Speaker 1: Why is it so hard to get real answers about
Speaker 1: your health? If you've been told that everything looks fine,
Speaker 1: but you know that something is off, we're not imagining it.
Speaker 1: That's why I created Vitality three sixty to help you
Speaker 1: better understand what's going on inside your body so that
Speaker 1: you can take the targeted action needed. With a functional
Speaker 1: health approach plus testing, we go beyond the guesswork to
Speaker 1: uncover the root causes of your symptoms. I've teamed up
Speaker 1: with doct Esmina, an incredible integrative GP and together we
Speaker 1: will help you decode your body's signals and answer questions
Speaker 1: like why am I always exhausted? What's really causing my
Speaker 1: stubborn weight? Am I inflamed? Insulin resistant? Or maybe missing
Speaker 1: key nutrients? Because when you understand your body better, you
Speaker 1: can transform your health. Visit v three sixty dot health
Speaker 1: or check out the show notes for more. This is
Speaker 1: Healthy Heer with Amelia Phillips and welcome to one of
Speaker 1: my mini motivation episodes. These are shorter, targeted episodes where
Speaker 1: we tackle there's one specific question or challenge head on.
Speaker 1: Well today we are putting our business hats on. We
Speaker 1: are answering the question, should I stay working for someone
Speaker 1: else or should I.
Speaker 2: Build my own business. It's a good question, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Everywhere I look at the moment, it seems like influencers
Speaker 1: are promoting their side hustle that they set up, that
Speaker 1: they did during their babies' naps while the kids were
Speaker 1: at school, and now miraculously it's just.
Speaker 2: Bringing them in millions and.
Speaker 1: Their hashtag blessed, or the hobby that they love, their passion,
Speaker 1: their hobby that miraculously started making them loads of money.
Speaker 1: Or my friend, I am here to tell you that
Speaker 1: it does not work like that. I have started and
Speaker 1: sold five businesses in my life and there is nothing
Speaker 1: easy or part time about them. Unless I'm totally missing
Speaker 1: a trick here. Maybe someone tell me what is that secret?
Speaker 1: But in my experience, your own business requires a ridiculous
Speaker 1: amount of focus, energy, of risk, financial risk, often at
Speaker 1: the cost of your own sanity. It is not something
Speaker 1: to just take on lightly. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: they can be equally rewarding. They can set you and
Speaker 1: your family up for life, and if you do get
Speaker 1: it right, they can help you leave the values led
Speaker 1: legacy that you have dreamed of your whole life. So
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not discouraging you from doing it, because life
Speaker 1: is too short to waste working in a job that
Speaker 1: doesn't fulfill you. But it is a nuanced conversation and
Speaker 1: there is no right or wrong answer. And so to
Speaker 1: help give us some very educated experience and sound advice
Speaker 1: before we quit that comfy six figure salary job and
Speaker 1: earn nothing, I enlisted the help of Melissa Brown from
Speaker 1: mel Brown Money. So Mel is an ex financial advisor
Speaker 1: now financial educator and one of the most trusted voices
Speaker 1: when it comes to money, especially for women navigating the
Speaker 1: complexities of midlife. Mel is the founder of mel Brown Money,
Speaker 1: and she's on a mission to simplify finance and help
Speaker 1: women feel confident, informed, and in control of their financial future.
Speaker 1: She's got over two decades of experience in financial services.
Speaker 1: She's worked across accountancy, financial advice, strategy, and education, and
Speaker 1: she's also the author of five books, including the recently
Speaker 1: published Dare to Be Wealthy And that's really a book
Speaker 1: empowering women to grow their own wealth in a way
Speaker 1: that aligns.
Speaker 2: With their life and values.
Speaker 1: So here is Mel's take on whether we should go
Speaker 1: out on our own and start our own business. Mel
Speaker 1: I'd love to know your story for why you essentially
Speaker 1: stepped away from a secure salary and started your online
Speaker 1: business and programs smel Brown Money, Like, was it a
Speaker 1: slow transition or was it more of that stop this
Speaker 1: thing and then start my own business.
Speaker 3: My business was actually before that, So it was an
Speaker 3: accounting and financial planning firm that I started when I
Speaker 3: was twenty eight, And I absolutely did not move from
Speaker 3: a salary into that. I contracted while I built it
Speaker 3: because I simply couldn't afford just to stop the salary
Speaker 3: and start, so I contracted to another accounting firm and
Speaker 3: worked for them. I think I started three days a
Speaker 3: week and then just gradually dropped the hours.
Speaker 2: As you're my business built, Yeah, and.
Speaker 3: Then I when I sold that, I used some of
Speaker 3: the funds of that to be able to build meil
Speaker 3: Brown Money.
Speaker 1: Right. Okay, so when you were doing this online business,
Speaker 1: you kind of started with a little bit of a
Speaker 1: nest egg that your all money that you'd pulled together
Speaker 1: as your business. Because I feel like it's a really
Speaker 1: tempting thing for a lot of women, and particularly as
Speaker 1: I'm speaking more and more to women in their fifties
Speaker 1: and beyond, and the state of the employment market is
Speaker 1: a lot trickier. And some of these women are also
Speaker 1: thinking I might not have a job with you know
Speaker 1: AI and all the changes. Yes, how do you coach
Speaker 1: people who are thinking of stepping away from a decent
Speaker 1: enough salary to earning zero but then with.
Speaker 2: The potential upside that you know this could become a yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, five million dollar business.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm such a fan of multiple income streams. So
Speaker 3: if it was someone in their fifties, well, first of all,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be very concerned if that didn't go well.
Speaker 3: As you said, it's hard to transition back into full
Speaker 3: time work. Yeah, but regardless if you're younger even it's
Speaker 3: I like to have a safety net as I built,
Speaker 3: So if I was coaching someone, I would say, how
Speaker 3: can we have more than one stream of income? Could
Speaker 3: your workplace drop you to four days a week as
Speaker 3: you started to build this, Could you build it of
Speaker 3: a night and a weekend, or could you contract like
Speaker 3: I did when you did it? Or for some people,
Speaker 3: they might choose never to stop their full time work
Speaker 3: and to have this as a really profitable side hustle.
Speaker 3: That means all of the money that you make from
Speaker 3: that can go towards super investing or whatever, and I
Speaker 3: live to what's left. But there sometimes comes a point
Speaker 3: where that business means that you kind of need to
Speaker 3: drop the salary down, and you can choose at that
Speaker 3: point which one you give the most energy to.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you use the word energy, because this is
Speaker 1: what I grapple with in you know, I've got my
Speaker 1: own business online programs as well, and I just know
Speaker 1: the amount of emotional, physical, mental, cognitive energy it takes.
Speaker 1: And it's quiet work that's not demanding. You know, if
Speaker 1: you've got another job and you've got emails coming in
Speaker 1: and you've got people waiting to get back to you,
Speaker 1: waiting for you to get.
Speaker 2: Back to them, it draws you in.
Speaker 1: But when you're building a business, often no one's knocking
Speaker 1: on the door saying build that funnel, write that, you know,
Speaker 1: copy for that landing page. It's just this quiet what
Speaker 1: I call the important but not urgent work.
Speaker 3: But what you might also do, depending is you might
Speaker 3: use some of your earnings from your work to pay
Speaker 3: contractors to help you with the business. Yeah, so there
Speaker 3: might be ways that you can stay in the employment
Speaker 3: and use those funds to help you build that so
Speaker 3: you're not having to do everything, because often if you
Speaker 3: start a business from scratch, you are doing everything. You're
Speaker 3: wearing all the hats. But it might be that you
Speaker 3: employee people or you might just really lean on heavily
Speaker 3: onto AI so that you're not having to even employ contractors.
Speaker 3: For me as well, it would be not getting it
Speaker 3: all perfect. I'm a fan of let's just test it
Speaker 3: and see get it up rough and ready. My team
Speaker 3: don't always love this.
Speaker 2: MVP set it up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's the minimum whereas they see for too many women.
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, no, it needs to be perfect.
Speaker 2: Minimum viable product it.
Speaker 3: If you're going to be in business, you've got to
Speaker 3: get better with being dirtier.
Speaker 1: So for you, when you said you had you know,
Speaker 1: you sold your business, so you had this little bit
Speaker 1: of a lump some was there a period where you
Speaker 1: were just watching that lump some that piggybank get drained
Speaker 1: before the profits started to come in or were you
Speaker 1: pretty lucky, like did you go through a period where
Speaker 1: you're going, Okay, we're going backwards here. No?
Speaker 2: So, I oh I hate you, I know so sorry.
Speaker 3: So I started my business when covid hits, so we
Speaker 3: were very much stuck at home not able to spend.
Speaker 3: So it's probably very fortunate that that happened. Otherwise I
Speaker 3: probably would have gone backwards a bit faster. And I
Speaker 3: also was very careful how I use my expenses, So
Speaker 3: I did everything like I did the opposite to what
Speaker 3: I said, because I had the time. Yeah, so for me,
Speaker 3: if you had less time and more money outsource, if
Speaker 3: I have more time, less money, you do it all yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good balance.
Speaker 3: But I also had my two I say, who's worked
Speaker 3: with me for sixteen years, Lauren Lawsy. I identified early
Speaker 3: on her strengths are very different to mine. So I
Speaker 3: said to her. She was working full time, and I said,
Speaker 3: I'd love to eventually bring you over. Can I have
Speaker 3: a day? So she gave me a day a week
Speaker 3: very early on, and then I uped it to two days,
Speaker 3: and she dropped her work down her work last she
Speaker 3: was able to do that and every then she eventually
Speaker 3: did three days for me and we built it up
Speaker 3: like that. But I think as well, if people have
Speaker 3: identified that they want to work with you, they might
Speaker 3: be willing to do that as well.
Speaker 2: To take a little bit of risk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So for a listener who is toying with the
Speaker 1: idea of starting their own business, what are the key
Speaker 1: elements you recommend they have in place if they are
Speaker 1: going to take a risk like that.
Speaker 3: So you want to have some sort of buffer. So
Speaker 3: I would want to have at least three months worth
Speaker 3: of expenses cash in the bank, so that if it
Speaker 3: took a while to start, then I know I've got
Speaker 3: it there. Because too many people are being too credit
Speaker 3: cards or what have you to fund life while the
Speaker 3: business grows. I would absolutely want to know the numbers
Speaker 3: before I start, So I would want to know or
Speaker 3: in my business, I know, these are how many people
Speaker 3: need to come into my program in order to pay
Speaker 3: for this. So it might be I need thirty customers,
Speaker 3: but then I'd need to know the numbers behind that,
Speaker 3: so I would need to understand, well, that needs means
Speaker 3: I need X amount of hits on the website, or
Speaker 3: I need to go and have X amount of coffees
Speaker 3: or etc. To build that. So you really need to
Speaker 3: know your numbers. That's really the big piece for me. Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 3: and then having a plan around what are my competitors,
Speaker 3: what are they doing if this doesn't work, I would
Speaker 3: want to start the business with what's my plan B
Speaker 3: and say so. For me, my initial course took a
Speaker 3: while because it's quite an expensive one to build. So
Speaker 3: I loved and was really good at business. So I
Speaker 3: created a business core that I eventually shut down a
Speaker 3: couple of years later that ran alongside it because it
Speaker 3: was easy because I had time to build the two things,
Speaker 3: and then when the one that I wanted to prioritize
Speaker 3: on was doing well, then I had the choice to
Speaker 3: shut the business one down.
Speaker 2: Oh got it.
Speaker 3: So you might create something that you know you're good at,
Speaker 3: that you know people would buy, that you don't want
Speaker 3: to ultimately do, but it can help sustain the business.
Speaker 2: Step in stone or a hedge in your bets a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So to create the plan with what are my
Speaker 3: multiple income streams going to be from the get go?
Speaker 2: That makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1: Why is it so hard to get real answers about
Speaker 1: your health? If you've been told that everything looks fine,
Speaker 1: but you know that something is off, we're not in
Speaker 1: imagining it. That's why I created Vitality three sixty to
Speaker 1: help you better understand what's going on inside your body
Speaker 1: so that you can take the targeted action needed. With
Speaker 1: a functional health approach plus testing, we go beyond the
Speaker 1: guesswork to uncover the root causes of your symptoms. I've
Speaker 1: teamed up with Doctasmina, an incredible integrative GP, and together
Speaker 1: we will help you decode your body's signals and answer
Speaker 1: questions like why am I always exhausted? What's really causing
Speaker 1: my stubborn weight? Am I inflamed? Insulin resistant? Or maybe
Speaker 1: missing key nutrients? Because when you understand your body better,
Speaker 1: you can transform your health. Visit V three sixty dot
Speaker 1: health or check out the show notes for more. What
Speaker 1: I'm hearing is that even though you said in our
Speaker 1: other interview that you're a risk taker, you're a calculated
Speaker 1: risk taker. You wouldn't just take a life some of
Speaker 1: money that you've somehow take a lump sum of money
Speaker 1: that you've come into and then just you know, on
Speaker 1: a whim go.
Speaker 2: And no roll the dice. You would want to have
Speaker 2: multiple income streams. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3: For me, I see business as a series of experiments.
Speaker 3: I want to get rid of things that when I've
Speaker 3: run the experiments aren't working, and then when things are working,
Speaker 3: I want to pour more money into that, but to
Speaker 3: run it like a series of experiments. And I think
Speaker 3: for me, I am an implementer. I think a lot
Speaker 3: of people talk about doing things, but I'll actually do it.
Speaker 3: This is where I'm really glad that I'm a Western
Speaker 3: Sydney chick because I don't have that ego of what
Speaker 3: will people think. I have it a little bit, but
Speaker 3: really not to the same extent that I see others.
Speaker 3: So I genuinely don't mind having a go and seeing
Speaker 3: what will come of it.
Speaker 1: What about the emotional side, because I know for a
Speaker 1: lot of us ladies in business, we're very heart led,
Speaker 1: and so to us it's not just a pro We
Speaker 1: poured our heart and soul into this and it's a
Speaker 1: reflection of our identity and all of that.
Speaker 2: Have you been a little bit able to separate that
Speaker 2: and go.
Speaker 1: You know what, Okay, I'm just poured my heart and
Speaker 1: soul into this other one and that obviously wasn't enough.
Speaker 3: Oh look, I have days where I say to my team,
Speaker 3: oh my god, it's just like that's it. I'm shutting
Speaker 3: the doors and running away. Like I think every business
Speaker 3: owner goes through that, And I think every business owner
Speaker 3: that's passionate about what they do feels that way, and
Speaker 3: I think women particularly start a business with purpose. I
Speaker 3: just don't want the profit to get lost in with
Speaker 3: that purpose. So I had a team member say to
Speaker 3: me last year, I feel like all we do is
Speaker 3: talk about marketing and we've lost the purpose. And I
Speaker 3: said to her, I get that you feel that because
Speaker 3: of where we are, that these are all the things
Speaker 3: I've said no to in order to keep that purpose alive.
Speaker 3: And she just went, oh, okay, yep. I just need
Speaker 3: to be reminded of that. And I think that's where
Speaker 3: women it's understanding that we can and should have the
Speaker 3: alignment of purpose and profit. And for me, I'm not
Speaker 3: a charity, so I want to earn an income, but
Speaker 3: at the same time, I really want to do good.
Speaker 3: And my question with everything we produce is can it
Speaker 3: make money and can it do good? And if I
Speaker 3: can't answer those two questions unless it is for something
Speaker 3: specific where I want to give back, then we're not
Speaker 3: going to do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love the clarity of that. And it's interesting that
Speaker 1: question that your team member asked about. Oh, it's so
Speaker 1: much about the marketing and what about the true course?
Speaker 2: I see that in health a.
Speaker 1: Lot, where I get these unbelievable practitioners and incredibly smart,
Speaker 1: articulate driven health practitioners that are so good at their craft,
Speaker 1: but they don't realize that actually a huge part of
Speaker 1: what they need to be focusing on is getting bums
Speaker 1: on seats and getting people in the door.
Speaker 2: And a lot of them are just like, I don't
Speaker 2: want to do that stuff.
Speaker 1: I just want to be in the room helping people.
Speaker 1: And I think when people go out on their own,
Speaker 1: they get a rude shock when they realize how much
Speaker 1: of it is out there, brand building and marketing, and
Speaker 1: you've got to kind of learn to make your peace
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 2: Or fall in love with it even you know.
Speaker 1: I think if it's connection is a value of mine,
Speaker 1: the way I've reconciled with it is I'm connecting with people.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's probably the part that I struggle the hardest.
Speaker 3: So I love the marketing strategy, I do not love
Speaker 3: that my face is the business. I am super introverted.
Speaker 3: There are days like today with my team where I
Speaker 3: was like, oh, why why am I the one that
Speaker 3: has to do the videos? Yes, So I totally hear
Speaker 3: those health practitioners that say that, but I think you're
Speaker 3: exactly right. There comes a point where for me it's
Speaker 3: if the mission is big enough that you'll do it,
Speaker 3: you'll do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like anything, it's a muscle enough it gets
Speaker 1: please slowly get and I'm not pushing you. Certainly don't
Speaker 1: always have to have a personality or a brand led business,
Speaker 1: but if you have got a lot to say, and
Speaker 1: you have got a strong purpose and expertise, then you'd
Speaker 1: kind of be nuts not to.
Speaker 3: And I think at the moment, with the rise of
Speaker 3: AI that we actually need more brand le, personal personality
Speaker 3: led businesses than ever and I think those are the
Speaker 3: ones that are going to rise to the top because
Speaker 3: we're going to know, oh, I know, healthy hair is
Speaker 3: Amelia Phillips, No a million exactly. She's who I want
Speaker 3: to hear from. I don't know this other person. And
Speaker 3: I think more and more people are going to want that.
Speaker 3: So we might feel uncomfortable with it, but I think
Speaker 3: brand led businesses are going to be the ones that
Speaker 3: are most successful. Oh thanks for that hot tip.
Speaker 1: Well look, well, finally, for a woman listening who is
Speaker 1: seriously thinking about starting her own business, what would one
Speaker 1: parting piece of advice be I.
Speaker 3: Think it's the accountant in me, but you've got to
Speaker 3: know your numbers. If you don't know your numbers, you
Speaker 3: will only ever build your business so far, so for me,
Speaker 3: every time I've taken my eye off them, my business
Speaker 3: has faltered or stumbled. So the numbers I mean include
Speaker 3: things like your leads, your conversion rate, your retention rate,
Speaker 3: your average cell price, the number of times your customers
Speaker 3: do business with you, your net profit. Like you should
Speaker 3: just know those numbers, and some of them you'll look
Speaker 3: at every single day. Some of them you'll look at
Speaker 3: it monthly or quarterly. But if you don't know and
Speaker 3: they can change, I'll have something that converts beautifully and
Speaker 3: then on Tuesday it'll just fall off a cliff for
Speaker 3: whatever reason.
Speaker 1: A Facebook weather event. I say, this weather event on
Speaker 1: Facebook this week.
Speaker 2: I love it. It was a storm.
Speaker 3: But if you don't know that, then you don't know
Speaker 3: to do something about it. So understanding your numbers, I
Speaker 3: think is key to having a great business.
Speaker 2: Such sound advice, Mel Brown, thank you so.
Speaker 3: Much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Why is it so hard to get real answers about
Speaker 1: your health? If you've been told that everything looks fine
Speaker 1: but you know that something is off, We're not imagining it.
Speaker 1: That's why I created Vitality three point sixty to help
Speaker 1: you better understand what's going on inside your body so
Speaker 1: that you can take the targeted action needed. With a
Speaker 1: functional health approach plus testing, we go beyond the guesswork
Speaker 1: to uncover the root causes of your symptoms. I've teamed
Speaker 1: up with doctor Asmina, an incredible integrative GP, and together
Speaker 1: we will help you decode your body's signals and answer
Speaker 1: questions like why am I always exhausted? What's really causing
Speaker 1: my stubborn weight? Am I inflamed? Insulin resistant? Or maybe
Speaker 1: missing key nutrients? Because when you understand your body better,
Speaker 1: you can transform your health. Visit v three six Z
Speaker 1: dot Health or check out the show notes for more