I want to do it and staying true to that AWS for yourself and staying true to what you want. Like I talked about attracting the life, sorry the work and the life or the life and the work like they’re not, you can’t separate them, they work together like, it’s all one life attracting what you want, not want this lady or that lady like. Nicole and I would run our business completely differently, which is fine.

Nicole Smith
Celebrate it.

Emma Lovell
Yeah, it’s not it’s fabulous.

Nicole Smith
Yeah. It is indeed fabulous. And it’s one of the things that we do here at The Artisans is support business owners, you know, solo, team, whatever it might be, to have that opportunity to pause and think about, what would a sustainable operating model look for you? And I’m not talking about environmental sustainability. I’m talking about human sustainability, right? So how can we structure a business that you are going to love as a business owner now and beyond, that your team are so excited to be in there because they can actually experience that flexibility, that what we’re talking about that freedom, still, still having the those goals and those structures and those things in place to actually have a successful business. Because ultimately, that’s why we start, right. And it’s just so, that’s what we’re building our whole business over here, we’ve done a big refresh or a big shake up over the last six months. And it’s so beautiful. It’s such a refreshing place to arrive, because it is designed, ultimately around how we as business owners, or me as a business owner, wants to live the life as the business continues to grow. So I love that we’re having this conversation today. Because it’s, I say this every time I go to podcasts, it’s like, bang on point to like, what is happening in my space right now. Yeah, I’d love to talk to you a little bit more about, I guess, those designs on how I guess you support your people, or how the journey that you’ve gone through around focusing in on what you need to support your well-being, to support your business, to support your family. All those things.

Emma Lovell
Yeah. Oh, look, yeah, well, it’s basically the people that I tend to attract, and probably people who, and I think it’s a common thing, that I do tend to work more with women. But it’s, it’s that not putting yourself first, not investing in yourself, not choosing you, its that giving, you know, the empty cup has been oxygen mask has been used to death, but it’s true. And I know what I tend to do is like, it’s not just, it’s not, you can’t pour from an empty cup. It’s like, I was told to actually need to fill my cup, and then give from the overflow. Yeah, but what we do is we just go oh, okay, there’s a few more drops in there. And like I’ve talked a little few drops, okay, cool, I can now give it away again. And it’s just like constantly trying to refill from the bottom, and just give yourself the bare minimum of like the dribbles, as opposed to being so full, so abundant, so, you know, inspired and excited that then you can go, well now I can be, you know, give that out. And I can serve and I can be generous. And, you know, I’m not saying it’s easy at all, but that’s where like the support came in. And I speak from a place of being like, you can use some of this work you cannot do alone. And the questions I’m asking my clients when I’m starting working with them, they’re questions that they may have never been asked, or they haven’t been asked for a long time. Questions like, what do you want for your life? What is your ideal lifestyle? What do you like working on? Who do you like working with? What are your values? You know, What, what inspires you, what lights you up? What are you passionate about? Like, I mean, I get people who are crippled by like me asking them what their favorite color is or what their favorite animal is. And I’m like, don’t don’t only ask those because sometimes it’s hard to articulate what we want. So when I’m trying to get an idea of who they are telling me your favorite color’s purple telling me that your spirit animal’s, a lion or your mythical, I’m giving you all my secrets away, my mythical creature’s a unicorn, you can go and look at those, they actually have symbolism. So sometimes those questions are easier than saying, Who are you? What do you want from your life? I understand that those are big things. But what I love to see as I work with these people is that the light starts to come back on, you know, they, I think we focus so much on the now and like we were talking about with that corporate to q, like that changed. I use that example of going from just being an employee to running a business. They just forget all of that work experience, and let alone the life experience. And they’re just like, oh, but what am I called now. And they’re just focusing on the role and the title. And we, I really don’t like introductions where you just say, I’m a this, and I’m a that, and I’m a that, it’s like, first and foremost I’m Emma. Yeah, and there are many parts and pieces of me. There are many parts of my story. I’ve had many experiences over the years, that all culminated to come to where I am today, and that same for those people, it’s like, like remembering you once won an award, or you will want this this position or you played on a sports team. And you achieved in that sense, like, all those things, make you who you are, and we can remember them. We just don’t go out and tell everybody, all those things. Because again, that would be overwhelming. But you need to know the story. Know who you are. And so then when you meet someone, you can pull out the introduction or the story or the piece that you need to, to build connection, because that’s what I feel it’s about as well. It’s about getting clear on who you are. There’s clarity, building confidence in owning who you are, saying who you are, introducing yourself. And that ultimately builds connection, because we need network we need, we need context. It’s not, I absolutely believe it is not what you know, it’s who you know. And so when people know you, like you, trust you, they will work with you. If they don’t know you, they don’t know where you are, what you’re doing what you’re about, no working.

Nicole Smith
This is where this conversation I’ve been having so frequently of times, it’s I’m always very much about the human to human connection, right. So we met an event on the beautiful Gold Coast at this Business Chicks event. And since connected on the, you know, the calls that we go on, and I’m going to come more often and just letting you know. But I realized about six weeks ago that I had been hiding myself away. Not on the social’s, I was still there. But in a physical sense. I was hiding myself away for reasons that are over here that are no longer and I was depriving myself of the thing that makes me shine, that makes my energy just sparkle, which is human to human in person connection. And so the last month in particular, you’ve seen me everywhere. I’ve been out, I’ve been talking, I’ve been hosting events, I’ve been at events, spoke at a summit, and all that has translated through into these fabulous things that are happening in the business. Decisions now that were harder six, two, three months ago even, were easy. My accountant said, Is it time? Are we transitioning to a company first of July? Hell yes, we are. Let’s do it. What is our vision for 2026 – Words. There it is. Are we doing a forecast? Yes, there it is. And all of a sudden that, because I have now filled my cup, as you said, I’m feeling it through energy you’ve just bubbling over. All of these things are just so much easier to move on through each and every day. And I do love the story thing. Sometimes I forget what I’ve done in my life. You know, people don’t remember, I forget that I was part of a artistic roller-skating team down in Cleveland, you met with no you live down there at Rollercade there. You know, I used to skate there two or three times a week during competitions, you know, all the things. And another fun creative side, I had a scholarship to school for singing for the last few years of life. But those things are you forget about them in general day to day, because you assume people are like, I want to know about your piece of paper on the wall. That’s what you’re equating to, whereas there’s so many beautiful areas that make up you as a person.

Emma Lovell
Yeah, I call it, it’s like a puzzle. And it was soon after I had my son, someone’s like, how are you going with all this new role of motherhood or this new title of motherhood? And actually, motherhood is a piece of me. And it’s like, it’s a big part of me. And my son is a huge part of my life. But I was like, it’s like a puzzle. You know, I’m a puzzle, beautiful puzzle. And there’s all these different pieces. And what happens, the people who are coming to me, they’re probably lost some of the pieces. They’re a bit disjointed, the puzzle’s not together, they can’t see the full picture. Or they’re trying to focus on just one piece. It’s like,

Nicole Smith
Yeah, hidden, hidden under the box lid when you’re trying to do it.

Emma Lovell
Yeah, it’s always that one piece that’s missing. But you know, it’s bringing them all back together. And when you put those beautiful pieces together, then you get this lovely picture. And it’s like, yeah, so motherhood is a piece of me. And it’s a piece of the puzzle. And I’ll tell people that I am, by the way, you know, I’m an agent for an Indian travel company. And they’re like, Oh, so you run that business to or like, oh, so, so you do that as well. It’s like, Yeah, but it’s like, it hasn’t come up in conversation or like, are you doing too much? I was like, it’s done. It’s not a full time business. Like, it’s something you know, I can be more than one thing. And again, I’m not going to tell you all of those things at once because it will be overwhelming and confusing. So because in this context, we’re talking about coaching, I’m talking more about coaching, then we speaking came up so we’re talking about speaking, travel comes up, okay, we’ll go over that. Well, you know, like, isn’t that the beautiful thing about getting to know someone is that you get to know more and more about them. And instead of making it like, oh, but Oh, I’m so confused, what are you? Like, I’m the person with a life like 35 years, I’ve done a few things, you know,

Nicole Smith
I just had this vision of like, you go to an event and you meet someone, and then you have one of the, you know, those old scrolls that they used to have. You be like, here’s my roll, roll, roll. It’s obviously glitter, a gold pen, like beautiful sparkles and all the things but like, you’d be like, I don’t, I don’t need to know that, right now. Let’s just, you’re a person, I’m a person, let’s have a conversation about that. And then as the things unwind, and you’d be like, Oh, I never knew that. How, that’s amazing. Why,

Emma Lovell
Yeah, more points of connection. And that’s why the personal things that we talk about, instead of just going being like, it’s a business event. So I’ve got to talk about my business. It’s like, you and I believe would have connected over your beautiful headband or your bright clothing, because I’m a magpie and attracted to bright colors and sparkle things. So I would have been like, that lady, I want to talk to her. Yeah, she’s bright, like, I’ll talk to her, which is fabulous. You know, I wear leggings that I forget, I’m wearing sometimes, and people are staring like, Oh, yes, there’s mermaid scales on my leggings, or unicorns on my leggings. But it’s a point of conversation. And we can start talking about that. And some people might be turned off by the fact that I have rainbow sparkles fluro around, others will be attracted to it. And just like you, they’re probably my vibe. So you know, sharing those, I think people get really worried about sharing personal things, and then really try to draw this line between professional and personal. And it’s just, it’s not possible. It’s, we are we are whole, but that you can then be selective about Yes, how much you share, and when you share and what you share. But you have to know the whole story about yourself.

Nicole Smith
That’s true, because we are, in a corporate land, you know, you do almost put a bit of a even though you try not to be another version of you, you do kind of put up these guards because you’re put against the others. You know, I think about that to our annual review time. I remember this one year, I was working for the C, COF funnily enough. COO, CIO, like the Chief of Secretaries, like Senior Assistant Physician. And I was going into this review with a dossier like an A4 lever arch binder full of evidence, why I deserve to get the next level of pay or the bonus, or whatever it might be. And it was like I had to provide all this evidence why I was worthy to be considered at da, da, da or equal to da, da, da. A lot of energy went into that. A lot of emotional energy, a lot of like physical. I do love a organized folder. So that was easy. But I just think, wow, like, it’s so freeing when you just say, Hey, I’m Nicole. And I’m amazing. And I’m fabulous at what I do, and we support people to be fabulous at what they do. I have amazing humans around me who are just doing their most amazing things. And what a place to be in. You know, it’s just freeing, isn’t it?

Emma Lovell
Yeah, that’s the word.

Nicole Smith
So good. So talk to me a little bit more about the journey you take your clients on. So you’ve shared some of the questions, which is, I can imagine can be a really eye opening journey for them as at first, and then as they peel those layers and really lean into them. But what else is part of what you do with them?

Emma Lovell
Yeah, we do as well, like one of the things that I talk about, and it’s always the first step is doing a brand audit. So understanding, you know, it’s like those questions that we’re asking that we actually go and look at evidence, like what’s actually out there about you? So some people have never Googled themselves, you know, you put your website up, and you never go and look at it. What is online out there about you? Having a look at, you know, going oh, like you just said, you know, I’m not getting anyone talking to me, I’m not meeting any new people, or woe is me, not these as well as me, but you know, have you been going to events? are you contributing? Like, I have so many people I know who are in communities, and they’re like, I don’t get much out of that. And I’m like, do you show up? Are you actively join conversations? Like, you get out what you put in? And I know, you can’t be everywhere all at once, but it’s like, you know, take responsibility for that. And there’s no judgment or shame on that. But it’s just going, am I being proactive? Where am I showing up? I get people to look at their inbox. I’m like, how much of your inbox is all one I say, look at your email signature, like can people find you can they contact you? Like, are they able to do make it easy for them, but also, how proactively being like, there are times where I’m just responding. I’m just checking my inbox just waiting for things to come in. You know, am I just going oh, I wish I could be on podcasts. Or am I saying, hey, I want to be on podcast.

Emma Lovell
It’s ah I have a podcast, you can be on mine and I’ll be on yours, you know, like, that’s it. Yeah, like even when I start to say that, like I even set that intention and say that out loud, like, I’d love to get on more podcasts literally like the day after I’ll get invited to three. I’m like, Okay universe, making me lazy, but

Nicole Smith
I do the same, right. So I’m the social’s X. However, many weeks ago, I said, by the end of October, I’d love to be on six more podcasts as a guest. Within a couple of weeks, I had four locked in, and I’ve still got a couple in the works now. And it’s just about putting that call out because people want to hear from you.

Emma Lovell
They want to hear from you. They want to know, I, you know, have people that are so frightened to put anything up. People don’t really also, as much as they do love, it does matter. They also are so involved in their own world, they don’t notice when I changed my my business at the 10 year mark, you know, I was like, Oh my gosh, I got to put out this poster, but to announce that there were people who were then like, oh, well, so you’ve started a business? I’m like, No, I think running a business for 10 years, or they’re like, Oh, is that what you did all along? Or? Oh, is that like, you know, they just, it’s really hard to hold all of us to hold all that information about older people, you know, all the time and things change. So it’s like, why don’t we keep telling them? I’m not insulted? If somebody says what do you do? Like, that’s my job to tell them. But one of the greatest things that I get is people recommending me going, you should work with me. She’s great. I don’t know exactly. But it’s like that’s up to me to do to work. If they’re the right fit that it’s always within the realm like they’re within like sort of promotion, ie marketing, social media, whatever, like, that’s fine. You’ve got me, you’re in the ballpark. Like, I didn’t expect you to everyone to know my elevator pitch perfectly. I don’t expect everyone to know my exact target audience. But I can tell them, you know, I can tell them and I can tell them often, so that they know. And so that when you’re at a table with somebody, and someone say, oh, I want to be a co-founder, a coach, and I said, Oh, well, I’m a coach, too. And somebody turns around, actually Emma you’re a personal branding specialist. And I was like, Thank you for paying attention. Yes. And within that I coach. Your like, nailed it. Thank you. So yeah, it’s doing that, like where am I now to know where I’m going. So the brand audit. And then it’s like setting goals. It’s like, well, okay, what do we want to work on? Because otherwise you go, Oh, I got to do all the things. Do you want to be on podcast do? Do you maybe we need to start with you going into the room, you need to start attending some more events. You’re not on LinkedIn, or you don’t have a presence there. Could we start with one post a week, like just starting, getting them to start and I am not one for saying you need to be on tick tock, and you need to be here and you need to be there. you just need. I’m like, I had a client come and she had been it has an email list. Decent list, but she only emails them seasonally. So it’s like every autumn, start of summer, started spring. I was like, could you email them this week with an offer? But then once a month would be huge? And then or could we go once a fortnight like, you know, because there were things that would working fine, I’m looking, the website’s good, social’s are good, you have offers, you have the like, and then when we do that emails like Aha, like you’re not directly speaking to your audience. Yeah, you’re going into the inbox or like, I’ll just, when I really want to talk to people, jump in the DMS or jump on a call, you know who like if I know them, like hey, by the way, I’m doing this thing do you want to come? We could be, it could be that simple sometimes. It’s literally like, here I am. This is me, information, value, knowledge, sharing. This is what I offer. Yeah, that’s it. It’s hard, I understand it’s very overwhelming, lots of places to be, so really we break that down for them, we work out where they want to be, what they’re trying to attract and sometimes as well. It’s like I think people get caught up in they’re like, they need like a 1000 people and it’s like, I know for me I’m like focusing on this for like I had four new clients coming in a month four and whether that’s four for a photoshoot or four for a retreat or four to work with me one on one. That would be really consistent, amazing business like, four so I don’t need an audience of 10,000. I need to nurture the audience that I have and focus on those four and when I talk to a lot of my clients the number seem to come alot around four. Like if you wanted a consistent income, da da da, good amount that you can manage that four, four or eight. Then why are you trying to talk to 10,000.

Nicole Smith
Is it kind of like they know this many people they do but it’s like, be a six figure business and go and make the world and like do all this. Like it feels like just yelling at me. You have to do this to be here. But when you actually look inward and you do what your offer, what you’re there for, what you purpose, like, how are you supporting your people, how does that translate into the financials, and you look at those figures, it doesn’t, you don’t really need 100 trillion, depending on the price of the service and offer, of course, but it can be really a beautiful awareness on where it actually sits for your business. And every business is different as well. So you might be a solo human. So your capacity will be here, versus a business with a team, so their capacity will be there. And that’s the other thing, is that comparison of looking at Fred and Joe and all the people around, you don’t know what their internal structures are, like, you know, just lean, look on inwards, focusing on you and your forward momentum.

Nicole Smith
Interrupting this week’s episode for a special story. A man was once with his wife’s family for Thanksgiving. During the preparation of the meal, he observed his wife cutting the back of a ham before putting it in the oven. Curious, he asked her why she cut the back of the ham. She responded. It’s tradition, it’s the way we’ve always done it in our family. Her mother just arrived, so he took the opportunity to go over and ask why they cut off the back of a ham. She said it’s tradition, it’s the way we’ve always done it. Fortunately, his wife’s grandma was also there, so over here went and asked the same question. She replied, once upon a time, the pan was just too small, and it was the only way to get the ham to fit in the pan. What a curious question and ponder to have a look at in your business and the ways that you are operating. That response; we’ve always done it that way. Imagine how many more ham sandwiches this family could have enjoyed over the year. The fabulous thing is that you have the opportunity right now to lead your team and show them how there is a new, better and simpler way to operate. If your goal is to streamline your business, then systemising your operations is a fabulous place to start. When you’re ready. This is how The Artisans support our clients each and every day. And we look forward to exploring how we can support you to shape that experience for your business.

Emma Lovell
Yes, and there’s so many other questions to it, than just yeah, the revenue that you’re making. And, you know, revenue number two as well, like, maybe you want to focus on the profit, or, you know, one of the things that I’ve been so happy with, since having my son, so he’s two and a half now, is that yeah, my income took a dip for a couple of years. And, you know, I was like, it took me a little while to feel the impact of that. But I think, Okay, what I was happy about when I reflect upon that time is yes, the income wasn’t where I wanted it to be. But the time was, the amount of time I was spending in my business, I was very happy with that. And I’m like, considering the amount of time I spent, I’m very happy with that income. What I would have had to do five years before to earn that same income was so much more like so many more hours, so much more hustle. Like, I don’t have to do that anymore. And it’s like, there’s times where like, I could work more. But actually, it’s like, how do I work smarter? Or how do I use the time that I’m at my desk better or I’ll acknowledge like, April was hard. And April was hard, because there was school holidays, so alot of people weren’t around. There was so many public holidays. So even though my son does go to childcare, someone said, maybe you need to start putting him in more days. And I said, no, because they just weren’t there on the day and I had to be there to take care of him was the same day, my husband works. So that wouldn’t have made a difference. And I just did not have enough days in the month to really generate income and was like, okay, well, that’s a slower month. And something to think about for the future that those holiday times do seem to be impacting more now. So, you know, just looking looking at it more strategically at the time, but I do not sit there and go, oh, I want to earn more, I’ll work more like I’ll just do more hours. And like it just doesn’t translate that way. I just look at it and go, How can I scale this? Or how can I increase this? Or how can I be more productive and use the time well, you know, I go and look at the expenses, and I go okay, well, you know, if I want to take home more I go, could I cut back on a lot of that. And I’m like, I’m quite happy with the spending, I need to increase the revenue, and then that, you know, the profit will change. Yeah, like just looking at that stuff and looking at what I want and the way that you would look at that profit and loss statement, the way that you would look at my time and my week plan. May not suit wouldn’t suit you, but it’s the way I like it.

Nicole Smith
And that’s how it should be. Yeah. And I think that’s you know, it does come down to awareness in all the factors. So a strategic investment that I made for me and the business was this time last year I engaged Amanda, like an accountant to have a monthly meeting with me and we go through all of the reports, we go through the Xeros, we look, talk about the all incomings and the outgoings and, and it’s just that created container of space to really connect in with what is happening. And looking at what where I am as well, from an energy point of view, you know, is that next, whatever it might be, is that actually achievable right now, do I have capacity to do that, whatever it might be. And that said, my experience, different to yours, different to Fred’s over there. Like everyone has a beautiful journey of what they’re doing and how they’re going to create their business. And I think talking about these things, and finding the support people in your world that maybe if your skill set is not quite there to lean on into it’s, I can say, personal experience has been the best thing in the world, she just makes me feel so supported.

Emma Lovell
We shouldn’t have to do it alone. And, you know, I was before earlier today recording a solo podcast of mine and just saying, like, please do, as I say, not as I did, and don’t wait 10 years to get these kinds of support. Like I had bits and bobs, but to have consistent support and to just invest in myself or invest in that person. It was like, they’re, if they’re ahead of me, or they know more than me, or they have, they can do it in five times as fast. And that is worth my money. Because my time is precious, time has become my most precious commodity. Time is, time is everything, you know, and that shifted when I had a child because he I just used to be able to work till God knows. Like we were talking, I was up at 4:44 this morning with my son in my bed, you know, I don’t have the luxury of going, I’ll just do it in the morning, or I’ll just stay up late. I’ll pay for it. And so I go, well, I literally have to pay for it sometimes if I want to get it done, and really focus it on what I’m good at and what I want to do. And I think I don’t know, you sort of thought about having this patch. I don’t know there’s something happening energetically or universally, because I found May I just really hit a wall that it really, I found it really challenging. I found May last year as well, so I don’t know if its a seasonal thing now, but you know, there is stuff happening in the world. Everyone’s talking about money, stress, da da da. But I had a lot of having my own personal life and what you said about the energy thing was so true. And, you know, this sort of niggling had been coming up for me, and basically was like, you know, I was running this program, and I loved the women in the program. But to run a successful group program, you have to constantly bring, be bringing people in and constantly promoting, which I and doing some, doing launching is sort of the way to do it or to have some evergreen campaign. And I just was like, do I want to make that commitment? Yeah. And what was lovely was I looked like lovingly went to my people. And I said, I think I’m going to close the program June 30, today. And so they said, that’s great. Like, that’s all good. And yeah, it’s been good, and whatever you need to do. And it was such a lovely, like two-way street, you know, they’d had the value for the program, but I didn’t want to keep running it and I could have run it as ongoing, bringing people in, staying in for 12 months. And also, I just although I love group situations, and that’s, I get a lot, I realized that I get that from the speaking. Yeah, and presenting and going in and working with teams or doing these, you know, going doing trainings or things like that. I really love that, I’m a really sort of, I don’t know, it’s like an action. Or like, I like the quick action. I like to go in, do the pizzazz and go and yeah, and I also really like working with individuals one-on-one as well. So it was like the group can be in that situation. I don’t need to have an either or these big group. I don’t have to have this big community. That’s, you know, I love being you and I are in a number of communities. I love going and being in them being active. I don’t need to recreate one of those. And it was one of those like everyone else is doing it. I better do it. But that’s the model. That’s the model.

Nicole Smith
Because it was ago wasn’t it? It was like everyone because I’ve got a community, The Members Lounge. It’s interesting, I created it and I opened the doors. I don’t really talk about it very often. The people that are in there, I do still get really energized by it very, I guess in a way the content. It’s a little investment of time for lots of energy recharging when I’m in that space, which is fabulous, but I love what you’ve done here because it’s reflecting on what actually is going to be the right way for me to get that energy spark, to be able to support and service my community in what you know what way and being okay saying hey, this is come to its natural end, the season is evolving. Moving on.

Emma Lovell
I actually, and years ago, that would have been really hard to do. But there was no, it was just, you know, as it did probably was lurking there for a while, and I just wasn’t able to launch like, yeah, just wasn’t able to get it out there. And it’s like, What’s stopping me? Isn’t the time? Is it that we’ve got this stuff happening in the family? Is it? What is it and I just, it was like, I think it was, I did, I didn’t necessarily want to do it. And I really wanted to get back to that one on one coaching. That’s how I started saddled with the 12 week program. And ultimately, I can take people through that steps, but I wanted to make it more accessible to. So I’ve gone back to, is I have one-off, you can book one hour with me. Yeah, one hour and in that hour, we will take massive action and move you forward. Or I can do a package of those hours. So if you want to do a couple months, like check-in once a month and and have some support along the way, we can do that. Or if you want to go, I want to go all in, I want to revamp, I want to overhaul, I want to just really get clear on my brand, we can do a day. And I can come and be with people for a day. And and then you know, I can do master classes, I could do workshops, I can do special events, there’s other ways that I can get that group connection energy that I don’t have to show up and build and grow this, this thing year on year on year on year. And it was, it is very freeing.

Nicole Smith
I love it. I equate it to, in the past I have done musical theater. And it’s a very intensive three months of twice minimum a week rehearsals. Learning, obviously, all the songs and the dances and costumes and the connection. And you become this like insular group of like a unit dancing across the stage doing the things. And then all of a sudden, it’s show week, and it’s like we’re live and the makeup and the lights and all the things. And then you bump out and you’re like, ah, oh, okay. Like that’s over. That’s done. And I’ve been contemplating. If I’m ready to go through that journey, again, do I have the energy and the space, the investment of my mind and my brain and the time that it will remove me from my family to do that. And I kind of feel like that is similar, the similar type of energy to launching all the time. It’s like, Oh, I’ve got a job now. Okay, quick, we’re doing another show, gonna, oh, I want to get. And yes, you get this sometimes get these energy buzzes. But there’s that Oh, at the end, you know, and some people thrive from it. I know my sister-in-law, you know, show after show after show. It’s like you have a finished one. You auditioning for the next one. But it’s for me, I’m like, Oh, that feels really? That’s a lot right now.

Emma Lovell
Right now as well, you know, there’s no saying and literally was in the shower before, okay, but it was like thinking, maybe I do want the community to go to my group into this, maybe the podcast can have a community. Thinking a membership community, I was like, just, like just, like mull it and park it. You know, it was like, we don’t have to do that today. We don’t have to do that today. And I, I’ve hired an online business manager. And she’s great for that. Because she’s like, great, good. Let’s, let’s focus on that next week. Oh, like we got the resources page up, which was a huge win, been on the list for two years. Like that, like, let’s just we’ve got the back, like, let’s aim to add one new thing a month. Let’s add all the things. Let’s create all the other things now to go there if you’d like. But there’s some other priorities that we meet, like, let’s go and start on that one. And I’m all about the 70%, 80%. And it’s like 70%, 80%, done. You don’t know that it’s 70% done, I know that its 70% done. To you it looks like a website page. Well done website page now that, but we always go, oh it’s not finished. It’s not finished. It’s not done, and it’s not perfect. And then at the moment, I honestly would go out with 40%. I’m like, we just need to keep things moving. And then we can revisit.

Nicole Smith
It’s the momentum, right? I always connect it back to that momentum, when you start to roll that ball down the hill or up up the hill, if you’re pushing it down the hill, you know, if you kind of stop it, you got to get it moving again. Right. So it’s like get it out there, you know, feel that thing and iteration. It’s like what we do with our system, you know, systems and processes. It’s never stuck in stone, right? It’s there at a point in time based on what we know, right now is the best way of working. We get it beautiful, we connect it in. But, you know, the most amazing feedback. I worked with a business seven years ago, as an employee, had a conversation with someone. And he said, you know, we were talking about the processes and systems that you implemented into the business back then. I said yeah, he goes, they’re still the foundational elements that we’re working on. We’ve moved and changed them a bit, but the ultimately the design is still there and serving the business now. And that is, I think, what if we can live like that, know that it’s there. And it is evolving as we learn new things, what a fabulous place to be at and it’s out there, you can connect with it. It’s not just finding in the backend,

Emma Lovell
it’s not set in stone as well, you know, like that being able to change, being able to evolve, and we do personal brands. And with the clients that I’m working with, you know, that’s the thing to say, it’s like, we don’t just do this work, and it’s done, like, because then something new will happen. And that, that could knock you off course again, but it’s not going to, you know, with these tools and strategies and this process that we’re going to go through, you will be able to get back to yourself a lot quicker. And you’ll be able to reconnect to yourself quicker than having done it the very first time and you just go back to like, you know, it is, it’s a bit of a cycle. And I’m honest about that, because I don’t want I’m not going to come around and go I’m going to, we’re going to build your brand and in one day, and that’s it forever, and it’s gonna be amazing. And you know, because life changes. And I’m, you know, announced it, I’ve already announced a little bit, but I’m about to go through a big change. And in will be going through this journey myself. Because I’m rebranding, I like to say, shifting the brand, shift. Because it’s me. And I’m going to stop working as my business name. And I’m going to be working with Emma Lovell.

Nicole Smith
Amazing. Yeah, adulation, fabulous. People,

Emma Lovell
Wow, that? Yep, good. Good job, only took me four, four years like my business coach would have wanted me to do this. But I wasn’t ready, and I’ve gone through this journey. And then last September, I was driving off a mountain called Clear Mountain actually. And literally had this moment of like, and I felt like that’s it, it’s time. And yeah, and then but it’s, you know, that was October, November. Yeah. Like it takes time to integrate that. And then to implement that. And now I’ve set a goal by first of September. Whenever you’re listening. It’s first of September, you better see my new website, new website, new podcast, the Emma Lovell brand will be out there. But yeah, that’s so that’s going to be a shift for me and I can’t wait to and I’m not doing anything behind the scenes, ooh, and then the reveal, like I’m…

Nicole Smith
You’re talking about it through the journey. Yeah, got it, you know,

Emma Lovell
And leaking, like, letting things out and adjusting as I go. Because otherwise, I think that would it would build up to be that big thing. Yeah. And would the perfectionism would come in, and it would never be ready, and all that sort of stuff. And it’s like, we just got to start these transition. And before I know it, the brand would just be Emma Lovell. And I would, won’t even kind of remember what it used to be like, so yeah, just I, I’m really honest and open about that journey. Because I want people to know that I’m going through it too. And, you know, I get it and understand, and I’m never going to sit on my high horse and say you should do this. And you should do that. Because I would only ever give guidance and things that I would do myself.

Nicole Smith
And I think if anybody and I’ve said this to people in the past in conversations, if anyone comes in and says you should, you must, it’s the only way. Maybe just rethink the conversation. Because there is infinite ways on running a business, being human, connecting with what’s right for you at the right time, different times, we all evolve. And we are really the only people that can shape that decision. And that’s that way of being for us. We’ve got these beautiful guides like yourself, and you know, people out there in the world, but ultimately, they are guides. We choose the path we go down.

Emma Lovell
Yes. Yeah. Support, the guides. Yeah. Like, yeah, not the, the oracle or the guru or the, yeah. I never like that. Yeah, yep.

Nicole Smith
I love it. Oh, my goodness, we have been talking for an amazing amount of time. Have we covered all the things? You know, I love these when these conversations happen. And I just glanced up at the clock. And I’m like, Oh, wow. All right. I reckon we’re almost at an hour. I love it.

Emma Lovell
Yeah, I like, is there anything else you wanted? I feel like your your audience now knows my entire life. And behind the scenes, but you don’t, there’s plenty more to know. So please, I’d love to connect with you.

Nicole Smith
Go and connect properly, human to human connection. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your podcasts before we, I’ve got three questions we asked all I guess so we’ll do that. But tell us a little bit about your podcasts.

Emma Lovell
So one is on pause so you don’t feel too overwhelmed by the fact that I’ve got two that I started out. I went on this road trip in 2019 with a friend just to prove a point. We went to Europe and we went to five countries in three days. Because you can, so we just did a trip. Yeah, we could. Literally, it was like, let’s do this thing, and we’re gonna visit. So I have a mission. My mission is to vision visit every UN recognized country in the world. I’m up to 64. So I’m on my way to the 195 UN recognized countries. So we got through a few on that trip. And I was like, oh, yeah, we’ll just do tena year. And then obviously had to slow down a little bit. But then on that trip, my friend and I were like, listening to podcasts. We’re like, we could do a podcast. We’re hilarious. We’re great. Like, and thanks to the pandemic, we actually had time to start the podcast. So we started it in the podcast, talking about travel, where you couldn’t travel. And we’ve got up to 87 episodes. And I very much, I have a travel community for that, and a Facebook group, Travel Community, and it’s called Lovelly Travels, I’m Lovelly, I travel. And I definitely will reignite that, probably more on an ad hoc basis. But that’s really a passion and a passion project, a lot of fun. But then, because I learned all the skills of running the podcast, then it got to a point where when I really feel like I want to do one for my business, and I want to have, I was having the people on the podcast to talk about travel, but I also knew them through business. And I was like, I want to have conversations about that. And so the other podcast is Live and Love Your Brand, personal branding podcast. And I talk to interesting, wonderful people about their journey about what living the life that they love looks like and attracting the work and life they are the people who can support people to build their brand. And then I give sort of tips and tricks and guidance on things like getting testimonials, how to do a brand audit, you know, some there’s exercises that I use with my clients. So yeah, that’s up to 77 episodes too so.

Nicole Smith
Getting close to 100. So exciting. Excited. Yeah, it’s really fun when you see the numbers kind of because I obviously we’re doing a podcast today, surprise, surprise. But we’re, I think this will be episode maybe 126. And when I got to 100, I was like, oh, wow. Like, wow, because it’s such a like, I love conversations. And it’s so easy. Like we’ve exampled today, we’ve been on the line for the time, and it’s just, feels like five minutes, because we’ve just been having this glorious, connected conversation, right. And it’s just so beautiful. I just love it. So congratulations. It’s exciting. So pop over and listen to both of those, especially if you love travel. I am excited to get a little bit more back into travel. Obviously, the last few years have been a little restrictive with that. But I’m actually coming up to Queensland in September. I know that’s not that far. But I feel like you know when we’re there.

Emma Lovell
Please, please, when anyone comes to visit the coast, I’m happy to catch up.

Nicole Smith
Amazing. So good. Well, let’s do the three questions. Are You Ready? Ready? Okay, what is your go to App that creates ease in your day?

Emma Lovell
Yeah, it’s a funny one. I literally said this yesterday to somebody, it’s the Notes App, these yellow and white little Notes App. Because I just need to get it out of my brain and put it down and it helps me a lot to organize my thoughts. You can do little tables in it, you can do little checklists, you know, tick things off, track my black, I’ll do my money plans in there, like they live in other places at other times, but I just know that I can always open that up and just start writing and get it out of my head and onto the paper.

Nicole Smith
So important to share it with at least something else right to get it out of the brain.

Emma Lovell
And I’ve literally written, I was due to do some travel writing on the side. And I’ve literally written the travel article into a Notes App and then emailed it to myself and then put it into Doc and then tidied it up. But it’s like, had I not done that I might have taken a lot longer to do it. So Notes for the win, very simple.

Nicole Smith
Amazing. I love it. And the simple apps are the best ones. It’s got to be really easy and enjoyable to make your, you know, just make it a little bit easier every day. So amazing. Online, paper, hybrid, To-do-list lover?

Emma Lovell
Paper, I’ve got piles here, shuffling paper. I do have, so again, I do like using the Notes thing, like I will put onto the paper and then we can send it to the places where it lives. But anytime I’ve tried to have sort of a virtual one it doesn’t feel like lost in the abyss and I do like that all crossing something out or highlighting it’s like oh, so satisfying.

Nicole Smith
Perfect. Love that. What would you do if you created more space in your world?

Emma Lovell
Probably travel.

Nicole Smith
Of course. Yes. That makes sense.

Emma Lovell
Travel, or you know, something that I’m gonna do very soon but really just a bit more walking like you know, I think it’s a shame when the day, it feels to fool to even get outside. And there are days like that and that’s sort of not okay, so making that space whether it be five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour. It doesn’t have to be three weeks, you know, it. Yeah, I think doing something simple like that. So, walking moving, being in the air.

Nicole Smith
There is really something to be said about being out in the physical space. You know, like, it’s, I know, for me when I’m feeling a little in, and I go outside I just stand on the back deck, and I look up most of the days, it’s, well, we live in Melbourne. So let’s just say it’s blue skies sometimes. And I’ve got this glorious Banksia rose over the arch and the yellow flowers are starting to come out in the sun just shines in my face. And it’s just this literal recharge of energy. And it’s just so beautiful. So that’s a great thing to lean into, so, good. Well, thank you so much. This has been just amazing to connect with you more. And where can people find you? Where are you hanging out?

Emma Lovell
Find me on LinkedIn, Emma Lovell. So L O V E double L, you can find me on Instagram Lovelly Comms. So the Double L is there again. I spell my lovely with a double L. it is a play on words. I’m Lovelly by name, lovelly by nature. And my website lovelycommunications.com. So for now, for now, we’ll have to do an edit in the show notes for when the new site comes. But that was just about to say, the podcast Live and Love Your Brand podcast or Lovelly Travels. So always with the double L.

Nicole Smith
Double L, we’ll put all of those in the show notes. And we will update them when you go live first of September. And yeah, please hop on over and connect. And if you’re in one of the communities, we’re in one, we are one roof together, and this is chicks together. So Emma is around all the time and worthwhile just coming and connecting. Because what a fabulous conversation we’ve had today. And you’ll just enjoy it in the person as well. Luckily, if you’re in the Gold Coast, you can actually go and meet her, which will be amazing.

Emma Lovell
Thank you so much.

Nicole Smith
You’re welcome. Well, thanks so much for joining me today. It’s been such a pleasure having you. And I’m really excited that we made the space to do this. And it’s such a valuable conversation. Thank you. Wonderful. Well, thank you everybody out there who’s joining us today have the most fabulous rest of your week creating clever systems for your business. 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 socials yet? If not, please come on over say hi, I’m on all the platforms at The Artisan 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 this 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.