1
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:07,080
Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the

2
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,399
Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers Now.

3
00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:12,959
Speaker 2: Hello, this is doctor Justin Collson, the founder of Happy

4
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,760
Speaker 2: Families dot com dot au and the co host and

5
00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,280
Speaker 2: parenting expert on Channel Lines hit TV show Parental Guidance.

6
00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,840
Speaker 1: Season two is just around the corner, and I'm so

7
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:22,680
Speaker 1: excited for it.

8
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 2: At the moment, though, we're going to talk about something

9
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,480
Speaker 2: totally not TV related, and that is cost of living.

10
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,040
Speaker 2: Everybody knows that everything is insanely expensive.

11
00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,919
Speaker 1: And I don't know about you, but.

12
00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,479
Speaker 2: Kylie and I are doing everything we can to find

13
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:43,400
Speaker 2: level ways that we can save anywhere in any way possible,

14
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,440
Speaker 2: because I mean mortgages and rent and stress and groceries

15
00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,240
Speaker 2: and everything. It's it just and actually, I don't know

16
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,519
Speaker 2: if you feel like this, but for me, it feels

17
00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,000
Speaker 2: almost like everyone just wants all of our money and

18
00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:57,120
Speaker 2: it doesn't feel fair.

19
00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,000
Speaker 1: Fair like's you work so hard.

20
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,240
Speaker 2: For it and then you just give it a holes

21
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,480
Speaker 2: or wolies order the bank or to whoever, and it's just

22
00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:04,760
Speaker 2: it's hard. So I've been doing a little bit of

23
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,480
Speaker 2: digging around on the internet and I found somebody who

24
00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,360
Speaker 2: I think is fascinating to talk to about this topic.

25
00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:15,120
Speaker 2: Olivia White is probably best known for her Instagram profile

26
00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 2: Olivia White aka House of White, but she's a mum

27
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 2: of two living in regional Victoria and with her and

28
00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,400
Speaker 2: her husband on sort of averageish incomes. A couple of

29
00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,000
Speaker 2: years ago, she put away thirty thousand dollars in one

30
00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 2: year in savings and she wrote a couple of articles

31
00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:33,760
Speaker 2: about it, got a whole lot of media around it,

32
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:35,200
Speaker 2: and I saw it and I thought, man, this is

33
00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 2: important stuff, Like if we could work out how to

34
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,280
Speaker 2: put it, it doesn't even have to be thirty k and

35
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,399
Speaker 2: everyone's circumstances are different, but imagine if we could genuinely

36
00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:44,920
Speaker 2: put away a stack of cash in the current circumstances,

37
00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,520
Speaker 2: with everything costing so much, What a relief that would be.

38
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:49,640
Speaker 1: So I contacted Olivia.

39
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 2: And she said, yeah, happy to chat, and she joins

40
00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,920
Speaker 2: me right now on the podcast. Hey Livia, welcome to

41
00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,320
Speaker 2: Happy Families. Thanks for being with me.

42
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:57,080
Speaker 3: Oh no, thank you for having me.

43
00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 2: I'm very excited, to be honest, I just love that

44
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,680
Speaker 2: we've all these girls between us, Like if we got together,

45
00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:02,960
Speaker 2: there'd be eight girls running around.

46
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 1: That would be bonkers, but so much fun.

47
00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,440
Speaker 3: We'd have a netball team and some spams that happen.

48
00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:10,400
Speaker 1: We've even got the reserves.

49
00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 2: That's brilliant, Okay, So I want to hear the story, however,

50
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,200
Speaker 2: it is that you think we are going to learn

51
00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:18,880
Speaker 2: the most from it As people are struggling under the

52
00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:23,840
Speaker 2: strain of the current financial climate, when they hear this

53
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,320
Speaker 2: story about a mum and a dad in Victoria who

54
00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,120
Speaker 2: have put away thirty grand, that just seems so unbelievable.

55
00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,960
Speaker 1: It seems so out of reach. What'd you do? How'd

56
00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,920
Speaker 1: you do it? What can we learn? And do you

57
00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:36,640
Speaker 1: still practice those habits?

58
00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely look for us. I think the main thing

59
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,919
Speaker 3: to take away from this, you know, talking specifically about

60
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 3: this year and the thirty thousand dollars we put away,

61
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,919
Speaker 3: there was a goal for us, so we were doing

62
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:54,240
Speaker 3: renovations at the time, and so I think quintessentially at

63
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,480
Speaker 3: the core of that, the main thing was is that

64
00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,120
Speaker 3: we had a very very specific goal and we knew

65
00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 3: you know, how much we needed. So I think that

66
00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:07,440
Speaker 3: definitely that was super important to that. But in ways

67
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,760
Speaker 3: of like how we how we did it, and how

68
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,120
Speaker 3: we plan you know, plan to do it. We've always

69
00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:16,000
Speaker 3: been pretty across our money, especially for me from a

70
00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,280
Speaker 3: young age. I grew up with a single mum, and

71
00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,840
Speaker 3: so I feel like I got a lot of you know,

72
00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,960
Speaker 3: tips and tricks from her. She was extremely resourceful on

73
00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,560
Speaker 3: you know, how to make things happen, you know, perhaps

74
00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,240
Speaker 3: thinking outside the box. So I guess the first thing

75
00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,440
Speaker 3: for us was mapping it out, and that was just

76
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,480
Speaker 3: you know, getting spreadsheet heavy, working out exactly what our

77
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,200
Speaker 3: incomes were, exactly where our money was going. You know,

78
00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,400
Speaker 3: we had spreadsheets telling us, you know, weekly what was

79
00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 3: going to groceries and what we were spending on entertainment,

80
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,640
Speaker 3: and what our household costs were and stuff like that.

81
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,600
Speaker 3: And really from there getting a good idea of okay,

82
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,920
Speaker 3: where can we get get little bits and pieces like

83
00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:59,400
Speaker 3: what can we shuffle around? How can we do that?

84
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,440
Speaker 2: So I want to ask you a quick question about that,

85
00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,600
Speaker 2: or maybe maybe share an experience. We did this thing

86
00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 2: a couple of months ago, and our kids loved it.

87
00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 2: We pulled out the credit card statement because everything just

88
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,840
Speaker 2: goes onto the card. Right Back in the olden days,

89
00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,000
Speaker 2: we used to have envelopes and we would withdraw the

90
00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 2: cash from the ATM and we would put the cash

91
00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,400
Speaker 2: into the envelope for each week, and if there was

92
00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,960
Speaker 2: any leftover that went into our surplus. But otherwise it

93
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,120
Speaker 2: was just it was an envelope system. Now we just

94
00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:25,200
Speaker 2: sort of tap the card and walk away, which I

95
00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,000
Speaker 2: don't think is a great system. So we sat down

96
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,920
Speaker 2: and went through, line by line every single expense for

97
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,520
Speaker 2: the last couple of months with the kids, and they were,

98
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,760
Speaker 2: in fact, we were shocked as well. We were blown

99
00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:41,159
Speaker 2: away by where the money is going to. And we

100
00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:42,320
Speaker 2: just said to the kids, so, what do you reckon

101
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:43,560
Speaker 2: we need to do here? And they're like, oh, we

102
00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,120
Speaker 2: need to stop shopping at I won't mention the place,

103
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:47,920
Speaker 2: but there is a place that we happened to spend

104
00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit more money than we should. And

105
00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,080
Speaker 2: they're like, and we spend way too much at the

106
00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,159
Speaker 2: grocery store as well, Like they could actually see it.

107
00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,000
Speaker 2: There was so much value in, like you said, not

108
00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,240
Speaker 2: just having the goal, which I think is so powerful,

109
00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,240
Speaker 2: but sitting down and looking at you incoming and you're

110
00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,240
Speaker 2: outgoing and mapping it out dollar of a dollar cent

111
00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,039
Speaker 2: for sand really powerful. And the kids involvement had opened

112
00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,039
Speaker 2: their eyes to how much it costs for us to

113
00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,440
Speaker 2: raise them, which was in a non guilt inducing way.

114
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,120
Speaker 1: It was really great.

115
00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's funny that you say that, because I

116
00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,919
Speaker 3: think that that is so important that you are sitting

117
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:23,960
Speaker 3: down with your kids. I mean, I'm not even sure

118
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,880
Speaker 3: how old you know all of them are, but you know,

119
00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,960
Speaker 3: it's never too early to start that stuff, because I

120
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,160
Speaker 3: feel like that's where I got it, because we can

121
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,120
Speaker 3: sometimes get this idea here that sharing this kind of

122
00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,240
Speaker 3: stuff with our kids like, oh, we need to shelter

123
00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:39,880
Speaker 3: them from it. We don't want them to know are

124
00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,000
Speaker 3: we poor or are we witch? Like? You know, And

125
00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,800
Speaker 3: I think that we need to just get rid of

126
00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,200
Speaker 3: that whole idea and concept because you know, I was

127
00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,960
Speaker 3: aware growing up that we didn't have much, that we

128
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,400
Speaker 3: pretty much had nothing, but I didn't see that as

129
00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:56,960
Speaker 3: a downside. I wasn't sitting there going like, oh, you know,

130
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,600
Speaker 3: I'm poor. I found it really you know, I took

131
00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:03,760
Speaker 3: so much from my mum about you know, how she

132
00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:05,839
Speaker 3: would make things happen or what we would do, you know,

133
00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,160
Speaker 3: to define money or make things happen. So I think

134
00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,960
Speaker 3: that's wonderful that you're doing that, because that will be

135
00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,040
Speaker 3: life skills that your kids will take into their adulthood

136
00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 3: that will hopefully help them, you know, as everything gets

137
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,800
Speaker 3: more expensive. So that's fantastic, that's awesome that you're doing that.

138
00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,240
Speaker 2: So you've done this, and again, I just the goal

139
00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:26,960
Speaker 2: is so important, right. If you don't have the goal,

140
00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:28,840
Speaker 2: you're not even going to be motivated necessarily to sit

141
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,320
Speaker 2: down and work it out. Like, I just see so

142
00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,640
Speaker 2: much value in that. What did you do after you

143
00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:36,320
Speaker 2: sat down together and looked at the incomings the goings,

144
00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,039
Speaker 2: put the spreadsheets together and sort of figured out where

145
00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:40,160
Speaker 2: your expenses were.

146
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 3: I mean, like you we had the shock of like, oh,

147
00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,080
Speaker 3: we're spending a lot of money here, or we're you know,

148
00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,960
Speaker 3: wasting a lot of money on this, or and yeah,

149
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,320
Speaker 3: I mean you'd be surprised even just from the get

150
00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,080
Speaker 3: go how many things you're probably paying for that you

151
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,679
Speaker 3: don't even need to be. But then it's working out, okay,

152
00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,400
Speaker 3: the things that you have to spend mone on, all

153
00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:03,720
Speaker 3: the things that you can't you get around your fuel,

154
00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,839
Speaker 3: your bills, your groceries and stuff. It's then getting savvy

155
00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,720
Speaker 3: around how to find alternatives. Like I think that we

156
00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,200
Speaker 3: can become extremely complacent. We live in a society of

157
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:20,640
Speaker 3: extreme convenience, and you know sometimes, yeah, it does take

158
00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:22,760
Speaker 3: a little bit more time, It does take a little

159
00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:24,720
Speaker 3: bit more effort, you know, being a bit more conscious

160
00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,000
Speaker 3: about these things. But don't be afraid to shop around

161
00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,880
Speaker 3: for better deals, don't be afraid to chop and change

162
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,640
Speaker 3: credit cards, banks, you know, your home loans. You don't

163
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,280
Speaker 3: you know, owe anyone anything. And with you know, so

164
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,280
Speaker 3: many people in the market these days, you know, people

165
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:47,840
Speaker 3: rates are extremely competitive for so many different things. And

166
00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:49,320
Speaker 3: so yeah, we did a lot of that. You know,

167
00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,440
Speaker 3: even we use apps to find the cheapest petrol in

168
00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,600
Speaker 3: the area, or you know, it takes a little bit

169
00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,040
Speaker 3: more time and effort, but these little things build up,

170
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,520
Speaker 3: and you'd be so shocked at how much it can

171
00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,160
Speaker 3: build up. You know, if you think in a week

172
00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:05,520
Speaker 3: you can save you know, ten dollars in your fuel

173
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,880
Speaker 3: or maybe twenty twenty five dollars in your shopping and

174
00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,080
Speaker 3: you've saved you know, a couple of hundred by chopping

175
00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:13,840
Speaker 3: and changing a bill or something like that. Those things

176
00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,240
Speaker 3: start to add up really really quickly. And then, like

177
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,200
Speaker 3: I said, you know, before you know it, you've got

178
00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:23,040
Speaker 3: this goal. You're like, oh wow, like I can actually

179
00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,480
Speaker 3: and then it becomes it's sort of a flaw on effect,

180
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:27,520
Speaker 3: you know that you hit that point of krek Masca,

181
00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:29,880
Speaker 3: you go, oh, it actually becomes like a bit of

182
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,960
Speaker 3: a game and you're actually like, oh, this is awesome

183
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,280
Speaker 3: because you're seeing you're seeing the rewards from it, and

184
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,280
Speaker 3: you're seeing the money and you're seeing the ability to

185
00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,200
Speaker 3: be able to do it. So, you know, I think

186
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,240
Speaker 3: that was a really big thing for us. And then

187
00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:47,640
Speaker 3: also finding other sources of income, you know, whether it

188
00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,720
Speaker 3: be you know, a side hustle. You know, these days,

189
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,560
Speaker 3: especially with the Internet, it is really easy to monetize

190
00:08:55,559 --> 00:09:00,199
Speaker 3: your skills whatever they are. You know, the Internet, you

191
00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,120
Speaker 3: you know, it's endless who you can reach and whether

192
00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:08,720
Speaker 3: that be using marketplace sites to you know, resell things

193
00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,320
Speaker 3: or yeah, if you've got you know, good, good skills

194
00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,720
Speaker 3: in something, there's so many websites you can jump on

195
00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:19,560
Speaker 3: and outsource those skills to people and to me and

196
00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,040
Speaker 3: obviously my upbringing and my mom nothing is beneath me,

197
00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,000
Speaker 3: do you know what I mean? You do what you've

198
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,320
Speaker 3: got to do to reach those goals. And yeah, I

199
00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,280
Speaker 3: would say, really, you know, think outside the box and

200
00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,280
Speaker 3: there'll be plenty of ways that you can find that

201
00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,840
Speaker 3: you can sort of get I guess some extra income

202
00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:39,440
Speaker 3: coming in.

203
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,280
Speaker 1: When you say that, it reminds me of a couple

204
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:44,680
Speaker 1: of things.

205
00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,120
Speaker 2: So when I was finishing my PhD and starting the

206
00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,360
Speaker 2: Happy Families business, we were tied.

207
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:52,480
Speaker 1: Like it was.

208
00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,280
Speaker 2: It was hard starting a business, just come off ten

209
00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,280
Speaker 2: years of being a student and working as a lectorer university,

210
00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,280
Speaker 2: which doesn't play all that well. Things were really really tight,

211
00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,280
Speaker 2: and we had the opportunities. Some friends had a commercial

212
00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:07,840
Speaker 2: property and they needed a cleaner. They're cleaner had quit

213
00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,520
Speaker 2: and I said to Kylie, how do you feel about it?

214
00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,520
Speaker 2: And she was like, we'll do whatever we've got to do,

215
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:15,280
Speaker 2: Like we've just got to get through this. And so

216
00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,040
Speaker 2: five mornings a week, Kylie and I would get up

217
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 2: early and we'd go and clean this commercial premises. And

218
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:24,559
Speaker 2: it was just that thing that got us across the line.

219
00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:26,720
Speaker 2: And so I really love the way you've said nothing

220
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,439
Speaker 2: is nothing should be beneath you, because if there's work

221
00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,480
Speaker 2: to do, and go and do the work, and what

222
00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,400
Speaker 2: you teach your kids, like our kids would go with us,

223
00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:35,280
Speaker 2: and we've got it. We've got these kids that are

224
00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,400
Speaker 2: following us along through this commercial property and they're cleaning

225
00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:39,880
Speaker 2: toilets and they're scrubbing walls and they're doing it and

226
00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,360
Speaker 2: they learned valuable skills, but they also learned that you

227
00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,280
Speaker 2: just do what you've got to do. The other thing

228
00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,200
Speaker 2: that sort of strikes me as you talk about adding

229
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,840
Speaker 2: an income stream, when we were trying to figure out

230
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,080
Speaker 2: how to make ends meet and from time this time,

231
00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:57,240
Speaker 2: we still have that challenge.

232
00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,920
Speaker 1: But my mum, she's like a serial on.

233
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,719
Speaker 2: She's built multiple businesses and done very very well out

234
00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,880
Speaker 2: of them over the years. And I would complain to

235
00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:08,520
Speaker 2: her every now and again that things were so tired

236
00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:10,040
Speaker 2: and things were so tough, and I didn't know how

237
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:11,520
Speaker 2: we were going to make it and what could we do.

238
00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:12,880
Speaker 1: And I wasn't asking.

239
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:14,840
Speaker 2: Her for cash or handouts. I was just looking for

240
00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,600
Speaker 2: a bit of empathy because it was hard. And my

241
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,360
Speaker 2: mum is not the kind of person to give empathy lightly,

242
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,520
Speaker 2: and so instead of giving any kind words, she would say, justin,

243
00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,040
Speaker 2: just go and create it. And I would get off

244
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,560
Speaker 2: the phone so frustrated, and I'd throw pens at walls

245
00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,560
Speaker 2: and I'd slam phones onto benches and say to Kylie,

246
00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,520
Speaker 2: she just doesn't understand how I was bosed to create it?

247
00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:37,120
Speaker 1: Where do I create it?

248
00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,439
Speaker 2: And over the years, what I've discovered is that, as

249
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,680
Speaker 2: you've just said, there are so many skills, so much knowledge,

250
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:46,960
Speaker 2: so much capacity, that we all have to create something.

251
00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,360
Speaker 2: It doesn't necessarily happen today. I mean, we need the

252
00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,319
Speaker 2: money today, right, the bills landed today, But if you're

253
00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,040
Speaker 2: really thoughtful about it, creating a YouTube channel or getting

254
00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:59,000
Speaker 2: your skills out there. I mean one of my daughters

255
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,520
Speaker 2: she heard this create idea, and so she started busking.

256
00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:04,040
Speaker 2: And when she started busking, she was not good enough

257
00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:05,199
Speaker 2: to start busking.

258
00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:09,000
Speaker 4: But but but she went and did it, and and

259
00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,480
Speaker 4: her attitude was somewhere so what, and people put money

260
00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:13,720
Speaker 4: in her guitar case even though she wasn't that good,

261
00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,000
Speaker 4: And that gave me the confidence to practice more and

262
00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:16,720
Speaker 4: to keep busking.

263
00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,600
Speaker 2: And she is red hot now and she has like

264
00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,040
Speaker 2: real she gets real gigs. She's not even busking anymore.

265
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,160
Speaker 2: She's getting paid for gigs because she went out and started.

266
00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,080
Speaker 2: I've got a nine year old Olivia who she wanted

267
00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,320
Speaker 2: to do a bake sale and now she's kind of

268
00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,000
Speaker 2: turned into the cookie chef for our neighborhood. And she

269
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,640
Speaker 2: just whenever she's bored, she cooks up some cookies and

270
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,360
Speaker 2: then goes and knocks on doors and sell them some

271
00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,320
Speaker 2: neighbors Like there's that, there's there's something that we can

272
00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,360
Speaker 2: do to create everyone all the time. No, not necessarily,

273
00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:47,840
Speaker 2: that could come across as being over privileged.

274
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,400
Speaker 3: I don't know, but yeah, I know what you mean.

275
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:53,480
Speaker 3: And you know, it's funny that you say that about

276
00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,600
Speaker 3: you know, going out and just you know, creating it,

277
00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,600
Speaker 3: because that's effectively what I did. And you know, we

278
00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:01,480
Speaker 3: were very similar my husband building a business from scratch

279
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:03,200
Speaker 3: in the early days. We'd both just come out of

280
00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,120
Speaker 3: UNI and we you know, we had my first jot

281
00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,880
Speaker 3: A really young and when she was you know, a newborn,

282
00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,360
Speaker 3: I was actually cleaning houses for friends because a lot

283
00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,120
Speaker 3: of my friends still work full time, you know, they

284
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,120
Speaker 3: didn't have kids yet, and I could take her, I

285
00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:18,720
Speaker 3: could take her in the in the baceinett and yeah,

286
00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,680
Speaker 3: I was. I was literally cleaning for friends. I also

287
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,640
Speaker 3: was doing letterbox drops because that was great. I could

288
00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,560
Speaker 3: push the prem around and do letterbox drops. And it

289
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,040
Speaker 3: wasn't great money, but it was something and it was

290
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,679
Speaker 3: something I could do in the circumstances that I had,

291
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,280
Speaker 3: and you know, living in regional Victoria. Moving to regional

292
00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,000
Speaker 3: Victoria was really hard for me because getting a job

293
00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:42,480
Speaker 3: isn't necessarily about what you know, it's kind of who

294
00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:45,920
Speaker 3: you know. And I just wasn't having any success and

295
00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,880
Speaker 3: so I just decided one day to give this whole

296
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,400
Speaker 3: Instagram thing a go. And back then it wasn't really

297
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,679
Speaker 3: we weren't really making money from it. We didn't know

298
00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:57,480
Speaker 3: what the opportunity was going to be, you know, influencers,

299
00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,400
Speaker 3: you know, social media, all that kind of stuff. It

300
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,480
Speaker 3: was very unknown back then. But I just decided, you

301
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,160
Speaker 3: know what, I'm going to give it a crack. And

302
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,000
Speaker 3: you know, it took quite a few years, but eventually

303
00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,440
Speaker 3: I got there. And that was again me just creating something,

304
00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,920
Speaker 3: being resourceful, taking those skills that my mum had given me,

305
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:21,240
Speaker 3: and yeah, identifying opportunity. So it's definitely possible. And like

306
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,120
Speaker 3: you said, you know, I don't want to sound like

307
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:25,600
Speaker 3: it comes from a place of privilege. I understand that,

308
00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:30,440
Speaker 3: you know, everyone's circumstances are different, but I think if

309
00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,000
Speaker 3: you just at the you know, at the core of it,

310
00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:40,400
Speaker 3: having that goal, wanting something and just you know, if

311
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,040
Speaker 3: the doors aren't opening, create the door.

312
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, bring your expenses down, find ways to increase your income.

313
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,840
Speaker 1: And that's kind of I don't know.

314
00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:51,440
Speaker 2: I was going to say that's the magic formula, but

315
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,320
Speaker 2: I don't know how magic it is. It just it's

316
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,600
Speaker 2: hard and it requires so much intention and.

317
00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:56,080
Speaker 1: Effort, right.

318
00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, And look, you could say this almost goes against

319
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,240
Speaker 3: what I do for a living, you know, as a

320
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,320
Speaker 3: social media influencer. But one of the core things, and

321
00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,520
Speaker 3: one of the points I made in the original article,

322
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,520
Speaker 3: is not comparing yourself to other people, because I think

323
00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:13,800
Speaker 3: that that's one of the key things that can really

324
00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,400
Speaker 3: undo you in that journey, because it is easy to

325
00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,040
Speaker 3: look at other people and what you think they have,

326
00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,440
Speaker 3: or how you think they're doing, or the life that

327
00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:25,960
Speaker 3: you think they have. But that is the thing about

328
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:31,000
Speaker 3: social media is that you don't see everything. You don't

329
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:35,320
Speaker 3: know everybody's circumstances, you don't know you know what's going on,

330
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,640
Speaker 3: and you've really got to sort of stay focused on

331
00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,000
Speaker 3: your own goal. You know. For us, it was that

332
00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:45,280
Speaker 3: renovation and getting that done. We had a forty year

333
00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,320
Speaker 3: old house that you know, some people said, like, why

334
00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,040
Speaker 3: are you even renovating it? You know, but we bought

335
00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:54,280
Speaker 3: the cheapest house at the time that we could get. Well,

336
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,400
Speaker 3: everyone else was buying the house and land packages. But

337
00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,200
Speaker 3: that's you know, we just wanted to get into the

338
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,320
Speaker 3: market and we just wanted to do you know. We

339
00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:05,680
Speaker 3: never wanted to get into debt for it, apart from

340
00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,600
Speaker 3: having like the Court Home loan. So that's why. Yeah,

341
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:10,840
Speaker 3: we really knuckled down to save that money to get

342
00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:15,120
Speaker 3: that renovation done and that was important to us.

343
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, and five hundred bucks a week or thereabouts.

344
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,120
Speaker 2: We'll give you thirty grand in a year, maybe a

345
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:21,960
Speaker 2: little bit more than five hundred maybe six hundred bucks

346
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,480
Speaker 2: a week, but as you bring those expenses down, there's

347
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:27,720
Speaker 2: one hundred maybe one hundred and fifty maybe two hundred

348
00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:29,520
Speaker 2: bucks a week, and then find a way to earn

349
00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:31,800
Speaker 2: a couple of hundred and you're most of the way there.

350
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:35,240
Speaker 2: It's a pretty cool story. Olivia White Instagram influencer from

351
00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:39,080
Speaker 2: Olivia White aka House of White on insta, mum of

352
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,000
Speaker 2: two life lolls, fashion, travel, Disney memes, and a whole

353
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,360
Speaker 2: lot more on your Insta. People can follow you there.

354
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:46,800
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for chatting with us on the Happy

355
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,520
Speaker 2: Families podcast. I reckon there's been a handful of things

356
00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,760
Speaker 2: that should be pretty inspiring for mums and dads as

357
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:54,000
Speaker 2: they're listening to this conversation.

358
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:55,800
Speaker 1: Great to talk to you, Thank you.

359
00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:59,080
Speaker 2: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Ruland from

360
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,200
Speaker 2: Bridge Media. Craig Bruce is our executive producer and if

361
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,159
Speaker 2: you want more information, you can check out lives Instagram

362
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:14,800
Speaker 2: or visit us at happy families dot com today