Finding Freedom Through Faith in Life and Business with Marie Fox

The Wild + (finally fcking) Free episode features a great conversation with Marie Fox. Marie is a multifaceted individual—a dedicated mother, dog enthusiast, hockey player, introvert, and seasoned small business owner and Virtual Assistant, with over two decades of experience in administration. Her expertise ranges from streamlining business operations to embracing innovative technologies, with a side serve of Canva design prowess. Combining her administration background with creativity and faith, Marie inspires her clients, women in business, to unlock their potential and be their best selves..

Key Takeaways:

• Marie's journey intertwines her passion for administration with her creativity and faith, guiding her to help businesses optimise their processes while fostering personal growth.
• Faith has been a steadfast anchor in Marie's life, providing strength and resilience through various challenges, and shaping her into the person she is today.
• Marie's experience highlights the significance of embracing spirituality or a deeper connection to something larger than us
• How faith served as Marie's lifeline during postnatal depression, providing reassurance and hope during dark times.

Find Marie online at www.craftyfoxbydesign.com

Check out her free resources: https://www.craftyfoxbydesign.com/free-stuff/ or investigate Marie’s Conquer the Chaos with Virtual Co-working Service mentioned in this episode https://www.craftyfoxbydesign.com/conquer-the-chaos/   

Listen to this episode and more at www.kpkreative.com.au/pod

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Come connect with Kylie on Insta @kyliepatchett or Facebook @kyliepatchettonline
and online for all your menoPAUSE and Brand, Content and Copy Storytelling needs at Kylie's brand new web home www.kpkreative.com.au

Transcript

Kylie: [00:01:00] Hello, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the podcast. Today, I am chatting with the lovely Mari Fox. How are you, Mari? Very well, thank you, Kylie. I'm very excited for this chat. Mari is another one of my beautiful mastermind, um, besties. And it's really cool to actually get to interview each of you because then I get to learn the why behind what you do in the world and more about you.

So welcome. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you. For those of you who don't know you and also your business, could you introduce yourself for our listeners and then we'll dive on in. 

Marie: Okay, so I am a mother, first of all. Mum to one. I am a dog lover. I am a hockey player in the winter. I also consider myself to be an introvert [00:02:00] and also a small business owner.

And so in my business, I help businesses, other businesses behind the scenes with their administration. So it could be a range of different things. And I also really like to combine my knowledge of administration And my creativity and my faith and get them to embrace all of that and be the best version of themselves.

Kylie: So cool. Such a good introduction. I feel like I need to tick a big box of how to, how to introduce you. Um, I want to go in so many different fellow dog, dog lover, first of all, um, very bad sports player. So I cannot say that I'm at all relating to the hockey thing, but my best friend in primary school. Um, Was a mad keen hockey player.

So I've spent a lot of time watching hockey, just not playing it because I think I would break my shin. That's what I like. I'm that uncoordinated that I would be in the way when someone does one of those [00:03:00] big whack shots, I reckon. Anyway, that's, that's why we wear shin pads and mouth guards. True, true, true.

I feel like I should, like, if I could play in one of those big bubbles, that would be good. Because then, because I am literally the least coordinated person I know. I don't know whether I've shared that on the podcast before, but there you go. Um, I am excited to talk to you. I was saying to you before we started recording that.

Um, one of the things that I have noticed as I get older is actually two things that are almost side by side. I don't have a, um, necessarily a strong religious background or faith, and I was laughing to you saying, you know, air quotes, I was raised Catholic, but really only just lip service towards that because I went to a Catholic school.

Um, but I'm feeling a really deep pull the older I get to kind of. Connect to more of a spiritual practice or a [00:04:00] connection with something deeper. And I was sharing with you, I've got this beautiful friend, Sam, who she has such a strong faith and it is able to guide her through so many things with this.

Certainty and anchoring and grounding that I am really drawn to. And when you answer the podcast questions, one of the things that things that you mentioned, and also in your intro was about how your faith has played such a big role in, you know, guiding you through a lot of different challenges that we will get to.

Um, can you tell us a little bit about that? Like, were you raised with a strong faith as a kid, or did you sort of develop it in a later life? So I was brought up in a household where only one parent did actually regularly attend church, but we, and so I regularly attended church with my mom for Sunday school and youth group and, and all those sorts of things and, you know, got to go on kids camps and [00:05:00] be around other kids who, you know, shared a similar faith as well.

And so, um, from a very young age, um, I was spoken to about God, about Jesus. And you know how that can play a part how that plays a part in your life. And, and so over time, I've been able to go back to those things that I learned as, as a kid and, and draw back on that for, for strength through, through the different, uh, challenges that I've experienced in, in my adult life.

Yeah, that's what I feel. That's what I it's, it's, it's, It's like a strong, stable foundation. That's the sense that I get when I, when I talk with my friend, Sam, and when I talk with other people that, um, it's interesting, I'm just about to go away to New Zealand and two of those friends out of the five of us have also been brought up in strong faith backgrounds.

And it just, it's such a different way of seeing things, particularly when things get a little bit [00:06:00] tricky or challenging. Um, and you had shared in your answers, um, some of the. The times I'm going to guess, although I should just ask you, when do you find that you draw the most on your faith? Um, and how, what assurance does it give you?

Like, I, I don't, I'm not finding the right words because I don't actually really truly have an experience of what we're talking about, but I'm interested to, to hear what, what language you would give us. 

Marie: So, There's a couple of different instances where I might really draw in, into my faith and one of those is a tough time.

Kylie: So if, if I'm facing a particular challenge now, it might be business related or it might be a personal or health related, I having that connection and having the faith that I have in God as a Christian, I am, I know that I can take myself somewhere quietly and [00:07:00] I can talk to God in prayer and in prayer.

The, the wonderful thing is, is even if I can't find the words and maybe it's just crying, that's fine too. God understands. So, and it gives me that sense of security and it gives me a sense of hope that it doesn't matter what's going on. It's okay because God has me. And so, you know, that's, that's sort of the tough times, but then on the flip side, if something amazing happens.

I always try and take a moment to go, thank you, God. Yeah. Because there are certain things that you go, how did that happen? Like, how did that door open? And it could even be as simply, I really wanted that car park and it's available, you know, particularly if you're going somewhere that's unfamiliar and you want to close car park.

I mean, that sounds fairly trivial. But honestly, some days it's [00:08:00] just like, Oh yes, thank you. And it's, it's finding those moments to not just pray and ask for help, but also praise and be thankful for that gratitude for what has come your way. I, I find that such a much more refreshing because I think. My personal lived experience in a Catholic, um, school without having gone through the whole, like all of the, um, sacrament, say sacraments.

I'm not even using the right language in my sacraments, like first Holy communion and all of those things. You're not Catholic, obviously. So I hadn't gone through all of that formal stuff. Right. So I arrive at this Catholic school, having gone to a state primary school, and I was telling this story the other day.

It's so strange that we have this conversation, or not strange at all. Um, and I arrived there and very quickly it's figured out that I [00:09:00] haven't had all of these things and therefore I can't take, um, communion in church services and whatever. Um, and obviously when I very strong faith based school where everyone but you is receiving those things.

It's very obvious. So very, very soon I found myself at the kind of receiving end of People saying I must do things that I didn't understand. And I think it's because to a large extent, I wasn't brought up going to Sunday school. I wasn't brought up in that type of environment where I had that kind of grounding or connection.

And for me at kind of 13, when you're going through that teenage angst, it was like some just external thing. And what I saw in my fellow students was almost like a, geez, I'm not. I'm not actually being negative towards the whole faith of being Catholic. I'm just observing [00:10:00] that. It seemed to me like a lot of the people that also went to that school felt that they could act in any way during the week, but as long as they went to church and asked for forgiveness, which is a very Catholic thing.

Um, now obviously that is also colored by the perceptions of a, a teenage mind with all of its, you know, um, not belonging and all of the other stuff that's going on with that drive for autonomy and whatever. Um, but. When you talk about in both of those situations, so times of stress and strain, trying to overcome something, but also in celebration and also in things that makes much more sense to me than what I kind of saw.

I don't know why that's a very long winded story. Just to say that when I hear people like you that have been brought up with the faith that, that I love how you actually said it, a sense of security and a sense of hope. Like, it's like, I'm held, I'm supported. I know that there's something else [00:11:00] bigger than me there.

Um, when you, when you, cause you're, you're the mum of a 12 year old now. Yes. So take us back to you're pregnant. You had this little person, um, and you find yourself with unfortunately postnatal depression, which is like such a significant issue for so many women. How did your faith play a role in getting there?

Through that and making sense of it. I guess that's my question. Like, how do you find, does your faith also help you find a purpose in those types of really challenging times? So when you are first diagnosed with postnatal depression, it can be a fairly scary time. And I, looking back, Um, I mean, I don't understand the reasons why the doctor, because I actually did it without, I overcame postnatal depression without medication.

Now, I don't know why my doctor at that time didn't prescribe me [00:12:00] medication. I'm sure he had his reasons. And as a first time mom, I didn't know. to maybe that I could ask questions and maybe I could find out more information, but I, I was, um, given access to a counselor and through that, um, she was able to help me understand what was happening, but also give me extra tools to, to get through each day.

Yeah. And, and I guess how my faith played a part in that. Was knowing that I wasn't alone, even like at two or two 30 am in the morning where I haven't had much sleep, the baby's unsettled, you know, he won't go back to sleep. I wasn't alone and, and sometimes, you know, you can look back and go, where did I find the strength for that?

How did I actually get through that? How did I, why, how was I able to. retrain [00:13:00] my brain. Um, and you know, part of that is, you know, being given external tools, like, you know, speaking with a counselor and part of that for me, I go, well, well, it must've been God, like how else, how else could have that happened, you know, to give me that extra strength.

I think what you're saying, because So much of our suffering comes from a sense of, actually, there's two things that I want to say. I always come back to when I very first started doing training in traditional Chinese medicine, one of my first teachers used to say, the definition of stress is the difference between your expectations and reality.

And that has always like, it's the gap. And where I was going in my mind as you're talking is the thing that causes the most suffering is our story about what is happening. It's not necessarily the thing that's happening. And, um, having just been through a ridiculously sleepless [00:14:00] night, again, thanks to perimenopause, I find myself in the middle of the night going, it's all fine.

There's always enough time and energy to do everything important to me, because what I used to do was rail against this, like make it just even more stressful. And I think listening to you, if I'm understanding you correctly, your sense, Is you weren't isolated, even though it, it would have felt scary and, you know, different if you've never experienced that sort of mental health episode before.

Um, and also obviously you've got a baby, so you've got this big identity shift, which is happening all alongside of it. But you would never have felt isolated because you've got this surety that you're connected to. What a powerful place to find yourself. Again and again and again, every time like, yeah, I, I just love the concept of, like I said before, like I, I talk about the universe because I do believe that there's something bigger than us, but I've never [00:15:00] had the language of God or any particular sort of story about who that is or why that is or whatever.

Um, how do you. And this is a question that you don't necessarily have to answer if it's not comfortable to, but what I'm, I've got in my mind is how do you feel about people talking about, um, things that you would ascribe to God, like to, to not credit is not the right word, but you know, to kind of connect with God and God's presence or God's influence on things.

When you hear people like me using words like universe or something much less kind of. Structured. What's your, what's your thoughts? If you're comfortable, um, like talking about it, because I just think it would be an interesting, I've never actually thought about that before. Well, I, like I've mentioned before, I'm a Christian.

I believe in [00:16:00] God. And with that, I believe in creation as in that God created the universe. So if, when I hear people speaking about the universe. Um, it doesn't necessarily bother me, uh, you know, I don't, don't have an issue with it because for me, in my mind, it's like, well, okay, just if you just went one more level up, then, then you'd be at, at, at creator.

But at the same time, a lot of. Um, you know, being able to get along in the world is to have tolerance and it's absolutely fine for people to have a different set of beliefs to mine. And so if they prefer to think along those lines, then that's up to them. Yeah. How about it? I really liked that. It's like, talk to the boss.

Go one up the chain. You're talking to the supervisor. You need the manager. I love that. I love that. I love that. Um, I am interested to, [00:17:00] when you started talking about, like, you feel so committed and so clear on your purpose of helping people to express themselves and become the version of their, you know, their best selves, um, through business and through kind of like, Behind the scenes support.

Um, I don't know why, but I don't know. This is how my brain works in an interview. I almost feel like the role that you're talking about God feeling to you. And I know this is, you know, this is on a much smaller scale. I'm not attributing you with God like powers, although wouldn't that be lovely. Um, but when you say a sense of security and a sense of hope, Do you feel like that's part of the feeling that you give business owners when they know that you're taking something off their plate?

Well, I would like to think that they feel that sense of security, not, not just relief as in, Oh, [00:18:00] I don't have to do, I don't have to do that task anymore that I don't like. I'm not good at or taking far too long. Um, but also knowing that. You know, when they start, you know, that when you start a small business, it, it, it becomes like it's its own, your own little, you know, business baby.

Yep. Definitely. To, to be able to, to hand any of that over to somebody else, you want to make sure that you're going to hand that over to the right sort of person. And I would hope that, you know, business owners would feel comfortable in handing over a little bit and, you know, delegating a little bit to me so that I can walk with them just as God walks with us every day, walk with them on their journey.

So that not only am I helping them. I'm enabling them and empowering them to help others, you know, I'm, I'm helping in, in that ripple effect of, of, you know, everyone being the best that they can be. So cool. I love the idea of the [00:19:00] ripple effect because, um, why I asked that question is because I, I've had a bit of an on and off journey with trying to outsource in my two iterations of business.

And in my first business, I was still running the programming of micromanaging and having to do everything with the baby. The business baby was like everything to me. Back then. And then something interrupted that pattern, um, in my personal life. And I let go of that walked away from that business. And now I'm back having been back for about 18 months and I'm just about to fly out of the country tomorrow.

And the feeling that I get from being able to ask a team of people that I've selected for exactly like you're saying, these are the things that I'm not good at. I don't have a skill set around, or I hate doing, or takes me three times as long as someone who actually knows what they're doing. Let's face it.

And nowhere near as good. Um, my overwhelming feeling [00:20:00] is that. Feeling I would use the word safety, but I think it's similar to that feeling of security that you're describing, because when you do find the right support people in your business, that's exactly what it feels like. And being able to depend on your business baby being taken care of.

It's almost like a babysitter, if we want to take the analogy one step further, but you know, like I'm not worried about walking away. Um, which is such a beautiful thing because What you're giving business owners is the ability to stay in the zone that they're good at. And so not stretch, not push against resistance, not try and do things that they're, you know, frustrate them and make them feel stuck, but actually set them free to do what they do best.

Whilst you do what you do best. So have you always, so you've got an admin background. Talk to us about the shift into, cause you, you have your own business as well, yourself. Um, how did that unfold? Was [00:21:00] that nudging onto the path of entrepreneurship yourself or were you always planning to? Um, well, there's, there's a, there's a few different factors that, uh, led me towards starting my own business.

And, um, Like we've mentioned before, I have a 12 year old son, but when he was much younger, I was still working part time in a, in a traditional business, they were changing direction. And even though I was offered to stay, I decided that that, that wasn't quite where I wanted to go. And so I decided to, to step away from traditional employment and do some part time study.

Now, the other thing that was happening at that time was I'd also recently become a single mom. And so there was a whole lot of factors. Um, there was also at, you know, the, the timeline's a bit hazy, but somewhere in there, I've also had, um, a parent with health issues as well. So, To, to step away from traditional employment [00:22:00] and be able to find some part time study that I can do within school hours.

It suddenly opened up this huge time flexibility that I hadn't experienced before. And you know, a combination of, you know, learning different things, having that time flexibility. And going, well, what if I drew upon my years of experience and created employment for myself so that I could work in a way that works for me and my family?

And then that led me down the path of, um, Opening up a business and doing, doing what I do now and doing it in a way that I do now as well. Yeah. Amazing. What sort of, what sort of stumbling blocks have you overcome in your own business? Kind of maybe what you see your clients do too, but I'm just interested because, excuse me, when you all of a sudden get that time freedom and all of that choice freedom, [00:23:00] sometimes it can be a little bit.

I don't know. My, I found it confronting when I first started working in a business. I was like, hang on, where's the structure? I don't like, I can just free flow all over the place and I'm someone who needs structure, and so I kind of struggled with that. But did you find anything challenging when you first set up or was it all just like, thank, thank you,

Thank you, manager. Well, when, when, when I transitioned from. You know, uh, part time work into studying, there was a period of time where I'm just like, I was just sort of floating and I was just like, Oh, hang on a minute. I've got an end date. I need to have all of my study finished by an end date. So I'm going to have to put some boundaries in place and get back into, get into a routine of some description so that I can get what I need done, um, in, in the right time.

Um, and that's, I've sort of continued on, uh, [00:24:00] into my business, you know, I've tried to set up my week. So there are certain days when I prefer to have any client calls or client based things. And then there are other days that I allow for working on the business rather than just in the business. Yeah. And, uh, another thing that I found really helpful is actually.

Batch, batching, um, similar tasks together. Yes. So instead of trying to write a social media post one a day, actually allocate time once a week or once a fortnight and, and write a couple at a time and get them all scheduled. I love that. I, when I was held to skeltering with no batching and no, and also what I, I think the other thing that I did really poorly in my first business was.

I, even though I love systems, I didn't take the time to pause and build the system. And so every time I did something, [00:25:00] I would be recreating the wheel almost to kind of You know, and especially if it was something that I, I didn't do like on the daily or whatever. Um, and I just think that the power of having external objective eyes on your business as well, um, is very helpful for spotting where you're getting in your own way.

And you can't even see that you're getting in your own way. Um, do you have a mind that works in like process driven? I always think like VAs are so good at seeing that stuff, but I don't know whether that's all VAs. But is that something that really, like Efficiency and managing things in the most streamlined and simple and aligned way possible.

I feel like that's like a superpower of you guys. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I'm someone that really does well with routine and also within that routine. If there are regular systems or processes to follow so that you know that you're doing the same thing each time. to try and [00:26:00] obviously most of the time we want to get, get the same outcome.

Yeah. And, and the other thing is by having a system or a process set up, which means, you know, that step one, this is what you do. Step two, this is what you do. Step three that you do. It then removes that extra decisions that you need to make. And so it reduces the decision fatigue that you might have as a business owner, because, you know, we've got to make decisions and sometimes we have to make decisions quickly, but if you have a cheat sheet or a template of some description set up, and it could just be simply setting up a form.

So when people inquire with you, This is the form that gets sent to them and they fill it out. So you're asking exactly the same questions and every time, and then. You know well that, that just builds into more information that you can collect and other data to analyse, and everything else like that. I just, [00:27:00] as you're talking as well for people, so I just feel like I've got two sides to my personality.

I Love routine and structure, but too much of it. And then I've got an internal rebel. That's like, I want to just do whatever I want. And she's like crazily flipping around all over the place. And I think what I've, well, I know what I've discovered in my own business journey is having the processes and the systems is like having the edges or the boundaries, and then I get to play and flow with creativity and what sparks my interests inside of that.

Because if I am let. Loose goodness knows where we will end up. And I think that is partly to do with ADHD is too, but, um, yeah, having those, it's almost like the guardrail I'm thinking about, like when you're bowling, when you don't know how to bowl very well and they put the bumper rails up, that's what I feel like the systems are.

It's kind of, and I guess, um, someone who's into more of [00:28:00] the kind of masculine versus feminine energy, like the, you know, the systems of the masculine, like the routine and the structure and the edges and. then we get to, yeah, flow inside of it, which is kind of a more feminine energy. If you, if you're into that woo sort of stuff.

Um, what would you say, especially for women, do you work mainly with women? Yeah. Okay. Cool. So what have you observed are some of the commonalities of barriers that you see when you first start working with someone that, uh, and they, I guess they could be like the hard things or the soft things. So is it processes or is it like mindset that says.

I don't have anything decent to say or whatever. What do you think, what do you see over and over? Or is there no patterns? Maybe, maybe there isn't. I don't know that I have observed many patterns. Um, I'm actually not [00:29:00] sure I can answer that question. I'm just curious because I think it's probably because when I'm working with.

a woman in business and we're writing about her and her story. That by definition brings up a lot of stuff about being seen and playing the, you know, the good girl or the, you know, don't want to provoke anyone or want to make sure that we kind of, um, what's that word? Um, palatable is what, you know, I see that a lot, but I think that also comes with the territory of I work almost exclusively with healers and helpers.

in terms of like the allied health people, the coaches, the counselors, the psychologists. And I think there's a pattern there of, Or it's almost like a bit of an imposter, imposter sort of complex that I see sometimes. But I wonder whether that's just because I'm working with a subset of [00:30:00] women. I don't know.

It's an interesting question. Um, what about in terms of when you Moving to having more time flexibility. What does that mean for you personally? So you've started this business and you obviously get a lot of satisfaction from being that support person. So there's that personal satisfaction. What's it meant to the things that you value external to the business world that you're in?

So it, for me, I guess it comes down to family and as having a school aged child, there are quite often different assemblies or sports days or other days, uh, or other, other things that you might like to get to that if I was in a traditional role, it may be a little more difficult to get to. But the other thing for me, um, I have aging parents and there's been health issues along the way.

So to have the type of business that I have, the time [00:31:00] flexibility and working from home, it's meant that If I need to also step into a carer's role for either of my parents, it's meant that I can actually do things, um, side by side. You know, I can drop my son off at school. I can, you know, care for my father from time to time, um, who has dementia and Alzheimer's.

Um, um, and I, I can also work at my business, work in my business, help other people and earn an income for myself. So cool, isn't it? Imagine not having the internet. Like actually, I mean, I guess, but when I first opened my business in 2011, we had the internet, but we did not have ready access to so many tools and so many, um, I guess like software solutions that make things a lot kind of simpler or, or potentially if used well, cause obviously any tool Not, not useful until it's actually applied properly.[00:32:00] 

Um, but yeah, I, I often think I remember back in those days I had a podcast called League of Luminary Ladies, cause you know, us copywriters love alliteration. Um, but, um, and I remember having this moment one day where I was talking to a lady in the States and I was just like, Is this not crazy that we, like, we're talking to a box, you're in South Australia, I'm in country Queensland, like, do you ever have those moments where you're like, how is this even possible?

Um, when you're talking about your parents and particularly the dementia and Alzheimer's journey, because I, I have walked, The beginning of a similar kind of path, although with a step parent, which also then has different layers of things going on. Um, particularly when you're used to being an only child and all of a sudden there's step siblings involved, but anyway, um, what has that taught you in terms of.

Like, how does your faith [00:33:00] help you through that finding the,

I don't know, you may not, you may not be as far along in that journey, but when you're, as your dad changes, how does your faith help? And it's probably more of what we've already talked about, but I'm just interested how you can kind of. So, um, in, in the early years, it was just, you know, getting used to what that means and that there might be changes.

And obviously there are changes as things progress. And I guess as you go along the journey, even though my father is still alive, he's not the same person that he was 12 months ago, five years ago, 10 years ago. And so you almost have this living grief that you are saying goodbye to different parts or different versions.

of, of, of dad as, as he progresses. So having, [00:34:00] um, having a faith and knowing that, um, I am supported no matter what happens, I am supported. It gives me strength to carry on and then obviously support. Support the rest of the family as, as we're traveling this, traveling this together. And it also means that, um, recently my dad's gone into residential care, um, having the faith that the right spot will open up at the right time and that everything will work out for the best.

And it has. Um, you know, he, in my opinion, he's got the best, best, uh, room in, in the facility and the staff there are lovely and, you know, the way he's been able to connect with people and some of them, cause it's still in his local town, um, there are other people in there that he knows, um, and has known for many years.

You know, just, just being able to, to see that he is supported and he is being looked after that does take, [00:35:00] take a weight off. But knowing that God had a, had played a part in that, um, that, you know, that just keeps me going. Does it ease your, Oh yeah, first of all, I just want to really acknowledge the beautiful way you put that, that it's living grief.

Cause it's so easy, isn't it? It's losing little parts of the person that you knew and love and had a connection with and that connection shifts and changes. And do you think you're, so your dad is not the one that has a strong faith though. Cause I was going to ask about how that actually also helps with the thoughts of his final transition to the next phase.

When you feel into that, it's this ridiculous hypothetical question, where I was going to go was Can you imagine facing the ultimate loss here at the end stage of [00:36:00] Alzheimer's, which unfortunately is always, you know, the same point when you think about that through the lens of faith, does that also give you that more settled?

I don't, I don't know that it's necessarily, um, being feeling settled. I mean, intellectually, I know that there's going to be further decline intellectually. There'll become a day when he doesn't know who I am intellectually. There'll be a day where, you know, he may not be able to, to, to function in much capacity at all.

Um, having faith, I don't know that, I guess one of the things is I just have to have hope and trust. that when the time comes for each of those stages, God will get me through. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's not, not an easy thing to feel [00:37:00] into no matter what your belief system is. Um, yeah, I just really appreciate, yeah.

Being able to have a conversation with someone on a similar journey and see how you look at things because I feel like. My personal response was to rush to the worst case scenario. Cause I'm a, I'm a safety seeker in terms of like, figure out all the things that could happen and then try and figure out like, you know, all of these kind of, I don't know, contingency plans.

And of course there is no surety, but when you have trust in the fact that no matter what happens, you will be able to get through it. That is a powerful place to experience it through. How has. If you don't mind going here, and I'm very happy for you to say no, how, how do you feel like your [00:38:00] mum's experience is supported by her faith?

Does she experience a similar sorts of feelings, do you know, of what we've talked about, that hope and security, so that sort of anchored foundational belief system? Um, I can't really speak for her, but I would like to think so. And because we have open conversations. And, you know, we, we quite often, you know, not, not just for this issue, but there might be for other friends and families, but, you know, Hey, can you just keep this person in your prayers and, you know, you know, sharing, sharing that load, not, not just with, you know, individuals, but, but with God as well.

Um, I think, you know, it, it helps to, to lighten the load, to lighten the burden. And, you know, if you feel like that, Load is supported. Mm hmm. Well, then you go. Well, okay, [00:39:00] maybe anything is possible You know, we just keep supporting each other keep praying and you know what happens happens and and sometimes A delay doesn't necessarily mean it's a no, the delay might be protection.

Yes, yes, yes. I love that understanding. Something that I've, strong belief that I've brought my kids up with is like, yeah, I know it's been kind of like meme ified lately though. It's like rejection is not, but I can't remember the language that's like, It's not rejection, it's redirection, I think is the meme version.

And I'm like, ah, goodness me, do we have to cheapen everything into, you know, single media, social media posts? Um, not that I'm not a fan of sharing things through social media. That's something we haven't actually talked about because I know you have a deep love of harnessing creativity through Canva as well as part of your business.

So if you're working [00:40:00] with a business owner and they, you know, I haven't necessarily got the skills to be able to share like imagery and the like feeling of their brand. Tell us a bit about that. Cause I feel like when you talk about that now coaching goals, you're like face beaming. Canva is one subject that I can speak at length on at a moment's notice.

So in terms of how I help businesses with using Canva as a tool, so there's different ways I can teach them how to use Canva. I can work with them. Um, you know, if they've, you know, I'm trying to do something, but they can't quite work it out. You know, I can, I can help them with that. Or if they're like, I know that I should be using it as a tool, but it's a little bit overwhelming.

Can you set up a template for me? Um, you know, that's one thing that I can do. And the other thing I can do is I can come in and do a design rescue. So if they [00:41:00] might've started. If they've started a design or they've started a presentation, you know if they're a speaker or a coach or something like that, they've started a presentation, but they're like, Oh, I've been staring at it for too long.

I'm not sure if any everything looks nice. Can you just go in and make sure everything's in alignment and you know, it's, you know. In, in with my brand and, and all that sort of stuff, well, then I can come in and, and do that for them. I mean, I can also help them, you know, if they've just done a brain dumping word and then they want that translated into, into something, whether it's, you know, whether it's a lead magnet, whether it is, um, a worksheet or something like that, you know, I can then, you know, interpret.

What they've given me and display it in a way that reflects their, their brand and their message. So cool, because that is such a skill set that when you have it, it's almost like we [00:42:00] mistakenly feel like everyone can do it. But not everyone has that natural skill set. And, um, just like I am blown away by some of the things that I've been able to hand over to my team who do it in a third of the time.

And I, I like to think I'm pretty across things technically. No. No, no, Kylie newsflash. I think I finally reached the age at almost 50 where I've kind of hit like a ceiling of like there's a whole generation of people underneath your kids even that have so much more awareness of all the technical, logical stuff, can't even say the word and all the social media stuff and all of that, that it's such a joy to be able to just hand it to someone who's skillset is the natural innate ability.

I take it, they run with it and it comes back 50 times better than what I could have done. And I just, when I hear you say, I take a brain dumper and I turn it into him, like, yes, that is the magic that we all need in our businesses. [00:43:00] Because, um, the other thing I want to point out too, is, Sometimes what we're looking for when we're looking for a VA is more of the time freedom that you talked about.

So it's not necessarily, we can't do the task. It's just that we don't want to anymore. Um, and again, back to that feeling of safety of just being able to give it to someone who, you know, does it really well and in alignment with your brand and turns it into something that feels and looks like.

Everything else in your business. Like what a joy. How cool is that? Like I just think, you know, um, I love the language of design rescue too because what you said about looking at something too long That is such a thing, isn't it? It's like, I'm too close. And I say to my clients, when we're writing a book together, sometimes they'll say, I just can't look at it anymore.

I'm like, yes, because you've been down in the trees and you can't see the forest. You need to go away, have a weekend, go and have some fun, and then come back in with an eagle eye view so that you can [00:44:00] see things. But sometimes, I don't know. It's like your eyeballs get stuck and you can't really take it all in or something.

Um, so what a joy to be able to actually give it to someone. Like yourself that has the skill set. We haven't talked about your business name because I think this is the coolest business name ever. Please introduce your business. We will put the links in the show notes anyway so we should talk about where to find you.

But what is your business name? Crafty Fox by Design. So, so fun, so fun, so fun. I love it. Um, I love when people have cool last names that they can make into groovy business names. I like Patchett. That's great. Catch it. It makes me sound like a plaster or something. Anyway. Um, where can we find you online?

And the other thing that I wanted to ask you when you're thinking about, like, if, if someone is in their business and particularly if they're a woman in business and. They're listening to you and they're just like, I don't have any sense of [00:45:00] relief. I don't have any sense of security. I don't have any support in my business.

Where can they start? Cause I think that that, that sense of overwhelm sometimes stops people making change because they don't even know where to start. So can you talk about that as well? And if there's any like specific resource that you've got that we could share in the show notes, please, please share away.

Cause I would love people to be able to start. Yeah. So one of the places people could go and find out more about me and my services are, um, is, is my website at craftyfoxbydesign. com. And on there, I actually have a page that has free resources. Oh, perfect. Um, if someone hasn't, um, used, uh, the services of a VA before, and they're not really sure about what sort of tasks they could pass on to a virtual assistant, I actually have a free download that they can get in there, that they can get to their inbox and it is 25 tasks, [00:46:00] uh, to outsource to a VA.

And that lists. All of the different things that specifically I can help with. And I also have, um, some bit down the bottom as well, and it talks about the different pieces of software that I use or have used and can support them in. So that'll give them a starting point. The other thing is, is that if they're, if, you know, if they, if they're, If they want to jump on a call with me, then I'll have different options of doing that as well.

And one of those could be actually be a strategy session where we actually do a bit of a dive into the business and work out where they're at, what they might need support with, where the gaps are, you know, can I fill those gaps for them and so forth. The other thing that. If they are working on their own.

Um, I realize that sometimes working on, on your own can be a little bit isolating. I mean, you mentioned at, at the start that we are part of a mastermind. Yeah. And so we get to connect with each other [00:47:00] and, and other people as well. But if you are not in that space, I also have, um, a coworking, a virtual coworking session that people could, didn't know that.

That's a virtual coworking session that people can jump on with me. I have, um, there's a few little bonuses that they can get. And one of the things that we can do is we can actually, the first section that we can do within that is actually do a brain dump, work out all of the things that you've got going on in your head at the moment or on your to do list.

And then from there, we can basically divide and conquer and, and get it done. Okay. So back to the feeling of relief that we were talking about before, which is not the ongoing feeling, but the feeling of actually knowing that you offer those two things. And I remember, um, a little while ago, like I was full on peaking meltdown stage in one of our coaching calls back in February, cause my study load was ridiculous.

And I had lots of clients and a couple of things personally going on. And I just felt [00:48:00] like I couldn't find any bit bandwidth to even figure out where to start. Um, and I kind of, I wasn't really seriously thinking about hiring team members, but I almost got to break down stage in that. I didn't know what else I could do.

Like that was really, um, which I'm very grateful for. So I, I also very much honor what you're saying before about, you know, if it's not, if it's a, no, it's not necessarily. Like a forever. No, it's just like, you are being nudged to something that will be for your highest good. Um, you shared the document with the 25 tasks to outsource.

And I remember reading it and just going like my mind, like my little adult, adult, overwhelmed brain, you know, that emoji that's like, like mind blown because I hadn't even like, again, like what I was saying, I was so close to the trees in my business. And the fact that I just had. No sleep, no emotional regulation, no ability to juggle all of the demands that, [00:49:00] um, just that simple checklist where I could go, Oh my God, what I could actually give.

Like 50 percent of what I'm doing, like literally that was the light bulb moment that I had. I was like, Oh my goodness, I am doing in my business about 50 percent of what I'm doing does not need to be me. And that was a huge realization. Um, I think we need to talk about the magic of coworking because if people out there have never experienced this strange magic that is coworking.

Do you find it is super, super productivity, like exponential fast track land or is it just me? Cause I just feel, yeah, yeah, yeah. The coworking sessions are, I guess the next level. And I think part of that is the accountability because if you like, you know, we, we do it virtually and if as, as a group, and if you put in the chat what you're going to be working on for the session.

Then you sort of go, hang on. I said I was going to do that. It brings back [00:50:00] to integrity. I said I was going to do something. I better just sit down and, and, and get it done. Uh, and then, then you can tick it off your to do list. And I don't know about you, but there's this thing. Certain rush that you get with ticking stuff.

Oh, I love, I love a tick. In fact, I have been putting things on my to do list just to tick them off, which is ridiculous, but my dopamine starved brain says, um, what I would say about coworking too, because the mastermind we are in is my first experience of proper coworking. I've kind of been in things before that have been called coworking, but they're really not, um, what I find to be magic.

It's the accountability. But, and I don't know whether this is just me, there's a thing when people talk about neurodivergent brains, where they say if there's a lot of resistance around doing an activity, body doubling is one of the ways that you can get around it. So if you're feeling like this is a silly example, but if you're feeling really resistant to [00:51:00] Making a healthy meal, or you find that a really big stretch, actually doing it with someone next to you as a partnership where you are literally side by side, um, helps to just overcome that.

I don't, I don't really understand the. whatever reason for it. Um, but there is definitely a magic in, and cause we do four hour sessions, like you can get a lot done in four hours if you stay on track. Um, it definitely makes me far less distractible when I'm in a room with other people and we don't even have our cameras on half the time.

So I'm like, what? Anyway, that's why I say magic. So. If you're listening and you have not experienced co working magic, um, do, do you want to share when those sessions are or do they change in which case we'll just put the link in the show note? Well, initially it's actually just a one on one co working session with me and, uh, they can just book in a time through the online calendar.

So we can, you know, look at a time that suits both of [00:52:00] us and then we can work together. Yeah. Perfect. And then you do the brainstorming and then figuring out, yes. And you want to be brainstorming, not with someone the same as you, with someone that is systems minded and objective. So yeah, there's a difference between brainstorming with your business bestie, who knows you and your business inside out versus an objective process driven, um, creative brain.

You have a very unusual brain to be able to do both of those things. Very cool. Very, very cool. Ah, it's been such a joy to get to know more of you and to hear, yeah, the reasons I think it's really important to talk about the reasons we start our business. And that's not, you know, it's, I think entrepreneurship we've almost gone a little bit too far.

And that's like, you know, it's about scaling and selling or making X amount of money or whatever. And the majority of people I work with, and certainly for myself, The income is a welcome benefit, [00:53:00] but the time freedom and the location freedom and the sense of satisfaction of being part of a ripple effect by far for me is, that is that deep satisfaction where when I go to bed at night, I'm like, okay.

My head hits the pillow and I feel like I've been purposeful, useful, satisfying with, um, yeah, which I think is one of the best feelings in the world, in fact. Thank you so much for your time. We will make sure that we put all the links in the show notes. So I'm going to grab them from you when we finish recording.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having [00:54:00] me.

[00:55:00] Hello, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the podcast. Today, I am chatting with the lovely [00:56:00] Mari Fox. How are you, Mari? Very well, thank you, Kylie. I'm very excited for this chat. Mari is another one of my beautiful mastermind, um, besties. And it's really cool to actually get to interview each of you because then I get to learn the why behind what you do in the world and more about you.

So welcome. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you. For those of you who don't know you and also your business, could you introduce yourself for our listeners and then we'll dive on in. Okay, so I am a mother, first of all. Mum to one. I am a dog lover. I am a hockey player in the winter. I also consider myself to be an introvert and also a small business owner.

Marie: And so in my business, I help businesses, other businesses behind the scenes with their administration. So it could be a range of different things. [00:57:00] And I also really like to combine my knowledge of administration And my creativity and my faith and get them to embrace all of that and be the best version of themselves.

Kylie: So cool. Such a good introduction. I feel like I need to tick a big box of how to, how to introduce you. Um, I want to go in so many different fellow dog, dog lover, first of all, um, very bad sports player. So I cannot say that I'm at all relating to the hockey thing, but my best friend in primary school. Um, Was a mad keen hockey player.

So I've spent a lot of time watching hockey, just not playing it because I think I would break my shin. That's what I like. I'm that uncoordinated that I would be in the way when someone does one of those big whack shots, I reckon. Anyway, that's, that's why we wear shin pads and mouth guards. True, true, true.

I feel like I should, like, if I could play in one of those big bubbles, that would be good. Because then, because I am [00:58:00] literally the least coordinated person I know. I don't know whether I've shared that on the podcast before, but there you go. Um, I am excited to talk to you. I was saying to you before we started recording that.

Um, one of the things that I have noticed as I get older is actually two things that are almost side by side. I don't have a, um, necessarily a strong religious background or faith, and I was laughing to you saying, you know, air quotes, I was raised Catholic, but really only just lip service towards that because I went to a Catholic school.

Um, but I'm feeling a really deep pull the older I get to kind of. Connect to more of a spiritual practice or a connection with something deeper. And I was sharing with you, I've got this beautiful friend, Sam, who she has such a strong faith and it is able to guide her through so many things with this.

Certainty and [00:59:00] anchoring and grounding that I am really drawn to. And when you answer the podcast questions, one of the things that things that you mentioned, and also in your intro was about how your faith has played such a big role in, you know, guiding you through a lot of different challenges that we will get to.

Um, can you tell us a little bit about that? Like, were you raised with a strong faith as a kid, or did you sort of develop it in a later life? So I was brought up in a household where only one parent did actually regularly attend church, but we, and so I regularly attended church with my mom for Sunday school and youth group and, and all those sorts of things and, you know, got to go on kids camps and be around other kids who, you know, shared a similar faith as well.

And so, um, from a very young age, um, I was spoken to about God, about Jesus. And you know how that can play a part how [01:00:00] that plays a part in your life. And, and so over time, I've been able to go back to those things that I learned as, as a kid and, and draw back on that for, for strength through, through the different, uh, challenges that I've experienced in, in my adult life.

Yeah, that's what I feel. That's what I it's, it's, it's, It's like a strong, stable foundation. That's the sense that I get when I, when I talk with my friend, Sam, and when I talk with other people that, um, it's interesting, I'm just about to go away to New Zealand and two of those friends out of the five of us have also been brought up in strong faith backgrounds.

And it just, it's such a different way of seeing things, particularly when things get a little bit tricky or challenging. Um, and you had shared in your answers, um, some of the. The times I'm going to guess, although I should just ask you, when do you find that you draw the [01:01:00] most on your faith? Um, and how, what assurance does it give you?

Like, I, I don't, I'm not finding the right words because I don't actually really truly have an experience of what we're talking about, but I'm interested to, to hear what, what language you would give us. So, There's a couple of different instances where I might really draw in, into my faith and one of those is a tough time.

So if, if I'm facing a particular challenge now, it might be business related or it might be a personal or health related, I having that connection and having the faith that I have in God as a Christian, I am, I know that I can take myself somewhere quietly and I can talk to God in prayer and in prayer.

The, the wonderful thing is, is even if I can't find the words and maybe it's just crying, that's fine too. God understands. So, and it [01:02:00] gives me that sense of security and it gives me a sense of hope that it doesn't matter what's going on. It's okay because God has me. And so, you know, that's, that's sort of the tough times, but then on the flip side, if something amazing happens.

I always try and take a moment to go, thank you, God. Yeah. Because there are certain things that you go, how did that happen? Like, how did that door open? And it could even be as simply, I really wanted that car park and it's available, you know, particularly if you're going somewhere that's unfamiliar and you want to close car park.

I mean, that sounds fairly trivial. But honestly, some days it's just like, Oh yes, thank you. And it's, it's finding those moments to not just pray and ask for help, but also praise and be thankful for that gratitude for what has come your way. [01:03:00] I, I find that such a much more refreshing because I think. My personal lived experience in a Catholic, um, school without having gone through the whole, like all of the, um, sacrament, say sacraments.

I'm not even using the right language in my sacraments, like first Holy communion and all of those things. You're not Catholic, obviously. So I hadn't gone through all of that formal stuff. Right. So I arrive at this Catholic school, having gone to a state primary school, and I was telling this story the other day.

It's so strange that we have this conversation, or not strange at all. Um, and I arrived there and very quickly it's figured out that I haven't had all of these things and therefore I can't take, um, communion in church services and whatever. Um, and obviously when I very strong faith based school where everyone but you is [01:04:00] receiving those things.

It's very obvious. So very, very soon I found myself at the kind of receiving end of People saying I must do things that I didn't understand. And I think it's because to a large extent, I wasn't brought up going to Sunday school. I wasn't brought up in that type of environment where I had that kind of grounding or connection.

And for me at kind of 13, when you're going through that teenage angst, it was like some just external thing. And what I saw in my fellow students was almost like a, geez, I'm not. I'm not actually being negative towards the whole faith of being Catholic. I'm just observing that. It seemed to me like a lot of the people that also went to that school felt that they could act in any way during the week, but as long as they went to church and asked for forgiveness, which is a very Catholic thing.

Um, now [01:05:00] obviously that is also colored by the perceptions of a, a teenage mind with all of its, you know, um, not belonging and all of the other stuff that's going on with that drive for autonomy and whatever. Um, but. When you talk about in both of those situations, so times of stress and strain, trying to overcome something, but also in celebration and also in things that makes much more sense to me than what I kind of saw.

I don't know why that's a very long winded story. Just to say that when I hear people like you that have been brought up with the faith that, that I love how you actually said it, a sense of security and a sense of hope. Like, it's like, I'm held, I'm supported. I know that there's something else bigger than me there.

Um, when you, when you, cause you're, you're the mum of a 12 year old now. Yes. So take us back to you're pregnant. You had this little person, um, and you find [01:06:00] yourself with unfortunately postnatal depression, which is like such a significant issue for so many women. How did your faith play a role in getting there?

Through that and making sense of it. I guess that's my question. Like, how do you find, does your faith also help you find a purpose in those types of really challenging times? So when you are first diagnosed with postnatal depression, it can be a fairly scary time. And I, looking back, Um, I mean, I don't understand the reasons why the doctor, because I actually did it without, I overcame postnatal depression without medication.

Now, I don't know why my doctor at that time didn't prescribe me medication. I'm sure he had his reasons. And as a first time mom, I didn't know. to maybe that I could ask questions and maybe I could find out more information, but I, I was, um, given access [01:07:00] to a counselor and through that, um, she was able to help me understand what was happening, but also give me extra tools to, to get through each day.

Yeah. And, and I guess how my faith played a part in that. Was knowing that I wasn't alone, even like at two or two 30 am in the morning where I haven't had much sleep, the baby's unsettled, you know, he won't go back to sleep. I wasn't alone and, and sometimes, you know, you can look back and go, where did I find the strength for that?

How did I actually get through that? How did I, why, how was I able to. retrain my brain. Um, and you know, part of that is, you know, being given external tools, like, you know, speaking with a counselor and part of that for me, I go, well, well, it must've been God, like how else, how [01:08:00] else could have that happened, you know, to give me that extra strength.

I think what you're saying, because So much of our suffering comes from a sense of, actually, there's two things that I want to say. I always come back to when I very first started doing training in traditional Chinese medicine, one of my first teachers used to say, the definition of stress is the difference between your expectations and reality.

And that has always like, it's the gap. And where I was going in my mind as you're talking is the thing that causes the most suffering is our story about what is happening. It's not necessarily the thing that's happening. And, um, having just been through a ridiculously sleepless night, again, thanks to perimenopause, I find myself in the middle of the night going, it's all fine.

There's always enough time and energy to do everything important to me, because what I used to do was rail against this, like make it just even [01:09:00] more stressful. And I think listening to you, if I'm understanding you correctly, your sense, Is you weren't isolated, even though it, it would have felt scary and, you know, different if you've never experienced that sort of mental health episode before.

Um, and also obviously you've got a baby, so you've got this big identity shift, which is happening all alongside of it. But you would never have felt isolated because you've got this surety that you're connected to. What a powerful place to find yourself. Again and again and again, every time like, yeah, I, I just love the concept of, like I said before, like I, I talk about the universe because I do believe that there's something bigger than us, but I've never had the language of God or any particular sort of story about who that is or why that is or whatever.

Um, how do you. And this is a question that you don't necessarily have to answer if it's not comfortable to, but [01:10:00] what I'm, I've got in my mind is how do you feel about people talking about, um, things that you would ascribe to God, like to, to not credit is not the right word, but you know, to kind of connect with God and God's presence or God's influence on things.

When you hear people like me using words like universe or something much less kind of. Structured. What's your, what's your thoughts? If you're comfortable, um, like talking about it, because I just think it would be an interesting, I've never actually thought about that before. Well, I, like I've mentioned before, I'm a Christian.

I believe in God. And with that, I believe in creation as in that God created the universe. So if, when I hear people speaking about the universe. Um, it doesn't necessarily bother me, uh, you know, I don't, don't have an issue [01:11:00] with it because for me, in my mind, it's like, well, okay, just if you just went one more level up, then, then you'd be at, at, at creator.

But at the same time, a lot of. Um, you know, being able to get along in the world is to have tolerance and it's absolutely fine for people to have a different set of beliefs to mine. And so if they prefer to think along those lines, then that's up to them. Yeah. How about it? I really liked that. It's like, talk to the boss.

Go one up the chain. You're talking to the supervisor. You need the manager. I love that. I love that. I love that. Um, I am interested to, when you started talking about, like, you feel so committed and so clear on your purpose of helping people to express themselves and become the version of their, you know, their best selves, um, through business and through [01:12:00] kind of like, Behind the scenes support.

Um, I don't know why, but I don't know. This is how my brain works in an interview. I almost feel like the role that you're talking about God feeling to you. And I know this is, you know, this is on a much smaller scale. I'm not attributing you with God like powers, although wouldn't that be lovely. Um, but when you say a sense of security and a sense of hope, Do you feel like that's part of the feeling that you give business owners when they know that you're taking something off their plate?

Well, I would like to think that they feel that sense of security, not, not just relief as in, Oh, I don't have to do, I don't have to do that task anymore that I don't like. I'm not good at or taking far too long. Um, but also knowing that. You know, when they start, you know, that when you start a small [01:13:00] business, it, it, it becomes like it's its own, your own little, you know, business baby.

Yep. Definitely. To, to be able to, to hand any of that over to somebody else, you want to make sure that you're going to hand that over to the right sort of person. And I would hope that, you know, business owners would feel comfortable in handing over a little bit and, you know, delegating a little bit to me so that I can walk with them just as God walks with us every day, walk with them on their journey.

So that not only am I helping them. I'm enabling them and empowering them to help others, you know, I'm, I'm helping in, in that ripple effect of, of, you know, everyone being the best that they can be. So cool. I love the idea of the ripple effect because, um, why I asked that question is because I, I've had a bit of an on and off journey with trying to outsource in my two iterations of business.

And in my first business, I was still [01:14:00] running the programming of micromanaging and having to do everything with the baby. The business baby was like everything to me. Back then. And then something interrupted that pattern, um, in my personal life. And I let go of that walked away from that business. And now I'm back having been back for about 18 months and I'm just about to fly out of the country tomorrow.

And the feeling that I get from being able to ask a team of people that I've selected for exactly like you're saying, these are the things that I'm not good at. I don't have a skill set around, or I hate doing, or takes me three times as long as someone who actually knows what they're doing. Let's face it.

And nowhere near as good. Um, my overwhelming feeling is that. Feeling I would use the word safety, but I think it's similar to that feeling of security that you're describing, because when you do find the right support people in your business, that's exactly what it feels like. And being able to [01:15:00] depend on your business baby being taken care of.

It's almost like a babysitter, if we want to take the analogy one step further, but you know, like I'm not worried about walking away. Um, which is such a beautiful thing because What you're giving business owners is the ability to stay in the zone that they're good at. And so not stretch, not push against resistance, not try and do things that they're, you know, frustrate them and make them feel stuck, but actually set them free to do what they do best.

Whilst you do what you do best. So have you always, so you've got an admin background. Talk to us about the shift into, cause you, you have your own business as well, yourself. Um, how did that unfold? Was that nudging onto the path of entrepreneurship yourself or were you always planning to? Um, well, there's, there's a, there's a few different factors that, uh, led me towards starting my own business.

[01:16:00] And, um, Like we've mentioned before, I have a 12 year old son, but when he was much younger, I was still working part time in a, in a traditional business, they were changing direction. And even though I was offered to stay, I decided that that, that wasn't quite where I wanted to go. And so I decided to, to step away from traditional employment and do some part time study.

Now, the other thing that was happening at that time was I'd also recently become a single mom. And so there was a whole lot of factors. Um, there was also at, you know, the, the timeline's a bit hazy, but somewhere in there, I've also had, um, a parent with health issues as well. So, To, to step away from traditional employment and be able to find some part time study that I can do within school hours.

It suddenly opened up this huge time flexibility that I hadn't experienced before. And you know, a combination of, [01:17:00] you know, learning different things, having that time flexibility. And going, well, what if I drew upon my years of experience and created employment for myself so that I could work in a way that works for me and my family?

And then that led me down the path of, um, Opening up a business and doing, doing what I do now and doing it in a way that I do now as well. Yeah. Amazing. What sort of, what sort of stumbling blocks have you overcome in your own business? Kind of maybe what you see your clients do too, but I'm just interested because, excuse me, when you all of a sudden get that time freedom and all of that choice freedom, sometimes it can be a little bit.

I don't know. My, I found it confronting when I first started working in a business. I was like, hang on, where's the structure? I don't like, I can just free flow all over the place and I'm someone who needs structure, and so I [01:18:00] kind of struggled with that. But did you find anything challenging when you first set up or was it all just like, thank, thank you,

Thank you, manager. Well, when, when, when I transitioned from. You know, uh, part time work into studying, there was a period of time where I'm just like, I was just sort of floating and I was just like, Oh, hang on a minute. I've got an end date. I need to have all of my study finished by an end date. So I'm going to have to put some boundaries in place and get back into, get into a routine of some description so that I can get what I need done, um, in, in the right time.

Um, and that's, I've sort of continued on, uh, into my business, you know, I've tried to set up my week. So there are certain days when I prefer to have any client calls or client based things. And then there are other days that I allow for working on [01:19:00] the business rather than just in the business. Yeah. And, uh, another thing that I found really helpful is actually.

Batch, batching, um, similar tasks together. Yes. So instead of trying to write a social media post one a day, actually allocate time once a week or once a fortnight and, and write a couple at a time and get them all scheduled. I love that. I, when I was held to skeltering with no batching and no, and also what I, I think the other thing that I did really poorly in my first business was.

I, even though I love systems, I didn't take the time to pause and build the system. And so every time I did something, I would be recreating the wheel almost to kind of You know, and especially if it was something that I, I didn't do like on the daily or whatever. Um, and I just think that the power of having external objective eyes on your business as well, [01:20:00] um, is very helpful for spotting where you're getting in your own way.

And you can't even see that you're getting in your own way. Um, do you have a mind that works in like process driven? I always think like VAs are so good at seeing that stuff, but I don't know whether that's all VAs. But is that something that really, like Efficiency and managing things in the most streamlined and simple and aligned way possible.

I feel like that's like a superpower of you guys. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I'm someone that really does well with routine and also within that routine. If there are regular systems or processes to follow so that you know that you're doing the same thing each time. to try and obviously most of the time we want to get, get the same outcome.

Yeah. And, and the other thing is by having a system or a process set up, which means, you know, that step one, this is what you do. Step two, this is what you do. Step [01:21:00] three that you do. It then removes that extra decisions that you need to make. And so it reduces the decision fatigue that you might have as a business owner, because, you know, we've got to make decisions and sometimes we have to make decisions quickly, but if you have a cheat sheet or a template of some description set up, and it could just be simply setting up a form.

So when people inquire with you, This is the form that gets sent to them and they fill it out. So you're asking exactly the same questions and every time, and then. You know well that, that just builds into more information that you can collect and other data to analyse, and everything else like that. I just, as you're talking as well for people, so I just feel like I've got two sides to my personality.

I Love routine and structure, but too much of it. And then I've got an internal rebel. That's like, I want [01:22:00] to just do whatever I want. And she's like crazily flipping around all over the place. And I think what I've, well, I know what I've discovered in my own business journey is having the processes and the systems is like having the edges or the boundaries, and then I get to play and flow with creativity and what sparks my interests inside of that.

Because if I am let. Loose goodness knows where we will end up. And I think that is partly to do with ADHD is too, but, um, yeah, having those, it's almost like the guardrail I'm thinking about, like when you're bowling, when you don't know how to bowl very well and they put the bumper rails up, that's what I feel like the systems are.

It's kind of, and I guess, um, someone who's into more of the kind of masculine versus feminine energy, like the, you know, the systems of the masculine, like the routine and the structure and the edges and. then we get to, yeah, flow inside of it, which is kind of a more feminine energy. If you, if you're into that woo [01:23:00] sort of stuff.

Um, what would you say, especially for women, do you work mainly with women? Yeah. Okay. Cool. So what have you observed are some of the commonalities of barriers that you see when you first start working with someone that, uh, and they, I guess they could be like the hard things or the soft things. So is it processes or is it like mindset that says.

I don't have anything decent to say or whatever. What do you think, what do you see over and over? Or is there no patterns? Maybe, maybe there isn't. I don't know that I have observed many patterns. Um, I'm actually not sure I can answer that question. I'm just curious because I think it's probably because when I'm working with.

a woman in business and we're writing about her and her story. That by definition brings up a lot [01:24:00] of stuff about being seen and playing the, you know, the good girl or the, you know, don't want to provoke anyone or want to make sure that we kind of, um, what's that word? Um, palatable is what, you know, I see that a lot, but I think that also comes with the territory of I work almost exclusively with healers and helpers.

in terms of like the allied health people, the coaches, the counselors, the psychologists. And I think there's a pattern there of, Or it's almost like a bit of an imposter, imposter sort of complex that I see sometimes. But I wonder whether that's just because I'm working with a subset of women. I don't know.

It's an interesting question. Um, what about in terms of when you Moving to having more time flexibility. What does that mean for you personally? So you've started this business and you [01:25:00] obviously get a lot of satisfaction from being that support person. So there's that personal satisfaction. What's it meant to the things that you value external to the business world that you're in?

So it, for me, I guess it comes down to family and as having a school aged child, there are quite often different assemblies or sports days or other days, uh, or other, other things that you might like to get to that if I was in a traditional role, it may be a little more difficult to get to. But the other thing for me, um, I have aging parents and there's been health issues along the way.

So to have the type of business that I have, the time flexibility and working from home, it's meant that If I need to also step into a carer's role for either of my parents, it's meant that I can actually do things, um, side by side. You know, I can drop my son off at school. [01:26:00] I can, you know, care for my father from time to time, um, who has dementia and Alzheimer's.

Um, um, and I, I can also work at my business, work in my business, help other people and earn an income for myself. So cool, isn't it? Imagine not having the internet. Like actually, I mean, I guess, but when I first opened my business in 2011, we had the internet, but we did not have ready access to so many tools and so many, um, I guess like software solutions that make things a lot kind of simpler or, or potentially if used well, cause obviously any tool Not, not useful until it's actually applied properly.

Um, but yeah, I, I often think I remember back in those days I had a podcast called League of Luminary Ladies, cause you know, us copywriters love alliteration. Um, but, um, and I remember having this moment one day where I was talking to a [01:27:00] lady in the States and I was just like, Is this not crazy that we, like, we're talking to a box, you're in South Australia, I'm in country Queensland, like, do you ever have those moments where you're like, how is this even possible?

Um, when you're talking about your parents and particularly the dementia and Alzheimer's journey, because I, I have walked, The beginning of a similar kind of path, although with a step parent, which also then has different layers of things going on. Um, particularly when you're used to being an only child and all of a sudden there's step siblings involved, but anyway, um, what has that taught you in terms of.

Like, how does your faith help you through that finding the,

I don't know, you may not, you may not be as far along in that journey, but when you're, as your dad changes, how does your faith help? And [01:28:00] it's probably more of what we've already talked about, but I'm just interested how you can kind of. So, um, in, in the early years, it was just, you know, getting used to what that means and that there might be changes.

And obviously there are changes as things progress. And I guess as you go along the journey, even though my father is still alive, he's not the same person that he was 12 months ago, five years ago, 10 years ago. And so you almost have this living grief that you are saying goodbye to different parts or different versions.

of, of, of dad as, as he progresses. So having, um, having a faith and knowing that, um, I am supported no matter what happens, I am supported. It gives me strength to carry on and then obviously support. Support the rest of the family as, as we're traveling this, traveling this [01:29:00] together. And it also means that, um, recently my dad's gone into residential care, um, having the faith that the right spot will open up at the right time and that everything will work out for the best.

And it has. Um, you know, he, in my opinion, he's got the best, best, uh, room in, in the facility and the staff there are lovely and, you know, the way he's been able to connect with people and some of them, cause it's still in his local town, um, there are other people in there that he knows, um, and has known for many years.

You know, just, just being able to, to see that he is supported and he is being looked after that does take, take a weight off. But knowing that God had a, had played a part in that, um, that, you know, that just keeps me going. Does it ease your, Oh yeah, first of all, I just want to really acknowledge the beautiful [01:30:00] way you put that, that it's living grief.

Cause it's so easy, isn't it? It's losing little parts of the person that you knew and love and had a connection with and that connection shifts and changes. And do you think you're, so your dad is not the one that has a strong faith though. Cause I was going to ask about how that actually also helps with the thoughts of his final transition to the next phase.

When you feel into that, it's this ridiculous hypothetical question, where I was going to go was Can you imagine facing the ultimate loss here at the end stage of Alzheimer's, which unfortunately is always, you know, the same point when you think about that through the lens of faith, does that also give you that more settled?

I don't, [01:31:00] I don't know that it's necessarily, um, being feeling settled. I mean, intellectually, I know that there's going to be further decline intellectually. There'll become a day when he doesn't know who I am intellectually. There'll be a day where, you know, he may not be able to, to, to function in much capacity at all.

Um, having faith, I don't know that, I guess one of the things is I just have to have hope and trust. that when the time comes for each of those stages, God will get me through. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's not, not an easy thing to feel into no matter what your belief system is. Um, yeah, I just really appreciate, yeah.

Being able to have a conversation with someone on a similar journey and see how [01:32:00] you look at things because I feel like. My personal response was to rush to the worst case scenario. Cause I'm a, I'm a safety seeker in terms of like, figure out all the things that could happen and then try and figure out like, you know, all of these kind of, I don't know, contingency plans.

And of course there is no surety, but when you have trust in the fact that no matter what happens, you will be able to get through it. That is a powerful place to experience it through. How has. If you don't mind going here, and I'm very happy for you to say no, how, how do you feel like your mum's experience is supported by her faith?

Does she experience a similar sorts of feelings, do you know, of what we've talked about, that hope and security, so that sort of anchored [01:33:00] foundational belief system? Um, I can't really speak for her, but I would like to think so. And because we have open conversations. And, you know, we, we quite often, you know, not, not just for this issue, but there might be for other friends and families, but, you know, Hey, can you just keep this person in your prayers and, you know, you know, sharing, sharing that load, not, not just with, you know, individuals, but, but with God as well.

Um, I think, you know, it, it helps to, to lighten the load, to lighten the burden. And, you know, if you feel like that, Load is supported. Mm hmm. Well, then you go. Well, okay, maybe anything is possible You know, we just keep supporting each other keep praying and you know what happens happens and and sometimes A delay doesn't necessarily mean it's a no, the delay [01:34:00] might be protection.

Yes, yes, yes. I love that understanding. Something that I've, strong belief that I've brought my kids up with is like, yeah, I know it's been kind of like meme ified lately though. It's like rejection is not, but I can't remember the language that's like, It's not rejection, it's redirection, I think is the meme version.

And I'm like, ah, goodness me, do we have to cheapen everything into, you know, single media, social media posts? Um, not that I'm not a fan of sharing things through social media. That's something we haven't actually talked about because I know you have a deep love of harnessing creativity through Canva as well as part of your business.

So if you're working with a business owner and they, you know, I haven't necessarily got the skills to be able to share like imagery and the like feeling of their brand. Tell us a bit about that. Cause I feel like when you [01:35:00] talk about that now coaching goals, you're like face beaming. Canva is one subject that I can speak at length on at a moment's notice.

So in terms of how I help businesses with using Canva as a tool, so there's different ways I can teach them how to use Canva. I can work with them. Um, you know, if they've, you know, I'm trying to do something, but they can't quite work it out. You know, I can, I can help them with that. Or if they're like, I know that I should be using it as a tool, but it's a little bit overwhelming.

Can you set up a template for me? Um, you know, that's one thing that I can do. And the other thing I can do is I can come in and do a design rescue. So if they might've started. If they've started a design or they've started a presentation, you know if they're a speaker or a coach or something like that, they've started a presentation, but they're like, Oh, I've been staring at it for too long.

I'm not sure if any everything looks [01:36:00] nice. Can you just go in and make sure everything's in alignment and you know, it's, you know. In, in with my brand and, and all that sort of stuff, well, then I can come in and, and do that for them. I mean, I can also help them, you know, if they've just done a brain dumping word and then they want that translated into, into something, whether it's, you know, whether it's a lead magnet, whether it is, um, a worksheet or something like that, you know, I can then, you know, interpret.

What they've given me and display it in a way that reflects their, their brand and their message. So cool, because that is such a skill set that when you have it, it's almost like we mistakenly feel like everyone can do it. But not everyone has that natural skill set. And, um, just like I am blown away by some of the things that I've been able to hand over to my team who do it in a third of the time.

And I, I like to think I'm pretty [01:37:00] across things technically. No. No, no, Kylie newsflash. I think I finally reached the age at almost 50 where I've kind of hit like a ceiling of like there's a whole generation of people underneath your kids even that have so much more awareness of all the technical, logical stuff, can't even say the word and all the social media stuff and all of that, that it's such a joy to be able to just hand it to someone who's skillset is the natural innate ability.

I take it, they run with it and it comes back 50 times better than what I could have done. And I just, when I hear you say, I take a brain dumper and I turn it into him, like, yes, that is the magic that we all need in our businesses. Because, um, the other thing I want to point out too, is, Sometimes what we're looking for when we're looking for a VA is more of the time freedom that you talked about.

So it's not necessarily, we can't do the task. It's just that we don't want to anymore. [01:38:00] Um, and again, back to that feeling of safety of just being able to give it to someone who, you know, does it really well and in alignment with your brand and turns it into something that feels and looks like.

Everything else in your business. Like what a joy. How cool is that? Like I just think, you know, um, I love the language of design rescue too because what you said about looking at something too long That is such a thing, isn't it? It's like, I'm too close. And I say to my clients, when we're writing a book together, sometimes they'll say, I just can't look at it anymore.

I'm like, yes, because you've been down in the trees and you can't see the forest. You need to go away, have a weekend, go and have some fun, and then come back in with an eagle eye view so that you can see things. But sometimes, I don't know. It's like your eyeballs get stuck and you can't really take it all in or something.

Um, so what a joy to be able to actually give it to someone. Like yourself that has the skill set. We haven't [01:39:00] talked about your business name because I think this is the coolest business name ever. Please introduce your business. We will put the links in the show notes anyway so we should talk about where to find you.

But what is your business name? Crafty Fox by Design. So, so fun, so fun, so fun. I love it. Um, I love when people have cool last names that they can make into groovy business names. I like Patchett. That's great. Catch it. It makes me sound like a plaster or something. Anyway. Um, where can we find you online?

And the other thing that I wanted to ask you when you're thinking about, like, if, if someone is in their business and particularly if they're a woman in business and. They're listening to you and they're just like, I don't have any sense of relief. I don't have any sense of security. I don't have any support in my business.

Where can they start? Cause I think that that, that sense of overwhelm sometimes stops people making change because they don't even know where to start. So can you talk about that as well? And if there's any like [01:40:00] specific resource that you've got that we could share in the show notes, please, please share away.

Cause I would love people to be able to start. Yeah. So one of the places people could go and find out more about me and my services are, um, is, is my website at craftyfoxbydesign. com. And on there, I actually have a page that has free resources. Oh, perfect. Um, if someone hasn't, um, used, uh, the services of a VA before, and they're not really sure about what sort of tasks they could pass on to a virtual assistant, I actually have a free download that they can get in there, that they can get to their inbox and it is 25 tasks, uh, to outsource to a VA.

And that lists. All of the different things that specifically I can help with. And I also have, um, some bit down the bottom as well, and it talks about the different pieces of software that I [01:41:00] use or have used and can support them in. So that'll give them a starting point. The other thing is, is that if they're, if, you know, if they, if they're, If they want to jump on a call with me, then I'll have different options of doing that as well.

And one of those could be actually be a strategy session where we actually do a bit of a dive into the business and work out where they're at, what they might need support with, where the gaps are, you know, can I fill those gaps for them and so forth. The other thing that. If they are working on their own.

Um, I realize that sometimes working on, on your own can be a little bit isolating. I mean, you mentioned at, at the start that we are part of a mastermind. Yeah. And so we get to connect with each other and, and other people as well. But if you are not in that space, I also have, um, a coworking, a virtual coworking session that people could, didn't know that.

That's a virtual coworking session that people can jump on with me. I have, um, [01:42:00] there's a few little bonuses that they can get. And one of the things that we can do is we can actually, the first section that we can do within that is actually do a brain dump, work out all of the things that you've got going on in your head at the moment or on your to do list.

And then from there, we can basically divide and conquer and, and get it done. Okay. So back to the feeling of relief that we were talking about before, which is not the ongoing feeling, but the feeling of actually knowing that you offer those two things. And I remember, um, a little while ago, like I was full on peaking meltdown stage in one of our coaching calls back in February, cause my study load was ridiculous.

And I had lots of clients and a couple of things personally going on. And I just felt like I couldn't find any bit bandwidth to even figure out where to start. Um, and I kind of, I wasn't really seriously thinking about hiring team members, but I almost got to break down stage in that. I didn't know what else I could [01:43:00] do.

Like that was really, um, which I'm very grateful for. So I, I also very much honor what you're saying before about, you know, if it's not, if it's a, no, it's not necessarily. Like a forever. No, it's just like, you are being nudged to something that will be for your highest good. Um, you shared the document with the 25 tasks to outsource.

And I remember reading it and just going like my mind, like my little adult, adult, overwhelmed brain, you know, that emoji that's like, like mind blown because I hadn't even like, again, like what I was saying, I was so close to the trees in my business. And the fact that I just had. No sleep, no emotional regulation, no ability to juggle all of the demands that, um, just that simple checklist where I could go, Oh my God, what I could actually give.

Like 50 percent of what I'm doing, like literally that was the light bulb moment that I had. I was like, Oh my goodness, I am doing in my business about 50 percent of what I'm doing does [01:44:00] not need to be me. And that was a huge realization. Um, I think we need to talk about the magic of coworking because if people out there have never experienced this strange magic that is coworking.

Do you find it is super, super productivity, like exponential fast track land or is it just me? Cause I just feel, yeah, yeah, yeah. The coworking sessions are, I guess the next level. And I think part of that is the accountability because if you like, you know, we, we do it virtually and if as, as a group, and if you put in the chat what you're going to be working on for the session.

Then you sort of go, hang on. I said I was going to do that. It brings back to integrity. I said I was going to do something. I better just sit down and, and, and get it done. Uh, and then, then you can tick it off your to do list. And I don't know about you, but there's this thing. Certain rush that you get with [01:45:00] ticking stuff.

Oh, I love, I love a tick. In fact, I have been putting things on my to do list just to tick them off, which is ridiculous, but my dopamine starved brain says, um, what I would say about coworking too, because the mastermind we are in is my first experience of proper coworking. I've kind of been in things before that have been called coworking, but they're really not, um, what I find to be magic.

It's the accountability. But, and I don't know whether this is just me, there's a thing when people talk about neurodivergent brains, where they say if there's a lot of resistance around doing an activity, body doubling is one of the ways that you can get around it. So if you're feeling like this is a silly example, but if you're feeling really resistant to Making a healthy meal, or you find that a really big stretch, actually doing it with someone next to you as a partnership where you are literally side by side, um, helps to just overcome that.

I don't, I don't really understand the. whatever [01:46:00] reason for it. Um, but there is definitely a magic in, and cause we do four hour sessions, like you can get a lot done in four hours if you stay on track. Um, it definitely makes me far less distractible when I'm in a room with other people and we don't even have our cameras on half the time.

So I'm like, what? Anyway, that's why I say magic. So. If you're listening and you have not experienced co working magic, um, do, do you want to share when those sessions are or do they change in which case we'll just put the link in the show note? Well, initially it's actually just a one on one co working session with me and, uh, they can just book in a time through the online calendar.

So we can, you know, look at a time that suits both of us and then we can work together. Yeah. Perfect. And then you do the brainstorming and then figuring out, yes. And you want to be brainstorming, not with someone the same as you, with someone that is systems minded and [01:47:00] objective. So yeah, there's a difference between brainstorming with your business bestie, who knows you and your business inside out versus an objective process driven, um, creative brain.

You have a very unusual brain to be able to do both of those things. Very cool. Very, very cool. Ah, it's been such a joy to get to know more of you and to hear, yeah, the reasons I think it's really important to talk about the reasons we start our business. And that's not, you know, it's, I think entrepreneurship we've almost gone a little bit too far.

And that's like, you know, it's about scaling and selling or making X amount of money or whatever. And the majority of people I work with, and certainly for myself, The income is a welcome benefit, but the time freedom and the location freedom and the sense of satisfaction of being part of a ripple effect by far for me is, that is that deep satisfaction where when I go to bed at night, I'm like, okay.

My head hits [01:48:00] the pillow and I feel like I've been purposeful, useful, satisfying with, um, yeah, which I think is one of the best feelings in the world, in fact. Thank you so much for your time. We will make sure that we put all the links in the show notes. So I'm going to grab them from you when we finish recording.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having [01:49:00] me.