Episode #55 The Right Kind of Support For Your Business with Rebecca Saunders

This transcript is computer generated and may contain errors and not be an

exact representation of the audio

Hi

This is Welcome to Self® and I’m your host Dr Hayley D Quinn, fellow human, business owner, and the anti-burnout business coach. 

I’m here for service-based business owners like you to help you increase your own self-care and self-compassion, change the relationship you have with yourself and your business, and help you elevate your business to a new level so you can live the full and meaningful life you desire. We are all on a continual learning journey so let’s learn together.

Welcome to Self® is a place where you can come and learn about the practices that will assist you as a business owner and get tips on how to engage in your business in a way that is sustainable for you. You will realise that you’re not alone in the ways that you struggle, because at times we all do and I’m happy to share with you what I’ve learned through my own struggles and my experiences of running businesses. You can join me as I chat to wonderful guests and have your curiosity piqued about various topics and I’ll also bring you solo bite-sized business episodes that can easily fit into your day.

This is a place to remember that you are human first and have different tasks in your business and different roles in your life that need your attention and for that you need to take care of yourself in the best way you can. This is a place of nourishment, growth and helpful information. A place where you can learn ways to assist you and your business to thrive.

Because remember if you thrive your business can too.

Now let’s get to the episode.

She’s a champagne drinking, post-it note loving, carefree alopecian who helps female business owners turn their uniqueness into a superpower celebrate their successes, and create dream lives and businesses by design. 

After a personal move to country, New South Wales, Rebecca swiftly realized that she couldn’t be alone in having big dreams, a ton of energy and craving connection with like minded women. So she decided to do something about it. She created the champagne lounge to give every woman around the world a cheer squad. And by the way, you don’t need to drink champagne or any other alcohol for that matter to join. Rebecca now spends her time living her best life, working with clients she loves and inspiring others to make their own uniqueness their superpower. 

I met Rebecca when I joined the champagne lounge. And she’s such an inspiring and gorgeous human being. It’s my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Rebecca. Hi, Rebecca, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me.

Rebecca Saunders

Thanks for having me, Hayley. I’m looking forward to our chat.

Hayley Quinn  

Absolutely. So am I. So can I get you to start just by telling us a little bit about who you are what you do?

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah, so my name is Rebecca Saunders. I am the founder of the champagne Lounge, which is an online community for regional businesswoman across Australia that specializes and focuses on connecting, supporting and celebrating female business owners in regional areas of the country through conversation, virtual meetups and being a virtual chessboard for them

Hayley Quinn  

to stay what was it that inspired you to start this?

Rebecca Saunders

So for me, I wanted to do something in this space at the beginning of 2020. But what really started me to really move and do that was when I moved to Mudgee, which is regional New South Wales, about three and a half hours in from Sydney. And I moved here in Oh, here we go September 2022. And so in moving to a regional town, you move somewhere where you don’t know anyone like so I’m really great at building network and building community in terms of saying hello to people being the friendly face that walks I walked the same dog walk every single day. So I see the same people I go to the same coffee shops throughout the week. And so one of the things for me was I’m missing that connection of people like, because people were kind of a bit burned out from virtual connection, thanks to COVID. But it like metropolitanly. But regionally, it still was one of those things off well, we kind of sometimes in the middle of nowhere or we’re in a property that’s not easily walking distance to a town or to meet people. So virtual still a really good way of meeting people. And so for me, it was like, how do I connect with more women who are in a place that I am right now feeling really lonely, trying to do something new from scratch by themselves. And so the champagne lounge came about because of that, because of that need for connection and conversation with people that were in the same boat. 

Hayley Quinn  

Thinking back to when you were sort of thinking about starting it. And when you first started it, what was some of the challenges that you faced of that?

Rebecca Saunders

Oh, so that’s a hard one for me to answer because I never look at them as challenges like, I’ll go, oh, well, I’m going here. So I’ll just figure it out along the way. Like, I’ve never, I think, you know, one of the biggest challenges, I guess I look at it as a challenge has been to get in front of the right people. 

One of the big things now I’m sure every single business owner, or an business owner, right, listening will go social media is so full of adverts. It’s so full of stuff. It’s so noisy, but without it, how do you get in front of people? How do people know that you exist? And so for me, the challenge has been thinking outside the square of how do I do it differently? Like I’m building the community differently. We don’t teach anything in the champagne lounge. It’s all about conversation and connection. So I’m not a traditional learn something membership. I’m not a traditional come and learn something mastermind. So that’s different, but also trying to market it in a different way. So you mentioned actually, we’re on the live Actually, it wasn’t part of your podcast. 

But one of the things I’ve just done was cover my ute bright pink. So my white ute has turned bright pink with champagne lounge branding. And so for me, I’m like, Well, I can now drive around in a giant billboard. Yep. See? Let’s see if that works. Right. I’ve got QR codes on my car. Let’s see if that works. So the challenge is being seen and getting people to see who you are, has been my biggest challenge. How do I get round that? Talk to a lot of people, I’m very active in messaging people responding to comments, commenting on them taking an interest in their world, in the hope that they’ll take an interest back in mine. Yeah. And then also being me and being colorful and bright and different. And just doing things a little bit different. Really.

Hayley Quinn  

I love that. And I’m sure it will be effective. But worst case scenario, if it isn’t, it looks fab anyway, doesn’t it.

Rebecca Saunders

I start off first coffee connect here in Mudgee this morning, because it was another way of me going over it. Let’s see if someone wants to come to a pay as you go coffee event. So normally you’ve put an event you buy a ticket, you go yeah, we’re expecting to be sold to. And I thought, You know what, I’ll just put it out there on socials in my local community and go, does anyone want coffee, or just buy our own coffee when we’re there.

 So if you’ve got a hardship on cash flow, you could just buy a coffee or not, like it doesn’t matter. And probably a dozen people rocked up to that this morning, which was amazing. Car for members of the champagne lounge, half were newbies who I’d never met around town. Every single person said, saw your car down the road.

Hayley Quinn  

Really? Isn’t that that’s fantastic. I remember when I came across you somebody told me about you. And I mentioned on we were just on live before so it’s it’s funny, isn’t it? Because quite a bit later than the live but it’s live, did we just talk about this? But we did it was on the live? Yeah, somebody had told me about you. And I did what everybody does, and I went and just a little bit of a stalk and see who you were and what you’re about. And I loved some of your story. And obviously we’re both English and we both came out here as young adults. So there was a feeling of connection for me with that. But I love your story about how you kind of got here. Do you want to share a little bit about that? You kind of had to make it so you could kind of be here?

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah. So I’d always had a dream that I was going to live in Australia, it might have come from the fact that my mom’s brother moved to Sydney when I was I’m gonna say 18 months old. So we had the privilege of coming here on holidays from the UK on a semi regular basis, you know, every couple of years. 

Because bringing us here for six weeks and having free accommodation kind of was cheaper than doing all the other activities that you would do to keep your kids occupied during the school holidays. Right so I think that’s really why my mum did it. So I really wanted to live in Australia. The only way of doing that at the time for me was bugger it let’s just jump on a working Holiday visa. And we’ll figure this out as we go. Like I’m the kind of chick that builds the plane on the way down, like we are building it as, as we’re going. And so I remember calling my mom saying I booked a ticket, I’m leaving on this date. And that’s all I said was Oh, so you’re doing it, then? Yeah, I am. 

So I closed the door to my home in the UK. So my house I left it fully furnished, you know, all of the things which the person in my headspace now knowing what I know, should have gone should have rented that. But that was, besides, I closed, emptied the fridge, close the door and thought, let’s see how we go and move to Australia with 500 bucks, a passport, and my laptop and just a sheer will to go. Let’s figure this out. And one of the things that I was really hot on again, it’s connection and conversation, right? 

All through the theme of what I’ve been doing works in hospitality. In the UK, I moved here and worked in hospitality, which again, conversations, talking to people got into doing a little bit of freelance work here and there, and then swiftly realized that I am not the type of person that is very employable, you know, when it came to sort of looking at those permanent residency jobs. And the idea of being stuck working for someone that I don’t like or annoys me, or an annoying team, or all the internal politics of organizations would drive me absolutely batshit. And so I just, I was like, I wonder if there’s another way around this. And so I actually founded my company, to sponsor myself to stay in the country. 

When I found that, and all I really needed at a time was someone who could be my co founder who was an Australian citizen. Yeah. And the rules were. So luckily, I had a degree because you had to have a degree in order to qualify as part of this, I had to have had to pay myself a market salary from the get go, that was a non negotiable. 

And I had to hire a team to do all the things that I wasn’t legally allowed to do under my own job description within the visa constraints. So you start leveling all that in and layering it all up and go, Well, how many challenges did I face a lot. But did I look at them as a challenge? No, I was like, Well, this is this is reality, actually. So yeah, I paid myself a market salary from day one. That was part of my visa conditions. And the team and we just went for it. We just went hard and fast and built a video production company from the ground up.

Hayley Quinn  

That’s amazing. I love that you have such a creative and solution focused mind, obviously.

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah, like, I don’t see, I don’t see problems. I always say, Oh, well, we can do this. Okay,we can go on that route? Or, yeah, I’m never where the problems don’t weigh on my mind so much. I’m very much a rose tinted glasses kin of girl. 

Hayley Quinn  

That’s fantastic. Another of the stories I think is on your website, is the way that you kind of motivate yourself to meet your goals. And I’m assuming is the foundation of why it’s called the champagne lounge. So do you want to share a little bit about that as well? That’s just lovely.

Rebecca Saunders

So from the get go, I have been a lover of rewarding myself for achieving big tasks. And so I, you know, you’ve got to have that reward piece. And one of the things I constantly see people falling down on is, they never actually stopped to acknowledge what they’ve achieved. They just keeps going and going and going and going and going through, and then you get there you go, Ah, I haven’t done enough, or you get through the thing. And you go, Okay, on to the next one, actually. And so, when I first started the business, it was one bottle of champagne. Now I buy a case of champagne at the beginning of every year, and I put post it notes on them all the big goals that I want to achieve. 

So over the years, it’s been, you know, get my first big corporate client, actually take a holiday and be able to pay myself during that time, hit the seven figure mark, make 50 grand a month, whatever these goals were along the way. I’ve had them on a post it note my ones last year were beyond 52 podcasts in 52 weeks. And so, you know, that was one of my other out of the box ways of meeting and getting my message out to more people was let’s go talk about it in front of as many people as we can without actually leaving the comfort of my regional home.

 And so through that I’ve been able to inspire others to do the same and that is why it’s called the champagne lounge. It is not about the fact that you have to drink all the time. It’s about actually having a ritual of celebration and a cheer squad around you that goes on high five and out cheer a glass to you and for doing that thing or doing that success. And it can be a personal success or a professional one. It could be big or it could be small. It’s comparatively up to you right I’d like my my goals could be really small compared to someone else’s, but also could be massive compared to someone else’s. 

So it’s actually about fostering that ritual about celebrating and just acknowledging how far you’re going because entrepreneurship, running a business, doing it solo is really hard.

Hayley Quinn  

It is. And you know, you make such a good point. It’s something when I’m working with coaching clients, and also in my program, that is something we talk about, about celebrating. And I think, you know, particularly as women, we can just be busy doing all the things for ourselves and for everybody else. And like you said, it’s either we, we just keep doing, doing doing and thinking about doing enough, or we meet these amazing achievements, and then just go, Okay, now I’ve got to meet the next goal. And it’s like, hang on a minute, just slow down, and actually give yourself some credit, and celebrate what you’ve done and where you’ve come from where we’re so often looking down the road, we forget to look back and say, Well, where was I?

Rebecca Saunders

One of the things I wished I’d have done. And this is how I wish I’d have done because I haven’t done it yet. Because I haven’t cracked open the new bottles for the year, I’m close to a few. But I wish I’d written on the bottle, or collected the cork, and put that somewhere of what those goals were, over the years, because I’ve sort of collected some of the bottles because I have an artistic vision, what I’m going to do with all these empty champagne bottles in my garden, but I wish I’d kept a record of what those goals were each year and what I’ve recorded. 

So I could, as you say, look back and go, ah, gosh, look what I did five years ago and 10 years ago, and what my goals were then and how far I’ve comments are really important thing.

Hayley Quinn  

A few years ago, I started doing a like a reflective process at the end of the year, where I write down and I often write them down during the midyear, because otherwise I’ll forget, I’ve done them. So I keep like a little log in my phone where I do put these things down. And then at the end of the year, I spend time and I reflect on all those things that I’ve done. And that’s personal professional, the whole lot. 

And I found that over the last few years, so good to be able to say, oh my gosh, look at what I’ve achieved, and look how far I’ve come in, whether that’s in personal growth, or whether that’s in business, whether that’s, you know, I’ve evolved my business differently. So I find that really interesting. And I do encourage people to do that. I think it’s a really good practice.

Rebecca Saunders

I like that. We do one similar in a mastermind that I’m part of where at the end of the year, we actually take time to scroll back through our phone, the beginning of January and the photos and look through it and mark it on a map, you know, like a little roadmap of where you were at that time of year. 

And it’s surprising how much you’ve achieved in a year that you forget. And we all take photos of it. Like we take photos of all the things. And so I don’t know about you, I can’t be the only one with 15,000 old photos just sat on my phone doing not a lot. So the actual idea of looking back and reflecting on those is, is really important. So it could be a way, you know, I’m always very much when I’m talking and sharing of useful hacks that people can take away from doing this. So one of the ones that I have implemented is every time I’m on a flight, I’ll go through my phone, and I’ll put pictures into albums, so that I can really divide it up and easily find it for sharing on socials. 

But I can look back and go, these were the highlights of 2022. That was 2019. So that’s a really easy practice that you could do when you’re sat on a plane. Because you don’t need signal to organize your photos in that way.

Hayley Quinn  

No, or even on the couch. You know, if you’re sitting watching something, I have too many photos. I did a big digital declutter of my, my laptop, which has been amazing. And now I’m like, I really should do that with my photos. But that is I think I’ve got 26,000 photos on my phone, big task and lots of folders. 

But like you say it means you can go back and reflect easily. Or find something if somebody is asking you for a particular photo. So the champagne lounge, as you mentioned before, very excitedly is one year old.And I imagine that’s probably gone quite quick. Has it like these things totally fly by.

So you’re, you’re in this place of lots of celebration. You’ve got this amazing hot pink ute, you’re doing lots of stuff on socials. But you’ve been in business a lot longer than a year.

Rebecca Saunders

Yeah. 12 now, yeah.

Hayley Quinn  

Yes. So  I’m curious. You talked about the video production stuff. Yeah, obviously you you were doing that and then something change. So tell me about that.

Rebecca Saunders

I think for me, if I’m being really raw and honest about it, for me, the business I built, had the sole purpose of giving me residency and citizenship to living here. So I never learned the skills to film, or edit, I didn’t learn the craft of it, I learned and enjoyed the business side of doing things. And so for me, as technology has grown and evolved, and Everyone now knows, you know, a neighbor, or a friend, or a cousin or a son or a daughter that can create content for them and do things cheaply towards the end of 2019, it was becoming increasingly difficult to have the conversations to find my own corner to be the person that I needed for you to want to create content for you. 

And so when you’ve got a team, and you’ve got all those overheads of that, we had a film studio in Sydney CBD as small team of four that were on salaries. And it got to a point where people were literally saying to me, I found someone that can do it cheaper I’ve done that I’ve done. And there are only so many ways that you can skin a cat, do your sales story, like I had my regular clients that knew that we could turn things around really fast. And if you needed it tomorrow, I could, I could ask you let a crew anywhere in the country pretty much anywhere in the world within 24-48 hours, and pull off whatever content you needed. But to most people that didn’t matter, they were looking at the figure. 

And so 2019 was the hardest bit for me when I had to say to my team, oh, I don’t think I can do this anymore. Like that was a really big Christmas period for me and going when I come back in 2020 going to have to have the conversation with them that I can’t keep doing things the way we’ve been doing things. And so sat them down, we had a bit of a conversation, it was February 2020. And I said, look through a lot of tears actually, like I’m at the point now. And firstly, on a decade where I’m struggling to pay me because I’m paying all of you guys first and it’s too much, the pressure is too hard. 

And I’ve worked too damn hard not to pay me and to pay others before me because that means that you’ve got it like a hobby, right? If you’re paying others before you’ve taken it yourself. That’s a huge issue. And so we had a conversation. And instead of being on salaries, I said to them, I still keep running the business on the outside. But I’m going to rename it to my own personal name. 

And the works there. It’s yours, we’ll just do freelance rates. And that’s the conversation that we had and everyone was understanding. Little did we know that a week and a half later COVID would hit Yeah. 

And so we had that Limbo period of what the hell, what’s happening, what’s going on. And so I kept the team on in a salaried form. Because anyone at the time, anyone that hadn’t got the might have this language wrong. But I think at the time, you were eligible for job keeper, if you actually had a job, right? That was a salary job. Whereas if you’re just being made redundant, or you had you lost your job, you weren’t eligible for any of it. 

So we kept it going as a really small knit team, that literally surviving on that to start with. And it soon turned into one of the craziest two years, ever, because not just the reasons that everyone else had a crazy couple of years. But because we’re I was going to close the doors in 2020, because it got too much and I wanted to do something different. All of a sudden, everyone had been doing things on the fly, doing things on the cheap, knew exactly who to call because they do exactly the fact that me and my team could educate, help pull things off, make things happen. 

And so we were the busiest we’ve ever been in the period of COVID.

Hayley Quinn  

You couldn’t write this stuff. 

Rebecca Saunders

Oh, not at all because actually, Haley. Fast forward to COVID. And we were the craziest I’ve ever been when I took the business to seven figures literally from zero to seven figures in the middle of a pandemic, because that’s how well we could pull off our craft. We were doing heaps of live streams, because we had a studio in in Sydney, we were in a windowless, soundproof box for pretty much five days a week on crazy long days. And so I look at that and go, that was amazing. 

And I kept a number of smaller businesses afloat in doing that and bigger businesses afloat in in their team because of the conferences we were doing and the virtual streams we were doing. But then you fast forward to the end of COVID and COVID stops and everyone can move themselves around and 2023 you go, Oh, now we’re back having the same conversations that we were having in 2019 Because now you can go back to DIY it and doing it on the cheap producing all the tech. 

And so that’s why I made the decision last year to really step away from it was still do some video content for our top clients that have been with us for, you know, a decade or the best part of, but anything new, is I’ve got the right person to introduce you to. Because it is one of those things that at some point you put a cut the cord to let things go for new things to flourish.

Hayley Quinn  

I think you’re such a beautiful example of needing to be flexible in the world. We have to have that willingness to be flexible. Don’t worry, because, I mean, you couldn’t write that stuff. I mean, none of us knew a pandemic was coming. It was declared on my 50th birthday. So I’m never gonna forget that.

50th birthday party and we joked and said, This is the party to end all parties, and it was for a while. Probably shouldn’t laugh. It’s not funny. But sometimes we have to laugh when we look back.

Rebecca Saunders

I think the premise of it is you have to be flexible. You know, if you put too many ridges in place, one of the things we’ve been talking about, over the last few weeks of me going live regularly with members of the champagne Lounge is the theme of structured, like unstructured structure is what it’s all about. And so I think I’m going to take that as my theme for the year in terms of how I do things, because it really sums up how I’ve operated for years, and also how I want to continue to operate.

Hayley Quinn  

So I talk a lot on the podcast with guests and my own episodes and with all my clients around the importance of us taking care of ourselves and, and finding sustainable ways of working because like you said before, this stuff’s hard, right? It’s hard not be human just living life, add in being an entrepreneur or a business owner, ups that again. So how were you during that time? I mean, you were managing in a pandemic, with all the human stuff that came with that your business went from zero to seven figures. I mean, that doesn’t happen without effort and work. I don’t imagine? Yeah, as much as there’s lots of stuff on social media saying you can make seven figures and not work at all. 

That’s not true. So how did you take care of yourself or not? What was the consequence of that? Like, what did that look like?

Rebecca Saunders

I think throughout those two crazy years, the care factor was not there. Personally speaking, I filmed in more countries around the world during lockdown than we have filmed at any other point in the decade of the production company. So I was mobilizing crews and working within locked down laws of multiple countries to pull off different projects. So I was working all hours of the day. And it was crazy, absolutely crazy. And to put that into a windowless, soundproof box, I don’t even ever been in a soundproof studio, but you kind of almost lose your sense of reality, it’s kind of like you’re walking into a bubble, like an being on Mars or something like that. It’s very, such a strange feeling. 

And so for those two years, we went hard, really, really hard. For the year after that, it was, I did a lot of travel, I did a lot of trying to just reset where I was at, because for those two years, whilst it was fantastic and amazing, and we were busy, and everything was great. The reality out the other side was, Hold on a minute, this wasn’t what I wanted to do, that wasn’t the plan.

The plan was to do something different, and do something more fun and for me have a different impact in a different way. And so, off the back of all of that the impact at the end of it, but not having the self care was very significant burnout. And I had friends along the way going, watch it, just watch yourself, take care of yourself. And I’ve watched friends go through that way it showed up for me is, you know, towards the end of 2022. Walking into the film studio made me feel physically sick. 

You know, when you get to a point where you’re physically, like having a reaction to a space or a thing or a task, you know that actually something’s got to give like.

Hayley Quinn  

It’s your body wisdom is trying to tell you, isn’t it that we keep doing this? Please don’t keep doing this this harmful?

Rebecca Saunders

Then we sold off that bit of the business at the end of 2022. 2023 for me was I could barely sit in front of a computer screen, like just the focus the attention. So it’s been really quite difficult to come back out of that. However, one of the things I am really conscious of now and I have the support for is putting in those holidays putting in that time for you, making sure that you’re not pulling off all the hours under the sun. And I have to keep reminding myself of that even now because whilst I’ve got those rhythms and those processes and I’m really good at it, I know where I want to take the champagne lounge and I know how much graft, it’s gonna take for me to do it, particularly as a one person operation right now. 

And so you’re asking me these questions that come at the back of a two week, seven day a week, you know, eight hour day, back to back for a fortnight period where I just had to get stuff done. And then I get to a point, crumpled heap. That’s not sustainable. So it’s actually being aware of you can go sprinting, but you can’t sprint all the time. 

Hayley Quinn  

There’s a process through in I was talking to this, you know, I’ve changed my business. And as you know, when we do these online businesses, there are those launch periods. And I was saying to my husband, you know, when there’s launch periods, I need to factor in some time before the launch starts, where it’s easy, and it’s slow, and it’s quieter. And then I need to factor in time when the launch is finished before the program starts. 

So I can actually because you will be putting in longer hours. And I think one of the traps we can get into and I think you’ll relate to this as well, is when we feel passionate, and we’re enjoying what we do.

Hayley Quinn  

Keep going. And you know, it’s important that we don’t, because if you are doing like, eight, nine, ten, eleven hour days, day after day after day after day, guess what? That’s the recipe for burnout. Yeah, so it really is being mindful and intentional, isn’t it about how much time we’re spending, knowing that sometimes it’s going to be a sprint. And other times we need to actually be in that season of taking a rest taking a break.

Rebecca Saunders

I think it’s really important to be aware of that. So I do a couple of things. And you said earlier about the photos that you sit on your phone, your scroll when you’re watching something, I don’t do, I’ve stopped myself doing that that was done a few years ago, when I’m watching TV, I’m watching TV, if I’m doing a thing, I’m doing a thing. So my phone is not always attached to me, because I find that I either do one of two things, I go into a meaningless rabbit hole of scrolling through beautiful stories and reels about puppies, or diy projects. And or I’ll sit there and my mind will just go into overdrive. And I just feel like chunk, chunk chunk the whole time and won’t switch off. 

So one of the things I’m really clear on is I don’t sit in scroll or do things, I have set time for all of that. But I also give myself physical tasks to go and do. So if you follow me online, or you’ve watched me, you’ll see me in the kitchen a lot. I like to entertain a lot and have people in conversation. And for me cooking is my way of being creative. And also when I’m doing that I can’t be in the tech, like I’m focusing on that particular thing. Or when I’m walking the dog, I don’t listen to a podcast to learn more things. 

I walk to give myself time with the dog. So there’s just little mindful things that I’m really conscious of. And it cropped up again this weekend when my husband said to me, just just keep doing the project that you’re on. Now I need some like downtime, I think I’m gonna paint that room. Is that can you just stop for a minute? And? Well, no, because painting will take my mind off all of the chunk chunk chunk that’s going on., I’ll be progressing something else just in a different way. 

And so I think it’s learning as a business owner how to switch the thoughts off, I think is a really key thing. Because it doesn’t have to be through meditation, or yoga or doing all of this stuff that you almost fall into the trap of thinking, dammit, why can’t I get meditation right? Dammit, why can’t I journal? I can’t journal to save my life. I don’t know what’s going on. I just sit there and just stare at a piece of blank paper. That for me doesn’t work. So yeah, I share that. Because there are different ways of clearing your mind of all the noise that is there. When you’re a business owner with so many ideas and a long to do list.

Hayley Quinn  

I think you make a good point. And I certainly talked about to people about this. And it’s very much the premise of the sort of coaching program that I run is we need to know ourselves. Because just using that same example of the doing of photos on the phone. For me, sometimes I’ll put something on TV that I don’t actually want to watch. But because of the type of brain I have, I can then focus on my photos better because there’s this kind of background noise going on. But I’m not watching like I wouldn’t put on something I actually want to watch because I wouldn’t attention to that. But sometimes I’ll put that on. So I can actually focus in on another task I’m doing. So I think what we’re speaking to here is you’ve got to really know yourself because what’s going to work for you or what’s going to work for me might not work for somebody else you may be well and try those things. But when we know ourselves we can really tune into this is the thing that helps me stay healthy and well and having joy and feeling engaged in my business and also being able to detach from my business. Because if we try and follow some kind of cookie cutter, you know you must meditate for 20 minutes Every morning before you start and get up at five o’clock and drink a protein shake, and then meditate and then journal for 20 minutes, I’m like, I ain’t doing that

Rebecca Saunders

My brain does not work in that way. And I just feel more and more frustrated. So you’re right. It’s about knowing yourself. And it can sound really quite cuckoo, right to a lot of people I have I also, like having the conversations with people there where they go. But how did you start doing that? And it’s like, well, I just kind of implemented it. And I had to bring, you know, you have to bring your husband or your partner or your family kind of along for the ride of just, this is where I’m going with this. It’s like the post it notes on the champagne when people first saw me doing that. Yeah. You don’t have space for food in there. 

No, that whole shelf is for champagne. Yeah, sure. You want to keep six bottles of champagne, your fridge like all the time? Yeah. Because how many times do I go to the fridge? I see my goals. Clock them, I closed the doors. That’s my cuckoo way of doing my goals. It’s fine. If you want to follow my cuckoo way you do you if you don’t, don’t judge me, I don’t care.

Hayley Quinn  

For somebody else, it’s like, go do it your way. So it’s about finding yourself, you know, yourself. And then you can make better decisions for yourself. 

Now, obviously, you had that experience. And I think this has been the case for many of us, when we hit burnout for whatever reason, it really does motivate you to do things differently, right? Because it’s a horrible place, horrible place to be. And it can be hard because we very much live in a society that promotes striving, working long hours achieving the next thing and the next thing and the next thing striving for goals that other people set for you. Though I think it can be tricky. Can’t it, how did you kind of navigate not getting drawn into any of that.

Rebecca Saunders

A lot of work, I’ve done a lot of work on that. A lot of stuff I do now and you know, if you’ve got me on stage to talk about, you know, my personal journey, my journey with alopecia and  how I’ve done my business differently. And we’ve talked about me thinking differently and doing it differently. As I’ve worked to the point that I’ll just do it to my own beat, you know, I’m doing it my way. Even building my business. I don’t know anyone else that’s built a company to sponsor themselves to stay in a country to do a thing like, that was a really expensive way round of doing things that was quite complicated. But would I do it any other way. No. Like that was a really good thing. And so I think for me, it’s about working on yourself, to not let other people’s judgment, come knocking or penetrate the walls, because it can be really hard to stay in your lane. It can be really hard to keep doing things your way because the majority of people are really quite judgmental. 

Particularly regionally, like tall poppy syndrome here in Australia is a massive thing. And so, in doing all of that, you’ve got to have the right people around you, that cheer you on and doing it your way. Like I talked about bringing along your partners or your family or your friends for the ride. If they’re not, they’re along for the ride, like Yeah, it takes some time to get their head around it. But you soon realize who you want to hang out with and who you don’t, you know who over the years, friends drop off the radar, and it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, because you’ve progressed forward. And so that sounds really harsh sometimes. But how do you keep going and keep evolving and doing things your way and making sure you’ve got you at the forefront and you’re looking after yourself and avoiding burnout. Because it’s not a badge of honor. 

Like it is actually really scary when you’re in it. It’s really hard to get out of it. Like I don’t think people really realize how bad burnout can actually be when you’re in it. I think it is a case of or some people get I’m a bit tired and bit burnt out. Burning out like I can’t get out of bed, I physically can’t open that phone, I physically cannot look at a screen for more than 20 minutes or hours. And so you don’t want to get to that point. And so I think for me, that’s why the cheer squad of the champagne Lounge is so important into what we’re doing now. Because I’ve been able to do what I’ve been able to do because I’ve built the network of people to support that and share my thinking and my dreams. And if I can be build that and be that for other people. I think that’s got, like so powerful in the sense of them being able to achieve that look after themselves care for them and check in when they know things are getting tough. I think that’s really important.

Hayley Quinn  

Absolutely. I think you make some really good points there. And you know, one of them. I did a solo episode just a little while ago and I talked about this that you know, not everybody is going to support, you all believe in your big dreams, then they’re just not. And that’s okay. They don’t need to. But you do need to find people around you that are going to do that. Because otherwise this is a hard and lonely road, right. 

And I think the other thing you mentioned is, you know, when people say, Oh, I’m a bit tired, I feel burnt out. I think we do this with so many things. I think this is where a lot of the mental health stigma comes in as well. Because we don’t understand things and people say I’m a little burnt out, and it’s like, well, no, you’re not, if you’re just a little bit tired. Burnout is really, really serious. And we need to talk about it as something that’s really, really serious, because it isn’t just being a bit tired. 

So I’m glad you mentioned that, because I think things can get minimized. And then they kind of get diluted. And then people don’t talk about it, because they think, oh, people are just going to think I’m tired. And I should just push on, pull myself up and get on with it. And that’s really, really harmful. So thank you for raising that. And, you know, I think what you’re doing the champagne Lounge is fantastic. It’s so important, we have these communities. And, you know, one of my questions I do speak to business owners is how important do you think having a community of supportive people around you, but I’m going to ask you that one, because, you know, hello,

Rebecca Saunders

I think it’s I think it’s massive, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it right, I would, I really wouldn’t be doing it. But I think I can also tie that back into knowing yourself and being aware of how you sit in a particular network or a particular space. 

So I think early on in the champagne lounge journey for me, and being in my gym, trying to build friendships and build networks. My husband, Alex came up to me, I was in the garden, and I was bawling my eyes out and he goes, What’s the problem? What’s wrong? What’s happened? Like, what’s going on? 

And I said, I’m just sick of being the person that organizes everything. I just, uh, just wish that someone would invite me somewhere. And I’d gone down this whole rabbit hole of feeling sorry for myself, just, you know, people say all the stuff is amazing. And I love hanging out and doing all this stuff, whether it’s in person or virtually or whatever it is. But why don’t I get the invite back? And who knows? But what if you’re the person that instigates it? Because everyone else can’t? Oh, yeah, okay, fair enough. And so I’ve got to reframe on that made me go, well, maybe I am that person, to my close knit community and my close knit circle of friends that I’m the person that says, hey, we haven’t had dinner in a while, shall we do it. So I think about knowing yourself and knowing where you sit and how your personality sits with your cheer squad is also really important. 

Because even when you’re the most outgoing person, it can still feel lonely, but if you can reframe it to go, but I’m the person that has to make the phone call and say, Do you want to do this thing for that person to go heavier? Or do they just don’t necessarily have the confidence to send one back, inviting it the other way around? Could be a really big thing. So if that’s something that’s also a struggle, period, that could be what’s going on in different people’s networks and cheer squads where you’ve just got to know your dynamic of it, and how you fit into that dynamic.

Hayley Quinn  

Yeah. And when I’m with the communities, isn’t it like people are going to fit with different people and their way of things are, you know, I would highly encourage people to come and join your champagne lounge. I think it’s really lovely it’s really flexible. I found it to be really supportive. I was learning a lot from people and hopefully, you know, input so people can learn some stuff from me as well. 

Rebecca Saunders

Sharing about the sharing, caring, conversing, I think is a big part of it.

Hayley Quinn  

Absolutely. You’ve done a really, really wonderful job. I think your story is inspiring, you know, there’s so much more about you said you know, you’ve been on stage talking about alopecia and we’ve not kind of talks about that today. But one of the things I love about you is you’re just so real you so authentic, you’re so like this, this is me and my hot pink ute and the world needs more Rebecca Saunders it really does.

Rebecca Saunders

You know what, I think more people just need to be their unique selves, and just not give two hoots it’s so there’s so much less energy putting out being you that there was trying to be different people to different people.

Hayley Quinn  

And when I say we need more Rebecca Saunders, I don’t mean clones of you. I just mean more people that have got that, you know, that willingness to be themselves. You are so spirited. You’re so vibrant. It’s it’s a delight. I love joining the champagne lounge and catching up with you. It’s been really really lovely chatting to you today. And thank you so much for sharing so much of your story. I’m sure it’s gonna be really helpful for people to hear. Because we all struggle with these things at some point or another in business, right?

Rebecca Saunders

Completely, our struggles are not like our own everyone has the same thing. So it’s been through a similar thing. And I do firmly believe is a problem shared is a problem halved, right? Pretty much solved if you share it with the right people. So yeah, you’re not alone.

Hayley Quinn  

You’re a very inspiring woman, Rebecca. And I’m glad to know that you came on the pod. And, thank you so much for being here.

Rebecca Saunders

This has been awesome. Thanks for having me.

Hayley Quinn  

No problem. And I’ll pop before I forget, I’ll pop details of the champagne lounge in the show notes so people can come and find you. Just as I’m talking about that, because I got so caught up in chatting with you. I’ve forgotten what I wanted to ask, Where can people kind of follow you and find you if they want to know more about you?

Rebecca Saunders

So if you want to find more about the champagne lounge go to the champagne lounge.com. But I hang out on Instagram a lot. So you’ll find me at the champagne lounge underscore, or the Rebecca Saunders. I play on both. They sit on my phone. So if you remember the champagne Lounge on my name, you’ll find me on Instagram. I’m very active in the DMs. If you’ve got questions so fire away, let’s connect.

Hayley Quinn  

Fantastic. It’s really lovely. I’m gonna let you go because I know the time that we’re recording this now you are actually about to head into Wine Wednesday.

Rebecca Saunders

Yes, I am. I can hear the one calling through my soundproof headphones. No. This has been amazing. Thank you, Haley and I, I have to jump into Wine Wednesday. Have a beautiful evening.

Hayley Quinn  

Speak soon.

Rebecca Saunders

See you soon. Bye.

Hayley Quinn  

Thank you for sharing this time with me today. I hope our time together has been helpful and supportive. If there has been something in this episode that you have found helpful, I invite you to share it with another person who you think might benefit. If you’ve benefited in any way from the podcast, please do me a favor and show my pod some love by giving it a five star rating and review. Ratings reviews and shares really helped to increase awareness and reach of the podcast, allowing this helpful information to be spread more widely. 

All Reviews are welcome and much appreciated. If you do share on socials, remember to tag me so I can see who’s listening. Because you never really know over here in podcast land, and I can reach out personally to say thank you. If you’d like to be notified when the next episode airs, please use the link in the show notes to join our mailing list. If you have any particular topics you’d like to learn more about, or guest you’d like to hear from, please reach out and let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Music and editing by Nyssa Ray. Thanks Nyssa 

I wish you all well and your relationship with yourself and your business may go well and go gently. 

And remember, if you thrive, your business will too.