Today we’re chatting with Mariah MacInnes all about why your health should come first as a business owner.

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Full Episode Transcription

Nicole Smith 0:02
Welcome to take control with Nicole. As business owners, we experienced firsthand the fine line between our personal and business life. 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 Mariah MacInnes here with me and we are going to be talking about why your health should come first as a business owner. pretty important topic if you’re asked me, but firstly, I would love to introduce you to Mariah aka content Queen Mariah. Firstly, Mariah started content queen in 2019. After feeling a pull to live the life travelling and exploring what the world has to offer. she now lives the digital nomad lifestyle while building her content marketing agency. Oh, now if that’s not a life to live, what is well hello, Mariah, thanks so much for joining me today. So exciting to have you here.

Mariah MacInnes 1:24
Thank you so much for joining me your voice. So calming! And your podcast episode. Your podcast name is so good. Like I didn’t even click about the rhyme like out of sort of like, oh, love it. But no, thank you for having me.

Nicole Smith 1:40
Yeah, it’s funny you didn’t when you go to create something new and you’re like, what am I going to call it? You go you make? Well, I do anyway, the process of the spreadsheet. Yeah, all the names, all the combinations. And yeah, we landed on that one. And I’m like, Oh, yeah, that makes sense, doesn’t it? Yeah, what I do, and it’s who I am. Let’s put them together. I love the love the work the use of words. Thank you. Well, I would love if you would like to share all about who you love, your journey, your business. All the things love to hear about it.

Mariah MacInnes 2:11
Absolutely. So yes, my name is Mariah. I’m the founder of content Queen, which is a content marketing agency. And I am a digital nomad, as Nicole said in as a digital nomad during COVID is a very strange concept. So right now I’m a digital nomad at my parents. Well start navigating where I go next. But I founded the business because I really wanted to and also like work for multiple people and, you know, be able to tell stories, I love storytelling, it’s always been something and as I become more of a business owner, in terms of like, I guess I’m more established and forming a business and sort of navigating team members and what I love doing because you become a leader, you know, within your business very quickly, how much I love telling people story and how much I love telling my own. So I love sharing stories I’ve always loved show and tell when I was a kid, and hence why I love the travel, because travel allows you to just create these stories that you probably never thought were possible. Especially I grew up in a really small country town, just out of Melbourne, and you know, to go to different places like the beach, or the star or whatever, like, it was always a journey and always an experience always different to where I grew up. So being able to explore different places, always brings on amazing stories. And as a as a content marketing agency, we sort of really help business owners create their own story and tell their journey and be able to create that brand awareness. And then of course, they can serve the audience that they want. So that’s like the business and entrepreneurial side of me. But also, as you know mentioned about taking control of your health is, I have recently gone through a bit of my own health journey. And that’s why I’m really passionate about sharing it and telling everyone else because I feel like it happened to me because I love telling stories. So I was never going to be shy of sharing my own story. And yeah, so I guess that’s what we’re going to talk about in today’s episode, but and it’s all about this journey that I’ve created, you know, using social media and things like that. It’s, it all does come down to that level of self awareness that I’ve been able to not develop because I think it’s still developing. I think self awareness is always growing. But I’m bringing more awareness to my self awareness journey. And if I look at it really interestingly, connects with my business because as a content creator, it’s all about brand awareness. And then my health journey is self awareness. I feel like there’s this theme of awareness that I’ve really started to harness in the last, you know, couple months.

Nicole Smith 4:58
Yeah, I love that in the story. Telling element in particular, like, it just makes me think, you know, going away and sitting around a campfire, and you know, being all revved up and snuggly because it’s cold outside, and you’ve got to fire worrying. And, you know, you really listening and connecting in with the people that surround you. And that’s something I know, from when I started my business. And as it’s evolving to where we’re still going, we’re always evolving and becoming aware, as you said, being able to share your experiences is the best way to learn and connect, not just for yourself, but for others as well, who may be just a few steps behind the in their journey. So be able to help them through that, which is so good. Yeah, so the Health Awareness is a key one the self awareness, like, as business owners, we love what we do. So it’s not work. It’s not hard, it’s not something that we have to do. We love doing it. But all of a sudden, it can consume and take over, and you forget to look inside. So I’d love to hear a little bit more about your journey. I know, you went through quite a big thing last year. So yeah.

Mariah MacInnes 6:14
Yeah, of course, definitely going to share so. And it’s so true, because when I, I guess it all stems back for me quite a while ago, all these symptoms and, you know, warning signs of my body, I had them for quite a while. But you know, in 2020, that’s where it started to really ramp up and obviously coming into this year. And it sort of in a way, I think my business helped me because it allowed me to connect back in with myself for this really strange reason. Because what I was finding is I was working so much, and when you work nine to five, I mean, depending on the job that you work in, but I was not. I wasn’t working really hard in my corporate job, like I was I had a really amazing boss had a really good experience. He was like, really good with work life balance and things like that. And then as I came into business, obviously, that’s what we want is that work life balance. But then we actually find we don’t we don’t initiate that

Nicole Smith 7:16
I’ve seen recently on I think it was Instagram, there’s a few posts going around. I’m gonna leave my nine to five so I can get work life balance, and I can work like 100 hours a week instead of sitting back gone. Yeah, you know, especially when you first start that easy, because you like, first of all moving from that kind of corporate space of like doing no other doing things that you forget that in a business, you’ve got this on an in the business. And that’s about working out how those things mesh together. Yeah. And because that’s your new world now. It’s not like work life. It’s like It’s like, it’s life. Yeah, I haven’t worked out the word yet. But I’ve got this concept in my head of Hell yeah.

Mariah MacInnes 8:01
Yeah. Yeah. To share that with the world when that comes, because, yeah, it’s true. And I think like, obviously, the good thing about working for myself during this, this whole journey is, you know, being able to make the decisions to prioritise myself. And, you know, doctor’s appointments during the day or things like that, even though my workplace was really good with that. I think, when you work for yourself, it’s easier to make those calls and you have to check with anyone if that’s okay, you just you just make that decision. But so I guess, you know, 2020, for me, was really business development focus. So I was like, launching all the things, doing all the things, which and there’s nothing wrong with, I guess, working all of the hours in your business if you love it. But it’s always about just checking in and being aware of when you are tired, when you do need to stop instead of like, I just this can’t wait till tomorrow, it can it definitely can wait till tomorrow. And that’s one thing that I learned like, and staying up till midnight depends on how you work, but even at least trying to get that good level of sleep, even if you do go to sleep at midnight or 2am. Like not getting up at 7am or you’re actually having that decent sleep. And so, for me last year, I was getting lots of test on I’d had, you know, just symptoms after a gallbladder removal like simple operation in 2017. That just sort of escalated and I kept getting a lot of pain and but also at the same time I was a side hustler that would party on a weekend. I was a side hustler that would get up at 4am. So she could go to the gym before work. Like if we’re gonna talk about balance. Yes, my my nine to five was balanced, but everything else wasn’t because I was just cramming everything else in. So then when I stopped working my nine to five and COVID happened, I started to learn that I needed to slow down because getting up at 4am or 430 was not good. And partying on the weekend was not ideal for my body. And that was so many warning signs, like, obviously, it just took two tumours to be like a massive warning sign. So yeah, at the end of last year, that was when they told me I had a tumour on my bow. And they were like, it’s fine. It’s benign, and everything is like, okay, but you know, you’ve got to process those emotions. So I didn’t had a mini breakdown in a weekend where I just was very frozen and couldn’t leave the couch. And that was all normal. And then I decided to leave that digital nomad life and move to Sydney. And I said to my doctor, like, Oh, yeah, okay, but I’m moving to Sydney. She’s like, it’s fine. You know, we’ll make it happen. And then from getting to Sydney into early Gen, it went from one tumour benign to two tumours, malignant and major operation on the cards. So that was a lot to process. And, you know, the first thing that you turn to is like, Oh, my God, like, I own my own business. What am I going to do? And lots of people said to me, like, Oh, you own your own business. It’s great. That’s so easy. You don’t have to tell your employee and it’s like, yep, as much as I think I’m lucky from that standpoint. Can you just remember that my if I don’t work, I don’t get paid, then I think it’s like, I had like, 40 days sick leave in at the corporate job I worked in because I just never needed them. I mean, I probably did most the time. But that was back when you’d go even if you had a sniffle. Now, you wouldn’t even bother, would you?

If you go with a sniffle. But um, yeah. And everyone was like, Oh, yeah, you’re your own boss. Like, it doesn’t matter. I was like, Yeah, cool, like, who’s gonna pay my rent when I’m in hospital, because like, those things are still happening. And that’s when it sort of dawned on me like, Oh, my God, like, if I’m not healthy, my business is not going to. It’s not going to survive. It’s. And I mean, I was very lucky at that time that I brought on a content writer to help me so she could hold the fort, but also, like, she could only do so much there were my clients and her clients. She couldn’t serve them both. So she obviously could bring in some revenue for me whilst I was in hospital, but yeah, it was quite scary. And then you’ve got clients that when you come back, they’re like, Oh, actually, you know, things have changed in a month since you’ve been in hospital. We’ve done a shift, we potentially don’t need you anymore. And that’s fine. Because that happens as business. Yeah. But when you’ve come out of hospital, and you’re now ready to like, start living this life again. And you’re like, Okay, this is this is scary. And that was sort of a wake up call for me as well, because I found myself stressing about money and stressing about business. And then I said to myself, like, stress is the reason one of the reasons why you probably hear I had quite, I’m very stressed head, I always have been from a young age. And there’s just some things that have happened in my life that I can pinpoint. Like, yeah, high stress, high stress, high stress. And as I said, you’re in this mess because of high stress and not looking after your body, like get a grip, guard asleep and deal with this tomorrow. And, and I think within that week, I’d signed like two or three clients that, you know, sort of made up for the ones that I lost. But it was all about just surrendering to that stress, and not letting it like, heavily impact me. Yeah. But I think you know, with this health journey, and I understand that, not everyone’s, like, I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through, because it was awful. But even something as small as you know, being bedridden, because if you’re a female, you’ve got your period, or, you know, not getting enough sleep. I mean, I’ve had an eye twitch the last couple of weeks, and I put it down to like being on my phone too much. And these are the signs that I would have ignored if I wasn’t more self aware, because I would have just been like this eye twitches bloody annoying, like, what’s the deal with that, and just would have left it and it could have got like, ramped up and or it could have just going away but knowing I can’t screen now more conscious, and my body will thank me for it. So I think it’s just like, being aware of those signs when they come up, and not just ignoring them or the she’ll be right mentality that Australians love is, you know, not going to cut it. Because at the end of the day, things happen. And we’re not like we’re not all positioned in a point where like, our business is just going to run for us whilst we’re in hospital for time, or even not just hospital like, you know, people around you that you need to support or, and that’s why getting that balance is so important. So that when anything can happen in your life, you can be there for those moments. Rather than having like, even though you want to work, you also want to be there for your friends and family. So that’s why I like having that self awareness of Okay, am I overworking myself? What can I do to take a step back? And one thing my dad says to me all the time, it’s like, you’ve got a lifetime for this, like, you know, some things and even you know the thing that you have to get done now. might not even be relevant in two weeks time, you might not even fully, you know, you get an idea, you want to action it straightaway. And then it might actually not be the best move for your business. So you spent all this time on it. And you really, you’ve just either wasted time or you’ve missed out on something, because you’re focused on that. And that’s very, super important.

Nicole Smith 15:21
Those ideas, those ones that come up, like, you know, middle of the night, normally, yeah, like you ruminating in your head, and all of a sudden, you’re like, I know what I need to do. It’s amazing. It’s going to be the next big thing. Data, Data data. Yeah, I always suggest like plant those seeds, like that’s fabulous. Go into unknown now that your click up there, which is also exciting, we’re gonna have many combos about that, but I have a spacing flick up for those dream areas, and they pop into there. And then you can actually have some space in your week or fortnightly or monthly, whatever it is, we come back and you look at those lists and you say, Okay, well, is that actually fitting in with where I’m heading right now? Or is it just can it stay there for a little bit longer? Maybe I do a little bit every now and again on it. But you’re so right with that? Because we do as as business owners, we want to create the next big thing. But why don’t we just be present where we are right now and focus in on that. And you know, with with the love the Australian mentality of the work, work work, it just reminds me of when I was a teenager. And I had my also my second job. I was working at Franklin’s back then. Which then transitioned into coal so supermarket for those people who know who Frank what Franklin’s is. And I may have gone out one night, and I may have had a little bit to drink, and I may have been feeling sorry for myself. And I had a shift at the supermarket. And I’m like, yeah, I’m like cargo in I can’t my dad’s like Nicole, your Gordon. Gordon’s go to work. Okay, cool. I know, that was self inflicted, but it from then on, it was that real mentality of I’ma Gordon, I’ve got to get in there, I’ve got to do the best I can on more and don’t give, give, give, give give. And that’s only really since you know, the last few years that I’ve realised. That’s great. Yeah, I do give my 100%. But if I don’t give my 100% to my personal stuff as well, like my own being my family, like, what’s the point of the 100%? Over there? Yep. Like, what’s the point?

Mariah MacInnes 17:36
Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. And that’s one thing I try to remind myself, like, is this going to matter in 30 years time, or, you know, and I try and, and, but it is like, it’s hard and even, you know, going through this journey. And, yes, I have a perspective on life that I probably wouldn’t have gotten without this. And that’s what I’m grateful for, and all that. But it doesn’t mean like, I’m so enlightened, that I, you know, don’t have stress anymore. I’ve just like, I’ve completely eliminated stress from my life. I don’t feel it anymore. It’s not a thing. So doesn’t mean that a dirt some weeks look at you know, work myself a little bit too hard. And maybe my body because but now it’s like once you start shooting into your body. And I always used to think this is a load of BS. What does listening to your body even mean? Like, you know, do I just like put my ear on my shoulder and just see if I can hear anything in there. Like,

Nicole Smith 18:30
I can hear you today body.

Mariah MacInnes 18:32
Yeah. And I was like, I don’t get that, like, I just don’t. And then and now I get it. So it’s not a matter of its signs, its signs that your body gives you it’s that eye twitch that is there for a few days. It’s that lethargic feeling and you have it 3pm every day that you just push through. It’s just tiny things. Maybe it’s like, at towards the end of your week, you’re exhausted. And you’re super excited for the weekend. And just because you have downtime, the weekend, or whatever it is, it’s this these little tiny things that you just assume everyone feels the same, which they probably do, because they’re probably doing the exact same thing as you. And you know, for me now, I can’t afford to ignore them. No, because I know, to be honest, like, from 2015 to 2019 when I finally did something about Yes, I had my gallbladder out because I had a symptom but the symptom was not being able to drive my car over the West Gate bridge in Melbourne and having to pull over and call an ambulance. So that’s like a huge symptom, but it was those little ones like the not like having a no plot of food and laying on the toilet floor for the rest of the night not knowing what what’s going to happen to you like feeling really ill but just like and just thinking because I’d drink too much alcohol, but not one person hangovers a hangover. This was different. And it’s like, it doesn’t matter. That’s weird. Like, that’s not a feeling that you should feel, even if it was, if it was five drinks was two drinks, if it was 15 drinks, I don’t know it was it was always there. And I probably ignored it for too long. And it took, you know, this, this gradual feeling to kick on to be like, Okay, it’s time for me to do something about it. And it doesn’t mean that everything is something and I don’t want anyone to smack oh my god it you know, I don’t want anyone to think that the worst case scenario, it’s just a little things that you can do. And if and if you feel that little niggle war, it’s like when sports people play and they’ve got a little niggle, and next thing they know they’ve completely tore their hamstring off the bone. And maybe they should have had that week off, you know, maybe they shouldn’t have played that game. And hindsight is a great thing. I know that and this should have shouldn’t have whatever. But it’s from this moment on, it’s like, okay, when I feel and there is times where we can just push through and be like, you know, when maybe when you do have a bit of a cold and you know, you just need to sweat it out. But it’s a matter of knowing that and not just going like I need to push through

Nicole Smith 21:15
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 tight 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 come on over and join our community and connect with us. 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.

And giving yourself the permission to listen, I think that’s a lot like I know I had a conversation with someone this week. And she was like, grumpy. I just bro. But I’ve got all this stuff I want to do. And I said, Yeah, it’s not important. Close your laptop walk away. You can do that tomorrow. And the next day, she messaged me, she goes, I don’t know why I needed your permission to do that. Because I run my own business. And I know that but thank you. Because I needed to do that. Exactly. And that it’s just those little things where, you know, if you’re in that zone of feeling like something’s not quite right, yeah, and you keep pushing through the work, the outcome, the things you’re trying to achieve, may not be at your full potential. And then what could happen is you get frustrated at that you’re annoyed at yourself, because you haven’t delivered the best you can and then it just goes on that cycle, you know, whereas if you had just stopped taking some rest gone and seen someone about the thing that you’re concerned about, you’re again, aware now of what caused it or what the result is by actually taking a particular point of action? Oh,

Mariah MacInnes 23:22
yeah, I totally agree. And like, you know, then they say like, all you need is a good sleep like it is it is really actually in fact true. But you also need to it’s not like Yeah, I just need a good night’s sleep. But let me finish this and then I’ll go to bed because you’ve put yourself on that completely. Like there’s little things that I do now, to make sure that I feel better in the morning, even if I’ve had maybe a crappy day, Mariah pre operation, if she had a really busy day and and get all of her tasks done, would work later, would then be annoyed at herself. So she would scroll social media until she goes to bed. And then she’ll go straight to bed at a later time than she normally would. And she’s been on her phone. So then she wakes up shit. Yeah. Now, if I’ve had a busy day, and I haven’t gotten my tasks done, I look at Okay, where can I fit this in tomorrow? Because we know that even if we’re like, well, how am I if I didn’t fit it in today, how am I going to fit it in tomorrow? Time is an amazing thing when you’re in a better headspace and you’ve got you know, positive energy. And I would not look at social media before bed, I would go to bed early get my and have at least half an hour off my phone before sleep. And maybe in the morning I still wake up a little bit like oh, I still feel you know, crappy about that thing. But then I do my you know my whether it’s meditating, whether it’s journaling, do the meantime. And then by the time that’s ended, and I start my day, I’m at a completely different energy level, even if maybe I don’t wake up 100% after a good night’s sleep, it’s the things you do after that and it’s Just taking that time not working through lunch breaks not, you know, I’ll just do a little bit of work after dinner, you know, to be honest, like, I still do that sometimes. But then then I remind myself, because as I said, I’m not I’m not like in this journey of I’m so self aware, but I’m just becoming more aware. And sometimes it’s like, oh my god, I wish I wasn’t self aware, because now I can see all my bad habits.

Nicole Smith 25:27
Awareness, it’s got two sides to it, doesn’t it? Like how fabulous and like, I don’t really want to know that. Yeah, I just want to continue doing what I’m doing. I don’t want to know all other things. But ultimately, then it’s become to the fabulous side that you’re like, Ah, I’m gonna do this one. Yeah, what you’re talking about there is exactly what I do with my clients. We do the design your day process where I talk to them about what are those first things that are really going to set you for your for success for your day? What are the things What time are you getting out? What are you doing? When do we start our day? And what about the other ends? Like when do you actually want to go to bed and what happens leading up to bed? What’s going to make you create have the really the best night’s sleep that you possibly can? And I agree with the break thing, like you must have breaks, even if it’s in like micro break, get a coffee, go outside, get some air? You know, I know that the days when I really consciously do all of these things are the best days. Yeah.

Mariah MacInnes 26:28
And it’s amazing this like so when I was in lockdown. So for some context, I was in Sydney, got my operation in Sydney, come back to Victoria to say everyone, Sydney went into lockdown. I had to do 14 day quarantine on my own. So during that time, and it’s funny, people were messaging me like, I would love that I would get so much work done. And I went back to them and said, in reality, yes. Like, oh, in a process. Yes. Like in the ideal world. In reality, not so much like I would just fill it with more things, you fill it with more things that you can’t get done. Because I mean locked down, I will finally get that project done. Sometimes it’s just better to outsource it. And sometimes it’s better to pay someone else to do it for you. Because at the end of the day, you’re just going to add more and more to the list. And that’s what I did in lockdown. And my intention was to have no intentions and then I had intentions. Because I and but I became really aware of I keep making the same pattern of when lockdowns happen or when downtime happens, or I don’t have anything planned on the weekend. I’ll just like, spend a couple of hours on that. And then next thing you know, it’s dark. And that did happen with me and click up last weekend.

Nicole Smith 27:39
Look, I can totally understand what it is. It’s like a rabbit hole. You’re like, oh, button. Oh, hang on a second. There’s another thing that yeah, it’s

Mariah MacInnes 27:49
but there are times where you do enjoy it. And that’s good. Yeah, and that’s amazing. But there are times we need to realise that you’re not enjoying it. And you need to have that that break. But for me, it was like that lockdown, or that quarantine was a real eye opener for me around time and around honouring myself and giving myself because, you know, we’re all what different elements to ourselves. We’re not just the entrepreneur, even though right now. And you have seasons, right? You have seasons, where you’re the entrepreneur, seasons, where maybe you have to be the mom, like more of the mom than you are is what I mean, you’re always convey that you can’t just be like, sorry, it’s not a season for parenting. But there’s seasons, we have to pay more attention to areas of your life. And I sort of recognise that during this quarantine I had and when I come out, and now I’m like, it’s very interesting of what the same amount of work if not probably more, but I end my day, feeling more accomplished. Because I’m bringing awareness to when I’m probably not being conscious of what I’m doing. And time expands when you if you set yourself an hour to do something, you’ll take an hour, if you set yourself half an hour, it’ll take you half an hour, it’s like you know, your time expands based on what you’ve allocated to it, or what you’ve given yourself time to do. And, you know, perfect example, just before I had an hour just before this interview for this presentation that I’ve got to do next week, and then my dad come home, and I was like, I want to go get us a coffee. So I was like, I’ll just give myself half an hour to do it. Not an hour. And yeah, I was like, Oh, I could probably just finish this off on the day off. Like it’s, you know, I don’t really have I didn’t really need an hour for that. And this is where it comes down to like just being aware of where your time is allocated. And that’s like, I guess what I’m learning now. It’s just like, you don’t have to be allocating hours and hours for things even in your business that maybe probably could take you 20 minutes if you just said alright, 20 minutes, see how much you can get done. no distractions, no phones, just make it happen. And then you can then have those nice breaks and rest and have a lunch break and things like that. If you schedule in a lunch break, you give yourself a lunch break.

Nicole Smith 30:02
I say if it’s not in the diary, it’s never gonna happen. Maybe not never. But it may not happen. Because it’s about that exactly right. So I talked about time blocking. And one of the things as well to really focus on is the Pomodoro method. I don’t know if you are aware of that yet use that. Yeah, so exactly what you’re talking about there. If you haven’t heard, if you listen to the podcast all the time, you would have heard me talk about pomodoro. But if not, let me know and I’ll send you this thing. Do me. It’s amazing, though you set your task, you set your intention for your 25. Put that timer on. It’s done. It’s Yeah. It’s so just like, and you feel amazing afterwards. Like, I know, some of my clients when I first told them about pomodoro. They’re like, ah, I couldn’t possibly work like that, like, that sounds too, too structured to read for me. And I’m like, trust me, give it a go. Yes, just use this cute monitor with the laptop because it’s amazing. Give it a go. And they come back. And they’re like, oh, my goodness, this has been the most productive day I have had. Yeah, forever. And I’m like, Yes, yeah, it’s amazing. But it’s we give ourselves, we allow ourselves to expand the time because we can. Whereas if we really just focus in on those things, it’s amazing what you can accomplish. So totally on board with all that. You’re going to love clickup even more, because that mindset already, it’s just gonna be so good. Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness made that is amazing. It sounds like you the awareness thing has really been that sort of trigger point that makes you aware on both sides. Like you’ve probably always been somewhat aware on the business side. But I think when it comes to our own health, that realisation of how important we are. And yes, our business won’t run without us. We can’t service our clients if we’re not 100%, or, you know, focusing in on us. So yeah, thank you so much for sharing all of that. That was

Mariah MacInnes 32:07
no, of course, I think it’s a super important. I think, you know, even reading lots of books around entrepreneurship. And I do what’s called the Miracle Morning, which is like meditation journaling in the mornings. And one of the there was a entrepreneurial, it was like a book, Miracle Morning is a book, but they did have entrepreneurs, and a lot of the entrepreneurs in the book that gave like testimonials or stories said, you know, like, I was heading down a play off of burnout. And when burnout happens, health fails with it and your immune system, you know, he doesn’t cope and stress we, we know, stress is proven to cause illness, cancer, you know, and it’s just not saying that’s going to happen to anyone listening because it will not if you’ve, you know, the mindset is that like, That won’t happen. But it’s just being aware that I need to look after myself because your team can’t run without you. Even you know, just not just your business, like your life. I mean, my parents come up to Sydney and sat by my bed every day they gave up their jobs to come be with me, they spent 10 grand and Airbnb to stay with me in that time, and everyone else’s life gets impacted as well. And, you know, I’m not saying that I did this to myself through stress, I think there’s levels of stress that definitely impact I think it’s multiple things. You know, a doctor will always say it’s bad luck, I would never agree to that. If anyone says you’re just really unlucky, I don’t think I think there’s always a silver lining at some point you don’t need to get it straightaway and you don’t need to your life doesn’t have to be all about silver linings. But for me, I feel like it gave me a chance to be able to share more of my journey. There’s other things that I want to talk about that now I can because I feel comfortable enough. And I think yeah, it’s just when these things happen, everyone else’s life can be impacted as well. So you know, if you look if you be proactive, rather than reactive, which I had I did a live with an amazing coach on personal development and we talked about being proactive rather than reactive you know invest in your health. Yeah, like I never seen this I never I wouldn’t pay for GPS i’d bug bill I would do all the shortcuts to not pay for my health because I’m like Oh, we’ve got Medicare for that you know, but now I’m like $30 for an appointment book me and like I need to you know, I’m gonna need a massage badly My back is sorry. So I was like, book yourself in a massage. You know, you’re at your computer every day like it’s a it’s definitely a business investment. I mean, you might not be able to claim it, but like there’s just so much that you need to do like as you said, Take a break book yourself in you know, self care, self love all of that and people preach it. Well. I can’t have heard all that stuff. I do love myself. Alright. It’s like, if you love yourself, and this is I read this in a book if you truly love yourself Not from the outside, but from within. You will always be conscious of what you put in your body food, everything you would always be conscious of how you treat yourself what you tell yourself and and how you push your body. And he argues that he really doesn’t believe that many people and this book is called Love and medicine and miracles by a surgeon who talks all about mindset and being a self healer. If you truly love yourself, you wouldn’t you wouldn’t do all that kind of stuff. You wouldn’t. You know, I think back to my 20s, I probably wouldn’t have had the amount of hangovers. I did if I love us. But that’s fine. Like, those memories are great. And I never regret those. But it’s just like, if I loved myself, would I make myself sit at my computer? For 14 hours a day? Absolutely not. You wouldn’t? Yeah. So that’s that’s like I always try and say, you know, self love is like having that absolute admiration for yourself that you wouldn’t you if you saw your best friend sitting at a computer 14 hours a day you’d like get up, go outside?

Nicole Smith 35:59
Like, isn’t that the funny thing though? Right. So I think all of us, everyone that’s listening would be exactly the same weekend, see, and help and advise others and be very aware for other people. Because you can see it, it’s like it’s there. Whereas when we’re here in our own little bubble. Yeah, it’s not real. It’s kind of like, yeah, yeah, you know, someone else to tell you Yeah, and but when like the other person tells you, then you’re kind of like, now you don’t know what you’re talking about. Please stop and listen, and listen to what they’re saying. Yeah, put those things as priority things. They’re the first things that you need to be doing in your day in your week in your mind. You know, if it’s exercise, if it’s I don’t know, like man singing. I know, last year. So I’ve sung since I was five. And I had to have the kids and everything that was a long two years of not singing. And I had the opportunity last year to be involved with an online musical theatre thing. And I didn’t realise how much I missed it and how much it makes me literally sing, but internally sing. I felt so happy and energised. And it was just like, yes, this is amazing. So making the time for that stuff. If it’s meditating, journaling, walking, eating something, having a coffee, whatever it is, you know, going to the gym, I don’t know, like, go to the gym, but I had said something different. Yeah, and find your thing, you know, and just lean into it.

Mariah MacInnes 37:25
Yeah, prioritise it up, you have to, like you absolutely have to do and I think like, the one thing that always comes up to me with this, like self awareness thing is like, your ego, and your ego is always going to be there telling you, if you don’t work this hard, you will not get those clients, if you you know, if you don’t do this, your walk, those people are doing that. So why aren’t you and when you can actually identify that as well. That’s another level of your self awareness journey is identifying when that ego comes up. And you know, you’ll have friends and family that will might be concerned and say, like, you work a lot. And then and then you go, what would they you know, they’re not a business owner. And I can understand taking advice from someone not in your position can be a challenge, because you’re like, well, you haven’t even been there, you wouldn’t know. But then also understanding when your ego is coming in and being like, Oh, they just, they just want me to fail, or they want me to do that. And then like, when you can identify when your ego comes up, then you can separate yourself from it. And then you can go, Okay, let’s look at this. And it happened, it’s really good for taking on feedback as well. A lot of times, I get a lot of feedback, being a writer, like a content creator, you know, there’s going to be clients that have feedback on things. And it’s not like, this is shit, like, start again, it’s like, hey, I’d like the sword like that. And, you know, ego jumps in, like, you just are not really good at what you do, are you and then you can like take a step back and take feedback differently. And you just look at it with your loved ones, or, you know, they’re giving you feedback to help you. And when you can see that, you know, my one of my best friends pulled me aside after my operations. I’ve just been concerned that maybe you’re still working too hard. And I was like, why would she say that? I do lots of things. And then and then when I saw her in person in Brisbane, and she she mentioned why she said it? And I was like, Yes. Okay, I know why.

Nicole Smith 39:10
And our nearest and dearest are the ones that we maybe disregard a little bit too quickly. Yeah, it could be can you know, but it’s so it’s so right. Like, they’re the ones that actually love and care for us and want the absolute best. And so if someone like that is waving that little red flag going, Hey, or pink flag, whatever you want to call it, or Hey, you just look at this. That’s the awareness there. It’s just an external awareness. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And that’s when you can actually see because something maybe something in front of you. So that’s probably the ones we should pay attention to.

Mariah MacInnes 39:47
Well, if we’re not going to pay attention to our own, it’s best to you know, pay attention. And I think one of the things I do is two times a day, I have a reminder on my phone to say are you being conscious? Oh, I love that and I check it out, am I? What did I do the last hour? Do I remember? No. Okay, morale, like get a grip might be more conscious. And then that’s when the more you do these things, and I and I always get, you know, you read those books, it’s like, everything is repetition, you know, you know your neuro pathways, you’ve got to retrain your brain, go do this, like, say this affirmation that many times and I never always like, I don’t understand that that doesn’t, I feel like it doesn’t happen. It does, it actually just takes a really long time. And you see these like real small ink, like, progress over time. And I think because as business owners, we lacked things like we like to see results yesterday, we weren’t there. yet. We wanted them weeks ago, but I think if you you that’s why reflection is important, because they can see how far you’ve come and you’re like, Oh, actually, I have really built up on my level of self awareness around myself, you know, the other day I, my eyes are gone or funny at the computer screen. So I just shut the laptop and walked away. And, you know, that’s what we like. Yeah, right, that?

Nicole Smith 41:01
Absolutely. And the more you practice this, the more the quicker, it becomes like, I know, I go as business owners, we’re all kind of like where our next clients gonna come from? Like, where are they going to come from? And Kathy Ross, who you know, from, I think, you know, Kathy, from she mentors, she visualise because I’m doing the hand thing like she does, she’s like, you got to flip and focus on where you want to be focusing on. So like, if I’m focusing on where am I never where the clients gonna come from, rather than I can’t wait for you to be welcomed into my world. Like, it’s that energy of focusing where, you know, and that was, you know, took a while before, whereas now I’m like, I know what I’m doing. Yeah, flip it over in a call focus on that side. Don’t move out there. So yeah, amazing. That’s a really good. Yeah. Oh, wow. Is there anything else you want to share with us? Before we move to our three questions? I don’t know. If you saw,

Mariah MacInnes 42:00
yes. I’m excited for them. I think it’s just um, remembering that self awareness is a journey, but just make that intention to start it. And you’re going to forget to be self aware. Seems silly, but you will you forget, and oh, but then it’s a muscle and you build it. So even if it’s a matter of setting a timer, a reminder on your phone, just just check in with yourself, you know, quick, like, shut your eyes and just like, check in like a couple of deep breaths. And connecting with your own personal development is something I truly recommend, because we’re always investing in business development, which is amazing, and outsources, and all that. But what about you like what are you doing to develop yourself? You know, if you’re becoming a leader, because you’re outsourcing more, how are you navigating being a leader? And, and I just realised, yeah, I was doing like business coaching and all that. And I still do business coaching. But I also hire coaches, for me, like for my own, at the moment, I’m really like, tapping into more of a spiritual side. So I have a coach that helps me with that. And like, I do a programme for that. And now I’m like, and that helps me be a better leader helps me build a better business, because I’m giving back to myself first. Little things that I do. I mean, obviously, I have lots of clients that I work for that on the on their business, but I’m okay, what am I doing for my business? So then I schedule that in my day and make sure I’m doing something for my business as well as some because I’m giving back to me and my business and then someone else’s, and then I schedule in those who are giving back to me. So yeah, I think they’re the things I would really recommend people just start like anyone listening, be aware of your actions. And it might take a couple of weeks for you to realise the things you do. But set that intention, and just know that it’s a lifetime thing, you don’t have to like have it all right now, which I really struggle with. But just know that it gets easier to become more aware of your actions.

Nicole Smith 43:57
And the starting point is to say I want to become aware, you know, and if you’re talking about those daily activities of where you actually you’re spending your time, what is it on? And is that where I shouldn’t be spending my time, it could be as simple as having a notebook or click up wherever you want to be. And just write down exactly what you’re doing, how long it’s taking you and how do you feel about that particular thing that you’re doing? So yeah, again, back to the data. Love some data.

Oh, wonderful. Thank you so much. We’re gonna dive into the three questions. Love faces these fine Oh, good person. Okay. What is your go to app that creates ease in your day?

Mariah MacInnes 44:39
Well, it’s recently changed because it was Trello. And now it’s Click. Click on is Yeah. And for content creating purposes air table, but that’s a side one. But yeah, I used to have my like to do list or my tasks in Trello. And now it’s recently moved to click up and I love it and the team is amazing. I accidentally put people as members and not guests, and they charged me. And I’ve emailed them and they’ve already refunded me,

Nicole Smith 45:06
They’re fabulous. The customer support. Whenever I’m talking, I talk about help people select a system, I always say make sure you think about the support element. Since a lot of the time we forget about that thing. We look at the money value and the functionality. But really, when you’re implementing something, you want to know that you’ve got the support there or that customer service. Yeah, they are. They are fabulous.

Mariah MacInnes 45:28
And super quick like yeah, you know, yeah, all over it. Sorry. Click up, which you would love.

Nicole Smith 45:34
I do not push anyone in that way. But it’s amazing. Okay, I do an online or paper to do lists lover or a hybrid.

Mariah MacInnes 45:45
I am a hybrid. So I am like, it’s interesting. I love Yeah, click up for my my tasks and things but I’m a massive journal on like, huge, huge, huge. I have I get from typo there is like a four, you know, with the the dividers in them? Yes, they had like a five for 15 not longer. Well, I need five I’m nearly finished them all. So I have them for my journaling. I have one for business. So like if I want to call, I want to note things down. If I’m like doing any looking in spreadsheets or data, I can write things down and then like put it in. So I do want to go paper free because I am trying to be conscious of the environment. But it’s not like sometimes just really writing things down. Helps me sort of, you know, contextualise what’s happening and, and really, like understand the process, but I’m a big journalist. So I am I am a bit of both online and sort of paper. But then, you know, depends what where you’re at. If you just like need to get something done quickly. I’ll like email it to myself or all like, sometimes, and that’s why click op is good now because you can turn things in slack into click ops and Oh, great. So I’ll probably have you downloaded the the clickup app yet? on your phone. Yeah. And you can integrate things yet. It’s fabulous. Yeah.

Nicole Smith 47:06
I never get to have a conversation. So good. Yeah, it’s so good luck with the whole that I’m a hybrid as well. Yeah, I’ve just started journaling, to be honest, it’s I was having a conversation a couple of weeks ago. And I was always a real self editor, even like conversations or even myself. So I go to write something. And I’d be like, what I really want to write. Anyway, I was having a conversation. And basically this told me to do it, which is what I tell everyone else to do. I’m like, just do it. Just get it done. Just start it, see how it goes. And one night, I was just trying to get to sleep. And so instead of just laying there with my eyes shut and nothing happening. I got a notebook that I had a beautiful notebook and a pen. And I think I wrote about seven pages. Amazing. I didn’t think about it I just wrote. And I’m like, Ah, okay, that’s now easy. That’s nothing I can do. Awesome. So that book now lives beside my bed with my head. And it’s something I do you know, each night before I go to bed.

Mariah MacInnes 48:03
Yeah, it’s good. Just to get everything off your mind. Yeah. And what I do sometimes it’s like the first thing I do when I wake up because your thoughts are so raw. Yeah. Then you’re it’s just pure intuition. When you’re like not even thinking is writing

Nicole Smith 48:18
in our house. Let’s get kids ready for school. Yeah, coffee. I have the luxury. But maybe I could wake up early. I know who’s a morning person. I am. Start at 10 Why don’t we start? We’re not changing that the night answer me are fabulous. Okay, what would you do if you created more space in your world?

Mariah MacInnes 48:40
I love this question. It sounds really silly. But I would write more. Yeah, but right. For my whether it’s to actually share but I love like I always wanted to be an author, I’d still very high on my to do list. Just just right. I am I do have a creative side. So like more creative stuff for no purpose. Even if it did turn out to be a book in the end. Like I I’ve been trying to do things without an end goal like painting or, you know, when you’re drawing or colouring because there’s, yeah, you get a beautiful piece at the end. But there’s no you don’t. There’s no time around it. You don’t need to get something done. But yeah, I would write more for just for joy and painting. Maybe more artistic. Even though I’m not an amazing painter. I just like it.

Nicole Smith 49:30
I’m gonna challenge you here. I don’t know why they do this by stopping you right now from getting some space.

Mariah MacInnes 49:39
Yeah, that’s great. That’s a great question. I always have the intention to do something during my lunch, but I always like, I just end up saying yes to calls or, you know, cheap, like catch ups and things like that. So I think it’s like boundaries for me. I will have been setting more boundaries, you know, do you want to jump on a 20 minute, call? back. Yeah, but just not this week or, yes, I have been creating like space in my calendar for me time. But then also, sometimes I just waited that our girls meant to be painting, what am I doing? I’m on social media. So I think it was like, being more aware of where I spend my time. Yeah,

Nicole Smith 50:19
That all comes back to your habits and your planning doesn’t mean anything. And this is for anybody else who’s listening as well that wants to introduce something new, is actually invest some time to plan how your week wants to look. And even the day before, the last thing you do on the day is plan how you want tomorrow to run and, and stick to it. And you can also introduce those things like cooking tools and block out the calendar. So no one can actually get anywhere in there. That removes the kind of awkward like I’m, I’m such a people pleaser. But make yourself fit you When are you sound like it’s really urgent. So I’m going to just drop my protein I’m going to fit you in because you know, whereas now I’m like, here’s my link, pop it in when we’ve got availability, and

Mariah MacInnes 51:03
I need to do more of that. Actually, I’m always nervous that it’s not aligned to my calendar, and then someone will walk. You know, on a timeout. Oh, how did that happen? Yep.

Nicole Smith 51:13
Yeah. Get your system set up. So I do with it. And then you’ll be right. And absolutely, and it’s trusting it? Yeah. You know? Yeah. Exciting. Oh, well, thank you so much for sharing that as well. I love that. That’s so good. journaling and author of it can’t wait to read your things when they eventually come out to the world. Yes. Well, I’d love you to share. How can we connect with you? like where are you on? Obviously, you’re on the socials. Yes, shaming? Do you want to share with where you are?

Mariah MacInnes 51:45
Yes, of course. So I am on social media at Mariah_content queen is where you can follow me. And I have my own podcast, which is talking all about content, marketing. And that’s called the content Queen podcast. And they’re the main two places Instagram massively. For my own sort of personal health journey. I do have a YouTube channel, where I share more about that. And I sort of do that on Tick Tock as well. So it’s just Mariah MacInnes, on YouTube and Tiktok. Thank you.

Nicole Smith 52:18
Thank you. I’m going to pop all those details, the links, all the things in the show notes, pop over there. Go and say hi, connect. Yes, I know you’re about to do a 30 day rails challenge. Yes,

Mariah MacInnes 52:31
I’ve started that that’s on my business page, which is at content Queen Mariah one word. And yes, we’re up to date three. So it’s been really fun. Just showing people how they can create their own content, giving advice on how they can use different sounds. And yeah, so come and say hello and join the real challenge. And I if anyone wants to know how to do it, send me a message cuz I’m, I’m making notes and learning a lot about actually how to coordinate a challenge like that, because I don’t want to do it on the day. I want to have, you know, things planned and prepared to like, Oh my God, I’ve got to create a real today like that is just too stressful. So yes, come in, come and join the real challenge and say, Hello.

Nicole Smith 53:09
We also so fun. I was just creating one before although Instagram has been glitchy and kept kicking me out. So no to anybody creating we’ll make sure you save it as you go. Yeah,

Mariah MacInnes 53:21
saving Oh, to lose it. Yeah, cuz and even if it’s in your drafts, it’s not always safe. Yeah,

Nicole Smith 53:27
I saw someone say that the other day to actually download it to your, your phone phone.

Mariah MacInnes 53:33
Yes. Even though it doesn’t save the sound. And you might have to just think about Okay, what reorders like, What sound does that real go to? Yeah, it’s nothing worse than if you’ve created a reel and your drops are gone.

Nicole Smith 53:44
Suck anything into disappears, isn’t it? It’s like, oh, think about the backup. Well, thank you again, for joining. That was so good. Enjoy the rest of your day in your warm house. They’re down. Fires going by fire. Yeah. Well, everybody, thanks so much for joining today. And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and enjoy creating space and time freedom by 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 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 would 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