Don’t get distracted by what others are doing – Annette Densham – Australia

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Tell us about yourself?  I was born 50 years ago in Tasmania to a paint salesman and gypsy in waiting. After my father left when I was three, we moved and moved and moved houses as mum went looking for safety and security. Because we were always on the move, I found my safety on books – loving Enid Blyton books and then moving onto Agatha Christie and Stephen King. This love of books developed into a love of writing, of asking questions, of wanting to know more about the world. And when kids my age, at 10, we’re being asked what they want to be when they grow up, I knew exactly what I wanted to be…and that was a journalist. When I am not writing, I’m reading – I devour books, immersing myself in other worlds and adventures. I also love traveling, going places to expand my mind and understanding of the globe we live on. A few years ago, I did a stand-up comedy course and found I love writing jokes and being on stand; it is such a buzz. I have been with my husband Earl for 25 years and he is my best friend, together we love going to rock concerts and you can still find us up the front, grooving to the music. We also love exploring wineries and love a beer. Together, we have two sons – Zayde and Qwyn – and we’re in awe every day of what amazing young men they are.

What is your business or job?  I am in partnership with Lauren Clemett – together we started The Audacious Agency. It is a hybrid blend of marketing, personal branding, and storytelling. One of my superpowers is being able to take people’s stories and create opportunities for them to share those stories so they can connect with other people. I do this by writing articles, blogs, and award submissions.

How long have you been in business or your career?  My first experience with journalism was when I was 15 and I did work experience at the South West News. I loved it. I have been in the media space since I was 19, working as a journalist and in editorial until I was in my 40s. When I went back to work after having kids, I ventured into corporate communications until my role was made redundant because of a ‘financial restructure’ and that is when I started my own PR agency.

Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place? or …  What you love the most about your current job? It is an incredible skill to be able to listen to someone’s story and then capture it in words … words that they read and are blown away by how you have told their story that it moves them.  When I write awards, I love digging deep into someone’s background to see what makes them tick and why they do what they do so I can showcase their amazingness.

Who has been your greatest influence in business or your job and in your personal life and why? Me. I often wonder why I am not influenced externally by others. I think it is because I spent so much of my younger years by myself, that I had to look in for motivation. My greatest influence is me and I didn’t realise this until 2020 when I wrote a book about my younger years, Digging into all my mess and yuck, I found a deep-seated grit that permeated my life, that saw me get up, time and time again, sometimes when I could have been forgiven for crawling back into bed and staying there. Of course, there are people I admire but they are not famous or infamous, they are everyday people like my mum, who fought every single day for us as little ones to be feed and clothed, my son Qwyn, who has autism; his journey through the school system has been fraught with bullying and isolation but he is one of the most well-balanced people I know. My eldest son Zayde, who like many siblings of those who needs more attention, is quite resilient, funny, and ever so witty; his intelligence and insights into the world are incredible. My husband Earl, who has been on this journey with me for half our lives; is such a deep and intelligent thinker. I admire his brains and his desire to understand the world.

What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date? Surviving in business for almost 10 years is a stand out; I am the most hopeless business person – all that admin, finance and other stuff that is not in my wheelhouse does my head in. I just want to write but somehow, I have managed to still be in business without upsetting too many people and having some money in the bank.  The next one is recovering from the impact of COVID on The Audacious Agency – Lauren and I kept showing up. At times, I felt like it was the universe telling me to do something else. In March we lost all our clients, it felt like too much to start again. But we did and has a cracker of year especially when it came to award submissions …and we helped so many people we were recognised the third year in a row with a Grand Stevie Award – you do not win one of those unless you have helped lots of other people.

What do you do to inspire other women? I encourage them to embrace their stories … that they are worth hearing and reading. That every single one of us has the power to influence those around us. Not the ‘get paid’ type of influence – the much more powerful type of showing up every day and doing your best influence. I think we forget that people are watching and when you live with authenticity and vulnerability, you inspire others to action. I am open about my journey through life, my stuff ups and challenges because life is not all sunshine and rainbows and selfies. It can be a messy, crazy place and by sharing my story, I hope to encourage others to open up about theirs. You never know who you will touch.

What inspirational qualities do you possess? Candour, grit, resilience, tenacity, humour, and gumption. I would love to say I have lived a charmed life that was all peaches and cream but I haven’t. I have had to overcome some incredibly traumatic life events and I have done so by digging deep and finding the bright in the dark.

What’s your advice for other women that may want to do what you do? Surround yourself with people who have aligned skills that you can draw on, invest in your personal development because business success isn’t just about the systems and processes, it’s about what goes on between your ears.  Reach out to others in the industry for support and mentoring; there are many incredible women out there who understand the value of collaboration, not competition.

What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to Nikki’s blog?  Don’t get distracted by what others are doing; that is a slippery slope into comparisonitis and feeds the imposter syndrome that lurks inside all of us. Run your own race but never be afraid to ask for help. There is no point suffering in silence when there are many amazing humans that want to see you succeed.

What do you do for fun/relaxation? I read, laze in my beautiful beach beanbag at the beach with my hubby and a good book, I love live music so we see lots of bands, I love dancing to said bands and we love trying new wines and beers.

What’s the best way for our women here to connect with you?  Email: annette@theaudaciousagency.com or  Website: https://www.facebook.com/nettiedensham/

I lead by example. I don’t give up – Pip Meecham – Queensland Australia

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Hi, I’m Pip! A mum to one fabulous soon to be five-year-old girl called Lucy and the owner of ProjectBox. I love the smell of coffee but can’t stand the taste, instead, a strong hot chocolate is my go-to hot drink, I’m a swag lover, a geek at heart, and shamelessly sing at the top of my lungs while driving. I believe in passionate people, about doing what you love, and about no boxes.

What is your business?

ProjectBox – I work with people to look at how they do the things they do (their systems) to create how-to guides (standard operating procedures) and to help them to become more efficient and more effective. I’m also a go-to gal for technology and software questions.

How long have you been in business?

ProjectBox was born 2.5 years ago, prior to that, I had another successful business working as a Virtual Assistant.

Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?

I always knew that I was destined for more than working 8:30 to 5 for someone else but it wasn’t until I became a mum and returned to work that the urge kicked up a notch. That’s when I started up as a Virtual Assistant (VA) – this was just over four years ago, just before being a VA became a huge thing and ‘the norm’ for businesses to have.

It quickly became more than just a job. I was building something that was going to give me the flexibility I needed for my family, and soon after that when my marriage broke down, it gave me the flexibility needed to be a single mother.

Being the business owner of ProjectBox is the most exciting thing I have ever done. I’m building something that I am incredibly proud of (all my hopes and dreams are wrapped up in here somewhere), something that is helping people, and something that gives me the freedom and flexibility of being a Rockstar mum and also having not just a career, but of having something that I LOVE showing up for every day. It’s one hell of a rollercoaster ride but it’s a ride that I love hanging on for.

Who has been your greatest influence in business and personal life and why?

My dad has always been one of the biggest influencers in both life and business. He is a successful businessman in his own right meaning that his words of wisdom are ‘normally’ sound and come from his years of past experiences! He has ALWAYS been my biggest supporter which when you are playing entrepreneurs and start-ups is important to have not just to seek advice from but also to lift you up on the hard days, to remind you what got you here, and to empower you to keep moving forward. It is because of him I have a ‘what is the worst that can happen’ attitude and because of him (and my mum) that I give so much to others.

What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date?

Honestly, the fact that ProjectBox is still here. People always talk about how tough the first five years in business are and about how many don’t even survive their first three. It’s not until you are in the midst of it that you finally understand. Yes there are many happy clients, lots of positive reviews, and a bunch of successful projects, but I believe that my biggest professional accomplishment is all the stuff that sits behind that. Learning basic code so I could build my first website, mastering knowledge extraction on myself so that I can sell my IP, being flexible on what ProjectBox ‘is’ to adapt to changing environments, being referred to by my peers as the Queen of Systems (a title I am happy to hold!).

What do you do to inspire women?

I share my story. I am very open in where I have come from, things I have been through, have done. Giving complete honesty in my triumphs and my failures. Nothing is covered up, I share all the nitty gritty of just what I’ve done, what I do, and what I myself aspire to. I show them that it is ok to fail and that everything is possible.

What inspirational qualities do you possess?

I lead by example. I don’t give up – I am persistent. I am incredibly passionate. I have courage! I have a zest for learning. But the biggest one? I am authentic.

What’s your advice for other women that may want to do what you do?

Be really clear on what it is you want to do, on what problems you want to solve. Make sure you have the cash flow or the means to access the cash flow as the first few years are so irregular – get comfortable with your numbers and also the fact that sometimes they are going to look mega scary! Find someone to hold you accountable, work out who you can rely on for support – sometimes your friends and family aren’t the best people to help keep you moving forward. Find your courage – you will need this! Just get started, don’t sit around all day wondering what if. If you strongly believe that you are capable and that you have the means, then just do it!

What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to Inspiring Women Today?

It’s not easy but you just have to keep going.

It’s such a straightforward statement, but one that so many of us take for granted. Just like our personal lives, business isn’t what it’s made out to be on social media. Yes, there are a bunch of success stories about people who found some magic solution to start turning over six or seven figures and these keep making their way into your news feeds but the reality is that those people are few and far between. For most of us, it’s a labour of love and a lot of hard work!

What do you do for fun/relaxation?

My daily routine for this is singing in the car, as soon as my daughter is at kindy, the windows go down and the stereo gets turned up….loud. I then sing my lungs out until I get to where I am going.

The other one is camping – I love nothing more than escaping from the house for a few nights, living off the basics and having a chance to just do nothing.

What’s the best way for our Inspiring Women Today members and blog guests to connect with you?

Come and connect with me on Facebook or LinkedIn – search for Pip Meecham. You can also email me at hello@projectbox.com.au or feel free to give me a call on +61 420 679 812.

I want to help as many women as possible truly love what they do – Jordan Wright – Australia

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A brief Bio: My mission is to teach women how to increase visibility online by using simple strategies with skills they already have! I coach women into creating a business where people search for THEM! giving them the time freedom to enjoy their lives however they please knowing their business is working for them.

My name is Jordan and I’m an online visibility coach.

Who are you? I am a 26 year old entrepreneur from the Gold Coast in Australia. I knew that there was more to life than travelling 1.5 hours to and from work each day and as soon as I was presented with a different option, I took it with both hands! This opportunity was presented to me at age 22 and living in London. It was a Network Marketing company who’s products I had been using since I was 16 without realising what it was! 4 years later my business has expanded exponentially, I am the mother of a two year old diva and have been with my partner for 3.5 years now! I love meeting new people and creating new memories!

What is your business? My primary business is as an Online Visibility Coach where I help women grow their businesses both organically and through Facebook Advertising to find people who are genuinely interested in their product and willing to pay for it. I am also still working my network marketing business and am helping women who are looking to start their entrepreneurial journey by teaching them the skills on how to make the most sales right from the get-go!

How long have you been in business? I have been in business for 4 years now and have grown so so much in those 4 years!

Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place? I became an entrepreneur because I knew that I was meant for more. I knew that there was something missing in my life, and it was the independence that I wasn’t getting being a Finance Assistant. While I loved my job and the people I worked with, I didn’t enjoy having to ask for time off to spend with my family, and organising with someone how often I could see my daughter! That didn’t make sense to me. Being a business owner means that, while I am fully responsible for my own income, I am also free to live my life how I please. I am aiming to teach women that the guilt we are conditioned to feel as a stay at home mum, girl boss or taking the risk of creating our own success is societies issue! Not ours!

Who has been your greatest influence in business and personal life and why? I worked with an Intuitive life coach from the age of 20-23 before she passed away from breast cancer at the age of 49 who became a very close friend of mine and who taught me how to tap into my intuition and to manifest my deepest desires. She introduced me to my network marketing mentors who are incredible business people and have stuck with my and my crazy ideas for the past 4 years. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t met these amazing people!

What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date? Running successful online visibility courses that have allowed women to grow their own businesses online. Not only have I taught skills that these women had never even thought about implementing within their business.. I have seen them implement them and succeed!

What do you do to inspire women? I love meeting women on a personal level and getting to know why they started their business and what their goals are. I then take this knowledge and empower them and help them grow! Whether that be as a friend or a mentor. I want to help as many women as possible truly love what they do, how they look and show them that they are capable of anything and everything!

What inspirational qualities do you possess? I am very loud and will forever be making you feel like anything is possible! Haha. I know that we as women are capable of so many things, more than what we originally believe possible! Imagine back to when we were kids and we were forever competing with the boys at everything! When did that change? Why did that change?! I know that I want my daughter to know that she can do anything! And I want to show women and mums that even though we may have lost a sense of self at some point in our lives…. there’s no reason why we can’t find it again!

Whats your advice for other women that may want to do what you do? Take the plunge! Invest in a good mentor who you trust and learn the skills you need to boost your business and watch yourself thrive! Never stop investing in yourself because you’re worth it!

What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to Inspiring Women Today?Always charge your worth. Whatever you feel you’re worth, double it!

What do you do for fun/relaxation? I am such a book worm. I enjoy writing books and reading anything with a good storyline!

What’s the best way for the our Inspiring Women Today members and blog guests to connect with you?

Website: http://jordanwright.me/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/JordanIreneWright/groups/?ref=page_internal

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/

Email: jordanwright@jordanwright.me

 

I’m a Funny Introverted Vegan! – Heidi Lumsden – Australia

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Who are you?

Hello! My name is Heidi, I’m a funny introverted vegan, empath who is 29 years young. I’m a Gemini, a photographer and homeschooling Mum of two, Melody 6 and Odin 18 months. I have had endometriosis, I’m engaged to be married to my aspergers partner of almost 10 years and we also have two beautiful fur babies. One of whom has cancer. Wow, writing this all down made me realise how badass I am. Everyday I fight for my happiness, my kids happiness, my health, and my (out of the ordinary) life choices. I wouldn’t say it’s ‘easy’ being me but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was given this life for a reason and I won’t take it for granted.

What is your business?

I am what I like to call an artistic portrait photographer. Basically I turn people into a piece of art they can keep forever.

How long have you been in business?

I started taking photos professionally about 5 years ago when my daughter was about 1 year old. I have been a newborn photographer, pet photographer, boudoir, weddings, events, couples, family – you name it. Now I like to focus on artistic portraits, it’s where I can really let my creativity loose. I do still offer wedding and event photography but I’ve trained my partner to tackle those for me. He takes the photos and I edit them.

Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?

To be honest, it just kind of happened. I had been into photography for a small amount of time before I was gifted my first camera. That camera got me through some hard times. I choose to be a business owner now because of the flexibility. I can homeschool my children during the day while taking photos on the weekend and editing at night. It also gives me something that’s just for me that I enjoy, my art.

Who has been your greatest influence in business and personal life and why?

Lauren Bath. She was the very first travel photographer and influencer on instagram. She has inspired me the whole way. I still remember how I was so excited to meet her and how much I looked up to her and now she tells me how much she loves my photos and how I could teach her about portraits. She’s pretty amazing.

What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date?

Being chosen as the photographer for Garage Ink Manor by Teneile Napoli who is a famous tattoo artist and another woman I look up to and admire. I was also given some amazing news that I can’t quite share yet.

What do you do to inspire women?

I’m not sure.

What inspirational qualities do you possess?

The fact that despite my chronic disease I never give up.

Whats your advice for other women that may want to do what you do?

Pick up the camera, take photos every day. Keep trying and know your worth.

What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to Inspiring Women Today?

Do your taxes.

What do you do for fun/relaxation?

Take photos, no seriously I love it. Spend quality time with my family, watch a Netflix series with my partner.

What’s the best way for the our Inspiring Women Today members and blog guests to connect with you?

You can find me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/adelhide_

The GFC was the best and worst time for me – Julianne Davies – Australia

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If you had asked me 10 years ago what I would be doing in 10 years the answer would not be working as a professional direct seller selling high end anti ageing skin care and devices. I probably would have told you I would be managing a team of sales professionals in one of the 5 star hotels in Brisbane.

You see I had enjoyed an amazing and exciting career in tourism and hospitality spanning over an 18-year period. I loved working in the industry, it was exciting and the travel opportunities were amazing.. however life changed and when my son was born I faced the difficult decision – what to do about my career?

What I could not get past was how I was going to manage the juggle of working full time with a baby. At the time my son was born life was chaotic – my husband had just bought into the family electrical contracting business, we had just sold our family home and were building a new one and my employer at the time advised that going part time was not an option.

What was I to do? I loved what I did but I really could not see how it was all going to work, my job was not a typical 9-5 tick and flick role, there were industry events to attend, usually after normal business hours, breakfast meetings with clients, wining and dining of prospective clients .. how would I do all of that AND be a mum to a baby that did not understand tender deadlines or the importance of maintaining KPI’s.

So I made the decision to leave my career, deciding that raising my child and supporting my husband was the right thing to do for now.. I say for now because I knew that this was never going to be enough long term.

During that time the best and worst thing happened to us and that thing was the GFC – the Global Financial Crisis. It was devastating for my husbands business; over night the phones stopped ringing and the work dried up. It was also at the same time my husband decided to enlist the services of a business coach. This was by far the best thing that happened because during the coaching sessions we found out about LEVERAGED INCOME. I had never heard of it before and remember writing it down to Google later.

It was during this research on leveraged income – where you do the work once and you get paid repeatedly for doing that one piece of  work – that I discovered Direct Selling, or MLM (Multi – Level – Marketing) after reading the book by Robert Kiyosaki Business Of The 21st Century.

I had been first introduced to direct selling previously, but to be honest I thought that I was way too important with a real job to look at direct selling where you sold over priced products to your family and friends who really only bought from you once because they felt sorry for you.

Boy was I wrong! After doing some due diligence I realised that done well and choosing the right company, marketing the right products you can build a very successful business that requires no staff, no stock, can be built in any country where the distribution channel exists and could provide a lucrative income based on your individual efforts and the combined efforts of others AND it was the perfect business model for those seeking leveraged income.

I could not believe that I had dismissed this business model years previously because I was not open to new opportunities.. what an idiot.

Once I understood the model I then set out to partner with a direct selling business that ticked my boxes – I had to love the products, they had to be consumable – I wanted repeat business, they had to be unique and in demand – no use renting videos, look how that turned out for Block Buster, the company had to be rock solid and the financial rewards had to be there, I wanted to be well rewarded for my efforts and the sales team I was going to create.

Once I had decided on the company I then set out building a business, you see right from the get go I treated it like a business. I tracked my expenses and my income; I tested and measured my activities based on my results. Was it perfect – NO – is it rewarding – YES.

Now down the track I have a thriving and growing direct selling business. I successfully transferred all my existing and learnt some new sales and marketing skills, which I apply in my business today. I am still partnered with the same company I partnered with when I first joined the ranks of direct selling and to be honest life and business keeps getting better.

My greatest reward is helping men and women look and feel younger at every age but to also provide a partnership opportunity to create a new stream of income whether it be to by the extras in the weekly shop, or pay for the kids school fees or in my case replace my corporate salary working smarter not harder. Direct Selling is not for everyone but it is for me. My only regret is I had opened my eyes to the possibility sooner.

If you want to contact Julianne you can on the following:

Mum Life – Work, Kids & Every In Between – Leanne Fuller – Australia

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How did I come to work from home?

It is always an interesting journey when you become a mother and know that there is something more to life than working around the clock and trading time for money.

Naturally after the birth of my first daughter I looked for opportunities to work from home – I aligned with a network marketing company but I soon found that it wasn’t my true passion and within 5 months of Evie’s birth I had returned back to the workforce.

My personal life and career collided at lightning speed with the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in my mother. I thought I had it all worked out with having my mum and sister looking after Evie while I went back to work. I felt torn working for money and in my career or giving up that freedom and flexibility to become a stay at home mum.

I tried unsuccessfully I might add at the time to be at home working a business I wasn’t truly passionate about and all the of demands of being a mum, sister and daughter. My mental health began to suffer and I felt like my identity was being stripped away. I was flailing around in every aspect of my life.

Soon after I returned back to nursing in hospitals and working night shift so that I could make money and still care for my daughter. This also naturally took a toll and we made a decision to send Evie to daycare. I got back into the groove and we found out we were expecting Audrey.

I worked up until 37.5 weeks pregnant because financially we needed the support of the money I was able to bring in.

Post pregnancy the days and nights blurred into one – but I knew importantly I didn’t want to repeat the history of my first post partum journey. I wanted to take control of my health – physically, mentally and financially. I lacked energy, ate almost everything I could get my hands on and lived off caffeine and sugar. I wasn’t turning up as the Mum or wife I wanted to be.

5 weeks after Audrey was born I contacted a good friend and asked her what she was doing.I had watched her journey for the best part of 2 years but knew I wanted a health solution.

So I started the cellular cleanse program I now can’t go a day without putting into my body. Within a week I had energy to burn, my body recalibrated from craving junk and processed foods I even went 21 days without a coffee.For anyone who knew me this was a miracle in itself. I started to sleep better and so did my baby.

It wasn’t just the physical transformation but the group of people who surrounded me – my sense of purpose soared.I was surrounded by positive and like minded people who pushed me to be the best version of myself and spiritually I also became a better person. I started to have faith and pray to God. On a personal level life was definitely not easy at the time post birth of Audrey and I am forever thankful for saying yes to putting myself first.

Naturally when I started to gain results I wanted to look at the business opportunity and knew that I was aligning with a company and products that I am truly passionate about.

I have a well balanced lifestyle with working my home business, spending quality time with my loved ones and have resumed nursing one day a week whilst I build up my business and a legacy I can be proud of developing for my children and generations to come.

About the Author

I am a Melbourne mum of 2 girls Evie 3 years,Audrey 7 months old and a stepson Dom who is 11.

I have always had a passion for caring for people and health and wellness. So it was natural for me to be drawn to my calling as a registered nurse in busy hospitals around Melbourne specialising in Emergency and Intensive Care.

However as with most careers although flexibility has always been an option it came at a cost to spending time with my children and husband.

You can contact Leanne on email at leannemh@hotmail.com or visit her FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/leannefullerhealthandwellnesscoach/