It's all about Choice with Nicole Smith

Ep 18 - Nicole Smith

Tue, Oct 24, 2023 1: 45PM • 29:26

Tue, Oct 24, 2023 1: SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Tue, Oct 24, 2023 1: business, fabulous, podcast, nicole, people, support, team, artisans, place, love, work, lovell, operations, emma, laptop, working, connect, started, organization, role

00: 01

00: Do you want to live a life of freedom and adventure? Are you wanting more than the daily grind? Me too. Welcome to the Emma Lovell show, a place where we talk about living a life you love now, I'm your host, Emma Lovell, and my number one value is freedom. I've spent the last 14 years running your business and traveling the world. And now I take my husband and toddler along for the adventure to it's possible and I know you can create a life doing what you truly love as well. This podcast will inspire, motivate and encourage you to go after your dreams to create a life you love until you have it now, don't wait for a time and or someday in the future. I'll be sharing episodes weekly about how I harmonize business travel and self care. I'll also bring on incredible guests to share their journeys, wins the challenges and how they're creating a life they love. Let's jump in and get dreaming. This is a space for you to manifest a life you love.

01: 03

01: I would like to acknowledge and recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this place now known as Australia. I am grateful for the continuing care of the land waterways and skies where I work live, listen, learn and play. From here on you can bear country and from wherever you are listening, I pay my respects to the elders past and present.

01: 26

01: This week, I can't wait to introduce you to Virtual COO Business Operations Specialist procedure and systems designer and click up Queen Nicole Smith. Nicole runs the artisans business solutions. And in 2019, she moved away from her corporate career as Chief of Staff and started supporting business owners to develop their unique working style and design a business that aligns with the life they want to be living. Guess we love that. Nicole works with businesses to discover the space between what they're doing and what they want to do and how their day to day is operating. Specifically, she sees systems as the dance between people in it, which means when Nicole designs builds and connects you with your system, she is looking at syncing moving parts with your business needs. She is such a fabulous woman and brings so much energy. I can't wait to share the story of Nicole Smith listening.

02: 23

02: Welcome to the podcast, Nicole Smith. Hello. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Well, you had me on your podcast. And this has been a series of unfortunate events. And we

02: 37

02: like to the gift that keeps on giving. We probably should have gotten on each other's podcast in December last year. But here we are in October 23. And we're doing it so yeah, yay. And I can't wait to get you into the listeners, ear holes. I'm gonna start with like how we met. I mean, you are looking fabulous today. And not everyone can see you. But you've got this wonderful, gorgeous head piece which you always have something lovely on your head. And you're bright colored. And so I saw you at business chicks moves and breakers last year, probably a year ago. And I was like, oh, yeah, here we're going to be will know each other.

03: 15

03: And that was that was your first one right? And your first one going? And how did you if you've been to many things like that. That was my first big event like that where I was fully immersed. And what a great experience it is. I'm not going to this year's unfortunately. But I've got an earmark for next year. It's such an experience to go to a space like that where everyone in the room is there for that same purpose and that same feel and that same I don't know the energy I walked away with was just amazing. So

03: 51

03: it's run through business checks, but it's more than a business conference, isn't it? It's like

03: 56

03: it. It's funny, because I guess when people don't know when they're going in, you think about these sorts of things. And it's like, what's my return on investment, or I'm going to spend a lot of money. I love when you can get past that. And it's like, this is something for me. It's something I want to do and you will always get lessons and you'll always get connections Hello, here we are. But

04: 15

04: you know if you can kind of get past that point

04: 19

04: in kind of be open to the experience that I don't know what it's going to be like and people keep going in this thing. So I guess I better go. Yeah, I think as well with anything like retreats or events or things like that. It's prioritizing yourself. You're giving yourself that space to be able to be used. So I've got two kids in Gruder waters talking about who likes the two pillows, you know and time at home sometimes isn't as relaxing as it could be right? You've got noise we've got live. So when I last year decided to go I was so excited I booked a car from home to the airport. I traveled by myself. I was in peace

05: 00

05: So I arrived to this beautiful location. And it was three or four days, I stayed an extra night either side, or five days, actually, it was completely me, it was all for me and my space, the connections I made there are amazing as well. But being in that space to say, I deserve this, you know, it's a really fabulous place to arrive. Regardless if you're a business owner, leader, or just a human doing live, being able to say, Hey, today, I am going to prioritize going and getting a massage, or my gosh, I've just seen this thing here. Have you ever heard of the Japanese here, washing team?

05: 41

05: This whole experience of someone opened up in Melbourne, they've booked out till March, like, so I'm gonna have to pop it in no big Christmas present or something. But giving yourself that energy to say, Hey, I am worthy to have that space. For me. That's what business checks was for me. Because it is a big investment even when it is in Australia. And I can say from a leveling up confidence point of view. It was amazing. Yeah. And so how long have you been in business? Like how long have you been running your business? Yes. So it'll be four years in January. Yeah. And so you like I just I thought it was around that timeline. It's like, you didn't really get to do that stuff. Because COVID came along pretty soon, plus your kids a little. And so, you know, to come out. And I know that there were quite a few people there. And that same boat of just like circumstances of timings, like literally, you're in Melbourne, it was quite the crash the lockdown. And so then, you know, to come into this sort of like, last year, I guess felt like it was more open. And people were like, Okay, I can trust that things won't be canceled or bought or canceled or whatever. And then you can actually have that, but also the time of your business. I think it's kind of a perfect time. Yeah, it's that transition, isn't it some of the first couple of years, even even year, three years, you're still learning and finding your feet. And as I said before, you know, I've just recently landed where we're going to be taking the business going forward. And the learnings within the last few years have been fabulous. The personal development that I've I've gone through has been amazing. But it's still you know that early stages is things to be thinking about. So when is the right time to go? Actually, yes, I can go and do this now. Or this is important for my business growth, my connections, my whatever it might be. Let's take them back a step because we met I mentioned it briefly in your intro. But tell us a bit more about about your business, I guess as it was and who you're serving. And then we're going to so this is the artisans business solutions, and we specialize in holistic business operations. So connecting your team and your tech together, so it works easier more enjoyably. And there's lots of moving parts to operations. So we come in to support you as a business leader at really, whatever, whatever stage you're at, to bring things into line. So you're set up for that next phase moving forward. So I've got a team, couple of humans that help in the background with building and stuff as well, which is fabulous. I always knew from day one, that I was going to be growing a business with people in it, versus just being a solo and very friendly human. I like to be surrounded by amazing people. So yeah, that's sort of what we do, how we do, it varies, how we support our people looks and feels very different depending on what our outcomes are. But ultimately, it's about just being a good human connecting with our business leaders looking at where their journeys going, and what in their business are they using right now and how we can enhance that to move them forward to where they're going. So yeah, it's a bit geeky, it's a bit nerdy, our team level works flow and brought, you know, ecosystem and an architecture design, bring it over here. So

09: 08

09: with fun, yeah. And that's, it's the stuff that like, just, you know, does my head in so yeah, there are people who it's not their forte, and they need it. And it's really interesting that you said that you knew you always wanted to have people in the business because I know that I don't.

09: 24

09: And that's everyone's gonna different but, you know, like I said, depending on doesn't matter about the size, you still need workflow and operations. And I say, I don't want people in my business. I don't want staff. I like bringing people in sort of as a subcontractor or as a, so there'll be a team. But you know, fundamentally and as I've gone through, stepping into the businesses, Emma Lovell, so I really have gone away like no, there is no way there is no ask. There's Emma Lovell and Tim support team, but

10: 00

10: You get me, myself and I, when you work with me, but then, so yeah, you started, you sort of were telling me that you've, you kind of were in that micro space. And I guess that micro is kind of like a one person to person kind of base. And you're gonna move into small base. And so what's I don't know if everyone knows like, because there's so much like you just like, Have you run a business? Right? But like, yeah, a business with 50 people is very different to a business with one person. Yeah, that's right. So I'm just I guess, to give a bit of background, so I was always working in small SME businesses, so 20 Plus staff, and then global corporate organization, so worked for Macquarie Bank, Rothschild over in London, AXA, when that was still a thing. So my experience is bigger world organizations. And so that when I started the artisans, it was always about bringing the bigger thinking into a smaller environment. Because when we're in smaller businesses, sometimes we don't know all the things that are going or maybe we haven't been incorporated and experience what a really beautiful workflow experience or process experience can be when it's designed beautifully, right? Smile, just love it, I get really excited when I press a button, it all happens. So really, our we do support micro businesses, because there's so much to do there, but really the SME space, so that established business, you know what you're doing, you've been in the world for a while, you've got a team in your business, because that's when the transformation between getting it streamlined for you, which is cost effective time saving, primarily time saving, when it's just you to efficiencies, consistencies, all of those things across a team, there's more people in the business. So it's actually more important, not more important, more challenging, sometimes to get everyone aligned if we don't have those foundational things in place. Yeah, yeah. And there's like a level, I remember seeing someone that had a chart, and it was kind of like, we have this many people like you sort of grow and then get to this many people, and then you get a problem. And then you work it out. And then you grow again. And there's this like number and it's like, this is like the problem, like it's kind of like, you can manage it this way. But if you get to this next amount of people, it's next date, then you've to bring in another manager. And so the structure changes and you grow the team, and then the structure changes. And so there's like sweet spots of where you've got the right amount of people in the right amount of roles to make it work. And then if once you sort of shatter, sort of start shuffling those pieces around, it's like,

12: 47

12: did like dip are challenging time challenging time. And we're always learning right? And change is inevitable in business, you know, you have a conversation, you've learned something new. And as a small organization, we have this really agility to iterate quickly. Right? sometimes to the detriment if we keep changing and keep changing and keep changing it is the right amount of shifting and moving to do but especially when you have a team in place. Consistent change can actually do detriment versus, you know, moving forward. Not always but and that's why what we do, I'm a virtual CFO. So we come in to businesses who are not ready yet to bring in a full time head of operations. But you are ready to actually get the experience of having that. So you bring up me in and my team who support me, and yeah, it's fun. I'm just part of your extended team for a period of time as long as you need us. And yeah, it's great. I feel very privileged to be invited into that position.

13: 50

13: Hey, lovely, I truly believe it's your time to shine. To build your business, you need to know the right steps to take at the right time. And I know it can feel so overwhelming trying to figure out what to do next, when there's so many things to do. That's why I have I offer the Hour of Power. It's one hour where we get clear actions that you can take, start building your business today. You can use this session to get advice, review content, build strategies, or work through mindsets. We could simply talk about what you want to do next, what you want to attract into your life, and how you could actually bring more travel and enjoyment into your life. It's whatever you need. This is your time and I'm here to back you every step of the way. So let's hit you up for massive success. Check it out the Hour of Power. You can find it on my website, Emma lovell.au forward slash work weekly. Check out the show notes. And if you're interested at all, please do contact me. You can also get me at Mr. And Emma lovell.au. Now back to the episode.

14: 53

14: And so what made you start the business? Yeah. So I've been working in an organization I

15: 00

15: For a while, and it just got to a point of time I was chief of staff there. And then doing some fabulous things with some tech and all this stuff. And it got to a point where I just felt like, I wanted to do my own thing. It was just a moment in time. And I've been thinking about it for a while. And I had a conversation with a business leader who I still support you. But he comes through my business now. And I do some support for him too. So he's still around. I said, it's time for me to put my hang my hat up over here and focus over here. And he was like, Yeah, that sounds fabulous. I'm would be very disappointed if you hadn't taken the next step. Because I could see the benefits that I had, or the improvements that I had made in that business, the improvements that I had made in a similar sized business previous to that one. And I just knew there were so many organizations out there that really could benefit from my brain and coming in for a moment and so I just did it. So October, 2019,

16: 06

16: resit, like, change that role there stop that went overseas for a month to London to see Simon's family and our friends over there came back January the 10th, register the business and started now this is January 2020.

16: 21

16: So hadn't really foreseen the things that were coming. But actually, it was a beautiful time, because it allowed me to really learn, connect, meet so many fabulous people in business, and really establish myself as the go to person, you know, that's known for clickup For a long time, which is fabulous, one tool that we support, but now I'm really shifting the messaging and getting known as that operational expert that really can support you, whatever you're doing. So, yes, virtual that time was, you know,

16: 56

16: kind of, I don't know, it's like, a, it was a difficult time for many people when I brought it up on a panel two nights ago. But I said that in some ways, COVID was a good thing. There were good things that came out of it. And for me that change in the way that we work the landscape, we work, I did the working from home, working from my laptop and fine thing before it was cool. It's like this whole podcast and traveling and running, you know, my business from wherever I am. But it wasn't always accepted. And there were like contracts I had to do where I had to go prove myself in the office, be in the office, which was great for networking, socializing, you and I love that. But

17: 36

17: you know, I've been moving somewhere else. I did another seven week contract in Sydney, like I did it. And it was great. It was time to do it. But I totally could have done the work. It was really nice. Then when I had clients who I met through those organizations, like I've seen you, I get you, you can do the work wherever. Yeah, come 2020 It was, you know, actually went out with that message of like, hey, nobody knows what's going on. We're all kind of freaking out. But I'm set up here. And this is how I work. I've always worked like that. So if I could be that consistent for you. Then there you go. And now it's kind of how a lot of people are operating and working. So you know, maybe you're good timing. Yeah.

18: 19

18: It's really interesting, because in that previous role, I was headhunted from my other role. And it was fully flexible two days a week over the week. So timewise I had a young son here, Sebastian had just been born. He was six months old. When I started this role and remote working, all my stuff was provided. I met with, you know, Scott in a cafe and I remember one day, bundling up Sebastian in the car in the pram and I had the laptop and I went and met him at Springvale, you know, homemaker center there, and we sat in a cafe and we had our catch ups. And that was compared to the previous organization where I remember asking for one day to be able to work from home. Now, I'll just preface this with my role was responsible for the I T structures and supports in the business. And we had designed it in a way that the people were able to take their laptops and work on the road right there a sales type business, and I have that facility in place. And yet I was told that I had to take a leave day, instead of being able to work one day from home, even though I did it all the time out of hours anyway. So the contrast between these two roles. And this last role just really showed me that business can be done beautifully, right. It doesn't have to be stuck and archaic and, you know, just structured stuff stuck is the word it can be fluid and supporting our teams to be able to just be humans and have the choices now. remote working is an all

20: 00

20: is going to be the right way for everyone. And not everyone likes to work remote.

20: 04

20: But it's the flexibility of options and choices that is really available to us now. And those years really did show that it is possible. Yeah, that option and choice. I mean, one of my highest values is freedom. So I'm about that. But you know, yeah, the thought of, for me being stuck in an office, but like, I feel sometimes it's refreshing, and it's nice to go. And it's nice to be able to connect with people. And I see the value of that. But I just, I just think that it's like schools have changed. And we understand now like neurodiverse agency and different people's learning styles. And it's like, it's great when schools and education is starting to cater that adult education is their children's education is getting there. So why would work the same, we don't all work. The same. There's a movie that's on Netflix at the moment are living a living. And it's, yeah, this kind of this guy's like, lived his life and the daily grind. And it's like really soul crushing. That's how, and even like the getting a train. And he's like trying to say hello to people, they like, oh, we kind of we don't do that, you know, we don't do the hellos in the morning. This is how you do it. And it's like, I love that you can have you know, you're helping businesses as well to run the way that they need to. And it's not. This is the way you set up your structure. And this is the way operations look, because it's so different. And I think that's what I love about it is that when we first work with a new client, we want to know who you are. What is the vision for the business? How does your team like to work and, you know, communicate as well, you know, and once you have all those, those parts, that's when you can actually start to put those designs into place and bring the imagination of what they have been wishing for x y Zed into actual practicality and make it a thing. It's just, I love it.

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21: I can say how much you owe. It's very clear and evident from an income I told you. And I loved that it came up on the podcast when I was on your podcast where we, you mentioned how using the word fabulous, we can use the word fabulous because we're our own businesses, we can read fabulous whenever we want. And you did and but tell me you know you've gone out you created this business for yourself. What does living a life you love look like? Yeah, it's it's choice, and a word choice.

22: 28

22: So I've just come back from a three week holiday up to your neck of the woods, actually, I was

22: 38

22: staying at Burleigh Heads there and it's beautiful. My parents have an apartment up there in Gemini court. And you know, it was a choice of we took three weeks we drove up. And I was still able to do the work had those client meetings that I would like wanted to have while I was there. And then on the other hand, walk down to the beach and grab a coffee and just stand and just be in the space. I was able when we're up there we took the kids up to we've got some historical family land up in Cumbre national park up there and Gordon country and it was such a thrill to be able to watch my dad and my son walking along the creek bed and my dad turned to him and said, This is gonna be all yours one day Sebastian. And I was just like, solve it, you'd be able to have.

23: 32

23: Yeah, you know, just have those moments that if I was in a corporate role if I was working for someone else, Hi, can I please have leave from this, this this, you know, even I have to say Simon, my husband, he works for a global corporate organization and the flexibility that they have provided their staff. So he had three weeks, he had two weeks, 10 days leave left for him his thing. We were there for three weeks. And they were like which you work from where you work. You've got set up your 100 laptops, whatever it might be. And that's the flexibility right now. That's what I'm building from day one in my business was always around, I can pick up that MacBook Pro, I can pop it in my fabulous Cath kidson laptop bag, which I love so that it fits in there. And I could go work from a cafe work from my co working space work from Queensland wherever it might be. Sorry, that's, that's just choice. Yeah. And I love that you've talked about that. Because I think one of the things that I talked about with people, I travel quite a bit and people kind of like, how do you work? And it's like, you know, I'm on my office right now. It's the laptop and it's the phone and like, you know, there's times where it's kind of not so convenient if the internet's not great. Or, you know, I don't know, sometimes I've stayed in places and it's like, oh, we're all in the one room. So then I'm going to be clickety clack getting while Matt's trying to sleep or something like that, or we're all crammed in but predominantly, it's like you can keep

25: 00

25: things moving. And, you know, in terms of what you do as well, if you can get the structure behind you have the team set up, then you're not having to and I said to a colleague yesterday, like she was going, I think we think about work, we think about eight hour days. And it's like, we don't necessarily need eight hour days. It's about productivity. And, you know, there's,

25: 26

25: you know, there's increments of time, and there's, you know, I have no more, I never more motivated than when I've got a trip coming up. Because

25: 34

25: for, I don't know, I'm literally at the airport, the plan is gonna go on, like, I've got to get five social posts ready before the plane goes. So it's incredible what you can do when you like, like you said, if you're there, you might work a bit more efficiently so that you could enjoy the beach event record and be with the around the kids a bit more. And, you know, surely you can fit two or three hours or four hours in a day somewhere? Yeah, I think it's that transformation of what an actual working day looks like to you. Everyone is really different. You know, I just love I love working on then probably not even apologizing. I love it. So I get on. And I do all the things right for me when the planning is in place. So I know that I've got structures around for instance, the newsletter comes out every week, the podcast comes out each week.

26: 24

26: As we get it all planned in advance, that means that on that week, it's not rush, rush, rush, rush. It's, oh, cool. We're doing now things for three weeks later. So it's removing that urgency of an response instead of reactiveness is something that we talk about all the time, when you're busy. And in doo doo doo. That reactive process happens in your mind versus pause, breathe, respond. So it's a very different approach. And when you've got those foundations set up those planning things in place, then you can actually pause, breathe, respond. Very different experience. That's wise words, I feel like I want to know like, I'm like, Okay, let's pause and I'm gonna go out for a walk. And I have all the things. So yeah, really great thing to hold on to. Please tell us lovely. How can we connect with you? How can we stay in touch and learn more from you? Absolutely. So I am on all the socials at the artisans solutions. And there's a there's an S in the middle there. So artisans, solutions, lots of SS don't know why we love it.

27: 39

27: The website is the artist and stock Honda au I also have a fabulous podcast that your self was on called take control with Nicole.

27: 48

27: Yes, that would be amazing. And also come and pop over to LinkedIn. If you're a LinkedIn head. You might just have to click the link because my surname Smith so you could be searching for a bit but now Smith up there please three of you. Like the podcast I'm like, wait, we already filled

28: 08

28: that one, the one with the headbands. Once you say you won't forget her. It's just the common name.

28: 16

28: Anyway

28: 19

28: let's listeners over here. Yeah.

28: 22

28: Yeah, so that's pretty common. Say hello. I love to connect and chat and learn about all the things you join.

28: 30

28: Thank you for sharing your passion and your love and your family fabulousness here on the podcast. I really appreciate you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

28: 41

28: Thank you for listening lovely one. I hope this has inspired you to dream big and start creating a life you love today. If you love what you're hearing, don't forget to follow and rate on Spotify and rate review and subscribe on iTunes. It helps other awesome people to find this podcast and get motivated and inspired as well. Want to stay connected. Come and join the live a life you love group on Facebook or connect with me on Instagram. Emma lovell.au The same as my website. But all the details are in the show notes lovely. I'll see you next episode for more inspiration, motivation and freedom seeking Now go out there and live a life you love