Tell us about yourself?
I have an unrelenting urge to mine the gold of everyone and everything.
I am the woman in the bathroom giving women random advice. The one who comes over for a dinner party and ends up in the kitchen talking with your children about what they want to do with their lives and how to get there. I live to inspire and empower people to see they are capable of more than they realize.
I am an Australian Entrepreneur, Founder and travelling C.E.O.
I want to school to be a fashion designer, laughs. Became bored, flipped the script entirely and went on to build my career in a male dominant industry, becoming the youngest and first female General Manager within it.
It was the limitations I encountered when implementing strategies and visions, that had me starting a Company of my own. So I could break all the rules and design my own.
I started freelance, designing new business dynamics, integrations and frameworks. That evolved into coaching Entrepreneurs and designing new avenues for their portfolios and Companies. That evolved into Organisational Coaching contracts and that evolved into working with individuals to define and conquer their ideas of success in life and careers.
Instead of shying away from what challenges us. I strive to encourage and support People to magnify their limitations, tackle them head-on and come out the other side better than they thought possible. Making us the artists of our own reality and level of success.
I’ve walked across muddy construction sites in 8 inch heels, replaced toilets, driven up mountains to slay dragons [industry joke] and hand unloaded 20ft containers at 4am on freezing cold mornings. I’ve driven forklifts, deep sea fished and caught an Uber 7 hours up the coast of Mexico. You will find more books in my suitcases than clothes.
I will try anything once. Sometimes twice to make sure I don’t like it. I laugh, loudly. I dance in the rain and I talk to myself often.
And when I die, at 103, I want my headstone to read, I came, I saw and I conquered the most remarkable life.
What do you think is the single biggest misconception people have when it comes to startups?
That there is a magical formula that is the answer to succeeding. So many of us waste so much time and energy investing in a ‘predetermined’ roadmap that worked for others.
When we follow a set of steps that worked for someone else, we forget to read the fine print. “It worked for them because…”
If you could go back in time to any moment from your journey, and give yourself one tip, what would it be?
You will succeed. You did not come this far, just to come this far. The answer is there, you are using the wrong angle.
What makes you stand out as an entrepreneur?
I think there is always something that makes Entrepreneurs stand out, that’s why we are Entrepreneurs. I am bold and direct, not backwards in coming forwards, as they say.
That’s sometimes unusual. But what makes me unique is the fact that I am me. That I know how to look at the world the way I want, question that and then make a move. Any move.
What are some of the best working habits you’ve gained over the past couple of years?
I didn’t want vacation days but I wanted to see the world. So now I travel it while building and working in my Company. Designing how I wanted to work gave me the freedom to do my best work.
You may not know how to do something new, but you will.
90 minutes of focused, inspired work equates to getting far more done than task jumping and random actions.
No task ever takes as long as you build it up in your mind to take.
Do not underestimate what adds to your development and goals.
Always start with the thing you’re afraid of or avoiding.
Give us a bit of an insight into the influences behind the company?
I suppose my life and experiences were the greatest influence in the beginning. They say that where you see lack, determine how you can apply your strengths. I could see a lack in so many areas of people and business.
So much potential to succeed is squandered. That made me question how I could help, and what I could do. Nine Carat evolved from the problems I was approached with and the solutions I could find.
The answer to that is unique to each business and individual we work with, across a multitude of sectors and applications. We follow where we can find success for our Clients.
To this day the most inspiring thing is having a front-row seat to the success we can help others achieve.
Where do you see your business in five years?
A Global Brand that has expanded its relevance and impact in our current sector, extending into the sectors of Education, Sustainable, Human-centric and Custom Manufacturing, Local Business Economy Development and Political Advisory.
What do you think the biggest challenge will be for you in getting there?
“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.” – William Ernest Henley and I agree entirely on this point.
Challenges are a matter of deciding, whether something is going to stop you. Whether you have approached something from the right direction. Or whether you are being directed to something better and unconsidered.
The only limitations we experience are the ones we put on ourselves. So as long as I am willing to forge ahead, be decisive and committed to the goals and am surrounded by people that support that vision. We can make it happen.
Talk to us about your biggest success story so far?
That I have come this far. There was definitely a time in my life when I never imagined I would have started my own Company, let alone get to where we are now. And have more expansive goals than just getting here.
Then there is the success of the people I have worked with and spoken to over the years.
When I worked in corporate, there was this one woman, the Administrator for one of our Clients. We would always talk when I came in about life, family, challenges.
She messaged me 6 years later. At the time she was struggling to keep up her exercise routine. That day she was going to use the weather as an excuse not to workout.
Until she remembered that I once told her, I walked even if it was raining. She went out and jogged. In the rain.
Moments like these are my greatest successes. When I understand that I changed something for someone, gave them another choice that will get them closer to where they want to be.
How do clients and customers find you? Are you much of a salesperson for yourself?
Who knows, laughs. My Clients find me. I don’t often ask how or through where, because I am most focused on how I can help them.
They usually come from the most unexpected places and relationships I have built, people I speak to, help I offer. I do not believe in being a salesperson. The best way to sell yourself, is to be yourself.
What one tip would you give to fellow startup founders?
Try. Just try. It’s your life, your Company. You cannot get it wrong. Failure is only a bad word when you don’t use it to learn. When something doesn’t work, it’s just because it didn’t work. It was the wrong thing, the wrong angle.
And if you think you’ve tried everything you haven’t, it isn’t possible. There is always a way it will work.
There is a quote that I live by “Jump off the cliff and build the plane on the way down.” You will get the plane built a lot quicker, laughs. And you will discover what you are capable of, not just what you think you are.
And finally, what do you hope the future brings both you personally, and your business?
I hope the future brings with it more opportunities for change, impact and discovery. For the world to impact me, and the Company and for us to return the favour. And to discover the next level of what we can all achieve.
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