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Speaker 1: This episode of CZA is brought to you by like

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Speaker 1: a pet food and stamped with Paul's paw of approval.

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Speaker 2: Probably too often we try and follow a path that

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Speaker 2: is set by parents, or vi society or other external pressures.

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Speaker 2: But I think it's really important to actually ask yourself

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Speaker 2: that and really deeply think about what success looks like

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Speaker 2: for you. What I really focus on is sort of

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Speaker 2: trying to just rise straight through the middle, so not

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Speaker 2: letting the loads really impact me. I think that also

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Speaker 2: translates to me sometimes probably not celebrating the highs as

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Speaker 2: much as I should.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the seas the Yay podcast, Busy and happy

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Speaker 1: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what

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Speaker 1: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but

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Speaker 1: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than

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Speaker 1: one way. So this is a platform to hear and

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Speaker 1: explore the stories of those who found lives.

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Speaker 3: They adore the good, bad and ugly.

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Speaker 1: The best and worst day will bear all the facets

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Speaker 1: of seizing your yay. I'm Sarah Davidson or spoo Full

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Speaker 1: of Sarah, a lawyer turned FUNENTREPRENEURSHS wapped the suits and

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Speaker 1: heels to co found matcha Maiden and matcha Milk bar

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Speaker 1: Cza is a series of conversations on finding a life

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Speaker 1: you love and exploring the self doubt, challenge, joy and

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Speaker 1: fulfillment along the way.

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Speaker 3: Hello, Lovely neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: Firstly, thank you all so much again for the anonymous

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Speaker 1: Q and A submissions. They were such fun episodes to record,

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Speaker 1: as you could probably hear. Like I always say, it

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Speaker 1: really can be so hard to stop, step back from

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Speaker 1: the day to day and actually reflect on things that deeply.

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Speaker 1: So I'm so grateful for you guys giving me the

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Speaker 1: opportunity every time we do a Q and A, and

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Speaker 1: for also just being so genuinely curious and polite. Other

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Speaker 1: people I know will never be doing an anonymous Q

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Speaker 1: and A again. Adding that kind of shield against your

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Speaker 1: identity I think led to not necessarily a fun time

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Speaker 1: for everyone, But you guys are just the best, and

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Speaker 1: I really don't take that for granted, so thank you

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Speaker 1: so much. Now to our guest today, I'm I'm so

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Speaker 1: excited to introduce you to Anna Podolski.

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Speaker 3: For so many reasons.

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Speaker 1: The parallels in parts of our stories are amazing business

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Speaker 1: because the products are actually incredible, but also because her

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Speaker 1: work involves flufy puppies and that's just the biggest yea

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Speaker 1: of all. After immigrating from the Ukraine, Anna has been

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Speaker 1: a successful professional gymnast, an international management consultant with the

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Speaker 1: prestigious Bane and Co working around the world, and now

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Speaker 1: founder of a booming pet food startup Like a Pet Food,

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Speaker 1: changing Poppers lives from the inside out. She has some

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Speaker 1: fascinating insights about the influence of immigrant parents on choosing

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Speaker 1: your pathway living and working overseas, and a shared passion

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Speaker 1: with my own passion for languages. Plus starting a business

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Speaker 1: when you stumble upon a gap in the market then

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Speaker 1: grow it to an empire of over one hundred staff

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Speaker 1: and counting.

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Speaker 3: She is incredible.

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Speaker 1: Anna is humble, intelligent, and so interesting and I hope

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Speaker 1: you guys enjoy this one as much as I did.

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Speaker 4: Anna, Welcome to Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 3: Oh it's a pleasure.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we get to talk dogs, which is like

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Speaker 1: my favorite topic in the world, So I'm so.

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Speaker 3: Excited to get into this.

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Speaker 4: It's going to be a fun.

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Speaker 1: Hour before we get into your story, which I cannot

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Speaker 1: wait to dive into. The first question I love to

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Speaker 1: start every episode with is a little bit of an icebreaker.

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Speaker 1: And I think one of the things that happens when

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Speaker 1: you're a founder and you have a story and a

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Speaker 1: business and a product is that often people get introduced

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Speaker 1: to your identity at this stage in your life, but

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Speaker 1: forget that, you know, behind the gloss of running a

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Speaker 1: business and having beautiful products and this beautiful, like polished

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Speaker 1: exterior identity, that there's we're all just like normal people

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Speaker 1: who do very down to worth things behind the scenes.

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Speaker 3: So first question for you is what's.

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Speaker 1: Something relatable about you or just really normal that you

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Speaker 1: do in your life?

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Speaker 4: What's really relatable?

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Speaker 2: Well, I love plants, but I'm like not the best

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Speaker 2: plant mum so I do kill some and it makes

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Speaker 2: me really sad it. I think there's a few pots

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Speaker 2: in particular that must be like jinxed or cursed or something,

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Speaker 2: because most of them are okay, but then there's some

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Speaker 2: that just yeah, don't make it very far.

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Speaker 4: I'm trying.

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Speaker 1: I love how it's it's a jinx or a curse.

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Speaker 1: It's not nothing to do with your level of nurturing

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Speaker 1: or skill or not.

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Speaker 4: Water can't be anything else.

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Speaker 1: I think plant mumhood is like a serious business.

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Speaker 3: I just like you got to keep those babies alive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big effort, big commitment, but sorry worth it.

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Speaker 1: I was similar like I didn't you know anything about them?

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Speaker 1: But then I went zero to hero and then suddenly

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Speaker 1: brought like a hundred in lockdown. And the problem is

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Speaker 1: more of them survived than I thought we're going to survive.

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Speaker 1: And now I'm like, okay, so now I've just like

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Speaker 1: volunteered myself for this upkeep all the time forever.

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Speaker 3: So it is like a child.

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Speaker 2: I'm sort of in this pattern now where the ones

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Speaker 2: that are thriving, they're sort of growing and outgrowing their pots,

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Speaker 2: so sort of buying new pots, transit like you know,

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Speaker 2: them to the new ones. But then I have all

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Speaker 2: these smaller ones that are empty, so you go get

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Speaker 2: more ones and it's sort of this really kind of

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Speaker 2: exploding family.

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Speaker 4: Now quickly you're running out of.

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Speaker 3: Space, and repotting is like advanced. I'm like, that's full on.

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Speaker 3: That's like proper green thumb.

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Speaker 4: As I mentioned, not always successful.

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Speaker 1: But well, let's jump into your story. As I mentioned before,

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Speaker 1: I think there's so many chapters in your life before

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Speaker 1: the one where people tend to sort of meet you

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Speaker 1: in now and forget that often the pathway wasn't straightforward

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Speaker 1: and most of the time definitely not smooth. So I'd

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Speaker 1: love to go back to all the way back to

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Speaker 1: your childhood actually, to sort of look at what you

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Speaker 1: thought you'd be. What were the first things you gravitated towards.

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Speaker 1: I know you sort of had a very early first

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Speaker 1: career as a professional gymnast. I was a ballerina when

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Speaker 1: I was younger, so that young discipline and dedication I

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Speaker 1: think really shapes your attitude towards work.

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Speaker 3: Later in life.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, talk us through what you were like as

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Speaker 1: a kid, what school was like, how you balanced gymnastics,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, what you thought your first jobs would be.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I guess like, first of all, I immigrated

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Speaker 2: to Australia. So my family is from Ukraine and we

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Speaker 2: came over here when I was really young, So I

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Speaker 2: think that did shape me a lot.

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Speaker 4: And you know, that whole immigrant family where my mum

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Speaker 4: was really keen.

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Speaker 2: That we all got a really good education, you know,

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Speaker 2: had good jobs, didn't have to worry about financial side

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Speaker 2: of things. So I always felt like this huge sense

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Speaker 2: of responsibility and I think that really shaped me to

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Speaker 2: be really disciplined and motivated and sort of yeah, like

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Speaker 2: quite focused even as a kid, and so I think

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Speaker 2: I was pretty diligent, like both on.

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Speaker 4: The school side, but also yeah with.

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Speaker 2: My gymnastics and sort of making sure I balanced both

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Speaker 2: and sort of tried my really hardest at that. I

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Speaker 2: also really loved animals, even from when I was a kid,

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Speaker 2: Like every photo of me, I'm holding like a.

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Speaker 4: Dog or a cat, you know something.

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Speaker 2: So I actually want to be a vet for most

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Speaker 2: of my childhood and I almost ended up studying at UNI,

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Speaker 2: but I just couldn't do like the blood and the.

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Speaker 4: Needles, like I'm the type of person.

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Speaker 2: When I got my COVID vaccine I fainted, Like I'm

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Speaker 2: just so bad out of all of that.

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Speaker 4: So the vet path weren't worked.

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Speaker 3: Yes, a bit of a barrier.

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Speaker 1: There's so much to unpack here already, and we're not

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Speaker 1: even at the start of your working life yet. But

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, coming here as an immigrant and

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Speaker 1: how that shapes your identity, and then the professional gymnast

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Speaker 1: career at such a young age, and like showing leadership

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Speaker 1: from so early as well. I saw you co founded

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Speaker 1: the rhythmic gymnastics team at your school and then you know,

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Speaker 1: it took the school to other competitions, winning three's in

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Speaker 1: a row and remaining a top school to this day,

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Speaker 1: like really leaving a legacy and then choosing a career

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Speaker 1: and going to university. But firstly, how did you decide?

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Speaker 1: At what kind of junction did you decide you weren't

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Speaker 1: going to do gym full time and that wasn't going

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Speaker 1: to be your forever career, but you know, you go

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Speaker 1: to university instead.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a really big part of my life

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Speaker 2: for a long time, so, you know, ten plus years

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Speaker 2: growing up, and ultimately for me came back to like

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Speaker 2: my family values and my parents sort of you know,

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Speaker 2: wanting me to go to UNI and get a job,

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Speaker 2: whereas when you know, gymnastics, your career sort of peaks

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Speaker 2: when you're you know, maybe eighteen or twenty and then

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Speaker 2: at twenty five you're sort of considered a grandma.

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Speaker 3: And that sport over the hill.

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Speaker 4: Exactly right or down from there. So that was sort of,

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Speaker 4: you know, my family really driving me to pursue that.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, like at the same time, I think my

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Speaker 2: body towards the end it was just I was getting

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Speaker 2: injured all the time. Like it really takes a toll

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Speaker 2: on you. So I just don't think it's the healthiest

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Speaker 2: thing to do.

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Speaker 4: For a long time either.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it can be a short lived career even at

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Speaker 1: its longest. So choosing to go to university, then, how

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Speaker 1: did you pee your combination of degrees? I think this

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Speaker 1: is such an interesting choice. A Bachelor of Commerce and

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Speaker 1: a Bachelor of Science. You often see one or the

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Speaker 1: other combined with something else, but seeing them together, it's

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Speaker 1: I think when we make this choice at that age

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Speaker 1: in our life, we often think there are only a

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Speaker 1: few jobs that exist. Everything that we choose has to

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Speaker 1: make sense for kind of what we're going to do

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Speaker 1: for our forever job. So what did you actually think

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Speaker 1: that they would translate to? I think it's so cool

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Speaker 1: that you did a major in mathematics, Like what did

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Speaker 1: you think that that would allow you to do in

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Speaker 1: your life?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think that's exactly that.

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Speaker 2: I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I

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Speaker 2: was trying to leave my options as open as possible, Like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't going to be fat, but I didn't want

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Speaker 2: to end up in a doing a course that had

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Speaker 2: a really predetermined outcome as to what that career would

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Speaker 2: be so something like, you know, if you study physio,

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Speaker 2: you're probably going to be a physiotherapist. There's not much

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Speaker 2: other optionality beyond that, So my goal was to try

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Speaker 2: and keep it as broad as possible and sort of

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Speaker 2: study something that would give me quite transferable skills, and

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Speaker 2: maths kind of came into it. Nick again, like from

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Speaker 2: the family side of things. She both my parents have

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Speaker 2: PhDs in that really like quantitative family, and I've always

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Speaker 2: like my brain kind of thinks that way as well.

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Speaker 2: I'm really more of a numbers thinker than like a

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Speaker 2: words thinker, So even at school, I was always you know,

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Speaker 2: really quite good at it and enjoyed it.

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Speaker 4: So that was sort of that side.

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Speaker 2: And then with the commerce, I guess I wanted to

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Speaker 2: add a bit more kind of breadth and maybe real

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Speaker 2: world application to that math side. So in the end

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Speaker 2: I thought the two degrees like they really did balance

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Speaker 2: each other out and did give me a lot of optionality,

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Speaker 2: which was exactly what I was after.

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Speaker 3: It's just so fascinating.

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Speaker 1: I think it's just such a unique combination and obviously

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Speaker 1: has led to you being able to do so many

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Speaker 1: different things with so many transferable skills. I feel like

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Speaker 1: maths is that thing at school that we're like, I'm

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Speaker 1: never going to use that, but then you know, you

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Speaker 1: actually use it so much in everyday life. You mentioned

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Speaker 1: a couple of times that with your obviously your parents

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Speaker 1: being math PhDs, like that's extraordinary, and wanting you to

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Speaker 1: make the most of sort of where you are. One

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Speaker 1: of the things I find that's a big factor when

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Speaker 1: people are trying to figure out what they want to

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Speaker 1: do and who they want to be, is family pressure,

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Speaker 1: whether it comes from them or from yourself to sort

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Speaker 1: of make them proud or how did you navigate that,

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Speaker 1: you know, wanting to make the most of everything they've

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Speaker 1: done to bring to Australia, but also wanting to find

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Speaker 1: your own way. Like I think a lot of people

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Speaker 1: struggle with that part of their identity.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's a hard one, right because they sort

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Speaker 2: of want the best for you and they're trying to

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Speaker 2: stee you in an attempt to do that. And at

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Speaker 2: the same time, when you're that age and still like

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Speaker 2: really I guess in experience and then don't know much

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Speaker 2: about the world or like you know, careers or anything

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Speaker 2: like that, you are quite guided and I think it

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Speaker 2: tends to like your parents' opinions and thoughts tend to

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Speaker 2: shape you quite a bit. I don't know, Like I

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Speaker 2: was always really independent and sort of yeah, like an

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Speaker 2: independent thinker, maybe a little bit stuff in.

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Speaker 4: I always, even if.

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Speaker 2: My parents did shape me or kind of try and

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Speaker 2: chet the direction, I was always really conscious in the

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Speaker 2: choice myself.

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Speaker 4: So in the end, I.

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Speaker 2: Quite enjoyed that guidance because you know, I just didn't

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Speaker 2: know what I didn't know, and having that, yeah, that

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Speaker 2: kind of experience lens or just other viewpoints I found

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Speaker 2: really helped me.

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Speaker 1: I like that perspective that you can kind of be

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Speaker 1: independent and be influenced by the guidance they're giving you

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Speaker 1: and the values they sort of have that are around you,

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Speaker 1: because I think some people feel like they're totally mutually exclusive.

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Speaker 1: They sit at other ends of the spectrum and they

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Speaker 1: don't know how to balance it. But I think you

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Speaker 1: can kind of bring it in together in the middle somewhere.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think so.

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Speaker 2: So.

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Speaker 1: As I mentioned before, you know, commos and science are

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Speaker 1: so broad, but then the real world application, especially when

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Speaker 1: you're at UNI, you don't know what jobs exist. I

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Speaker 1: used to think like five different careers existed and there

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Speaker 1: was nothing in between. It's really hard to then know,

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Speaker 1: like who you want to be, what are you going

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Speaker 1: to become? The years you have at UNI aren't very

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Speaker 1: long to figure that out, and the time the path

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Speaker 1: what you end up on is completely different to what

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Speaker 1: you expected. So was management consulting the first thing you

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Speaker 1: went into and how did you even find out about that?

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Speaker 1: And tell us about Bain and Co.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I had no idea all three UNI as well. Like,

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Speaker 2: you're right, it's so hard when you have such a

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Speaker 2: limited time to sort of figure it out. And I

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Speaker 2: think in a sense what you learn at UNI so

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Speaker 2: far removed from what you actually do data data job,

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Speaker 2: so it's really hard to connect those dots. I actually

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Speaker 2: initially did some internships and worked in the actual aerial

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Speaker 2: space and really enjoyed that, Like I love the data side,

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Speaker 2: but I was still keeping my options quite broad as

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Speaker 2: I went into looking for a graduate job. And with

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Speaker 2: Bain it was actually quite accidental. I had no idea

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Speaker 2: what management consulting was. They were just at UNI for

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Speaker 2: the day doing the presentation and I came across it

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Speaker 2: and was straight away really drawn for that type of work,

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Speaker 2: Like I love that it sort of took the really

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Speaker 2: data driven and sort of you know, logical thinking, problem

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Speaker 2: solving side of things, but then had this really tangible

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Speaker 2: impact to business problems, business results, and ultimately you know,

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Speaker 2: the people who.

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Speaker 4: Drive those businesses.

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Speaker 2: So I went into the recruitment process, which was really intense.

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Speaker 2: We actually it flows down to Melbourne and we were

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Speaker 2: there for a week and I think every day was

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Speaker 2: two interviews and sort of made it through to the

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Speaker 2: next day or you went home if you didn't. I

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Speaker 2: was so really intense process, but like through that you

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Speaker 2: get to learn so much about the company and the

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Speaker 2: role and meet so many people, and by the end

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Speaker 2: of it, I knew that that's what I wanted to do.

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Speaker 4: I was so sold and I ended up taking the job.

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Speaker 2: I was at Vain for around five years, absolutely amazing time.

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Speaker 2: I feel so grateful to have worked with so many

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Speaker 2: just really incredibly smart people, really interesting business problems. And

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Speaker 2: also the travel was fantastic. I didn't spend that much

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Speaker 2: time in Australia. I spent most of my time, yeah,

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Speaker 2: in US South America. Yeah, various, like you know, working

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Speaker 2: in different languages as well a lot of different industries

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Speaker 2: and capabilities. So it kind of stuck to my theme

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Speaker 2: of keeping things broad because I still didn't really know

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Speaker 2: what I wanted at that point.

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Speaker 1: I actually think I often say, you know, I chose

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Speaker 1: law because it opens more doors than closes them. But

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Speaker 1: if there's any career launch pad that literally opens any

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Speaker 1: door you want, except for maybe medicine because you probably

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Speaker 1: have to do a medical degree before you become a doctor,

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Speaker 1: it's management consulting. Like every single person I know who

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Speaker 1: has either started there or gone to one of the

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Speaker 1: big management consulting firms in the middle of their career,

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Speaker 1: it's just launched them into like the most transferable skills,

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Speaker 1: your intimate understanding of business cross board, like you kind

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Speaker 1: of cover everything. The opportunities to work overseas are incredible,

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Speaker 1: and I mean most management can sultants still can't actually

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Speaker 1: explain to you what they do. But that's the exciting

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Speaker 1: part that it is so broad and diverse, that you

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Speaker 1: know you're using so many different skills, and so I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about the expat experience of living overseas,

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Speaker 1: but also your proficiency in languages. So I've studied lots

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Speaker 1: of languages and think that that opens up a different

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Speaker 1: perspective on humanity and the way the world works. And

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Speaker 1: you're fluent in English, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese, and I

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Speaker 1: also think it ties into I don't know about you,

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Speaker 1: but when I was younger, being an Asian Australian, I

350
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Speaker 1: kind of used to suppress the things that made me different.

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Speaker 1: You want to fit in and you want to be

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Speaker 1: the same. But as I got older, I realized the

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Speaker 1: abilities and heritage and language skills that are different are

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Speaker 1: actually what makes me special. And now I kind of am,

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Speaker 1: you know, at the other end of the spectrum. So

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Speaker 1: that's five questions in one.

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Speaker 3: I'm so sorry with my brain today.

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited to be talking to you that international

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Speaker 1: element of your work and using your languages, and then

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Speaker 1: also how your identity kind of comes out and being

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Speaker 1: able to use your Russian, you know, things like that.

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Speaker 3: How did that unravel for you?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: International experience, I mean, yeah, it's so eye opening. I

365
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Speaker 2: think Australia is just you know, it's a really small

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Speaker 2: country and quite a homogeneous country in the grand scheme

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Speaker 2: of things. So I really enjoyed that experience of working

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Speaker 2: just coming out problems from completely different angles and sort

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Speaker 2: of even the scale of the businesses as well, like

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Speaker 2: particularly working in US where you just don't see that

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Speaker 2: scale of kind of company and by that regarded business

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Speaker 2: problem as you do there. And as part of that,

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Speaker 2: of course integrating and sort of learning more about various

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Speaker 2: cultures and so forth as well. I totally hew on

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Speaker 2: the point you made earlier around kind of that suppression

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Speaker 2: of your identity and kind of different culture. I definitely

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Speaker 2: did that as well when I was particularly primary school

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Speaker 2: even at high school, where really it's around trying to

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Speaker 2: fit in and sort of you know, not be too different.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, like same.

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Speaker 4: As you, I've come to really appreciate.

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Speaker 2: That diversity and uniqueness, not only myself but also in others.

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Speaker 2: I think it's something that we should really be celebrating,

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Speaker 2: you know, and definitely learning languages as part of that.

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Speaker 2: I really love languages. Like for me, I think it's

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Speaker 2: kind of like my maths brain talking a bit, but

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Speaker 2: I kind of think of it as like various like

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Speaker 2: patterns and you know, ways of kind of you know,

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Speaker 2: structuring logic and making things fit together, and I just

390
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Speaker 2: really enjoy the process, Like I can almost feel a

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Speaker 2: different side of my brain.

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Speaker 4: Working when I'm learning or like.

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Speaker 2: Speaking in other language, and part of working in South

394
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Speaker 2: America when I was living in Chile, I ended up

395
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Speaker 2: like ramping up in Spanish and having to work completely

396
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Speaker 2: in that language. So everything from emails to the like presentations, meetings,

397
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Speaker 2: you know, slide decks all in Spanish, and no better

398
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Speaker 2: way to learn language and just be thrown in the

399
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Speaker 2: def and like.

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Speaker 4: That, just have to figure it out on the fly.

401
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Speaker 4: But love the experience.

402
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Speaker 1: Oh, I think it's the same as what you said,

403
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, I say it as patterns as well, which

404
00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:17,159
Speaker 1: is why I think once you've learned one, it's a

405
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,840
Speaker 1: bit easier to learn every other language you learn because

406
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Speaker 1: you've got that ability to see where the verb, the

407
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 1: you know, subject, object and verb go. And I don't know,

408
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:27,879
Speaker 1: it's like the building blocks, you just reorientate them for

409
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Speaker 1: each language. But I also feel like it teaches you

410
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Speaker 1: so much about a culture, the way a people as

411
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Speaker 1: a population think, because of the way they order things

412
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Speaker 1: or the way they treat the tenses. You know, you

413
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,119
Speaker 1: actually learn so much about how they see the world

414
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Speaker 1: based on the way their language is structured.

415
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Speaker 3: I'd nerd out about that stuff so much, so excited.

416
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Speaker 2: I kind of like the feminine masculine, Like, it's just

417
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,080
Speaker 2: the construct is so different and when you're speaking it

418
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Speaker 2: so it's like in your subconscious all the time, and

419
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Speaker 2: that for sure has a you know, it plays out

420
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Speaker 2: and to influencing.

421
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Speaker 4: Behavior and culture and things like that day to day.

422
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean, like how eye opening to live

423
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Speaker 1: in those cultures and bring that back. I kind of

424
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: see travelers that one of those experiences that stretches your

425
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Speaker 1: brain so much it can never go back towards old dimensions,

426
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Speaker 1: Like you can never not become a deeper, more worldly

427
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,439
Speaker 1: person by every travel experience. But it can get very tiring,

428
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Speaker 1: and inevitably you might want to come and you know,

429
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Speaker 1: settle and not be traveling so much and set up

430
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Speaker 1: a base. But one of the things I find really

431
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Speaker 1: interesting about you is so much of your journey has

432
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Speaker 1: been because you are multi passionate and because you have

433
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Speaker 1: so many interests and not necessarily one thing has screamed

434
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Speaker 1: at you like you should do this career path. Your

435
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,560
Speaker 1: career has enabled you to kind of keep doing all

436
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 1: the things, like work across all different businesses in all

437
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:56,159
Speaker 1: different countries. How did you end up figuring out.

438
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Speaker 3: What your specific purpose was?

439
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Speaker 1: I think it's really dificult when you have lots of interest,

440
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Speaker 1: because then you know, what do you choose? It's hard

441
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Speaker 1: to specify, it's hard to choose one project that you're

442
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Speaker 1: really joyful about. And you know, I don't think you

443
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,639
Speaker 1: would have ever grown up thinking you'd end up with

444
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:11,880
Speaker 1: a pet food startup, Like.

445
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:13,200
Speaker 3: How did this all happen?

446
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,600
Speaker 2: No, none of my wildest dreams. I mean, that was

447
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 2: always a gap at Bane. That was always the gap

448
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,879
Speaker 2: to me, was that fulfillment, like maybe more that the

449
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,720
Speaker 2: purpose led fulfillment, because you know, when you're working for

450
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 2: these really big corporates, you can only get so excited

451
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:31,560
Speaker 2: about you know, improving costs VI zero point five percent

452
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:33,320
Speaker 2: or it will kind of impact are.

453
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:34,119
Speaker 4: You're actually making.

454
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so pretty early on in my career, I

455
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 2: knew that I wanted to start a startup. I just

456
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,880
Speaker 2: love the idea of sort of building something from nothing.

457
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:47,159
Speaker 2: It's probably ties to my gymnastics days, like building up

458
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 2: the team there and yeah, like the I really enjoyed

459
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,520
Speaker 2: the leadership side of things as well. So I knew

460
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 2: I wanted to build something, but I didn't know what.

461
00:21:58,040 --> 00:21:59,879
Speaker 2: But I had sort of a set of guard rails

462
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,520
Speaker 2: where I was industries or areas that I was passionate about,

463
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 2: which was essentially like wellness, health, pits, animal. Yeah, although

464
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:11,040
Speaker 2: that was sort of further down the likes.

465
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,000
Speaker 4: I'm like, surely, like what I guess, I just didn't

466
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,120
Speaker 4: know what the opportunities were in that space.

467
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,919
Speaker 2: And at the same time, I sort of went about

468
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,280
Speaker 2: really trying to think about problems that I was experiencing

469
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,160
Speaker 2: my life, because I definitely think that if you are

470
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 2: more personally attuned to that, like you are the customer

471
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,399
Speaker 2: and you give that problem, I think it just becomes

472
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 2: such a good base to build an idea and ultimately

473
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:34,679
Speaker 2: a company on.

474
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 1: Absolutely.

475
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 2: And yeah, so I was, you know, I was living overseas,

476
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 2: I was traveling. Of course, this is where like Glaka

477
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 2: comes into the picture.

478
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:44,680
Speaker 4: My dog.

479
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 2: So I've had her since she was six weeks old.

480
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 2: She's almost thirteen.

481
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:49,880
Speaker 4: Now.

482
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,320
Speaker 1: I've read that she traveled around to all these plates,

483
00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: like she came everywhere.

484
00:22:53,960 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, she did. She's been to more countries than my sisters.

485
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 4: So how which is absolutely at.

486
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 2: My sister's sketching out Now, I think COVID didn't help

487
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 2: with that. But yeah, so like through that process you

488
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 2: have to kind of you know, take her to vets

489
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,880
Speaker 2: in different countries, buy her products, by her food, and

490
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,080
Speaker 2: I was starting to be you know, I love her,

491
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 2: I want to take the best care possible, and I'm

492
00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 2: really particular about you know, how I care for her.

493
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 2: So in trying to buy her food in different languages,

494
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:27,639
Speaker 2: for example, I was kind of paying more attention to

495
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 2: the labels, yeah, like translating them from say, Spanish to

496
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 2: English and then like being like kyon, like I don't

497
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,680
Speaker 2: even understand this in English. And so that sort of

498
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 2: led me down a rabbit hole of researching pet food

499
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:43,959
Speaker 2: and you know, I watched a few documentaries, like really

500
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 2: just quite shocked at what I discovered.

501
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,400
Speaker 4: It's such a murky industry.

502
00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 2: I mean, prior to the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties,

503
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,120
Speaker 2: dogs used to eat predominantly home cooked food. That industry

504
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 2: was very much you know, came to life after World

505
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,120
Speaker 2: War Two when there was this whole movement to more convenience.

506
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 4: Based foods and more process foods.

507
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,680
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, quite shocked at what I was feeding her.

508
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 2: That ultimately led me to start cooking for her myself.

509
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 3: And yeah, like pampered little baby.

510
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:19,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, well like not even.

511
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,120
Speaker 3: Though, because yeah, yeah, just basic needs.

512
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,639
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just it should just be the baseline.

513
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, back then she was also experiencing

514
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:30,640
Speaker 2: health issues, and to be fair, a lot of these

515
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 2: things I normalized, but should be really really itchy all

516
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,359
Speaker 2: the time. She would be shedding so much the point

517
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,200
Speaker 2: that should have bald patches like on her body and

518
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 2: her legs. Her teeth were really bad, so the b said,

519
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 2: you know, we'd have to start pulling them out soon.

520
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:47,879
Speaker 2: She was, you know, only four or five at the time,

521
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 2: so it just it didn't really add up for me.

522
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 2: But then the cool thing was once I started feeding her,

523
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,920
Speaker 2: you know, human food, her health within weeks just transformed.

524
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:59,480
Speaker 4: The itaching reduced, the shedding reduced.

525
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,000
Speaker 2: Ends were commenting how much more energy she had even

526
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 2: though her tears got better.

527
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 4: Produced.

528
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean we didn't look back for her

529
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 2: since then. And then it kind of clicked, like it

530
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 2: all sorted, kind of clicking into place, because I'm like,

531
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,160
Speaker 2: hang on, if she's eating this and she's doing so well,

532
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 2: but it's also taking out like a huge chunk of

533
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,880
Speaker 2: my time, Like surely this has to exist somewhere, and

534
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 2: you know it didn't and it should, Like it made

535
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 2: sense and sort of running the business model.

536
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 3: This is what I call a gap in the market.

537
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:39,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you know, then doing the business model and

538
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 2: sort of all the economics were stacking up as well.

539
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 2: There's so many you know, in Australia alone, there's close

540
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 2: to ten million dogs and cats and it's estimated that

541
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,600
Speaker 2: eighty percent eater processed diet. A lot of dogs and

542
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 2: cats that could be you know, eat eating healthier options.

543
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 3: That is just amazing. Like, I love what you said before.

544
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: I often mention the idea that you know, things don't

545
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 1: often make sense until you are further down the journey

546
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 1: and you look backwards, like the dots off and don't

547
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 1: connect until much later. But they are connecting, but you

548
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 1: just can't see it until you look backwards. And you

549
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: mentioned before like you had no idea this was all

550
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,720
Speaker 1: working out, but looking backwards, not only your business experience

551
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,520
Speaker 1: and bain being about solving problems and filling gaps, but

552
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,360
Speaker 1: I was reading that you'd already been like an RSPCA

553
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,879
Speaker 1: and pet rescue consultant years before this idea came up.

554
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 1: And then you were just so perfectly positioned for this

555
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:35,760
Speaker 1: to be the next chapter. Even the fact that you

556
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,959
Speaker 1: know those statistics about the market. Most business founders when

557
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 1: they first put together an idea don't actually research the

558
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 1: market because you know you're a consultant and you're able

559
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: to do that. And it's obviously enabled this huge success.

560
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: You've gone from like DIY which I want to talk

561
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 1: about as well, like doing it all yourself just to

562
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 1: get this off the ground, to like a hundred staff

563
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: and it's a new company. And I think it's just

564
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 1: so exciting when people when you do what the story

565
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: and you can see everything falling into place, like this

566
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: is what she's supposed to be doing, and like also

567
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 1: seeing how your relationship with success in that time is

568
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: also changing, Like Bain is the pinnacle. It is this

569
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 1: huge company with huge opportunities and lots of travel and

570
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 1: so many markers of success. But the missing piece was

571
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 1: starting to be purpose. And I think that's also a

572
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,439
Speaker 1: big lesson that things serve you for one chapter, but

573
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 1: then you might start to feel like a few jigsaw

574
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,320
Speaker 1: puzzle pieces are starting to be missing, so you go

575
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,679
Speaker 1: in search of what the next thing is. And I

576
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 1: think that's part of seizing the a that it looks

577
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 1: different than every chapter.

578
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, I think success is an interesting word

579
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:43,960
Speaker 2: as well, because like what is success?

580
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 4: And I think that's something.

581
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 2: That probably too often we try and like follow a

582
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,160
Speaker 2: path that you know is said, yeah, I say, by

583
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 2: a parents, or by a society or other external pressures.

584
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,880
Speaker 2: But I think it's really important to actually ask yourself

585
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 2: that and really deeply think about what success looks like

586
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 2: for you. And that's definitely what I've done through the

587
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 2: lack of journey where you know, leaving Bin and kind

588
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:15,720
Speaker 2: of going into this one person start up like pretty

589
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 2: big coll and yeah, like I think part of what

590
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 2: made me have the confidence to do that was just

591
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,200
Speaker 2: following my own path and doing like what I truly

592
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,359
Speaker 2: wanted to do, versus like any sort of expectation you know,

593
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 2: of success that was placed externally.

594
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's actually how the show started was that Sees

595
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: the day represented me chasing goals, but which is great

596
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong with that, but chasing goals that

597
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: I didn't really care about, and then realizing, oh my gosh,

598
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: I'm chasing the wrong thing. If I sees the yay,

599
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: then like everything else kind of falls into place. It's

600
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: just I was, yeah, the equation was all the wrong

601
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 1: way around, and I love watching that happen in other

602
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: people's journeys because there's often a moment where it all

603
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 1: starts to sort of come together. But one thing I

604
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: get asked about the most, so I'd love to ask

605
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: you about it is in that process of realizing you

606
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: could leave and this could you know, it's a big

607
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 1: enough idea to be something. How do you choose when

608
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: is the right time? How do you combat that? You

609
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,240
Speaker 1: know there is an element of self doubt and fear

610
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 1: and imposter syndrome, but also like how am I going

611
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: to sustain myself?

612
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:25,640
Speaker 3: Could it fail?

613
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: And leaving the prestige of a big corporation and the

614
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 1: safety like when do you jump? How do you know

615
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 1: how to? And then you're doing everything yourself that you've

616
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 1: never done before. Like what was that like for you?

617
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 1: What was the timeline?

618
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 4: Yeah?

619
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 2: So me being me, I tried to de risk that

620
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 2: jump as much as possible because yeah, like it's a

621
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 2: big one, right, and all these things about how am

622
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 2: I going to finance my life and.

623
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 4: Pay my friend? Like yeah, real, how we're going for that?

624
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 4: So for my initial year I actually did.

625
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 2: Some private consulting work on this side, and then sort

626
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 2: of yeah, built the business in parallel. Looking back, I

627
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 2: think that was definitely the right thing to do because

628
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 2: it sort of, yeah, I just gave that extra bit

629
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,200
Speaker 2: of you know, cushion and padding during that period where

630
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 2: it was all still a lot of unknowns.

631
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 4: In saying that, it made.

632
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 2: For a really really busy time because I was essentially,

633
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 2: you know, working two jobs, so that was more than

634
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 2: one job. But yeah, so there was sort of definitely

635
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 2: that downside. But yeah, it's hard because in general, I

636
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 2: just don't know if there's ever a right time. It's

637
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 2: sort of I feel up to you to make the

638
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 2: right circumstances there so such that you can make that jump.

639
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely.

640
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 1: I think it's one thing to say, don't work for

641
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,640
Speaker 1: the man, go and start your own job, like leave now.

642
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 1: But at the same time people have dependence and different

643
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 1: levels of debt and exposure and all those kinds of things,

644
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: and I think there is the temptation to leave straight away,

645
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 1: but at the same time, you don't necessarily have a

646
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: full time load of work when your business is first

647
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: starting anyway, that de risking element. I stayed for six

648
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,080
Speaker 1: months and I could have probably left it too, but

649
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: I thought I want to jump to something that's bigger

650
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,600
Speaker 1: than it is right now and has more momentum. Plus

651
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,200
Speaker 1: I'll have more savings behind me. It's a juggling act

652
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,240
Speaker 1: that you know, you really need to reflect on. And

653
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 1: I probably was a bit too gung ho when I

654
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,120
Speaker 1: first made the jump myself, like encouraging other people like

655
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 1: do it now, like you don't want to live with regret,

656
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 1: and I'm like, think about your finances first. Another thing

657
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: that comes up quite often in the founder journey is

658
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 1: comparison and how you know, there's the negative self talk

659
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: in general can get you know, quite crippling in terms

660
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 1: of actually putting yourself out there. But then also when

661
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 1: it's a market where you're not first to market in

662
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,160
Speaker 1: terms of the eat a pet food market, it already exists.

663
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 3: How did you stay focused.

664
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: On what you were doing and you know why is

665
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,479
Speaker 1: like a different and how did you focus on that

666
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,960
Speaker 1: and not kind of get distracted by oh my god,

667
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 1: but they're doing these and they're doing that and I

668
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: want to do that, and you know it's like such

669
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 1: a hard place to be.

670
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think comparison like naturally comes into play

671
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 2: for if you're really competitive like I am. I'm like

672
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 2: I just I don't know, I just want to win,

673
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 2: and that naturally, like physicians, you to be comparing yourself

674
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 2: to other people. I think what we've done well at

675
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 2: like and I don't know if this was a conscious choice,

676
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 2: to be fair, but we're really focused on ourselves internally,

677
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 2: and we're really focused on our customer. I sort of

678
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 2: have always looked at our customers as you know, the

679
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 2: voice of truth, really mindful.

680
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 4: Of, you know, their feedback, just trying to do right

681
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 4: by them.

682
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 2: And naturally, by focusing in your customer, you tend not

683
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,479
Speaker 2: to look at other competitors or other players in the market.

684
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 2: I think that that has really contributed to our ability

685
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 2: to grow and build a great product. My strong view

686
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 2: is that if you're looking at competitors others in the past,

687
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,760
Speaker 2: you should be thinking about your customer and sort of,

688
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,600
Speaker 2: you know, ten steps ahead as to how you're going

689
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,560
Speaker 2: to delight them. Yeah.

690
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think it's a fine line between wanting to

691
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: look at your competitors so you understand the landscape, but

692
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,480
Speaker 1: they're not getting so distracted that you can't focus on

693
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 1: what you're doing and what you're doing in your lane

694
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,840
Speaker 1: and doing that best. Lovely neighborhood. You will hear more

695
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 1: about it in this episode, But founders are so notoriously humble,

696
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 1: and I need to sing the praises of Anna's incredible

697
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:31,680
Speaker 1: like a pet food. If you follow me at all,

698
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,520
Speaker 1: you'll know our little Paul is a bit of a

699
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: sensitive sausage so can't eat particular foods, and Anna's er

700
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 1: baby like her is the same, leading her to create

701
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: a life changing range of freshly cooked food that is

702
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: so natural even we could eat it, although when Paul's

703
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,280
Speaker 1: around there's never any leftovers. Did you know that dry

704
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 1: kibble has a shelf life of up to three years?

705
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 1: Anna has seen so many dogs experienced difficulties on highly

706
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,280
Speaker 1: processed diets, but then flourish after swapping to human grade,

707
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,480
Speaker 1: natural food. D so like It aims to help transform

708
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 1: the pet food industry and puppers lives from the inside out.

709
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,320
Speaker 1: With easy meal plans customized to your fur baby, delivered

710
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,920
Speaker 1: to your door for free. You can do full or

711
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 1: half sizes. You can even sniff it out to start

712
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: with a starter box, or pause your subscription at any time.

713
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 1: It is super flexible, and Anda has so generously given

714
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 1: the neighborhood twenty percent off your first KA box. Just

715
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,439
Speaker 1: use YA twenty at the checkout. Note that this code

716
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:29,880
Speaker 1: cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. I

717
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: will pop the link in show notes. My recommendation is

718
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 1: you give it a try. Now back to the episode.

719
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 1: But you've also gone from you know, literally doing everything yourself,

720
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 1: which is such a clee. I feel like it's such

721
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 1: a cliche to be like your stort a boke garage

722
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: drinking it on myself, but it's because everyone does it

723
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,719
Speaker 1: that way. But then to now one hundred staff, So

724
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,440
Speaker 1: what was your first product and how did you decide

725
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,920
Speaker 1: like to launch with one product versus the subscription you

726
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,760
Speaker 1: have now? Like how do you actually ease into things

727
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:04,919
Speaker 1: and what did that look like?

728
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 2: Like?

729
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:05,840
Speaker 3: What was the first product?

730
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 2: For example, Yeah, we launched with meals, so lightly cooked meals.

731
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,000
Speaker 2: There was always a subscription from day one, but only

732
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 2: two recipes.

733
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:16,360
Speaker 4: We had a beef and a chicken.

734
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 3: Were you cooking those yourself?

735
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:18,879
Speaker 4: Yes?

736
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:24,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, so so often my dad's kitchen. He very quickly

737
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:30,040
Speaker 2: kicked me out. That lasted like a day, and then

738
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,840
Speaker 2: we ended up hiring some ventures in a shared kitchen

739
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 2: space and then from there sort of moved onto facilities

740
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 2: and now we have multiple. Yeah, I think I was

741
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,399
Speaker 2: really conscious about keeping the offering quite simple to begin with.

742
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,240
Speaker 2: I think there's so much complexity already instead of getting

743
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 2: a company off the ground that the more simple you

744
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 2: can be with your product offering, the more it allows

745
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:55,280
Speaker 2: you to sort of iterate easier on that limited offering

746
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,359
Speaker 2: and sort of get that really right before moving on

747
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:01,080
Speaker 2: to expanding. So now where you know, we've got a

748
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:03,240
Speaker 2: whole range of meals, we've got a range of treats.

749
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,359
Speaker 2: We're working on other really exciting things in the next

750
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,800
Speaker 2: coming months and years as well. So definitely getting that

751
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 2: foundation right first is key.

752
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that.

753
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:14,840
Speaker 1: I think the temptation is to try and get economies

754
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 1: of scale straight away and build your team and get

755
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: an office, and like, you know, you want to obviously

756
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 1: perfect your product and be a professional operation, but I

757
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,359
Speaker 1: think you don't need to launch your entire range straight

758
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,480
Speaker 1: away like you can. You can just nail one thing first,

759
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,799
Speaker 1: And we had that with Matcha, Like we had one

760
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:36,799
Speaker 1: Hero for two years because the market really wasn't ready

761
00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: for anything else, and also we weren't able to maintain

762
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 1: and concentrate on more than one thing, and market more

763
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,360
Speaker 1: than one thing. So yeah, I think for any aspiring

764
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 1: business owners out there, it's important to remember, like you

765
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,680
Speaker 1: can start smaller than you hope to be. You don't

766
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,399
Speaker 1: have to go all out straight away, and you can

767
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:57,279
Speaker 1: kind of grow into it. What have been some of

768
00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 1: your proudest and like most satisfying or you know, enjoyable

769
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: moments in the scale up process and some of the hardest,

770
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 1: most challenging moments.

771
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:08,719
Speaker 3: Or mess ups.

772
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 2: Oh so many of booth Look, I think proudest I

773
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 2: definitely get the most satisfaction and fulfillment when I hear

774
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:21,319
Speaker 2: customer feedback, and that sort of brings it all back

775
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 2: to me because you know, that's why I'm doing this.

776
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 2: I love animals. I want them to I want our

777
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 2: dogs to live longer and live healthier lives. And we

778
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:34,160
Speaker 2: get such amazing feedback like dogs like switching Toka then

779
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 2: being able to reduce their arthritis medication, being able to

780
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,160
Speaker 2: walk better, you know, the itching is stopping, like all

781
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,000
Speaker 2: these really cool tangible things of us improving that dog life.

782
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 2: And that's for me what I find the most fulfilling.

783
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 2: I of course love like you know, we're very target driven,

784
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,280
Speaker 2: so we've got lots of milestones that we work together,

785
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 2: and it's always a great feeling with the team, like

786
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,520
Speaker 2: once you kind of hit that target and it's you know,

787
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 2: I think really important to celebrate those winds as well.

788
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:05,840
Speaker 2: So we always look at things like you know, subscribe account,

789
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,800
Speaker 2: even you know, moving into a new facility or launching

790
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,080
Speaker 2: a new product, like these are really big moments that

791
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,839
Speaker 2: are really important to celebrate. On the flip side to that,

792
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:20,080
Speaker 2: there lowers points. Gosh, like this problems every day.

793
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 4: It's so hard to yeah, like that.

794
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,280
Speaker 2: That's sort of running a startup, right, There's always things

795
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:28,800
Speaker 2: going wrong, and you know, most of the time they're

796
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,399
Speaker 2: sharely small on the grand scheme of things, but it's

797
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 2: really hard just to pick one.

798
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 3: And to constant mistake.

799
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 2: I think for me, part of it is actually not

800
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 2: riding that emotional rollercoaster because I think that if you

801
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 2: let the lows kind of get you down, you're going

802
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:51,960
Speaker 2: to be completely.

803
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 4: All over the place all the time.

804
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,120
Speaker 2: So what I really focus on is sort of trying

805
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:57,800
Speaker 2: to just rise straight through the middle.

806
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,319
Speaker 4: So not letting the lows really impact me.

807
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 2: I think that also translates to me sometimes probably not

808
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 2: celebrating the highs as much as I should. So that's

809
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:07,920
Speaker 2: something I'm trying to work on and sort of get

810
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:12,040
Speaker 2: better at. But yeah, like that's just fine part of it.

811
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,759
Speaker 1: That's a really good point not being so pulled into

812
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 1: the emotional side of setbacks or failures, because often your

813
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,239
Speaker 1: business can't afford you to lose focus for that long,

814
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,080
Speaker 1: your team can't afford that, and there is a learning

815
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,520
Speaker 1: opportunity and every mistake, even I often go straight to

816
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:32,239
Speaker 1: the hypothetical question of like what worse luck did this

817
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:34,799
Speaker 1: bad luck save me from? And so even if you

818
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 1: don't actually know how much worse it could have been,

819
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:39,080
Speaker 1: there's always a way to word it so that there's

820
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: a learning opportunity which helps me just get through the

821
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 1: sort of sadness and embarrassment or awkwardness or whatever I'm

822
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 1: feeling about the mistake. It's resilient, bounce back, get straight

823
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,879
Speaker 1: back to it, right like that middle zone. But it's

824
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,279
Speaker 1: funny that you said about not celebrating. I think that's very,

825
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:57,799
Speaker 1: very common for people who have just been consumed by

826
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: building their own business and there's always something else to do,

827
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:03,840
Speaker 1: so you don't stop and celebrate the wins and the

828
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,399
Speaker 1: difference I think in working in a company versus your

829
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: own business, is that the boundary is already there for you.

830
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 1: Even at somewhere like Bane where you work really long

831
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: hours and you're expected to be on your phone and

832
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: contact aboor, there's still some sort of like artificial semblance

833
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,920
Speaker 1: of boundary in your own business.

834
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:22,920
Speaker 3: You kind of don't have that. No one's going to

835
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:23,279
Speaker 3: make it.

836
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,560
Speaker 1: For you, and it's really hard to step back and

837
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 1: celebrate the wins and all that kind of thing. Is

838
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 1: there anything you miss about corporate and how have you

839
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: navigated that boundary question in your sort of business journey.

840
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,960
Speaker 4: I don't think I mismatch a our corporate.

841
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,840
Speaker 2: Like don't early I loved I also really love what

842
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,800
Speaker 2: I'm doing now and I can't see myself doing anything else.

843
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 4: It's funny because I kind of like think back.

844
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 2: To my very first day of doing likea and like

845
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 2: the first thing that happened was my laptop. I ordered

846
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 2: it online, it arrived, and then I couldn't set it up.

847
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 2: And there's our tech team, like we used to have,

848
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:06,640
Speaker 2: you know it that we could just collough for these things.

849
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:08,520
Speaker 4: So it was like a really big jump. But like

850
00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:09,920
Speaker 4: over time, you get used to it.

851
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 2: Your laptop issues and things, and yeah, I just love

852
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 2: the autonomy of flexibility, just having that full control of

853
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,719
Speaker 2: what I'm driving to and how it's fantastic.

854
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,799
Speaker 4: Of course that comes with a lot less guardrails. And

855
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:28,480
Speaker 4: you know, I if you're the type of person that

856
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 4: does push yourself.

857
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,120
Speaker 2: And sort of work hard, I think it can be

858
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 2: hard to you know, have to be conscious not to

859
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:35,879
Speaker 2: take that too far.

860
00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, but overall, don't miss too much more call fence.

861
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 3: Yeah.

862
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 1: Well that leads very nicely to the last section, which

863
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 1: is your playta and how you kind of clusivate your

864
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 1: identity outside of the business, which again without boundaries, is

865
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 1: very difficult to do. But before we move on from work,

866
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,040
Speaker 1: I do just want to ask for anyone who's listening,

867
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:56,400
Speaker 1: who has a pet who might be interested in like

868
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 1: and now and considering jumping on board and trying some

869
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,480
Speaker 1: of the meals, what would you say to them? What

870
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 1: should they try? What are your favorite products? And can

871
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,400
Speaker 1: you buy one off? Is it subscription only?

872
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 4: Like?

873
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:10,720
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, well so, I mean, first of all, Laka

874
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:14,040
Speaker 2: is lightly cooked meals made out of real foods, so

875
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 2: very similar to like a dinner that you'd make at

876
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 2: home with fresh meat, and veggies and other superfoods.

877
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,280
Speaker 4: It's a subscription product.

878
00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 2: But we don't have any time commitments, so you can

879
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,400
Speaker 2: just order that first box and then pause and cancel

880
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 2: straight away. And for the first box, we have a

881
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,080
Speaker 2: sampler like a start box, so it just comes with

882
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,440
Speaker 2: a smaller amount of meals. So I'd always recommend that,

883
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 2: especially if your dog's eating like a process.

884
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 4: You will tie it or something like that and you

885
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 4: just want to try it out.

886
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:42,120
Speaker 2: In terms of what to order, I recommend getting the

887
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,880
Speaker 2: full variety of meals, so we have six right now,

888
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 2: and that way your prop can just give it a go,

889
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,320
Speaker 2: try different things, and especially if they're picky, that usually

890
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,880
Speaker 2: works quite well. And you just want to be careful

891
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:55,799
Speaker 2: if your dog's a bit more sensitive, like might have

892
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,759
Speaker 2: you know, digestive issues, just staying away from the high

893
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 2: fat options probably like a lamb or a beef might

894
00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 2: be a bit too rich, and more lighter options like

895
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:05,280
Speaker 2: a fish, chicken or turkey.

896
00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:08,759
Speaker 1: There you go to, oh my gosh, so cute. Do

897
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 1: you get to spend heaps of time with animals at

898
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:12,200
Speaker 1: your work or not as much as you would.

899
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 4: Be Yeah, heaps.

900
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:17,359
Speaker 2: I mean our office is dog friendly, so well, work

901
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:20,520
Speaker 2: every day. I'm with her twenty four to seven, and yeah,

902
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 2: there's dogs around all the time.

903
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 4: It's awesome.

904
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,239
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that is the best.

905
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 1: That would make work life balance so much easier because

906
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: you just have dogs everywhere.

907
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 4: It's like, yeah, it's pretty distracting sometimes.

908
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:33,480
Speaker 2: Yeah.

909
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of distraction, I think one of the things

910
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:41,600
Speaker 1: that's important, even if you love your job and even

911
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 1: if it doesn't feel like work, is to get distracted

912
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:47,040
Speaker 1: a little bit because your brain needs downtime, you need distance,

913
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: you need a refresh, you need rest. Like there are

914
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 1: so many I mean, I say this, I'm not very

915
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:51,680
Speaker 1: good at it.

916
00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:55,120
Speaker 3: I know the theory that we should be doing these things, but.

917
00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:58,600
Speaker 1: What other things you do that aren't related to what

918
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,120
Speaker 1: you do at work, like that just allow your brain

919
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:02,880
Speaker 1: to kind of flake and just play.

920
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 4: I mean, well, like her, does that count as sort of.

921
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:10,839
Speaker 3: Yeah, totally. I like her and Billy as pointers.

922
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:12,439
Speaker 4: Yeah.

923
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:16,080
Speaker 2: Billy's are Bunny who we adopted a year ago. We

924
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:19,000
Speaker 2: were sort of looking for a friend for Ka, but

925
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:22,400
Speaker 2: she's really she's a jealous type, like she would it

926
00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:24,759
Speaker 2: would break her soul if we brought another dog in

927
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:27,560
Speaker 2: the family. So that's why bunny came around and it's

928
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:31,439
Speaker 2: very cute. The best of friends and yeah, I like, yeah,

929
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 2: just spending time with them and you know, either going

930
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,719
Speaker 2: on a hike or the park, even brunch things like that.

931
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:40,279
Speaker 4: Also a really big fan of active recovery.

932
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:42,920
Speaker 2: I find that doing things like you know, just watching

933
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:46,440
Speaker 2: Netflix or hanging out at home, you sort of sometimes

934
00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:47,479
Speaker 2: can't switch your.

935
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:48,360
Speaker 4: Mind off work.

936
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:51,000
Speaker 2: I'm a really a big fan of doing something that

937
00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:54,799
Speaker 2: sort of immerses you completely, and for me, exercise is that.

938
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 4: But like more creative forms.

939
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,160
Speaker 2: Of exercise, Like I'm not that keen on just running

940
00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:03,160
Speaker 2: or like you know, going to the gym and doing weights.

941
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 2: I like more things like yoga and pilates. I sort

942
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 2: of a bit of pole dancing as well, but just anymore. Yeah,

943
00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:14,240
Speaker 2: and started horse writing lessons recently as well.

944
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:18,719
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, amazing. I love that your appetite for

945
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:19,960
Speaker 1: just trying lots of different things.

946
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 3: I'm really similar.

947
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: I'm just like, you know what, never been on a horse.

948
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: I kind of want to ride a horse, like, let's

949
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:24,640
Speaker 1: do it.

950
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:26,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's great.

951
00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:31,759
Speaker 1: Well, to finish up, second last question is what are

952
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,759
Speaker 1: three interesting things about you that don't normally come up

953
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,080
Speaker 1: in conversation and that like we wouldn't find in other

954
00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:38,840
Speaker 1: articles or interviews.

955
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:42,080
Speaker 2: Three interesting things. So I've kind of a weird diet.

956
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:46,480
Speaker 2: I'm higin kind of I do seafood and fish like

957
00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 2: the Pascatarian side, and then I'm mostly vegan ya, So

958
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 2: it's sort of this mix of, you know, doing it

959
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,719
Speaker 2: for sustainability and trying to reduce my meat intake but

960
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:59,280
Speaker 2: also for help. But yeah, I can't really put a

961
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:00,920
Speaker 2: it doesn't really fit into a box.

962
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:11,240
Speaker 1: You only eat bacon like, So, yeah.

963
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:11,520
Speaker 3: That's a good one.

964
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's one. Another one.

965
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:16,880
Speaker 2: I have two dads, So my parents, my mom and

966
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,680
Speaker 2: my dad, got divorced when I was really young, and

967
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:21,759
Speaker 2: then my mom remarried when I was really young, and

968
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:24,239
Speaker 2: so I grew up being really close with my stepdad.

969
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 2: And yeah, like I literally I call them both, my

970
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:28,879
Speaker 2: dad really close to them both.

971
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 4: I think it's probably really.

972
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 3: Confusing everyone around you.

973
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I feel pretty grateful that I get to

974
00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:38,800
Speaker 2: have a mom.

975
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:39,240
Speaker 4: And two dads.

976
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 3: Wow.

977
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:44,239
Speaker 4: And then what else? Yeah? Maybe languages?

978
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:46,120
Speaker 2: Like yeah, just coming back to that again, I really

979
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:47,600
Speaker 2: want to learn a fifth language as well.

980
00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:50,920
Speaker 4: To find a bit more time to do that. What

981
00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 4: would you learn, so tossing up between Italian and Japanese.

982
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:59,120
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I did Japanese in primary school, but I

983
00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:00,480
Speaker 2: can't forgotten everything.

984
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:04,240
Speaker 1: I feel like if you so, my main second language

985
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 1: is French and because of that, Italian and Spanish were

986
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 1: really easy, so I feel like if you wanted to

987
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:13,920
Speaker 1: learn it quickly to be like fluent quickly, then Italian.

988
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:16,760
Speaker 1: Do you have an Asian You don't have an Asian language,

989
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:17,760
Speaker 1: do you?

990
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:18,279
Speaker 4: Oh?

991
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:19,640
Speaker 3: Then maybe Japanese.

992
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, just to.

993
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:24,080
Speaker 3: Balance it out, I meant to say to you at

994
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:24,520
Speaker 3: the start, d.

995
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,480
Speaker 4: V, why did you learn Russian?

996
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:34,560
Speaker 3: I don't though I know like a few sentences in that.

997
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:38,640
Speaker 4: Shibit do you speak?

998
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:42,040
Speaker 1: By the way, So, French was the one that I

999
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:45,240
Speaker 1: majored in and I did part of my law degree,

1000
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:48,279
Speaker 1: so similar to you in Spain, I just turned up

1001
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 1: and was like I wasn't registered as like a foreign

1002
00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:52,839
Speaker 1: language teudent or anything. And then I was like, why

1003
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 1: did I do this? I don't understand anything, And then

1004
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 1: after crying for three months, then suddenly I could just

1005
00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 1: understand everything. So that's my kind of most fluent language.

1006
00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:05,240
Speaker 1: Japanese and Chinese were my minors, so I did them

1007
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:08,560
Speaker 1: to university level, but I've forgotten everything. English was my

1008
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:12,880
Speaker 1: first language, so I remember Latin languages a lot more easily,

1009
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 1: Italian and Spanish. I'm just like, I can read, I

1010
00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:19,440
Speaker 1: can listen to the TV, and then I can have

1011
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,720
Speaker 1: a basic conversation, but I understand all that I can say.

1012
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:26,320
Speaker 1: And then randomly my ex was Romanian and that's a

1013
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 1: Latin language, so I can kind of speak a little

1014
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:33,560
Speaker 1: like like I can say a lot of conversation things. Yeah,

1015
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 1: and then the one I want to learn, Like everywhere

1016
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:37,960
Speaker 1: we go, I kind of try and learn a few sentences.

1017
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:40,759
Speaker 1: So we're in Moscow twenty nineteen, but I really want

1018
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:41,480
Speaker 1: to learn Arabic.

1019
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:42,080
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1020
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:45,200
Speaker 2: Wow, that would be a challenge because the alphabet's like

1021
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:48,000
Speaker 2: so completely different to Yeah.

1022
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:50,319
Speaker 4: That's so cool, so impressive, Oh.

1023
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:54,160
Speaker 3: My god, so impressive. You speak five languages and like.

1024
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:58,640
Speaker 1: Fluently, No Miney're like so basic, though only one of

1025
00:48:58,640 --> 00:48:59,520
Speaker 1: them I would call fluent.

1026
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,839
Speaker 3: The rest of them just like for funzies.

1027
00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:03,000
Speaker 4: Very cool.

1028
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:06,759
Speaker 1: I also meant to ask, how has your family been

1029
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:09,840
Speaker 1: with are they here or are they still back in

1030
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:12,480
Speaker 1: the Ukraine or half half and half?

1031
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 2: So my immediate family is here that I do had

1032
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,240
Speaker 2: extended family on both sides back in Ukraine.

1033
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:20,239
Speaker 4: But luckily everyone's.

1034
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,839
Speaker 2: Been safe and they're sort of, you know, relatively out

1035
00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:26,680
Speaker 2: of the conflict areas, which is really good. But yeah,

1036
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,160
Speaker 2: it's I mean, it's horrible, and it just puts everything

1037
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 2: into perspective. Yeah, I feel super grateful that we laughed

1038
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:35,480
Speaker 2: when we did. Yeah, and just hope that it all

1039
00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:37,759
Speaker 2: kind of comes to an end soon.

1040
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,680
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I'm so glad to hear that your friends

1041
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:43,680
Speaker 1: and family are safe, and same to anyone listening who

1042
00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:46,440
Speaker 1: has family or friends in the Ukraine. Sending all our

1043
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:50,560
Speaker 1: love from the neighborhood. A little seg yea back to

1044
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:53,759
Speaker 1: our very last question for today, to leave you on

1045
00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:56,000
Speaker 1: a little bit of a high and with a bit

1046
00:49:56,000 --> 00:50:00,000
Speaker 1: of ya, what is your favorite quote?

1047
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:00,960
Speaker 4: Favorite quote?

1048
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 2: So, the one I really love is you overestimate what

1049
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,600
Speaker 2: you can do in a day or a week, but

1050
00:50:07,719 --> 00:50:10,640
Speaker 2: you always underestimate how much you can do in a year,

1051
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 2: let alone a lifetime.

1052
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:13,520
Speaker 3: I love that.

1053
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: I've never heard that before. I like, I'm obsessed with quotes.

1054
00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:18,960
Speaker 1: I feel like the oh, sorry, the other language I

1055
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 1: speak is quote. Like I quote communicate exclusively back and

1056
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:23,720
Speaker 1: forth quotes.

1057
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:25,960
Speaker 3: But I've never heard that before. That's such a good one.

1058
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it because it's just so relevant because

1059
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:31,000
Speaker 2: you sort of you try and fit so much in

1060
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:33,360
Speaker 2: your day or a week, and I think it sometimes

1061
00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:35,520
Speaker 2: can be discouraging when you don't get through all that.

1062
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:38,080
Speaker 2: But it's like, hang on, that's actually quite normal. Like

1063
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:41,799
Speaker 2: on that short time horizon, I think you always kind

1064
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:44,760
Speaker 2: of overestimate, try and do too much, but it's important

1065
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:46,799
Speaker 2: to sort of zoom out and think about the big

1066
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 2: picture and sort of not lose sight of those bigger goals.

1067
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:53,360
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Oh my gosh, Anna, this has been so wonderful.

1068
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,040
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I've been so inarticulate. I don't know what

1069
00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 1: is wrong with me today. I think I'm just so

1070
00:50:57,560 --> 00:50:58,960
Speaker 1: fascinated by your story.

1071
00:51:00,719 --> 00:51:01,839
Speaker 4: Understand everywhere.

1072
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:05,520
Speaker 1: I just feel like I've been like the things in

1073
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:07,280
Speaker 1: my brain are not coming out my mouth.

1074
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:11,719
Speaker 3: But thank you so much for sharing your story and.

1075
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:15,759
Speaker 1: And for also topping Paul up with Lika. I'm so

1076
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:18,400
Speaker 1: excited to see what happens. His skin is a like

1077
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:21,640
Speaker 1: big recurring issue, so I'm really excited to see what happens.

1078
00:51:21,840 --> 00:51:26,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, fingers crust, you see some difference, and yeah, I

1079
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:28,920
Speaker 2: mean he's day one now, so I think forka. It

1080
00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:32,160
Speaker 2: took maybe a couple of weeks, so yeah'd be really

1081
00:51:32,239 --> 00:51:33,879
Speaker 2: keen to check in and see how he's doing.

1082
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:36,520
Speaker 1: I mean literally, when the food arrived, it looked so good.

1083
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,319
Speaker 1: I was like, is this human food like it looks?

1084
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:42,880
Speaker 1: I eat this because it looks so beautifully packaged and everything.

1085
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:45,120
Speaker 3: I'm really excited. I'll report back.

1086
00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:48,359
Speaker 4: Yeah, And to answer your question, you can eat it

1087
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:48,880
Speaker 4: if you like.

1088
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:50,920
Speaker 2: I mean, we try it. I've only tried the fish

1089
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:53,239
Speaker 2: rest of things. I don't eat meat, but oh yeah

1090
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,520
Speaker 2: we do. We do taste testing and it's it's literally

1091
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 2: just meat, badge and superfood. So the only thing I

1092
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:01,960
Speaker 2: day is it's a little bit blanned because we don't

1093
00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 2: do like salton, pepper and spices. I'll keep it on

1094
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:08,560
Speaker 2: your food, but it's yeah, we'll filled with the good stuff.

1095
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:11,880
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much and I'll keep you posted.

1096
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:13,600
Speaker 4: Thanks having me, Sarah.

1097
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:16,359
Speaker 1: Paul was munching on his like a pet food chicky

1098
00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:18,840
Speaker 1: chooes in the background for most of that episode. Gosh,

1099
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:22,279
Speaker 1: anything involving animals is such a yay for me, and

1100
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,239
Speaker 1: what an amazing story. Anna is such a powerhouse and

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Speaker 1: I loved hearing about the many different ways she's applied

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Speaker 1: her leadership and creativity. She has so generously given the

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Speaker 1: Neighborhood twenty percent off your first liker box. If you're

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00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,279
Speaker 1: keen to try it out for your fur babies, which

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00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:40,359
Speaker 1: Paul highly recommends, I'll pop the link in the show

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Speaker 1: notes for you to find out more. As always, if

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00:52:42,560 --> 00:52:45,360
Speaker 1: it feels right, please make sure you've subscribed to the show,

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00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:48,080
Speaker 1: that you shared this or any other episode, or leave

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00:52:48,160 --> 00:52:50,279
Speaker 1: us a little reviewed. It takes a few seconds so

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00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:53,240
Speaker 1: we can keep growing the Yighborhood as far and wide

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00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,560
Speaker 1: as possible and snacking up those fabulous guests. I hope

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Speaker 1: you're having an amazing week and is seizing your yay