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No Seat at the Table? Pull Up Your Own Chair with Gail Radley
3 Plays1 month ago
Today’s guest is dialing in from London and she doesn’t build small.
Entrepreneur and ambitious operator, Gail is the founder and CEO of H&G Recruitment, a business she scaled from zero to £43M in annual revenue. She also launched NTS, Network Transport Solutions just a year ago, and it’s already turning over £2M annually.
She leads a team of 50+, has built authority and credibility in historically male-heavy industries, crediting her success to sharp strategy, disciplined execution, and zero appetite for excuses.
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Transcript
Introduction to Real HR and Talent
00:00:11
Speaker
And I'm Erin Todis, Managing Director of Talent Delivery, which basically means I live in the universe of finding the right people to make an impact for our clients fast.
00:00:31
Speaker
Around here, we talk about the real side of HR and talent, what works, what absolutely doesn't, and how to build teams that can carry a business, not drag it down.
00:00:41
Speaker
We'll break down trends, share the behind the scenes of scaling a consultancy from zero, and probably overshare a little because that's where the good lessons live.
00:00:49
Speaker
So whether you're building, hiring, leading, or just trying to keep your company profitable, you're in the right place.
Guest Introduction: Gail Radley
00:00:56
Speaker
This is Fractional Frequency.
00:00:57
Speaker
Let's get to it.
00:01:09
Speaker
today's podcast.
00:01:11
Speaker
I am so excited.
00:01:12
Speaker
And today we have a special guest dialing in from London, Gail Radley.
00:01:17
Speaker
Gail is a hugely successful entrepreneur and CEO, founder of H&G Recruitment, a business that she scaled from zero to 43 million pounds in annual revenue.
Gail's Journey from Burnout to Business
00:01:28
Speaker
Additionally, she owns a one-year-old logistics business called NTS, Network Transport Solutions, which is already turning over 2 million in annual revenue.
00:01:37
Speaker
Gail leads a team of over 50 people.
00:01:39
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She's a problem solver, a strategist, a thought leader, and we're so excited to have her here with us today.
00:01:45
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Welcome, Gail.
00:01:46
Speaker
Thank you for that lovely introduction.
00:01:50
Speaker
Hi, welcome.
00:01:52
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So excited to chat with you today.
00:01:55
Speaker
I cannot wait to just pick into your brain, Gail.
00:01:58
Speaker
So let's get right to it.
00:01:59
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We're going to talk a little bit about your story.
00:02:02
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And I would love to start with learning about what inspired you to launch your own business.
00:02:07
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You know, well, I often get asked this question.
00:02:16
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And the truthful answer is I would never have done it unless I was pushed.
00:02:24
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I...
00:02:25
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I worked for a huge company before I started up on my own called Carlisle Staffing.
00:02:35
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And Carlisle had some amazing investors and entrepreneurs that I was privileged to work alongside.
00:02:47
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I worked for them for 14 years.
00:02:49
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And if you cut me in half, I had their businesses running through me.
00:02:57
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And unfortunately...
00:03:02
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as people or as entrepreneurs do we often burn out and we don't recognize when burnout is approaching and I made a couple of errors and mistakes which led to my demise and sitting in my front room thinking oh my god I don't want this to happen to me again yeah
00:03:27
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I decided to travel the world, regroup and think about what I wanted in life.
00:03:39
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So I rented my house out, put all my life into boxes, put that into storage and took off to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Bangkok,
00:03:56
Speaker
um bangkok is in thailand but uh hong kong and uh dubai on the way back um and the thing is when you've been working you know uh at the at the pace that you do and you're a director a successful director um you would never dream of having a year off no no so i was 33 years old at the time um
00:04:25
Speaker
and i i mean it was probably the most incredible year of my life because i worked flat out ever since i left um university uh having the normal regular holidays that everyone has and this is this is 25 years ago so um
00:04:48
Speaker
And I had an amazing time.
00:04:51
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And the thing is, whilst I was sitting on all the different beaches that I travelled to and all the experiencing all the wonderful countries and cities that I went to, I was taking notes and making and noting down ideas along the way.
00:05:08
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And when I came back to the UK after my trip, people did ask me, when are you going to find the time to work?
00:05:18
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And I said, well, I've got bills to pay.
00:05:21
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I need to move back into my house, really.
Starting a Business from Scratch
00:05:25
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And I had a few jobs on the table.
00:05:27
Speaker
So I'd made all these notes and I'd thought about what I wanted.
00:05:30
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I didn't really have the confidence to start up a business on my own.
00:05:36
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And so I took a job.
00:05:42
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I think I lasted four weeks.
00:05:44
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Because burnout is a real thing.
00:05:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:48
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But if you don't acknowledge why you burnt out in the first place, you're just going to repeat the cycle.
00:05:56
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And travelling and experiencing, you know, I would always recommend that to anybody, especially if you haven't done it in your early 20s.
00:06:06
Speaker
To have a career break and achieve that kind of experience teaches you so much.
00:06:15
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And I mean, I never thought twice about working a 12, 14 hour day.
00:06:20
Speaker
It was kind of the norm back then before we gained some perspective and balance through lockdown.
00:06:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker
And I remember driving into this company and thinking to myself, what am I doing?
00:06:43
Speaker
And I'd been reading the entrepreneurial book written by the gentleman who set up Yo-Yo Sushi.
00:06:54
Speaker
I remember his name in a minute.
00:06:56
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Yes.
00:06:58
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And his story was so inspiring.
00:07:01
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I thought, you know what?
00:07:02
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I could do that.
00:07:04
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Why am I doing this?
00:07:07
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I kind of had this epiphany and I sold my house and I moved into a rabbit hunch.
00:07:16
Speaker
I kid you not.
00:07:16
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I think it was like two up, two down, this blooming little tiny house.
00:07:22
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I scaled my car right down to a, you know, a little puddle jumper.
00:07:27
Speaker
Went from my BMW 7 Series to an Audi.
00:07:32
Speaker
That's not too bad of a jump down girl.
00:07:37
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Well it was when you, you know, I was probably about 10 years old, this little car, but it was now an A3, so I kind of, you know.
00:07:45
Speaker
But in the corporate world here in the UK, from, you know, one status to another, I don't think I'd owned a car for, you know, 15 years.
00:07:57
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I'd always had a company car.
00:07:59
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So it was all quite a big...
00:08:02
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and from the front room of this little rabbit hutch I started to graft
00:08:11
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And I used to joke with people because I used to say, I just want to get enough people working for me to make enough money to pay my mortgage, pay my bills and to continue to see the world.
00:08:26
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Because I'd had this taste of travel and suddenly thought to myself, I quite like this.
00:08:33
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There's another world out there.
00:08:35
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Yeah, no, totally.
00:08:38
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And...
00:08:41
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And I don't know where all the work came from but I think if you are
00:08:46
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If you have entrepreneurial flair and you're in desire when you're working for a company, I think owners of businesses really want to tap into that talent and keep those types of people secure because they are the lifeblood of sales and how you increase your business.
00:09:10
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And they let me go.
00:09:14
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And I put my name out in the newspaper.
00:09:17
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and the phone started to ring.
00:09:18
Speaker
Wow.
00:09:23
Speaker
And you have to be confident in your ability.
00:09:26
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You have to know that your clients are king.
00:09:29
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Your clients are everything to you.
Building Client Relationships and Success
00:09:34
Speaker
And I treated both my clients and candidates the same.
00:09:39
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Everybody was precious to me.
00:09:44
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And within, I think it was like three or four months, my business partner, because I was lucky enough to have somebody else come along for the ride at the startup.
00:09:57
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And she begged me to move to a serviced office because I used to roll out of bed in the morning, attach my ear to the phone and not finish until 6 o'clock that evening.
00:10:10
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And she'd be walking around with a peg on her nose and said, are you going to have a go and have a shower now?
00:10:17
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You've got to give your heart and soul to whatever you do.
00:10:22
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And luckily back then in those days, we didn't have Zoom and we didn't have
00:10:26
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you know, Teams calls, etc.
00:10:27
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So nobody knew I was sat there in my pyjamas talking to them.
00:10:33
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And obviously, you know, customer service, personality is everything.
00:10:37
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So I was very lucky to be in a people-driven business.
00:10:41
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I was very lucky to have clients who I'd delivered a great service to previously.
00:10:48
Speaker
And when that service wasn't there for that year that I took off, they missed it.
00:10:54
Speaker
so in everything you do you need to make your mark you want to be remembered be unique be different be honest be integral because trust me now it is the greatest accolade to sell your service and i was privileged enough to be able to put my name out say where i was say what i was doing and the phone started to ring
00:11:23
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I think it resonates certainly for me as I think, Amy, about a lot of the work that we're doing.
00:11:31
Speaker
In many cases, it's with people that we've worked with before.
00:11:34
Speaker
Because when you are just customer obsessed and you care deeply about
00:11:40
Speaker
their problems enough to make them your own, that really resonates with people.
00:11:45
Speaker
And I think it's more uncommon than you might think.
00:11:49
Speaker
And so that makes tons of sense to me, Gail.
00:11:53
Speaker
I would love your thoughts on success and particularly what success looks like at various stages of your journey.
00:12:02
Speaker
So early stage to sort of mid-stage to today.
00:12:06
Speaker
How do you think about or how do you measure that?
00:12:10
Speaker
A really good question, Erin, because when you start out and your business starts to grow, it's all about making money.
00:12:20
Speaker
It's all about investing.
00:12:23
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It's all about, you know, seeing the bottom line grow and having the confidence to keep investing, to keep growing.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:37
Speaker
as your business matures and so does your team and so does your client base it's actually then becomes more important to you to see those around you become successful because that's the testament of your success and there's nothing more satisfying than growing a team of
00:13:06
Speaker
people that buy into your values, of people that share your values, and then seeing them going on to bigger and better things.
00:13:16
Speaker
And in some cases taking over you and, you know, becoming hugely successful.
00:13:23
Speaker
And I think...
00:13:26
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certainly in my most recent years of my career, that's for me the testament of success.
00:13:34
Speaker
We're still here, we're still battling away to survive some of the rocky economic challenges that are thrown at you.
00:13:43
Speaker
But when you see people that have worked for you also being massively successful, then you know that that is
00:13:54
Speaker
That's what success looks like.
00:13:59
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:14:00
Speaker
And I'm sure at this point, there are a number of success stories and people that you can point to and look to who have learned and built their careers off of, off of learnings from you.
00:14:10
Speaker
So that's fantastic.
00:14:13
Speaker
I think Amy and I talk about this a lot.
00:14:16
Speaker
You know, the, the, the idea of being a founder or a CEO is,
00:14:21
Speaker
is really sexy and exciting to most people.
00:14:24
Speaker
But maybe like kind of pull the curtain back for us a little bit.
00:14:29
Speaker
What misconceptions do people have about becoming a founder and CEO?
CEO Misconceptions and Team Empowerment
00:14:38
Speaker
Well, I think the most important thing is you have to be humble.
00:14:42
Speaker
Hmm.
00:14:43
Speaker
There's not a single job in my business that I've not done.
00:14:47
Speaker
Right.
00:14:47
Speaker
And that includes cleaning the toilets.
00:14:52
Speaker
There's not a single person that's not been important to me that I've taken on.
00:14:58
Speaker
Every time you take somebody on, you are investing in, you know, or you're, like I said before, you're privileged enough to be investing in somebody who trusts you.
00:15:13
Speaker
with their time, with their energy, with what they want to put into making your company even more successful.
00:15:23
Speaker
And if they don't cut it, then you've got to then face into those difficult conversations around why.
00:15:35
Speaker
So the responsibility is huge.
00:15:38
Speaker
And I think that's what people underestimate.
00:15:42
Speaker
And you can't give up.
00:15:43
Speaker
You've got to keep trying.
00:15:45
Speaker
You know, I tell people that being busy breeds business.
00:15:52
Speaker
Oh, Gail, we say that every day since you said that to us the first time.
00:15:58
Speaker
We say it every day.
00:16:03
Speaker
I always have a task list and I always have objectives to achieve every day.
00:16:11
Speaker
because I need to be kept on the straight and narrow.
00:16:13
Speaker
Entrepreneurs can tend to disappear off into the ether of ideas and success as such.
00:16:25
Speaker
But yeah, so I like to know what I've achieved in a day and I like to talk with people at the end of the day and the start of the day about what we've all got planned and what I expect to get out of my day.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker
And I think people underestimate, I think people think that CEOs sit in an ivory tower and it's all great to be directing and lunching and playing golf.
00:16:54
Speaker
Trust me, that's not reality, especially when you're in a staffing business.
00:17:02
Speaker
And it's about people.
00:17:09
Speaker
and people never cease to amaze me so i'm constantly learning um and i think that's what you've got to be open to you will constantly learn and you've got to constantly have your wits about you to take on board that learning and put it into good practice because there's a reason why you learned the the lessons that you learned um and um
00:17:38
Speaker
And never, never give up.
00:17:41
Speaker
Because, you know, there's plenty of challenge that I've thought to myself, oh, my God, not again, you know.
00:17:50
Speaker
Here we go again.
00:17:51
Speaker
But you do get through it.
00:17:54
Speaker
And you get through it because you work hard.
00:17:57
Speaker
And all business owners that are successful work hard.
00:18:02
Speaker
Nowadays, we can work smart, which is great.
00:18:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:18:07
Speaker
And I've really enjoyed embracing the whole work smart ethic that came out of lockdown and, you know, being more flexible and being able to offer staff more flexibility and more hybrid solutions to allow them to work and be productive.
00:18:27
Speaker
I'm a firm believer in empowering people.
00:18:32
Speaker
I think knowledge is power.
00:18:34
Speaker
And I think, you know, trust when an employee feels trusted and empowered with knowledge, I think they are 100% more effective.
00:18:46
Speaker
And I think that the new smarter ways of working really empower people to do that.
00:18:52
Speaker
Obviously, if you've got the same level of integrity as the owner of the company.
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:01
Speaker
And, you know, if you don't trust the people that you have on your team, then they're on the wrong team.
00:19:10
Speaker
So I think always going in first with that mentality of that, I trust this person to get done what they're responsible for doing is a good way to operate rather than acting with like suspicion.
00:19:25
Speaker
It's not healthy.
00:19:27
Speaker
It's not healthy, no.
00:19:28
Speaker
But I think what's been great about the last 10 years is how we have all discovered smarter ways of working, more flexible ways of working.
00:19:38
Speaker
We've embraced hybrid working.
00:19:41
Speaker
We've allowed people to find their way.
00:19:46
Speaker
And I actually have people now wanting to come into the office because they want to be with other people and, you know, not just work from home, which is great.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:56
Speaker
I mean, there's nothing that gives you more of a buzz than a great, successful sales office.
00:20:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:03
Speaker
yeah and and people learn from people we all learn from each other so stuck at home you're not going to learn you know um from your little ai avatar in the corner every day yeah much new but if you all get together and share your avatars then maybe you'll learn something new so it's wonderful to get that balance now yeah no i totally agree
00:20:27
Speaker
Gail, I'm pretty familiar with the industry that your business supports because my grandfather had a logistics business before he retired and my mum still works in transport and logistics to this day.
00:20:42
Speaker
It's a really male-dominated space.
00:20:46
Speaker
So I wonder if we could talk a little bit about that.
Women in Logistics and Diversity
00:20:50
Speaker
Did you ever feel any pressure to adapt your either business
00:20:56
Speaker
communication style or leadership style to meet the needs of the people that you were supporting?
00:21:05
Speaker
My honest answer is no.
00:21:07
Speaker
My honest answer is that...
00:21:12
Speaker
The logistics industry in the UK, yes, it's male dominated, but I think that's more around the hours that historically people have had to work.
00:21:22
Speaker
And it's quite a heavy industry.
00:21:26
Speaker
So from a physical point of view, yeah.
00:21:30
Speaker
it naturally has always been recognised as male dominated and there's obviously a lot more men that drive trucks in the UK than there are women.
00:21:44
Speaker
Again in the last 10 years we've seen more women coming into the industry, we've seen a lot more diverse initiatives being launched and people persuaded to come into logistics and it's been marketed as a much more sexy, appealing industry providing great careers for people.
00:22:08
Speaker
And I think because I always loved logistics and I always loved working and I loved business, the men that I worked with, I actually learned from and I enjoyed learning.
00:22:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:21
Speaker
They taught me so much that I never felt inferior.
00:22:28
Speaker
That's great.
00:22:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker
and um and that's why i would then encourage you see other uh girls and women to to come into the industry because you know if you're if you're not necessarily academic but you have got a great work ethic and you do want a good career and a good salary in the uk then the logistics is a great route
00:22:55
Speaker
to come in and get a career, whether you come out of university as a graduate and go into a graduate management development programme, or whether you come in at the lower level and work your way up.
00:23:14
Speaker
And like I said before, I think knowledge is power, so I'm always trying to learn more and always trying to talk to people on their level.
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:25
Speaker
So I didn't feel intimidated, I think is the kind of word I'm looking for.
00:23:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:34
Speaker
Because I wasn't really put in that position to be.
00:23:38
Speaker
But also I'm very clear about my boundaries as an individual.
00:23:43
Speaker
And I think if you make your boundaries very clear from the start, people know where they stand.
00:23:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:49
Speaker
So...
00:23:52
Speaker
But, you know, we live in a different world now.
00:23:56
Speaker
So I had a lot of great experiences of working with a lot of very knowledgeable men, many of which have retired now, and even more knowledgeable women.
00:24:16
Speaker
so my experience has always been one of of of diverse of diverse connections um and and my business has always reflected that i've always tried to balance um having you know um the best man for the job or woman for the job yeah yeah i i totally agree like
00:24:42
Speaker
hardworking and dedication and curiosity to learn.
00:24:48
Speaker
That's all you want from anything that just works for you, you know.
00:24:52
Speaker
But reversely or perversely, on the other side of it,
00:24:57
Speaker
recruitment um and essentially that's the the business we're in we were we are a resourcing staffing agency that supplies contingent workers that can drive hgv trucks and deliver to all of the big supermarkets across the uk yeah and um and naturally drivers are predominantly male so actually my office
00:25:26
Speaker
I struggle to recruit men.
00:25:28
Speaker
I have more women because they naturally manage the drivers more effectively because it's quite a lonely job.
00:25:38
Speaker
So when somebody needs a customer service support and there's a nice, helpful person on the end of the line, they're going to naturally feel more supported.
00:25:52
Speaker
And so just, I suppose how that's turned out, um, we have a more female dominated office environment and a more male dominated contractor environment.
00:26:08
Speaker
Um, and the two actually compliment each other.
00:26:12
Speaker
Um, if I could get more men to work in the office, I would, if I could get more ladies to drive lorries, I would, um,
00:26:20
Speaker
But people's circumstances dictate the roles that they want to do, you know, for their careers and to support their families.
00:26:29
Speaker
And that's, I suppose, the way that that's what really shapes businesses.
00:26:36
Speaker
That's what really shapes who works for you and who doesn't.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:41
Speaker
Meeting the needs of the talent market to a certain extent.
00:26:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:46
Speaker
So when you think back and, you know, you've
00:26:50
Speaker
obviously built up a really great book of business when you were in staffing, then you set up your own business, you now continue to set up new businesses and be successful.
00:27:06
Speaker
Were there any stages in your career where you felt like you may have been underestimated?
00:27:14
Speaker
Oh, yes.
00:27:17
Speaker
I presented once to a very well-known supermarket chain, huge tender proposition.
00:27:24
Speaker
And we delivered a, we were already supplying into some of their DCs.
00:27:35
Speaker
and the procurement panel was all male and one of the procurement managers asked me was i going to put my workforce in pink and i said possibly not because i think that would probably create a rather large laundry bill
00:27:59
Speaker
But I suppose if the shade suits them and they want to wear it, I can't take it.
00:28:08
Speaker
Needless to say, I didn't get the contract, but the contract was given to somebody else who I think held it for about six weeks before we were called back in to...
00:28:20
Speaker
sort out the problem so you know it's it's how you recover from these things amy yeah and it's you know that things like that make me smile they don't make me think you know oh you know it's the war of the sexes kind of all i just preconceived ideas need to be overcome yeah um and we proved our worth through our delivery yes but
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah, work is always what matters.
00:28:51
Speaker
Like what you bring to the table is what matters and what should matter.
00:28:57
Speaker
You've mentioned a few times that you'd like to see, you know, more women go into the logistics business.
00:29:04
Speaker
Do you think that there's anything that needs to change like fundamentally about the industry to enable more women to go into that career sector at all?
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:16
Speaker
I mean, I think most companies in the UK are doing everything they can to inspire a diverse workforce and an equal platform for people to come in and forge their careers.
00:29:36
Speaker
The logistics in the UK is 24 hours.
00:29:40
Speaker
And if you are a family, man or woman,
00:29:44
Speaker
um you have to juggle that with your your spouse don't you yeah so you're going to or your partner um you're gonna you're gonna work around the needs of the children and and invariably we have um a a collection of the workforce where you know dad works nights and mum works some hours during the day when she can so
00:30:10
Speaker
women provide a flexible part-time resource that works, you know, incredibly well.
00:30:19
Speaker
But in a lot of the warehouses that we supply, in the event that the operation might need overtime, if you are, if you can only work six hours in that day and you need to go and pick your children up, you can't flex up and do that overtime.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:40
Speaker
which then creates more opportunity because actually you could have another lady work another six hours if they can, you know, job share or.
00:30:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's big in the UK, right?
00:30:54
Speaker
The job share thing.
00:30:55
Speaker
I don't see that too much over here.
00:30:57
Speaker
Well, it's all about flexible working patterns, but it's also about creating opportunity.
00:31:02
Speaker
So if you've got a 12 hour shift that needs to be covered and, you know, one person can't do the 12 hours, but two people could do two lots of six, what's the difference?
00:31:14
Speaker
As long as the productivity remains the same.
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah, true.
00:31:18
Speaker
And like I said, now, as we get smarter with technology and working practices, it's a lot easier because normally it's just supervising the technology.
00:31:29
Speaker
So, and I think you'll see more of that as robotics come in.
00:31:35
Speaker
And rather than looking at that as negatively, you know, those flexible working patterns will become more prevalent.
00:31:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:44
Speaker
The...
00:31:47
Speaker
you know, from a management perspective, I don't think there's any reason why, you know, women shouldn't come into the industry and forge, you know, great careers.
Challenges and Opportunities in Logistics
00:32:03
Speaker
And I'd like to see more of that.
00:32:04
Speaker
I'd like to see more great female managers coming in and leading teams.
00:32:14
Speaker
I think that...
00:32:16
Speaker
I think logistics is exciting because it's going to keep evolving.
00:32:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:24
Speaker
And it's kind of obsession-proof too.
00:32:26
Speaker
You know, people are always going to need to eat.
00:32:29
Speaker
got to you know delivery delivering things the way people shop changes so you you do see a change in demand so um but i mean we have a a thousand contractors working for us every week at the moment um
00:32:48
Speaker
And I think if we had, if there were another 500 out there that could work for us, we could fill that again.
00:32:53
Speaker
So there is definitely a skill shortage in driving HGV vehicles.
00:33:01
Speaker
There's a huge shortage of drivers, you know, across the world even.
00:33:08
Speaker
But that's very different from working in logistics, in, you know, either a management role or in a...
00:33:18
Speaker
a lower level role and working your way up you know yeah uh drivers drivers get paid very healthily in the uk yeah they do yeah they're very well but it's a tough job you know on the road a lot oh it's lonely it's it's incredibly lonely um and not always healthy for people's you know mental health so or physical health because if you're always on the road you're always eating
00:33:44
Speaker
well well you eat whatever you can grab on the side of the road so we do try to to put lots of um well-being strategies in place and you know give people the opportunity to um or or try to educate them in the opportunity around the opportunity of of exercising and and and building that into their day you know mm-hmm
00:34:11
Speaker
And I think, you know, I mean, I think the population in general has become a lot more health conscious.
00:34:18
Speaker
And that includes, you know, drivers.
00:34:22
Speaker
Funnily enough, those frustratingly for us, those that people don't want to do the more unsociable shifts now because they're building their wellbeing strategies into, you know, and strangely enough, nobody wants to go to work at midnight.
00:34:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:40
Speaker
But yeah, so it's good to see people looking after themselves and having more of a healthy outlook and still working for us in that vein.
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah, no, that makes sense.
00:34:58
Speaker
Thank you for sharing that.
00:34:59
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:35:00
Speaker
I think we're going to just ask you for some key takeaways at this point.
00:35:06
Speaker
Erin, do you have the list?
00:35:10
Speaker
I do.
00:35:10
Speaker
I've got a few in mind.
00:35:11
Speaker
So we'll just sort of rapid fire these Gail.
00:35:14
Speaker
The first is, would you share with us one mindset shift that has changed everything for you?
00:35:23
Speaker
Oh, um, it's, it's got to be working smarter.
00:35:29
Speaker
It's got to be, you know, if there's an easy route, take it.
00:35:35
Speaker
There's got to be, you know, um,
00:35:40
Speaker
uh yeah it's got it's got to be it's got to be about working smarter i think when you uh when you're when you're in the thick of it in the woods um you don't always see the obvious so when you take a step back and you become more strategic and and you give yourself a chance to think and breathe and and
00:36:10
Speaker
sort out, you know, problems and find solutions.
00:36:14
Speaker
You just become a lot more productive.
00:36:18
Speaker
And you just taking care of you and taking care of those around you is really important.
00:36:25
Speaker
And it is, you just, you keep having light bulb moments then.
00:36:31
Speaker
Once you feel lighter, once you feel like, you know, work is an easier route to achieve your goals, your ideas and creativity start to build and it becomes exciting.
00:36:48
Speaker
So for me, that, and that actually came about for me during lockdown, during lockdown.
00:36:57
Speaker
you know, putting strategies, putting coping strategies into my day that made me cope with the situation and still be really productive.
00:37:09
Speaker
And I thoroughly enjoyed it and thoroughly embraced the experience.
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:15
Speaker
The world of business has just changed so much, even in the last few years, to your point.
Work Ethic and Entrepreneurial Advice
00:37:21
Speaker
What is one behavior, Gail, that you think people in business should stop tolerating in today's world?
00:37:29
Speaker
Well, procrastinating.
00:37:31
Speaker
God, I can't bear all this waffle and excuses that people give you.
00:37:36
Speaker
It's like, for God's sake, just get on with it, please.
00:37:44
Speaker
I don't suffer fools gladly.
00:37:47
Speaker
And the woke, the precious outlooks I don't really tolerate.
00:37:59
Speaker
I'm a bit of a no messing character.
00:38:03
Speaker
Get up, get out and get on with it.
00:38:06
Speaker
We get one crack at life.
00:38:09
Speaker
So procrastinating is just a waste of your energy.
00:38:13
Speaker
put your energy into things that will give you results or give you experiences or help another person.
00:38:25
Speaker
There isn't, there's no reason to procrastinate.
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:31
Speaker
And I'll maybe end with one, one more, Gail.
00:38:35
Speaker
What is, if you could share a single piece of advice with
00:38:39
Speaker
someone thinking about stepping into business or into an entrepreneur role, what would that be?
00:38:47
Speaker
Good one.
00:38:48
Speaker
Oh, gosh.
00:38:54
Speaker
Don't take it too seriously.
00:38:57
Speaker
it's very and you're putting your heart and soul into something i mean i sold my house to start my business and for me that was really exciting i wanted the risk i wanted to to to take the risks and see the results and you've kind of got to embrace that journey um
00:39:19
Speaker
And I often say to people, has anybody died?
00:39:23
Speaker
And they say to me, well, no, but no one's died.
00:39:30
Speaker
So don't take it so seriously.
00:39:33
Speaker
Don't get wrapped up and absorbed in the mire.
00:39:39
Speaker
Believe in yourself.
00:39:42
Speaker
Enjoy the excitement and the adrenaline that comes with a sail.
00:39:46
Speaker
And when you get a knockback, use it to be even more determined to get...
00:39:54
Speaker
a a successful sale the next time around you know learn from that knock back you know why did i get knocked back well okay i could have done that better so next time i will do that better um don't see it as as as a disadvantage see it as an advantage see it as something that's taught you a lesson because from bad things good things always come
00:40:19
Speaker
and be positive.
00:40:23
Speaker
There aren't enough entrepreneurs in the world that embrace that strategy and yet those that are successful entrepreneurs have all got that same positive mindset and they've all, you know, when you get chatting to them, you kind of find that there's no easy route.
00:40:44
Speaker
Yes.
00:40:45
Speaker
People will always tell you that, you know, oh, yeah, I made my millions by, you know, I don't quite know what fantasy they come from, but...
00:40:55
Speaker
The only route is through hard work.
00:40:59
Speaker
Whether you're a busy mum and you're juggling children and you're juggling, you know, looking after the house and working on your, I don't know, influencing and Amazon platform and being an affiliate of something, you've still got to put your heart and soul into it.
00:41:19
Speaker
Pick the right, you know, affiliate.
00:41:21
Speaker
Pick the right person.
00:41:24
Speaker
product to market it takes time and energy don't procrastinate um and you'll be successful that's awesome i agree with everything you said and i know you've said it to me um in other conversations before and it's so true
00:41:42
Speaker
You have to enjoy the process.
00:41:46
Speaker
Like, yes, we're all working towards the result of, you know, being that person that can sit in the room and say, oh, I made my millions by this time or this whatever, but it's a lot of work and blood, sweat and tears before that point.
00:42:04
Speaker
And you have to almost like fall in love with the process of putting that together.
Entrepreneurship Struggles and Joy
00:42:10
Speaker
And you're so right.
00:42:12
Speaker
Like there's no job too small, no job too big when you're starting your own business.
00:42:17
Speaker
Everything sits with you and you have to enjoy it.
00:42:22
Speaker
And you're right, the risk.
00:42:24
Speaker
I think, you know, you bootstrapped your business by selling your house,
00:42:30
Speaker
We bootstrapped ours by severance packages from the companies that we worked at previously.
00:42:37
Speaker
And so, it's nice on one hand that you don't have investors to kind of deal with, but on the other hand, it's like, how do I make this work?
00:42:45
Speaker
And it's kind of a thrill once you get over the abject terror.
00:42:50
Speaker
It's kind of fun.
00:42:53
Speaker
if you've always worked for somebody the security is also intoxicating it's just you know you get into this mindset of you know i mean i can only speak about the uk so forgive me if it's different in america but um you know we get between four and six weeks holiday a year so people look at their salary and are planning their holidays before they've been paid yeah that's what we work for we work for our holidays um
00:43:23
Speaker
when you are an entrepreneur and you are um you know you don't know where the next paycheck's coming from you know that you've got a target to to meet to in order to your goal is your holiday it's a different mindset you've got to make that money somebody asked me the other day how much how much how much money do you earn i said i don't i make
00:43:50
Speaker
there's a difference and there is there is a difference you know um and the trips that i plan on and the places i go to i write myself a little list of i've i don't i don't believe in having one bucket list you see my bucket list is is unique for the for the next 12 months
00:44:10
Speaker
So every year I plan little experiences that I want to achieve in that year that I can tick off my bucket list because I think you do different things at different ages and stages in your life.
00:44:25
Speaker
so i i always sit you know around between christmas and new year and think about what i want to do this year what are my goals for this year to go to to travel to different places to do different experiences to throw myself out of a plane and you know over the virgin islands or something i don't know but and i that's that's my focus for the year that's what i need to make my money to achieve um
00:44:54
Speaker
And then in with all of that, I also try to think about what, I can never say this word properly, what, what causes I can embrace along that list of goals.
00:45:10
Speaker
So I set myself some challenges and some fundraising goals and, you know, I think it's really important to give back.
00:45:18
Speaker
So, and then it all becomes really purposeful.
00:45:25
Speaker
And that's why, you know, when you asked me that question previously about the shift in your career, it's because you're at stages in your career, you have different purposes.
00:45:36
Speaker
And now as I'm sort of coming to the end of my career or the end maybe of this chapter, you automatically want to give back, you automatically want to be more purposeful.
00:45:53
Speaker
And you automatically want to show your community that being humble and remaining humble during the course of your career is what has given you that edge.
00:46:11
Speaker
Yes.
00:46:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:13
Speaker
You want to, you want, it's not just about you.
00:46:16
Speaker
It's about what impact you can make.
00:46:18
Speaker
The impact, yeah.
00:46:19
Speaker
The impact.
00:46:20
Speaker
The impact on your social community, the impact on those around you, the impact of people's careers.
00:46:27
Speaker
It's about impact.
00:46:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:30
Speaker
I hope that's been a bit inspirational.
00:46:33
Speaker
No, great.
00:46:34
Speaker
It's great.
00:46:34
Speaker
It's always fun to talk to you, Gail.
00:46:37
Speaker
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
00:46:40
Speaker
I am super excited for other people in the Strativist community to hear the little pearls of wisdom that we get from you when you have the time to connect with us.
00:46:54
Speaker
And we are always grateful for
00:46:56
Speaker
for the time that you do share with us.
00:46:58
Speaker
And, you know, my final thought is just if you are setting up your own business and it's a hard slog in the beginning, but that busy breeds business is so true.
00:47:13
Speaker
Get busy, get busy helping people, talking to people.
00:47:18
Speaker
Even if you're doing things just out of the goodness of your heart to help others along the way, you'd be surprised how that has an impact on your bottom line, which as you correctly stated, is very important in the beginning because you've got to keep those lights on.
00:47:39
Speaker
Too true.
00:47:39
Speaker
Too true.
00:47:42
Speaker
Thank you, Aynyn.
00:47:43
Speaker
Thanks so much.
00:47:44
Speaker
Thank you, Erin.